Commentary on Indian Media by Ritendra Bhattacharya

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It is often believed that Media is the Fourth Pillar, along with Judiciary, legislature and executive that is responsible for supporting democracy. But since the Media organizations are not sponsored by the Government unlike the other three pillars, continuous flow of revenue dictates Media’s survival. Moreover media does not exist in a vacuum nor does it enjoy monopoly power in most of the states. “Sensationalism” can be viewed as a cream that differentiates various cakes of same taste to get peoples interest and thereby ensuring the survival of the organization ‘making the cake’ that is Media Organization. In an environment where 24 hour news channels rule the roost, it is often very difficult for the media organizations to deliver the news to its target audience and do it successfully over a long period of time. It cannot be ruled out that sensationalism of news can hurt the interest or feelings of certain people or community. To ensure such incidents do not take place privacy laws are a handy tool for such community. If sensationalism of news is looked as a violation of the principles of ethical news making, then news organizations cannot survive in a competitive atmosphere and the society could be pushed back to the dark ages in such a scenario. Finally it can be said that sensationalism is an antidote that supports the life process of the media organization and thereby the democracy and ensures its survival.

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