Understanding Media

Q32. How media and money are interrelated?

Ans. The different technologies that mass media use are expensive. In a news studio, it is not only the newsreader who needs to be paid but also a number of other people who help put the broadcast together. The technologies that mass media use keep changing and so a lot of money is spent on getting the latest technology. Due to these costs, the mass media needs a great deal of money to do its work. Thus, mass media is constantly thinking of ways to make money.

Q33. “Most television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses”. Explain why?

Ans. In a news studio, it is not only the newsreader who needs to be paid but also a number of other people who help put the broadcast together. This includes those who look after the cameras and lights. Also, as you read earlier the technologies that mass media use keep changing and so a lot of money is spent on getting the latest technology. Due to these costs, the mass media needs a great deal of money to do its work. As a result, most television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses.

Q34. In what ways does the media play an important role in a democracy?

Ans. Role of media in a democracy

                       i.        In a democracy, the media plays a very important role in providing news and discussing events taking place in the country and the world. It is on the basis of this information that citizens can, for example, learn how government works.

                      ii.        It also criticizes the unpopular policies and programme of the government.

                     iii.        It forms the public opinion.

                     iv.        It raises issues and problem related to common people.

                     v.        It also acts as reminder for the government about their promises.

Q35. How does technology affect the media industry?

Ans. Changing technology, or machines, and making technology more modern, help media to reach more people. It also improves the quality of sound and the images that we see. But technology does more than this. It also changes the ways in which we think about our lives. For example, today it is quite difficult for us to think of our lives without television. Television has enabled us to think of ourselves as members of a larger global world. Television images travel huge distances through satellites and cables. This allows us to view news and entertainment channels from other parts of the world.

Q36. Can you give this diagram a title? What do you understand about the link between media and big business from this diagram?

Image from NCERT

Ans. The title can be ‘Media and Big business houses’.

From this diagram it is clear that some big business houses have their own television channels and newspapers. They show news of interest to the people on television and newspaper and advertise their own product in between. Independent media houses also advertise product of big business houses to make money. As a result, most television channels and newspapers are part of big business houses. People buy these advertised products of the big business houses and money flow back to them.

Q37. You have read about the ways in which the media ‘sets the agenda’. What kind of effect does this have in a democracy? Provide two examples to support your point of view.

Ans. The media also plays an important role in deciding what stories to focus on, and therefore, decides on what is newsworthy. By focusing on particular issues, the media influences our thoughts, feelings and actions, and brings those issues to our attention.

Example:

                       i.        The media drew our attention to alarming levels of pesticides in cola drinks. They published reports that indicated the high level of pesticides and, thus, made us aware of the need to regularly monitor these colas according to international quality and safety standards.

                      ii.        The media drew our attention to suicide committed by farmers which leads to large scale movement and forced the government to look further on this issue.

Q38. How can we say that media is far from freedom?

Ans. However, the reality is that media is far from independent. This is mainly because of two reasons.

                        i.        The first is the control that the government has on the media. When the government prevents either a news item, or scenes from a movie, or the lyrics of a song from being shared with the larger public, this is referred to as censorship. There have been periods in Indian history when the government censored the media.

                       ii.        Second, at times, it is in the interest of these businesses to focus on only one side of the story. Media’s continual need for money and its links to advertising means that it becomes difficult for media to be reporting against people who give them advertisements.

Q39. Explain the meaning and importance of local media with the help of an example.

Ans. Local media covers ‘small’ issues that involve ordinary people and their daily lives. Several local groups have come forward to start their own media. Several people use community radio to tell farmers about the prices of different crops and advise them on the use of seeds and fertilisers. Others make documentary films with fairly cheap and easily available video cameras on real-life conditions faced by different poor communities, and, at times, have even given the poor these video cameras to make films on their own lives.

Another example is a newspaper called Khabar Lahriya which is a fortnightly that is run by eight Dalit women in Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh. Written in the local language, Bundeli, this eight-page newspaper reports on Dalit issues and cases of violence against women and political corruption.