AROUND 2007, there were clashes going on between two political parties in Kerala. Two members of a party were attacked by members of the opposing party and hence, hospitalised. The following day, a news channel broadcast the news that the hospitalised victim had died. Later in the day, the news channel retracted their statement with an apology. But it was too late. The victim’s party had retaliated by killing a member of the opposite party.

As CP Rajashekharan, Controlling Editor of one of Kerala’s largest newspaper groups, Rashtra Deepika Group, recounts this incident, he emphasises the fact that news has become a commodity. You can’t survive without entertainment. All pages have some or the other entertaining elements added to it. When entertainment is given more importance than information, the news product becomes a market commodity.

Journalism is not about “making” news. News is actually comprises of compact ideas. A newspaper packages its own brand of ideology and presents it to the reader. It may become propaganda at times.

The soul of news is credibility. Once the news loses credibility in its entirety, the reader or viewer will stop being a patron of the organisation. News organisations face a crisis of credibility when cross-checking and news filtrations are largely neglected.  In the battle for becoming the first in line, newspapers and television channels report false and unconfirmed rumours.

Market forces are an invariable part of journalism and news production. The competition between news media can lead to value corrosion. Even so,  Rajashekharan believes that there is a modicum of credibility remaining in newspapers. Else, no reader would endorse the paper.

When questioned about the trend of sting journalism,  Rajashekharan opines that it is not a negative contraption. The difference arises from the purpose it is used for.” In issues such as the Uma Khurana case where the Delhi schoolteacher became a victim of a fake sting operation, the media is at fault and no amount of compensation can redeem the wrong done to her”, says CP Rajashekharan.

Race for news has brought positive changes as well increasing competence, efficiency, and influence even on infrastructure of the news organization. Taking on a corporate structure, the news organization has become the industry where the employee is the journalist indulging in the profession of journalism.

But has the tumultuous stride of journalism affected its revered status? “Media remains the Fourth Estate, but with a difference”, says Rajashekharan. ” Just like the Government, Judiciary and Executive are not perfect, even the media has its faults.”

The media is dynamic yet resilient. When TV came into being, the future of print media was in doubt. But in countries like the US, the readership remained consistent. A newspaper can be read anytime and is more credible. Then again, one newspaper goes into one home whereas many channels enter a single household. Newspapers can’t grow very easily.

Media is the industry that utilizes technology optimally, from DTP to e-papers, enabling anytime news. Digital technologies have made information collection and transmission so easier for print media that one can’t think of going back to the manual days. The online version of the newspaper connects its readers all over the world.

News can never be a monopoly. This is evident just from the growth of online journalism. This experienced editor considers online journalism as a friend as well as an enemy. He tells, “Though there is no money in online journalism, it affects the print media because it has more viewers. Even so, the loss is not very high. The good side of online journalism comprises its news updates.”

Rajashekharan considers the reader as the master. They report their needs through their complaints. Daily interactions happen through the ‘letters to the editor’ columns. If most of the readers do not like what’s being written in the paper, it is a sure sign that the ideology of the paper has to be modified.

Citizen journalism provides a variety of people to be approached to get issues. “It gives you another angle to the story,” adds Rajashekharan. One can’t grow without interactivity. The media has to know the readers and approach them accordingly. In the bygone era, intimacy between the paper and its readers were more but the interactivity was way lesser.

According to Rajashekharan, one of the challenges today is how the media can cater to the needs of the ever-evolving niche audience. “We have to keep on experimenting with techniques to maintain majority audiences. The high production costs, recurring expenses and the political and market pressure are also challenges that have to be met. The value corrosion that has been happening will make it tough to produce quality work. ‘Free Press’ is not a possibility considering the pressure of reader interest. ”

Liberalisation of press raises the question of who gets liberalized. In media, money is needed at all stages of production. Hence, the organisation can’t move away from making policies for profit. The only thing that matters is that the ultimate result has to be credible. One has to read the audience and then create a product that would appeal to them.

The vernacular press is more intimate with its readers as English is a foreign language. The vernacular language can be written in the colloquial manner, once one knows the people residing in a particular region.

India should grow into her villages. The spurt of economic progress visible in the cities has to become a part of the villages as well. The print media has the potential to be the link that brings economic growth to the villages.

“I feel that at this point of time, only media has the power since, it represents compact ideas that can express powerfully,” says Rajashekharan. As a parting note, he tells that even if the media aids in changing one person, it can be termed as a small wonder.