Media explosion has brought urgency to governance quality

Doshi,a Maharashtra cadre IAS officer who passed away at the age of 52 in 1994,was known for his efficiency and effectiveness and one reason for that was his ability to be critical,Gupta said.

The profusion of TV channels and publications in India has led to a media explosion and brought a new urgency to the speed and quality of governance and decision-making as journalists are constantly stepping on the gas,Shekhar Gupta,Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express,said on Thursday.

Journalism has led to a dramatic expansion of the public sphere,effectively intervened in public debates and worked as a force multiplier for institutions and branches of government.

But this has also triggered high levels of noise,sensationalism,dumbing down of news and a lack of adequate gatekeeping,leading to a steady erosion of credibility and threatening the very basic role of the media as a watchdog and a hound in a democracy,he said.

The problem is not with the normative question of whether the fourth estate should be a watchdog or a hound,but in the way in which it assumes the role of a watchdog or a hound, Gupta said,delivering the 17th Lalit Doshi Memorial Lecture on The Fourth Estate: A Watchdog or A Hound? at the YB Chavan Centre Auditorium here.

Doshi,a Maharashtra cadre IAS officer who passed away at the age of 52 in 1994,was known for his efficiency and effectiveness and one reason for that was his ability to be critical,Gupta said. His natural tendency to constantly look within,to turn a mirror on his own ideas and perceptions8230; thats an incredibly difficult thing to do,especially for us,journalists,who are usually so full of ourselves that we dont even realise when we are blinded by our own delusions, Gupta said.

Gupta recalled the time he entered journalism in the mid-1970s when being the watchdog and the hound wasnt a question to debate,it was the hallmark of excellence in our profession.

But today,the watchdog and the hound are barking their heads off every half-an-hour,as if their tails were perpetually on fire. The race for TRPs and higher revenues has also forced newspapers and TV channels to cut corners on fairness,accuracy and objectivity, Gupta said,citing some recent news reports as examples.

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Whatever role journalism assumes,its fundamental calling is to stand up to those in power,to protect the rights that are universal, Gupta said.

The lecture was attended by a cross section of Mumbais prominent personalities,including industrialists Anand Mahindra and Adi Godrej,filmmaker R Balki,former top cop Julio Ribeiro and former RBI deputy governor Shyamala Gopinath.