Responsibility of Medias & Role of Medias on Society

Media is called the parallel government. So it is very important to ensure the responsibilities of the medias of a country. A responsible media gives the proper guideline to a nation. Irresponsible activities of the media create many unwanted debates. Media is one of the largest sources of our information. So the negative role of media is very much unfortunate for any nation. Responsibility of the media is a well discussed affair in the world now days.

Kinds of Media: At early stage there was only one kind of media – the print media. But now a days we find various kinds of medias.

♦ Print medias: Newspapers, journals, magazines etc.

♦ Audio medias: Radio and cell phone.

♦ Audio-visual medias: Televisions, e-mails, websites etc. these are called electronic media too.

Role of Medias on our socio-economic and political life:

People are highly dependent  on the medias for any news or information. It has opened the door to know every events of any corner of the world in couple of seconds. We can gather knowledge and information of any subject from the medias. It is really difficult to hide anything for the medias. So the people are becoming more aware about the socio-economic and the political affairs of the world. Media has a great role on our socio-economic and political life. These are:

11.  Role of medias on society: Media reflects the social scenario in various ways. We find many writings and audio video program for increasing the social awareness. People become aware knowing about there duties and responsibilities through these programs. The role of medias against the dowry system, child labour, torture on women, child and women trafficking, throwing acids, safety measures of AIDS, control of population and corruption etc are very much appreciated in Bangladesh.

2   Role of medias on our politics: The political scenario of our country is not much satisfactory. The practice of democracy is almost absent in our politics. Our medias indicate the proper ways to our political leaders and parties when they do wrong. Medias reflects the hopes and feelings of the mass people which give the guidance to our political leaders. Medias are playing vital role by writings, plays, talk shows, documentary to increase the political awareness of the mass people. This awareness is increasing the accountability and transparency of the government. We can say medias are helping to build the strong foundation of our democracy.  

1.  Role of medias on our economy: The economy of Bangladesh is also struggling with many challenges. Medias give the inspiration to the people for increasing the economical activities by various programs. Agro based economical activities have bloomed in our country for the successful motivation by the medias.

3. Responsibilities of the medias: The mass people do believe and keep trust on the medias. So the responsible role of medias is very important in every respect. Sometimes few medias work for the implementation of some political agendas. Sometimes influential persons and the owner of the medias influence the news and information which misguide the people. Government of our country also puts pressure and influences on the medias to manipulate many news and information. We also find some dishonest media workers. Moreover we are not free from the yellow journalism. The following things may be considered for ensuring the responsibilities of the medias:

11.  Ensuring impartiality: Impartial role of the media is highly expected by the people. Because the information of the media plays the vital role to motivate the people in taking any decision. People may be misguided by the wrong news and information.

2.  Keep up the moral courage: There may be some unwanted pressure or interferences on medias from powerful and influential sources. It is very important to keep up the moral courage under those situations. If the medias compromise with those pressures or interference, people lose the trust and faith on the medias.

3.  Avoiding biasness: We find some media personalities and workers are politically biased. So they always try to speak in favour of their political reflection. It damages the neutrality of the media.

4.  Arrangement of institutional training: Proper institutional training must be arranged for the media workers. It enriches their professionalism. They can learn the ethics of the medias from this training. A well trained media worker usually performs his duties with responsibility. A sensitive news or a photograph cannot be printed or broadcasted like a simple news. A media worker can learn from the training how the news and information should be printed or broadcasted. So institutional training is very important for developing the responsibilities of the media.   

5. Keep up the national interests above all: Media should be very much careful about printing or broadcasting the news and information which are related about our national interests. There are some affairs which are related with the national security and honour; these should not be exposed to all. If any news can hamper our national security and interests that news should be published or broadcasted carefully.

6. Honesty and transparency: Honesty and transparency is one of the key instruments of ensuring the responsibilities of medias. It ensures the ethics and stops the yellow journalism. Corruption illegal money, nepotism, blind support on political parties etc make the medias questionable. Media should avoid all these undue affairs for ensuring their responsibilities.

7. Authenticity: Media should justify the authenticity of all the news and information before submitting in front of the people. Unauthentic news or information may create chaos in the socio political sector. It may damages honour of any person, organization or state.  

Recommendation for ensuring the responsibilities of the medias:

    Media has a great role on our social, political and economical life. So it is very important to ensure the responsibilities of the media. Now a days media has reached to the remotest area by the grace of the development of the information technology. So the impact of the medias have increased largely. Media can touch any people of any corner of the world by couple of seconds. Socio-economic and political life will be unstable if the role of the medias become questionable. Media can change the social and political views by their roles. Government can not do whatever they like for the close supervision of the medias. If the medias play negative roles it creates negative impacts on us.   So ensuring the responsibilities of the media has become the burning question in recent time. The following recommendations may be considered for ensuring the responsibilities of the medias:  

1.    Media should avoid the political alliances.

2.    Professional ethics and honesty must be followed.

3.    Professional training must be arranged for the new comers.

4.    Salary, financial benefits and security must be increased for the media workers.

5.    Seminars, symposiums can be arranged with the reputed national and international media personals for developing their knowledge.

6.    Political interference to medias must be stopped etc.

    Conclusion: We can see huge expansion of medias in our country in last couple of years. These medias has reached all the corner of the country. So the importance of medias has increased significantly. Medias are giving all the national and international news and information to the people. Medias have a great influence on the masses. So medias should ensure their responsible role. Irresponsible role of the medias can create any unwanted situation which never desire.