The Media’s True Purpose: Serving the Common Man, Not Power

 

The Media’s True Purpose: Serving the Common Man, Not Power

By Rahul Ramya on 17th June 2025

Introduction: The Fourth Pillar on Shaky Ground

Democracy rests on four foundational pillars: the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and the media. Of these, the media—often called the “Fourth Estate”—has a unique role. It doesn’t merely observe power; it interprets power for the people. It connects governance to the governed, public policy to public interest, and elite discourse to everyday experience. But in India today, this pillar is shaking. Not because it is under assault alone, but because it has refused to carry the weight it was meant to bear. A pillar that doesn’t carry weight isn't structural—it becomes symbolic. When media fails to hold up truth and justice, the entire democratic shield begins to crack.

From Liberation to Commodification: The Changing Role of Media

Historically, Indian media has played a transformative role. During colonial rule, newspapers like Kesari (edited by Bal Gangadhar Tilak), Amrita Bazar Patrika, and The Hindu were tools of resistance. They educated the masses about their rights and exposed the moral bankruptcy of British rule. Journalists were often jailed or persecuted for daring to speak truth.

After independence, leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru emphasized the press's role in nation-building—to inform, unite, and mobilize. The Emergency (1975–77), however, revealed the media’s vulnerability to state control, with some resisting (like The Indian Express) and others capitulating. The 1990s marked another turning point: with economic liberalization, news became a commodity. TRP ratings, corporate advertisements, and political patronage replaced investigative rigor.

Today, studios resemble war rooms, headlines are crafted for outrage, and public interest stories are buried under celebrity updates. Newsrooms owned by business conglomerates or politically aligned groups find it more convenient to avoid uncomfortable truths—like the collapsing rural healthcare system or underemployment crisis.

The Disconnect Between Media and Public Life

While India’s elite media debates global stock markets or celebrity weddings, the lived reality of most Indians remains invisible. For instance, a report by the Centre for Media Studies (2022) found that only 7% of news coverage in leading national newspapers focused on rural issues—despite nearly 70% of the population living in villages.

Take the example of Bundelkhand, where recurring drought and farmer suicides are common. Local citizens suffer in silence while national headlines focus on the latest political gimmick. During COVID-19, it was not the corporate media but independent journalists like Barkha Dutt (Mojo Story) who travelled through India’s hinterlands, showing how migrants walked home in desperation. This disconnection between lived suffering and newsroom priorities is not just lazy journalism—it is an ethical failure.

The Power of Vernacular Media: Then and Now

The power of vernacular journalism lies in its accessibility and cultural rootedness. During the freedom struggle, Al Hilal (Urdu, edited by Maulana Azad) and Navajeevan (Gujarati, edited by Gandhi) mobilized entire communities. These outlets translated abstract political demands—like “Swaraj” and “Civil Disobedience”—into culturally resonant calls to action.

Today, vernacular outlets like Khabar Lahariya (Bundeli, Awadhi), Gaon Connection (Hindi), Uyir Murasu (Tamil), and The Mooknayak (Marathi, Hindi) are carrying forward that legacy. In 2023, Khabar Lahariya broke a local sexual violence story that national media ignored—forcing the police to act.

By reporting in regional languages and staying embedded within the communities they cover, these outlets make democracy real. They show that journalism doesn't have to be parachuted in—it can rise from the ground itself.

Media as a Narrative Setter and Public Discourse Platform

Media doesn’t just report events—it decides what counts as an event. This agenda-setting role makes it the most powerful non-elected institution in a democracy. The farmer protests of 2020–21 were initially dismissed by many English news channels as "politically motivated." It was only after sustained alternative coverage—through independent portals, YouTube channels, and on-the-ground journalists—that the truth about the new farm laws reached the national consciousness.

In contrast, media platforms that constantly amplify communal tensions or frame dissent as sedition reshape public perception and influence policy in dangerous ways. For example, media narratives around the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in 2019 often framed students and women protestors as threats to national security—shifting focus away from constitutional questions to nationalist anxieties.

