A large number of BJP Mahila Morcha activists protesting Booker Award winner writer and social activist Arundhati Roy’s recent remarks on Kashmir, broke into the compound of the writer’s residence in the high security diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri in New Delhi on October 31. The mob assembled outside her house around 11 a.m., shouted slogans against her for more than 30 minutes, broke through the gate and vandalized property. They threatened to teach her a lesson. Curiously, the OB vans of 24x7 news channels NDTV, Times Now and News 24 were already in place ostensibly to cover the event live. Shika Roy, Delhi unit president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, who led the protest on the day said they chose the day as it happened to be the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel “who united the whole country.”
After the mob left, the police advised the occupants of her house to let them know if in future they saw any OB vans hanging around the neighbourhood because that was an indication that a mob was on its way. In June this year, after a false report in the papers, two men on motorcycles threw stones and attacked her home. They too were accompanied by TV camera crew.
It is a cause of concern that similar acts of violence are on the rise across the length and breadth of the country; acts which once were associated with the Shiv Sena in Mumbai who resorted to highhandedness in the name of Marathi manoos, but now are common, be it the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) attacking North Indians in Mumbai, the Sri Ram Sena unabashedly banishing up girls in Mangalore or religious fanatics attacking and chasing away youngsters on Valentine Days or chopping the palm of a professor in Kerala. Most of these horrendous incidents were covered live and telecast by TV channels.
The questions posed and observations made by Arundhati Roy on the conduct of the Media are very significant. “What is the nature of the agreement between these sections of the media and mobs and criminals in search of spectacle? Does the media which positions itself at the ‘scene’ in advance have a guarantee that the attack and demonstrations will be non-violent? What happens if there is a criminal trespass (as there was on the day) or even something worse? Does the media then become accessory to the crime? This question is important, given that some TV channels and newspapers are in the process of brazenly inciting mob anger against me. In the race for sensationalism the line between reporting news and manufacturing news is becoming blurred. So what if a few people (and so are the fundamentals of journalism) have to be sacrificed at the altar of TRP ratings?”
The government has indicated that it does not intend to go ahead with the charges of sedition against her and the other speakers at a recent seminar on Azadi for Kashmir. “So the task of punishing me for my views in turn have been taken on by right wing storm troopers. The Bajrang Dal and the RSS have openly announced that they are going to ‘fix’ me with all the means at their disposal including filing cases against me all over the country…. Are sections of the media and the infrastructure of democracy rented out to those who believe in mob justice? I can understand that the BJP is using to distract attention from the senior RSS activist Indresh Kumar who has recently been named in the CBI chargesheet for the bomb blast in Ajmer Shariff in which several persons were killed and many injured. But why are sections of the mainstream media doing the same? Is a writer with unpopular views more dangerous than a suspect in a bomb blast? Or is it a question of ideological alignment?
Surprisingly the print and electronic media in the country, which is fond of posing delicate and uneasy questions to political leaders, bureaucrats et al., and boast about their questions being parried or skipped by the concerned, have not come out with answers to the pointed questions posed by Arundhati Roy or objected to her observations like ‘manufacturing news for sensationalism; nor do they seem to have made any introspection and mend their ways.’
It seems that in the rat-trace for survival of the of the TV news channels. It is not just the people who, and the fundamentals of journalism that are being sacrificed at the altar of TRP ratings, but the lives of innocent people and national interests, as it happened during the 26/11 attack of Pakistani terrorists on Taj Hotel in Mumbai . The TV channels vied with each other in showing the movements and details of security forces outside the sieged Hotel as if it was a cricket match. The terrorist who held hundreds of people as hostages could see the positions and strategy of the security forces on televisions and in panic shot down more people. The irresponsible conduct of the electronic media was condemned by all. Similarly, in cases of thefts, robberies and kidnappings, the Media plays an obstructionist and negative role giving details of the operations of the investigating agencies and police, giving leeway for the culprits to escape or causing risk to the lives of the kidnapped. This is the agonizing outcome of unhealthy competitive journalism.
