Media and journalism is often referred as a fourth pillar of the democracy along with the other three pillars of the judiciary, the executive and the legislature (Gehlbach and Sonin 2014). However, in the theocracies or the kingdoms, media has not been treated in the similar fashion (Gehlbach and Sonin 2014). Freedom of speech and expression plays an important role in the freedom of press (Gehlbach and Sonin 2014). The Second Amendment in the United States and Article 10 in the UK ensure the freedom of media in these countries (Crane Kawashima and Kawasaki 2016). However, the scenario is not the same around the world. The history of European civilization can also be described as a journey from the monarchy to democracy, dictatorship to freedom of speech and luxurious hierarchy to utilitarianism (Crane Kawashima and Kawasaki 2016). The advent of the Renaissance, the invention of the printing press and the mass education policies along with various civil wars, revolts, movements, implementation of various ideologies in state and organisations and revolutions has ensured the rights of the people in the continent (Crane Kawashima and Kawasaki 2016). However, unlike Europe, other continents like Asia and Africa have been largely dominated by dictators, monarchs and feudal systems, which deny the rights of the citizens according to ideologies, religious beliefs and social customs (Crane Kawashima and Kawasaki 2016). In the name of all these belief systems, the state plays an instrumental role in restricting and limiting the media into a mouthpiece of the establishment. The idea of independent media and state has been in conflict since the genesis of both the ideas.
Media is a term which is inherently multi-dimensional and covers a vast number of ideas, activities, arts, information and communication (Alexander 2015). It is almost certain that there are no other words in the English dictionary which is related so many fields like advertising, broadcasting, electronics, digital, printing, social and many more. Media also includes films, documentaries and literature of fictional and non-fictional genre (Alexander 2015). Media has become global in the true sense (Campbell and Martin 2015). The advent and development of internet have outreached every other medium and have successfully connected people of different races, geographical locations, religions and languages across the world (Alexander 2015). However, along with the media the idea of nation states has also became stronger in the developed world in the nineteenth and twentieth century (Jung and Park 2014). The idea of nationalism and the concept of nation as identity has been a strong trend in the present age. The national identity consists of racial slur, cultural snobbery and historical pride to sustain the nation (Jung and Park 2014). The proposition of national identity is utilised by the establishment in order to oppress the fourth pillar of a democracy and the most important tool to convey, communicate and inform the citizens of a country about the successes and failures of the state (Campbell and Martin 2015). The media is important as it informs the people about the happenings of the world, about the misdeeds and successes, it analyses the failures and success, it plays an intra communicating role among citizens and it directs the people of a country towards a specific direction (Jung and Park 2014). The father of western philosophy, Plato once stated that the poets will; not be allowed in his ‘ideal’ republic (Plato 2015). According to Plato, the poet has the ability to misinform and misdirect the citizens of a country (Plato 2015). The misinformation and lies may affect the unity and integrity of a country (Plato 2015). At the present age the ability and reach of the poets are replaced by that of the media (Plato 2015). The strength of the media has exceeded to such an extent that it has the power to misinform the entire mass of a country (Campbell and Martin 2015). The advent of corporate media and state media has been instrumental in propagating ideas which are not neutral. The origin of yellow journalism has affected the media industry in this age. The news media (Print and electronic) has a lot to do with honesty and credibility of the journalists. However, in the developed countries, the media is marked as rightist and leftist; hence it is understandable that voyeurism has replaced major portions of journalism around the world (Natale and Balbi 2014). In the age of hyper reality, the state and religions have understood the power of media and have not only used to communicate the government policies of development but also have utilised it in order to manipulate the common citizens of the nations.
