While there is reason to agonize about the quality of public representative we have elected over the years, there is no case for riling against the system. The point is to make the system work. Here we the people too have to be held accountable. We have not tried hard enough. Those who fault the electoral system are mostly the urban, educated, middle class voters who are under the illusion that they owe nothing to the system since they survive despite it. But such naysayers should know that garbage management for instance is not something that can be managed individually. It is a civic responsibility and citizens ought to unite and engage with the issue and push the government to deliver instead of constantly sulking. This is how democracy works.
Coming to the media which many blame for its numerous lapses, it is true that television debates today have become cacophonous and reinterpreted the idea of news. There is more time slotted for personal and political views and a smattering of breaking news. This completes the mandate of the electronic media today. Some have termed the electronic news media the entertainment channels. They are noisy, and boisterous and no one listens since all the panelists talk at the same time, shouting each other down. But this is a passing phenomenon. Soon viewers will get tired of this tomfoolery and ask for the real thing from the media. Will the fourth pillar of democracy have any answers to offer a disillusioned electorate? Or do the media too swim in the same waters that drive the other pillars and therefore suffer the same ailments? Paid news is a phenomenon that afflicts all media and while advertorials are legitimate, the lines between news as it should be reported and slanted news that subtly promote a candidate and rubbishes his rival during this election season, still manage to pass as news. This despite the Election Commission’s strict rules! Clearly the media need stringent self-regulation because they influence the voters. Besides, voters in the rural areas do not know the difference between news and paid news. The media needs to seriously introspect on its mandate as laid down by Article 19 of the Constitution. Media misdemeanour is what frustrates the voter. And this is certainly a breach of democracy.
