The press plays a very important role in the modern age In spite of the impact of television news coverage on the public, newspapers still continue to serve as the basic news medium for a majority of the population Although newspapers lack the speed and visual quality of television news yet they provide greater depth and variety in reporting People today depend greatly on the press for local national, international news. They cannot be kept well informed about them in the absence of newspapers. A newspaper reader can obtain a lot information regarding local, national and international affairs from a single issues of a newspaper. A newspaper caters for the needs of different readers by publishing various types of news such as political, economic, social, scientific, developmental etc.
The true role of media thus should be projecting the inner feelings of the people which guarantees them lasting happiness of both the worlds. The role of the media is not just to project the developmental activities of a particular area but offer a comprehensive picture, encompassing all aspects of life that is moral, spiritual and material.
It should seek to establish a link between old and present heritage and highlight accomplishments and deficiencies of nations.
The media should be accountable to the society which sustains it through its patronage. In our society, a third world developing ideological state, the media has a multiple and a crucial role to play. It simply cannot afford the luxury of the anarchic freedom of the western media and at no cost should permit itself to be gagged completely. In its constructive positive role it has to reflect the public mood and sentiments.
In the broadcast media considerations other than public service may also determine decisions. Most of the news on radio and television is too brief to provide the information the public needs. Often, particularly in time of crisis or disaster, the rush to get on the air leads to the dissemination of sketchy or inaccurate information, and in the hotly competitive broadcast industries a scramble of rating in the Jamming up of newscasts and over emphasis on dramatic development.
We are heavily dependent on the media for these glimpses of what is happening outside our immediate neighborhood. We flick on the radio each morning for news of what happened while we slept, we search the newspapers and news magazines for reports of new medical cures or economic survival tactics. We watch a television documentary for insight into social systems different from our own. Without these views through the windows of the media we would be cut of, wondering and fearful in a world full meaning unknowns.
The media of mass communication also serve as socializing agencies, partly through the news they convey and parily through the other information they disseminate. We learn, practically from television, about developing facts, about modification in manners and morals.
In reality, the media form a part of society just as mosques schools, and minority groups do. While the media unquestionably do influence society thinking and behaviour, their own conduct is turned or shaped by the standards and structures of other social elements. The media do not stand alone, although their high visibility focuses attention on them.