TIME TO ACT

Media Democratisation Not Yet In Sight

S K Pande

DOES the newly elected UPA government want a secular media – a scientific temper oriented media, a pluralistic media, in which a spirit of tolerance prevails? Or is it to be a totally Murdochian global media peddling the ‘sweet’ elite life of a select few?  Or worse, does it want to settle for continuum of a servile media, a government drum-beating ‘feel good’ media, which the previous NDA government strived for? Indeed, the BJP-led government marked out the media as an important sector for its ‘Operation Saffron Infiltration’, which started getting spotlighted in the last days of the NDA rule. But more and more facts are coming to light now.

Prasar Bharati has bore the brunt of this infiltration, right from the top to bottom. Its ramifications can be felt from the Prasar Bharati Board to the Censor Boards, the DD channels, in the I&B ministry and even among information service cadres. As an official conceded “even the Satyajit Ray Film Society has been saffronised”. It seems that the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) from its earlier goal of being a leading training centre has now turned into an organisation for and by the saffron forces. Many students, including those from abroad, heaved a sigh of relief at the election outcome. They suffered pangs of victimisation and saw the entry of lecturers and what not spreading saffron messages, and also witnessed a new type of baithaks in the campus. It is believed that some motions of detoxification have just begun. 

THE CASE OF DOORDARSHAN

The new Information and Broadcasting minister, S Jaipal Reddy, who is known for his experience in running the ministry, has stated on record that the ministry is committed to Prasar Bharati’s autonomy. This is a welcome statement. But at the same time the new Congress-led government has to face the facts. There is discontent in the Doordarshan and a feeling is growing that no remedial measures have taken place to undo the gross violation of norms. In fact, sycophants of the past regime are posing as do-gooders of the present regime and what has been done to history by way of rewriting and to education through saffronisation by the previous government was, specially in its last days, implemented in the media too. The biggest example of total partisanship is available in what Prasar Bharati has done in Doordarshan.

During the BJP-led NDA regime, with all Information and Broadcasting ministers belonging to the BJP – from Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley to Ravi  Shankar Prasad – there were two worlds for the staff of official broadcasting media. One, the sellers of the government propaganda for whom sky was the limit salary-wise and status-wise, and the other, totally made to feel that sufferance is the badge of the scribe, except for those who perfectly fall in line or show that they have tempered down to servility. In fact, in the last days of the NDA government it was saffron at the top and below were recruited a panel of softer saffron variety. What had been tried in the emergency was tried out more subtly and without the cover. In terms of numbers to brighten up DD the last few months of the NDA BJP rule saw an assortment of around 55 crusaders for election coverage.

What has been done to the media, be it in the TV and Radio, had a trickle-down effect on the print media too.

OPERATION  ELECTION 2004

Consider the following facts: To begin with, a peep into “autonomous” DD in the time of Elections 2004. Three cheers for “autonomous” Prasar Bharati and its branch Doordarshan. Call it operation destabilisation, operation saffronisation chapter one or what you want. Three star musketeers gatecrashed into DD, like loyal knights, in defence of the government. Besides whopping salaries, they got full editorial control, thanks to their BJP contacts. They defected from the private Aajtak TV channel, where they were properly groomed. The press today has become an industry where jungle law prevails but in a DD which had never seen such violations of rules and procedures, it was a shock for many. With the group of three spring chicken controllers of various programmes on whopping salaries of around a lakh each (with the highest drawing Rs 1.25 lakh per month), a crack ‘Support BJP’ team practically took over DD for elections. With them came a merry band with salaries of over Rs 80,000 per month without advertisement, audition, written test interview, leave alone the reservation policy followed. They were the blue-eyed boys to oversee new forms of NDA coverage.

This is how the election coverage was assigned and meticulously planned. The assignment editor, known for his top political links, was the master planner and he ensured a dedicated coverage team for the BJP-led NDA. Insiders admit that Congress and Left leaders were blacked out or marginalised. A special team ensured live coverage of the then deputy prime minister L K Advani’s entire Bharat Uday Yatra. It was doubly ensured that Sonia Gandhi, in particular, and Rahul, Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders were totally marginalised in terms of coverage. As for the Left, it was almost totally left out, while Laloo Yadav and others were given fleeting coverage.

An Additional DG of DD was informed of the election code of conduct of the EC regarding keeping a balance between political parties. This was done in a meeting of editors. It is learnt that he point-blank refused to accept saying it is ultimately his responsibility alone and therefore his instructions have to be followed. Imagine journalists on the job being told that any party in power always manipulated the official media therefore blanket coverage of BJP, RSS and NDA was justified. The matter even reached the Election Commission, it is learnt.

The consulting editor had a key role in ‘Operation Election 2004’. The newsroom had no control over the supremo’s activities. In fact, he had a separate team totally under his command to prepare the constituency profile, candidate profile and the special effects for each bulletin. All this was designed to help the campaign of mainly select BJP candidates, their allies and chums in the fray.

Small wonder that alienation had crept in at the high levels of DD. Senior and veteran news editors were totally bypassed. In fact, on occasions what was hammered home was the fact that no Congress/Left leaders would be tolerated beyond a certain point and there were reports from certain regions that for regional news there was the sudden daily basis recruitment for select coverage but with specific instructions to ensure that they toed the line of the assignment editor. And so, DD had a virtual flood of appointments with designations like consulting editor, assignment editor, output editor, anchor, copy editor, deputy associate assignment editor, anchor-cum stylist, special correspondent, packaging coordinator, programming coordinator, assignment assistant, packaging assistant and graphics assistant. These designations were never heard of before, according to insiders in the DD. Furthermore, some opine that even transfers had taken place of senior personnel on suspicion of leakages of information pertaining to election coverage. “We saw one phase of a crawling media in the Emergency, we saw another facet this time of how elections should be covered” was an apt comment made by a DD source.

