Media houses with other business interests and multiple ventures become vulnerable to "external pressures" and compromise democracy, Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana said on July 26.
"You may recall that only media houses without business baggage were able to fight for democracy during the dark days of Emergency," the Chief Justice said.
“All I want to say is that the media must confine itself to honest journalism without using it as a tool to expand its influence and business interests,” the CJI said.
He was speaking at the launch of Gita Vijnana Upanishad authored by Gulab Chand Kothari. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was present. The speech comes only a couple of days after Chief Justice Ramana made scathing remarks about debates on electronic media and social media, calling them “kangaroo courts”.
“When a media house has other business interests, it becomes vulnerable to external pressures. Often, the business interests prevail over the spirit of independent journalism. As a result, democracy gets compromised,” the CJI said. He said independent journalism was the backbone of democracy.
“It is the responsibility of media houses to present facts. Especially in the Indian social scenario, people still believe that whatever is printed is true,” the CJI noted.
Recounting his days as a journalist before turning to law as a profession, Chief Justice Ramana said a genuine journalist runs the risk of having a “brilliant story killed at the desk”, and “this was truly demoralising”. “You cannot blame him or her, if they encounter such situations repeatedly and lose faith in the profession,” the CJI said.
The top judge noted that there was a “huge lacuna when it comes to systemic support for journalists in India”.
“Unfortunately, we still do not have an award which is comparable to the Pulitzer, and neither do we produce many Pulitzer-winning journalists in India. I urge upon all the stakeholders to introspect as to why our standards are not considered good enough for international recognition and laurels,” the CJI said.
