Time to revive, reform, and restructure state-controlled media

Last week’s column analysed India’s widespread news and information crisis. Delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture on Thursday, October 26, I&B Minister Smriti Irani also alluded to it. Speaking on the “Model for Broadcast Landscape for Democracies,” Irani lauded the achievements of Prasar Bharati, and highlighted the innovative outreach efforts such as the PM’s Mann Ki Baat. She stressed the need for greater regionalisation and more accurate measurement mechanisms of media impact and ratings.

But Irani did not go far enough. Actually, India has an unprecedented opportunity to revive and reform state media as to ensure its independence, credibility, and reliability. Modelled on the BBC, Prasar Bharati, an autonomous body formed by an Act of Parliament, took over All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) in 1997, to become the largest broadcasting agency in India. However, lack of vision and will, not to mention the insecurity of ruling regimes, reduced it arguably to just another arm of the government — hamstrung, inefficient, and bureaucratic.

Our multiple private mainstream media providers have deteriorated too. Presently they offer more puffery, if not propaganda, than news. Just as parties have an official line, so do news organisations, though the big ones like to play it both ways. Moreover, once-mighty and uber-influential media moguls now face the bitter harvests of past indiscretions and misdeeds. Anchors, almost to overcompensate, have become holier-than-thou televangelists with goggle-box pulpits. They fulminate, denounce and provoke, egging on their invitees to outscream and outshout each other rather than participate in responsible or meaningful debates.

Social media, though highly effective, abounds in philistines, Pharisees, mountebanks, crooks, and, of course, fake handlers, handles and bots. The latter have been in the news lately for swelling flagging celebrity-followers by tens of thousands. Filled with falsehoods and fabrications, they display intemperate invective, slander, abuse, and multiple other pathologies that go under the blanket term ‘trolling’. Social media too has failed to offer an alternative to mainstream media. Even newspapers, which long the mainstay of the latter, are in a state of decline, with more ads, snippets, and fluff than serious reporting and news.

State-sponsored media may thus be best positioned to correct this sorry scenario. PM Modi has already made it a point not to invite journalists from private media houses on free junkets during his numerous trips abroad. Only DD and AIR have scoop rights on the “news” he generates. Similarly, in many important state and governmental functions, it is the sarkari channels that have continued to enjoy home turf advantage. Given their unmatched cumulative broadcast range and penetration, it is these channels that can not only deliver reliable news and commentary but reach the widest number of people in India. Add Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV and radio channels and what we have is nothing less than a behemoth of state-supported media.

Why not set it free of governmental control and political interference? Imagine the additional multiplier effect if these channels consciously and consistently improved their digital footprint too. Only a confident government backed by a farsighted political party can bring about the reforms necessary to undertake such a radical overhaul. True, state-funded outlets will inevitably convey the broader political line or vision of the party in power. But if purposively and comprehensively transformational, they can still be more credible and legitimate than commercial players, provided they maintain not just functional autonomy, but internal diversity and variety. Without an overwhelming profit motive, such channels will be free of TRP and advertisement slavery. Indeed, if they improve the quality of their wares, they may come to represent less compromised journalism. They may even break the stranglehold of English language ‘Lutyens’ media on the dominant narratives of the nation. The consequent regionalism and decentralisation will allow people all over India to access the news and information in accordance with their own needs.

The potential is so immense, but so much will need to be undone, done, and re-done. The total reconstitution of the management and governance structures of these organisations will be only the painful but necessary first step. The professional training of employees, especially journalists and editors, weeding out of dead wood, upgrading of hardware, software, and manpower, optimal leveraging of existing resources, incentives for excellence will be some of the measures to follow. In all, only a new eco-system of excellence and progress will save these institutions from further decay, enabling them to live up to their potential to inform, educate, influence, and even move the masses.

But who will bite the bullet? In the last three years, we’ve already seen as many as four I&B ministers. Political power accompanied by visionary determination is a rare combination, even in the best of times. Will this regime be the game-changer when it comes to state-sponsored media?

The author is a poet and professor at JNU. Views expressed are personal.