In the name of journalism

That much of Indian media has turned rotten is an open secret. Everyone who regularly watches television news or reads newspaper is sick and tired of all the hate, bigotry and intolerance openly peddled by the leading players in the name of journalism, investigative reporting and debate.

Not a day passes without leading English, Hindi and regional media raking up some issue or the other to foment sectarian hatred and strife. If it is not the ‘wicked Pakistanis’ and their mischievous support to Kashmiri militants who are out to undermine the unity and stability of mother India, then it is Indian Muslims who find themselves in the dock for some imagined sin or the other. Summoning some moth-eaten, perpetually ranting hawks from both sides of the border and some obscure, out-of-their-depth maulanas who can barely articulate, let alone hold forth in English, the media holds a kangaroo court every night, whose outcomes are all too well known.

In most mature democracies, the media tends to deal with religious, racial and cultural minorities with utmost sensitivity. After all, the fourth estate, like the judiciary, is supposed to stand with the underdog. But not in India. In the world’s largest democracy, minorities, especially Muslims, are the softest and most tempting punching bag of the media. From portraying the impoverished, voiceless minority that has all but disappeared from all spheres of national activity as the dead weight, if not as a fifth column, to perpetually demonising it as a community of terrorists, criminals and fanatics, the favourite pastime of much of the media is to prey on the Muslims.

On the other hand, it has not just criminally and deliberately failed to confront Hindutva fascism in its many manifestations and their crimes against minorities, it has been openly pushing the right’s agenda. This openly biased and one-sided approach of the media has hardly been a secret. However, little has been done to confront it all these years – neither by the victims nor by toothless media and journalists bodies.

Now an expose by Cobrapost, an online publication known for its undercover investigations, reveals that almost everyone in the Indian media is willing and ready to push a particular agenda and support or malign a particular party for a price.

In an undercover investigation, senior journalist Pushp Sharma presenting himself as a representative of a Hindutva outfit met owners and senior management of more than two dozen media entities, seeking to influence their editorial choices and agenda. He found out that the media has a propensity to shed what should be its editorial objectivity and neutrality to “influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means.” The proposition was simple but diabolical: If we pay you, would you plump for Hindutva in the garb of spiritualism to polarise the electorate and allow the party in power to harvest electoral dividends in the upcoming elections?

As Cobrapost notes, “the lure of lucre proved too irresistible for almost all media houses, be it print, electronic or digital, to say no. To the utter shock of the investigative journalist, most of them not only agreed to do what he asked for but also suggested myriad ways of undertaking a well-orchestrated, overtly communal media campaign on behalf of their prospective big-ticket client.”

In return, he offered to pay them anything between Rs60 million and Rs500 million if they agreed to provide a platform to his media campaign. He outlined his agenda in no uncertain terms. In the initial phase, they were to promote Hindutva through customised religious programmes to create a congenial atmosphere. Then, the campaign would be geared up to mobilise the electorate on communal lines by promoting speeches of Hindutva hardliners. Ahead of the elections, the campaign would target opposition leaders, namely, Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, caricaturing them using less than dignified language, in order to show them in poor light before the electorate. They were to run the campaign on all platforms – print, electronic or digital, including news portals, websites and social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Following is the upshot of what came out of all interactions that Cobrapost had during the course of its investigation. All those approached agreed to promote Hindutva in the garb of spiritualism and religious discourse. They agreed to publish content that had the potential to polarise the electorate along communal lines. They agreed to malign or thrash political rivals of the party in power by posting or publishing defamatory content about them. Many of them were ready to accept cash for the job.

Some of the owners or important functionaries, who the reporter interacted with, confessed that they were either already associated with the RSS or were pro-Hindutva and would thus be happy to support the campaign, forgetting the cardinal principle of journalism: neutrality. Some of them agreed to plant stories in favour of the party in power in their publications. Many of them agreed to develop and carry advertorials especially for this purpose. Almost all agreed to run this campaign on their platforms – print, electronic or digital in its various avatars or social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Some of them offered to completely manage the media to plant stories favouring the party in power in other publications.

In conclusion, Cobrapost notes: “Although one may argue that such violations are hypothetical, given Indian media’s penchant for twisting facts or serving pure rumours as news, especially during civil strife to foment communal sentiments, pleasing political masters of the day and tweaking news in favour of corporate interests, one can imagine how dangerous it is for Indian democracy. What our investigation shows is symptomatic of the malaise that has set deep in the labyrinths of the citadel called Fourth Estate. It also shows that Indian media is on sale, lock, stock and barrel!”

Having studied media and repeatedly written about its increasing and disturbing ‘saffronisation’ and total lack of objectivity and neutrality, one couldn’t agree more. This would be perhaps tolerable if the issue had only been about a negative portrayal of minorities and pushing a certain political line. What many leading voices of the media like Times Now, India Today TV and Republic TV, not to mention hundreds of regional language publications and television networks, have been doing is often purvey hatred, intolerance and even violence based on fake news, rumours and mere prejudice. In their open support for the right and the ruling dispensation, most of them do not observe even the basics of fair and balanced reporting and journalism.

Anchors like Arnab Goswami – he now has a number of imitators – hold court every night, pronouncing imperious judgments, dispensing summarised, swift ‘justice’. It is no coincidence that he and the likes of him are most unforgiving and harshest on the opposition Congress and other secular parties being almost reverential to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP bigwigs.

But it all makes sense considering most of the television channels and newspapers are owned by big corporates, friendly with the governing party. Much of the media, nearly 80 percent of it, is owned by powerful business houses close to the BJP.

This is a disturbing state of affairs, to say the least. But this is not merely a problem of minorities or secular parties. The threat is to the idea of India and Indian democracy itself. For a free, independent and objective press is essential to a healthy democracy. One cannot exist without the other.

The writer is an independent writer and former newspaper editor.

Email: aijaz.syed@hotmail.com