Pravda and Izvestia are two leading newspapers of Moscow. The former means Truth and is a mouthpiece of Russian Communist party while the latter means News in the Russian language and it represents the Russian government. Both these newspapers have large circulation but the tragedy is that not everything published by them is hundred percent correct.
There is a joke that when you read Pravda there is no Izvestia and when you read Izvestia there is no Pravda. Of late, like Parliament, judiciary and the Executive, the media has, to a great extent, become a potent civil institution to be reckoned with.
Media has assumed tremendous importance lately whether it is electronic or print media so much so that the business tycoons have started buying TV channels as well as newspapers. Not that they are temperamentally disposed towards journalism. They have invested in it just to utilise its immense power and nuisance value for moving into the corridors of power and gaining access to those who matter in the country. Today a couple of business tycoons control the entire media of the country. Some of them get paid handsomely by the government and, naturally whosoever pays the piper calls the tune. The ownership of TV channels and newspapers has enhanced their businesses too.
The days of ideological journalism are long over. Journalists like Nizami brothers, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mazhar Ali Khan, Syed Sibte Hasan, Aziz Siddiqi, Hameed Sheikh, Altaf Hussain, to mention a few, are a rare commodity these days. The Fourth Estate has become an industry, a big and sprawling business concern like any other business set -up. It plays a big part in building up public opinion on important public issues.
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