The invention of the art of printing in the fifteenth century was in many respects much more important than the invention of gun-powder. The latter had served only to strengthen the sinews of war, but the former helped to liberate the human mind by light­ing up and widening its horizons as never before. The advent of the printing press meant that from that hour, the brain and not the arm was to rule the world—revolutionary change in the for­tunes of mankind.

The free propagation of the printed word not only helped to lift the clouds of ignorance, but also acted as a catalytic agent to promote freedom of inquiry and debate on an unprecedented scale. Perhaps the first revolution brought about by this new power was the reformation which shook the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century. As the immense capacity of the printed word to sway popular opinion began to make itself felt, the state naturally tried to bring the press under control by imposing censorship to make sure that no writing which tended to undermine temporal or spiritual authority was allowed to get into print.

Gradually a free press came to be recognized as an essential at­tribute of parliamentary democracy—the fourth estate of the realm after the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the Commons. Votaries of democracy have since hailed the freedom of the press as “The palladium of all civil, political and religious rights”, “the mother of all our liberties, and of our progress under liberty”, “the chosen guardian of freedom, strong swordarm of justice, bright sunbeam of truth”.

It cannot be gainsaid that the press is primarily a medium of mass-communication. Therefore, obviously its true function is to inform the people, and the measure of freedom it enjoys, depends upon the way it discharges that function. The people have a right to be informed freely and fully, and for that the press is accountable neither to the sate, nor to the proprietor, but to the people. The newspapers keep the people informed of the interna­tional and national news and happenings. Any incident taking place in any corner of the country of the world is splashed by the press immediately.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

In a democracy the newspapers play a very important role. They keep the people informed about the programme and policies of the Government. Similarly, they keep the government informed of the desires, wishes and grievances of the people. In this manner in a democracy newspapers play a dual role. They try to bridge the gap between the government and the people. On the other hand, in a dictatorship, newspapers are only one way media in the hands of the dictator. The dictator tries to promote only his personal interests through the press.

The newspapers can play a constructive role in a democratic society. By dissemination of information and correct reporting they can greatly help in the formation of a healthy public opinion among the people. But sometimes certain newspapers indulge in yellow journalism. They give highly sensational, biased and colored news just to create some sort of excitement among the people. They spread rumors and indulge in mud-slinging. Such like actions on the part of a press must be curbed. This inevitably has the effect of distorting the freedom of the press and thus undermining its social responsibility. As its basic purpose is to inform the people, the press has to be treated more as a public institution than as an industry. It has a definite social function to discharge. Its foremost and highest purpose is to make available to the people information which is as unbiased, as accurate and as full as possible so that the people should be able to judge and decide well. It can perform this duty in the right manner only when it seeks to justify its existence by popular approval only to the exclusion of every other consideration.

While a vigilant public is the custodian of the freedom of the press, its watchdogs are those who man it, and they have an even greater responsibility in preserving and defending that freedom. Wielding the power of the press in the realm of public affairs, the journalist is apt to find his path strewn with hazards and tempta­tions He can steer clear of these only if he is imbued with a burning and uncompromising concern for truth, is courageous enough to risk displeasure of authority and strong enough to resist temptations. He has to be on his guard always against influences which can contaminate the free flow of news e.g., consideration of party or personal gain. He mast not allow himself to become subservient to power, whether political, economic, social or of any other sort, he must seek to be studied, criticized and judged by his readership, but must not neglect or compromise his professional integrity for the sake of popularity or circulation. All this pre­supposes rigorous self-regulation but there can be no let-up here be­cause the first source of a threat to the freedom of the press is the journalists own lack of integrity.

Simultaneously, to discharge his function properly, he must have a balanced personality and the capacity and habit of intros­pection. Few journalists will be able to conform to the exacting standard set by Gandhiji, but the freedom of the press is not safe unless those who work for it, exercise this sort of self-discipline, to the extent they can.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Truly speaking, all outside control on the press, whether by political groups and parties, or by big money or by the state-militates against and restricts its freedom. But perhaps the most suffocating of these is slate control. The freedom of the press is enshrined in the constitutions of parliamentary democracies so that if the power of the state ever comes into conflict with the power of the press, the former should not be allowed to throttle the later.

The State can exercise control over the press mainly in two ways, i.e. negatively through censorship, reduction of paper-quotas, denial of advertisements, postal facilities etc., (as has been done in the case of the Express Group of newspapers); and secondly in a positive manner through giving liberal paper quotas, subsidies5 advertising support etc. Whichever of these and the numerous other forms it takes, it cannot be harmful because it prevents the press from coming out frankly and playing its rightful role in the economic and social transformation of the country.

The press can be used as a force on the side of liberty and progress only if it is kept free of all restraints except those which it voluntarily accepts as an earnest of its responsibility to the reading public. Only in that state can it inform and educate the people along the right lines and breed that tolerance of thought and expression which is the hall-mark of a democratic set-up.