The scourge of manufacturing news, is the byproduct of the very much misplaced and misunderstood investigative journalism in the media in Tamil Nadu, which originated in the post-Emergency period in late 1970s. There was an upsurge of democratic aspirations after two years of terribly oppressive regime. But liberty was misconstrued for licence by some small time ‘journalists’, who appeared on the scene from nowhere. Investigative journalism, is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, spend many months or years researching and prepare a report. Such journalists make use of analysis of documents such as government reports, research into social and legal issues, numerous interviews with on-the-record sources as well as, in some instances, interviews with anonymous sources (for example whistleblowers). The goal of investigative journalism is to discover and reveal truth. Originally investigative pieces were typically featured in magazines; when magazine circulation rose, newspapers responded and shed many of their past conservative techniques. The pieces of investigative journalism circulated in India are often written in either a partisan style or regarded as sensational. The pieces run in Indian newspapers are often also criticized as serving more as an advertisement than as true journalistic pieces. Some of the remarkable investigative reports are Bofors scam, Fodder scandal, Jain diary case, Petrol pumps largesse scandal and the Commonwealth Games scam in recent times. The so-called ‘spectrum allocation scam’ is a case of partisan campaign can be seen on the very face of it. Originally they started with a loss of revenue for the government of Rs.25,000 crore and now it has reached Rs.1,90,000 crore. The matter is sub-judice does not stop the media from conducting parallel trial and politicians from issuing statements.
It is a matter of disgrace that investigative journalism has been turned into a tool for blackmail by certain charlatan journalists for pecuniary gains in Tamil Nadu and for narrow and partisan political ends by many journals and newspapers in Tamil Nadu. The periodicals carry such features as ‘cover stories’. In the beginning ‘a line’ was enough for such cover story ‘experts’ to cook up a very big ‘story’, the very nomenclature suggesting an imaginary fiction. But now they have ‘perfected the art of story writing’ from a rare photograph of a leader or a scene. They care two hoots for ethics of journalism or justice to their readers.
The media claims to be the Fourth Pillar in Democracy and the watchdog of the system. Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion, thus goes the saying. This noble profession of journalism needs to look inwards and introspect if some of the practices they resort to are indeed noble enough.
If it is the case of “ideological alignment” with the communal forces in their fight against the progressive writer, what nature of ‘alignment’ that a section of the media in Tamil Nadu have in promoting the cause of ‘a political psychopath’ and ‘a political terrorist’ (courtesy: writer Vasanthi in ‘India Today’) Jayalalitha, against a seasoned statesman and one of the very few tallest leaders in the country, Kalaignar and his government? (Going by the ownership of these sections suggest affiliation of a different kind) Do they honestly feel that Jayalalitha, who is sponsored as the alternative, will provide a better and more efficient governance than the present one? Can they vouch for her not reenacting her infamous, notorious and corrupt regimes of 1991-96 and 2001-06? Because it is the very same sections of the media that promoted her prospects during the Assembly elections in 2001 hoping that she would have learnt sufficient lessons during her wilderness in the previous five years, but found to their dismay her going more autocratic and anti-people! Do they extend any guarantee that she will not fare worse than in her previous regimes? Can they compare the goings-on now with those during the ADMK regimes and convince the people that the latter were better? Can they assure that all the welfare schemes and projects ushered in by the DMK rule will not be cancelled under some pretext or the other?
One need not go back to observe the pattern of partisan and biased attitude of a dominant section of the media in the state. The manner of publication of a statement of Jayalalitha on the purported loss of Rs.730 crore to the exchequer while assigning land to DLF for IT special SEZ in Taramani in Chennai and the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Thiru M.K.Stalin refuting the charge and explaining the transparent manner of the allocation in such dailies on Nov.9 last week. Jayalalitha’s statement was prominently published on the top in four columns while the rebuttal by Thiru Stalin was relegated to a corner in single and double columns. The statement of Jayalalitha itself did not merit publication as the matter was already raised and replied in detail by the Deputy Chief Minister on May 11 last in the State Assembly during its Budget session. All these newspapers had carried this Assembly proceedings then and if only they had cared to verify from their files, they would have consigned Jayalalitha’s repeat statement to dust bins. But what if it is a sheer repetition of the same old issue if it takes on the DMK government and that too from their ‘benefactor’? It becomes sacrosanct and given ‘due’ coverage!
Unlike Jayalalitha, who during her regime had the audacity to declare in the Assembly that she or her ministers would not reply to the charges and criticisms of the opposition, Kalaignar everyday takes the pain to respond to every criticism leveled by the opposition and published in dailies and explain in detail the correct position. But Kalaignar’s replies are either not published or given little space in an insignificant place. In their antipathy for the DMK rule the media ‘manufacture’ anti-government, anti-Kalaignar reports providing fodder for the Statement Manufacturing Mill at Poes Garden, the finished product from where is once again a fodder for publication for these sections of the media. People of the state have become very familiar with this vicious circle of vested interests. They are able to see through the ‘underlying affiliation’ as demonstrated by them during the Lok Sabha elections last year!
