Telephone tapping — landline or mobile — has been making news in India for over a decade now, specially related to politicians. Of course, phone - tapping is allowed under law in specific cases after following set procedures. It becomes illegal and punishable if it is done by anyone — government authorities or private persons — without legal sanction.
Interestingly, I had not heard another synonymous and right sounding word for telephone tapping as the one used these days — “hacking”. It made news in England with the "News of the World", a Sunday tabloid, owned by that tycoon Rupert Murdoch, which was held guilty of phone - hacking (tapping) offence.
The Americans too use that word “hacking” for what our newspapers and TV channels, till yesterday, were using “tapping”. Alleluia! Now I find all our TV channels and newspapers, including your eveninger, using the word “hacking” used by the westerners. If imitation is the best way of flattery, even in journalism, here it is, here it is, here it is.
Rupert Murdoch and Sonia Gandhi
The West leads in journalism and we follow (the leader). Remember Ted Turner of CNN? He had declared: Either lead, follow or get out of my way. We are Indians Sir. We can't lead, so we get out of the way of the leader and humbly follow him. It is, therefore, not surprising our official letters still carry those concluding words “Your obedient servant” above the signature. Habits die hard. Only for a slave.
Talking of “hacking”, I am reminded of the dilemma faced by the Indian print media. In those days TV streams had not flowed into Indian territory as it is now, except for black & white Doordarshan owned by the government. The dilemma was whether to use the word "skyjack" or "hijack" when an aero plane is, well let me say, hijacked. Some newspapers behaved as if they did some research on the use of an apt word picked from the book of english language dictionary and used for a few days the word “skyjack” explaining that the incident happened in the sky, hence it is “skyjack”. Just as an incident that happens on the road is called “hijack”. Rhetoric or gimmick? Well, at the end, after so many incidents of holding up aero planes in the sky by terrorists and cranks it is hijack. And it is official! Let it be.
Let us leave “hijacking” hanging in the sky and return to our phone - tapping business, rather phone - hacking offence. Indeed it is business for some who execute the hacking while for the State (government) and the affected individuals an offence. I should imagine that phone - hacking must have been in practice ever since phone was invented. Like it is said, prostitution and infidelity have been happening ever since the existence of mankind. If true, so be it!
I remember in Pune in the 1970's I had provided my office and use of my own telephone for a Chartered Accountant friend of mine to tap the phone of a Forging company's production and purchase officers who were suspected to be taking “cuts” and kickbacks from the suppliers. Those days the phone - hacking “crime” used to be committed on landlines only as there were no cell phones as now. It was fun listening to the hacked conversation — there is money, of course, but there is also hubris, one -upmanship, uncomplimentary remarks about the MD and his siblings or sons. There is party invites and offer of junketeering to exotic places. Sometimes you would wonder if they are talking about the commission and kickback or sex. Indeed "unearned income" comes both in cash and kind. Alleluia again!
To revert to phone - hacking, it is a tabloid saga that has gripped Britain right now. In India we had only sting-operations where journalists would impersonate or disguise to make the victim walk into the spider's web. Next day one sensational headline and then it is all forgotten. The mother of all tabloids in Indian journalism “Blitz” was too innocent to break the law and hack the phones. It only went hammer and tong hacking at the reputation or evil deeds of the rich and powerful using the English language as a rapier. But in Britain with so many tabloids to contend with and to compete, it is a case of do or die. Get at some celebrity's or royal's jugular vein; increase your circulation and profit. That was how and why the “News of the World” revealed the shaky state of Charles and Diana's marriage while other daily newspapers were writing rosy reports about their relationship. That was how, the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown's 4 - month old baby's congenital disease, kept secret by the family, was revealed. Money is the name of the game. And the game was played by breaking every ethical rule as also the law of the land.
Look at the number of British tabloids — leading the pack is the 168-year-old tabloid "News of the World" owned by the world's No. 1 TV and newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch [now closed following phone - hacking offence]. Other are the "Daily Mirror"; "The Star" [no relation to "Star of Mysore"!] and "The Sun."
The weekly circulation of the "News of the World" is the highest among all the tabloids at 2.7 million copies — 27 lakhs. Indeed Rupert Murdoch is more than a media honcho. He is a media predator, stalking the english speaking world leaving the rich and the famous squirming in their ivory towers and those sighted by him running for cover or prostrating before this media God. Thus he became both a cultural and political force. See what one news magazine wrote of his power and glory — "When Murdoch calls, PMs and Presidents from Beijing to Rome answer the phone". Period. In our country? When K. B. Ganapathy calls even the MCC Health Officer does not answer the phone. Hey, Ram!
Phone - hacking in Britain, as in any country for that matter, is a tangled tale of criminality and corruption. And without the co - operation of politicians and the Police under the pay of the Press, hacking could not happen. Following the phone - hacking scandal of the "News of the World," the British Prime Minister, who had laboured too hard in the House of Commons to face the fusillades of the opposition, had ordered two Police investigations and a judicial enquiry to examine not only the specific allegations from the victims of such telephone - hacking by the tabloid but also enquire into the wider issue of relations between the media, politicians and the Police. That is British way of addressing a scandal. Yes sir. In our country? Our Congress honchos would set a pack of “Spokespersons” and the government machinery to do a good “cover - up job”. Alleluia, once again.
Be that as it may, Nehru dynasty in our country has every reason to be happy with the Indian media — both print and electronic — for the reason none could know that Sonia Gandhi, now recuperating after a successful surgery at the Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center, New York, had been receiving treatment for an unspecified cancer for atleast eight months.
Did the Indian Media, including Tehelka, feign ignorance out of love and deference to the Regina or was it because it did not believe in phone - hacking to get the information in keeping with the Pathrika Dharma? Alleluia, for the last time. Amen.
