Contradictory Development of Media: A study of Gandhian Model of Journalism and Contemporary Media

Abstract

The Internet has changed the whole media environment. There is a tremendous change in the way of consuming news and information. World Wide Web has opened many doors at a global platform. It created a lot of news distribution channel on a single platform. News industries are experiencing great change. Social media acts as a platform of where they communicate, express and share their feelings, joys, happiness, different contents and news stories with amazing faster speed. People are highly affected by this, their social, cultural, political and economic behaviour is changed. People are sharing news stories on the social media platform. As we know Credibility and accuracy is the key in the journalism profession since inception. Mahatma Gandhi, “The father of the nation”, was a revolutionary freedom fighter, a national leader and a social reformer. Apart from that, he recognized the power of journalism. In his movement of non-violence and truth, he achieved the collective opinions of people. Through his movement, people coming together, and share the idea to bring change in the society. And he achieved his aim with truth and nonviolence. Old and new journalism works differently. In this digital era, the line between the professional journalist and amateur (citizen journalist) has been blurred; as a result, the structure of representing news is changed. The core traits ‘credibility’ and ‘accuracy’ are highly affected. Yes, it’s true, this digital information age gives us more breaking news and interactive platform than ever before but there are many negative consequences also. In this research paper, an extensive review of the literature has been carried on to analyze the overall positive and negative impact of social networking sites as a source of news. This study will reveal how people use social networking sites, to generate awareness in society and how it is affecting society in a positive and negative manner. Misinformation is a major threat to our society and it develops a negative mindset of society members and how this transformation of news consumption puts the Gandhiji’s model of journalism at risk