Trial on television

BY B.S. NAGARAJ| IN Media Practice | 18/10/2012

It was much like a Kangaroo court. The difference, though, was that the trial and sentencing was not instant. It went on for a good 11 hours in which the accused, a godman who many say is self-styled and is not particularly known for his holy ways, was subjected to a tirade by a panel of some 10 activists. The forum was a Kannada television news channel, Suvarna News 24X7.

At the end of the “inquisition”, Swami Rishikumara was forced to write out a letter saying he was abdicating the seat of the Kali Mutt (monastery) till the time people of Karnataka were ready to accept him back. Rishikumara was caught red-handed in a sting operation mounted by another Kannada channel in which he was seen demanding Rs 11 crore from some deal-makers to cry a halt to the agitation against another controversial godman Nithyananda.

Throughout the day on Oct 16 2012, Suvarna News played the part of judge, jury, and executioner to the hilt. The panelists, egged on by the anchors, let loose a barrage of questions all aimed at ridiculing and humiliating him. Every now and then, the exchanges would turn ugly. At one point of time when the programme was into its fifth hour, a Kannada activist got up and yanked the saffron turban off the swami’s head saying he didn’t deserve the holy ochre robes. One would have expected the anchor to intervene, but he remained a silent spectator.

Right from the beginning, it looked like Suvarna News had decided to shame the man. On a table next to the anchor, a pair of trousers and a shirt was kept ready for the swami to change into if, at the end of the inquisition, he decided to give up his saffron robes. It also held a poll on Facebook and on SMS, asking the viewers to say whether or not the swami deserved to continue wearing saffron. The results were announced towards the end of the programme by the anchor who said some 50,000 people had polled their votes and that it was a good enough sample size. Predictably, a majority wanted him to shed his kaavi. 

Rishikumara has a colourful past. He has a wife and two children and has acted in movies as a villain. He was also a Bharatanatyam dancer and acted in plays before he took sanyasa. Not much was known about him till Suvarna News started a campaign some months ago against Swami Nithyananda, and in many of the TV debates and public agitations Rishikumara played an active part. Only a few days ago, Suvarna News had used him in a sting against Nithyananda.

Whatever may be the man’s wrong-doings, how can a television channel arrogate to itself the task of punishing and shaming him in public? If Suvarna News is today castigating him for his past--he has been accused of smoking and consuming liquor, and having four wives--why did it promote him all these months when he was a regular in its studios, notably on its programmes on Nithyananda?

If recent campaigns and programmes by Kannada TV news channels are anything to go by, they can be faulted for having scant regard for good journalistic practices. Sensationalism, invasion of personal privacy, use of crude and intemperate language and so on are on show day in and day out. If one day much of the air time is devoted to dissecting the murder of an actress, another day it is the exploits of a sex-crazy swami. Judgments are freely pronounced, individuals’ reputations are tarnished, and punishments are meted out. There is hardly any closure to any issue they take up. It is simply a mad scramble for TRPs. Responsible journalism is out of the window.