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"Indian journalists are fixers!" shouted a young lady in the audience during a play I attended in Mumbai last week. She even took the name of one of the country's leading news presenters to demonstrate her point. The play was about to begin, and one of the actors was engaging in casual banter with the audience. "Do you think news is unbiased in our country?" he asked.
Many in the audience guffawed, and the lady spoke up in outrage. At that moment it struck me how much the controversy over leaked phone conversations between some senior Indian journalists and a prominent lobbyist had enraged people. It is, clearly, the Indian media's biggest crisis of credibility.
To cut a long story short, transcripts of the leaked tapes, published in two magazines, reveal some journalists in conversation with a corporate lobbyist, who also owns a public relations company. Nothing wrong with that - journalists routinely speak to a range of people for information. In the leaked tapes, some of the reporters trade vicious gossip. Others "promise" to pass on sensitive political messages and information. Still others give the lobbyist tips on how to organise a scripted media interview with a business baron. The journalists have said in their defence that they have neither received any favours or relayed any information or fixed things as a result of these conversations.
People don't buy it entirely. A recent poll after the tapes were released showed that 86% of people felt let down by journalists. Also, 66% said that the media was protecting its own tribe by not reporting on the tapes adequately. Let's face it - the stock of journalists has hit a new low in India.
After last year's general elections, independent investigations revealed how "paid news" had become commonplace in many Indian papers and news channels - politicians were paying them to publish favourable stories. But the leaked tapes have cast a cloud over the credibility of some of the country's top journalists.
Whether the allegations of fixing and lobbying are true or not, we will possibly never know. But critics believe the tapes point to a bigger crisis in the media. The cosying up to politicians and businessmen is just one issue. Many point to an increasing lack of grace and dignity among many leading journalists, and the crass self-promotion that threatens to turn news into purely entertainment. My friend and editor Kai Friese says the mainstream media in India is "driven by compulsions of grand narcissism and greed".
Night after night, on India's news TV, top journalists, often fawning and self-righteous, conduct interviews and talk shows. It all sounds very noisy and rather contrived. They claim every other story as an exclusive, even when it isn't. Top film critics are paid off by producers to write glowing reviews - the Bollywood publicity machine has effectively muzzled most film criticism in India. Portions of an editor's letter to readers in a top magazine are plagiarised from a leading American online publication, then blamed on jet lag. Another big worry is how the public relations industry has subsumed a lot of journalism, mostly because journalists have been happy to play along.
Possibly, it had to happen in a country where institutions are weak and corruption is rife. It is an environment where the media can wield extraordinary power - and many a time this is used responsibly to expose and explore India's many ills. It is also an environment where journalists can lose their heads easily and suffer from delusions of grandeur because of easy access to politicians and businessmen. The fact that India remains an intensely hierarchical society also reflects the way journalists behave and interact with powerful politicians and businessmen - it is almost never a professional relationship between equals.
Most Indian media owners need a new covenant with their journalists. For too long and far too often, they have been seen to hire journalists to do their dirty work - negotiating with politicians, businessmen, public relations executives and lobbyists. It is an open secret that many editors and senior journalists are part-time reporters - and full-time fixers for their owners.
Critics say that many owners have emasculated editors so much that they have become faceless and supine, only too willing to roll over for the powers that be and facilitate deals. With some 60,000 newspapers and 500 news channels, India has one of the world's most vibrant and competitive media environments. It is now time to take a reality check and ask whether all is well with it.
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I'm Soutik Biswas and I’m the online correspondent for BBC News in India. This blog is my take on life and times in the world’s largest democracy.
Indian media's credibility crisis
Many in the audience guffawed, and the lady spoke up in outrage. At that moment it struck me how much the controversy over leaked phone conversations between some senior Indian journalists and a prominent lobbyist had enraged people. It is, clearly, the Indian media's biggest crisis of credibility.
To cut a long story short, transcripts of the leaked tapes, published in two magazines, reveal some journalists in conversation with a corporate lobbyist, who also owns a public relations company. Nothing wrong with that - journalists routinely speak to a range of people for information. In the leaked tapes, some of the reporters trade vicious gossip. Others "promise" to pass on sensitive political messages and information. Still others give the lobbyist tips on how to organise a scripted media interview with a business baron. The journalists have said in their defence that they have neither received any favours or relayed any information or fixed things as a result of these conversations.
