The Indian Express

 Self-Styled Custodian of Journalistic Freedom and Ethics

Subhashini Ali

THE front page of The Indian Express of May 16 displayed prominently a letter purportedly written to “Dear Comrade Prakash” by Ms Jayshree Vyas, managing director of the Sewa Bank. In case, its readers were left in any doubt, the letter was placed under a heading that screamed: “Dear Comrade Prakash, help pension reform and NPS if you wish to help poor in their old age.” The letter itself began with this “Your comrades have threatened to throw the pension bill into the dustbin” and goes on to positively evaluate the NPS (national pension scheme) being mooted by the central government.

The Indian Express certainly leaves nothing to chance. The letter so displayed calls into question the commitment of the CPI(M) to the rights and the welfare of the poor, especially those employed in the unorganised sector, and is a damning indictment of the stand of the party on this crucial question.

The only problem is that Ms Jayshree Vyas never wrote any such letter. In a letter to Prakash Karat, Ms Vyas clarified that she had written no article addressed to him, nor was the content of the article concerning him or the party.

On May 18, Ms Vyas wrote to the editor of The Indian Express saying, “I was shocked to see an article in my name which was different from the one sent to you. My article was converted into a letter addressed to Mr Prakash Karat, whereas the original article had no reference at all to Mr Karat or to any other person. His views in the article have also been distorted.” A copy of this letter was sent to Prakash Karat too.

Subsequently, Ms Vyas sent to Karat a copy of the article she had sent to The Indian Express.  Shockingly, there are serious discrepancies between this and what The Indian Express has carried. Apart from the blatantly dishonest way in which the article has been converted into a letter haranguing Prakash Karat, many additions have been made that seriously alter the tone and the content of the article.

Ms Vyas’s article contains her observations on the proposed pension bill. Although she commits an error when she confuses the EPF with a pension scheme, her concern for the millions of workers who are left out of the ambit of pension plans at the moment is commendable. At no point does she make any reference to the stand of the CPI(M) on this issue, leave alone criticising its stand!

Throwing all journalistic ethics to the winds, The Indian Express on its part has inserted its own opinions into Ms Vyas’s article. For example, the third para of the `letter’ reads, “The people of India do not want a dole from the government. We should turn away from statist “welfare” solutions, which use the government to give out dole….” And ends it with a fiction of its own overheated and rabidly anti-communist imagination, “I, therefore, ask you to support the new pension system and help India build credible and sustainable old age security for its population.”

More than two weeks have passed since Ms Vyas sent her complaint to the editor of The Indian Express. Unfortunately, there has been no response from him and her complaint has not been given any space in the paper – which is the least it could do.

Given the fact that The Indian Express utilises gallons of printer’s ink and reams of newsprint to vilify the CPI(M) day in and day out, its opposition to the party’s stand on the proposed pension legislation is not surprising. What is highly objectionable is the way it has stooped to utilising an article written by a third person, in its campaign against the party, without her permission and in fact by distorting, amending and falsifying her views and intentions.

So much for the much-touted objectivity of a newspaper that prides itself on being the custodian of journalistic ethics and freedom!