Some Questions The Mainstream Media Must Answer

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Whose interest was this so-called mainstream media unashamedly 
representing during these past few crucial months? Can it lay claim to 
objectivity or advocacy of popular will? No newspaper or news channel 
has even attempted to ask why and how all the poll surveys and exit 
polls --- taken /after/ the voters voted --- turned out so wrong. It is 
hiding behind the general surprise experienced by political parties 
themselves. In other words, it is again reflecting and parroting those 
who were the subjects and objects of its study! It is refusing to 
concede that its failure amounts to a professional failure and cannot be 
equated with the failure of those who were participants in the exercise 
of winning votes, and having a stake in the votes, could not have been 
objective. They have not bothered to analyse their own pre- poll surveys 
and exit polls --- from the point of methodology, suitability of samples 
selected, questions asked, and questions /not asked/? After all, how 
could they have known what the Indian people want or expect from their 
political leadership when they never asked those crucial questions.

Such utter loyalty to concerns of the stock market and privatization 
lobbies begs the question of media accountability. To whom after all did 
the mainstream media hold itself accountable during this election 
campaign and formation of the government. A more positive role envisaged 
for the media is certainly that it must not simply reflect what is going 
on but must also play the role of an educator. In this case the media 
not only failed to reflect people’s concerns, it actually came out as 
campaigner for stock brokers and financial speculators arguing strongly 
that the interest of these groups represent popular welfare and the 
interests of the nation as well.

Source:
http://pd.cpim.org/2004/0530/05302004_nalini.htm