When the fourth pillar of democracy rather sensationalise rapes and let out bloodthirsty cries for justice, editorial gatekeeping dies in encounters too.
Under the Modi government, dissent is seditious, protests are ‘anti-national’, activists are harassed, and free speech is censored through pressure on media owners.
B.R. Ambedkar met Naval Bhathena at US' Columbia University in 1913, where he was studying on a scholarship given by Baroda's Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III.
The PM did make a valid point when he criticised the Congress for categorising the entire Muslim community in Karnataka under the Other Backward Classes. It is pure appeasement of Ashraaf Muslims and discriminates against Pasmandas.
Speaking at launch of economist Surjit Bhalla’s book, S Jaishankar also highlights Gen Z’s engagement with ‘reel culture’, which has 'promoted awareness, created interest in many subjects'.
Germany’s erstwhile Christian Democratic Union govt, led by Angela Merkel, prevented sale of small arms to police forces in states they perceived had ‘bad human rights record’.
Media is business – a big one at that. Always, desperate for breaking stories, encounters of this type fill the screen for the whole day. They can make or break careers and make a celebrity out of a nobody; Kejriwal being an example. Unlike the US where the judiciary is still powerful, or the UK where the legislature still dominates, Indian media have been less powerful but more enterprising: acting as a power brokerage! Ethics? All tosh.
Media’s lack of expertise, depth and follow through are much bigger problems than the sensationalization. If a criminal is unlikely to receive punishment, then why should the police bother to catch them? Why shouldn’t an angry mob kill when they know that the system cannot deliver justice? Judicial dysfunction is central to extra-judicial killings – yet it receives just a cursory mention.
Every case takes a decade to resolve, if it is ever resolved at all. By that time the witnesses are gone, the investigators have retired and, the media is busy sensationalizing something else. This is one of the key reasons why conviction rates are so low. Just recently, a milk adulteration case was resolved after 30 years. The media never asked: why is the Supreme Court wasting its time on this case and why does a simple case take so long?
The CJI’s response to the Hyderabad killing was: “justice shouldn’t be instant”. How thoughtless for him to say that! What a lack of understanding it betrays and how wrong his priorities are. This case will degenerate into a discussion of how our democratic society is becoming lawless and how the govt is or isn’t responsible for it. Lost in that din will be any notice of the collapse of the legal system. The collapse isn’t recent and decades in the making. How much time does media devote to discussing the failure of the judicial system?
I have a theory. There is much to question and outrage over in today’s India. Normally, with calm professionalism, the media should be tearing into all that is wrong, holding power to account. For many, led by Republic / Times Now ( the reason I do not mention other channels is because I know even less about them, Sudhir Chaudhury’s Zee, for example ) that is just not possible. Lots of no go areas. So all that bottled up frustration finds an outlet in this genre, where strong criticism will not be seen as lese majeste.
Media is now either (ideological) bias or business; balance is missing. So it is not surprising that people do not trust media.
Media is business – a big one at that. Always, desperate for breaking stories, encounters of this type fill the screen for the whole day. They can make or break careers and make a celebrity out of a nobody; Kejriwal being an example. Unlike the US where the judiciary is still powerful, or the UK where the legislature still dominates, Indian media have been less powerful but more enterprising: acting as a power brokerage! Ethics? All tosh.
The media has been famously left to self police itself. How well is that happening?
Media’s lack of expertise, depth and follow through are much bigger problems than the sensationalization. If a criminal is unlikely to receive punishment, then why should the police bother to catch them? Why shouldn’t an angry mob kill when they know that the system cannot deliver justice? Judicial dysfunction is central to extra-judicial killings – yet it receives just a cursory mention.
Every case takes a decade to resolve, if it is ever resolved at all. By that time the witnesses are gone, the investigators have retired and, the media is busy sensationalizing something else. This is one of the key reasons why conviction rates are so low. Just recently, a milk adulteration case was resolved after 30 years. The media never asked: why is the Supreme Court wasting its time on this case and why does a simple case take so long?
The CJI’s response to the Hyderabad killing was: “justice shouldn’t be instant”. How thoughtless for him to say that! What a lack of understanding it betrays and how wrong his priorities are. This case will degenerate into a discussion of how our democratic society is becoming lawless and how the govt is or isn’t responsible for it. Lost in that din will be any notice of the collapse of the legal system. The collapse isn’t recent and decades in the making. How much time does media devote to discussing the failure of the judicial system?
I have a theory. There is much to question and outrage over in today’s India. Normally, with calm professionalism, the media should be tearing into all that is wrong, holding power to account. For many, led by Republic / Times Now ( the reason I do not mention other channels is because I know even less about them, Sudhir Chaudhury’s Zee, for example ) that is just not possible. Lots of no go areas. So all that bottled up frustration finds an outlet in this genre, where strong criticism will not be seen as lese majeste.
Cracks???? The pillar doesn’t exist anymore.