Taken for a ride by these very same sections of the media once in the run up for the Assembly elections in 2001, the people opted a change and experienced the disastrous result for five years thereafter. Some political parties which have again sought alliance with the ADMK to gain few seats, many feign forgetting the betrayals of the past. But the people of the state will not willingly let lose the gains they have reaped under the DMK rule, whatever be the dubious provocations!
(14-11-10)
After the mob left, the police advised the occupants of her house to let them know if in future they saw any OB vans hanging around the neighbourhood because that was an indication that a mob was on its way. In June this year, after a false report in the papers, two men on motorcycles threw stones and attacked her home. They too were accompanied by TV camera crew.
It is a cause of concern that similar acts of violence are on the rise across the length and breadth of the country; acts which once were associated with the Shiv Sena in Mumbai who resorted to highhandedness in the name of Marathi manoos, but now are common, be it the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) attacking North Indians in Mumbai, the Sri Ram Sena unabashedly banishing up girls in Mangalore or religious fanatics attacking and chasing away youngsters on Valentine Days or chopping the palm of a professor in Kerala. Most of these horrendous incidents were covered live and telecast by TV channels.
The questions posed and observations made by Arundhati Roy on the conduct of the Media are very significant. “What is the nature of the agreement between these sections of the media and mobs and criminals in search of spectacle? Does the media which positions itself at the ‘scene’ in advance have a guarantee that the attack and demonstrations will be non-violent? What happens if there is a criminal trespass (as there was on the day) or even something worse? Does the media then become accessory to the crime? This question is important, given that some TV channels and newspapers are in the process of brazenly inciting mob anger against me. In the race for sensationalism the line between reporting news and manufacturing news is becoming blurred. So what if a few people (and so are the fundamentals of journalism) have to be sacrificed at the altar of TRP ratings?”
The government has indicated that it does not intend to go ahead with the charges of sedition against her and the other speakers at a recent seminar on Azadi for Kashmir. “So the task of punishing me for my views in turn have been taken on by right wing storm troopers. The Bajrang Dal and the RSS have openly announced that they are going to ‘fix’ me with all the means at their disposal including filing cases against me all over the country…. Are sections of the media and the infrastructure of democracy rented out to those who believe in mob justice? I can understand that the BJP is using to distract attention from the senior RSS activist Indresh Kumar who has recently been named in the CBI chargesheet for the bomb blast in Ajmer Shariff in which several persons were killed and many injured. But why are sections of the mainstream media doing the same? Is a writer with unpopular views more dangerous than a suspect in a bomb blast? Or is it a question of ideological alignment?
Surprisingly the print and electronic media in the country, which is fond of posing delicate and uneasy questions to political leaders, bureaucrats et al., and boast about their questions being parried or skipped by the concerned, have not come out with answers to the pointed questions posed by Arundhati Roy or objected to her observations like ‘manufacturing news for sensationalism; nor do they seem to have made any introspection and mend their ways.’
It seems that in the rat-trace for survival of the of the TV news channels. It is not just the people who, and the fundamentals of journalism that are being sacrificed at the altar of TRP ratings, but the lives of innocent people and national interests, as it happened during the 26/11 attack of Pakistani terrorists on Taj Hotel in Mumbai . The TV channels vied with each other in showing the movements and details of security forces outside the sieged Hotel as if it was a cricket match. The terrorist who held hundreds of people as hostages could see the positions and strategy of the security forces on televisions and in panic shot down more people. The irresponsible conduct of the electronic media was condemned by all. Similarly, in cases of thefts, robberies and kidnappings, the Media plays an obstructionist and negative role giving details of the operations of the investigating agencies and police, giving leeway for the culprits to escape or causing risk to the lives of the kidnapped. This is the agonizing outcome of unhealthy competitive journalism.
The scourge of manufacturing news, is the byproduct of the very much misplaced and misunderstood investigative journalism in the media in Tamil Nadu, which originated in the post-Emergency period in late 1970s. There was an upsurge of democratic aspirations after two years of terribly oppressive regime. But liberty was misconstrued for licence by some small time ‘journalists’, who appeared on the scene from nowhere. Investigative journalism, is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, spend many months or years researching and prepare a report. Such journalists make use of analysis of documents such as government reports, research into social and legal issues, numerous interviews with on-the-record sources as well as, in some instances, interviews with anonymous sources (for example whistleblowers). The goal of investigative journalism is to discover and reveal truth. Originally investigative pieces were typically featured in magazines; when magazine circulation rose, newspapers responded and shed many of their past conservative techniques. The pieces of investigative journalism circulated in India are often written in either a partisan style or regarded as sensational. The pieces run in Indian newspapers are often also criticized as serving more as an advertisement than as true journalistic pieces. Some of the remarkable investigative reports are Bofors scam, Fodder scandal, Jain diary case, Petrol pumps largesse scandal and the Commonwealth Games scam in recent times. The so-called ‘spectrum allocation scam’ is a case of partisan campaign can be seen on the very face of it. Originally they started with a loss of revenue for the government of Rs.25,000 crore and now it has reached Rs.1,90,000 crore. The matter is sub-judice does not stop the media from conducting parallel trial and politicians from issuing statements.
