Accountability and media accountability: A view from India

This paper focuses on the role of the Right to Information (RTI) movement in India in fostering and nurturing political and media accountability. It argues that formal media accountability initiatives, be it of a voluntary nature or an aspect of regulation, have failed to contribute to media accountability. The best hope for media accountability stems from movements such as the Right to Information that continue to play a major role in creating the basis for substantive democracy in India. Transparency and accountability have now become watchwords and the RTI has now become the basis for the leveraging of other rights - the rights to food and employments that are critical to the survival of India's many millions who live below the poverty line. The paper also argues that there is a need to revisit the roles played by civil society and political society in India in order to gain a better understanding of the basis and impetus for democratic reform in India.