“It is not justified in giving 90 per cent of coverage to entertainment”
Stating that 90 per cent of the people in India are at a poor intellectual level, Justice (retd.) Markandey Katju, Chairman of the Press Council of India, emphasised here on Monday the role of the media in giving leadership to society in the realm of ideas.
“But how can the media give leadership to the people in the realm of ideas unless it is itself of a high intellectual level,” he asked, advising journalists to carefully study the social sciences, history and literature.
“The media is not justified in giving 90 per cent of its coverage to entertainment leaving only 10 per cent to real issues which are basically socio-economic in nature. Doubtless, the media should provide some entertainment. But the thrust of its coverage should be in public interest. You have lost your sense of proportion,” he said, referring to journalists, at a lecture on ‘The Role of Media in India,' organised by the Calcutta Chapter of the Public Relations Society of India.
He said that the argument that the media was also a business and must give the people what they wanted “is degrading the media. The media is not an ordinary business that deals with commodities, it deals with ideas.”
“The intellectual level of most of our people is very low. Is the media going to go down to that level and perpetuate it or should it seek to uplift it,” he said. Although he said that 90 per cent of the people in the country were at a poor intellectual level, going by the comments he had seen on the Internet and networking sites like twitter, 90 per cent of the people supported his views on the media.
On paid news, he said that there had been pressure to suppress the 71-page report on the phenomenon prepared by the two-member committee of the Press Council comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy.
Justice Katju had passed an order within an hour of taking over as Chairman of the council to publish the report on the official website.
Transition phase
He said that India was passing through a transitional period of her history from a feudal agricultural society to a modern industrial one — a painful and agonising period in history.
“In this transitional period, ideas become very important. You have to promote rational ideas, scientific ideas, and modern ideas, in order to help society get over this transitional period faster and with minimum pain,” he said ruing the fact that a large section of the media was promoting regressive ideas like astrology.
He pointed to Europe, which underwent its own transition from the 17th to 19th century, and the role of great writers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Thomas Paine and Junius in this period.
On the other hand, a large section of the Indian media was actually acting in “an anti-people manner” by diverting attention from real issues, creating rifts in a diverse country like India and promoting superstition.
Keywords: Justice (retd.) Markandey Katju, Chairman of the Press Council of India, The Role of Media in India
instead of raising the real issues of India,the issue of implementations of industrial acts like minimum wages acts,workmen compensation acts,esic act etc. are not being focused by media and exploitations of worker class of India is on its peak ,the workers are not even getting the amount to maintain their food then how their children can get education and as a result those children will become the risk for the society and for country as well ,the media is as dividing the society on the ground of religion,casteism as the politicians are not doing and these points are leading the india towards destruction.i agree with your this opinion and salute sir,Mr. Markandey Kadju for raising the issues concerned with the media and their function.i hope intellectual level of our 90% population should rise and would be able of distinguishing reality for development, and hope our society would be able to understand your three main facts about the defects of media
Statement from Justice Katju “The intellectual level of most of our people is very low. Is the media going to go down to that level and perpetuate it or should it seek to uplift it,” is commendabale.. Lesson for all junk news and movie makers alike..
What do you expect NDTV that send's poor kids to school with coca-cola
in their hands. Add the other two U.S. channels IBN and Times Now you
have 24 hour brainwashing in selling the idea that "Fair is Lovely' so
we Indians are inferior and therefore must adopt their culture of
sleaze, sex and their junk goods. Cosmetic companies can make millions
selling mascara, rouge, lipstick and other aids to enhance beauty so
why do they limit their sale to fairness creams?. Using psychology to
brainwash us into submission "Fair is lovely" is continuously drilled
into our programmable brains (human cells are like computer chips.
