Ignorance is the real drug!

Ignorance is the real drug

Chinmoyee Deka

Journalism and Mass Media is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy, which clearly means it’s prime duty is to uphold the democratic principles of the country and the one way to do that is to keep the citizens truly informed.

Look around yourselves. How many such journalism endeavors do you see these days?

In the name of information, most media houses sell propagandas and perspectives, much like product placement by an ad agency. Trying to find out whether media first began to compromise or the big shots started buying them out owing to their extreme money and muscle power is not easy but the ones really losing out in this battle are the citizens.

Theories of communication suggest that constant information has the power to influence opinion. In this age of technology, everybody believes that communication is now a two-way process and the audience has the platform to express their views. But how independent are our views in reality?

The Facebook posts, the WhatsApp statuses, the Instagram stories, the tweets, etc. that we write are somewhere influenced by some piece of information. Our opinion is not actually ours. We have been guided to holding that opinion.

Why is this happening?

At present we are not only surrounded by a lot of information but also a lot of bad quality and unnecessary information. Reporting was just about stating facts in the most simple exact and crisp manner possible but that is not what we hear blaring from our speakers. Every day we hear decisions, assumptions, theories, and propaganda being thrown into the air irresponsibly to which we smart consumers respond by agreeing or disagreeing.

We rarely question the source and reliability of the information.

“The Facebook posts, the WhatsApp statuses, the Instagram stories, the tweets, etc. that we write are somewhere influenced by some piece of information. Our opinion is not actually ours. We have been guided to holding that opinion.”

However, this is not the consumer’s fault entirely. Media as an institution was never to be doubted but with each passing day, it is losing its value. Media does not have the independence it deserves which is probably why most media houses are giving into one or the other side. This is not a good enough excuse though. Despite everything, the media should have still managed to preserve its credibility.

What can the audience do?

Be selective.

Whenever anything goes viral try finding out why it went viral, how is it significant to you or the society, and if not stay away from it. We do not need to talk about the same thing just because everyone else is. Do this by thinking yourself, do not look for opinions on the internet.

• Value your time

While reading or viewing something try to find out what value it is adding to your life. Does Deepika having drugs impact your life? Think.

• Search effectively

We all have smartphones. Try typing in ‘environmental crisis’ or ‘small business opportunities’ instead of ‘Anurag Kashyap sexual assault’. There is a reason good news do not make headlines, it is because we do not look for them.

• News is not entertainment

Watch and read the news to educate yourselves before brushing it aside because it stood low on the entertainment scale.

• Find a few reliable sources and stick to them

These should be selected on the basis of truth, neutrality, timeliness, and significance.

• Cross-check before posting

There is a huge surge of fake news in the country. Make sure to cross-check a piece of information before talking about it on social; media. With this being said, in no way are matters of drugs and sexual assault any less serious but we should also understand that in most cases these issues are not presented as a general public issue but instead as a TRP gimmick involving public figures.

The intention of the news piece should also be considered. Be wise, take in the valuable information, and learn to ignore the noise.

Writer Chinmoyee Deka is a PhD Scholar at the School of Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati, India. She did her master degree from Tezpur University.

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