Weekly Progress Report

Project ID: Credibility and Accountability of Media

Intern Name Apoorvaa P
Submission Date April 13th, 2013
Week April 8th – April 14th

Total Number Report Submitted

Mentor Discussion 1 Yes

Accomplishments of this week

 Comprehensive reading of the website of Press Council of India, the rules and
regulations based on which it operates the acceptable parameters relating to it
 The idea of shift of the Press Council of India to the Media Council of India and the
rationale behind it why is it significant to bring about the transition digital
media the main factor that reduces the credibility on media these days
 In addition to the acceptable norms of journalism, which involves to avoid cheap
sensationalism, be unbiased in the presentation of news, avoiding unwanted
intrusion into the private lives, and to stay away from vulgarity and obscenity, a
large quantum of journalism that doesn’t fall under these heads, might still remain
to be objectionable and would require a checking body, a regulatory head as the
PCI which is the important reason for its existence self-regulation with a
sense of responsibility, peers in the profession with intelligent laymen who can
have a say over the powers of somebody who attempts to overtake the existing
norms the media houses
 The unexploited freedom of the media in India and why self-regulation is
immediate and necessary regulation is different from control, in control, there is
no freedom, while in regulation there is freedom subject to reasonable restrictions
in the public interest, this regulation is suitably performed by an independent
statutory authority and not by the government

Copyright © 2013 Rakshak Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Page | 1

  Observing instances of media carelessness, which decreases the accountability
of media in every sense of the word especially issues pertaining to the sensitive
issue of juvenile cases, where journalistic views are prone to hurt the sentiments
of the people in the receiving end where sensationalism prevails over true
journalistic ethics ‘Headings not to be sensational/provocative and must justify
the matter printed under them’ clearly violating this norm in the code of ethics
 The hapless condition of the media houses to depend on advertisements,
pursuing business interests than societal interests how it has shifted from the
age old credible media  35 years ago, 55-77 percent of the total revenue of
newspapers was from the readers themselves and today there is a declining
dependency on the reader and the viewer 25-30% of a supplementary nature
some decades ago to a substantial 65-70% in the year 2007, differs for different
media sources (State of Newspaper Scene 2007, submitted to the Press Council of
India)
 Content credibility playing a crucial role in establishing brand equity of media
vehicles, the different concepts that affects the audiences’ perception of media
channel credibility
 A survey was floated to understand the underlying factors that point to the
decreasing credibility and accountability of media in the minds of the educated
population in India

Figure: A snapshot of the survey

Copyright © 2013 Rakshak Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Page | 2

References (People met, research report or papers read)

 Guidelines on Media reporting on children by committee constituted by Delhi High

Court
 Press release by the Press Council of India that heralds the transition of PCI to
MCI (Media Council of India)
 State of Newspaper Scene 2007 submitted to the Press Council of India
 Content Credibility and Brand Equity of Media Channels- relationship between
these two
 Corporatization of Media and loss of credibility, a transcribed version of a speech
given by Praful Bidwai at a conference on media and the law in New Delhi
 Media Accountability: Setting Standards for Journalism and Democracy by Aidan
White, International Federation of Journalists

Planned Actions for next week

 Since the background research has been performed, now the work of field visits
will be initiated this Monday to gain more understanding about the factors
identified from the reading pertaining to the current situation of the Indian media
 Based on the survey floated to ascertain the perception in the minds of people
about the condition of media, draw inferences about why such gaps are prevalent
and what can be done to reduce or eliminate them
 Reading the ‘Leveson report’ of the UK media
 Moving from one source to another based on the level of understanding realized
with the nature of the project, attempting to gain in-depth analysis of the identified
factors
 Ascertain the direction of the project, as to how it can proceed from here on, since
the nature of the media houses have more or less been identified and narrowed
down
 Think of a method to reduce the dependency of the media on the heavy inflow of
advertisements and funding and to observe whether that would probably have an
effect on increase of credibility on media
 To identify whether apart from Press Council of India which acts as a regulatory
body, any other forum is possible by which credibility is restored
 To seek the relationship between the usability of a specific media to the trust
employed in the media

Copyright © 2013 Rakshak Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Page | 3

Any hurdles or impediments to progress

 As the scope seems be huge, it is difficult to narrow down and work on a specific
area related to the project
 Time had been invested on background reading and hence the appropriate place
to start with, for the field visits is appearing a little hazy
 Only when relevant insights are gained from people on a lower level, which
started from the survey, more important people can be approached for the
interviews taking to the next stage is hampering the progress of the project
 The hurdles identified appear to have been there for some time now, so the
possibility of removal of the impediments is a worrisome factor change always
results in increased resistance from the ones who are accustomed to the entire
stagnant process until now
 A framework for implementation is difficult to reach at considering the enormous
scope of the project and the varied problems that are thronging the journalism
industry in the present scenario

Any significant eye-opening learning this week?

 Social media seem to be the major platform due to which credibility apparently is
on a not-so-good shape, so the possibility of narrowing down the scope to the
scale of social media can be seriously considered this can be one of the areas
of study
 Huge dependability of journalism towards business interests has considerably
shifted the blame onto journalists what else can media do is a burning question
 Sometimes when work is under threat, when professional life is scarred by
neglect, corruption and interference, how much is it possible to stick to the
standards of truth?
 The double edged sword called ‘Entrepreneurial not-for-profit’ journalism and
funding has a strong influence on the journalists who find it difficult to shuffle
between loyalties
 The near absence of pre-publication verification, due to the dawning era of digital
media is resulting in the erroneous incidences where media is bound to lose a
significant chunk of credibility and accountability

Copyright © 2013 Rakshak Foundation. All Rights Reserved. Page | 4