The Degradation of Journalistic Integrity in the Digital Age
Affordable internet and smartphones have revolutionized the world of media and entertainment. Estimates suggest that there are around 4.5 billion users on the internet currently. Truly remarkable, and a feat unimaginable a few decades back. However, it does come with certain demerits. Everyone has become a journalist or a judge (both words can be used interchangeably these days), and medium like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter has emerged as the forbearers of justice around the world. Once pronounced guilty by the mighty media, not even an acquittal by the Honourable Supreme Court of India, or the International Court of Justice can exonerate the person from the judgement by the keyboard warriors. A few days back, I was drawn into the most pertinent question of the 21st century, though reluctantly. This needed to be answered, and the matter appeared much more alluring than bleak, monotonous issues like COVID-19, unemployment, closure of small and medium businesses around the...