The Power and Responsibilty of the Press
Uploaded by Aleem on Mar 19, 2007
The power and responsibility of the press
By: Aleem Yousaf
The medium of the press is most strong source of communication with the masses. It is a need of every country to maintain a free press for the purpose of keeping its people aware of their surroundings. Newspapers provide national and international news at people’s doorstep. It is an effective channel for informing to people about government policies and the changes taking place at social, economic, political as well as religious spheres. The press can influence the opinion of people to great extent through its news. It can mould people’s thinking. It is a power that speaks in words about the surroundings of people.
To provide the right news in the right time, it is imperative that the press of a country be free. People whether singly or in groups should not be given a chance by the government to influence the press through their power. But on the other hand, a good press should use this freedom of the press in a manner that is in the interest and benefit of the overall country. It should not use its power for the personal benefit of an individual or one segment of the society.
Until such power and freedom of the press is used within restraint and balance it is useful for the overall good of society. But when some kinds of news which are not properly investigated into and not fully followed up or only provide individual point of view, the power of the press is wrongly used. Such kind of news becomes the cause of agitation in the minds of people. They become confused. Now people are in a state of mind in which they are not sure of what really is happening in their surroundings.
Consequently, if such confusion takes birth it is for sure that some people will get misled. In underdevelopment countries of the world, where majority of the people cannot read, those people who are misled will mislead their illiterate fellowmen because of the very confusing news.
Hence, it is the responsibility of the press to publish only those news that are from reliable and proper sources. It must be ensured that the news that is of great importance to the people should not be from an individual pint of view. It must be based on the viewpoints of all those people to whom the news belongs....