Journalism Ethics: Arnab, Cyril & Ravish

When I was studying journalism & mass communication at Punjabi university Patiala an editor of Dainik Tribune visited us to share his views. You would be aware that since journalism have been more of a trade or a business rather than profession therefore majority of journalist are self taught guy who prefer to toe the line than challenge the authority.  This editor from Chandigarh made a remark, which he thought was pretty innocent normal.

He said-When we (media) take government side then the readers protest and when we raise the voice of people the government dislike it. I couldn’t help myself asking him to explain such a loaded statement coming from an editor of pro-govt newspaper establishment. He looked confused to why I was asking to explain a rather routine remark. When I told him that he said could virtually imply that the democracy in India has failed.  He was stunned, began to look in the direction of the faculty as if pleading with them to make me shut up. But faculty members in Indian universities generally don’t mess with students who read more than them.

How could there be inverse relationship between aspirations & opinions of the citizens in a democracy to the government policies programs? If the government don’t want media to question them to wake them up to the views of the citizens then what is the role of media? India can’t be a North Korea clone due to size and history. When media becomes government stooge it’s the end of democracy and beginning of the end of those regimes.

Recently when Pakistan government tried bullying Cyril Almeida, majority media professionals including Hamid Mir of Geo stood up with Cyril against the government. Unfortunately majority Indian media don’t have such strong spines as our friends in Pakistan. India media have earned the adage of-Crawling when indicated to bend-long ago. Therefore its pleasant surprise to see Ravish Kumar of NDTV-India cock a snook at modi sarkar in his nonchalant inimitable sober style to protest against one day ban on the channel for coverage of the Pathankot airbase attack. NDTVIndia is just another channel having no unique access to the spot or reported anything that most other channels didn’t but it is singled out for the punishment.

NDTV India has the brand positioning of mild mannered, centrist, balanced, sans theatrics channel amongst sea of noisy pseudo hindu-nationalist channels, some of them purveys mythologies than facts in the race to please Hindu fundamentalist RSS and the government run by its cadres.

Cyril Almeida belongs to minority community in Pakistan but received complete support of the majority community to save him from government high handedness. But NDTV India seems to be in modi sarkar crosshair due to its refusal to toe the RSS line showing minorities in poor light. No one is surprised at one day blackout ban on the channel. It’s shocking to see how the RSS led government could act in such predictable manner and bring more negative publicity? Many thought RSS would rope in some educated people to guide it post stunning win in 2014.

Journalism students have choice they can be Arnab Goswamy of @TimesNow  and be a voice of Hindu fundamentalist sections , a Ravish Kumar of @NDTVIndia  who stands for the idea of India. You can chose cacophony or civil debates. Let me caution that it’s easy to be an Arnab Goswamy as most people can speak loudly but very difficult to be Ravish Kumar because you can’t be him without reading lots of books regularly. Arnab Goswamys would come and go but Ravish Kumar would be discussed in mass communication classrooms for decades.

Why Shoot the Messenger !

"No one loves the messenger who brings bad news" -Sophocles in Antigone

When the PM said lets revive the animal spirit of the Indian economy media let loose its dogs of war. Because last time the suave economist did it in early nineties there was an explosive growth of economy resulting in corresponding increase in the earnings/salaries of the working class. The two decade long growth gave birth to new middle class India which demands better control over their lives & freedom. 

Slowdown in global economy have made the capitalist class unsure of handsome returns on their money so they look forward to governments to make available tranches of cash to bail them out of the mess. How could the crony capitalist media let the wages grow further making it difficult for the corporate to ‘control’ the rising independent middle class? Media editorial line is dictated by the Board not he editorial head.

Spectacular success of China is visible worldwide. It has lifted a staggering part of its population out of grinding poverty & made their lives worth living. China achieved all this without taking over other economies by force to rip them of their wealth. China quietly worked hard and served the consumerism in the developed world. Quietly is the key to Chinese success. Though China held Olympics but it has managed to stay off the publicity radar globally.

China leveraged local wisdom mixed with global technology to earn a respectable place on the high table of world’s leading nations. The Great Wall of China remains the enduring metaphor of its wisdom & success. China didn't join internet revolution without tweaking it to suit its national needs. India on the other hand jumped onto the internet wagon lock stock & barrel without a second thought as to where it will take it.

India remained under foreign rule for centuries so in the middle class India feels exuberant & can't resist the temptation to have an opinion on all subjects under the Sun without regard to any exposure to the topic. Like other 'unsuccessful' people, India has also similar self defense mechanism. People suffering from inferiority complex are very touchy about criticism. Moment you point out an aberration they reject your argument by citing two unrelated facts. Truth is gold in India actually, its very expensive.

