There is a lot of scope for the media and the NGO’s to work together. The media is in an advantageous position to work with the organizations by promoting the causes that are taken up by the organizations. The media can be used to promote the causes and issues by keeping it alive in the minds of people and building up a sustained pressure to resolve it in favour of the deprived and the underprivileged. This sort of advocacy was very beautifully used in the pre independent era by the freedom fighters. There were a large number of newspapers, which wrote untiringly in favour of the struggle. Advocacy helps to highlight issues, create awareness about it and eventually induce people to change their attitude in favour of the concerned issue.  The fact that Civil Society and Media can work as partners to bring about Social Change is not a figment of imagination.

Media has tremendous potential where social change is concerned. It has always played an important role, it is not an external part of the whole process, and instead it is an integral part. Once we have seen that it made society feel that Freedom is our target, and society achieved the target. Now it is making our society feel that Market is the ultimate system a society can follow and consumerism is the best practice and society is taking it seriously. There is a basic difference of Control, who owns the media? At least social groups do not have any say in this sector. They even do not react on what is being telecasted, Published or analyzed.  During our work we came across many of the statements based on the studies conducted/planned by the Marketing Departments of the various newspapers in Madhya Pradesh, which shows that normal reader gives 150 seconds to 300 seconds to read our news papers, so instructions were given to the editorial departments that present our Paper in such a manner which can be read within 300 seconds. And Editors are working hard on this line. No debate has started on the fact that do readers want a newspaper, which can be read in 300 seconds, or we have made our newspapers soulless to which reader doesn’t want to give a few seconds. We need to understand this politics in which Market wants to prove that in 300 seconds you can give information in bullet points and analysis is not at all needed. One can easily see that now the space for the debate, dialogue, discussions and reactions has reduced tremendously. But in Madhya Pradesh it can been clearly seen that the coordinated efforts between CSOs and Media can definitely work, as malnutrition and maternal mortality become the most discussed and debated issue on different forums. Due acknowledgement to Media!!

The process of capital accumulation has also commoditized the communications sector around the world and made it into a branch of industrial activity for the sake of maximum profit. The past few decades saw the emergence of giant globally operating media conglomerates and the main effect of this is, the tightening grip of transnational corporations over the economy, resources and governments of the underdeveloped countries, which also includes control over its communication systems. It is interesting to note that the media industry has now acquired the position of the fifth largest industry in the world, having overtaken oil exploration and telecommunication services industry. [Dancing to Global Capital: Media in India, Pranjali Bandhu, Pg. 5] India’s entertainment, broadcasting and print media has the potential to increase its turnover to 65,000 crore by the year 2005.[According to a Study conducted by The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry]. Factually it is the front side of the picture that the media is becoming more and more commercialized commodity but our experience in the field proves that if development activists want to face the reality, they will have to understand the Politics. We, in Vikas Samvad, learn that Media is a common platform and it has no ultimate aim in present circumstances, rater than ensuring its survival. Here the term “survival” can be defined by using two co-related words – Readership and Profit.  These two things make media politically powerful.

It is very strategic to get space for the issues, but it is very difficult to convince them to take the ownership of the issue. Until a media group does not take the ownership of the issues; it will not run the marathon, to the finishing point. That’s what we are trying to do through Vikas Samvad. Our last year’s work teaches us that Mainstream media gives space to the Developmental issues, but we should learn the structure and requirements of the Media.

Usually it is the common understanding that Mainstream media works under the pressure of the State, as a lot of subsidy and benefits have been provided to this sector as well. But the recent experience relating to the debate on Reservation in Private sector shows that even State and Central Governments want to implement the Reservation Policy in the Private sector but the corporate sector was opposing this policy. In this sphere media did not stand with the State, it amplified the corporate voice, which was against the Government Policy. Only one newspaper of Madhya Pradesh published the issues of marginalized and supported the Reservation Policy up to a certain extent. Now media sector has decided that the market not by the subsidies or Government Facilities can protect their interests. We, the people, should accept the fact that money game may be very important in the market, but this fact is also very clear that this game may be played only when readership permits them to play. Now at the Civil Society level we have to accept the fact that there is a strong possibility to influence the community or Groups to register their reactions and demands to the Media Groups. The most obsessive learning we had was that So-called empowered and even learned organizations do not write their views and thoughts to the Media institutions. All the newspapers and TV Channels everyday asks their readers to write letter to editors and Letters to the Chief Minister Column. But the interactions with the Editors have proved that they do not receive any calls from civil society groups. It is a million dollar question now that will social work organization change their perspective and start acting on what media expect?

Sachin Kumar Jain