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The Department of Telecom-munications (DoT) of the Government of India has sent a note recently to the service providers like Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodaphone and BSNL to find out ways how to ‘block’ social media apps like Facebook and Whatsapp. The industry, however, has reacted sharply saying that it would be difficult and that it would violate the fundamental rights of free speech and expression. The government has in the past blocked the social media in states like Kashmir and Rajasthan, several times on the pretext of national security.

Attempts to gag the press go way back in history. The Press Regulations were introduced by Lord Wellesley in 1799; then came the Gagging Act in 1857, the Vernacular Press Act in 1878 and the Newspapers (Incitement to Offence Act) in 1908 – all during the British Raj. In the post-independence era, we had the Emergency in 1975-77 and the legislation - the Press (Objectionable Matters) Act of 1956. We now have all the regulators in place – the Press Council for the newspapers and magazines, the Prasar Bharati for television and radio, the Censor Board for films, the Advertising Standards Council for advertising and TRAI for all things related to telephones, telecommunications and the web media.

Controlling the media – both for the government and the corporate sector – is an essential part of strategic management. They all know that media is a very powerful tool and can be used effectively for all kinds of promotional work. Governments have come to power with effective use of the media. Products have sold well with good ‘media planning’. But it is also true that Constitutions round the world have ensured the media the ‘freedom of expression’. It is here the trouble starts.

Managing the media needs to be treated as something special. It is not the same as managing a factory. Productivity in a media house is linked to creativity and a manager here needs to realize that he is managing creativity. A bureaucratic approach or a shop-floor approach is not the right approach for managing media.

But unfortunately, the media has a long history of being misused. Even the venerable BBC has been used for war propaganda. Documents prove that American Presidents like Barack Obama and Donald Trump won elections by their strategic ‘use’ of the media. Closer home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an edge over his opposition through his masterly ‘use’ of the media. And they all used the social media in particular for their election propaganda. Now both the US and the Indian governments are angry with the social media and would like to curb and control it if they could. The Constitution, however, comes in the way.

The two biggest democracies of the world are now in a fix as to how to handle the social media. Officially they respect the ‘free press’, but are unhappy when they receive criti-cisms from the press. The interactive element of the social media has opened up opportunities for a larger segment of the people to speak for themselves. So, criticism has inevitably become much shriller. Yes, fake news is a reality today, which needs to be tackled carefully, but not by muffling rightful criticism. The government has to be more patient. The regulators now in place can be given more ‘teeth’ but not to the extent where the self-regulatory aspect of the media is lost. A government clamp down is not desirable in a democracy.