In an era dominated by Internet hoaxes, fake news, deep fakes and propaganda, fact-based journalism is at crossroads. We live in a post-post-truth age characterized by diminishing media literacy and obscurantism on authenticity of information. Contravening the hallowed principles of news gathering, whetting its veracity and presenting to the audience as ‘unadulterated news’ without coloring it with ‘partisan views’, conventional journalists are fast replaced by social media users and each could transform themselves into a journalist in their own right. Spurious content from ‘WhatsApp Universities’, dominate socio-political discourses on a granular community level, segregating and dividing people into parochial camps, aligned with their religious, political and community driven slanted agenda. Truth has invariable become a casualty in modern-day news reporting. Dystopian novels like 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley have tremendously generated sales revenue as reported by BBC, New York Times and Money magazine as a consequence of loss of trust with media houses worldwide.
Media had its halcyon days during the Age of Enlightenment, which, evolved organically into a ‘voice of the masses’ that suffered oppression and atrocities from the ruling elites. It had a lynchpin role in the transformation of European kingdoms from agricultural societies to industrial ones. During the period between 17th and 19th centuries, European hinterland was transitioning from feudal overlords into sovereign democracies and ensuing socio-political change was preceded by wars, revolutions, turmoil, bloodshed and social churning, consummated by intellectual ferment of novel ideas of statehood and its governance. The defining tripartite motto of the French Revolution, Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite would later become the foundational principles of world democracies. In the pyrrhic victory attained by democracy, media had transformed itself into the Fourth Estate, supporting the three hallowed pillars of democracy, namely legislature, executive and judiciary.
Modern Europe grew out of the progressive ideals of rationalism and humanism proposed by avant-garde social reformers, iconoclasts, critics, intellectuals and philosophers riding on a wave of scientific advancement and free inquiry. Immanuel Kant, the mercurial German philosopher and a central Enlightenment thinker popularized the dictum, “Sapre Aude” (dared to know) exhorting the masses to use the faculty of reason instead of blind conformance to extant belief systems, traditions, conventions and superstitions. Print media became the torchbearer of this intellectual revolution and cemented its position as the voice of reason. Voltaire, the French historian and writer launched his vitriolic against superstition and religious bigotry. Denis Diderot, the French philosopher proclaimed that “Man will be free when the last king will be strangled with the entrails of the last priest” while his compatriot Jean-Jacques Rousseau denounced feudal despotism. Charles Dickens vociferously criticized the horrendous conditions of English jails, orphanages and schools while Thomas Paine in America wrote in trenchant language on the Rights of Man. In colonial India, Raja Ram Mohan Roy fought against the social evil of Sati, child marriage, female infanticide and purdah system, using his newspapers, ‘Miratul Akhbar’ and ‘Sambad Kaumudi’ as medium for effecting social change. Nikhil Chakraborty wrote extensively on the horrors of the Bengal Famine of 1943, whereas Munshi Premchand and Sarath Chandra Chattopadhyay exercised the ‘might of the pen’ against feudalism, female oppression and discrimination.
The primary function of journalism is to inform, educate and entertain the masses. Ruefully, in contemporary world, the thrust is more on entertainment rather than inform and educate the society on issues of relevance. The focus is on non-news rather than news. This is especially disconcerting for a country like India still grappling with first generation problems of lack of primary healthcare, malnourishment, poverty, appalling sanitation, inadequate base infrastructure, poor quality education and dearth of skill. But mainstream media is more interested in telecasting glitz and glamour digressing from the real issues plaguing the society. Rising unemployment, ethno-nationalism, majoritarianism, cultural nationalism, jingoism, atrocities against minorities, honor killings, revival of caste supremacism and religious fundamentalism are the major socio-economic and socio-cultural issues that require contingency level redressals. But unfortunately, the emphasis is on lives of film stars, reality shows, Bollywood movies, cinematic dance shows and anything and everything that could be commercialized to boost TRP ratings to garner advertising revenues. The Latin “Panem et Circenses”, translated as “Bread and Circuses” is a metonymic phrase attributed to Juvenal, a 2nd century B.C., Roman poet who elucidated the realpolitik strategy of incumbent governments to keep the masses off their throats. The essence of the phrase was the strategic theme prevalent in ancient world, “If you cannot give the masses bread, give them circuses” to detract the people from the administrative failures and inefficiencies is astoundingly true for 21st century governments.
Unbiased, non-partisan media devoid of any political persuasions are an endangered species in contemporary world. The revenue models have changed drastically from the conventional advertising-based subscription model for legacy print newspapers and publications to digital subscription paywalls and compounded by plummeting readership- both in print and digital. A viable financial model in the Internet Age is a major constraint and risk afflicting news media, both legacy and new due to media fragmentation, proliferation of digital news portals and massive growth of social media platforms that streams real-time news, however replete with “alternative facts”. The choices for the customer are staggering and is choked by information explosion and information overload caused by Internet penetration and digital connectivity. John Harris, the co-founder of Politico, a US based newspaper company focusing on international politics and policy distinguishes between two types of journalism, namely premium and commodity. Premium refers to the outstanding quality of content that are fact-based, aided by in-depth reporting and analysis that is a core competency and difficult to emulate. Commodity content is aimed at attracting eye-balls, focusing on news that is popular and sensational, devoid of quality and since such content is ubiquitous on the Internet, Web and Social Media, ruthlessly drives down the commodity prices. If a news media is unable to differentiate on the basis of exclusive premium content that increases brand loyalty, translating into higher subscription revenues, then most likely would end up in the vicious and unethical trap of Tribalism. Tribalism owes allegiance to a political leader or party ideology and such media inescapably reduces itself into a propaganda machinery of the incumbent government.
Fact-based journalism assumes paramount importance in a world where fake news travels at lightning speed, to quote the legendary UK prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on”. During Covid-19 pandemic, anti-vaccination campaigners, the anti-vaxxers were spreading in the United States and Europe with their version of conspiracy theories, disinformation and pseudo-science. Such outrage on science and well-being can only be combated with fact-based, credible-informational, critical-analytical and investigative journalism to disseminate truth. Many leading global and national newspapers and publications have done laudatory work in educating the public and creating awareness on vaccination-drive to flatten the epidemiological curve. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report, the United Nations explicitly warned that the on-going concerted efforts to curb environmental degradation and climate change have been severely dented by misinformation. Several countries including the United States, Nigeria, Italy and Brazil are concerned about the spread of disinformation before major elections, carefully curated and disseminated via online to cause political instability and polarization of the electorate.
The critical role of journalism in sustenance of democracies and would-be democracies should never be undermined. In fact, free speech and free media work in tandem and therefore it isn’t surprising that in the United States, touted as a citadel of democracy, its founding fathers placed freedom of press alongside freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the First Amendment to the Constitution, right at the top of the Bill of Rights. Journalism has always been and will always be to challenge power and question authority by seeking truth and speak truth to power. Journalists are watchdogs of truth and they are entrusted to unravel truth by acting with integrity and ethics. They should be the voice of the underprivileged who are often defenseless, powerless and voiceless and by exposing social injustices and economic oppressions, fulfill the role as custodians of constitutional morality. Lord Northcliffe, the eminent 20th century British publisher, best summarizes the integral role of journalism in nation-building and maintaining democratic infrastructure, “News is what somebody, somewhere, particularly someone in power wants to suppress; rest is advertising and propaganda.”