Media has been evolving along with time. From print to electronic and from electronic to digital; the story of the transformation of the media has to been to outreach itself along with every medium (Freedom House 2017). In 2015, a global survey about the freedom of press was conducted in and around 195 countries and territories around the world (Freedom House 2017). According to this report the Press freedom has significantly decreased in the world since the last survey (Freedom House 2017). In fact the global score of freedom and press has been decreasing since 2004 (Freedom House 2017). This survey is annually conducted with the help of lading journalists around the world (Freedom House 2017). The report states that in 1955, 25 percent of the media houses and the press were assumed to be free of any state or corporate interventions (Freedom House 2017). However, in 2005 this percentage increased into 38 percent and finally decreased to 31 percent in 2015 (Freedom House 2017). The dipping of free and independent media is prophesying a serious and alarming situation for the future (Freedom House 2017)e. This decrease in the independence of the media houses has a lot of contribution from the countries from the Middle East and Islamic countries in Africa and Asia along with other countries like China and North Korea (Xu 2014). This survey also states that there has been considerable downfall in the freedom of Press since 2010.
Due to the war in Syria, there has been major violation in the media rights. The barbaric regime of Islamic State in major areas of Syria, Libya and Iraq has reportedly violated each and every right of the media and has destroyed the existence of media in that region (Natale and Balbi 2014). Other than that there are instances of countries like Turkey, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and Israel where media is censored, utilised and punished by the establishment (Salt 2016). The 21st century has reportedly seen the charges of sedition on various journalists all around the world. In the regime of Recep Tayyip Erdo?an there has been incidents of false accusation and imprisonment of the media personals of Turkey integrity (Turkey | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016). There have been reports of fabricated media charges and major interventions by the Turkish government in the media houses integrity (Turkey | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016). Erdogan’s government has also throttled the internet activities by black outs to prevent major news and information to reach the common masses integrity (Turkey | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016). The news and information is censored in the name of national security and integrity (Turkey | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016). However, the foreign journalists have been vocal about such acts of the establishment (Salt 2016). Erdogan, who held the office as a Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as the President since 2014 has been infamous because of his dictatorial activities and for his highly influential speeches which gave rise to the religious fundamentalism in a democratic state like Turkey (Salt 2016). Uganda is another example where the press is oppressed and restricted by the enormous governmental pressure (Freedom House 2017). Other Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia have implemented censorship and significant restrictive rules on the media regarding the war with Yemen (Saudi Arabia | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016). The Saudi establishment have implemented these special restrictions in the south of the provinces (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013). The monarchy of Saudi Arabia has been infamous for running oppressive regime in the country for decades (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013). In 2011, the Arab spring has inflicted an uprising across the Middle East nations and North Africa (Markham 2014). After this movement gained momentum, the monarchy issued a decree of banning the reporters and the news broadcast (Markham 2014). The news and information regarding the alternatives of the Sharia (Islamic law) which is implemented by the Saudi Government has been a huge problem. According to the Saudi Government, the reporting regarding the Arab spring has undermined national security, sponsored by foreign interests and other religious leaders (Markham 2014). The decree of Saudi government was an amendment on few articles regarding 2003 media law (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013). Through this instrument the authorities imposed ban on journalists and media professionals (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013). The government also claimed fines of 500,000 riyals ($133,000) on each of the accused journalists for violations (Saudi Arabia | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016). The other amendments by the Saudi government blocked more than 40 local websites due to sedation charges (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013).
Another Middle East country have also assigned authorized censorship on Television, Radio and other broadcast to restrict them to display political, religious and sexual content through their medium (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013). The establishment of these countries have been instrumental in banning any content which is against their regime. In case of monarchy, dictatorship and communist regimes the suppression of media houses has been common (Wolfsfeld Segev and Sheafer 2013). In a country like, Russia invested millions of ruble on building Russia Today (RT) network (Yablokov 2015). This network is present all around the world has been broadcasting in different languages including English, French and others (Yablokov 2015). It is a major allegation that Russia Today has been presenting the propaganda of the Russian government to all parts of the world (Yablokov 2015). Similarly, People’s Republic of China is one such country which has allotted a definite quota system for the films which release in the territory of the country. For example, it allows only 32 Hollywood films and 4 Indian films every year. It has been reported that China restricts the release of the foreign films with political content (Xu 2014). China has also developed its own social media called Weibo in order to censor the foreign content (Xu 2014). In 2009 China banned Facebook due to its inability to monitor the content of the social networking sites. The Chinese Government implemented such a decision in order to restrict the East Turkistan Islamic Movement. The nationalist movement of the Uyghurs is believed as a serious threat the nation of the middle kingdom by the establishment in Beijing (Xu 2014). The Chinese government also strictly sensors media reports, news papers and television channels in order to sell their propaganda among the masses (Xu 2014). The communist regime of North Korea is another extreme example of Socialist Economy which wants control each and every media reports (Xu 2014). According to reports, the obsession of Kim Jong-un to control the media has been repeatedly reported by foreign media (Xu 2014).
