Except for the premeditated raid on a leading television channel, the role of the government in throttling the media is not as pronounced on the surface as some think (‘ Left, Right, Centre’ – “Is the media under siege?” June 16). Most of the top media and entertainment companies in India are owned by powerful corporate moguls and their close links with the current ruling dispensation are well-documented. It is naive to imagine that such companies would show the interest and the verve to indulge in a complete exposition of truths which have the potential to alter perceptions. For continuance of a regime exceedingly benevolent to them, Opposition parties and fellow media houses, which still believe in fair play, have to be necessarily pilloried. The media is not under siege; it is in a self-imposed state of subservience. This is a testing time for the media.
Haridasan Rajan,
Kozhikode, Kerala
The common man was never affected even during the Emergency. Nor was his freedom of expression in peril, as it is now. When acrimony arises between leftist and rightist intellectuals, the routine slogan of “freedom of the press is in danger” is raised. There is a vast difference between what the media was then and what it is now as the latter has now embraced some negatives such as “paid news” “allurement”, sensationalism and “bloating” incidents. A stray incident of a raid on a media house cannot be magnified by saying that the fourth estate is endangered.
R. Krishnamachary,
Chennai
