Dissertation Paper on Ethical Issues in the News Media Business
Executive Summary
A country of 1.3 Billion people, India, has 82,237 newspapers; close to 800 television news channels, an industry that has almost trebled between 2006 and 2014. Added to that are 124 million broadband Internet connections and 1,500 state-owned, privately-owned and community radio stations. The exponential explosion of growth has been fueled by the need for infotainment and sensationalism of these 1.3 Billion citizens of India. This growth however has come at the cost of Indian journalism creaking under the ever-increasing burden of unethical practices.
The business of news media, print, TV as well as internet, is based on the five fundamental values of Truth & Accuracy, Independence, Fairness & Impartiality, Humanity and Accountability. If even a minor but sufficient number of individuals and institutions associated with the industry resort to undermining these 5 principles, then we might end up with one of the largest democracies whose citizens will remain ignorant of the facts and analysis of events around them.
Executive Summary
A country of 1.3 Billion people, India, has 82,237 newspapers; close to 800 television news channels, an industry that has almost trebled between 2006 and 2014. Added to that are 124 million broadband Internet connections and 1,500 state-owned, privately-owned and community radio stations. The exponential explosion of growth has been fueled by the need for infotainment and sensationalism of these 1.3 Billion citizens of India. This growth however has come at the cost of Indian journalism creaking under the ever-increasing burden of unethical practices.
The business of news media, print, TV as well as internet, is based on the five fundamental values of Truth & Accuracy, Independence, Fairness & Impartiality, Humanity and Accountability. If even a minor but sufficient number of individuals and institutions associated with the industry resort to undermining these 5 principles, then we might end up with one of the largest democracies whose citizens will remain ignorant of the facts and analysis of events around them.
