 Growing erosion of values. A code of conduct for the media. How should reporting be done? Extreme commercialisation of the media. These were some of the issues taken up for discussion at the People’s Forum. To discuss the issue of Media Ethics, three distinguished panelists, Justice G.N. Ray, Chairman of the Press Council of India, Ms Chitrita Sanyal, first woman Secretary General of Press Club of India and representing the electronic media and A.K. Bhattacharya, the group managing editor of Business Standard, participated in the panel discussion.
Ray remarked that freedom of speech and expression is an accepted norm and without any riders. The media has worked on a code of conduct set by the peers in the past and has remained more or less within bounds. However, the deep erosion of values in life has percolated into the media as well. Excessive sensationalisation and commercialization has added to this erosion. The media must be allowed to function independently and regulated by their own peers for strengthening the democratic norms in the country. Negating the fact that Press Council of India was a toothless tiger, he pointed out that there were instances where the Council had taken stringent measures against the print media in view of public interest.
Sanyal agreed that electronic media failed to comply with the code of conduct but also came down heavily on the print media. She viewed that the electronic media is passing through a transition phase and the code of conduct is still in the evolving stage. One must not ignore that media is business also, the TRP ratings is a compulsion for the industry to remain in business. Therefore, there are occasions when media ethics are sacrificed to boost TRP ratings.
Bhattacharya said the newspaper industry was marked by three peculiar characteristics.
 These are (1) Media as a product being sold twice, (2) Media organizations per se have followed a monolithic structure and (3) the people in the media are not integral to the running of the newspaper.
The audience raised some burning issues like the issue of breaking news on trivial matters, sting operations, planted news. But as a consensus, it was observed that most participants felt the media ought to remain free from Government controls. It would be in the interest of the society to have a free and fair media to play an important role in defining the values for the society. As the values in society have gone down, the media ought to play an intervening role in actually reviving those values.
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Truth vs TRPs