It is our natural instinct to know what is happening around us. Nobody wants to live in ignorance. Hence newspapers have become part and parcel of our life. We cannot live without them.
The morning newspaper is as indispensable for a good start to our day as the morning cup of tea. It is our mental breakfast and unless we go through the headlines’ we feel uneasy. What to talk of the city-dwellers, even the people living in the villages are seen eager to go through the newspaper to know what is going on in the world. Therefore, a newspaper is the basic need of the common people.
A newspaper in the modern society has great social and educative value. It is a common media of giving news along with views. Its principal aim is to supply news, information with different views through comments, articles and editorials.
It is therefore, called the ‘people’s university’. Different people expect different things from the newspaper. A business man wants to know the market trends, a farmer is eager to know the weather report; a book reader wants to know about the latest arrivals. A newspaper satisfies them all like an intimatfe friend.
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It is evident that a newspaper is a great power in a democratic country. It maintains a close connection between the government and the people. It deeply influences public opinion. It spreads political awareness among the mass, the most important function done by the newspaper in a democracy.
It exists such tremendous influence that it can not only bring about major changes to the lives of ordinary people but can even overthrow a government. The editors of the newspapers have therefore a heavy responsibility.
A newspaper becomes a power of evil if it distorts truth, presents only the negative side of a thing. Sometimes it has been said that the newspaper publishes false reports which result in hatred and enmity between communities and nations, subjects and sovereigns.
Some of the newspapers take interest in provoking class hatred. They poison the mind of public with communalism. In order to win cheap popularity, baseless gossip is spread. This misleads the public. A good newspaper should not misquote or misrepresent the facts. It should promote the feeling of national integration instead of encouraging fissiparous tendencies.
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Overall, newspapers have become a thing of necessity in modern times. Therefore the government should give as much liberty to them as it may be possible to give.
The only restriction that the government should impose on them should be that they should not be allowed to publish sensational news and dirty advertisement. If this is done, newspapers will surely do valuable service to the country by maintaining its objectivity and fair standard.