Role of Media as Social Change

Introduction:-

"Pen is mightier than Sword"- this old proverb seems to be true even in today's context as the
media seems to gain strength in the modern society. Media includes mass media like TV, News
channels, Newspapers, Radio, journals, magazines and most importantly internet and email. The
sphere of influence of media is increasing day by day as the coverage of a small news article is
very wide these days and more importantly in this modern society, media plays the role of
facilitator of development, disseminator of information and being an agent of change. Today,
media is considered the fourth pillar of the state all over the world. More importantly this is very
true in the context of a biggest democracy like India. 1 In this decade of knowledge and awareness
there is a huge and grand role of media, it is all around us when we watch on Television, listen to
on the radio, read to the books, magazines, and newspapers, every where we want to collect
some knowledge and information and a part of this media has to present a very responsible role
for our society. Without the media, people in societies would be isolated, not only from the rest
of the world, but also for the total formation of creditable world.2

Objectives:-
The objective of this research paper is to undertake a first attempt –

1. To explore the Functions and Responsibilities of Media in Society.

2. To analyse the relationship between Media & Social Progress.

3. Role of Media in Good Governance

4. To analyze the Social, Economic and Cultural Impact of Media in Society.

1. Functions & Responsibilities of Media in Society:- The constitution gives us the

freedom of speech in our country. However, we must keep in mind that exercising these
liberties includes duties and responsibilities also. Therefore, the Media is a fundamental part
of our Society and has become a leading influence and also it has an outcome on our Nations’

1
Role of Media in Promoting Communal Harmony; National Foundation for Communal Harmony; New Delhi;2012
2
Role Of Media In Social Awareness; International Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences;Vol 1 (01) August 2013, [ISBN
978-93-83006-16-8]; Research Scholars; Pradeep Kumar Dwivedi, Ingita Pandey
 future, viewpoint, and the globe’s view of us. The functions of media can be classified into
two categories: general functions and specific functions.   

Under the general functions of media, following points are included:-

a) Information: Dissemination of information is the major function of media. Since

information is knowledge and knowledge is power, media offers authentic and timely
facts and opinions about various event and situations to mass audience as informative
items. Information provided by media can be opinionated, objective, subjective, primary
and secondary. Informative functions of media also lets the audiences know about the
happening around them and come to the truth. 

b) Education: The most vital function of Media is that it also educates the Society side by
side. It provides education in different subjects to people of all levels. They try to educate
people directly or indirectly using different forms of content. Distance education
program, for example, is a direct approach. Dramas, documentaries, interviews, feature
stories and many other programs are prepared to educate people indirectly.

c) Entertainment: The other important function of media is entertainment. It is also viewed

as the most noticeable function of media. Actually, entertainment is a kind of
performance that provides pleasure to people. Media fulfill this function by providing
amusement and assist in reducing tension to a large degree. But these days, media have
comprised information and education through entertaining programs. The fusion of
entertainment and information is called infotainment. Similarly, the inclusion of
education in entertaining programs is regarded as edutainment.
Along with the above mentioned general functions, media performs some specific functions too.
Hence, the specific functions of media are explained below:
a) Surveillance: Surveillance denotes observation. Here observation means to watch the
society closely. The function of media is to observe the society closely and continuously
and warn about threatening actions to the mass audience that are likely to happen in
future in order to decrease the possible loss. Likewise, media also informs about the
misconducts happening in the society to the concerned authority and discourage
malpractices among mass audience in the society. Warning or beware surveillance occurs
when the media inform us about threats from hurricanes, erupting volcanoes, depressed
 economic conditions, increasing inflation or military attack. These warnings can be about
immediate threats or chronic threats.
b)   Interpretation: The media do not supply just facts and data but also explanations and
interpretation of events and situations. Media offer various explanations correlating and
interpreting information to make the reality clear. Unlike normal reporting, interpretation
functions provide knowledge. News analysis, commentaries, editorials, and columns are
some examples of interpretative contents. Basically, such types of interpretative contents
are prepared by those journalists who have a vast knowledge of background information
and strong analytical ability.
c) Linkage: The function of media is to join together different elements of society that are
not directly connected. For instance: mass advertising attempts to link the needs of buyers
with the products of sellers. Similarly, by broadcasting news of those suffered from the
disease or natural disasters, media can help in collecting aids and provide the collected
amount to the victims. In this way, media become bridge between different groups who
may or may not have direct connection.
d)    Socialization: Socialization is the transmission of culture.  Media is the reflector of
society. It socializes people, especially children and new-comers. Though the process of
socialization media help to shape our behaviors, conducts, attitudes and beliefs. The
process of socialization brings people close and ties them into single unity the media has
the responsibility to give readers, viewers and listeners accuracy and accountable.
Nonetheless, the media should uphold fairness and meticulousness. For this purpose the
media has assembled into the most crucial aspect of our era, influencing every citizen
settling the unease relating to media responsibility today, but also challenging to
characterize the importance of the responsibility. The media are what we read, listen to
and watch; the foremost impact is psychological, intellectual and share commercial
implications.  A utilitarian purpose can be proficient only through an endeavor to add
diverse ethical standards established by the social order to improve our society . The
social responsibilities expected from media in the public sphere were deeply grounded
with the acceptance of media as the fourth estate, a term coined by Edmund Burke in
England. With the formation of the 1947 Commission on the Freedom of the Press the
social responsibility of media became a strong debating point. It was formed in the wake
of rampant commercialization and sensationalism in the American press and its
dangerous trend towards monopolistic practices. The report of the Hutchins Commission,
as it was called, was path breaking on its take on social responsibility and the expected
 journalistic standards on the part of the press. The theory of social responsibility which
came out of this commission was backed by certain principles which included media
ownership is a public trust and media has certain obligations to society; news media
should be fair, objective, relevant and truthful; there should be freedom of the press but
there is also a need for self regulation; it should adhere to the professional code of
conduct and ethics and government may have a role to play if under certain
circumstances public interest is hampered (McQuil, 2005).

