Question

What is it necessary for the media to be independent?

Answer 1

Hint: An independent media means nobody should control and influence its coverage of stories . No one should tell the media what is often included and what shouldn't be included during a news article.

Complete answer:
In a democracy, the media plays a really important role in providing news and discussing events happening within the country and therefore the world. It is on the idea of this information that citizens can, for instance, find out how the government works. And often, if they want to, they will take action on the idea of those news stories. Some of the ways during which they will do that is by writing letters to the concerned minister, organising a public protest, starting a signature campaign asking the govt to rethink its programme etc.

However, the truth is that the media is way from independent. This is mainly because of two reasons. The first is the control that the government has on the media. When the government prevents either an item , or scenes from a movie, or the lyrics of a song from being shared with the larger public, this is often referred to as censorship. There are periods in Indian history when the government censored the media. The worst of those was the Emergency between 1975-1977.
With independent media around, the government is forced to be more transparent and accountable to the citizens of the country.
Independent media channels function without external influence – this suggests that they will spread word accurately about government policies and happenings, making them liable for democratizing access to information and mainstream development issues.

Note: Media (often termed as the fourth pillar of democracy) plays a pivotal role in influencing mindsets across the country, which makes it essential for us to ensure that we are consuming information from the right channels.
Independent media is important for growth, services and reduction of poverty, as well as being an important end in itself. Without it, countries, societies, states, ultimately fail.