The role of media in shaping public opinion is well-established. As Irving Wallace portayed in his fiction, ‘The Almighty’, media can be a saviour or a destroyer of sorts at the hands of its masters – from creating new heroes out of nowhere (Anna Hazare and Bilkis Begum to Kanaiah Kumar) to toppling seemingly powerful governments (Nixon and the watergate scandal, Rajiv Gandhi and the Bofors scandal).
Is the Fourth Estate taking its role seriously in the developing world, especially among the 70-odd nations of Global South? Arguably many media channels and print publications seem to be focussed on furthering the agendas of politicial parties and corporates for mutual benefits while ignoring the cries and concerns of different communities in dire need. Most Global South countries have the “bottom of the pyramid” problem where the majority are below the poverty line. It is these very people who inevitably face the brunt of every adversity that a developing country is fa