Often referred to as the fourth pillar, media plays a vital role both in ensuring that governmental and other powerful institutions remain accountable and in ensuring that the citizens have enough information at their fingertips in order to make meaningful decisions.

Here, journalism has been found to have a significant role in framing political discourses and social reforms in India. But there is something wrong with today’s media that has precipitated these questions on credibility and ethical standards. What started as truthful reporting and fact-finding missions, the media has over the decades been characterised by control, manipulation, and explosions of sensationalism.

The Early Days: Media as a Trusted Institution

At the beginning of journalism, media was associated with truth and honesty. Newspapers were among the very few channels of information that were all that the public had access to. The technology used in the sending out of prints was itself slow and manpower-consuming, which filtered but accurate messages, but in an amount that reflects the exhaustive procedure. Individuals leaned on these few sources in the belief that the information published might be less coloured by someone’s agenda.

Journalists of the time had a rather noble responsibility to be the ones telling the truth about what was happening and who was to blame.

The media played an active role in the intermediary between the government and the public, and their goal was not financial gain. Since there was no competition, quality and not sensational content defined the content offered to the audience.

A Shift in Priorities: The Modern Media Landscape

Jumping to the present, we examine that media is far more complex and highly competitive than it was before. With increased portrayal through television, online forums, and social media, the amount of information produced is staggering. On one hand, diversity has provided multiple sources and opinions; unfortunately, on the other hand, it has created confusion and biased information.

Today, many media houses are owned by politicians or families with raw political or economic power. A major segment of newspapers, news channels, and digital media outlets have turned into instruments for agenda promotion and at the cost of truth. Money from politics has infiltrated newsrooms to make them churn propaganda that serves the interests of the sponsors and not the populace.

Hysteria, flashy titles, and black-and-white thinking take over the media and social media, aggressively pushing people to share instead of informing them. It has led to suspicion about everything journalists report and developed a realm where fake news exists.

The Impact on Public Opinion

The implications arising from this change are huge. Fake news circulates more quickly than before while impacting the population and exacerbating the existing rifts. People read the news without realising sometimes it is fake news, and the news they are reading is possibly unauthentic. It covers authoritative trust, which results in independently narrow positions of actors, and this practically does not allow for free discussion and democratic debate.

Furthermore, the change and manipulation of information is not just a major political priority but also has definite political connotations. The concept of credible sources is in fact entirely relative, for controlled narratives can rig an election, quell protests, and fan hatred and distrust between peoples. Many people have come to view the organisation that was originally designed to check power as being directly part of it.

Restoring Trust: The Role of Media Literacy

Under the circumstances, the citizens must become proactive in assessing the information being received. Of course, it means that media literacy—the ability to read and check news—is highly necessary. It is high time people were encouraged to do their own research, compare facts, and think critically as to why and from whom they are being fed this information.

Journalism also must go back to basics. It is high time the media placed ethical standards, accuracy, and accountability as its tools, followed by profits and political connections. We desperately need journalism, which is financially independent and not pressured by the power agenda, in order to restore trust and remain loyal to democratic principles.

Conclusion

I hold the view that the media is very crucial in democracy. It has the abilities, knowledge, and potential to educate, mobilise, and transform society. But this power carries with it a responsibility, which unfortunately the Indian media, for the most part, has not been able to discharge. To re-establish its believability, journalism needs to commit itself to truth, and similarly, citizens need to commit to a similar path.

The dream of journalism is to be free from all these forces and to regain its sense and mission to serve the people. It will only be able to reclaim its role as the reliable fourth estate in the government of the home country if it were re-established.