Trias Politica - Separation of Powers

For those of us who are thinking what the title is all about, it is because we were never political students, not in the simplest way possible – as stakeholders in our own future and the part where democracy means “of the people”, this model for separation of powers was conceived to avoid “conflicts of interest” and centralization of power on one leg of the governing tripod. Even with its peccadilloes, the idea of separation of powers was limping along fine – until the tripod got comfortable and transformed into a chair – or should we say, added itself another leg – the “for profit media”.

The for-profit media or the media business made quite an entrance. Until then, we just relied on what the government wanted us to hear – at least in the electronic media . So, we were able to decipher what was actually going on in the real world and what the government wanted us to believe, until an occasional accusation by the member of the opposition shouted “misuse of media by the government”. In retrospect, it does not make sense that the “state-run” media was somehow supposed to be neutral. However, journalism was not a lucrative profession until the advent of the private media business. Now the signals are too jumbled to make sense of any political situations – depending only on the affiliation of a media house to the entity being reported.

A recently released movie depicts how this media business – as a fourth leg of the power chair could be extremely powerful, dare I say than the other legs. If you have doubts about this statement, think for a second – media can make or break a person’s public image. There are very few people conscious than public images than our vidhayak-the legislature, whose political futures and the ability to be influential depends on maintaining and enhancing their image. The ability of the media to take sides and drive home policy points irrespective of how they impact the common man, is a lucrative ability for the netas – the executive. I would have spared the judiciary some trouble since the popular perception is that it somehow is the least corroded among the powers. However, trial by media, fast-tracking of “spicy” and interesting cases by the media, which can be packaged as crowd-pulling multi-part series of television programs, or make for even more gruesome movies. There goes the jaj saahab (judiciary) – the third leg.

What led to this meteoric rise of media business? Why should anyone be concerned? I guess this is the part where it affects the aam aadmi – who strangely does not figure in the equation of governance. Is it the unlimited power that media can unlock for the other legs of governance that catapulted its rise? The mainstay of the media is its ability to propagate – a perspective, policy, action, concern, whatever it is. It is the most powerful tool that the remaining legs of the chair lack. How long would it take you to read a bill passed, a judgment, or a government order if there was no media? So, how do you know that you are getting the pristine, immaculate news without smoke screens? Do we, the people, value such access to information anymore? What are we prepared to do to get such access and value it as a commodity in our lives?

With great power comes great responsibility – or so was Spiderman led to believe. Can we leave the media to be responsible on its own? How can we make hold media accountable? My next blog will address this issue in detail. For now, I leave you with two words – Public Media.