How Moral are our Bhutanese Media are?

The latest BBC’s IQ2 debate on the theme “MEDIA HAVE NO MORALS” during 2011 Festival of Dangerous Ideas the held in Opera House, Sydney, Australia has sparked few thoughts in me about how moral are our local media in Bhutan. 

Like any other democracy, media in Bhutan is also considered the fourth arm of the government and is often called the “Watch Dog”. However, in the recent years Bhutanese media have faced numerous challenges. One prominent challenge the media today face is the survival and sustainability. When the multi-billion media company like BBC, Aljazeera or Fox News are questioned by the consumers about their credibility and morality, I wonder how credible or what morality does our media have considering their struggle to sustain themselves., with very few not professionally trained reporters and their infancy.  If it fortunate that , until now, we did not any  reports of media not being morally high,. Till today, they have never been questioned any of the media by the consumers, on their morality. Yet  there are gossips that each media is inclined to their own agenda than they are required by the basic principle of journalism. Despite of lack of enough evidences, many readers talk of their choice because each media brings the same issue much more differently except on few occasions. 

In Bhutan media houses are fully dependent on the government advertisements. They also depend on the government policies and implementations when it comes to making headlines. And they are also regulated by the government. One of the speakers Mrs. Mona Eltahawy during the BBC debate said that media should be regulated by the government irrespective of the government “dictatorship or democracy”. She quoted the example how it hampered the morals of journalists in Egypt.  

The speakers also mentioned how international media companies are swayed by the money and other incentives. They mentioned that even the same company broadcasting or publishing the news in different languages differ in their content on the basis of where they are published or broadcast. They cited Aljazeera English and Aljazeera Arabic. 

In short, if even the multi-billion media companies are swayed by the some factors, I am worried how much our small media houses with limited markets, with no professional journalists could have absolute high morals in future. This article is just a tip of the ice-berg and hope to bring more issue on this theme.

Note: This is not to offend any media international or local, the issue is brought out of curiosity  and apologize if this article hurts the sentiments of any  individual or organization.