IS HOAX A NEW SYNONYM FOR NEWS?

In the era where news is a drama which is sourced on hoaxes rather than facts, we should know our role in it.

Whenever we switch on our television screen to watch news, do we ever wonder that the content which we are going to watch is worth calling news. Press as the fourth pillar of democracy has witnessed the plight of its own degradation. Apparently, news are now opinions rather than the information of a particular event based on the testimony of the observers to that event, which is also known as facts. It is solemn responsibility of the Journalist to put truth in public domain above their own interests or assumptions. Tragically, some influential journalists have changed the definition of news. Now, propaganda, opinions and rumors are called news.

Media is the most powerful weapon in the world. To estimate its power, we can look back in the time when India was struggling to attain freedom. Indian Press then, acted as a watchdog over propaganda filled British newspaper. They used to expose the exploitative reforms of Colonial British Government which stirred the notion of revolt against them among people. Now, it is a non-deniable fact that the contributions of Indian Press forced the Colonial Government to enforce the Indian Independence Act of 1947. This retrospective event recites that media has the power to raise or destabilize a country.

Unfortunately, the power of media/press is now ceased in the trap of getting viewership and advertisement. This trap has landed news to miserable conditions. To understand this trap, we need to know how media houses make money. Primarily they make money out of advertisements and our subscriptions are their secondary source of income. Advertising agencies deal with those channels/newspapers who have more viewership/readership. Gaining audience is a task for them. If we study the nature of the audience, we will get to know that they are tempted to those things which are entertaining and inexpensive too. So, to deal with this desire of audience the television news channels designed themselves to be entertaining. Flashy headlines, colorful graphics, sensational contents, yelling anchors and fighting panelists are the components which made television news entertaining. This attracts many people. Hence, the channels get more advertisements, and this makes it feasible for them to offer their subscription at subsidized rates or even for free.

Now, maintaining the traffic of fickle minded people is the real task for them. This creates a competitive environment for various news channels, and this could either be boon or bane for news. This might help in producing quality news or might deteriorate the same. Apparently, this has affected news negatively. In a bid to get more views, channels have started reporting on those contents which get more reactions on digital media platform. Evidently, social media applications are not designed to verify the authenticity of any content/piece of information we see on it. So, these contents could either be rational or absurd. However, it can be sensational enough to attract many people. Television news channels see this as an opportunity to gain traffic and put these in public domain without even rationalizing that the content could be full of propaganda, hatred, falsehood, or other like elements. They host debating shows and invite “experts” to debate over that content and we all are aware that how irreverently, exasperatingly, and scandalously these futile debates end. These violent debate shows get more public attention as it pleases the voyeuristic nature of the audience. Moreover, it is comparably economical for news channels to host these kind of senseless shows in a studio rather than setting up chain of field reporters and local bureaus in order to get authentic information which seriously lack the element of “entertainment” in it.

Adding to this, the desperate need of getting views invented the term “BREAKING NEWS” which is the potential peddler of fake news. In the rat race to become first one to be showing that news, the news channels solely ignore to verify the authenticity of that news.

This vicious circle of getting viewership and advertisement has been choking true Journalism. The news which fuel the fire of bigotry, hatred, and fanaticism are thriving while true journalists are being threatened, sued, or killed. Opinion ridden news are trapping audience in the echo chambers of their own opinions. Hence, the audience is in dilemma that what are news and what are opinions.

If we talk about print media, their content is not as worse as television news. However, their shrinking revenue have compelled them to shorten their chain of reporters and local bureaus. Hence, they are ineffective to cover more intensive stories. Perhaps, they might choose the television path to make more money which would ultimately degrade their quality of news too.

Now the question arises that who is responsible for this misery of news? Why news are now mere opinions? There are many answers to it. The crux of this problem is the taste and choice of the audience. We audience do not want to pay for quality news. This demoralizes those media houses who are into real journalism. We need to start encouraging those channels/newspaper which are unbiased and raise the real issues. We need to make our stand clear that whether we want news for information or hoaxes for sake of entertainment. We know that many mainstream news channels are politically inclined as many of them are owned by political leaders and industrialists, and the editors work according to their owner’s interests. These channels take advantage of less media literacy among people and start propagating their own agendas. If we do not want to get entrapped in their agendas, we must follow all kinds of politically inclined channels, rather following one channel, to get our opinions more factual with more perspective to it. If we talk about main stakeholders of the media which are advertising agencies, they need to be precise before dealing with any channel. They need to make sure that they are not financing fake or hate mongering news to thrive in public domain.

There is a serious need of attention to this matter. Press is the fourth pillar of democracy if it gets doomed so will be the democracy and the future of the country will be at stake too.