read "The Biology of Belief by Ph.D Bruce H. Lipton) and so the
programming goes on. Obsession with sexiness is also a way to keep one
dissatisfied, so one runs out and buys whatever new product is
sold.Women in ads are downgraded to sex objects. Now european models
replace our Indians and whitey creams peddled by soulless Bollywood
idols only add to this outright racism
The revenue of elecronic media is dependent on advertisements and the advertisement revenue depends on viewership and this in turn depends on the popularity of the contents of television shows which naturally depends on broadcasting what the the viewers want to see on their TV screens and the viewers taste depends on the cultural ambience in the country. Justice (retd.) Markandey Katju, Chairman of the Press Council of India,is starting at the wrong end of the chain of causes and effects to attack the problem. What are the parents, teachers , social activists and the government's own television channel doing in regard to galvanising the cultural progress of our children and people in general? This noble work is not likely to be done by revenue chasing TV channels and the mrdia in general.
totally agree with what the chairman of the press council of India said. The developed India should include a sufficiently large number of people having intellectually developed mind to have common voice in the society that always encourage innovative ideas free from any kind of partiality . The media is bound to show the suitable direction to the people
The comments made by Justice Katju, as usual, make eminent sense. Justice Katju is such an intellectual person that every word he utters is a gem. He has made a very strong case for the media to re-assess its priorities and embark on a path of course correction. Anyone who watches news on television is well aware of the issue that Justice Katju is trying to highlight. Media is indeed not a commodity; it’s a formidable force that has the potential to mould the opinion of an entire nation. At the same time I am little pained by Justice Katju's sweeping generalization that 90% of Indians are at a poor intellectual level. Justice Katju is indeed a highly intellectual person but as Sri Ramakrishna said "A tree laden with fruits always bends low. Humility is a sign of greatness". It is my most humble request to Justice Katju to use his intellectual prowess to positively encourage every Indian so that they can realize their true potential and contribute to nation's growth.
Your actions, ethics remind me of T.N Seshan's as election commissioner.
Hats of to you for your intention to guide our media. If one looks at
the main pages of TOI, NDTV etc..you can always find obscene pictures
and unethical content. When I installed a filter called K9, it is
blocking several pages of India's online media.
Hope people find a saviour at least with respect to Media content.
I totally agree with Hon'ble Judge. The media, especially electronic, appears to be bankrupt on ideas. The so called 'aam admi' does not want know what Ms Aishwarya is doing after delivery et all. The contents should reflect on socio-economic issues rather than Bollywood, Kollywood stars.
Since the Visual Media came in to the news world All News Channels and News Papers in India become the most corrupted section in India. Because of these corrupt Journalists support The Politicians and Business Community, Bureaucrats and all sectors are become vulnerable in India. More than Lokpal bill we need badly a Bill to control the Visual & Print medias.
It is rightly said in the Gita " whenever irreligion (adharma)crosses limits , a saviour will appear to set right the wrongs ". I think the Indian citizens have found their saviour , atleast pertaining to the erring media . 100% of the respondents have concured with Justice KATJUs views about Indian media today and agreed with his recommendation to bring about a change for the betterment of Indian society .Indians are now in quest of a non-commercialized media which can offer: presentation of national issues without mucking up the waters ;programming that expands the minds of children, documentaries that open up new worlds; news programs that keep citizens informed on world & India events ; programs that expose Indians to the worlds of music, theater, dance , culture and art.
This is what the stalwars and well wishers of Indian media need to seriously think about instead of simply opposing Justice Katjus views. Otherwise let us bring in a media like the PBS in the USA.
There is no doubt that the Indian Media needs to do a lot of soul-searching for it has strayed away from issues that really matter and, thereby, losing integrity, morality and sensitivity, among other things, in the process. But, as responsible citizens, we have failed in our duty to act as an indirect watchdog over the media, allowing the media to rely solely on TRP indicators that, in reality, do not indicate our preferences. The media should be used as an effective tool to fight against issues like corruption and poverty by spreading awareness. This can be achieved only if we stop being passive recipients and become active contributors by commending the media when it publishes what is positive or constructive and by correcting it when it publishes anything that strays from the truth. This two-pronged approach is particularly relevant and necessary while sending in our feedback when blogging on media websites, when contacting the media through social networking and, in some cases, by just writing to the editors.