What is the new regime like and what are the changes? Here are samples of the replies we got from some DD contacts. The status quo has been maintained. Some new appointees have totally changed colour for the benefit of the new rulers with fresh programmes of interviews with them. One said in anger, “the role of Indian Information Service has been eroded and the so called code of ethics that we tried to follow has been given the go by in the past six months. We are yet to see this damage being undone”.

About the print media much has been written earlier. Some facts: the editor of Tehelka, Tarun Tejpal, and his key financiers were bled to virtual bankruptcy. Kashmiri investigative journalist, Iftekar Gilani, was jailed for possessing “official secrets” that were available freely on the net and later alleged to be in possession of pornographic material. Ironically, shortly after his release a key person who helped in prolonging his agony was given a peaceful posting in the Press Council of India.

OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT

Among other things is what the report of the International Federation of Journalists has to say on the subject. “On July 27, 2003, a group of journalists from the now defunct online news agency Tehelka  were charged under the draconian and archaic Official Secrets Act, 1923, for possessing “secret documents” deemed harmful to the State. The charges stemmed from a story that ran on the website on October 9, 2000. India’s home ministry claimed that the story contained information from a secret government file. That was not the first time Indian officials had targeted Tehelka.  In 2001, the site made headlines when it obtained a video recording of senior politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accepting bribes.  Officials had their revenge in 2002, when two journalists from the site were arrested but later released on bail”. The victimisation of Tehelka and First Global outside the commission is shocking story in itself. This is what Tejpal raised through a letter to the new prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on June 15, 2004.  “Every investigative arm of the government – CBI, SEBT, Income Tax, Enforcement Directorate, etc – has filed dozens of baseless cases against us, and continuous to harass us.  Three and a half years of this intense scrutiny has thrown up absolutely nothing against us – precisely because there is nothing to throw up.”

LEGISLATIVE PREVILEGE

In what was clearly an attack on freedom of speech and democracy, the speaker of the Tamilnadu assembly on November 7, 2003, passed a resolution ordering the arrest and imprisonment for 15 days of six journalists, including a publisher, for allegedly lowering the prestige of the Legislature. The speaker issued warrants for the arrest of The Hindu editor, N Ravi, executive editor, Malini Parthasarathy, publisher, N Rangarajan, chief of bureau V Jayanth, and special correspondent, Radha Venkatesan. The editorial was based on an article written by Jayanth and Venkatesan that was critical of a speech given by chief minister Jayalalitha. A warrant was also issued for S Selvam, the editor of the  Murasoli, a newspaper owned by the Dravida Munnata Kazhagan (DMK), the state’s main opposition party, for publishing the translated version of the editorial which appeared in The Hindu.  The assembly press passes of all the reporters involved were suspended for 15 days. In Maharashtra, Nikhil Wagle, editor of Mahanagar, a Marathi eveninger, had to go to jail twice. And there were other cases in Kashmir too. The cases of other Tamilnadu papers are there too though not spotlighted widely. All these underscore the importance of codifying the privileges of legislature and media without delay.

ENTER MURDOCH

Finally, it is a matter of record that on January 2, 2004  the Vajpayee government gave permission to Media Content and Communication Services (MCCS) to uplink its own satellite news channel Star News from India. Ananda Bazaar Patrika group (ABP) owner Aveek Sarkar now holds 74 per cent equity in MCCS, with Rupert Murdoch holding the remaining 26 per cent. This green signal came after months of battle over controlling the skies. The March 2003 cabinet decision to tighten the restrictions on foreign access to news channels had temporarily halted the group’s plans But it was also a way out for the likes of Murdoch. The print media has also seen the entry of foreign media through a variety of subterfuges. Recently, the International Herald Tribune (IHT) made a backdoor entry into India through The Asian Age. Its India edition began printing from Hyderabad flouting all existing rules/guidelines of Government of India. This is an issue which is raising serious concerns about the exact deal and its timing, which allowed such a thing to happen. In total contrast, the small and medium newspapers have been crushed. Contract labour is having a boom time and journalists at the lower rung are just about living.

Isn’t it high time the new government begins on a clean slate by appointing a Media Commission to go into the entire gamut of issues concerning media, including the deplorable pay scales of majority scribes? It is a tragedy that most of the newspapers connected with the freedom struggle are either gone or collapsing. For the small and medium language newspapers, why should there not be a Newspaper Development Corporation? This commission can look into ways of correcting the imbalances in terms of government ad spend to such newspapers. The new government should also take note of the report released recently on “The Status of Women Journalists in India”. The report points out to the deplorable working conditions of women journalists in certain areas.

POSTSCRIPT

For Nirvana and escape  to “transcendental meditation” in the past five years, there has indeed been a spurt of spiritual channels. In fact, there is a boom in religious channels offering what one magazine recently called “Gods own episodes”, religious entertainment, astrology and spiritual tourism by channels like Aaastha and Jagran of Zee TV. In the fifties the Press commission spoke of media promoting scientific temper in the society. Today astrological predictions, capped at times with a psephological touch, and serials with messages of superstition are the staple diet of much media, particularly of the electronic variety.