It is a matter of disgrace that investigative journalism has been turned into a tool for blackmail by certain charlatan journalists for pecuniary gains in Tamil Nadu and for narrow and partisan political ends by many journals and newspapers in Tamil Nadu. The periodicals carry such features as ‘cover stories’. In the beginning ‘a line’ was enough for such cover story ‘experts’ to cook up a very big ‘story’, the very nomenclature suggesting an imaginary fiction. But now they have ‘perfected the art of story writing’ from a rare photograph of a leader or a scene. They care two hoots for ethics of journalism or justice to their readers.
The media claims to be the Fourth Pillar in Democracy and the watchdog of the system. Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion, thus goes the saying. This noble profession of journalism needs to look inwards and introspect if some of the practices they resort to are indeed noble enough.
If it is the case of “ideological alignment” with the communal forces in their fight against the progressive writer, what nature of ‘alignment’ that a section of the media in Tamil Nadu have in promoting the cause of ‘a political psychopath’ and ‘a political terrorist’ (courtesy: writer Vasanthi in ‘India Today’) Jayalalitha, against a seasoned statesman and one of the very few tallest leaders in the country, Kalaignar and his government? (Going by the ownership of these sections suggest affiliation of a different kind) Do they honestly feel that Jayalalitha, who is sponsored as the alternative, will provide a better and more efficient governance than the present one? Can they vouch for her not reenacting her infamous, notorious and corrupt regimes of 1991-96 and 2001-06? Because it is the very same sections of the media that promoted her prospects during the Assembly elections in 2001 hoping that she would have learnt sufficient lessons during her wilderness in the previous five years, but found to their dismay her going more autocratic and anti-people! Do they extend any guarantee that she will not fare worse than in her previous regimes? Can they compare the goings-on now with those during the ADMK regimes and convince the people that the latter were better? Can they assure that all the welfare schemes and projects ushered in by the DMK rule will not be cancelled under some pretext or the other?
One need not go back to observe the pattern of partisan and biased attitude of a dominant section of the media in the state. The manner of publication of a statement of Jayalalitha on the purported loss of Rs.730 crore to the exchequer while assigning land to DLF for IT special SEZ in Taramani in Chennai and the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Thiru M.K.Stalin refuting the charge and explaining the transparent manner of the allocation in such dailies on Nov.9 last week. Jayalalitha’s statement was prominently published on the top in four columns while the rebuttal by Thiru Stalin was relegated to a corner in single and double columns. The statement of Jayalalitha itself did not merit publication as the matter was already raised and replied in detail by the Deputy Chief Minister on May 11 last in the State Assembly during its Budget session. All these newspapers had carried this Assembly proceedings then and if only they had cared to verify from their files, they would have consigned Jayalalitha’s repeat statement to dust bins. But what if it is a sheer repetition of the same old issue if it takes on the DMK government and that too from their ‘benefactor’? It becomes sacrosanct and given ‘due’ coverage!
Unlike Jayalalitha, who during her regime had the audacity to declare in the Assembly that she or her ministers would not reply to the charges and criticisms of the opposition, Kalaignar everyday takes the pain to respond to every criticism leveled by the opposition and published in dailies and explain in detail the correct position. But Kalaignar’s replies are either not published or given little space in an insignificant place. In their antipathy for the DMK rule the media ‘manufacture’ anti-government, anti-Kalaignar reports providing fodder for the Statement Manufacturing Mill at Poes Garden, the finished product from where is once again a fodder for publication for these sections of the media. People of the state have become very familiar with this vicious circle of vested interests. They are able to see through the ‘underlying affiliation’ as demonstrated by them during the Lok Sabha elections last year!
Taken for a ride by these very same sections of the media once in the run up for the Assembly elections in 2001, the people opted a change and experienced the disastrous result for five years thereafter. Some political parties which have again sought alliance with the ADMK to gain few seats, many feign forgetting the betrayals of the past. But the people of the state will not willingly let lose the gains they have reaped under the DMK rule, whatever be the dubious provocations!
(14-11-10)
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