Media technically means the plural form of medium, this according to the laws of Physics works as a carrier of signals from the source to the destination, this is the nature of the medium in its virgin form.

In the view of an intellectual mind which certainly refers to humans, the exchanging entity has customized forms, this can be a carrier of script/audio / visual information, which refers to the print & electronic media in the present context.

Media and the Human society

The primitive stages of human society disseminated information in the form of wall paintings, rock carvings, and scripts on leaves/animal hides.

Media: The real social culprit behind the 21st century crime — Image Source – iStock; New World Encyclopedia; Drive Thru History & Deccan Herald

With the evolution of civilizations and progress in technology the anatomy of media changed over time, making it more fast and more accurate, this is also a primary need for a rapidly developing human society.

Responsibilities of Media

The ancient media just aimed at passing on information about ancient art, culture, and society to successive generations.

But the creative part of the media from just being an information-carrier to an information-constructor began in the middle ages of history with the introduction of literature.

This was the genesis of modern age media.

Since then, the media took up the moral responsibility of society, it started to guide society, connect the needy and helping entities, and entertain society.

Thus in the initial stages, the media were regulated and sustained by the governments of the respective nations.

Impacts of commercializing the carrier

The need for diverse entertainment and narrowed view of regional affairs evoked competition. This instigated the rise of commercialization of the media industry.

This also fostered the need to sustain, thus driving the media to host trendy content to gain popularity. Henceforth the media blinded by profit tarnished its moral responsibility gradually.

Rise of fake news

The need to mark a higher impact on society to sustain in the competitive world forced the media to manipulate contents and presume the outcomes in a manner in which the society gets appeased.

For example, there was a huge rise in fake news during COVID – 19 across several platforms.

This is also seen in the case of false victimization of litigants who intend to seek personal revenge by tooling the media.

The best example is the false rape case of Gaziabad.

There are several such instances in which the primary information gets manipulated to gain TRP / popularity.

The agonizing concern

As per a survey conducted by The Hindu, (published on 26 Oct 2022):-

Television remained the primary source of information after social media.
A majority of (53%) internet users were never concerned to verify the news on social media despite it being fake.
And 62% of internet users wouldn’t even bother to share the fake news further.

This has affected the reputation of the media by slump in the trust factor.

Crime news and its impact on society

The present era of crime reporting often seems to promote more crimes to gain profit by reporting them.

It is very evident in the manner in which the crime incidents are verbally detailed (because of censorship in revealing the visuals).

Just to have a layman’s view, these questions find seem pertinent for the crime reporting platforms:-

What does a common man get to do with all the details of the crime?
Does the media bear the liability to resolve the crime?
Did the crime rate in society decrease due to reporting?
Won’t the reputation of a particular city/nation get tarnished by exaggerating trivial crimes?

The simple answer for all the above questions is negative. But on the contrary, the effects on society are hilarious and negative again.

The crime rates are increasing especially juvenile crimes.
Media is indirectly abating the knacks of evading the crime after committing one.
Media has not only tarnished the image of society, but also the nations.

More importantly, the victim of a crime is revictimized several times in the minds of the viewers.

This is a simple principle of mass presumption where all the members of a society believe that a missing person is dead, and hence the person stands dead in the view of the people despite living a happy life in a different place.

The best example of this is the rumors about the death of Subhash Chandra Bose.

Criminal psychology

The basic thumb rule is the mind reflects what it perceives from the environment. Thus violence breeds violence!

This is clinically proven, and this is the main reason why patients are advised to hang around a placid environment to improve healing.

But, the violence, nudism, and criminal mentality are blatantly and brutally promoted in modern films and web series. This certainly is meant to drive the interest of the viewer.

But ultimately, how does the user is expected to behave after intaking such savage content?

Dire grade adds and stereotyping

Advertising companies are the main source of revenue for the media, and in the present scenario, several flimsy topics are over-exemplified for the sake of projecting these ads.

But the dissenting part is most of the advertisements intend to demotivate certain types of individuals to market their products.

Cosmetics, perfumes, and confectioneries are projected as attraction magnets where either a woman / a man is objectified.

The milk supplements for children are promoted with tagged stationery products as an offer, these are projected to improve the physical and mental performance of the kids.

But in reality, these products are not at all endorsed medically to have good fitness, and neither the athletes nor the celebrities who promote these products use them in their daily lives.

And, in terms of attraction, we know how great leaders maintained socially respected personalities to be attractive, and they never used such perfumes and cosmetics.

Despite knowing that confidence boosts attractive behavior, there is no single product that promotes behavioral-based personality growth. Because behavior is nurtured and can’t be bought from a product!!!

The breach of privacy

The biggest challenge of being a celebrity is that there is no private life!

It is a common practice for the media to keep chasing actors and actresses even in their personal space and family events, they share every bit of details and there is a big debate about their upcoming family plans!

On the other hand, other netizens keep updating their status by sharing every crucial movement of their regular activities, as if they lead life to entertain others!

Such behavior exposes our every private property to the public our home, our family, our close friends, and appallingly our intimate affairs and reprehensibly even our body!

And when there is a leak of any such content it comes to the burden of Cybercrime agencies to address it, for our foolishness!

People are interested in the mere thrills of getting likes and hearts, but fail to understand the efforts needed to earn them in reality.

Also read:- Kim Kardashian heist: Social media made her target, police say | CNN

What can be the solution

The famous freedom fighter of India Mahatma Gandhi followed three basic principles in the form of three monkeys, which says:-

Don’t speak bad.
Don’t see bad.
Don’t hear bad.

This doesn’t mean to avert away from the crime at the sight of it. One certainty needs to fight against violence and injustice, but in the end, the remnants of the crime must not be perpetuated further.