Labels for press

["prakash chandrashekar" <prakash7uc@rediffmail.com>]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Please help make the Manifesto better, or accept it, and propagate it!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
------------- Original Message --------------
Padmanabha Rao <kvprao@igidr.ac.in> wrote:

I think we expect the Press to produce facts, as opposed to opinions
(brands). That is the (accepted?) definition of the institution of the
Press. The Free Press. Opinion is what we make out of the facts that the
Press produces. Each of us don't have the resources to keep a constant
vigil on the government and isn't that why we have the Press ? In that
light, it is best that a media member wear its bias on its sleeve and make
it more easy for me to form my opinion. 
------------------------------

What if the label means nothing ? 

Let me illustrate. I know of people who call themselves communists and
think that the USSR was not a communist country.  
I quote "They merely stole the label communist. a true communist country
does not have a state". 
I asked - "that means anarchist, right ?"
He replied - "NO, Anarchists are nihilists, we are different. "
so, this is problem no:1. Labels need not always make sense. 

problem 2 -  what if someone went beyond the bounds of the label. eg: a lot
of "communists" in kerala are in favour of privatising education. How does
the label help here ? who will ensure that everyone reamins within their
label ?

about facts and opinions

There are facts and those cannot be misrepresented. If there are
contradictions here, they can be easily found out. 

A free press is exactly that. A free press - one which is free to produce
anything they want.

---------------------------
 
You mistook my point. Given the power of information, a government with
vested-interests is more controllable, by the electorate, than a Press
with vested-interests. You can vote out a monopolist government, but how
do you oust a monopolist Press ? 
-----------------------

1- th press is not a monolithic entity. It consists of lots of presses. And
 a lot of them can be antagonistic to each other. why, even indiapolicy.org
belongs to a category of free speech. 

and about voting out a monopolistic government, you can do it once in 5
years. 
A press, you can do it in one moment. By refusing to buy the paper,
visiting the site, etc.
----------------------------

The Press is a monopoly granted by the
electorate. There is a competition not in producing facts, but in the
*number* of facts produced (more information). It is the institution that
*makes* a democrasy. 
---------------------

How is it a monopoly ?
--------------------
It's not the democratically elected government, but
the powerful duo of the Government and the Press that makes a democrasy.
If the members of the institution by themselves or collusion disregard the
mandate (it's so easy with information), how do you salvage it ? 
-------------------

competition is inherently against collusion. te more the players, the
lesser the collusion.
--------------------------
I think
they should atleast then brand themselves and make it easy for us to
*know* . After all we do that with the government, so it should be forced
upon the Press too. But ultimately the loss in the electorate's. The Press
in the counter-force we establish and support, but if it too goes the
government's way where's the remedy.
------------------------------

A free press means you allow everyone to print their articles and you
decide. You can repudiate facts if wrongly printed and opinions all the time.



_____________________________________________________
Chat with your friends as soon as they come online. Get Rediff Bol at
http://bol.rediff.com





--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the National Debate on System Reform.       debate@indiapolicy.org
Rules, Procedures, Archives:            http://www.indiapolicy.org/debate/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------