The four pillars of a democracy are
- Legislative (the Government, Ministers, MP, MLA etc)
- Executive (the IAS, IPS officers, bureaucrats, etc)
- Judiciary (the Courts)
- Press
We know that the Legislative in India is corrupt.. not functioning anywhere near the expectations.. politicians are corrupt to a large extent.. there are criminals too. etc and lot more etc
Similarly we also know that our executive is also corrupt to somewhat large extent.. bribes are required at both executive and legislative levels to get things done.. there are a lot of lazy government employees who dont do any work.. who welcome you with a deep stare at you as if you have looted their hard earned wealth.. etc and even here many more etc
Judiciary and Press are the only two institutions on which the people of India have some faith on..
People look at Judiciary and Press, than at the Legislative or Executive to solve their problems or to highlight their issues
Now what has the Legislative done?? Well, they want to control the press and the media since they feel the growing strength of the media is really threatening them.. in another year or so there will be general elections in the country and looks like the UPA really fears that it will lose power.. which is why it wants to control the media..
It came to power claiming that it is a government of Aam Aadmi, the common man today, it is everything else except that
See the CNN IBN news video on this Kill Bill
The new proposed bill (currently in draft status) to curb media freedom says that, all broadcasting channels will have an auditor from the government of India, and any content that will be broadcast on a news channel MUST BE APPROVED by this auditor, who reports to the government every day, about all that’s happening inside the news channel!!!
The news channels should not show sensitive issues, industrial controversy, issues that threaten public order, etc.. and who will decide the scope of what news item falls into which category?? The Government
So tomorrow if the government does something wrong, then the media cant report it, since the issue can threaten to bring down the government and hence affect public order
Incidents like Nandigram, Singur etc wont be reported.. because it falls under the industrial controversy category that shouldn’t be reported!
If there is a public protest against the government policies in some part of the country, then that might not be reported to the rest of the country !! Public order yaar
In other words all private channels will become subordinates of DD-1 ! Government decides what the masses have to see and what they should not! Government shapes the public opinion as and how it wants to..
Also the bill says that private channels have to take permissions before performing any sting operations!! Now I am confused about the very definition of sting operations! Take permission and then sting ! So that the culprit can rehearse well.. What a bunch of jokers..
But all said and done.. has the government forgot that there is still something called The Internet.. where ALL NEWS WILL BE ALWAYS REPORTED :)
Or are they planning to later introduce a filter on the internet too, like China? well, that technology is way too complicated to implement realistically even in China people can bypass government firewalls and access information :)
But then, see what kind of party and people the intelligent Indians have voted back into power
Right to Information? what is that ? Sorry, this is UPA, better luck next time !
[…] Click here for the english?version of this article […]
You are absolutely right Mahmood and that one day should be created by us right here today :)
Only one word i get when i learnt there is a bill to curb media;s freedom ridiculous, for a while i just thought that because of our economy and talent we have moved from being a under developed country to fst developing country but look at this riduculos stupid kind of decisions our so called politicians make and pull out own stockins amazed just feel a university coming out witha professional course on politics where there is entrance for it and imagine if there is competion for it im sure india will rise and keep rising ,During my school days i learnt that India is a rich country inhabitated by poor people, now its India is a rich country inhabitated by hungry scoundrels(read Politicians)
and there will be one day India is a rich country managed by educated intelligent Youth.
Yes, as you said as of now Internet is not the media for the Aam Aadmi, the common man, which is why we all should oppose this bill..
I was referring to the internet because, I wanted to highlight the fact that the independent media still will continue to exist on the internet, irrespective of whether this bill gets passed or not!
Atleast this bill is going to get passed unanimously….
because “”No houses are made of glasses””, whether its ruling party or opposition….
haha…
but putting breaks on news is bad for the normal public…
Internet, frankly speaking, internet is not the meduim for “”AAM Admi””..
hence news should get propagate through visuals and print media only
Yes Jayatheerthan, I agree with you
There are two different categories here…
News and Entertainment
As far as the news items are concerned, there should be no restrictions on the press.. it should be completely free to report any and every news and views
As far entertainment stuff is concerned.. Yes, regulations are definitely required to ensure that the serials and movies dont fill the minds of the people with negative, vulgar, unethical and immoral things.. movies like Murder, Kank, Metro etc are heights of to what low moral and ethical values can movies come down to, just to make money..
Only stupid people who dont have anything to achieve in life will go and watch such movies.. I watched metro and that was it.. Decided not to watch any bollywood movies here after unless and until there are really good topics and good reviews…
hmm… I agree with you that curbing the freedom of press is not good for a democracy.
But, one day or the other, we need a bill that audits the contents of other programs on TV channels — especially the mega serials… so much of negative energy is spread by them, spoiling the thoughts of people… I wonder why the so called ‘educated’ and ‘matured’ individuals love to watch programs that accumulate negative thoughts in our minds !