Former Supreme Court judge Justice K.M. Joseph recently expressed concern over the “close inexorable link” between business houses and major media organisations, remarking that biased television debates can prevent citizens from determining the truth.

The former judge was delivering a lecture to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence organized by the Kerala High Court Bar Association. His remarks about the media came while discussing the principle of “consent of the governed” underlying the US Declaration of Independence.

He expressed concern over the role of Indian media in shaping democratic discourse, stressing that citizens cannot meaningfully participate in democracy without access to impartial information.

“I am really concerned about the way the majority of the national media houses that I get to listen, how it reveals the close inexorable link between the business houses and the media. How they completely destroy an otherwise healthy discourse which should happen,” he observed.

Justice Joseph noted that the Supreme Court has recognized the right to be informed as a necessary part of a citizen's ability to exercise the right to express an opinion. He pointed out that large media houses possess the ability to gather information that individual citizens cannot ordinarily access. He expressed concern that instead of providing impartial information, television debates could be manipulated by anchors.

“In course of a debate, if an anchor, instead of allowing a level playing ground to all the participants in the discourse, will actually manipulate the discourse in such a way that it not only reveals the bias of the anchor, it leaves the listener in a quandary as to what is the truth. And the ultimate right of every citizen in any democracy is to pursue truth and find truth,” he observed.

“This is the fundamental thing of any democracy, any society. This is sadly missing. I am just pouring out my heart before you because I watch every day with the hope that they change,” he added.

Justice Joseph also raised concerns about government advertisements to media organisations and the possibility of a “carrot and stick” situation arising from their dependence on such revenue.

He referred to instances where a Chief Minister appears on a programme discussing government achievements, with the sponsored nature of the programme disclosed only in small text on the screen.

Justice Joseph urged the authorities to take notice of the issue. “I really wish the authorities will take notice because we do have a broadcasting authority. But keeping in mind the right to freedom of speech and press and all that, nobody wants to take up,” he observed.

He also highlighted the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench judgment in Kaushal Kishore v. State of Uttar Pradesh, which held that Articles 19 and 21 have not only vertical operation but also horizontal application.

Justice Joseph explained that this meant a person could seek relief for an alleged violation of Articles 19 or 21 by another individual. He suggested that the principle could potentially provide a legal remedy is a participant in a television debate is prevented from expressing their views or has their views distorted.

“So if the media house, for example, I am invited to a debate and if I am actually snuffed out, if what I want to say I am not permitted to say, I am tortured out of shape in what I have said. All of this, in my view, constitutes a gross violation of Article 19, the right of the person who is participating and the right of the audience which is wanting to find out what are they saying actually,” he remarked.

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