The current business model of the media industry in India lends itself to state capture in one way or the other. A vibrant and independent media requires change in governance that ensures media’s financial independence, said Siddharth Varadarajan, Founding Editor, The Wire.
“If a government or a polity is committed to empowering its citizens then it should also be in favour of supporting a vibrant and free media,” Varadarajan said, adding, “Of course, a prerequisite for a vibrant media is that media should have adequate financial resources to be able to discharge its solemn obligation of providing information to citizens, readers and viewers allowing them to form informed opinions.”
‘Threat to media’
He was speaking at a panel discussion of a virtual event ‘State of Indian Media’ organised by Dravidian Professionals Forum on Thursday.
He noted that the growing tendency of criminalising journalist works and government’s intent to control media through new rules as two major dangers to the Indian media.
In his remarks, N Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, said that the media landscape in India is so diverse and pluralistic that it is hard for the government to get a grip on it.
Highlighting the plight of the Indian media industry, Ram said that the media industry, especially newspapers, was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, due to a sharp decline in circulation and advertisements, which took a big toll on the media houses.
‘No excuses’
“The whole industry has shrunk a little bit but it has become more resilient. But given the current recovery, there are no excuses left for not standing up and doing your job.” he added.
Highlighting the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) data, Ram said a total of 52 journalists were murdered in India since 1992 in connection with their work or to prevent news coverage or commentary. “What is equally horrifying is the impunity that is attached to it. None of these cases has reached its final conclusion.”
In his opening remarks, Tamil Nadu Finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, said, “At national level, media is dominated by the ruling party and we have seen the degradation all the way from alleged speaking truth to power to keeping quiet to becoming acquiescent tools to becoming blatant tools of misinformation and propagation of false news.”