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INDIA 60 state of the media
 P
Sainath and the media
The WSN hailed the Magsaysay award to
path breaking development journalist P Sainath, the man of the
roots, but in India, the media responses were very telling. The
Hindu, with whom Sainath has worked for years now, claimed him on
page 1 but forgot to mention that his reporting was first nurtured
by The Times of India. The Times of India claimed him and made a
mention only at the end of his stint with The Hindu where he still
works. The Indian Express, champion of excellence in journalism,
ignored this award. Maybe, for Shekhar Gupta, an award is not an
award if a Barkha Dutt or a Rajdeep Sardesai does not win. And as
for the question whether he will Walk The Talk with Gupta, that will
depend if he can beat Rakhi Sawant to it.
India-US N-deal and Indian media
The India-US Nuclear Deal has a lot of
drummers in the media, people who were hell bent on supporting it
even before they had the entire information to form any view.
The Indian Express has been the lead drummer for the deal. And
consequent to the hard line
approach by the Left in India and PM Manmohan Singh’s virtual
guantlet to the Reds of all shades to do what they wish,
including withdraw support to the UPA government, has only seen the
drummers beating their drums loudly.
Manmohan Singh has clearly made the N-deal as a touchstone of his
success and is projecting it as his lasting legacy. Thanks to
leading papers like the Hindustan Times and The
Indian Express, Washington is portraying itself as a saviour of
India’s long term technological
and economic interests.
Most Indian newspapers are playing the game in a predictable
fashion.
The WSN presents for you the bon mots gleaned from editorial writing
in leading dailies.
The Telegraph wrote that “The Indo-US nuclear deal actually marks a
new and unprecedented high in the relationship between the two
countries... That the treatment (India is receiving) is special is
undeniable. This is the first time that Washington has made such an
exception in its non-proliferation policy for any country. Also,
special care has been taken not to jeopardize India’s strategic
autonomy or to compromise the country’s nuclear deterrent
capability... India has come in from beyond the pale.” The Hindustan
Times, the Deccan Herald etc said much the same thing. The Pioneer
of Chandan Mitra and KPS Gill
sulked, because Atal Behari Vajpayee said that the deal was a good
one.
The Asian Age has always been a sceptic, and it is one of the major
opponents of the deal. It laid the blame squarely at the PM’s doors.
“The Prime Minister has personally steered the123 agreement through
the Union Cabinet without releasing the text, or showing it to the
UPA allies and the Opposition in what can only be perceived as scant
regard for the democratic institutions of India.”
Then it warmed up further: “…the Bush administration is insisting
that discussions are still on and the ag reement is not final as
yet. Then what has Prime Minister Singh pushed through the Cabinet?
The secrecy surrounding the negotiations, and now the silence over
the status of the agreement as well as the content, have created a
strong sense of unease in both New Delhi and Washington. The
government here is in the midst of a public relations exercise in
a bid to silence the critics from the m edia, the scientific
community and the political parties
by giving select portions of the agreement without the details.”
The Indian Pravda called TheHindu, the natural mouth piece
Strip naked ’coz we need news
In Rajkot, a woman who had come on the
street, naked, was coaxed by the journalists to go about a unique
form of protest. Later reports suggested that the media men had
asked her to strip and move aroud in her lingerie. She was told that
her tale of harassment by her husband and in-laws would be shown on
television channels only if she went out in such a semi-naked state.
The Times of India duly put her huge photo on the front page
Sanjay Dutt case: Absurdity coverage
The Sanjay Dutt case, in which the
judgement was pronounced on the same day on which Bhai Jagtar Singh
Hawara and Bhai Balwant Singh were sentenced to hanging, was one
instance where the Indian media was seen as living off a celebrity’s
life. And so meaningless and shallow was the TV News channels’
coverage that someone could have died of sheer boredom.
India Today’s English presence in the news channel spectrum, the
Headlines Today’s live telecast was on for more than an hour,
showing visuals of the police van carrying Dutt along
the Mumbai-Pune highway.
Not that it was the firt time. The media coverage of the Bachchan
son’s marriage to an actress or of their visit to Tirupati, or the
coverage of Shilpa Shetty post her winning the Celebrity Big
Brother, was equally dumb. But the Sanjay Dutt’s conviction and
arrest following the pronouncement of six years rigorous
imprisonment by the TADA Court set up
to try those accused in the Mumbai blasts of 1993, saw a media
frenzy unleashed.
The celebrity factor made the media go gaga. His several visits to
the courtroom, to temples, or the colour of his shirt. His
lawyers. And birthday on 29th of July, his 48th.
On the day of the judgement, the 31st of July, the Times of India
carried excerpts from a letter that Sanjay’s daughter Trishala had
written to her father, containing raw and personal
emotions of a young daughter. Was it necessary to make it public?
Next, Headlines Today claimed an exclusive telephonic interview with
Trishala! Post judgement, the media approached people from various
spectrums for their take, from Bollywood to the fashion industry.
Some even reported the exchange of words between the Judge and the
star. Yet others pointed out that the actor had deviated from his
trademark blue shirt during this court room appearance.
Next day, media was still stuck, reporting how the star spent his
time in the jail. Some said that he took biscuits. One described the
contents of his personal kit, including toothbrush, hair oil and
stuff that hehad been permitted to keep.
It is still not clear what was the larger objective behind all such
coverage, but most of the time, we are told it is all being done in
your name, dear reader.
The media claims the reader needs this, wants this. Do you, dear
reader?
Hindustan Times fires top editor, but
it is not news
Indian media rarely reports upon itself,
particularly when it comes to hiring and firing of senior
journalists. Even when Arun Shourie was unceremoniously chucked out
of the Indian Express, the Indian media had hardly reported the
event.
Now, the Hindustan Times has effectively sacked its editor-in-chief
Chaitanya Kalbag who came to the paper from Reuters last September.
Proprietor Shobhana Bhartia was herself involved in the decision.
But for the Indian newspapers, the sacking of the editor of Delhi’s
largest circulated paper and the second or third most read English
newspaper in the country,
is not news. Kalbag’s exit did not merit newspaper or TV coverage.
The WSN reserves its comments on other views or working style of
Kalbagh which led to his ouster, but it must be recalled that he was
PUCL journalism award winner but did little to enthuse those who
knew him for such credentials. He was awarded the second India Today
– PUCL ‘Jour nalism for Human Rights’ Award for 1982 at Bombay. Did
the Hindustan Times devote any special attention to issues
concerning civil liber ties and human rights under his watch? At
least, we did not notice. The Sikhs should be especially interested
since they have had a relationship with the Hindustan Times which
should be a lesson to the community as to how it lost the great
institutions because of sheer short sightedness of its leadership
which never opens the money bags to the brains. Hindustan Times was
founded in 1924 by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of
the Akali Movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, with the
contributions from USA, Canada and locals mostly from Lyallpur
District Sheikhupura (now in Pakistan). S Mangal Singh Gill (Tehsildar)
and S. Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jalandhar) were made in charge of
the newspaper. Pt Madan Moham Malvyia and Master Tara Singh were
among the members of the Managing Committee. The Managing
Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri himself.
K. M. Panikkar was its first Editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of
Mahatma Gandhi) also on the editor’s panel. Where do the Sikhs
matter in HT today?
15 August, 2007
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