Orissa: brazen muzzling of dissenting voices

IN Media Freedom | 08/03/2011

Stray attacks on individual journalists by the powers that be have long ceased to raise eyebrows in Odisha, just as it has done in the rest of the country. But in the last five years, the attacks have become more frequent, more widespread and more vicious. A distinct pattern has begun to emerge in the targeting of journalists in the state. It is no more directed at the stray journalist toeing a stridently anti-government line; it is now a systematic attempt to identify and punish all journalists or groups of journalists, who may have an opinion that may not be to the liking of the ruling political and bureaucratic class. Muzzling voices of dissent has never been more brazen.

The assault on the Freedom of the Press has become particularly vicious in the last two years. Journalists have been hounded; assaulted; insulted; humiliated; put on surveillance; beaten up (either by goons or by the police and sometimes by both); charged with ‘sedition’ and ‘waging war against the State’ and much worse. Even lady reporters have not been spared. There is an audacity on display, which is deeply worrying in a functioning democracy.  It is as if the political-bureaucratic-corporate class has got a firm assurance from someone that nothing will happen to them no matter how brazen the attack is. That is why Bhubaneswar Police Commissionerate can single out a particular journalist of a leading Odia daily and bar his entry into a Press Meet by the Commissioner; or the supposedly ‘long’ arm of the law stops well short of a minister’s son – despite assaulting a journalist in full public view and being named in the FIR lodged by the concerned journalist.

 A major reason behind the spurt in attacks on media persons is the state government’s growing intolerance of any view that does not toe the government line on corporate and mining interests –particularly those dealing in precious metals like iron ore and bauxite. These companies, we are told, will usher in ‘rapid development’, create enormous employment opportunities and make Odisha a land of milk and honey. There is a concerted effort to manufacture consensus on the need to roll out the red carpet to these companies and turn a blind eye to their flagrant violation of all laws and norms of civilized corporate behavior. When media persons refuse to buy this line and raise questions on the acts of omission and commission by the government and the corporates, the wrath of the government falls on them like a ton of bricks. 

There are many instances where the police have actively colluded with vested interest groups and slapped concocted charges against scribes who dare to question the powers that be.  In one such case, a reporter has had to languish in jail for three months. In most cases, the perpetrators of crimes against media persons have been allowed to go scot-free.

Running parallel to the attacks on individual journalists is a systematic ongoing exercise to deny access to any information that might cause embarrassment to the government of the day. In the Vedanta University case, for example, the government not only sought to discredit the institution of LOKPAL by blaming it for leaking its report indicting the government, but also added insult to injury by daring it to slap cases against those media organizations which published, in part or whole, the leaked report.

In the age of "Wikileaks" and Julian Assange, attempts to punish the media for publishing what is strictly not a government document are nothing short of laughable. In the case of the leak of the CAG report on the telecom scandal, there may have been calls for action against the CAG (nobody demanded action against the media houses which broke the story, mind you!) by a few loudmouths of the ruling UPA establishment. But the government was not foolish enough to heed their call as the Naveen Patnaik government appears to have done. It is as if the Lokpal and the media had touched a ‘raw nerve’.

In short, the media as an entity and Freedom of Speech and expression as a fundamental right are under grave threat from the ruling establishment.

Birth of MUFP

It goes without saying that fighting this emerging monster is everybody’s business – everybody, who has something to do with the media; reporters, sub editors, camerapersons, anchors, backroom staff,  besides stringers, part timers and even freelancers, who write regularly.

There is no dearth of journalists’ organizations and unions in Odisha and many of them are doing a commendable job in ensuring that journalists get a better deal from their employers and the government.

But there is something beyond the bread and butter issues, which concern all mediapersons: freedom of speech and an unfettered right to hold or express a view or an opinion no matter who finds it unpalatable. The Unions, by their very nature, are not really cut out to handle such issues, though they can contribute significantly to the effort.

This is why the need for an organisation like Media Unity fro Freedom of Speech – MUFP, in short – was felt by a group of senior, like minded journalists. Though attacks on journalists have been protested even before, it was the arrest and long incarceration of Laxman Choudhury, the Mohana Reporter of Sambad, under the charges of ‘sedition’ and ‘waging war against the State’, which hastened the birth of MUFP. The sheer preposterousness of the government act called for a closing of ranks among all journalists of the state and a spirited show of unity and solidarity that would tell the government in no uncertain terms that it cannot take the media for granted.

And that precisely is how things actually have panned out. In a short while, MUFP has emerged as a forum for, of and by media persons – and the term is used in its widest possible meaning – to uphold and protect our precious Freedom of Speech and eliminate all threats to it – whether from the government, the ruling party, their cohorts, corporate mafia or others – in a peaceful and democratic way. The basic idea was to sink our individual differences and present a united front when it comes to issues of the Freedom of Speech because it is too precious to be frittered away by fighting our own battles while the ruling clique gets more and more emboldened.

Since its inception the MUFP has stood up strongly and unitedly against every reported case of attacks on media persons and expressed solidarity with the affected media persons irrespective of how big or small the media organizations they work for, are.

MUFP has helped make Freedom of Speech an issue cutting across competing media organizations. Not long ago, an attack on a reporter of one organization would go unreported or underreported in a rival organization. It is a matter of no small satisfaction that in the short period of its existence, MUFP has managed to reverse this trend. Why, it has done the unthinkable by bringing Editors of all major dailies and television channels – many of them fierce professional rivals - on one platform.

The MUFP was conceived as a broad platform that would unite each and every person connected with media, irrespective of their affiliation to this or that trade union, to stand up against all forms of attacks against the freedom and dignity of press and to express support and solidarity with any media person in any part of Odisha, who faces attacks while exercising his/her inalienable right to operate and report freely without any unreasonable obstacles or fear of attacks.

In tune with the basic idea behind its formation, MUFP has consciously done away with formalities and hierarchies, which has been the bane of many organizations. It is not even a registered organization and functions through a Presidium comprising eight senior journalists known for their professional integrity. It has no membership fees and raises funds by way of voluntary contributions only from members as and when the need arises.

The novelty does not stop at that; it also permeates the methods of protest. Whenever and wherever in the state a media person or the media as a whole is attacked, members are invited by the Presidium – mostly through emails and SMSes – to gather under what has come to be known as the Freedom Tree in front of Soochana Bhavan (now renamed Jaydev Bhavan) to show solidarity and protest peacefully through placards, banners and other democratic methods. Whenever warranted, a written memorandum is prepared by the Presidium and handed over to the concerned authorities which, in most cases, happens to be the Chief Minister since he handles the Home portfolio.

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