Acknowledgement.

I Ankit Baranwal of BA.LLB (hons.) pay my gratitude to my subject teacher Prof.

Kabindra Brijwal for Human Rights. Without his help this endeavor would not
have been possible. Id also like to thank my friends & class fellows, who helped
me in understanding the topic & gathering resources for the completion of my
project. I would also like to mention that the project has borrowed its content
from books like Human Rights by H.O Aggarwal also websites such as,
manupatra, researchgate, academia.edu..,. etc.

Ankit Baranwal
Roll.NO-02

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................. 4
Human Rights. .............................................................. 6
Media And Democracy. ................................................ 7
Role Of Media In Human Rights................................... 8
Constraints On Freedom Of Media. ........................... 10
Can the media influence the human rights agenda? 13
The interplay of media and democracy in
safeguarding human rights. ....................................... 14
Factors militating against human rights coverage by
the media. .................................................................. 16
Conclusion. ................................................................. 18

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 "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the
people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and
were it left to me to decide whether we should have a
government without newspapers or newspapers without a
government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the
latter. But I should mean that every man should receive
those papers and be capable of reading them."
--Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787.

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Introduction.

The concept of Human Rights has arisen from that of natural rights of all human.
The belief that every person by virtue of his humanity is entitled to certain natural
rights is a recurring theme throughout the history of mankind. It can be traced
back thousands of years from the Vedas to the Hammurabai Code to the Magna
Carta, the French Declaration of Human Rights, and the American Bill of Rights.
Time and again history shows that the existence of human rights has been
recognised and accepted as a necessary component for the well being of
civilisation at any given time.
With the advent of the concept of State it was believed that with its
instrumentalities, the State is the best institution to enforce these rights and keep
its citizen from being reduced to a mere animalistic existence. But again there
was a valid threat of abuse of power by the State. The threat spews from the fact
that in every such transgression it is always an individual against an all-powerful
State. Now a valid question arises, how do we keep the State in check and let the
process of social development booming?
According to poll conducted recently by Amnesty International, the largest
human rights organisation in the world, only 8% of adults and 4% of youth in the
Unites States are aware of foundation stone for human rights1. It is here that the
media can play a salutary role in creating larger awareness of the concept of
human rights, Basic human rights that would constitute the right of every
individual to his fundamental freedom without distinction as to race, sex,
language or religion.
Human society has developed from Stone Age to space age. But while some
nations or societies have developed apace the others seem to be nowhere in the
race. The rights which citizens enjoy vary depending upon the economic, social,
political and cultural developments. In view of the fact that there is a
revolutionary change and growth in every sphere of life and mainly in the
communication and media world, media today, plays a decisive role in the
development of society. Thus the role of media in protection of human rights
cannot be ignored or minimized. Media is a communicator of the public. Today
its role extends not only to giving facts as news, it also analyses and comments

1
Frohardt M. and T. Temin, 2007, The Media and the Rwandan genocide.

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on the facts and thus shapes the views of the people. The impact of media on
society today is beyond doubt and debate.
The media has been setting for the nation its social, political economic and even
cultural agenda. With the advent of satellite channels its impact is even sharper
and deeper. With twenty-four hours news-channels, people cannot remain neutral
to and unaffected by what the channels are serving day and night. It is, therefore,
of paramount importance that the media plays an important and ethical role at all
levels and in all parts of the country and the world.

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Human Rights.

