Is media corporate lobbying justified in a democracy?
Is media corporate lobbying justified in a democracy?
Introduction
Before we look at corporate lobbying, let us analyze the meaning of lobbying. Lobbying is carried out by a group of individuals to promote or influence their interests in the decision making process of the government. Corporate lobbying refers to a collective lobbying by a specific corporate group, (such as the medical sector, or the IT sector) at the government level.
Justification for lobbying
How does lobbying fall in an ethical argument? Mass media is always entangled in some form of ethical problems or the other. For instance, people challenge the fairness of a sting operation. Is it right or wrong to create an environment for an individual to commit a mistake, and then hold them guilty? Would that be ethical? We can argue the fact that the person carrying out the sting might be doing something illegal in order to trap the target. There are some others who say that sting operations are wrong, in the sense they offer a temptation.
Advertisements have always had the moral and ethical battle raging. It is morally wrong to imply or state specifically, the name of a competing brand. However, there are several ads that show their competitor’s brand in a blurred image. Some ads even show the other brand clearly, without any blurring or cover. Several ads also give across mixed messages to people.
Especially youngsters and adolescents, who are at an impressionable age, tend to get wrong influence. Such as, using fairness creams is the only key to a successful life and career.
Corporate media lobbying can be viewed as unethical. When a collective group of corporate lobbies on behalf of their interests their bargaining power is naturally more. Their interests will not necessarily be in the interest of the general public. Take the fuel retailers as an example. Fuel prices have been going up steadily over the past few years. This is due to the retail sellers urging the government to hike the prices, quoting various reasons. This is obviously going to put a dent on the spending and saving of the consumers. But the government is more influenced by the collective lobbying of the retailers.
There is no question of fair or unfair when it comes to a democracy. The premise of a democracy states that every citizen has the freedom to carry out fair trade. If the corporate groups have the right to lobby, then as citizens of a democracy, we also have the right and responsibility to vote and make our opinions heard.
Conclusion
While there will be a question of ethics in corporate lobbying, it has nothing to do with the democracy. The two are separate topics, and should not be mixed.
Discussion
- Is media corporate lobbying justified in a democracy? -Nupur Bhargava (04/04/14)
Is media - corporate lobbying justified in a democracy?
Lobbying draws a very negative reaction that eliminates the authenticity of how public policy progresses in a democratic country. This muddle is due to the impervious modus with which the vocation manoeuvres. Since lobbying attracts attention only when there are antagonistic concerns and not when optimistic consequences are accomplished. Lobbying is also referred to as the act of endeavouring to impact the verdicts made by the government officials.
Media is one factor that influences one and all and especially if it comes to democracy and the government people create their own mind – set based on the media lobbying and the opinions cited by them. The integrities and scruples of lobbying are like a duple edged sword. Lobbying has two prime facets, i.e., a society where there is a dearth of autocratic decision makers and as a facet of governmental procedure.
With the aid of lobbying, India has seen noteworthy alterations in policy and general development of food safety laws, opening up of insurance, banking, aviation sectors, human rights, changes in the laws. Every media has the ability to gradient news and conquer stories that are poised as peril to their staff, and hence it becomes problematic as the true information is not being divulged due to unseen and unknown threats.
Lobbying is also beneficial as it brings out the facts of various political parties and helps them take the decision of voting. Especially today every news channel has some or the other debate program going on, the debates are conducted between the officials of various parties, which give us an insight of what the parties are thinking and is it in the favour of the public. With the aid of media lobbying the general public is able to put down their thought process with the help of polling and can form laws and regulation for the country.
The only drawback of media lobbying is the amount of information divulged. As I mentioned before in the article the news companies often hide or state false facts in front of the public due to immense pressure from various political organisations and the funding that they provide to the news organisation which in turn misleads the public. Another drawback of media corporate lobbying is, there are en – number of players involved and each news channel has a different opinion than the other for a political party and hence confusing the general public to a great extent.
Hence Media – corporate lobbying is necessary for the democracy but there should be specific agencies who should be carrying this task and divulging the same information in order to avoid confusion amongst the public. It should be a private organisation and hence will evade the company from political pressure and will be able to divulge the complete information and without and safety issues being faced by them and without being biased. The rules and regulation followed by the agencies should be the same and should be followed by all, If the above mentioned points are taken into consideration lobbying shall be a boon to democracy.
