When Barack Obama was in India he described India as not an emerging nation but the nation which has already emerged . In nutshell no more a "third world banana republic" but he forgot to mention that worlds largest democracy is still in the hands of "Banana Media". The only country in world where media themselves censor news of most burning issue just to save their own face!!.
This shows that most of electronic Indian media is neither free nor fair and in the hands of few media barons working not as journalists but propaganda machines like Gobbels or better whose ambitions are to become next William Randolph Hearst. All this has come to surface in the wake of sensational tapes released having conversation of Indian two top journalists Barkha Dutt & Vir Sanghavi (rather media stars or media glitterati) with the co-accused of 2G spectrum scam and alleged to have worked as Lobbyist and Power Broker . While story of Indian top media in power nexus with elite of corrupt politicians and lobbying for them wasn't bad enough ; what followed after that was much more shameful as near black-out of story on electronic media. The issue is no more of whether journalist worked as lobbyist or not ; its the issue whether Indian deserves the kind of censored media, vested interests driven and filled with double standards trying to cover up corruption in their own backyard. I believe India deserves a better class of criminals...oops I mean journalists !
Why Online Media is on Blaze?
There is a simple question which everyone out there on online media like Twitter & Facebook is asking ; if you have nothing to hide why are you censoring the tapes? Don't you realize by this you are making yourself stands in the league of extraordinary media cartels like China & Myanmar. How different Indian media is different from them if they ignore or censor an inconvenient truth and broadcast what they want people to think about. Is this journalism or media houses reduced to being just an extension of PR offices catering for big money?
Top journos like them routinely question politicians , execs and everybody on the ground of morality and ethics; then what about their own conduct? what make top journos think they are beyond scrutiny & infallible & their words of innocence need to be taken as gospel while they have right to chase everybody from PM to common man asking for truth & proof of innocence? How is silence of Electronic media houses like NDTV , IBN is less criminal than silence of PM on 2G spectrum issue? what make them think they are holy Grail of truth and no one has right to question them? But more critical question is age old logjam "who watches the watchman? " Chankya said you can never determine how much water a fish drinks ; similarly in this case we can never know how much corrupt these journos can get!. They enjoy privileges more than PM of country and scrutiny of them is censored by their own fraternity like the underworld who keeps fighting each other for territory but keeps unwritten "code of ethics" intact by never blowing lid over each other. Isn't electronic media in India nothing but taken form of new underworld trying to commoditise the news and play with popular sentiment?
why run away from truth when nothing to hide?
With the issue having this serious implications on 2G spectrum scam would have already been a breaking news but even after online media is ablaze with its comments on sites like Twitter and Facebook and trending #1 for five days at stretch ; should in normal circumstances been used as tool to reflect public opinion. In fact a typical opinion poll in India has sample size less than 10k (mostly less than even 5k) and is used a reflection of a billion plus country but in this case even after so much hue and cry over online media , the issue continues to be ignores, why? why would that be done unless there are mores skeletons in closet ? why would that be unless there is ore sleaze underneath which could unearth ? . Twitter has set a new record in India of trending #1 topic as #Barkhagate and over 12k tweets and many blogs in shortest span of time. And that is so because The issue real issue here is not at all of #Barkhagate but silence of media on this? Who are they to decide if person is guilty or innocent ? Are they not just journalist but prosecutor , jury and judge as well who can decide for themselves if person is innocent or not? Why don't they let "we the people" decide and why run away from the debate?
The defence by media houses to avoid debate on this issue at best is really funny. You are having biggest scam in history of India going beyond $40 billion , a new evidence= come to light linking it to a key player called Radia who masterminded all strings and everyone is just quiet on this? This conspicuous silence on Raja-radia link(not Barka -Radia) is breach of professional ethics. And had the two journos not been caught into the loop this could have been a breaking telecasted 24by7.Wither double standards or plain hypocrisy or something more sleazy where corporate and money interest collide with professional ethics? A country like India which dreams to be a superpower needs to learn few lesson from US & UK.
Lessons from US & UK Media scandals
There had been instances of media guys being on wrong side of ethics or law in US or UK . Keith Olbermann popular MSNBC host resigned due to "objective journalism". Or like the OJ Simpson Interview on Fox where many anchor criticized their own reporter for taking that interview and many even refused to telecast it calling it unethical. Also in another instance of BBC was heavily criticized by Tony Blair for David Kelly case and to my amazement BBC aired all criticism unedited , prime time. While Indian media looks forward to US &UK for paparazzi its also time to look forward to their true values of being open to criticism and right to dissent. Howard stern is not BBC or CNN , they I believe are still run with a sense of Ethics .
