Ideology, Media and PR
A
system of ideas and ideals, especially which form the basis of Political
theory, Economic theory and Policy can be summed up as ideology. An individual
or a group formed specifically to attain a certain goal can have an ideology and
are free to propagate it. However should a media house or any agency or
organisation related to journalism which has an impact on the way masses think
be allowed to have an ideology? Any ideologue would be more than happy to find
an organisation that shows sympathy to his/her cause. After all an individual’s
reach is far more limited than that of an organisation. It is like a drop in
the ocean when compared to that of a media house. But is it ethical for a media
house to follow a certain ideology?
The
last 2-2 1/2 decades have witnessed an upsurge in the PR sector. It has
resulted in change of perspective from time to time. Be it elections or
economic policies, one and all have been affected by it. PR Firms have
considerably affected Media too, they have become accessible to the masses.
Today
media houses are used as a medium to propagate ideologies. Most of the Media
houses align themselves with a certain ideology. They are used for image
management,as a shield in crisis and are part and parcel of the Crisis Management strategy. There have been numerous examples in the recent past. The
most prominent among them is the use of media by Spiritual Gurus and such
others. If it was limited to it no one would have had a problem. But there are
Media groups which are wary of a certain ideologies and so these ideologies
however fruitful they might seem to certain sections of society won’t find a
mention. Those who run them are of the opinion that since men are involved
ideology is an integral part of media and cannot be removed. However,
intellectuals have time and again stressed for the need of bias free media.
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