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Independent Media?

Was watching Arnab Goswami on Republic TV (test broadcast) talking about the reasons behind the launch of the channel and at the same time introducing the journalists and experts who will be giving the news, or as he puts it, a perspective. One thing, I am by the way a great fan of Arnab, that caught my attention and started off an internal probe was the allusion to independent media. While taking a dig at the existing national news channels (English, of course) he said that they were compromised and therefore not able to take up relevant issues and take on the entrenched powers that be.
Can news media be truly independent. Yes, it is possible to be independent of the government, as it happens in most democracies, including India. The state run Doordarshan, by definition, cannot be independent of the government diktats and sensitivities. The private news channels are independent of the state control, still come under the laws of the country, but dependent on the source of funding. If they are owned by the corporate houses, they tend to be pro-business. There are some news channels that over-depend on advertising revenues and therefore TRP driven. So, how can any news media be independent if they are dependent on the sponsors- state or corporate?
Tehelka understood this problem and therefore tried a different approach. Tarun Tejpal went around the country to get support and subscription from college students. He managed to start and run the weekly newspaper for exactly two months without advertisements and then as money ran out, the dependency on advertisers increased. To do investigative journalism, the kind Tehelka was famous for, needed total freedom. To do what Arnab is promising will also need the same. Then, how will Republic achieve this daunting goal.
Opinion is the future of journalism, so says Arnab. News is available everywhere, anytime. News is boring, opinion is sacred. Having an opinion and sharing it with the rest is what true power of democracy is all about, again according to Arnab. Hopefully, opinion with a nationalist flavour will not be thrust upon us, night in and night out, as the only opinion that matters. True democracy is also about allowing all opinions to be aired, giving equal and enough opportunity to have a say, a test we must hold Arnab to when he conducts the new Newshour debates on Republic TV.


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