By Vivek Pattanayak in Bhubaneswar, November 26, 2016 : The word media according to Oxford dictionary comes from the plural of the Latin word medium. In the normal sense it means television, radio and newspapers. The word “medium” conveys the sense “means by which something is communicated”. The Collins dictionary considers medium as an agency of communicating news to public etc. and media as medium of mass communication (media) like radio, television etc.

What constitutes media in popular parlance? It refers to print media and electronic media. Print media covers newspapers, weeklies, fortnightlies, monthlies quarterlies etc. including magazines, journals, and periodicals. Radio and TV, the products of the twentieth century as means of communication, have recently been overtaken by social media which represents ultra-modern electronic media. Webcasting and U-tube are another powerful means of communication.
At this stage one should also mention about the role of film, theatres, dramas, plays and in particular street plays which were extremely popular in the Latin American countries as an integral part of media. While the newspapers grew with printing press coming into being, plays and drama originated from ancient times.

In Odisha it is relevant to mention about Yatra, Palla and Dasa Kathia which have been very powerful means of communication. Film was the gift of the twentieth century and it is now being overtaken by TV films and serials with much wider and quicker dissemination. Similarly radio plays have gone in a big way to compete with plays organized in auditorium and in open area.

Next question arises who are part and parcel of the media.In the print and electronic media apart from the owners whether the government or private entities, there are journalists, columnists, editors, commentators, news readers, anchors, and those who conduct interviews and moderate discussions and even regular panelists and cameramen.

In addition to the above description of media one should include news agencies like Reuters, PTI, and Tass (of the Soviet days) etc.

Media has been referred to as the Fourth Estate, the expression having been used by Edmund Burke way back in 1783 when the reporters started covering debates in the Parliament from the gallery. It should be clarified at this stage that other three Estates in the back of mind of Edmund Burke were Clergy, Nobility and Commoners. In the present times there is mention about vibrant social media as the Fifth Estate in certain quarters.

Having given an introduction to the idea of media, it is at this stage necessary to understand what is meant by the word politics. Thereafter we can study how both have symbiotic relationship. How one influences the other and how one is dependent on other.

The dictionary meaning of the word politics states that it consists of activities concerning governing of a country. The word politics comes from the Greek word Politikos which originates from the word Polis which means city state or in general sense ‘State’. The state as a legal entity includes government (or organization) which has in turn classical basic organs (or features) like executive, legislature and judiciary , and in addition in the context of India it also includes high constitutional authorities like Election Commission, CAG, Public Service Commission and statutory bodies like Information Commission, Women’s Commission and Human Rights Commission etc. Politics also include political parties and politicians who play a very important part in governing of the country.

In the recent times in India judiciary has taken primacy in the governing architecture of the state more particularly after assertion of its ability to question validity of laws duly passed by the legislature and more prominently about tenability of constitutional amendment done even through political unanimity under a novel juridical theory of “basic structure”. The national auditor, CAG has shown its enormous ability to expose the fragile structure of executive decision-making process and its authority. The doctrine of transparency is having its sway over governance since Right to Information (RTI) has come into being.

In the background of this, media, with proliferation of print and electronic version and increasing circulation and rise in viewing, in particular electronic media has acquired tremendous amount of influence in the governing of the nation. Power structure of the state as reflected through constitutional mechanism is no longer the monopoly of classical institutions. In real world it is shared with media and also with active and vibrant civil society however amorphous it may appear.

In view of this new phenomenon one should identify the legal and constitutional basis of media. Under Article 19(1) (a) of the constitution of India there is mention of right to freedom of speech and expression. Press freedom flows out of this right to freedom. It also includes freedom to write and publish. It goes further to cover freedom to carry on business so that information can be disseminated. This right has been adumbrated by several judicial decisions.

Law includes constitutional law, statutory law, customary law, principles of natural justice, authoritative writings of jurists and judgements (judge made laws). In addition, Article 361 A of the constitution gives protection of publications of proceedings of parliament and state legislatures. This should be also clarified at this stage that freedom of media is not unlimited but subject to security of the state, sovereignty and integrity of state public order, morality, decency, contempt of court, defamation, incitement of offence and friendly relationship with foreign countries.

The right to information has given an important instrument to the media in exercising its role as Fourth Estate and serve as a watch dog of democratic governance. At the same an orderly state has to function provided secrets relating to its defence and internal security are not in p
ublic domain. It would be relevant to quote Aristotle at this stage: “State comes into being for life and continues for good life”. Hence the Official Secrecy Act continues to exist. In other words the media has to recognize the doctrine of transparency has to coexist with doctrine of secrecy.

History of the Indian media can be traced back to the British days when Friends of India and Bengal Gazette commenced publication and in the vernacular Odia language it started from the time Utkal Dipika came to light. Radio was also born during the colonial period.

TV came after independence and was confined to the national capital. The proliferation of TV started from the time of ASIAD in the early eighties. During the Nehru era based on socialist philosophy the radio and TV remained under the State control. Even BBC type autonomy was not granted. During the Emergency the Indian media was under censorship. It was after liberalization in the early nineties, private sector participation in electronic media began in the country. Since then there has been further relaxation with regard to electronic media allowing even foreign investment.

Media is subject to criticism from the institutions of power and also public in general. There is increasing talk about media trial which affects right to privacy and dignity which also constitute human right under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and subsequent international legal conventions and law of human rights in the country.

The government in power feels always uncomfortable when media subjects it to increasing scrutiny. Opposition at that time becomes its ardent defender. When the men in Opposition form government they feel the heat of media. At that time those who were in government in the past and now in Opposition become defenders of media.

Governments in the past have used the display and classified advertisement as an instrument to favour or disfavour media. The judicial intervention has limited the government’s ability to discriminate one media from other. Knowing very well how the media houses are owned or influenced directly or covertly by political dispensations the real situation is far from ideal.

Contents in the media depend upon owner, editor, correspondents, columnists and also through letters to editor of the reading public and naturally they would reflect their preferences and prejudices. Since the Indian society is diverse and heterogeneous the content need not always satisfy all.

News and views are not always separated as it used to be long many years ago. First pages would give news and middle pages would reflect views. In electronic media news and entertainment go together making a new expression called infotainment. This is sometimes called Murdochization coming from the name of media czar Rupert Murdoch.

In the light of these developments the subject of regulation of media comes up for debate in public from time to time. While there is regulation of print media through the Press Council of India, the electronic media has been under self-regulation.