PEOPLE AND THEIR PROBLEMS

New Delhi, 25 November, 2005

Reporter In A Hurry

CHANGING FACE OF JOURNALISM

By Girraj Prasad Gupta

The face of Indian Journalism has changed, or say, has been changing since independence.  Before 1947 it was its struggle against the foreign rule to free the country from the yokes of the Britishers.  The history of Journalism for about 200 years is the history of struggle.  There are so many examples of journalist-cum-public leaders like Tilak, Vidyarthi, Nehru and even Gandhi who played important role as journalists (through the use of their pen) besides being leaders to fight to the last to achieve the goal.

According to several eminent persons, Journalism is “The Times”, the “Daily Mirror” and the “Sun”.  It is communication.  It is the events of the day, distilled into a few words, sounds or pictures.  It is the business of timely knowledge.  The Press is a full-fledged institution in our modern world.  It is a contemporary report of the changing scene.

Indeed, Journalism is or can be an ultimate check against the tyranny or authority.  On one side, newspapers have been helpful in public awareness related with politics, state politics, schemes, new inventions of science in medicines, agriculture, economics and, say, in every walk of life.  The importance of print media can never be under-estimated even when electronic media is reaching to a larger number of people in the country.

It acts as a watchdog of all the activities of the Government, right or wrong, and also all sorts of happenings during floods, famine, epidemics, riots etc. enabling the administration to apply preventive measures, turning as an industry rather than a mission as it was before independence and, to some extent, even after independence for about one or two decades.

Free Press is the backbone of a democracy, but on watching some misuse of this power, Voltaire said: “I may disagree with what you have to say but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it”.  This is the essence of a liberal democracy.  But no other political system gives this liberty to the Press.

Today what the print media reflects is an image in the broken mirror.  As said for journalism, it is timely history, written in haste.  But sometimes this haste proves a waste and affects the image and prestige of the newspaper and ultimately the Press. 

Some examples may be quoted here, wherein the reporters covered the incidents in haste and without going deep into the matter, submitted the stories for their representing newspapers.  For example, the killing of four terrorists in Ahmedabad by the Gujarat Police was a story covered by the Media without knowing the background of those terrorists.  One killed Ishrat was reported innocent and a lady of good character.  This too was a report without knowing the truth. 

Another story is of a bomb blast outside the premises of a Church in Coimbatore, involving in it the hands of the RSS parivar.  It was also reported in haste.  Sometime back, when two Muslim terrorists were killed in Ansal Plaza of Delhi, the police was alleged to have killed two quite innocent persons.  Here too, the two reporters approached very soon the Human Rights Commission without knowing the truth behind the incident.

The same happened with K. Natwar Singh, the, then  Minister for External Affairs, when his statement to review the matter for sending the army to Iraq made him controversial and some former Foreign Ministers criticized him when he expressed his views for adopting the same policy related with atomic principle from India, China and Pakistan.  In this case, the media hurriedly covered his speech without any reference to the context and thus Singh had to face some trouble, but fortunately a daily newspaper in its story made the situation clear and satisfied the anger. 

Another important news in an English newspaper with a headline “Mind your own business” the Lok Sabha Speaker tells the Judiciary, created a tussle between the legislature and the judiciary and the, then, Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti had to say, “Close the courts…” .  In all the above cases, reporting in haste, hurriedly incomplete news stories covered made things controversial and affect the image not only of the reporters but also the newspaper and its reliability. Thanks to a daily English newspaper, which clarified the matter. That avoided the bad blood between the judiciary and the legislature.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee took exception to a newspaper headline – relating to a report on the proceedings saying it amounted to breach of Parliamentary privilege, a view which was accepted by the entire House.

“It is deliberate misrepresentation about what was said in the House by the Chair.  I once again, if necessary at all, express my highest respect for the Judiciary.  To try to make misrepresentation of what transpired in the House is nothing but breach of privilege.  Naturally, it will not be taken lightly in future”. Chatterjee said as soon as the House assembled.

Chatterjee further said: “I do not have to learn from others how to pay respect”.  The newspaper report had referred to a discussion in the Lok Sabha on Supreme Court Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti’s observation on politicians taking exception to its verdict on reservation in unaided private educational institutions.

The views of former IPS officer, K.P.S. Gill, about the Journalists are: “A large proportion of reportage in the Indian media is false and conjured out of the imagination of lazy and unscrupulous reporters, who simply attribute their own inventions to sources often to denigrate and slander others.  This has become routine, but even habitual offenders are seldom held to account.  Where the courts feel that they are dealing with unprincipled and corrupt elements as common in journalism as they are in other professions – who are deliberately abusing their privilege, it is only right that such privilege be withdrawn”. As expressed in an English daily under the banner “Should the Journalists be forced to reveal the sources”.

One quote from a news magazine reviewing a book (fiction) “Hacks and Headlines” by Rashme Sehgal, a noted Journalist, throws light on journalism.  Rashme Sehgal obviously has a different view.  Even though Hacks and Headlines in fictional, albeit thinly disguised, her journalistic world is peopled by immoral editors and scheming journalists who spend most of their time indulging in gossip or office intrigue. It is a bleak place where journalists are either stabbing someone in the back or scratching another.  The title makes it obvious: “hacks is the word that defines the bottom-freeders in the journalistic pond”.

While the plot revolves around a village caste scandal, it becomes an instrument for a series of unsavoury events, including the overthrow of a government by a newspaper baron. The sub-plots are mostly to do with woman journalists using their sexual appeal to give themselves a left up (sic) in the profession! 

Having been a journalist herself, if Sehgal had stuck to fiction, this might have passed literary muster.  But there are too many factual references. There’s Leelawati, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and head of the Bahujan Samaj Party, as also mention of Sharad Pawar, V.P. Singh and Pramod Mahajan among others. The plot does get fast and furious and is occasionally authentic!

“Severe criticism by some of the eminent personalities against those journalists who go fast while reporting, there is a lesson for them never to take things for granted and to expect the unexpected.  To look for the truth behind the spin and to remember that failure or success is never final. And to realize that there is no monopoly on wisdom. Above all to be humble in victory, and graceful in defeat:, advises one editor-in-chief of a news magazine.---INFA.

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)