Role of Media in Good Governance:

Good governance has been considered important since ancient times while the media in its
present day avatar is a relatively new industry. The ancient Roman Empire, which existed
approximately 2000 years ago, was formed on the basis of good governance of smaller, diverse
kingdoms. Since then, irrespective of whether a state was a republic or a dictatorship, good
governance has been a requirement for functioning of any society. Leaders are the supreme
authority accountable for good governance but if the quality did not satisfy people, they
challenged these authorities to ensure a worthy level of governance.

Traditionally and constitutionally, the media has no defined role in governance. It doesn't have
the power to change any decisions made by the various arms of a state––the legislature,
executive and the judiciary. Yet, the media plays one of the most important roles in the
functioning of any society. It amplifies the voice of citizens and communicates their opinions to
the lawmakers. Pandit Nehru called media the watchdog of our democracy. This handed the
media a huge responsibility in the functioning of our society. Newspapers and radios facilitated
India’s freedom struggle and since then have continued to play a central role in social and
political movements that looked after the interests of diverse communities and minorities. This
led to them being governed better. The Narmada Bachao Andolan is a prime example of this.

In theory, the media appears to be a perfect check on good governance but it has been accused of
not fulfilling its responsibilities. It is said to be biased towards some political parties and runs
advertising campaigns for them. Media companies are suspected of charging money for
publishing articles, which leads to the problem of news being influenced by wealthy people.
Wealthy companies that tend to look after their own interests are increasingly running media in
India.

 
Relationship between Media & Social Progress:

Historically, the media was born as organs of the people against the feudal oppression. In
Europe, the print media played an important role in transforming a feudal society into a modern
one. The print media was widely used to prepare and organize the people during the French and
American Revolution. The people were able to know the thoughts and teachings of great thinkers
from various part of the world. During India's struggle for the freedom, the leaders like Mahatma
Gandhi, Tilak, Nehru etc. used the print media extensively to reach the masses. In present times
also, print media is very popular. It provides information on wide variety of subjects, the local
issues are brought forward in eyes of the public by the regional newspapers. The national
newspaper deals with mostly national and international issues. The newspaper tends to be neutral
on most subjects, and is catering to mostly intellectual people.

The radio broadcast medium is very popular in rural areas. The radio reaches the remote parts of
the country and it is very simple to use. The government broadcasts weather related information
via radio channel which is very essential for the farmers, similarly the warnings related to flood
is broadcasted near the coastal areas for the fishermen. It is easy and inexpensive to create
customized programme for different regions. The government also uses it to popularize its
scheme related to rural areas.

The growth of this medium is very important for the inclusive growth of our country as most of
the people have access to only this medium. The TV medium has the maximum impact on the
mind of the people due to its presentation. People are able to catch real time event in form of
breaking news. It is also a popular form of entertainment. The latest is the internet based
medium, here the reach is immense restricted only by the penetration of internet. The message is
just flashed on the website and millions of people can get the information at their convenient
time. It also very cheap to broadcast message over the internet. Many government agencies have
started using this medium to transfer relevant information.

