GOVERNMENT VS OPPOSITION: ALLEGATIONS OF UNDERPLAYING

The managements of the newspapers which enjoy the benefits of the government advertisements feel grateful to benefactor establishment and resort to praising their policies. Management of the newspapers being published from the state have allegedly surrendered before the government for the fear of losing advertisements. Damocles sword in the form of possible stopping of the government advertisement is always hanging over their head. It has been observed that many of such management of newspapers are even avoiding publication of news related to public interests and social concerns that may be of public interest.

The role of opposition is considered one of the important factors in parliamentary democracy. The ruling establishment is supposed to protect the opposition's right to oppose. This committee has also received complaints narrating as to how the issues of public import raised by them are ignored by the media. The issues raised by the opposition in the legislative assembly or the council do not find proper space in the newspapers, since the management of the newspapers are under fear of losing government support. The activities of the opposition outside the houses are also not properly reported on account of the same fear.

This is a dangerous scenario in parliamentary democracy that may endanger the very basis of democracy. Hundreds of complaints received by the probe committee give ample proof of direct government pressure on newspapers.

The committee went through various editions of the newspapers like Hindi daily Jagaran, Hindustan and Prabhat Khabar and found them faltering on many accounts. Hundreds of the activities of the Chief Minister were prominently published, especially by Hindustan, which were neither newsworthy nor relevant, if judged by the standard of journalism. It has been alleged that two or three photographs of the Chief Minister were unnecessarily published on daily basis and his routine statements are published in four columns. The news relating to crime, corruption, social concerns, opposition and civil organizations did not find place even though they deserved to be published on account of their importance as per the standard of journalism.

The morale of the social movements in the state was perceived to have been shattered due to this partisan attitude of the newspapers. Several opposition parties narrated, both in writing and orally, about non-publication of news due to government's control over the media.

Newspapers, in general, are avoiding publishing news related to the opposition, and when they are compelled to publish them on account of their readership needs, they publish such news on inside pages and that too in brief, it was further charged. According to opposition political parties, underplaying the news of the opposition or related to public concern has somehow become a norm. Even the news related to development, crime, corruption, embezzlement, murder, rape, kidnapping and abduction, ransom, robbery etc, which were part of the government documents, were avoided.

For instance, the news relating to seizure of Rs 4.5 crore from the house of a former Janata Dal (U) councillor Vinay Kumar Sinha, was avoided allegedly due to the popular perception that he is a confidant of the Chief Minister. A Handful of newspapers published this new, but they too consciously avoided reporting an important fact that he was the treasurer of the ruling party. When the opposition political parties demanded a probe in this matter, the newspapers published their demand in 'underplaying' mode and briefly disposed of the matter.