We the naked people
Continuing the Radia Tapes Debate: So let’s not debate ethics in media any more. The veils have been lifted and either we go about business as usual or take the first step towards change.
Or better still wait for the social media to swamp us and show us our place, says NEERAJ MISHRA
A team of senior Delhi journalists (most are journos turned proprietors actually) who have formed a self proclaimed elite group always does the rounds of states during Assembly elections. They were recently in Patna being received with deference by all contesting leaders anxious to explain their point of view essentially to get it across to the masses as these gents do control massive portions of the media. They are veritable visiting lords for the staff of their own editions and those regional journalists anxious to land a job with these venerables from “National’ media. They also have this unique ability to fill the very air around them with piousness, learning and Knowledge. Now some of these holy people have been taped and the cosy circle of back scratching built diligently over years has been broken. The thick curtains of steam behind which they hid while sermonising has been lifted.
What it essentially does is what Faraz Ahmed of The Tribune has so succinctly put in his writings. Everyone in this steam room is working for the sethji and thus no one has the right to look down upon others. We all have our reasons to cultivate our sources, extract stories and while we sometimes plant them and sometimes deliberately ignore them, at most times we look at our editors to guide us if our publication actually stands for such stories. In this process of selective discarding we may build enduring relationships (they can’t be called friendships) with political and business leaders and the bureaucracy. If tapes were available for all editors and proprietors who attend parties thrown by Rajas and Rajus there will be no forum left to discuss anything.
What is crucial about the present tapes and the whole 2G scam is that all publications and all journalists worth their weight in Delhi have known about the existence of the tapes and IT investigations for almost a year. Not only have IT officers been going around handing out select information, an Editor-MP has been only too happy to help if anyone was interested. No sir, the other media houses/journos just smiled and nodded and said thank you chum, begin the show we will watch. Radia and her clique in fact managed to keep out the news for as long as possible but it was too good an issue for the BJP to let go of. It finally bounced out because Manu Joseph who, as Ms Dutt said, has no “understanding of how politics works” was foolish enough to put it in his struggling magazine.
For long so called “National” journalists have looked down upon those working out of state capitals and regional press. There have been stories about how these journalists are plied with gifts and sarkari housing and how they cooperate with the very people and issues they report on. The “regional” journalists themselves have complicated matters by pointing accusing fingers at each other largely in an attempt to show that their sari was cleaner and more ‘safed’ by slinging mud at their own. Professional jealousies and petty mindedness have landed them in such a jam that they don’t realise they have destroyed their own collective credibility.
The truth is political leaders and interested bureaucrats have routinely pressurized owners/editors sitting in Delhi into sacking or transferring uncomfortable reporters and resident editors. And all it takes is a few calls and veiled threats of blocking ad revenues. The spineless editors then, to cover their own deficiencies of failing to stand by their own ilk, wrap their actions in self-righteous, haughty, “oh I tell you this reporter is so corrupt’’ line. And like I said they find easy balm for their conscience from other competing regional journalists who jog them along with wonderful stories of corruption. In all this it is convenient to forget that there is a bigger and more interesting quid pro quo happening behind the scenes. Each one of us knows personally several journalists who have lost their jobs because a certain regime was against them. And the weaponry is the same - ruin a journalist’s credibility. Each one of us also knows of journalists who have prospered because of a favourable regime. No questions of ethics to be bandied about here.
But even then nothing like Radia tapes has emerged from the hinterland. We remain a nudge and wink society which loves to believe diaries, anonymous notes and well placed and suitably attributed rumours. But the Radia tapes beat all that. They show the nakedness of ambition and the fruitlessness of debates over ethics. What they also show is a near unanimity in the main line media to clamp up and provide a number of opportunities for the venerables to clear their conscience in private and public. The owners and editors have shown great empathy and knowledge and understanding in not sacking them. Sevanti Ninan’s barbs notwithstanding. Why is this compassion denied to mortals from the hinterland?
Ah and one more thing - the money. Most regional journalists are paid a pittance so don’t grudge them their housing and small taxi bhada. Should I tell you how much an average journalist with ten years under his belt earns in Patna or Bhopal? He falls well below the S1 pay band prescribed under the sixth pay commission for government servants. And if you are wondering what that is, it’s for the peons and drivers. A top flight Resident Editor takes home much less than a mid-level business journalist in Delhi. And he is expected to advise the CM on matters of state! That does not give them any suitable reason to be corrupt or broker power and cabinet posts but shouldn’t the same apply for the well fed millionaire journalists in the tapes.
There’s more about the money. Most news channels give their correspondents commercial targets to meet. Can the process of meeting these commercial targets be any different from collecting some for self? Most channels, newspapers and news agencies know what’s going on and turn a blind eye as long as it suits them. If targets fall short or business interests are hurt “corrective” action is taken.
So gentlemen, let’s not debate ethics in media any more. The veils have been lifted and either we go about business as usual or take the first step towards change. Or better still wait for the social media to swamp us and show us our place.
Neeraj Mishra is Bhopal based journalist.
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