JOURNALISM AND ETHICS (part one)

When the Radia tapes first became public knowledge in 2008-2009, the county first took to discussing the idea of ethics in journalism with a serious urgency that lacked earlier. The west has been debating various aspects of journalism; the idea that the media is in cahoots with businesses leading to a host of issues that compromise the accuracy of the news presented in the media- there are recorded instances where headlines have been made up or slanted to forward the interests of the business groups or pieces of news that go against the policy of the parent company is held back etc.
The situation however, still remains dismal- newspapers are closing down regularly due to loss of loyal readership; most others are losing a valuable chunk of their income in terms of advertisements to other forms of media, the television and social media.
In India, the story is fairly different. While there are instances like the Mid Day offices shutting down in Delhi and Banglore Here, the readership for vernacular newspapers are on an increase, despite the onslaught of social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, the rising phenomenon of citizen journalism, the internet and, lest I forget, the television. However, that does not mean Indians are not haunted by dilemma of ethical journalism.

In India though, the issues are slightly different. Most widely discussed being the idea of Paid News, whether sting operations are a good idea when pursuing a story and the idea that journalists maybe accepting ‘gifts’ to write flattering stories about issues ad people. In fact, there are even cases where entire newspapers are said to be pro- political parties thereby undermining the very basic policy of objective reporting.
While the idea of TRP crazy news channels; plainly the consequence of them turning 24X7; is something the public is shamefully aware of the articles based on lack of ethics among the staff from the print media are either vague or generic. What is unclear is if this is because the newspaper is still a trustworthy source for one’s news or if it will be some time before someone uncovers the deception.
In any case, everyone will agree it is high time ethics was a part of the discussion. But what does one understand by ethics. In various professions there are times when you are faced with situations that test your loyalty as a professional and test your calibre as a human being. It is how we deal with the situation, while keeping certain values in mind that matters.