Despite the fact that the 20th century and the 21st century has been largely peaceful times, the establishments of a number of countries have restricted media like Print, electronic and film in accordance to religious, social and ethical issues. These governments of Asia and Africa have not only restricted media but have instrumentally used media for selling their own propaganda among people. However, the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has considerably increased their reach and has transformed the entire equation globally. It is evident that it is almost impossible to control the free expressions and speeches of people in the social media. Therefore, the only way to stop the free speech and expression is to ban it. The authoritative regimes of China and North Korea have implemented these ideas in their countries. It is a fact that the yellow journalism and the establishment of the media houses by the government of the various countries have affected true blue journalism. The corporate media houses often serve various purposes of the establishment. On the other hand there are countries like Russia, where the establishment spends millions of dollars on media. The future of human civilization cannot be media free. The involvements of media have increased in the lives of the humans with time. In the last decade, the social media and internet has reached the majority of the homes in the developed and the developing countries. People use internet for personal activities and for socially communicating with others. The ideas of Net Neutrality and Free Basics have been hugely problematic for the independent internet users and the freedom of speech in various countries. The selling of important information by the social media corporations is also alarming for the future of media. As the social media is a new phenomenon, the major establishments are still seeking ways to monitor and restrict these media platforms.
References
Alexander, J., 2015. The Parasocial Contract: Constructing a Concrete Definition for Media Studies (Doctoral dissertation, University of Colorado Colorado Springs).
Campbell, R. and Martin, C., 2015. Media essentials: A brief introduction. Macmillan Higher Education.
Crane, D., Kawashima, N. and Kawasaki, K.I. eds., 2016. Global culture: Media, arts, policy, and globalization. Routledge
Freedom House. 2017. Freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2 July 2017, from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/freedom-press-2016
Gehlbach, S. and Sonin, K., 2014. Government control of the media. Journal of Public Economics, 118, pp.163-171.
Jung, K. and Park, H.W., 2014. Citizens’ social media use and homeland security information policy: Some evidences from Twitter users during the 2013 North Korea nuclear test. Government Information Quarterly, 31(4), pp.563-573.
Markham, T., 2014. Social media, protest cultures and political subjectivities of the Arab spring. Media, Culture & Society, 36(1), pp.89-104.
Natale, S. and Balbi, G., 2014. Media and the imaginary in history: The role of the fantastic in different stages of media change. Media History, 20(2), pp.203-218.
Plato, P., 2015. Republic. eKitap Projesi
Salt, J., 2016. Erdogan’s “New Turkey” Slides into Turmoil. Middle East Policy, 23(2), pp.119-131.
Saudi Arabia | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016 Freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2 July 2017, from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/saudi-arabia
Thornton, R., 2015. The Changing Nature of Modern Warfare: Responding to Russian Information Warfare. The RUSI Journal, 160(4), pp.40-48.
Turkey | Country report | Freedom of the Press | 2016. Freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2 July 2017, from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2016/turkey
Wolfsfeld, G., Segev, E. and Sheafer, T., 2013. Social media and the Arab Spring: Politics comes first. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(2), pp.115-137.
Xu, B., 2014. Media censorship in China. Council on Foreign Relations, 25.
Yablokov, I., 2015. Conspiracy theories as a Russian public diplomacy tool: the case of Russia Today (RT). Politics, 35(3-4), pp.301-315.
Zeb, A., Khattak, M.K., Jamal, H. and Khattak, A.K., 2016. Analysis of Digital Democracy’s Promotion Through Social Media. New Horizons, 10(1), p.95.
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