Its all about a free press

A free press is the bedrock of a democratic setup. But today our fourth estate is being victimised by many. The attack of the NDTV Ahmadabad office is a case in this point. A fledgling Hindu organisation attacked the NDTV office as a mark of protest and disapproval against nomination of M.F. Hussain in an opinion poll they were conducting on the Bharat Ratna. It's an act condemned by all quarters of Indian civil society or is it?

Veteran journalist K.M. Panikkar has said that among the institutions that contribute to the make-up of a public sphere, the media perform the most critical function. A public sphere is the core of democracy where issues of importance are debated and information is presented which is important to citizen participation. Why is the public sphere so important? American scholar Ben H.Bagdikian has pointed out that a lack of diversity in knowledge in a dynamic society, especially a democracy leaves the population "partially blinded."

It is perhaps not the first time that an office of the press was attacked. Mobs viciously attacked the office of Dinakaran last year protesting against an opinion poll published in the paper. The windows of the office were smashed, the furniture was broken.

What I found disappointing in these cases was that the citizens of India did not get much space to react. Criticisms of the Indian people were limited to small spaces in the print media and non existent in broadcast media. It is then I feel that our free press is stumbling in the face of increasing pressures as it is more a matter of pride and ego than genuine concern over the issue for both inside the media and outside.