Ontologically speaking, human rights could be defined once the status of freedom
as the right in the relationship between man and people has been explained. This
definition involves providing freedom as the authority of man on his own destiny
in which case man possesses the initiative in his behavior personally. Also, by
enjoying freedom, he is able to resist against all sorts of determinism. In the first
sense, human right means the known freedom namely the individuals
independent determination and applying it without the others intervention. But
in the second sense, human rights are right-claim that could be dependent on
the society; like right to providing subsistence, right to health, and right to
education and etc.
Human rights in the sense of freedom become authentic, independent or near and
in line with authority that can be investigated in two senses:
The first sense called freedom-independence categorized within the personal
independence outside of the social compulsion and without political constraints.
The second sense is freedom participation on which every person has the right
to participate freely in administering the public as well as political affairs without
social pressures. This sense is related to the famous democratic thinking by Jean
Jack Russo.
According to its legal meaning, human rights are considered as a set of benefits
belonging to the people of a society, fixed in established rules and regulations
that people will enjoy as being humans and in their relationship with others and
with the government accompanied by necessary supports and guarantees. In this
regard, one can refer to the human rights and benefits and safeguarding it such
as: the human right to rule his own destiny, the right to have life requirements,
legal structure and human benefits as well as the legal system that guarantees the
human rights.

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Media And Democracy.

Access to information is essential to the health of democracy for at least two

reasons. First, it ensures that citizens make responsible, informed choices rather
than acting out of ignorance or misinformation. Second, information serves a
checking function by ensuring that elected representatives uphold their oaths
of office and carry out the wishes of those who elected them.
In some societies, an antagonistic relationship between media and government
represents a vital and healthy element of fully functioning democracies. In post-
conflict or ethnically homogenous societies such a conflicting, tension ridden
relationship may not be appropriate, but the role of the press to disseminate
information as a way of mediating between the state and all facets of civil society
remains critical.
While media is considered to be a part of the civil society arena, it is well known
that media overlaps other functional areas of democracy and governance. For
example, a just media practice promoting human rights may yield results in
governance activities, particularly those related to decentralization, anti-
corruption, and citizen participation in the policy process and also in ensuring
constitutional safeguards. The rule of law may be further institutionalized by an
independent media that keeps a check on the judiciary, reports on the courts, and
promotes a legal enabling environment suitable for press freedom.
Free and fair elections conducted through transparent processes require a media
sector which gives candidates equal access, and reports the relevant issues in a
timely, objective manner.

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Role Of Media In Human Rights.

The media can fulfil a vital role in support of human rights and its defenders by
providing information on the Universal Human Rights Declarations, reporting on
violations committed against human rights, and nurturing public support for
human rights activities and constitutional safeguards. Initiatives to strengthen the
role of the media in this regard could be taken by media organizations and other
non-governmental organizations and might involve human rights training or
securing improved and regular access to information on human rights concerns.
The media could make particular efforts to counter any attempts to defame human
rights and its defenders, for example by promptly challenging statements wrongly
accusing human rights workers of being terrorists, criminals or against the State.
Civil society in general could establish informal monitoring networks to ensure
that, whenever human rights faces the threat of a violation, the information is
quickly shared among a wide group through media. Such monitoring can have a
strong protective role, helping to prevent violations. Networks should be
established at the local, national and regional levels. There should also be links
with relevant international mechanisms, such as international human rights non-
governmental organizations.
The immediate aftermath of ethnic and factional conflict may pose the strongest
challenge for implementing democracy. By means of the integrated strategy on
democracy media can contribute more directly to the restoration and/or
establishment of democracy through,

Strengthening awareness
Acting as a catalyst for regional, national and international action in human
rights
Fostering cooperation with all actors and networks
Since, India is a multi-caste, multilingual, multi-cultural and multi-religion
country, the media should produce, publish and broadcast materials with the aim
of preserving and uplifting local language, underprivileged groups and local
cultures and should have equal representation of people of backward community
and indigenous groups, Dalits, women, underprivileged, underrepresented and
disabled even in its workforce. In order to achieve this overarching goal, the

