Aditya Raj Kaul
Sword of perception is being hurled as a mark,
celebrating journalism of courage. The Indian media cold war is out in open
with the giant-old newspaper Indian
Express, led by its editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta and reporters Ritu Sarin,
Pranab Dhal Samanta and Ajmer Singh threatening a defamation suit against Open
Magazine editor-in-chief Manu Joseph, publisher R. Rajamohan, political editor
Hartosh Singh Bal, Administrator Hamendra Singh and Editorial Chairman of
Outlook Group Vinod Mehta for publishing an interview which severally criticized
the much controversial story titled ‘The January night Raisina Hill was
spooked: Two key Army units moved towards Delhi without notifying Govt’ reportedly
suggesting an attempt towards Coup in India published on the 4th
April. The notice by Indian Express, among other things goes on to say that,
there was “no suggestion in the said news report of any coup attempt”.
Is this a remote incident muzzling the freedom of
press? Perhaps, it isn’t. But, not always does an editor object to an ‘opinion’
expressed by a fellow veteran journalist in an interview, that too in a court
of law. A legitimate disagreement could have been conveyed by the newspaper in
ink on its pages rather than slamming a legal notice demanding 500 crores and
an apology in damages among other conditions.
It’s an hour of reckoning, for us in the media to
question our integrity towards the profession. We cannot afford to be mere
spectators in this clash of editors, in a democracy which associates
sky-rocketing ethics and high moral standards with journalism.
In January this year, while inaugurating a book
‘The Tribune 130 Years: A Witness to History’ written by historian V N Dutta,
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reported Indian Express, asked media to
introspect suggesting a "degree of self-regulation”, identifying
sensationalism, trivialization, prejudiced reporting and corruption as the new
lows in the Indian media.
On the "inevitable highs and lows" in
the media, Singh pointed out that there was "sensationalism, driven by a
desire to sell a story at any cost... there are stories without a clear
understanding of the underlined issues. There is reporting which is prejudiced.
There is trivialisation of important matters. There is corruption. The
prevalence of the practice of 'paid news' exposed recently has come as a shock
to all right-thinking people."
Do we in the media conquer with these tough words
from the Prime Minister who himself has been heading a Government which has
come under severe criticism for corruption? Or, are we too idealistic to
identify the new low we have touched?
Interestingly, Indian Express in its April 22nd
edition ran a story on the expulsion of a member of a minority community
from Team Anna for recording the core committee meeting proceedings without
consent. The story was titled, “Muslim face out: ‘Team Anna biased’”. Didn’t
the headline itself reflect an unethical approach in reportage?
Not many years ago, a little known city reporter
of the Indian Express in a badly drafted e-mail revealed his plan to spread
false rumours against me across media which would result, according to him, in
my credibility going down. At that time as a sane young activist writer, I
forwarded the e-mail to the Indian Express management, which acted on it in a
just manner.
The editor, I was told later, was furious at the
grammatical mistakes in the e-mail apart from its juvenile threatening nature.
Have we come a long way?
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