When media shapes narratives irresponsibly, it doesn’t just distort reality—it distorts democracy.

Expert Views: Diagnosing the Crisis

Chart Notes:

• 2011 (60%): Estimated based on CMS’s 2011 remarks about declining media credibility due to sensationalism, suggesting higher trust pre-2014.
• 2015 (55%): Approximated from CMS and Reuters Institute trends, reflecting post-2014 concerns about political influence.
• 2020 (45%): Derived from CMS-related discussions during COVID-19, noting misinformation’s impact on trust.
• 2023 (41%): Sourced from Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2023, as CMS lacks specific 2023 data

Many scholars and journalists have dissected this crisis. Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman’s Manufacturing Consent laid out how media, under corporate control, subtly serves elite power structures. In India, P. Sainath’s People’s Archive of Rural India exists precisely because mainstream media “has stopped covering 70% of the population

Ravish Kumar, whose resignation from NDTV symbolized the fall of independent TV journalism, argues that the media’s role is not to be neutral but to be truthful. Neutrality in the face of injustice, he says, becomes complicity.

New-age media often hides behind algorithms. Platforms like YouTube and X promote what’s sensational—not what’s essential. Viral clips win over verified facts. The crisis is no longer just about editorial bias, but also about digital design—media that incentivizes outrage more than reflection.

 The Media’s Pillar Role in Democracy

The metaphor of media as a pillar is not ornamental. A pillar must carry weight. It must support. If the legislature enacts laws, the judiciary interprets them, and the executive enforces them, it is the media that tells the people what is happening and why it matters. When this chain breaks, democracy becomes performative.

For example, in the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh—a massive education and recruitment fraud—mainstream media was initially reluctant to report. It took persistent investigative journalism from independent outlets like The Wire and Scroll to force national attention. Without pressure from media, justice would have remained buried.

When media carries the burdens of the people, it strengthens democracy. When it drops them, democracy begins to collapse under its own weight.

Counterarguments and the Business of News

Yes, the media must survive financially. But survival cannot be used to justify surrender. Public trust is not a commodity. News is not a product—it is a public good. The BBC is one model—funded by public license fees, yet editorially independent. India too must explore non-commercial models to keep journalism alive without corporate chains.

And yes, journalists may support ideological views. But that does not permit factual distortion. Supporting a cause must not come at the cost of erasing the oppressed. Bias is human; propaganda is not.

What Can Be Done? Steps Toward Media Reform

India’s media can still be rescued—by returning to people and to principle. Here are concrete steps:

1. Ground Reporting: Assign permanent correspondents to rural districts—not just send them during elections or disasters. Let journalists live the lives they report on.

2. Diversity in Newsrooms: Media houses must reflect the social diversity of India. As per Oxfam’s 2022 report, 89% of decision-makers in Indian media are from upper castes. This must change.

3. Non-Profit Journalism: Like The Caravan, People’s Archive of Rural India, or Alt News, new models must be supported through foundations, university partnerships, or crowd-funding.

4. Media Literacy Campaigns: In schools and colleges, media literacy should be a compulsory subject—teaching young people to question sources, verify facts, and resist manipulation.

5. Algorithmic Transparency: Tech companies must be held accountable for promoting divisive content. Government must regulate digital platforms without censoring dissent.

Conclusion: Journalism That Lifts, Not Divides

The media must choose: to be a microphone for the powerful or a megaphone for the unheard. If it chooses the former, it will become a tool of domination. If it chooses the latter, it will fulfill its destiny as democracy’s lifeline.

It is not just about headlines—it is about holding the weight of truth, justice, and public trust. For the farmer waiting for a fair price, the mother in a slum waiting for a hospital bed, or the youth waiting for a job, the media must be present, attentive, and accountable.

If it cannot bear their burdens, then it no longer deserves to call itself a pillar of democracy.