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An Essay: Role of media in a democracy.

:
Introduction

Democracy means A system of government in which all the people of a country can vote to elect
their representatives. Media came into existence in 1780 with the introduction of a newspaper
namely The Bengal Gazette and since then it has matured leaps and bounds. It has been playing
a very important role in shaping human minds.

Role of media

Media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a democracy. Media
makes us aware of various social, political and economical activities happening around the world. It is
like a mirror, which shows us or strives to show us the bare truth and harsh realities of life.

The media has undoubtedly evolved and become more active over the years. It is the media only who
reminds politicians about their unfulfilled promises at the time of elections. T.V news channels
excessive coverage during elections helps people, especially illiterates, in electing the right person to
the power. This reminder compels politicians to be upto their promises in order to remain in power.

Television and radio have made a significant achievement in educating rural illiterate masses in making
them aware of all the events in their language. Coverage of exploitative malpractices of village heads
and moneylenders has helped in taking stringent actions against them by attracting governments
attention.

The media also exposes loopholes in the democratic system, which ultimately helps government in
filling the vacuums of loopholes and making a system more accountable, responsive and citizen-
friendly. A democracy without media is like a vehicle without wheels.

In the age of information technology we are bombarded with information. We get the pulse of the
world events with just a click of a mouse. The flow of information has increased manifolds. The perfect
blend of technology and human resources (journalist) has not left a single stone unturned in unearthing
rampant corruption in politics and society. We all are well aware of what tehelka did. Thanks to
technology that has brought a kind of revolution in journalism.

Impact of media

The impact of media is really noteworthy. Excessive coverage or hype of sensitive news has led to
communal riots at times. The illiterates are more prone to provocations than the literates. Constant
repetition of the news, especially sensational news, breeds apathy and insensitivity. For instance, In
Dhananjoy Chatterjee case, the overloaded hype led to death of quite a few children who imitated the
hanging procedure which was repeatedly shown in most of the T.V. news channels. There is a plethora
of such negative impacts. Media should take utmost care in airing or publishing such sensational news.

Commercialization has created a stiff competition in media. In order to outdo each other print media
has often gone one step further in publishing articles, cover stories, etc. on sex.
Media experts say this is one of the means of attracting readers who are glued to T.V. news channels,
which have cropped up swiftly in a recent past and they believe this is a cheap form of journalism.
Conclusion

No one is perfect in this world and so is the media. Here I am not degrading the media, rather I would
say there is still a lot of scope for improvement by which media can raise upto the aspirations of the
people for which it is meant. I cannot think of a democracy without active and neutral media. Media is
like a watchdog in a democracy that keeps government active. From being just an informer it has
become an integral part of our daily lives. With the passage of time it has become a more matured and
a more responsible entity. The present media revolution has helped people in making an informed
decisions and this has led to beginning of a new era in a democracy.

OECD examines the future of news and the


Internet

The OECD report "The future of news and the Internet" provides an in depth-treatment of the
global newspaper market and its evolution, with a particular view on its economics, the
development of online news, related opportunities and challenges and policy approaches.

Below are some highlights from the report. For further information, journalists are invited to
contact Spencer Wilson, OECD Media Division (spencer.wilson@oecd.org or tel. + 33 1 45 24
81 18).

The evolving newspaper publishing industry, its economics and the downturn

After very profitable years, newspaper publishers in most OECD countries face declining
advertising revenues, titles and circulation. The economic crisis has amplified this
downward development.
About 20 out of 30 OECD countries face declining newspaper readership, with
significant decreases in some OECD countries. Newspaper readership is usually lower
among younger people who tend to attribute less importance to print media.
The regional and local press are particularly affected and 2009 is the worst year for
OECD newspapers, with the largest declines in the United States, the United Kingdom,
Greece, Italy, Canada, and Spain.
Employment losses in the newspaper industry have intensified since 2008 particularly in
countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain.
However, large country-by-country and title-by-title differences and the data currently do
not lend themselves to make the case for the death of the newspaper, in particular if
non-OECD countries and potential positive effects of the economic recovery are taken
into account.

Estimated newspaper publishing market decline in OECD countries, 2007-2009 (in per cent)
Figure 2 in study

The Economics of the newspaper industry

On the revenue side, the global newspaper publishing market derives about 57 per cent of
its revenues from advertising. The reliance on advertising is extremely high in countries
such as the United States.
On average, online advertising only accounted for around four per cent of total
newspaper revenues in 2009, and fell strongly in 2009. In general, the online revenues of
newspapers are miniscule in comparison to total revenues and online revenues of other
digital content industries.
On the cost side, costs unrelated to editorial work such as production, maintenance,
administration, promotion and advertising, and distribution dominate newspaper costs.
These large fixed costs make newspaper organisations more vulnerable to the downturns
and less agile in reacting to the online news environment.

Contribution of advertising and copy sales to paid-for daily newspaper revenues (Figure 12 in
report), in per cent, 2008 or latest year available
Online news: Developments, value chains, business models and actors

In some OECD countries, more than half of the population read newspapers online (up to
77 per cent in Korea) but at the minimum 20 per cent read newspapers online. The
willingness to pay for online news remains low.
For the most part reading news online complements other forms of news reading. Most
surveys show that active offline newspaper readers tend to read more news online.
Countries such as Korea where offline newspaper reading is less popular than online
newspaper reading are the exception.
While younger age groups are much more active online news readers, it is usually
slightly older groups -- 25-34 year-olds who are most active in most OECD countries.
Despite these findings, the share of people who only read online news is likely to grow
rapidly with new generations who start using the Internet early in life. The real concern is
that a significant proportion of young people are not reading conventional news at all.

Proportion of individuals reading/downloading online newspapers/news magazines over the


Internet for private purposes in per cent of individuals aged 16-74 (Figure 18 in report)
Internet traffic to online news sites

In all OECD countries, Internet traffic to online news sites has grown rapidly. About 5 per
cent of all Internet visits are related to reading news online, which is a conservative
estimate.
More recently newspaper websites have seen strong growth in their own pages, with large
newspapers reporting several million unique visitors to their pages per month.
Search engines and their news services are very important in terms of referring Internet
traffic to other online news sources.

The future of news creation and distribution: Opportunities and challenges

The impacts of the changing media landscape on news are pulling in two opposite
directions.

1. One extreme is that online and other new forms of more decentralised news will
liberate readers from partisan news monopolies which have tended to become more
concentrated and to dominate the production and access to news.
2. The other extreme is that the demise of the traditional news media is with us
(partially caused by the rise of the Internet), and with it an important foundation for
democratic societies is at risk

Business and policy issues


Given the central role of news for democratic societies, the evolutions of news creation
and distribution are a matter of public interest. The question is whether and how the
production of high-quality and pluralistic news content can be left to market forces alone.
In the short-term, some OECD countries have put emergency measures in place to
financially help the struggling newspaper industry. Moreover, the question is currently
being debated what potential roles government support might take in preserving a diverse
and local press without putting its independence at stake.
Support measures and topics being debated include: (i) the improvement or
intensification of existing state support policies (direct or indirect subsidies) and an
extension to online news providers; (ii) new approaches to the protection of newspaper
content, (iii) the relaxation of competition and media diversity laws; (iv) the role of
public broadcasters; and (v) the reliability and governance of online news.

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