People don't buy it entirely. A recent poll after the tapes were released showed that 86% of people felt let down by journalists. Also, 66% said that the media was protecting its own tribe by not reporting on the tapes adequately. Let's face it - the stock of journalists has hit a new low in India.
After last year's general elections, independent investigations revealed how "paid news" had become commonplace in many Indian papers and news channels - politicians were paying them to publish favourable stories. But the leaked tapes have cast a cloud over the credibility of some of the country's top journalists.
Whether the allegations of fixing and lobbying are true or not, we will possibly never know. But critics believe the tapes point to a bigger crisis in the media. The cosying up to politicians and businessmen is just one issue. Many point to an increasing lack of grace and dignity among many leading journalists, and the crass self-promotion that threatens to turn news into purely entertainment. My friend and editor Kai Friese says the mainstream media in India is "driven by compulsions of grand narcissism and greed".
Night after night, on India's news TV, top journalists, often fawning and self-righteous, conduct interviews and talk shows. It all sounds very noisy and rather contrived. They claim every other story as an exclusive, even when it isn't. Top film critics are paid off by producers to write glowing reviews - the Bollywood publicity machine has effectively muzzled most film criticism in India. Portions of an editor's letter to readers in a top magazine are plagiarised from a leading American online publication, then blamed on jet lag. Another big worry is how the public relations industry has subsumed a lot of journalism, mostly because journalists have been happy to play along.
Possibly, it had to happen in a country where institutions are weak and corruption is rife. It is an environment where the media can wield extraordinary power - and many a time this is used responsibly to expose and explore India's many ills. It is also an environment where journalists can lose their heads easily and suffer from delusions of grandeur because of easy access to politicians and businessmen. The fact that India remains an intensely hierarchical society also reflects the way journalists behave and interact with powerful politicians and businessmen - it is almost never a professional relationship between equals.
Most Indian media owners need a new covenant with their journalists. For too long and far too often, they have been seen to hire journalists to do their dirty work - negotiating with politicians, businessmen, public relations executives and lobbyists. It is an open secret that many editors and senior journalists are part-time reporters - and full-time fixers for their owners.
Critics say that many owners have emasculated editors so much that they have become faceless and supine, only too willing to roll over for the powers that be and facilitate deals. With some 60,000 newspapers and 500 news channels, India has one of the world's most vibrant and competitive media environments. It is now time to take a reality check and ask whether all is well with it.
About this blog
I'm Soutik Biswas and I’m the online correspondent for BBC News in India. This blog is my take on life and times in the world’s largest democracy.Subscribe to Soutik Biswas's India
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Comments
All informed people know that it is a routine practice to offer a bottle of Johnny Walker Whiskey with crisp tandoori chicken in a decent restaurant is enough to get any personal or business advertisement published as "news" in many mainstream newspaper/electronic media in India. Majority (if not all) of Indian news media is sponsored/owned by either political parties or big industries.
It is a great opportunity for Indian democracy that international media (cable/satellite TV) and internet is making rapid inroad to Indian homes. Indians no longer solely rely on what their political masters say or what Indian (purchased) media advertise. Now they are more open to access different views and express their own views in many websites (where server is outside India), media forums like this one.
Sense of justice, morality, ethics and accountability is the thing of past. It will be unfair to told journalists alone on fire.
There is also the issue that there are other tapes with the same lobbyists discussing spectrum allocations with the likes of Ratan Tata/ Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, and influencing the ministers decisions.
One can understand (if not agree) the need to secure business against competition, the corollary to which is that you have to use dirty means if the competition is doing it - but I would have thought that the top corporate houses should be asked to lead the way in cleaning up and not to actively perpetuate it.
Surely Mr Tata can call the PM and ask for a transparent bidding process if he sees something like this occuring ?
I am not requesting them atleast see/read what they are posting/broadcasting because its not about their reputation but for a nation's
You must go back and read your own articles and see how stark your critisim has been on various other issues, hell your last article on a poor man trying to capatilize on his daughter's fame was very harsh, compared to this very soft worded mention of what goes on openly.
