Don't we all need a responsible and answerable media if we are considering it to be a pillar more stronger than the government in the structure of democracy? Of course we do! And if anything else this is required even more now since media is influencing pretty much every aspect of the life starting with electoral politics to building perception about every other minute feature of the outer world.
Media in our country has visibly stooped down in it's standards.(why?) Well maybe for starters, it's politics centric, TRP hungry and overconfident. Some of the media around the world who are still considered to be the best in the field and act as a reference for all the others have some straight reason for them to be the best. They take authenticity of the subject seriously, criticize for well enough reasons and be well within the boundaries of performing a fair ritual of Justice for the debate and not passing judgements well before courts.
Recently Malaysian lawmakers decided upon making fake news a punishable offence. This step indeed has been criticized by human rights activists as it can be used as a tool by the government to have complete control over the media. But is it so? Is ‘fake news’ synonymous with 'freedom of expression’? No! If anything it spoils lives, influences gullible minds and last of all makes the media somewhat irrelevant.
Media accusing politicians of corruption openly, making fun of the lawmakers, abusing able businessmen, not really caring about the poor but deciding what's good and what's wrong for them, considering videos trending to be the gospel truth and passing on judgements on sub judice matters (which is an punishable offence but I don't know why no one has been ever punished). The only media controlling body is the press club but it's kind of seen to controlled by the rich channels. Thus all accountability of the media goes right out of the window.
I guess that such steps have been from a time, due in India. Where debates are pretty much jamming sessions and ‘selling news’ is provident. And if the argument of the government controlling media by deciding which is right and which is wrong, I think there are ways other than scraping of the thought of the media being accountable.