Privately run media in India represent view of powerful corporate lobby and particular cultural supremacist  group. Media like Bollywood film industry prefer to divorce truth & reality for pursuit of greed. Instead of challenging the ancient traditions for sake of a modern and more just society. Indian media contributes to perpetuation of  an ancient way of life without regard to the fact that the very same culture caused immense pain to majority of the Indians for thousand years. India has a home grown slave tradition based on work profile of individuals duly sanctioned by religion and Dharma- the caste system of sage Manu. Media subscribes & works to perpetuate the ancient order.

Chairman of Press council of India Justice M Katju has held a mirror to media lately which has forced media to close its ranks & attack the illustrious gentleman with vengeance. I see the class struggle in India getting out of hand due to size of the population. Brahmins, the upper caste group, has been attacked several times by Dalit movements successfully, second ranked caste Kashtriyas have also been targeted in Naxal movements of 70s but the third ranked & actually financially most powerful caste group of Vaishyas have never faced any direct challenge. Opening up of retail to FDI is single most critical challenge to this caste group. Trade & Industry is dominated by this caste group only in India. This is the main reason for anti government stance of the private media in India.      

Media holds a mirror to society and challenges status-quo of all shades rather than  the political establishment. Indian media has completely failed to challenge the prevalent socio-religious order which has led to sudden increase in crimes of greed & rapes. Any sociologist would infer that spurt in crimes is directly related to psychology & culture promoted by media. Its time the visionary leadership in India wakes up and allows global media into India to give India a fair & free media. India should open up news media & education to foreign players so that India could join the new world order. 

Republic of Animals !

Animals and humans share this universe but humans alone make fun of animals. Scorn, I would say, ridicule too. Have you ever seen any animal laughing at a human? Will that be behaving like us? Humans find it difficult to share things easily with its own species & almost impossible with others depending upon degree of unfamiliarity. Most animal species happily share most of the available bounty with their ilk and others. We humans extensively use animal metaphors to describe our fellow humans. The most common animal metaphor used is perhaps that of dog, cat & lion. Most of us think of themselves as a Lion and others as dogs? Let's see what's popular animal metaphors are there from the animal kingdom. Let me warn you that since its humans who run the show of civilization & creation of languages concepts etc therefore animals are still said to have been living in a kingdom and not in a republic with adult franchise.

Most countries want to become a world power more in military sense than economic. And therefore military has remained a major national asset of the nationalist people. Honey Badger reminds me of the elitist navy seals of USA or other professional killing machines part of military worldwide. Who won’t like the sweet badge of honour for killing in cold blood for enlightened-self-interest? 

Donkey has long been symbol of poor hard working classes who could never get out of the rut of feeding, sleeping, breeding revolving on the axis of relentless back braking hard labor. India is home to world’s largest population of poor people. Large numbers of people are willing to work on assurance of food alone without nay wages. You won’t be surprised that our Hindu nationalist politicians have long discovered that India is shining. The ‘secular’ politicians find India as incredible. Well India surely is an incredible country where vast majority conducts their life according to movement of planets in Sky.

Monkey is generally portrayed as an animal that resemble human race a lot depending upon its various species which is endowed with ability to learn or copy human behavior. You may have herd of folk tale of ‘Monkey & Cap Seller’ in which the trader uses Monkey’s behavior to get back his stolen merchandise from him. Well moral of the story is that those who copy for living would not win the game. A nation that discourages original thinking and promotes conformity by imitating, reengineering, technology, processes and concepts from others cannot become a world leader. It’s illogical to except that a blind follower to become leader, who will he follow?  Regimented society based on group dynamics than individual recognition has no future. It would soon be dead as a dodo.

Dogs are domesticated for their unconditional loyalty. Horse is said to be most loyal among all the animals. Can you recall a famous person who is known as Dog of X-country? Not pejoratively of course. Many people are called Lion of so & so place. Punjab my homeland has a fetish for the sobriquet of Lion of Punjab. CM of Gujarat also is called Lion of Gujarat.  United Kingdom is well known for having cats as pets. Cats are add charm to life by their presence but are not known for their loyalty.

Modern corporate media is like cats, it has no value except to add some color to the business of life & governance in a country. Media no longer resent any editorial control direct or indirect as long as it has healthy bottomline like that of a feline. Gone are the days when a book or story in media could affect amendments to constitution or force parliaments to enact new laws. These days’ cats keep playing around the house without disturbing anyone except those who are looking at them.