THE   MARCH   OF   CAPITALISM

The march of capitalism continues in many directions. From the loot of coal, from the foreign direct investment in multi -brand retail , aviation sector etc. The media barons are also intent on occupying the  vacant space and not only propagate information , opinion but their own brand of ideology too. I am questioning the vigorous onward march of the 'Times of India' group- the Grand old lady of bori- bandar! The character of the paper has changed since the demise of Girilal Jain many many years ago. The  only objective of this group is to keep on moving up its circulation. I am told that when  the young management took over, its one liner advise to its marketing team was that “ A news paper is a piece of paper which people take to bogs in the morning and our paper should remain the preferred paper for that purpose”.

  Efforts were made to increase the circulation  of the newspaper to ensure that other competitors remained at lower rungs. 'Mumbai- mirror' was launched to ensure that whatever space remained is annexed by the tabloid. The corporate was successful in its mission. But, the paper which is so dominant in the city does not have any ideology other than to increase its sales in order to grab the maximum revenue from advertisements. Recently it launched two advertisement campaigns one for the 'Mumbai – mirror' and the other for 'Bombay Times', these were also shown in cinema halls. The 'Mumbai-mirror' advertisement film  is in 'black and white' and shows images of  copies of a book being burnt and the writer, a bearded middle aged man standing next to the bonfire crying out “they are burning my book...” then there is  a young man stopping a cavalcade of a politician on a flyover and shouting at the top of his voice “ this city is my home and I will not allow your posters to be put on my walls” indicating that the city belonged to the common man and the paper protects the interest of the ordinary citizen. Another scene shows street children with barely any clothes protesting to the municipal officers regarding their pitiable living conditions. The film makes an impact and generates admiration for the efforts of the paper , it is considered peoples' paper and the sales go up!

   Another advertisement is of 'Bombay- Times', the paper is projected to provide glamour. Images of 'Dabbawala', a lady vegetable seller, a taxi- driver and a young student appear on screen in weird, colourful almost bizarre attire reflecting glamour among commoners or the paper is provoking the commoners to copy the 'page3' life style?. However the newspaper group attempts to capture all the segments of the society , and also different tastes, but apart from 'selling' and 'increasing the sales' what ideology does the paper have? The Corporate's projection of being friend of the commoners is a facade! It is true that the paper does reflect the incidents concerning the commoners in 'Mumbai- mirror', but it is evident from its other publications that its a ploy to muster readership and is not ideology driven

       We are aware  that there were two professions which leaders at various levels practiced in their fight against the British imperialism- legal and journalism. Mahatma Gandhi wrote regularly in 'Young India'and 'Harijan'. Nehru launched 'National herald' and similarly Tilak wrote for 'Kesari'  and 'Maratha' and there were many more ,the vernacular Press was full of patriots with pro people ideology and Aim to remove the British regime.
  Some years ago the TOI  added a new column namely 'speaking tree' which dealt with the subject of spirituality and became popular , encashing on its popularity, the paper commenced a new supplement by the same name on Sundays. Therefore it believes in occupying any vacant space with its marketing power, the editorial staff may, may not believe in any spiritualism or otherwise. The Group therefore propagates Socialism, Glamour and Spiritualism and may believe in none!

    Democracy demands accountability of all Institutions. Legislatures are made responsible by the people during elections, the executive has numerous accounting systems such as CAG and CVC. The judiciary too has been made to reveal their assets and media and parliament have raised many issues pertaining to appointment of Judges  post retirement etc. But the 'media' has very few checks, the Press commission  has its limitations and has asked for more teeth . It is also argued by both Indian and foreign media that in a democracy , despite its excesses the Press should remain free, but even in Britain there is debate on the issue after the recent scandal which was essentially a case of increasing readership by extracting information by dubious means- the social cause was missing.
  I feel that the media should be guided by the 'social responsibility' concept. But if it is being run by the capitalists then it is for only select few !