Journalists, not prosecutors

During my tenure as a journalist, I have been asked any number of times: "Sir, why don't you do something about corruption. Only the media can do something..."

Undeniable in this request is the faith the commonpeople have in the media. Even though many may complain that media is sensational, puts out wrong news etc, news as it appears in the media has a huge amount of credibility riding on it, and people have a feeling that media is very powerful. Incidentlly, media is designated as the Fourth Estate after Legislature, Executive and the judiciary.

In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned a full meeting of the "Estates-General" to the palace of Versailles. The three estates gathered. The First Estate was 300 nobles, the Second 300 clergy and the Third, 600 commoners. Later, Edmund Burke, looking up at the press gallery of the House of Commons said: "Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all." (Source)

It's good to talk about the power of the media but at the end of it all the media is almost always a conduit for information. It's a messager of sorts. It's not a prosecutor. It can highlight problems of the society, suggest ways of reformation, set agenda for the rest to discuss and debate, itself articulate opinions and views, but it has no power vested on it to prosecute let alone punish wrongdoers in a society.

The real power of the media is in the message it carries, the ability of the message to move people into action.