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country must lay groundwork to expand bases of information and communication
technology in the rural areas; make the media sector more competitive, effective
and reliable; transform the government's controlling agent's role to that of a
regulator and facilitator. Introduce provisions in constitution and law to give
impression that the state has truly accepted media as the Fourth Estate; and
formulate constitutional and legal bases to ensure that people can utilize their
right to information from any medium of media.
Community broadcasting has enormous potential to introduce plural voices to the
media sector, to deliver development messages, and to empower communities to
take charge of their own information needs and to develop appropriate formats
for meeting them. The essential question regarding the establishment of a
community communication centre is not one of technology but rather the question
of how the community will be able to control the medium technically, politically,
and culturally.
To sum up, media can do two important things apart from other endless activities,
to promote human rights and constitutional safeguards;
1. Increasing coverage of minorities to promote broader access to news,
views, ideas, discussions and debate
2. Monitoring the functioning of executive, legislative and judiciary under
the constitutional norms and values, and reporting on their activities

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Constraints On Freedom Of Media.

Is the press free in reality? The press, apart from being autonomous and
independent of government (in most democratic countries) is often not free from
interference by corporate powers, advertisers, civil press groups, publishers and
editors, and these are seldom taken into account (Apodaca, 2007:10). For
instance, Burton (2005:54) while commenting on the sources of income for media
outfits, notes that the BBC could be said to be independent of market forces only
in principle, but not in reality because it derives its income from license fees paid
by television owners2. Again, some corporations have been known to sponsor
media programmes. This development, according to Burton, causes media
interest to be attached to commercial interests. One of the consequences is the
displacement of the public interest by profit motives, and, the homogeneity of
perspective (Proffitt, 2007). Besides, there might be the inability of the media to
objectively and fearlessly carry out their role without being influenced. How
freely would any media outfit carry out an investigative report on any of its
customers in terms of advertising patronage, when there are indications that they
are involved in rights abuses or other corrupt practices which the media need to
uncover?
Although the media could be seen to be entitled to the right to freedom of
expression, in reality, this right is not totally free. Becker and Vlad (2009) have
noted some factors which pose as threats to press freedom including censorship
and political instability. In the case of censorship by government, authoritarian
regimes characteristically tighten their control in monitoring media contents.
Contents which question their policies are often removed. Media outfits may
either be owned or subsidized by the government whereby the government reads
or views the contents before they are published. In some cases, they are involved
in the appointment of the editorial board of media organisations. For instance, in
China, the communist party owns the media which serve as its mouthpiece.
Only positive stories are free to be published (Hong, 2008). As a result of the
tight control of the media, some journalists lost their jobs (Branigan, 2011). In
self-censorship, media outfits on their own decide to publish or broadcast their
news stories depending on how the contents might impact on their survival as
organisations.

2
This fee set by the various governments is not meant to deter the media from competing alongside the
commercial sector in terms of quality, ratings and public approval

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Political instability3 and economic consideration4 can limit the exercise of press
freedom. The concentration of media into groups as a result of the influence of
oligarchs whose economic and political interests displace those of the public and
the society at large also impinges on press freedom.
The application of the legal system can deter the media from exercising their
freedom fearlessly. Unlawful practices meant to be uncovered through
investigative journalism could be hindered by privacy laws; however, these
should not be used to displace important developments which are beneficial to
the public interest (Human Rights Education, no date). It is still problematic to
determine what the public interest is, or to determine exactly what the public
wants. Laws on libel and defamation which have legal consequences may also
discourage them from doing so. Any constraint on press freedom is a constraint
on human rights, except in cases where such freedom might violate human rights.
According to Cohen-Almagor, the values of not harming others and respecting
others should play a prominent part in the consideration of journalists (2001:
xvii).
This could be achieved by the media if due consideration is given to media ethics.
Ethics deals with the act of differentiating between right and wrong. The
qualification of an act as ethical is dependent on the criteria or framework on
which it is justified or what values are considered important (Waisbord, 2001),
and the media, in their nature are moral agents that can potentially behave
ethically or unethically (Oosthuizen, 2002:5). It then becomes imperative that
they give attention to their method of information gathering and dissemination to
avoid unintentional violation of human rights.
Waisbord (2001:15) argues that information garnered through dubious means
such as deception, false identities, and other unethical methods are
counterproductive to public trust15 in the media. Corrupt practices such as
bribery are also unethical journalistic values. These unethical practices are
capable of discrediting information on human rights stories, or violations reported
by the media. It is important to note that some of the worst forms of human rights
violations are uncovered when investigative journalists work under false or
hidden identities because such violations would almost be impossible to uncover
should journalists reveal their real identities. For example, in the case of the BBC
Panorama investigative report on child slave labour in Ghana and Ivory Coast,

