Slow march of the F-Estate

Media Watch
The Indian media has taken top marks for being in the news. For good or bad, news makers have themselves become news. Drawing flak from China Wen Jiabao to Liz Hurley to Sheila Dikshit or getting praise certificate from ‘hi-tech terrorist’ Australian man named Julian Paul Assange, the Indian media has seen it all this year.
The media takes the lead in reporting as a matter of right but when does it cross the thin line, who cares. The rape of news happen everyday, each hour but in the milieu to break another story, all the norms are flouted and sensitivities ignored with apparent disgust of the audience. Who cares!
When Liz Hurley accuses of the media of causing her split with her husband, Arun Nayar, its not even taken with a pinch of salt. After all she is just a beautiful woman who is an actress, and celebrities like her are more than eager to get in the P3 circuit. Just because she is good text to write, does it give the press the liberty right to report who she is sleeping around with. Liz vent her anger at having been caught by the press with spinner Sharne Warne and the Indian media was the suitable punching bag. But no one is really bothered and her pain, if any, may not even be discussed in seminars.
There is another case in point. When one may have a genuine grouse, those faking an orgasm get away with joyous moments of glory. Delhi Chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who always has a view point of Delhiites way of life, was critical of the media for creating the onion crisis in the country. She was just being outright dense if she really believed so. Of course, Dikshit (spelt this way and not the interesting way some foreigners pronounce it) perhaps is right in her own way. The countrymen have been paying exorbitant amounts for veggies, ration, sugar, petrol, air fare… and making bigger holes in their pockets for over two years. But the morale of the story is that we should have looked at the timing. It was again, too late in the day.
Jonny has been walking late to school. What should have got the attention of media mongers was the Chinese criticism of Indian media. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao pointed fingers at the freedom of Indian media for sensationalising the border dispute between India and China. "In recent years, there has never been a single shot fired... in border areas between us. However, the boundary question has been repeatedly sensationalised by media," he said. Chinese envoy to India, Zhang Yan, thought of a training session. He advocated that both countries should provide “correct guidance to the public opinion and avoid war of words”. They are right. Indian media has a Pakistan bias but China is left off the hook for its border incursions and claims on Arunchal Pradesh. The media doesn’t put China and Pakistan on the same page. Neither does the NSA, who was in sync with the Chinese. NSA Shiv Shankar Menon condemned the shrill and over excitable commentary on the Delhi-Beijing relationship. Perhaps, India would like to keep decibels on the border on the lower side. But media should continue to highlight with the regional imbalance.
But what takes the cake is media reporting of David Hadley. For three months, the media was reporting that National Investigation Agency (NIA) would get access to Pak-American terrorist. After a team got to talk to Hadley in Chicago, the press for five months regularly updated the readers and viewers whereall Hadley did recce, which all places on the target and et al. The planted stories for almost the entire year were unpalatable to digest.
However, lone good news is riddled with unpleasant vibes. The media exposed the rampant corruption in Commonwealth Games and kudos for that. Even though one wonders why the media took so long to expose the racket but it was more than welcome as the Fourth Estate was one step ahead in fulfilling its basic responsibility. Now IOC chairman Suresh Kalmadi is exposed, leading to the Central Bureau of Investigation knocking at his doors in Delhi and Pune. Skeptical as it may sound, given the track record of the tracking agency – the CBI – conviction, if any, will be of officials like T S Darbari or Sanjay Mohindroo. The media recently highlighted that the officials face death threats inside the Tihar jail. A systematic move is already in place to eliminate the pawns and files have reportedly gone missing. How the media would respond to the cover up is to be seen.
The good work stops here. Interestingly, while we are cheering the media for exposing the CWG loot, check out the fact that how the CWG started getting bad press. Thanks to the Time of India. The media conglomerate apparently got miffed with Suresh Kalmadi for not accepting the company’s request for making the TOI the official CWG media partner. After Kalmadi rejected the TOI letter, it started the onslaught of exposes. ‘When you can’t beat them, join them’. Other fence sitters, waiting for the CWG to losen its purse string, joined the race reluctantly.
This slackness was at the fore in the 2G scam. The Pioneer has been carrying anti-Raja stories for over a year. It was only this year that the lid was blown off the spectrum scam involving politicians, bureaucrats and the big names of journalism – Bharka Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, Rajdeep Sardasi…
The Hindustan Times removed Sanghvi’s column albeit a little too late after his name figured in the infamous Nira Radia tapes. But NDTV has had no such luck. So have others also not got the boot for their acts of misjudgments and silly entanglements. Bharka however went on prime time to absolve herself from the murky dealings, liaisoning with Congress leaders for Cabinet berths to DMK leaders and in the process became the centre of national ridicule. When media seeks blood, its wonderful to observe how the big sharks cover their butts and roam with their heads held high.
The media has so far not written about where the money could have gone or who would have got how much. Considering that Bofors money has still not been recovered, it is doubtful that part of Rs 1,76,000 crore plus Rs 70,000 crore will be recovered anytime in the history of the nation. Is the money in Swiss Banks or Sicilian banks, no one in the public will ever know. But will the media take it up, is the million dollar question.