Author: M. J. Akbar
Publication: The Sunday Guardian
Date: October 17, 2011
URL: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/media-needs-some-immediate-attention
I can't quite determine which part of the
story made me laugh, and which brought on tears, when I learnt that some zealous
functionaries had passed around envelopes with Rs 500 notes to journalists
in Satna who had been summoned to report on L.K. Advani's anti-corruption
campaign. It was not Mr Advani's fault; he was victim of a prevailing system.
However, as pitfalls go this was a bit of a crater dip.
But laughter is thin icing on a very rotten
cake, and the cake is media. The journalists were indeed summoned, not invited.
They were paid at the previously negotiated price of Rs 500 each. What wrenched
the gut was that no one refused. This was not an isolated incident; that is
obviously the going rate in Satna. But do not imagine that the isolation is
limited to Satna. Few cities are as corrupt as Delhi when it comes to keeping
journalists happy with the right level of lifestyle-expense compensation.
The more cynically bleary among the media tribe are probably consumed by only
one nagging, if private, thought: why did those reporters sell themselves
so cheap?
The incident says far more about Indian journalists
than Indian politicians. That, for me at least, is enough reason for a long
sob. The problem is not limited to temptations proffered to a handful of underpaid
journalists. There are newspaper owners who, instead of giving a salary to
correspondents expect them to send proprietors money for the privilege of
hiring them. The deal is not complicated: these owners want a cut out of the
cash that they know their correspondents make from local businessmen or administration.
Paid news is not just about writing pretty things about the powerful. Much
more money can be made by not writing a story. This syndrome creeps up to
the very top in a few instances.
That, it needs to be stressed at this point,
is the saving grace: the instances are few. I can vouch for that, and am proud
of colleagues, whether reporters, sub-editors or editors who would not dream
of pocketing an envelope. There is a recent case of an editor of television
news who resisted both severe threats and lucrative flattery from those in
power; equally, or even more, important, the proprietors of his company backed
him fully. It was an exhilarating instance of good journalism and steely shareholders,
the perfect guarantee for a free media. Nor are all politicians corrupt. Both
Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Advani have been in public life for over five decades;
neither has a spot against his name. But the venality of those who are on
the take, in both politics and media, has eroded the credibility of two institutions
critical to democracy: Parliament and media. The first is under intense public
scrutiny. The second is the subject of much-needed widespread debate.
This debate needs to include the most mammoth
example of paid news in our system, All India Radio and Doordarshan. Their
editor in chief is the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Journalists
working in AIR or Doordarshan accept this as part of their working terms.
Here is an instance from today's AIR news bulletin, which I heard while writing
this column: AIR was loyally celebrating the fact that inflation had dipped
to just below 10%, when any balanced story would also wonder why it was still
so high when this government has been promising for years that lower inflation
was just around the corner. This is a very mild example, of course. Government
journalists do not waste any time on partisan loyalty. When the ruling party
changes, their stresses and deletions shift.
Governments feel totally comfortable with
such control. Their logic seems convincing, on the face of it. Government
has as much right to the editorial policies of its media as any other media
baron. This is deceptive. Ministers have not created AIR and Doordarshan out
of private investment; they do not pay for losses out of their private pockets.
They have appropriated tax money and made it the source of personal power.
Doordarshan is public media, not a government channel; its statutes are determined
by public interest, not government bias. The new chairman of the Press Council
is the articulate Justice Markandey Katju, who has just retired from the Supreme
Court. He has already entered the debate with a few cautionary remarks on
excess. He must expand the horizons of argument so that the present media
crisis becomes an opportunity for catharsis.
Neither Parliament nor media likes the idea
of regulation; MPs bristle when they feel that the Supreme Court is intruding
into their space. Media is even more jealous about its privileges. But if
both want to retain their rights, they have to take another look at their
duties, and find the self-regulation that will punish those who have compromised.
Otherwise, there will be nothing left to laugh about and much to moan.