You Need to Start Paying

By Anubhav Mishra

Mainstream media looks crazy. Not focussing on real issues and magnifying trivial ones with ‘panel experts’ has become the norm; any sensible reporting is seen as an exception. In 2020, when we face a myriad of issues, we cannot rely on the media. It will not just reject to acknowledge these issues, but even continue to suppress conversations that we require to form a social will to solve the mess caused by this pandemic. Who is to be credited? Thank the business model.

The news industry, after marketization, is a service provider, but are the readers its customers? No. Less than a percent of the newsreaders in India pay for the news, but the price of these commodities and services has been kept extremely low, in pennies to be frank, which means news is being subsidized. The industry has been dependent on advertisements, both private and public, to foot the bill. However, subsidizing news by big money is not in public interest.

Advertisements have become tools of consolidating power and influence in the media organizations, and over decades, media houses have become so dependent on this source of money that challenging the status quo seems unviable for these organizations, even though it makes them and their journalism subservient.

Good journalism requires a healthy balance sheet, at least in the medium term, but rarely is media funding even scrutinized. Even the ‘most radical’ Right to Information Act of 2005 only applies to 'public servants' and keeps media houses out of its purview. It is today almost universally acknowledged that journalism is influenced by advertisements and donations, even though there is relatively little information available, but advertisements do not just limit to corporate interference, it equally makes media houses susceptible to government interference.

With the pandemic raging, the economy has been pushed into a crater, and private organizations are enforcing austerity measures to stay afloat and have significantly reduced their investments in advertising, and since the government continues to spend on advertisements on newspapers and websites, its proportion to that of the private media houses has expanded in early 2020. Unfortunately, the government has been actively attacking the freedom of the press by using such ads. In early 2019, when the government advertisements were just about 15-20% of the total, major newspaper groups including Bennet, Coleman & Co., and Ananda Bazaar Patrika Group that have a combined readership of 26 million, alleged that the government starved these newspapers of government ads to ‘punish’ them for unfavorable reports.

India’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has fallen from 140 to a gloomy 180 and a major factor to contribute has been the government tightening its grip over the journalists. This coupled with rampant misinformation and trolling campaigns have put the press, the fourth pillar of democracy, in a position of active subservience, unnecessary equivocation, or a state of helplessness. The devil lies in the structure of the industry. There is a need for the readers to reclaim the press from the influence of big money, and to return as the most important stakeholder, 'the customer'.

When corporations and the government gain influence over journalism, it is a classic case of conflict of interest, which has climaxed to the utter decimation of press freedoms and a conducive atmosphere for trolls and ‘fake news’. To reclaim the press, encourage paid readership. Just like one pay for food to furniture, there is a need to pay for news. Free news on open platforms with the network effect, such as on social media, is meant for reactions not for disseminating facts. Similarly, television media is meant for television-rating-points (TRP), a model that thrives on extreme content and the worst reactions.

TO FIX THE PRESS, RECLAIM IT.

References:

1. India on Reporters without Borders. RSF Official Website. https://rsf.org/en/india

2. Ghoshal, Devjyot. (June 28, 2019). Modi government freezes ads placed in three Indian newspaper groups. Reuters. https://in.reuters.com/article/india-media/modi-government-freezes-ads-placed-in-three-indian-newspaper-groups-idINKCN1TT1R6

3. Goel, Vindu & Gettleman, Jeffrey. (April 2, 2020). Under Modi, India’s Press is Not So Free Anymore. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-press-media.html

4. Special Correspondent. (May 3, 2020). India slips in press freedom rankings; Javadekar slams report. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-slips-in-press-freedom-rankings-javadekar-slams-report/article31494652.ece