Our media is going through tough times due to several reasons. Despite the recent increase in capital investment in the media owing to the expansion of the country’s business and trade and significant economic development, the media has yet to turn into a place the masses can put their trust in. It still has to prioritize the interest of the investor first. On the other hand, our mainstream media cannot cope with the rapid spread of social media. As a result, readers and viewers have gone to popular social media like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Now anyone can launch a channel on YouTube in a trice and spread their fabricated content. Many are trying to gain popularity by opening IPTV as an alternative to traditional TV media. Also, with laws like the Digital Security Act, journalists feel an invisible pressure to report authentically. As a result, the age-old newspapers and TV channels have now lost their readers and viewers and have fallen into a state of insecurity.
Advertisers have realized that people no longer read newspapers or watch TV, so they are turning to social media, where there is a way bigger audience. And the country’s media is facing a great crisis due to the diminished income from advertisements. To survive, they have to turn around and urge the owners to help them out. And with the money given, the owners are adding loads of conditions. Our media, as a consequence, is rotating in a vicious circle.
Still, what leaves us astounded is that the number of media in the country is springing up daily. Although it is said to be freedom of the media, people can hardly trust these media. Therefore, they believe whatever a handful of people sitting abroad are disseminating. Because when the mainstream media can’t provide bona fide information unbiasedly and freely, rumors spread in society, and people believe them as well.
Interestingly enough, even if people read or see an item of news, they ask first who owns the media. People have got to realize that the media does not function beyond its owner’s word. However, this challenge is nothing new in journalism. Adversity was, is, and will be in this profession. And knowing this well, people take up journalism as a profession. The difference is this crisis in the media has worsened more than ever.
There are many more reasons behind the hard times of the media today. With the increase in the number of media in the country, the scope of studies in mass communication and journalism has competitively increased both in public and private universities. The quality for which journalism education is said to be expanding is not maintained in the media, for a large number of youths who graduated in journalism are no longer taking it up as a profession. Many are taking it up so it may tide them over until they get another government, corporate or private job.
Then some grab the opportunity to go abroad, some join the BCS cadres, and some take up NGO or corporate jobs as professions. The profession is getting harmed at the end of the day. In the absence of competent people, amateurs, scammers, and those with agendas are getting into journalism and thus calling into question this great profession. Nowadays, many use journalism as a shield to pursue their evil interests. As a result, people’s reliance on the profession is diminishing day by day. And the country is falling prey to a great loss.
But it is not that there are no exceptions. Some media still go against the tide and hold the flag of authentic journalism. They are trying to retain readers by creating digital platforms in tune with the times. In this era of open information dissemination, people may take ten pieces of information from ten different sources, but at the end of the day, everyone will find objective news because people cannot be kept in the dark with incorrect details for a long. And it is next to impossible in the internet age.
Therefore, those practicing authentic and objective journalism will survive. For instance, in the last decade, many media have sprung up, and many have now gone lost, failing to earn the readers’ trust. There will perhaps be many more media in the future, and many of them will fall flat on their faces as well. But only the genuine will prevail.
The writer is a communication professional.
