Is the traditional role of a Journalist dying?

It is unusual to find most of the leading Indian-newspapers concomitantly going wrong with their political commentary. Although political pundits speculate in the grey area of uncertainty, viewing a narrative that couldn't be predicted by any Journalist, is indeed an uncommon sight.

On 23rd November-2019, most newspaper headlines, even the most credible ones, stated: "Uddav Thackrey to be Maharashtra's CM". However, to their shock and surprise, It was Devendra Fadnavis that funnelled every highlight towards him by taking the Cheif Minister's oath. This is being considered as another master-stroke by Union Home Minister Amit Shah who time and again has proved to be the most robust BJP 'supremo', the party has ever seen.

This analytical error by the Indian newspapers can be read on similar lines to the infamous Chicago Tribune edition dated Nov. 3, 1948 - when it had published a headline saying " Dewey defeats Truman".

In reality, however, Truman stood as the victor. "Once the Tribune editors learned of their flub," Chicago Tribune writes, " they sent reporters out to find and destroy the roughly 150,000 copies of the paper printed with the erroneous headline." This act of self-destruction reflected the obligation that these periodicals had towards their readers. That was indeed a time when Journalism stood synonymous to courage, respect, bravery and maintained objective moral standards. Even in India, the national freedom movement got a fillip of exuberance with the spread of these newspapers. They played an indispensable role in shaping and developing national awareness among the Indian masses. They became a source of political knowledge, founded on the principles of truth and probity.

Fast-forwarding to present times, today, reporting in India has often been a contentious activity. Most of us are familiar with the terminologies such as yellow-journalism, fake news and paid news. Sparing a few newspapers, we have time and again questioned the state of stories being published in these periodicals. The miserable ranking in the World Press Freedom Index ( 140/`80 ) further highlights the frantic living of this industry.

Although speculating back-door meetings or unusual behaviour of executive heads can post a challenge both legally and socially, the Journalists, especially the investigative Journalists must up their skills with time and experience and reinvent themselves to become the eyes and ears of our constitution.

An ex-editor of a mainstream newspaper, says " If you ask me the traditional role of Journalism is dead or dying. Sooner or later, this profession will crumble as it exists today. If at all, the job has to reinvent itself as a niche area. The "generalist" approach will not work; you have to be a specialist and then work on that domain."

In this backdrop, concern rises manifold when political parties manage to trample a democratic process behind doors. Apprehensions increase when the executive is able to circumvent the public watchdogs. In the form of Journalists, today, what we seek is a strong resistance that can serve as a watchdog on the powerful and as the saying goes, comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. We seek men and women, capable of penetrating the ill walls of darkness, and illuminating what had been buried surreptitiously. Finally, we seek standards to strengthen the walls of democracy where journalists make reporting--not pontification-- as the backbone of this industry.

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twitter: @ivjyot_o

Cover Picture credit: Gaurav Nanda