MPs See Manipulation of Media as a Serious Threat

April 28, 2005 -- Several members of Parliament have recently represented to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, and other officials pointing out that large scale misuse of media has taken placein the recent controversy between the siblings of the largest industrial house in India, Reliance. It is no secret that selected channels like CNBC, Aaj Tak and newspapers like Asian Age were regularly publishing stories damaging to the elder brother in control of RIL. The letter went on to state that without going into the merits of the stand taken by newspaper or T.V channel, one fact stands out that these were also beneficiaries of large investment from Reliance Capital, a company controlling mutual funds and under the management of Mr. Anil Ambani.

The M.P's have demanded that such nexus between media and industrial house needs to be investigated by official agencies like SEBI and others. The representation focuses on the fact that the media houses mentioned above clearly benefited in terms of investments by the company under the control of one brother at the time when this campaign started,. The investments in these companies can hardly be justified on the basis of the state of their finances or future prospects. It is certainly a case for Press Council of India to look into and Government to investigate. As this is not the first or the last battle being fought for control of an industrial empire and role of media must remain neutral and transparent.

Ethics in print or electronic media has become a live issue because of recent developments like increasing use of sting operations. At the same time in print media the influence of industrial houses had become a major factor either through heavy investments or indirect help in the form of equity building. Additionally, laws governing foreign equity in media have been eased and further relaxations are expected.

The issues were very simple earlier when media was owned or controlled by few big industrial houses called: "jute Press": Today media has become a huge empire requiring investments in several crores of rupees. In many cases reverse engineering has taken place where newspaper barons have entered other industries to join the category of large industrial houses. The result is that the shape of media is undergoing a change. This change will pick up fresh momentum when foreign investment caps are relaxed or removed altogether.

The old style protection provided to journalists has also disappeared as nearly all newspapers of standing are employing journalists on contract thus doing away with job security or professional protection. The entire edifice built under the guidance of Press Commissions and several Wage Boards appointed by Government has become a matter of history as it does not exist anymore.

Under the circumstances the dangers of media being misused by local industrialists or any foreign agency has become real. After all with India becoming a major economic power, several multinationals in the fray and prospects of using the media to serve selfish interests have become real. Such political manipulations were hinted at when on the eve of last elections to the Lok Sabha the ruling National Democratic Alliance was accused of unduly influencing the media by launching a campaign "India shining" on the eve of elections which gave a bonanza in terms of several crores of rupees for the print as well as electronic media.

Yet another danger posed by such manipulations was hinted at during the Enron controversy when the American giant was reported to have spent several million dollars for so called "education of media and other decision makers". As the media become more and more of an industry with very little regulations, the dangers of such misuse will increase to a point where they can pose a serious threat to our economy and country.

In recent times, many instances of misuse of media have been brought to public notice, but not much has been done to check these abuses. For instance the publication of pictures and items by newspapers for cash consideration in local pages is being practiced by some established newspapers. These newspapers have also reduced the office of Editor to being a product manager only. These developments have created a situation where more serious forms of media exploitation can take place to the advantage of a particular group.

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