I am pretty sure Barkha wont get time to read this, since she is busy defending herself on her OWN channel, what an apathy, the lady who went to kargil than faught mercilessly against Modi, only to be caught in corruption, how bizare how bizare !!!
Sautik, r u from the same creed as Barkha, r u still afraid to talk of the underbelly of Indian Politicians, still scared of talking about TRUTH ? I guess BBC made a mistake in taking you on board....scared arent you?
The best possible solution is to have a truly autonomous, public funded media in line of BBC or PBS/NPR. In that sense, Akashvani and Doordarshan is the answer, provided they are truly autonomous (free from ruling party or Government influence).
Lately I am realizing that corporate handling of many important issues that have severe implications on general public should not be handed over to corporates. Now I am shifting my bank accounts from ICICI, HDFC type private banks to Government banks like SBI. For small and marginal investors SBI is safe (in the long run) and less prone to cheat.
As the BBC bureau chief in South Asia I have had to deal with several cases of people pretending to be offering authentic BBC training courses.
Young and not so young hopefuls cough up their cash to the "man from the BBC" and then he is never seen again.
When dodgy qualifications are not enough, some people offer other incentives for potential employers.
One young woman described herself in the opening line of her CV to my office as being "young and vivacious".
There's no hard evidence yet of the casting couch being wheeled into the nation's newsrooms. But the scourge of the modern Indian TV channel, the warfornews.blogspot.com website, is full of accusations of sexual harassment of young women by more senior staff.
For more, read the whole story in BBC.
We know how British media went over the top during the unfortunate death of Princess Diana.
Aside: What I find interesting about this text editor is that patronise shows up as a spell check error. Has BBC succumbed to American spellings?
http://www.beedictionary.com/definition/patronise
But India has a long way to go, as many impoverished and middle class families rely mainly on TV (and print media) for information. More such media shift to advertisements to generate its revenue, more it will lose its neutrality and unbiased news analysis. On top of that over all level of corruption will put more pressure on few remaining honest journalists and news media managements.
A very easy way to compare qualities, all one needs to do is view such websites of India newspapers and some better known sites such as BBC. The home pages of Indian newspapers are filled with links for Bollywood trash and never ending saga of India cricketers.
If the newspapers and their websites are bad, one should view the various TV channels in India. When this reader visits Calcutta or any such major city in India and wants to view TV, a huge majority of TV channels (and there are so many) are peddling what can be very politely termed as trash.
Unless Indian media becomes credible and mature, it CANNOT be an effective societal change agent - which India badly needs.
It is almost impossible to have a neutral discussion/debate in any Indian news channel or news websites or social forums. The conclusions are fixed long before it actually start, just like Indian "investigations" by any commission or CBI. People who depend on such "expert" comments on TV or radio or Indian news portals/forums get a totally biased/wrong view and so keep on fighting among themselves.
He who owns the media, controls the media. With such powerful platforms they are able to drown out independent media and control public opinion and government policy. There can be no freedom without freedom of the press and there can be no freedom of the press if only a few powerful corporations are allowed to own it.
Check the link http://www.whoownsthenews.com/
BTW one of the recent news which even BBC failed to report was when China and Russia Dump Dollar in Mutual Trade was it no No Big Deal????
Theatrics has long become the main stay of news reporting. A great example for journalism for sale even at lesser places is the Bengali news channel Star Ananda in Calcutta. It is part of the large conglomerate of media companies owned by a powerful media tycoon and are hell bent of being biased in favour of the opposition party in the state of WB.
You have to watch their news cast and understand how they distort news and present it in a way sometimes absolutely different from reality.
Lastly Vir Sanghvi is visiting Spas on TLC, guess all that lobbying is stressful!
If I may also have a PS request at the end, can BBC Panorama do a investigation into the 2G Scam in India...
India being the largest democracy in the world, depends upon its unbiased press for its true meaning and it is very disheartening to see the TV channels reporting the silly stories of crime day and night. A press should report and make its viewers and readers aware of what is going on so that they can make their own viewpoint. But when the stories like this come up, the whole thing becomes a big question mark.
Regarding Ms. Dutt, someone who became a darling of the nation during Kargil war, has clearly lost her objectivity and perhaps succumbed to galore of high life. Due to her apparent 'connections' to politicians she may have become indispensible for NDTV as well.
