People's Democracy

             Elections and Media Somersaults     

S K Pande

A FLASHBACK. Here are few leaves from the Emergency – for the past, the present and the future bring together some historical parallels. When the era of press censorship ended and a new government took over, this is how the then champion of press freedom, today’s "Iron Man", deputy prime minister and union home minister L K Advani, the first Information and Broadcasting minister after the Emergency, looked at the situation.

He scanned the performance of select journalists and editors. Then, it is said, divided them into three categories: 1) the small band who paid the price for their journalistic courage. 2) the large number, who were not made of the ‘Heroes’ stuff, yet indicated their disapproval of what was happening by keeping a sullen silence, doing minimal formal journalistic duties. 3) the last category was of those, who, when "expected to bend, crawled."

Today, once again these categories are visible, of course, without even the Emergency and under the very stewardship of its great critics who are now in power. Add to it the fact that the then India’s Goebellian information minister V C Shukla is now cosily ensconced in the BJP bandwagon. Add to it, the Emergency "Bulldozer" Jagmohan, now a BJP minister, is already showing flashes of some of his bulldozing capacity!

The only difference this time: they are all in the BJP. Another difference is that then there was an extra-constitutional authority with a youth brigade. Now there is a extra- constitutional authority, the leader of the Sangh ‘Parivar’ in direct control with its numerous brigades monitoring and intervening in the poll in a "do or die battle."

Remember, 54 pictures in 48 pages in the so-called "Vision Document" can lead to an overkill of Atal brand. The emergency too saw an overkill of the deeds and the publicity of the great caucus. And the great leader. The brand collapsed.

Over the years, techniques get mastered and the word now is "media management plus". See how the press has recently been terrorised in TamilNadu, and in Gujarat and more periodically at the central level with the key information ministry portfolio always vested in the BJP. In Tamilnadu, which saw maximum repression on the press, it is an AIADMK government, an ideological ally of the BJP. In Gujarat, it is Modi government that is terrorising the media.

If the Emergency showed how attempts could be made to curb the press through censorship, the past five years experience shows how the same could be attempted through the new art of "media management". It basically comprises three phases. First, cajole and cultivate; Second, threaten, bleed financially in doses, then finally cripple; and the third, strike a deal. All the three factors are clearly at play working hand in hand in the final countdown to Elections 2004.

For each method, there are special brokers whose career graph and status zoom upward with each catch, making them experts in the eyes of ditherers in the race called, 'hop, step and jump'. After all, this is a profession where sufferance is still the badge of our tribe. The profession is facing fresh spasms of jungle law, scribes tied by short contracts, or stagnation and at the end for most no reward other than a wee bit of glamour and exposure. As for the institution of editors, it is being devalued in most cases to doormats or at best, decoration pieces, with proprietors, exceptions notwithstanding, connected with a variety of businesses, if not newspaper chains, in search of still greener pastures.

All this in a new global bazaar, very much vulnerable with key international players on the hunt for media outlets in the air, in print or any medium available. It is in this context that certain questions need to be asked. Whither sting journalism, with all its pitfalls and methods? Where has investigative journalism gone too and what has it been reduced to now? It is indeed time to ponder for the press. Consider the following facts:

The magazine Outlook had a different outlook till its press was raided, and editorial offices searched. From the punchy covers which took on the government to exposes, it is now cooled down.

Tehelka.com did indeed create a tehelka till it was targeted, crippled and bled. It is looking for new ways to survive and some of its rising stars are no more there. One journalist even had a short stint in jail and most of the erstwhile staffers are out.

The only cooperative surviving paper in UP, Janmorcha was on more than one occasion virtually taken over by the UP government. Government receivers virtually took over the paper, which is printed and published from Faizabad, Ayodhya, and which gave fraternal help to all scribes who were covering the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It had consistently exposed the BJP machinations right from that period till date.

A national newspaper with a whopping circulation suddenly in the past two years underwent a building inspection. The top brass first toyed with the idea of defiance but then compromised, which obviously helped.

