Examine the role of the media in ensuring accountability of the government. What could be the impact of Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022 ?
Media is known as the fourth pillar of democracy as it functions in a way to hold the position of power to account and make the transactions between the government and the governed more transparent.
Role played by Media to ensure accountability
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- Provider of relevant & reliable information: The media are the disseminators of stories, ideas and information that grant agency to citizens over their own lives. An independent media is a central tenet of democracy because it serves as a corrective to the ‘natural asymmetry of information’ between governors and the governed and between competing private agents.
- Watchdog ensuring good governance: Independent media is a watchdogs of powerholders in all forms.
- This includes governments, but also corporate actors or others with a large influence on society.
- They can do so in both an adversarial (exposing wrongdoings) and constructive (agenda-setting) manner, depending on the context and situation.
- This leads to lesser corruption & improved governance and services.
- Platform for democratic discourse:
- Independent media is an essential facilitator of the democratic process and one of the guarantors of free and fair elections.
- It forms an integral part of the so-called ‘civic space’ within which democratic debate is possible. It can form a platform on which various alternative ideas can be developed.
- Liberal democracy relies on a dispersion of power across actors and institutions, and independent media are an important part of this counterpower. In contexts where the quality of a democracy is threatened, independent media are often among the first to be targeted. But they can also play a key role in resisting this development and keeping alive the ‘democratic imagination’.
- Mirror of diversity in society
- It is a means by which a society learns about itself and builds a sense of community, and which shapes the understanding of values, customs and tradition.
- A media landscape that reflects the diversity present in society, contributes to the inclusion and equal participation of all groups of people in this process.
- When the media holds others to account, journalists make choices in whose issues they investigate. If they underrepresent groups of people while doing so, they end up reinforcing the power of vested interests and exacerbating existing inequalities.
Recently the union government introduced a new Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022. The Accreditation of Journalists, to the PIB, is a process that is completed after a mandatory security check from the Ministry of Home Affairs. After this the media persons are allowed to attend the government Press Conferences.
The provisions of the rules:
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- It outlined the conditions for withdrawal of accreditation if a journalist acts in a manner prejudicial to the country’s security, sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or is charged with a serious cognizable offence - The matters mentioned in Article 19(2) of the constitution.
- The Government of India shall constitute a committee called the Central Media Accreditation Committee. It would be chaired by the Principal DG, Press Information Bureau (PIB), and comprising up to 25 members nominated by the Government to interpret the guidelines for withdrawal of accreditation.
Impact of the Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022:
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- Necessity of the guidelines:
- Controlling fake news: The guidelines would make the media houses more responsible in setting narrative in the reporting of critical events with the fear of their accreditation being withdrawn.
- Making it easy to manage the press conferences: This would allow the government to manage the number of reporters being allowed to the press conferences which are increasing by the day.
- The Threat by these rules:
- Controlling the narrative: These guidelines, point out experts, carry the threat of coming in the way of the functioning of a free media.
- Risk of delegitimizing reports, especially of an investigative nature. A media house would fear reporting anything that requires further attention or investigation.
- Suppressing criticism: Any report critical of the Government could now be seen as prejudicial to the interests of the country and it will be left to the interpretation and discretion of the Central Media Accreditation Committee to read the guidelines and decide what is defamatory while denying accreditation to a journalist.
- Members of the independent media organizations not allowed in the 25 member committee: There is a 100% representation of the government interests and not the citizens' interest.
The government must be careful in using these rules as it can be tempting to misuse these rules for setting the ruling party agenda. Already in 2020, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked India 142nd among 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index 2020.
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