3
in which case the media decide to abstain from reporting issues capable of upsetting the political
environment
4
In most developing democracies, the government or big companies can interfere in the advertisement of
their respective organisations as a punitive or reinforcement measure based on the content of the
advertisement

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the investigative reporter was able to uncover what happens in the cocoa
plantations by posing as a cocoa trader. Therefore, the question of false identities
might not be automatically said to undermine public trust in the media.

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Can the media influence the human
rights agenda?

If it can be argued that the media can set the public agenda by reporting one news
story in place of another, then, the media can take up the human rights agenda by
publishing or broadcasting human rights programmes. In the words of Apodaca,
the media can disseminate human rights information, mobilize human rights
NGOS, strengthen popular participation in civil society, promote tolerance, and
shine a light on government activity.

The media and human rights NGOs are helpful to each other in the fight against
human rights violations. These NGOs serve as monitors and sources of
information for human rights stories. The NGOs can use the global media to
highlight abuses, which in turn will shame abusers to put an end to their attitude
(Cmiel, 2004, cited in Apodaca, 2007)5, while information released by them could
be used by the media as news stories. In Nigeria, an NGO- Prisoners
Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), with the help of a donor
organisation, produced a film titled: The rights of Prisoners. The film was
aimed at increasing awareness on the condition of Nigerian prisons and the
plights of inmates (Okafor, 2006:132). Similarly a Bollywood movie Jail
released in 2009 highlighted the conditions post a false implication and
subsequent trial.

5
The use of the internet by notable human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, Freedom House and a host of others attest to this.

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The interplay of media and democracy in
safeguarding human rights.

Although there has been the assertion that every citizen can be a reporter,
especially in terms of having access to the modem (Hargreaves, 2005:132, 14)6,
the journalists intended here are the professionals with commitment to the
essential shared values of the practice of journalism... (Elliot, 2009:28). Thus,
journalism requires active learning, critical and creative thinking, in which they
are equipped to gather information of significance to the task at hand, accessing
its credibility and validity (Burns, 2002:33).
There is a common belief that human rights and democracy are mutually
supportive or related to each other by definition (Freeman, 2002:71). Freedom
of expression, and press freedom in particular is an important factor in democracy
because of the medias ability to provide information which serve as link between
mass publics, elites and government (Whitten-Woodring, 2009:595).
Manzella and Leon (2010:71) argue that the press proved its capacity to be a
force for change in Venezuela, when a group of journalists uncovered the hidden
scandals of President Carlos Andres Prez, and this eventually led to his ouster.
Recently, the authoritarian government in Egypt was dismantled by protesters as
a result of the use of the social media. The protesters were connected with each
other and the outside world through the use of gmail and twitter (Himelfarb,
2011), hence the social networks served as socio-political tool in the pursuit of
democracy (Menon, 2011). The media can control the gateway to the electoral
market7. They can also elevate the credibility and authority of new politicians,
thus enhancing their acceptability by voters (Ellinas 2010:3). It is therefore
evident that the media are useful in ensuring that there is a feasible mechanism
for democracy to thrive. The media foster the concept of collective rights when
minority social groups are given the chance to partake in public discussion (Erni,
2009). This in turn provides a safe environment for the protection and promotion
of human rights. However, the role of the media in nurturing democracy can be

6
The assertion was made by Matt Drudge after his comment on the web triggered the discovery of the
scandal that engulfed the former American president, Bill Clinton.
7
Small political parties could reach out to audiences which ordinarily would not be easy as a result of their
seemingly limited organisational and financial resources.

