Mamta Kalia

‘hyper real’ has replaced the ‘real’. Thus
advertising and television shows have
destroyed both the public and spacenow
advertising intrudes everything as
the public space (the street, monument,
market, scene) disappears and the private
space ‘the most intimate processes of
our life become the virtual feeding
grounds of the media’. Thus the distinction
between the two spaces disappears and
what is left is the ‘obscenity’ of
‘transparence and immediate visibility
when everything is exposed to the harsh
and inexorable light of information and
communication- this leads to a
schizophrenic state (too great a proximity
of everything) and a loss of the real
because the information now does not
produce meaning. Its one concrete
example may be found in the role of
media in the general elections of Lok
Sabha in India in Apr-May 2009, where
the mass media as a gatekeeper became
a thief because a large section of both
electronic and print media adopted
following practices:
a) A substantial part of the pure
and exclusive space of news was
sold at a high rate to the political
parties and candidates contesting
elections;
b) Some newspapers published
special supplements or even
published weekly magazines/
papers; e.g.; Hindustan (Hindi)
published ‘connexion’ for some
localities of Delhi/NCR; Dainik
Jagaran published Plus in order
76 :: April-June 2010
to devote maximum priced space
for publicity;
c) News, views and ads were highly
mixed up, so that the false may
be shown as real.
d) Many newspapers circulated new
rates of publishing coverage of
election news items of political
parties and candidates- these
rates were separate for black and
white, and coloured;
e) Both the media mughals and
editors of such dailies/periodicals
did not feel in this act a sense
of immorality or guilt, though
it was a clear violation of code
of conduct for the press;
f) Some correspondents/stringers/
editors took a lump sum amount
from political parties/candidates
for publishing only positive news
for the entire period of
canvassing- here a clear cut
commission for different levels
was fixed;
g) Political parties/candidates
prefer red ads in the form of
news items because ordinary
masses trust the news items more
than the views and ads.
These are dangerous and unhealthy
practices cutting the spinal chord of
participatory democracy whose cardinal
principle of freedom of press is under
threat.
Further Baudrillard rightly observes
that often information turns into non-