Biased Media Is a real Threat to Democracy

Media are the communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver

information or data. The term refers to components of the mass media

communications industry, such as print media, publishing, the news media,

photography, cinema, broad casting (radio and television) and advertising.

Biased journalist or biased news channel shows that all policies and steps of

government or apolitical party is always right, they do not criticize government

for their wrong work and this will harm the democracy or country because

criticism is the backbone of democracy, criticism keeps the government on

right track, and media is the fourth pillar of democracy, media keeps

democracy alive. JOURNALISM, the tool by which a common man knows

about the global society. In other words, it is an extent of knowledge. The

Transparent medium has now become one way mirror. The lack of originality

and spam of unwanted content in media created mistrustfulness over that.

The sharing of fake news without analysing by us in social platforms and the

content which stimulates violence, are even shared in social platform where

the journalism’s role is much lesser is also a threat to democracy.

The Indian Constitution does not provide freedom for media separately. But

there is an indirect provision for media freedom. It gets derived from Article

19(1) (a). This Article guarantees freedom of speech and expression. The

freedom of mass media is derived indirectly from this Article. Our Constitution

also lays down some restrictions in the form of Article 19(2). Regarding the
issue of freedom of speech, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar explained the position as

follows: "The press (or the mass media) has no special right which are not to

be given to or which are not to be exercised by the citizen in his individual

capacity. The editor of a Press or the manager are all citizens and, therefore,

when they choose to represent any newspapers, they are merely exercising

their right of expression and in my judgement no special mention is necessary

of the freedom of Press at all." Legislatures, indeed, have been empowered to

impose reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expressions on the

following grounds: Integrity of India, Security of the State, Friendly Relations

with neighboring Countries, Public order, Decency or morality, Contempt of

Court and Contempt of Legislature, Defamation, and oIncitement to an

offence. Some of the major laws related to mass media in India include the

following: First Press Regulations, Gagging Act, Indian Press Act, Vernacular

Press Act, Constitutional Provisions regarding Press Freedom, Official

Secrets Act, Press and Registration of Books Act, Sea Customs Act,

Contempt of Court Act, Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act,

Parliamentary Proceedings Act, Delivery of Books and Newspapers Act,

Copyright Act, o Defense of India Act, Press Council of India Act, Police Act,

Drugs and Magic Remedies Act, Cable Television Regulation Act, Right to

Information Act.

The Challenges are :-

How spam threat to democracy?

The need to telecast 24/7 news has put pressure over the media. The fresh

content is not readily available whole day. Thus, they moved to cover even the

unwanted regional and sensational news. The lack of time failed to analyse

the originality of content and its effects in society. Caste related issues and

mob lynching are some examples. This is perfectly used by some politicians

and powerful people; they use it as a screen and do some large activities on

the background without the knowledge of media. Thus the spam and

sensational content turned the way of coverage and finally blocks the

knowledge over that content.

TRP – An enemy behind

Competitiveness in real world kills the democracy. A fair example is from 2012

Delhi Gang Rape case. The competition among the channels had made them

to release the identity of the victim and kills her more and more. And also in

case of Wing Commander Abhinandan case. Since it is a rating and totally

depends on views, much sensational and unwanted information are leaking

and released in social platform. Hence form an imbalance in the society.

Freedom of press – unwanted at certain

The blockage of two news channels by the GOI over the coverage of

ammunition stockpiled in Pathankot airbase during the attack is a perfect

example for the misuse of freedom of press. According to experts, it is better

to keep secret of defence related information, because it may challenge the

security of country. Hence freedom of press should be limited at certain cases.

Sensation collapses democracy

Covering of news or specifying symbolically or through other representation of

caste, religion and other separatist movement is unfair. Because during

telecast it may have lot of chances to support or justify over one-side and left

the rest. And, also a situation like mob lynching needs not to be spread,

because it can increase the tension. It should only be taken to the eyes of the

government. Ex: Anti-Sikh riot 1984, killing of innocent people by

misunderstanding them as kidnapers in India last year, violence on Tamil

Nadu -Karnataka people during Kaveri river water dispute, Trend of bias in

some section of media: SC judge in Rafale order etc... are some examples.
 As technology is a double edged sword. The large

numbers, speed, anonymity and secrecy attached to these conversations

have far reaching security implications. Subversive actors have proved in

recent years that they are particularly adept at utilizing the Internet and social

media to facilitate their activities.

The security implications include:

 Radicalization: Terrorist groups like Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda

and countries like Pakistan have been extremely effective in using

social media to radicalize people and position them to commit violent

acts.

 Terrorism: Many terror modules were busted by police in India, all of

whose members were groomed, trained, funded and armed by their

handlers on social networking sites. World over, there are cases of

terrorist operations, especially lone wolf attacks, being coordinated

through social media.

 Incitement of riots through hateful posts and communal videos. E.g.

Hate videos were circulated before the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013.

Pakistan's ISI is known to incite violence by circulating fake videos on

social media to incite riots.