Perhaps this is the time for pioneers like Mr Roy to be counted and perhaps secure his true legacy and be counted among post independent Indian greats like TN Seshan, K Rao, MS Swaminathan, JP Narayan etc.
The cases of BDutt and V Sanghvi are deplorable. It is self evident what Nehru DynastyTV stands for.
This is a million dollar question today.
The leak of Radia’s tapes has tainted, besides business tycoons and politicians, a few of the hitherto respected Media persons also.
Most of the Politicians are corrupt and dishonest. However the contrary is the case with the Media, Most of the Media persons are honest, upright and fearless and so there is no threat as yet to the foundation of the institution called the “Fourth Estate”.
Ratan Tata, instead of proving that he is above suspicion, has done the mistake of filing a case in SC for preventing further leaks of the tape citing erosion of his privacy. If unfortunately SC bans further leaks of the tape ( though the chances are bleak), many truths may not come out at all, compromising the entire nation’s economic interests. May be he was inspired by NDTV to do it. Please note that it was NDTV which interviewed him on this. Uniting the aggrieved !
While Hindustan Times has been non committal about Vir Sanghvi, NDTV has announced its complete support to whatever Barkha Dutt has done ( and may be doing).
Even if media persons linked to the tape- conversations ultimately are found guilty of power-brokering, (certainly for some consideration! So far it seems like that, unless proven otherwise), these few black spots in the media will not affect the entire institution which stands erect and will stand erect for years to come.
It is very important that the rest of the media should not try to protect the persons under cloud. Let those who are accused, themselves prove to the world that they have had no axe to grind or at least apologise that they indeed went off the right path.
It is really becoming harder to remain optimistic about Indian society day by day.
I agree with Bakhtawar (#29) that 'When character is lost, everything is lost'.
And most unfortunately, we always blame OTHERS but never look at ourselves! Be it media or police or politician or Supreme Court judges. We think we can do anything to serve OUR interest but others must do their duties with full honesty and dedication!!!
How many of us have the guts to oppose corruption, unethical behavior in our own work places and homes? How many of us bring up our own kids with a strong backbone and teach them to oppose corruption? Not many I think. Media, politics, industries, govt babus all are just part of us. They ARE us. We need to change ourselves to expect anything different in India or anywhere else in the world.
Probably less privileged, illiterate people have better sense of ethics and justice compared to "educated" people with "exposure", because they still face punishment for doing something wrong or even without doing any wrong to save someone more powerful. That is a very routine in India, not any exception anymore.
The cumulative result is very frightening, as we can see now. Fast spread of extremism (Naxal or otherwise), widespread breakdown of almost all democratic institutions. Most frightening is people is fast losing trust on almost anything, and are showing higher tendency to take laws into their own hands. How can we blame them?
Thank to social media and world WWW that our voices are not totally stifled. This trend started in 2002, it has achieved a status that most of are unable to fathom completely. Every news and discussion has been subsumed to serve one party and its promoters.
The young Indians have been at the receiving end of a media blitz for last 8years 24 X 7 which has steadily deprived him of his ability to think objectively and independently. This outrage is towards that. Sense of betrayal of having been sold hook line and sinker on what ever was presented by these self proclaimed and appointed conscience keeper of Modern India.
Role of media and politics has been an area of special interest to me. Have blogged consistently rebutting many of the claims that have been made in the print medium by individuals from Electronic and print media.
http://www. ioretradingindia.blogspot.com/
1. Vir Sanghvi's bad karma at play.
2. From The Dizzy Heights of Kargil to Despairing Depths of Oblivion
3. Mirror Mirror on the wall expose this face before all.
4. Face The Nation Sagarika Will You??
Hope this would enlighten the readers a little more about the challenges that we are confronted with.
Fine we know that what are doing about it is what should concern us. ranting is not going to get us anywhere.
The least one can do is condemn it and express views which are positive and compel other to follow suit.
Please read this the link is http://www.ioretradingindia.blogspot.com
"Why would a journalist seek refuge and retribution from the laws of the land?"
Lets join hands and work to cleanse the system. All contributions of ideas small & large will make a difference.
We all will face the consequences. Our previous generations accepted corruption as a part of our lives. And if we do not do anything now, our next generation will face much worse situation after sometime.