In a developing country such as India, the media have a great responsibility to fight the backward
ideas such as superstition, casteism and communalism. It also needs to help people in their
struggle against poverty and other social evils. Since a large section of people is backward and
ignorant, it is responsibility of the media to bring modern ideas to them and remove their
ignorance. There is huge economic disparity in India, it has fourth largest number of billionaires
in the world, but is ranked only around 125th in Human Development terms. The media need to
work especially towards the welfare of the poor.

Presently there are thousands of journalists who cover events like cricket match, fashion week,
movie launch parties but there are only few who cover issue of national importance like farmer
suicide, unemployment of youth, income disparity etc. Many TV news channel frequently show
programme on astrology. Common sense would tell us that the movement of the stars and planets
can have no rational connection with our lives. Astrology is totally unscientific but many TV
channels continue to promote it, instead of this they should be promoting scientific views and
latest technologies. Media play an important role in promoting government's policies like fight
against diseases such as polio, AIDS, cancer etc.

Recently we have also witnessed a case of media activism, in some high profile cases such as
Jessica Lal and Aarushi Talwar. In both these cases media went an extra mile to do its
investigation and the accused were pronounced guilty before the verdict of the judiciary. The
media was also reprimanded in the Aarushi Talwar case for its investigative journalism by the
Supreme Court.

In cases where injustice is done, its alright for media to bring it to the public attention, but it
should leave the decision making to the judiciary.

The journey of India from a developing nation to a developed one will depend a lot on the role
played by the media in the country. It needs to focus on the real issues, which are mostly social
and economic in nature, instead to trying to divert the attention to the non-issues.

Social, Economic & Cultural Impact of Media in Society:

The mass media possesses a great deal of influence in today’s society such as high profile court
cases and news events.  Newspapers, radio, magazines and television are able to use their own
judgment when reporting current events.  In today’s landscape the media has used its position to
sway the minds of many individuals in society.  This has been used quite often to spread liberal
propaganda. Alternatively the media and its responsibilities to the public and society are very
enormous and carry a great deal of weight. On the contrary a lot of people look to the media to
be fair and balanced. An instance of this can be seen recently regarding the uproar of George
Zimmerman case of Travon Martin.  Therefore NBC news left out an important part of a recent
911 call involving the Travon Martin case. The dispatcher asked George Zimmerman what the
perpetrator looked like. In the edited version of the tape the news organization cut out the part of
the dispatcher asking Mr. Zimmerman the question of race. It was edited to look like Mr.
Zimmerman was targeting Travon because he was black. This has caused a racial uproar in the
US. It was made to look like Mr. Zimmerman was targeting the teenager because of his race.
This was untrue. It was later discovered that the dispatchers question was left out. This in turn
was made to look like he was killed because he was black.

Furthermore, the media can shape opinions of the public relating to other issues as well, such as
politics’.  In the political world, the media holds great influential power on the politics
themselves and social change.  History has witness to the fact that media has successfully
molded the opinion of the public on many controversial subjects in politics’.

CONCLUSION:

The media do not merely have an instrumental function in society, they also shape norms, beliefs
and fields of interest in matters such as identity-building, ‘regionalization’, the formation of the
multicultural society. In developing country, especially one with as much widespread poverty
and mis-governance as India, media has a special responsibility that perhaps our counterparts in
developed countries may not.
It is about bringing information to the people, getting them to think, and getting them to realize
their responsibilities towards the nation. This change cannot occur overnight, but it can be
initiated overnight for sure. The initiation is through your own hearts and minds, to understand
what is missing, and take a determined step towards the belief of a better land, and to learn to
dream.

In Indian democracy media has a responsibility which is deeply associated with the socio-
economic conditions. The present scenario is not quite encouraging and certain areas need to be
addressed. Media organisations, whether in print, audio visual, radio or web have to be more
accountable to the general public. It should be monitored that professional integrity and ethical
standards are not sacrificed for sensational practices. The freedom of press in the country is a
blessing for the people. The self regulatory mechanism across media organisations need to be
strong enough to stop anomalies whenever they occur. Agencies like Press Council of India need
to be vigilant to stem the root. Big media conglomerates are a serious threat. To counter this
problem pluralistic media organisations which are financially viable needs to be encouraged.
Community participation is a goal that the media should strive for in a country like India.3

3
Global Media Journal – Indian Edition/ Summer Issue / June 2011; Social Responsibility of Media & Indian
Democracy;Soumya Dutta ;UGC Junior Research Fellow; Department of Mass Communication; University of
Burdwan, West Bengal, India
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