What is more worrying is silence of those who have got nothing to do with this artcile .the news anchors like Vikram Chandra, Nidhi Razdan , Sagarika Ghose and others who choose to keep mum mostly never realizing the paradox that they champion the freedom of speech day in an day out on TV no matter what it is? The irony could not get worse that the week they decided to censor this news they hold debate about whether to show Pamela Anderson on prime time TV and by govt order asking to push Pamela Anderson to adult slot is "violation of freedom of expression"; Largely critical of govt playing as Censor Board because for censoring Pamela but thinks they are perfectly fine censoring a corruption scandal involving media persons. It cant get more bizarre and for gods sake its time to introspect.
Lastly I would like to mention the platonic shift that's taking place in media worldwide using Twitter & Digg & Blogs , whether it is happening in India or not will be decided by this issue. This issue (#Barkhagate) is litmus test of India's online community if they are mere tool at the hands of "Banana Media" or have a thought process of their own? And if they are real force to reckon with or mere clown for media anchors?
Social Network as new pillar of Democracy?
I was in US during last presidential debate and saw how questions came not from journos but from YouTube & twitter ; not from media persons but from common guys. There was lot of hue & cry from traditional journos to this approach taken by CNN; and I remember reply from one the anchor "JFK was first presidential debate on TV and Obama is last presidential debate on TV; whether you like it or not next time its gonna be online media where real debates are going to take place". There are over 50 million internet users in India and sooner or later #Barkhagate is going to reach them and it is these net-savvy generation which are primary consumer of English news channel in India and when you lose credibility in their eyes sooner or later it gonna hurt. Its time to come clean.
Its high time we make Media houses accountable to the people. They must be brought under RTI as public figures and disclose their assets . Also their conduct and the content they carry need to be subject to Ethics Commitie specially during sensitive coverage like 26/11 Terror attacks on Mumbai. They have failed to collectively show responsibility and its time they subject themselves to Code of Ethics which clearly demarks a line between Lobbying and sourcing information.
so if Rajdeep Sardesai thinks he could be next William Randolph Hearst of 21st century..then sorry sir maybe you are a bit late.!
PS- In the end while artcile is against most of electronic media, I must give sincere thanks to print media like Open & Outlook magazine who first broke the story and have shown the courage of true journalism. And also for other print media like India Today, Indian Express , Mid-Day who took the story forward. Thanks for being there!
Story Background-
The story started with Barkha Dutt ,A popular TV journalist of NDTV ; being exposed as a power-broker and lobbyist with nexus to Nira Radia ;a known corporate Lobbyist and currently under investigation in 2G spectrum scam involving over $40billion.It became hot topic on online media like Twitter after Indian media almost blacked-out story from electronic media. The tapes also exposed another popular journalist from Vir Sanghavi Hindustan Times having links with Radia for publishing articles in order to favor certain corporate interest. These tapes show power nexus between elite of India corporates , journalists and various ministers on various issues.
The mainstream electronic almost blacked out story while print media (Indian Express , Mid Day, India Today) continued to carry it. The story was originally broken by prominent Indian Magazine Open & Outlook almost simultaneously. However electronic media's self styled censored of news where media-person caught on wrong side of law has put twitter and online media in India on blaze. The scam popularly called #Barkhagate is been trending #1 in India for 4 days at a stretch with over 10k tweets in short span (a record in India) and many blogs written criticizing hypocrisy and lack of ethical standers regarding this issue shown by senior journalists ;however mainstream electronic media still keeping un-conspicuous silence.
Barkha Dutt an Indian TV journalist and columnist. She is currently the Group Editor, English News at New Delhi Television.Dutt gained prominence for her reportage of the Kargil War. She has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. She writes a column for The Hindustan Times, called "Third Eye." She had earlier been center of controversy during her coverage of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks on Taj Hotel.
On 18 Nov 2010, the OPEN magazine carried a story which exposed transcripts of Dutt's and fellow journalist Vir Sanghvi's telephonic conversations allegedly taped by the Indian Income Tax Department in 2008-09 with Nira Radia, lobbyist and self-proclaimed friend of former telecom minister A. Raja. Other prominent news sources like the Indian weekly Outlook also followed the story. The news gained prominence following sustained pressure on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook against an attempted blackout orchestrated by many prominent Indian TV channels and newspapers . The transcripts and audio tapes were interpreted by most analysts and common people as lobbying and power-broking by Dutt for the ruling Congress Party.
