Greater Media Plurality Fosters Social Division

In this era of artificial intelligence and Robo humans, most of the tech savvy population is driven by its sense of sight. We live in an era of ‘believe what you see’, and with billions of eyeballs glued to the screens of mobile phones and televisions. Media or social media have become our windows to the world.

There’s this unsympathetic side of humans-our inborn tendencies towards sensationalism, our barbaric curiosity that has led to newspapers and news channels to serve B-town gossips, entertainment (regardless of its being dark or twisted), and priority over information and critical reasoning. The media is tempted into giving what the audience wants, and by using catchy headlines and spiced up interviews, yellow journalism is born. The unnecessary rat race of updating masses with the latest news first often impels media to publish fake and baseless facts and stories.

The latest example is of the Mumbai Cyclone – ‘Nisarga’. This cyclone received a lot of limelight, various warnings were given, and the Government was made ready to fight and deal with it. That’s the role of media-to create awareness and spread information. The lacuna was in the fact that even after the cyclone went by without even touching Mumbai, the information spread denoted otherwise. Many hashtagswere being used even after the cyclone receeded.

At the same time, Bengal and Odisha werehit by an even more devastating cyclone – ‘Amphan’. It created havoc in West Bengal, killing thousands of people and rendering millions homeless.The wildlife suffered a lot too. The ecosystem got imbalanced and yet there were not many headlines on this. The media knew that the headlines of Mumbai will grab more eyeballs than Bengal or Odisha will together do.[1]

Rains caused by cyclonic storm Nisarga in Madhya Pradesh led to damage of wheat harvest kept in the open at Government procurement centres, causing distress to farmers.[2]Instead of showing this news, Hardik Pandya (a cricketer of the Indian cricket team) and his expected baby were trending on Google.

Of course, Yellow Journalism did not completely erase the idea of morality because at one point, the public demands authenticity.Gone are the days of wars that were fought on battlefields; modern warfare is a high tech battlefront where social media has proved itself the most effective weapon. (the weaponization of social media)

Social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Whatsapp have become the nervous system of the world. They are the battlefields where the battles of everything from political campaigns and military operations to marketing wars are fought. They have proved themselves efficient to stoke fear, incite violence, spread fake news, and manipulate outcomes.

“Over a very short period, a handful of tech geeks have become among the most powerful figures in all of politics and war.” – Peter Singer.

To prove yourself stronger on this social media battlefield, physical strength or high tech hardware is completely secondary, all you need is the command of attention. The more attention you get, the more powerful you are! The Israeli Defense Forces use Twitter to pace their airstrikes. Islamic State apparently copied Taylor Swift’s approach to social media to recruit new members.[3]

In Myanmar, Facebook was used to spread rumours and hate speech against the Rohingya population. Legislators from Rakhine province, where most Rohingyas lived, called for violent attacks against them. In August 2017, 6,500 Rohingyas were killed and many more displaced in what the United Nations described as a systematic attack on the civilian population. The UN called for senior military leaders to be tried for war crimes.[4]ISIS has always been accused of recruiting new members through Whatsapp groups and brainwashing the youth.

All of this can be prevented by monitoring, detection, and deep assessment of threads and hashtags. By keeping a sharp eye on all of the major social media platforms, this problem can be handled.

In this super-competitive era, it has become a necessity to show the world how well informed you are. There has been a recent debate on Feminism. Having an opinion about something and being misinformed about that topic has a paper-thin line between them. The youth didn’t realize that they in turn are influencing or even manipulating a lot of people.

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Let’s take the recent example of ‘Bois Locker Room’ wherein some boys were accused of forming a group chat on Instagram and allegedly talking about girls in a demeaning manner and even about raping them. People took no time in putting up stories and spreading this news.

After some days, it was found out that the group and the screenshots were fake and that it was all done by a girl. All of this led to those boys facing wrath on all platforms and caused a lot of mental agony to them.This is what the glamorization of social media leads to!

The role of media was supposed to be of spreading awareness and information neutrally. Media has always been the mouthpiece of the masses. In these chaotic times, when this world is already in such confusion, peace is what the need of the hour is.

“ A good journalist is not the one that writes what the people say, but the one who writes what he is supposed to write” – Todor Zhivkov

“People are sheep. Media is the shepherd.” – Jess C. Scott

People are influenced by what they read and see on the screen. The media should be more responsible in exercising its right to speech and expression. If they spread hate news or content that is inappropriate, minds of people are poisoned and prejudiced and hatred is retained permanently. Two questions needs to be asked-

Is media a driver of peace or a driver of conflict?

Does media plurality foster social cohesion or division?

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