While the 2G spectrum scam woke us up to the fact that there is a number such as "lakhs of crores", it also made public the uncomfortable camaraderie between the people whom the public don't trust — politicians, and the group of people in whom the public trust — the Press. But the fact is, the Press for many years now has been a mix of the good, bad and ugly. After all, when a nation starts worshiping wealth, morals are left outside like dirty sandals.
Journalists, whether big or small, are usually in touch with politicians and industrialists within their area of operation or reporting. For a journalist, these connections are basically a network of sources or information assets. But instead of effectively using a source, when the journalist himself gets used, it mirrors incompetence or amounts to “misjudgment” as in the case of Barkha Dutt.
Some times, the journalists are so close to these high profile individuals that they start to believe they belong up there too. Then they cease to be journalists and instead become “mules” — carriers of news and propaganda; or “intellectual mercenaries” — powerful journalists hired for a price or favour to propagate a certain thought process which need not be in the larger interest of the readers, as in the case of Vir Sanghvi.
Barkha Dutt failed to see the bigger story — that a corporate lobbyist had the audacity and means to fill a Cabinet berth with a person of her clients' choice. Barkha Dutt forgot the first formula in journalism — 5 “W” + 1 “H” — Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. She knew “who” Niira Radia was and “who” she was working for; she knew “what” Radia was trying to do; she knew since “when” she was at it; she knew “where” she was getting her instructions from and she knew very well “how” she was going about doing it. But Barkha Dutt failed to ask the all - important “why” — Why this particular lobbyist was so desperate to get a Minister of her choice? The fact that this never occurred to her is her biggest blunder.
Vir Sanghvi, of course, is operating at another level altogether. Less said the better.
Lobbying is not illegal, but has the same effect as bribing, the only difference being money is not exchanged. But then lobbying involves “soft bribing” where instead of money, gifts and favours are doled out.
In the end, lobbying is just as damaging because it almost never pushes a pro - people agenda; it is always for the gain of a certain interest group or corporation. Yes, indeed journalists have the right to express their opinion based on facts and reason. They are allowed to openly support an issue or a party agenda, but with rationale and purpose, which is to advance the interest of the nation and its people. Self - serving reportage is not journalism, it is lobbying.
Liberalisation and the consequent IT and real estate boom greatly added to the media greed in India. Suddenly every industrialist and two-bit software programmer with a small investor wanted to be featured like he was a “genius millionaire – in - waiting” peddling the next billion dollar tech - idea. They all wanted to become celebrities, seen and recognised. And the media gladly fed this craze, albeit for a price.
And so began the era of Page - 3 and Public Relations (PR) craze in India. PR firms have it hard. They have to please their publicity - crazy clients while carefully caressing the bloated ego of journalists and media houses. And the media knows how to milk this opportunity. May be that is why the then Chief Election Commissioner T. N. Seshan, who while criticising the media was reminded that the same media brought forth his good work, retorted, “If my chastity is being proclaimed by prostitutes, I don’t want such chastity.”
This change in the media business should not come as a surprise considering that today media is a serious business, unlike earlier when it was considered a prestigious service. Almost all media companies born within this decade are Public Limited companies. So they are driven by numbers and not by service. Their first allegiance is towards their shareholders and not their readers. They want their shareholders' confidence rather than the readers' trust.
To achieve this, many methods are used. Some media groups have been known to take up shares in upcoming companies for free with a promise of great publicity, and they give it so much publicity that by the time the company is ready to be listed on the stock market its share price is over - subscribed 5 to 10 times. At this point, the media company simply sells its shares. But what about the reader who trusted the report and bought the shares? Sorry, too bad.
So, whom can a news consumer trust? There is no complete trust, only degrees of it. Every newspaper has certain constraints — even the magazines that wrote about the Radia tapes; after all, the companies that own them have other business interests.
Truth may be priceless but unfortunately fishing for it, then publishing it, then defending it, and then fighting the mobs that can't handle it, takes a lot of money and guts, both of which the Indian media has, but it is directly proportional to the public support and in some media companies, inversely proportional to the share value of the company.
Dear readers, welcome to the new India where all the four pillars of the democracy are cracked, and so they continue to support a half - hearted democracy with a full - bodied appetite for corruption.
While the media has seen a rise in corruption within its ranks, it is also the only time in Indian history where the media has been this story - hungry. Journalism is at its cross - roads just like every other facet of Indian culture. It has thrown up a new breed of honest, unbiased, subjective and principled young journalists. So it is up to the people to support the media when serious stories are broken by reacting to them. A passive readership will only leave Indian journalism impasse.
