PUBLIC OPINION PART - III

Dr, Kaushik Mitra, Head, Department of Political Science, Lucknow Christian Degree College, Lucknow.. U.P. India.

PUBLIC OPINION CONTINUED......

B. A. Semester-II

Political Science -Paper I

POLITICAL THEORY-II

PUBLIC OPINION

Agencies of Public Opinion:

Like food, water, air, medicine etc. that tone up a human body, there are some agencies or mediums that mold or formulate public opinion.

1. Press:

Newspapers, press agencies, foreign correspondents and world news films have been in existence for a long time. A free press helps the government to get at least a glimpse of the mind of their subjects. To deprive it of this freedom is to deprive the government itself of a medium of knowing what passes in the mind of their subjects.

Thus the press must come out in the open to inform the government of the state of public feeling in the country. About the newspapers, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru wrote,“Newspapers are, of course, of all kinds. There are responsible newspapers; there are newspapers which are sometimes responsible, sometimes not. There are newspapers which are more irresponsible than responsible; there are some sheets which seem to excel only in flights of imagination and other acts of irresponsibility. Fortunately, the latter are not important.”

Rajiv Gandhi reiterated this in a more galvanising tone, “The fundamental duty of the state is to stand as the guarantor for the freedom of the press. What the corresponding responsibilities and obligations are is primary for the press to determine. The government is but a reluctant intervener in this matter and would not wish to act if the press itself remains alive to its responsibilities.” The news media should always project the situation correctly and should not hide or politicise the facts.

2. Public Platform:

Platform is another formidable medium for channelising public opinion. Platform means addressing the public in a public place like a public meeting. Although a speaker through the platform cannot carry out extensive propaganda of his own, yet this is a very effective weapon to tear the hearts of the listeners.

The speeches have an edge over the newspapers in the sense that an illiterate or half-literate person, who cannot read the newspapers, can hear in the regional language the grievances pointed out by the speaker and at the same time suggesting ways and means to overcome those problems.

But the public speech has its inherent defects inasmuch as very often the speaker is swept off his feet by the upsurge of passion and he assails the other parties and their leaders in offensive language.

3. Radio, Cinema and Television:

Information & Communication Technology and electronic media are of recent growth. They have eclipsed other agencies by their more effective nature and more universal projections of news and views. Radio (AM & FM) is more important than the newspapers because through radio we get the news and views from any corner of the globe almost instantly.

About the role of the radio as an agent of public opinion, Brimble and May wrote,“The radio has already demonstrated its almost limitless powers of stimulating world upheaval, thus showing what a very effective event for world cooperation and citizenship it could be in happier circumstances. During the last war it was probably the most efficacious of all means of propaganda. The very fact that the Axis leaders imposed severe penalties for listening in the verboten stations is indicative of the effect that radio can have on the population. If this modem product of science can be used so effectively in the propagation of war, how much more valuable can it be as an instrument for world peace and universal cooperation.”

Cinema, which is primarily meant for entertainment, is also a modest way of disseminating the story of culture, social and economic events, not only of one country but all countries of the world.Nobody needs to be told about cinema’s power to move the audience and, in effect, it has come to embrace almost everything that matters in human life and affairs. It has often explored some profound sensitivity. We are also to admit at the same time that the silver screen has a bad side too since its recent trend is to give the accent on sex and violence. Even then, its educative value cannot be denied.

Perhaps the television, is the most popular organ of linking the common people through its programs. The live telecasting of the Olympic Games, the Prime Minister’s address to the nation on the Independence Day, or on the recent issue of COVID 19, etc. bring home the information more accurately and quickly than by any other medium. It is now increasingly admitted that apart from providing entertainment, the television offers a great potential for education and current affairs.

4. Educational Institutions:

The scope of educational institutions here-must include not only the schools, colleges and universities but libraries, literary clubs and study circles too. The students who undergo educational courses are of the age group of 5 to 25 which is the most formative period of a man’s life. At this age the students are prone to adopt new ideas quickly because of their very receptive nature.

So the curricula of the educational institutions must be of character building and national spirited. The educational institutions should be free from political influence. With the introduction of 18 years as the voting age, the students are now supposed to play a very vital role in public life and policy making.

It is imperative that the school curriculum should contain civics/political science – a knowledge of the machinery of government. The young students who are budding citizens must not take things for granted, but must know how they have come into being, and also know their value and techniques of preservation whenever they are challenged. The young citizen should understand what underlies the appeals of democracy and of dictatorship.

It will be the bounden duty of the teacher to interest his pupils in the affairs of the modern world. Issues of public interest should be intelligently and dispassionately discussed as they arise. The teacher who leads such a discussion will give the students the useful information about all modern problems. Once inculcated in the individual pupil, this spirit will eventually permeate the whole school.

5. Legislature:

The most formidable forum of public opinion is the floor of the legislature where the most vital debates of national importance take place. The legislature is the political mirror of the nation. The people come to know of the proceedings in the legislature through the newspapers.

Now the Doordarshan televises live proceedings of the legislature in India. It is said that this kind of direct television is of great educative value for the people, who are sitting home, learn the art of parliamentary debates and many issues related to the vital life of the people.

6. Political Parties:

The political parties help in the formation of public opinion. In all democratic countries of the world every adult citizen has a right to vote, i.e., he can express his opinion on public matters at the time of elections as well as through other forums too. Various shades of political opinion are expressed by the political parties through their election speeches and manifestos. The citizens are given the opportunity to rally round any of such organised expression of views. Thus the political parties espouse the causes of a section of the public.

The opinions of the political parties are the organised expression of the views on vital issues of public importance. R. G. Gettel hasrightly said,“In democracies they furnish the organisation, through which policies are formulated and political propaganda is carried on for the purpose of creating and influencing public opinion.”

TO BE CONTINUED.....................