The government’s own Press Information Bureau (PIB) has seen its former boss on ‘compulsory wait’ without any portfolio in any other department for the cardinal sin of supporting his staff whose grievances were multiplying. All this after each ministry had contributed its mite to show through statistical jugglery a 'Shining India'.

The Central Press Accreditation Commiittee is pending reconstitution. The old committee was packed with RSS Pracharaks nominated not from any press body or association and with absolutely no record of serving the profession except being in the good books of the ruling political bosses.

Prasar Bharati, pledged to autonomy, is suffering from Pracharak pangs in the name of professionalisation. Doordarshan poses to turn professional but, violating the seniority priniciple and ignoring home talent, appoints outsiders at astronomical fees, whose only qualification seems to be proficiency in blowing the ruling outfit’s trumpet. How autonomous is autonomy? In private channels too, government prompted appointments are on the increase for services rendered. The art of managing serials, talk shows, and getting into a regular show mode means having the right contacts, the right theme and an agreeable formula. Small wonder that the Censor Board has some new stars, cleared by the Information and Broadcasting ministry.

DAVP gave an ad boom to the press to make Vajpayee government shine. It was one of the largest government propaganda in recent times. More and more people are questioning the timing of 'India Shining' campaign for which all departments of the I&B ministry were deployed and most of the media were obliged with one of the largest advertisement blitzkriegs.

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication, which once enjoyed the reputation of being one of the foremost institutions in the sector drawing the best talent, teachers as well as students, not only from within the country but abroad, has descended to becoming a teachers training ground for RSS pracaharaks and for media cultivation. It is packed with journalist ‘teachers’ known to be close to associations and bodies of the Sangh Parivar. It is a matter of record that some of the faculty members are accompanying the BJP leaders in election campaigns and interviewing them which are being published, apart from sympathetic newspapers, in RSS organs.

The Pioneer, which made its debut in Delhi, is a shining star under the present dispensation. But guess what is down below. This was a building called Link House. It had a magazine called Link and a paper called Patriot. All locked up. Some workers are dying , and some are already dead. Dues not available, PF gone with the wind. The union lives on hope, some negotiations off and on, no result. A decade of waiting. This was the paper founded by veteran freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali, a heroine of the 1942 Quit India movement. Editors there were associated with India’s freedom struggle. In contrast, The Pioneer, Delhi now flush with government funds and patronage is thriving. It has now made its entry in Bhopal and has acquired prime land in Delhi. It is known to be extra chummy with the powers that be.

The Press Council of India is waiting reconstitution. For quite some time it is functioning with other government departments in a new building. It now has a honourable secretary who wittingly or unwittingly as metropolitan magistrate prolonged the agony of a hard working Kashmiri journalist Iftekar Gilaani, who thought he was a good investigative journalist, till he found himself in Tihar jail with criminals and non criminals. He was publicised to possess official secrets - all of which were available on the internet. Is it just a coincidence that a Wage Board for journalists is rejected by the labour minister while for another industry it is under active consideration. The ground was prepared by the National Labour Commision, but the labour minister buried it after a meeting with press barons. In the past five years the number of permanent journalists in the country has dropped. Stringers have increased and those on contract doubled.

TV outlets keep coming and going, many increasingly dependent on the government before they can shine. An occasional appointment for services rendered, a bit of quid pro quo are known to take place. A TV channel like NDTV in particular had to face the Modi wrath while covering the Gujarat assembly polls. So did some others. On the other end, Star TV after the government’s mock fight is well established in India and its boss Murdoch has even reportedly struck a deal with Prasar Bharati. The thundering India Media Group which thundered about Murdochs entry has been silenced. The Dainik Jagran a close supporter of this government is being specially favoured. Doordarshan is already getting the brand name of its master’s voice. Super media management is the name of the game. Yet in the past few days, pollsters, psephologists and even self-appointed election pundits, including the mumbo-jumbo of poll astrologers, have started hunting for alibi’s just in case their world goes topsy-turvy. Who says rats do not desert a sinking ship?