Media Ethics in Times of Demonetization: Framing Debates in English News Channels
Objectivity has been a traditional ideal for journalism. Journalists are trained to be objective; they do not frame stories by themselves????or do they? Faced with the pressure of deadlines, strained resources and the perception that audience prefer reportorial style, journalists resort to amusement or conflict based reporting positioning one side against the other and often aggravating facts and issues. The public today expresses disappointment with current media practices. Media watchers argue that instead of improving the quality of programming, competition has resulted in a race to the bottom, where news channels have conveniently forgotten basic ethical norms. This study is an attempt at re-visioning media ethics. It is believed that ethical journalism is never more important than in the time of crises. Taking India???s recent economic crisis, demonetization, this research aims to answer what makes it difficult for journalists to adhere to ethics especially during crises? With emphasis on situation faced by reporters, pressure imposed on them by various sources and ethical dilemma, this study provides answers to the questions posed on the work of journalists. Content analysis of demonetization debates broadcasted on two popular English news channels and interview responses of experienced journalists of Indian news media goes to explain how demonetization was represented by Indian news channels and to what extent journalistic ethics was reflected in their content.