Should Indian media be held accountable or should they enjoy impunity?

"Your only right is to perform your duties perfectly". Geeta 2:47. It is the eternal line said by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the battle of Kurukshetra. The line pretty much sums up the Oriental perspective on the rights and duties of any persons. The line implies that the only rights a person enjoys is the right to perform ones duty perfectly.

Right for oriental society is not a claim against another person but the claim against ones own self. The right to claim to yourself to perform your duty perfectly. This is the maxim that we have lived by all the generations till this day and age. But somewhere in the corners of our own civilization, we can feel that we have strayed very far from our own ideals and we have become something which we never were, a deceitful person.

The Indian news media is no different. They fall on the category of press and the press is considered to be the fourth organ of any democratic state. The rational behind the "fourth organ of democratic society" is that the media firstly enjoys the 'right to speech and expression' guaranteed by the Indian constitution and ensures others also enjoy the same rights too. Furthermore, press is based on the principle of 'self governance' that is it is governed by the self through its ethics and standards.

The press is regulated by the "News broadcasters associations" prescribed ethics. Some prominent principles have mentions like "journalist of electronic media are to adhere to the highest possible standards of public service and integrity" and also "dissemination of news in democratic society is to educate and inform the public of the happening of the country and then the public makes their own conclusion."

Honestly, do you readers think any news media of our generation follow the ethics that they have chosen to be 'self governed' by? Do you think 'news media' are accountable when they say they are 'self governed?"

The axiom 'self governed' is an axiom that protects the media from the clutches of the government control. When a media is tainted by the authority of government then the media becomes agent of suppression of free speech and expressions. But today the 'self governed' axiom has highly been exploited to pursue an their own political agenda.

One issue on which all the medias agree and relentlessly pursue is to defame 'Oriental cultures". In the initiative they have now started targeting 'baba' because they are the epitome of oriental culture. The baba's I am talking about are not those 'babas' who media have sobriquet-ed as babas. They have distinctively selected and target some babas so that they can pursue their TRP and also hidden agendas.

They repeatedly call babas fake and give their subjective views. A media persons job is not to become subjective and presents the facts as per their own subjective view. If it is subjective, it is biased because not every person thinks the same way. It is imperative that facts be soon as it is and the viewers reach a conclusion. But this is not what's happening. They feed the public information of their choice and make them swallow it with force. This is not journalism but demon-ism.

As far as media accountability is concerned, they are immune from accountability because they are 'self governed' through their own ethics. Strictly, accountability also means sanction. Media's being 'self governed' violates some fundamental principle of natural law which says "nemo iudex in sua causa"which translates to "no one can the judge in ones own case".

How can a media be accountable when they are the judges of their own actions? Normally, if any person doesn't put forth complain then the actions of the media are held to be ethical. It is only after a complain is filed, then necessary actions are taken. So, is this the idea of 'self governance?' Can it not be concluded as an 'unfair double standards' enjoyed by the media in the name of impunity based on the conviction of 'fourth organ' of government or in board term state.

Media like any other institution should be held liable. As the three forms of the government i.e the judiciary, executive and legislative organs 'checks and balances' each other but what about the media?

Should their be a watch dog like ombudsman for media or any other institution for not allowing the media to go ultra-vires?

For instance, demonizing the poor babas and the oriental culture? What good do they yield from it? Is it ethical for the medias to act such lows by bashing the babas and the opposition politician and thinkers in the name to get TRP. Is that their definition of being 'objective?'. Media today have become great bigots as they do not let the other person speak nor let them put their opinions forward. The prime example can be witnessed in any prime time show where the people shamelessly keeping aside their ethics and so called 'self governance' to rest and acting on behalf of their own bigotry.

It is high time for Indian media to improve their own image so that they do not loose their credibility in the eyes of the public. How would it sound to the 'Indian medias' when  they have to face the situations like the western media face fall when president Trump supporters call them fake news in the campaign? Is that a good sign for the fourth organ of the government in loosing credibility or should they take radical steps for their own transformations? They should not only be 'self governed' but also 'self sanctioned.'