With the election dates announced and nomination process just about to start, the air around us is full of rapid political activities. So many campaigns to carry out, but time seems to be flying away, just like frightened birds. If it’s the test for the parties to reach out to people, aka voters, in the most compelling manner and convince them about the virtues of their manifestos, so is the case of the fourth estate of world’s largest democracy- the media. Time is also short for them, with so many assignments to cover in such tight schedules and quench the thirst of the democratic Indian, ever hungry for breaking updates. It’s really a time when the news rooms, by default get converted into war rooms.

Monday’s media workshop in state CEO headquarters which aimed to update and refresh media persons ready to cover the simultaneous elections was also a kind of warm-up exercise. Expectedly, as because it’s elections with lots of sanctity attached, the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee parameters have been requested to adhere in particular and the universal media ethics in general.

Media, or mass media to be more precise has had a long association in the Indian way of life and dates back to the pre-independence days when several organs and mouth-pieces of the revolutionary outfits and political parties, in spite of severe repression from the British Raj went on with their mission of spreading nationalism. We have come a long way since then and now functioning as a watchdog, media has become an inseparable part of the world’s largest democracy. All throughout the year, the general Indian public characteristically depends on mass media to access news from all possible genres - political, social, entertainment, sports, business and so on. And during elections, information and analysis about the political parties, surveys, projections and panel discussions outsmarts the evening soap operas. Thankfully enough, the Indian media has enjoyed freedom in its functioning and thus evolved as the voice of the people and acted as a chain between the government and the citizens of the country, thereby strengthening democracy.

This time, the general elections will be more attractive and interesting to observe as there will be a more profound presence of a new platform- social media, whose bonhomie with almost all political parties is going from strength to strength. Inevitably, social media and its cohort data analytics will be solid actors, setting a new trend in electoral politics in the neo-digital India we exist.

But print, electronic or social, whatever may be the media’s format, what’s paramount is their responsibilities in nourishing the nation’s democracy by sticking steadfastly to ethics and morality and discarding totally any fake news and inflammatory content.Accountability must not succumb to any temptation. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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