‘Holier than thou’ media

A post I had written as a response to an argument with some journo friends…

Soumya’s death was brutal, and yes, the law and order situation in Delhi is out of control, ironically for women since the mayor of the city and the CM of the state are women themselves! But the debate above has thrown open larger issues.

I think we should not be complacent about our professions or work hours, for that matter; even courage is a relative term. Journalists are present at the right place at the right time and that is not courage. It is not about seeing a riot, shooting it live, and calling it courage. Or reporting from Iraq and thinking that is courage to be there and reporting live. Courage is different. Courage is admitting that the media did go overboard with the Arushi murder case, and I appreciate them for issuing a public apology. Courage, is also giving priority to deaths by malnutrition in news coverage over Sachin Tendulkar’s injured knee, knowing that the sponsors would be reduced, but knowing that the former needs more attention. Of course, the media argues that they give people what they want, but being the fourth pillar of democracy, media needs to create an opinion of the people, change their mindsets, and force them to think.
Call yourself a journalist for bringing news. Not for changing scenarios. We must understand that if media has reported Jessica Lal enough, that has not gotten her justice. Her relatives, like you feel for Soumya, felt for her, and there were sincere lawyers who worked hard. As someone above put in rightly, Jessica wasn’t a journalist, it was just her kith and kin doing their bit for her by lighting candles. Same goes for the Bijal Trivedi rape case or the Uphaar tragedy. So before, being too self-congratulatory, let’s also be introspective. (continued below)

News is different from research, from a real story. Bhutto gets killed, a reporter is sent to cover her death, her funeral, create graphics of her face being hit by a bullet and then blood splattering on the screen ( I saw this on ndtv or times now) . Then, go to the archives, find her biography, put it as fast as possible on primetime, and then getting many experts to talk about the great movement of democracy in Pakistan, is this journalism? I didn’t see a single channel point out that in 60 years of Pakistan’s existence, Pakistan saw democracy for only 8 years of PPP rule, what role did Bhutto play in this? Why was PPP mired by corruption charges?

Answers to these questions is research, that is real journalism which is a rarity these days. Because like instant coffee and noodles, we also need instant news. We don’t want to go on the field, get our hands dirty. We want to go there because there is action. After the Bihar floods get over, why bother staying there finding out the administrative problems of the region ravaged by flood, oh, that can be done next year on an anniversary episode. Let’s move over to the new tragedy and cover that live. Real investigative journalism would be being able to find the truth, being able to say which is true – the Nanavati commission or the Banerjee Commission. Asking tough questions on ‘hard talk’ shows is easy, giving answers like these is difficult. That is called corroboration, a term seldom used or applied in Indian media. (

The trend of investigative journalism is catching up because we have new technical tools today. Does that mean it didn’t exist before? It did, and there were stories, there was courage too, except that one probably didn’t have enough embedded journalists! There was a P Sainath before the media boom who went to very depths of India to have reporting of the commoners. To show, that people get killed in rural India too. If you ask me, what media does, I would say, mostly, media gives us urban reality, of murders of models and journalists. Media doesn’t cover those 3 women who get raped everyday, because they are Dalits (Crime record data stats). If Soumya’s death makes headlines, Then Priyanka’s should to. She was raped in Khairlanji even after she was dead, can you imagine something more gruesome? And not just one day, her story needs to be repeated everyday till the perpetrators of the crime actually are brought to justice. Of course, even here, media thought it’s good that the criminals might get capital punishment. It is a victory for Dalits. Not a single newschannel in fact reported the irony of the verdict. That, it was given under grounds of murder, not any other section. The rape charges and the SCST Atrocities act was not even considered! It would be nice if instead of 400 reports for Lakme India Fashion Week and 40 to cover poverty issues, the ratio is reversed. (As Sainath puts it!) And I would like to see Sudan ( the number of killed is 4 lac and counting, turning into another Rwanda) get more attention than Sarah Palin’s moose barbecue.

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