 Cyber-crime: These include cyber bullying or stalking, financial

frauds, identity theft etc.

 Divulgence of sensitive information: Forces posted in sensitive

locations are prone to giving away their locations and assets on social

media.

 Influencing democratic processes: The latest emerging threat to

national interests is the use of these sites to influence and subvert

democratic processes by actors both from within and from enemy

countries. Examples recently were seen in US Presidential elections

and Brexit referendum.

  Cyber espionage: Sensitive information from the mobile phones used

by security personnel can be stolen using malware and social media.

Counter Measures to deal with these threats:

 Legal Provisions: IT Act 2000 under Sections 69 and 69A provides

government with the power to intercept and block any information, as

well as punish perpetrators, in the interest of security and public order

etc. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and IPC also have

provisions against spreading hatred between groups, inciting violence

and the intent or act of terrorist activities.

 Security agencies: Government agencies including National Cyber

Coordination Centre (NCCC) and Intelligence agencies actively track

terrorist activity on the social media. State police also have their own

social media cells, like the highly effective Mumbai's Social Media

Lab.

 Centralized Monitoring System (CMS): To automate the process of

lawful interception and monitoring of the internet in the country. It has

come into operation in Mumbai and will soon spread to other areas.

 De-radicalisation: The Union Home Ministry initiated counter-

radicalisation and de-radicalisation strategy in sync with cultural,

education and employment activities to counter the threat.

  Guidelines for armed forces: The Government of India issued updated

guidelines in 2016 for regulating sharing of secret operational and

service data on social media platforms.

 Monitoring social networking companies: The activities and influence

of social networking sites is also being monitored by the government

so that they prevent misuse of their platforms for subversive activities

and other cyber threats.

 International Cooperation is being promoted to deal with the often

transnational nature of the threats.

In view of the broad threat posed by social media, the Union government

needs to come up with a National Social Media Policy. All possible legal,

administrative and security related efforts must be taken up to check the use

of social media for subversive purposes. However, the need for privacy and

security has to be balanced carefully.

Conclusion
When any event happens eye witnesses see an event from their own point of

view or perspective. When the media covers news events they bring their

own bias and perspective when reporting on that event. The audience must
always look at multiple media sources to figure out what really happened by

comparing perspective, point of view, or bias. If all sources do not agree, the

audience has to find out for themselves what really happened or what the truth

is.

Social media today has emerged as a double-edged sword. While it has

transformed the way what we think, believe and act, it has led to violation of

privacy, problem of trolls, fake news etc.

• These volley of problems has called for

regulations and restrictions regarding social
media. However, regulating social media is not
only desirable but also not possible. It is the
uniqueness of social media that is self regulating:
○ Issues of privacy are being tackled with
technology and better laws. For e.g. Privacy with
Technology; EU’s General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) has become a model law for
protecting privacy.
○ Fake news is increasingly being tackled by
Social media activism and citizen journalism.
○ Social media is itself becoming the means for
educating and making people aware of the
issues and challenges of social media.
Measures towards Data Localisation
• In 2018, a draft data protection law
by BN Shrikrishna Committee also
recommended that all personal data of
Indians have at least one copy in India.
It also defined a category of data as
critical personal data, which must be
stored and processed only in India.
• A similar clause was incorporated in
Government’s draft e-commerce
policy, which recommended
localization for “community data
generated by users in India from
various sources including ecommerce
platforms, social media, search engines
etc.

○ While social media is making law enforcement

tough, it is also helping in preventing and resolving crimes at the same time.

• Need a code of practice on disinformation: In line with the code by EU, it

should allow platforms and agencies to take action in 5 areas:

o Disrupting advertising revenues of certain accounts and websites that

spread disinformation;
o Making political advertising and Issue based advertising more transparent; o
Addressing the issue of fake accounts and online bots;

o Empowering consumers to report disinformation and access different news

sources, while improving the visibility and findability of authoritative content;

o Empowering the research community to monitor online disinformation

through privacy-compliant access to the platforms' data.

• The way forward must be to ensure -:

○ Formulation and enforcement of Strict Privacy Law

○ Strict cyber security system and Law enforcement

○ Making children aware of the problems of social media right from the
beginning by Parents, Teachers and Society at large.

• The potential of social media is revolutionary. With increasing digital

penetration and increasing development of application, social media rise is
indispensable. Also, the values of social media like freedom, transparency,
openness etc. are innate to human being, part of their social being

References:-
1 Media and issues of responsibility - The Hindu

2 https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/data-protection-bill-not-in-line-with-
draft/article30307560.ece

3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India

4) https://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/00863/Contemporary_India__863821a.pdf

5) https://youtu.be/EqQOvaiUwC8

6) https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1999/3/A2000-21.pdf

7) https://esrc.ukri.org/news-events-and-publications/evidence-briefings/social-media-in-the-
armed-forces/

8) https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/sushant-singh-rajput-case-is-it-the-duty-of-
media-to-suggest-anything-to-probe-agencies-asks-hc/article32806484.ece