All on one Thursday

All on one Thursday

 

Ever wondered just how reckless the news media can get? Sample what it put out on a single day.

 

Jay Mazoomdaar

When you are in the business of news, it makes sense to compete. On Thursday morning (March 13), all four English dailies I buy were in agreement about the day`s lead: Vajpayee breaking India`s official silence on the Iraq crisis. Then, the `national leader` stumped me. It was right there, above the fold, with the lead. An innocuous "comment" that went like this: "It`s good to know that not only does Atalji read our editorials but also acts on them. As he`s done this time to the suggestion yesterday that Parliamentary opposition should be voiced to unilateral action on Iraq." Completely foxed, I read again. And again.

The yesterday in question was March 12, when the `national leader` carried a full-fledged comment (read editorial) titled "Vote for the UN". As the Times of India`s edits come highlighted (to show solidarity with the Men in Blue, I suppose), it`s difficult to miss the key point: "There is a good case for passing a parliamentary resolution that unambiguously clarifies India`s stand on this war." I read their lead again. There was no mention about Parliament passing any resolution that even ambiguously clarified anything on the Iraq-US tangle.

Now on the same March 12, two other major English dailies that I follow had come out with editorials on the same issue. Titled "India in a new world", HT noted that "India`s experience from its non-aligned days may help it to do some tightrope walking in this context, but it still has to make up its mind on crucial issues like the future of the UN." The Hindu, in its edit titled "Dangerous drift", observed that "the pusillanimity displayed by New Delhi in its refusal to stake out a position against a war on Iraq is inexcusable. Vajpayee ought to have acceded to the Opposition`s demand and taken a position that reflected the strong sentiment against war shared by many people across the country."

The Indian Express had taken up the issue even earlier. On March 10, its editorial "Inching toward War" noted: "For us in India, the challenge is that the principles that we have traditionally upheld have come into some tension with our key interests. It is necessary to reassert these principles, like the importance of peaceful resolution of the Iraqi situation, and the critical need for UN legitimacy of any action."

Thinking it over, I felt confident as a professional. There is no reason to doubt the `national leader`, which was claiming on page one that our Prime Minister needs media prodding even to take an almost regulation stand. Then, I felt miserable. Though every publication that matters took up the issue in their editorials, I should have known that the nation`s leader would naturally rely only on the `national leader`. Finally, I felt stumped. Only business acumen of a most refined advertorial order can use the Prime Minister as a super model and educate the miserable millions like me on the special bonds between leaders. We must raise jugs of champagne to cheer that feat.

>From now on, I`ll be wary of the 13th even on Thursdays. My morning was already made but then I flipped to page three of HT. Under the headline `Terrorists moving out of Delhi`, I encountered this gem: "...police have definite information that these terrorists have found safe havens in the towns of Western UP. A large number of Kashmiri youths have been seen in these towns. These have either joined educational institutes or work in factories." These hapless men from the Valley, reduced to daily wager away from their trouble-torn home, already have hands full looking for jobs and even finding accommodation. If one of them is lynched tomorrow by a paranoid mob, I bet this reporter will be callous enough not to notice the blood on his/her keyboard.

Morning shows the day, and clichés reassert themselves on days like this. Back home from work at night and the nation`s elite English news channel blurted out that a bomb had just gone off in a crowded Mumbai local. After reporters from Mumbai had put in their early inputs, the star news anchor ushered in an upcoming crime reporter from Delhi. All excitement, she went on to inform us that Delhi police is on high alert and they are particularly watching establishments like the railway station and ISBT because "all Muslim fundamentalist organizations will be targeting these to cause maximum damage." Minutes after the Mumbai Police Commissioner said that the motive and the nature of the terrorist strike was still being investigated, the reporter served us our pet conclusion on a platter: If it`s terror, it got to involve Muslim fundamentalists. Period.

As the proliferation of ready-to-print/air media junk continues, cub reporters and seasoned editors alike are grappling, often at the cost of ethics and responsibility, to stay atop the clutter. We understand honest mistakes, but are we at all serious about getting the news right or we would rather be fine just making a splash? Time, we came clear.

 
Contact: jay_maze@hotmail.com