One of the best features of Media is that they can literally grab anybody’s attraction and often succeed in selling people bill of goods. They have the potential to conceal home truths like a perfect full coverage concealer yet out of the blue they can expose a charming hot mess.
Well, knowing every detail of how the media work is definitely a hard nut to crack but then again I can provide you with some relevant points which will unveil how media has actually managed to slip inside our good book. So, chop chop!
To begin with, let me show you two straight facts how media came in handy.
Social media played an essential role and President Ben Ali was exiled and the government was overthrown. This movement was proliferated by the young Tunisians on Facebook and Twitter.
2011 is known as the year of social media democracy because of Arab Spring, democratic uprisings against the autocratic government. across the Arab which began with Tunisia Revolution and quickly took hold in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, etc.
Film, television, and radio.
In 1980, Mr.Satyajit Ray made Hirak Rajar deshe which directly referenced the most controversial emergency period(1975-1977), satirically. This film depicts election suspension, opponent imprisonment, and press censored, sarcastically.
Even from the movies- ‘Schindler’s List’, ‘Life is beautiful’, ‘Anne Frank’ and ‘The Boy in the striped pajamas’. We can perceive the brutality of the holocaust, concentration camps, or gas chambers in the WW2 phase. In the movie “Blood Diamond”, we can witness the unrest condition created by insurgent warlords, poverty, malnutrition of poor children and women in Africa who were forced to collect diamond ores.
The film, ‘Matrubhoomi-a nation without women’ examines the adverse impact o female infanticide on the gender balance. Recently the movie “Pink” portrayed the tragic condition of women in Indian Society. This legacy of portraying the original facts and thus spreading social awareness unbiasedly has been performing by these media for since long.
Media is not always yellow bellied. Just like playing HOLI sometimes make us realize that daag acche hain (stains are good), the job of media is actually not getting their hands dirty. It is another open book which people might love or might hate but can never ignore.
BBC-CNN and many other news channels broadcasted the tyranny of dictatorship in Syria under the rule of Bassar-al-Assad, Egypt ruled by Hosni Mubarak, and Libya, led by Muhammar-Al-Gaddassi.
Even the Vietnam war is often called as Living room War or Television War as it was the 1st war to be systematically telecasted having satanic effects of war, how people are killing each other for no reason. Collecting such footages is undoubtedly a game behind the eighth ball but media hit it out of the park!
These broadcasts were criticized by many other countries as all these are against humanity. We are thus knowing both pros and cons of these telecasts because of their unbiased nature.
Radio had a vital role in the last phase of the Indian Freedom Movement like on the activities of Azad-Hind fauj or Indian National Army and also the Royal Indian Navy Revolt in 1946 which ensured Indian Independence.
Newspapers, magazines, and journals.
Newspapers like the Bombay Chronicle, Hindustan, Kesari, Maharatta, Harijan, Young India, and the Hindu played a significant role in different times of the Indian Freedom Movement like Noncooperation Movement in 1920, Quit India Movement in 1942, Jalianwallabagh Massacre in 1919, Partition of Bengal in 1905 and fabricated chauvinism amongst Indians.
With the help of the magazines and newspapers like Tattwabodhini Patrika and Sambad Prabhakar, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar fought against child marriage and strongly protested against polygamy marriages. Both of these social evils had an ill effect on women’s dignity and self-respect. He and Derozio also fought for Widow remarriage and merciless killing of women, accused of being witches, with the help of these newspapers.
Raja RamMohan Roy manifested Bengal Renaissance and abolished the practice of Sati, the Hindu funeral practice where the widow was burnt alive in her husband’s funeral, with the help of various magazines and newspaper Sambad Kaumudi.
Thus, back in the days the social reconstruction was achieved to a great extent with the assist of unbiased newspapers and magazines. Our pioneers did not throw in the towel and continued doing their noble job. They had faith in the then media and climbed uphill.
Let’s get it straight, media most of the time is a bitter pill to swallow because it frequently figures out the Achilles’ heels of certain things we boast off. It never gets cold feet.
Bear in mind, choosing a particular entity or a particular object is our choice. We do get ample time to categorize our priorities and eventually support or follow things that are being broadcasted, irrespective of any influence. That does not mean that we can beat out the power of media.
Media was there when major evolutions took place. Media is still the ace of spades to various platforms. Media will remain the ultimate set up, master mind behind pulling the strings!