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hampered by growing commercial constraints prompted by media deregulation
and privatization (Chambers, 2000:92).

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Factors militating against human rights
coverage by the media.

The inclusion of human rights issues as news stories is said to be better than how
it used to be8. Although human rights issues sometimes make it to news stories,
Ovsiovitch (1993) argues that as a newsworthy topic, only little attention is being
given to them by the media. Research indicate that human rights as a concept
often fails to be used as a subject in the heading of media stories, though some
specific terms often used point to human rights indirectly9. However, this is
problematic as they do not enhance a comprehensive understanding of human
rights (ibid).
The inability of journalists to comprehend what human rights are, as well as the
contents of human rights instruments has resulted in them seeing human rights
from the perspective of war. The lack of knowledge of these human rights
instruments instills in them the fear of being labeled as politically biased should
they incorporate human rights issues in their news stories. Unknowingly to some
journalists unaware of human rights issues, they do in reality come in contact with
such issues every day. There is a skewed notion about the places where human
rights violations occur, such that western journalists reason that these violations
only happen outside their countries, without knowing that there are similar issues
right around them. Space constraint limits the treatment of human rights issues
in-depth by the media (ICHRP, 2002). Other constraints include the dearth of
journalists to cover human rights news and the danger posed in a conflict situation
impedes the coverage of human rights reporting as in the case of Congo
(Schimmel, 2009).10
Heinze and Freedman (2010:493) note that pressure to attract reader interest,
and to respond to the most topical and controversial issues overpower any priority
that might be placed on comprehensive human rights coverage. Another
problem with human rights coverage by the media is the prioritization of civil and

8
While the International Council on Human Rights Policy maintain that there has been an increase in the
number of human rights angle in the traditional media, others argue that little coverage is done on human
rights issues. This might be perhaps due to the criteria used in determining what constitute human rights topic
9
The research was carried out by Hanson and Miller (1987)
10
Schimmel (2009) notes that about 5 million have been killed, and, starvation, disease, lack of shelter among
other things have only attracted an insignificant attention from the mass media

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political rights over economic, social and cultural rights, which are hardly
reported (ICHRP, 2002). For instance, Leonard Henny notes that:
there was no information on the survival of the culture and heritage of
numerous indigenous people[s] living in remote areas around the globe. It is
only since the United Nations year of the Worlds Indigenous People[s] (1993)
that some information has begun to trickle through the media about the threats
under which Indigenous People[s] live around the world (1997:335)
Perhaps, this might be as a result of the notion that news organisations do not
have the inherent obligation to report every aspect of human rights; they only
choose what to report, as they have no duty to privilege human rights stories
over other stories. Journalists believe they have interest in human rights
reporting as long as the stories are newsworthy. Besides, there is the notion that
human rights do not rate high in readers surveys (ICHRP, 2002:17-50).
Even if some human rights issues do not qualify to be newsworthy, the question
is: are the media not supposed to make them newsworthy, going by the fact that
they are specially trained professionals? It is the stand of this research that the
media are expected to put their skills to good use by making human rights issues
attention getting news stories, no matter how insipid they might appear to be.

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Conclusion.

The foregoing assignment has highlighted the right of the media which they need
to promote human rights. Although the media play crucial roles in the society,
especially in the promotion of human rights, they sometimes violate human
rights. With a consistent approach to ethical guidelines, the media can stop being
violators of human rights.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Howard, P. N., &Hussain, M. M. (2011). The role of digital media. Journal
of democracy,22(3), 35-48
www.ichrp.org/files/assets/260/south_asia_roundtable_report.pdf
Yeaza, C.D. (2014). Human Rights. In Encyclopedia of Social Media and
Politics, Vol. I byKerric Harvey. Sage
Role of Mass Media in Promoting Human Rights * Dr. Umesh Kumari
Promotion & Protection: Definition & Conceptual Issues available at
<http://www.peacebuildinginitiative.org/index.cfm?pageId=1847>

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