Law is a system of rule and regulations that a society sets in order to maintain peace and stability. Personally how I understand law is that it is used to control and shape the way an institution works. It defines the work done by the institution and whether its workers are conformists or otherwise.
Different institutions have different sets of laws and it is compulsory for each one to follow. If not followed or abided by, the consequences are in the form of punishment, suspension or the non-conformist is usually detained from the institution. In India, the Constitution is the legal document that contains all the laws explained in detail. Institutions such as schools, colleges, companies, non-profit organizations and media are regulated according to these laws.
Media in India has been used to the fullest in terms of politics, economics and society. Unfortunately there are certain sub-divisions of media or different types of media like broadcast media that have misused the amount of freedom given to it. It either sensationalizes or disrupts the lives of the common man. There are instances where the society as a whole goes through a bad phase due to either of the two dysfunctions listed above.
Sensationalism when done to a case/problem/issue that needs minimal focus at the point of it happening can have adverse effects. For instance, when the Mumbai terror attacks took place last year, the media covered the issue extensively. Three whole days of non-stop coverage of the places of attack, the movement of the NSG and the police was in fact not a good thing to happen. The terrorists were well-informed about the placement of officers in the hotels, the way they moved and which way they were approaching. This way our country lost a lot of dedicated officers who served our nation. Another instance would be the Arushi murder case. The child’s murder was spoken about for months where she was ultimately given inappropriate tags. Unnecessary investigation by broadcast media on the case took place which led to nothing but chaos. The case was closed without finding a solution.
It is not only broadcast media that can be dysfunctional at times. Print in India has been around for generations now. Although the Press Council of India has standard rules and regulations, there are instances where some papers, may it be national or regional, go against these set rules. For instance, when the bomb blasts in Bangalore took place last year, a local newspaper carried gory pictures of dead bodies lying around on the spot where the incident took place. Similarly, when the Tsunami happened, papers in Chennai carried pictures of the piles of bodies kept on the Marina beach. On the other hand, when the 9/11 incident took place in the United States, there was not one paper in the country that carried any disturbing pictures.
Similarly there are cases where the newspapers give out the names of the rape victims who are usually women. There is a law that states that the names of the victims may it be murder or rape should not be mentioned on papers. If the victims are below the age of 18 it is all the more against the law to state their names. Unfortunately most papers, even national newspapers do not follow this rule.
There are times when the media, broadcast or print, do not worry about the consequences the society might face due to their negligence or selfishness. At the same time one cannot deny the fact that the media has helped to bring out a lot of positive changes in the society. It has helped citizens to choose their right leader and make conscious decisions related to their personal lives. It has assisted people in bringing out their opinions about different issues or problems happening around them. It has given them the liberty to voice out what they feel about certain things in life. Media has helped us to be aware of our rights and fight for them.
From this, one can come to a conclusion that media has two sides to it. Therefore for it to go hand in hand with the society’s likes and dislikes, it must be regulated for it to function properly. Laws need not necessarily curb the freedom of the media. They need to be present for media to realize that there is someone watching them and carefully looking upon them. It needs to function along the lines of these laws so that it does not get into any trouble of any kind.
On a concluding note, in my opinion, I feel laws are a boon to the freedom of expression by media. Without them, things would be a lot worse than they already are.
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