Is technology the ‘fifth estate’?

The reams and reels devoted to the Radia tapes are mostly stuck on the issues of ‘corruption’ and ‘media ethics’. While not discounting the importance of either of the issues, what also calls for a discussion is the slow but steady emergence of technology as the ‘fifth estate,’ one that is increasingly employed to keep the other four estates in check.

In the last couple of years, evolving technology has lead to, or at least hastened the descent of quite a few people from their places of position whether in politics or society. The journalists now in news have joined a growing list of politicians, officials and spiritual leaders dethroned with the help of technology. Think Shashi Tharoor of the legendary tweets; think Paramahamsa Nityananda and N D Tiwari of the sleazy video tapes that went viral on the internet and the picture becomes clear.

Technology has played an important role in almost every major expose? in recent times.  Heads of government and corporate honchos elsewhere are grappling with the consequences of embarrassing information made open to all through Wikileaks. In India communication technology has for some time now helped in humbling the mighty. The show and tell journalism by Tehelka that triggered a yet-to-be resolved debate on media ethics is unimaginable without spycams; the alternative media that snowball criticism in ways that make it difficult for even established newsmen to ignore is dependent on the internet that take the message to every nook and corner of the world with amazing ease and efficiency;  and the ability of readers to call into question the credibility of editors is a consequence of the ingenuity of technology.  Thus, technology seems to have empowered the hitherto ‘powerless’ and rendered the ‘powerful’ less so.  However, so far technology has been employed in calculated ways to produce desired effects.

The case of ‘the Radia tapes’ marks a significant departure:  the human agency that employed technology was not part of media and most interestingly, did not particularly target the media persons now in the eye of the storm. In an operation mounted to unveil corruption in political and corporate circles, media persons willy-nilly stand ‘exposed’.  It must also be remembered that what the leaked tapes reveal is nothing new, either to journalists or to readers and viewers. As veteran journalists are pointing out the past was far from perfect. Most journalists will be able to name at least a few colleagues who rose to the top in the hierarchy by the strength of their ‘connections’ with powerful politicians.  Indeed ‘cultivating sources’ has often been understood as cosying up to the high and mighty. And media ethics has always been a grey area in the industry best left to individual journalists to define as they deem fit. Neither is the Indian reader/viewer reeling under the shock of what has been revealed. In an era of institutionalised corruption, the sanctity of news is long gone. Perhaps, ‘news’ began to lose its sheen with the advent of paid news or with the entry of political parties into the media business. But ever since the requirements of 24/7 news channels reduced ‘news’ to mere entertainment, the common man has learnt to consume media offerings with large doses of cynicism and scepticism.

In essence, the Radia tapes have merely provided embarrassing proof of something everyone knew. But the significance lies in what it has prompted prominent media players to do.  Had the tapes not surfaced, journalists would have not have been forced to defend their probity in public or to offend questioning colleagues in the process. They could have and would have continued speaking righteously for and to, ‘we the people.’ And therein seems to lie the power of technology – to throw up unforeseen issues in equally unforeseen ways.

Much as it leads to a ‘technological determinist’ approach, irrespective of the motives of the human agency that employs it, it seems as though technology alone can take on the onerous task of reigning in the powerful. Even if as Charles Beard prophesied, technology does not march "in seven-league boots from one ruthless, revolutionary conquest to another, tearing down old factories and industries, flinging up new processes with terrifying rapidity," in India it provides the catalysts for social change in the form of unobtrusive cameras, recording equipment and evolving communication platforms that band lone voices into a deafening chorus, difficult to ignore. With all its attendant issues of ethics, privacy and propriety, communication technology is proving more effective in ensuring probity as none other. It is as yet not clear whether the Radia tapes will mark a turnaround in the way people conduct politics or journalism in India, but it surely has nudged, if not shaken deified politicians and journalists out of their complacency. Could it be hoped then that the medium that is the ‘message’ and ‘massage’ would in times to come, be the ‘messiah’ as well?