People's Democracy

MEDIA WATCH

Mudigonda Killings: Why This Inertia?

V Sreenivasa Rao

IT is incomprehensible as to why the national media has not shown much interest in the Mudigonda incident or the land issue which resulted in that incident. Is it because it is a land issue and the people involved in the movement are primarily poor? Or is it because the Left parties are politically leading the movement? Whatever little information was given out on this incident was also not comprehensive. Half truths and unrelated events were peddled. For example, certain television channels had headlines stating “firing took place on violent agitation”.

Going by this, it has to be studied on what basis the media fixes its priorities. During this period itself, news related to Monica Bedi’s release from jail, Sanjay Dutt’s sentencing etc got wide coverage in both the print and electronic media. It is seen that media concentrates on individual issues that are sensational and not on the collective issues of the people. However, the Telugu media adopted a different approach during the same time. Most of them, of course with exceptions, tried their best to bring out the truth.

The little attention that was paid also revolved around the kind of repercussions this would have on UPA-Left relations at the centre and did not concentrate on the main issue behind this incident of firing. It is really surprising that even though the movement for land was going on widely in the entire state of Andhra Pradesh for the past 100 days, it did not attract the national media’s attention. And this is the media which was agog at the Nandigram developments. It churned out so many stories on Nandigram – most of them not highlighting the violent nature of Trinamul-Naxalites campaign there. Actually, there is no similarity between these two incidents. The land struggle and the repression on it had a statewide character in Andhra Pradesh whereas the Nandigram incident was a localised one. It was not even a statewide issue. It is also pertinent to mention here the deafening silence of the so-called grassroots movement leaders like Medha Patkar on Mudigonda killings. Such “personalities” were splashed all over the media during Nandigram.

WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY?

The national media woke up late after the firing incident at Mudigonda. Then some hurriedly sent their reporters to the incident place for gathering information. In the meanwhile they gave the impression that firing occurred because of the violent attack by Left parties activists on the revenue office in Khammam. Most of the TV channels while giving news of firing showed clippings of the attack on a revenue office, which was 20 kms away from Mudigonda. And this was at a time when the Telugu TV channels were telecasting detailed footage of the firing incident, including close-up shots of special police party shooting the agitators with AK-47s. But the effort broadly was to somehow depict the Left parties agitation as violent thus resulting in firing despite the fact that there was absolutely no link between the incident that took place in Khammam revenue office and the police firing in Mudigonda.

Another aspect to be noted is that some newspapers and TV channels tried to portray the incident as a fallout of a political struggle between the CPI(M) and Congress party. It is reprehensible that nobody tried to go into the details of the incident which had the land issue as its basis.

IMPORTANCE OF LAND ISSUE

Many intellectuals, right from Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen to various international academics, have clearly stated that no development would be possible without solving the land issue. Various reports of the United Nations and even of the World Bank have stressed this point. Despite this, our ruling classes are not ready to recognise the importance of the land issue. Media is also not concentrating on this at all. Whenever it is discussed, it is invariably in terms of real estate industry only.

Today there is lot of discussion on the political instability in the country. At the same time the fact of the Left Front government in West Bengal completing 30 consecutive years in power hardly finds the coverage it deserves. Sometimes in abstract it is taken note that human development indicators in Kerala are quite high. There is only one reason for these positive developments in the Left-ruled states and that is the breaking of the feudal chains binding rural India by taking up land reforms. And since land reforms were implemented in Bengal and Kerala, there is political stability and rural development in those states. In its recent report on ''India: Land policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction'' even the World Bank says “Attention to land reform is widely seen as one of the key reasons for the remarkable political stability in West Bengal”. Such a crucial issue has once again been brought to the fore by the Andhra Pradesh land struggle. This struggle has grown to a level that it could even influence all the political parties.

MEDIA AS A FOURTH ESTATE

The way things are going, one may not be wrong to come to a conclusion that the Indian media is also engaged in ‘manufacturing consent’ as Chomsky said about the western media. Market economy views people as consumers only. In today’s world, consumer is supposed to be the king. Poor people lacking purchasing power are not treated as people at all in this system. It seems as though the media also gives importance to market values rather than looking at issues from a social angle. Instead of trying to raise the democratic consciousness of the readers/viewers, they are engaged in diverting their attention to non-issues. Catering to their entertainment is what appears to matter to them the most. Their ostensible aim is to provide information that is required to their audience. The aloofness of the middle classes from politics is also glorified by the media. But they have to recognise one harsh truth –– the growing discontent of the people cannot be kept under wraps for long.

In today’s globalised world, land costs have risen sharply, beyond the affordability of the common people. As per recent studies, India is among the top in terms of increasing land prices. It has become very difficult for a middle class family to own a small house not only in cities but also in towns. The land struggle in Andhra Pradesh has brought this issue to the fore. That is why the middle classes, as never before, are showing keen interest towards this struggle. There is growing aversion among them towards the repressive measures of the government ranging from lathicharges to firing and this has reflected in the solidarity during the state bandh and in the programmes organised post firing. Massive response was seen for the fund collection drive taken up by the Left parties in the state on August 4 in support of the Mudigonda martyrs families and those of the injured people. This struggle has made it clear that the interests of the middle classes are linked with the struggles of the poor people. In the present Congress government’s rule the notoriety of the mafia gangs has increased manifold in the state. Even in big cities like Delhi and Mumbai, the middle classes want to put an end to the mafia activities. This is a big national issue. But it is unfortunate that the media is not at all focussing on these issues.

On the other hand, the growing agrarian distress and its debilitating impact on the rural poor is being highlighted with single minded attention by the recent winner of Magsaysay Award P Sainath through his writings. Why should not other media even attempt to follow this path, even in the name of competition?

DEGRADING VALUES GIVEN PROMINENCE?

The dominant media is however engaged in pushing non-issues on to the agenda of the nation. Earlier freedom fighters who were jailed were given prominent coverage in the media. But today, anti-national elements, criminals with links to terrorist outfits, persons who held illegal weapons are given great publicity. As seen in cinema, it is attempted to project them in real life too as heroes and heroines. The media is anxious to take advantage of the popularity of these people to hide their crimes and turn their popularity into a sympathy wave. Unfortunately, one-fourth of the coverage given to fashion shows, album songs, celebrity weddings etc is also not given to people’s issues. Keeping aside the views of the editors and reporters working in various newspapers and TV channels, a change can be seen in the media priorities as they are mainly dependent on the advertisements of the multinational companies for their revenue and sustenance. The multi national companies are only concerned with selling their products and reaping profits than with the people’s issues and their concerns. Journalists and prominent people in the media should give a serious thought to this issue.

CHANGE THE DIRECTION

It is imperative for the media to change its outlook today. It is again and again reflected in the media discussions that market should have a humanitarian outlook too. Now, this should apply to them also. Advertisements alone should not be a yardstick and media should grow into an instrument to raise people’s consciousness. Only then will it serve its purpose as a Fourth Estate. Otherwise it will remain as commodity for trade.