The uses of the press are many. Its main function
is no doubt supply of correct and up-to-date news collected from the four corners
of the world. The newspapers are in telegraphic and wireless communication with
all parts of the world by means of powerful ‘press Agencies like Reuters. The
Associated Press of America. In ‘Pakistan we have the Government subsidized
Associated Press. This agency is so active and alert that nothing of note
happens in any part f the world that is not at once supplied to the newspapers
When we open the morning paper we read of things which happened just at
midnight paper we read of things which happened just at midnight in England and
Australia. This regular and extensive supply of news brings all the countries of
the world into intimate contacts and enables one country to learn by the
example of another.
But this main use of the newspapers has been
supplements by many other functions. Newspapers from public opinion and give
voice to it. The leading articles in the daily papers are written by some of
the ablest men in the country and they influence the thoughts and feelings of
the multitude. Then people may ventilate
their grievances and express their views about any governmental measures
through the agency of newspapers. Thus the newspapers bring the rulers and the
ruled together. Making the former acquainted with the wishes of the latter and
the latter of the policy of the former. This is one of the greatest uses of the
newspapers.
The economic and commercial uses of the Press need
no stressing. Through the advertisement columns, the buyer and the seller and
the employee and the employer are brought together. The Agency columns serve a
very useful purpose these days. The quotations of market prices which every
good newspaper publishes help .to keep the price. Level stable and steady all
over the country. The money-makers he world depend much on the financial news
collected and published by the newspapers.
The educative influence of the newspapers is no less
great. The pages of the newspapers contain not only news but also accounts of
scientific research past history, reviews of books, description of literature,
travel exploration etc.
The Sunday issue usually has a magazine section
which is of educative value, There are people who read these items carefully
and gain much out of their study. A careful reader of a good daily is more
alert, intelligent and well-informed than the scholar who does not care for his
morning paper.
The responsibilities of the Press are equally great?
The journalists often forget their responsibilities. The press should always be
on the side of truth and justice. Its influence on the multitude is great. Therefore,
this influence must be exerted for cause of good. The press can do much to ride
a country to its evils, just as it can do perpetuate them. So the press should
scrupulously adhere to the former course.
Then the Press has another responsibility. It must
not cater for the vicious taste of the vulgar by descending to the sensational
and lurid. Great sale may attend a trick of this kind but it hardly serves the
ends of truth arid justice. The Press must educate the public, not pander to
the baser instincts of its reader. Without conscientious and clean journalism
we cannot have a clean moral and political atmosphere in a country. The fourth
estate should learn to be most responsible of a modem nation.