The shameless attacks on the institution of the Press Council of India by the Broadcasters Association (ironically headed by a former Supreme Judge also) in the recent past, even going so far as to suggest the PCI should be wound up (Justice Verma), shows us the form of self regulation Broadcasters promote is as much a shield from adverse publicity as a spear to decimate any critics of their functioning. I would refer readers to the recent testimony of a Guardian journalist who lead the investigation into recent press infractions in the UK and the observation 'I don't trust the media to regulate itself'. We want a free press, fierce not just in form but in substance. Entrusting a body (not controlled by the Govt) with genuine legal powers to intervene (when necessary), will raise the standards of the press and electronic media. The less we here from arrogent TV editors about their mirage of self regulation, the better. Pursue the story, give us the facts, move on.
I am proud to have people like Mr. Katju in our society , who not only realized the power of media in playing a constructive role and uplifting the society intellectually and morally, but are also firmly working to make our society a better place despite of oppositions. The support Mr. Katju's view got is evident from his popularity in the social networking sites and comments on newspaper articles. We are with you Sir , India needs media as s leader who lift the masses, not who makes profit out of their poor state of mind.
Although his comments on media are valid with which most people would agree, it is unfair of him to talk about people being intellectually poor. The quality of comments he mentions on certain sites are probably poor because the reporting itself is of a poor quality and largely goes unmoderated. We can see from several reader responses here that people like to debate or atleast have an opinion about a reported issue. By far it is that over the past year and a half the media focus has shifted back to politics, social problems, economics and other governance issues than the preceding couple of years and the figure of 90% devotion to entertainment seems a bit exaggerated. Hope Justice Katju keeps his management of Press Council at the right place and does not get carried away by himslef and overreach his powers.
In the light of what Mr. Katju said can anbody assess the viral publicity given by the media for the song 'kolaveri di' ?
I agree with what Mr Katju stated so this time media should give 110% coverage to anna's symbolic fast on 11-12-2011 and give detail description of 2G scam , ADARSH scam,COMMONWEALTH scam.The role played by all stakeholder and how our goverment led by a man of impeccable integrity sat on the report of 2G scam for two years.
totally agree with Justice Katju. time media get someone to watch over
At times it appears whether a small fry like me and PCI Chairman Mr.Katju belong to this planet at all! Post retirement, my mission is to make India - Trash Free' similar to US and other developed Western nations and SEA nations Singapore and Malaysia which will help improve health standards. Similarly Mr.Katju is endeavouring his best as PCI Chairman to transform Indian media trash-free and more responsible which alone can help boost democracy. Early 21st century when I was in Chennai,I used to ask young local students why don't they opt for civil services and help build nation insted of running behind software, most of them declined saying they are least interested to work under insincere political establishment and opt for IT where they can use their intellectual prowess and excel.Thus south Indian intellectual representation in central secretariat is drastically reduced. My apppeal to my brother Editors is to do best in national interest to make India a quality democracy.JaiHind!
The chairman of the press council of India is continuing his holy pilgrimage to uplift the media and it is gratifying to find from press reports that the fourth estate has realized The realty of the situation, to serve the society and the country at large. This has come Into being because of the highly balanced approach adopted by the distinguished jurist To reform the journalists to enable them to get bouquets in their onward march. The chairmanship impartial approach, has helped the press barons to realize the arrears due from defaulting parties. Apart from that he has gone to the rescue Of the journalists who were assaulted, and this has proved that MR KATJU J, is capable Of weighing issues in golden scales and had no secret agenda in his utterances. The nation expects a golden period for the entire fourth estate, and it is heartwarming to find that the distinguished jurist has already within a short time emerged as a trend setter, With goals.
"The media is not an ordinary business that deals with commodities, it deals with ideas.” 'Idea' is to uplift the society in all level without any partiality and not to help the corporate.Here always 'ideas' are created to help the corporate and the medias are with them.
Justice Katju should explore all options to make our media serve the people and help the nation. His argument that the media is in the business of ideas and not a commodity , is a brilliant argument! He has to come up with equally brilliant solutions since media moghuls whose base instincts to worship Lakshmi and ignore her dear sister Saraswati will neither be easily convinced or will they part with this power without a gruesome fight. But, yes , the Fourth estate has its duties and maybe the time has come to ensure that they fulfill these duties.
A long overdue exposé of the media but with a positive direction for corrective action. I hope the media barons wake up to the vast opportunities available to them to provide the leadership so sadly lacking in the political area.
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