Pallav Mukhopadhyay

Commoditization of News : a Challenge to Serious Journalism in India Pallav Mukhopadhyay

In the age of liberalization, privatization and globalization news is being treated as a commodity. From Journalists to Social Scientists express their deep concern over the tendency to commoditize news. Some news media have not hesitated to compromise with serious journalism. Others have taken recourse to sensationalism. Profit should not be the sole criterion. Market forces have affected the credibility of the media. Core values of Indian journalism have already come under pressure from folding journalism into entertainment. The mainstream media depend on the market economy and the whims of advertisers regulate even the editorial content of the media in many occasions. A large section of the media is really trying to divert the attention of the people from the real issues to non-issues. For such a market-driven media, the problems of the common man are not matters of serious concern. Sensationalism, tabloidization, trivialization, celebrity-worship and above all commoditization pose a alarming threat to serious journalism. To combat the trend the media persons must act responsibly and help the people to solve their problems by focusing on the real issues of the country.