Paragraph on Radio!
Radio is an important agent of social control. It is an immediate agent in the formation of public opinion. It also influences our language, our customs and our institutions which relate to control patterns.
The fact that through radio the human voice can reach millions of people instantaneously has given to radio an advantage in communication not enjoyed by the press. It establishes a living contact between people and the government.
It can dramatize and popularize events and ideas in ways which the press could hardly accomplish. Its potential influence is definitely greater. That is the reason that during war the first target of the belligerents is always the Radio station. Clearly an instrument which can bring the human voice to so many people at one time, which can entertain and propagandise, which can describe and persuade, which can educate and coerce, must have tremendous potentialities for controlling the individuals and groups within society.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The All India Radio is a public concern owned and controlled by the Government of India. The policy of broadcasting is decided by the ministry concerned. The public does not have immediate access. During the last general elections the political parties were allowed to approach the voters through radio.
With the commissioning of Television centres, the importance of radio as a means for the formulation of public opinion has further increased. In England, broadcasting is a privately owned concern. It is, however, suggested that radio should not become a mere propaganda arm of the government. In India, the enactment of a Prasar Bharti Act to regulate the activities of Doordarshan is under consideration of the Government.