Trial by Media – Fact or Fiction? By Nisser Dias nisserdias at gmail.com SMS to 9422437029
The country in the last couple of weeks is rife with Indian Premier League news about financial irregularities, use of black money and money laundering, allegations of rigging of tenders, tax evasion, arm twisting, illegal of diverting of scheduled flights, nepotism, the list can go on and on.
The media, be it the print, television or even internet has rendered a huge service to the masses by making substantial matter regarding it available for public reading, ironically those affected by the exposure are crying hoarse and terming it as trial by the media. I simply fail to understand, how can bringing out facts and figures in the public domain or for the benefit of the general public be termed as media trial. Ironically, if an individual or group of individuals are accused of impropriety or misdemeanor and the media highlights it, it is termed as trial by media, but for those instrumental in exposing the wrongdoings, the media has done a fantastic job or it is responsible journalism. Thus an individual decides whether reporting is trial by media or responsible journalism depending on which side of law he is placed.
The media in India is quite a responsible institution, though on some occasions it tends to slip and sensationalize news items and that is very rare. Let us take the case of the India Premier League (IPL) for example.
Who is responsible for opening the can of worms? It is none other then the top boss of IPL, its commissioner Lalit Modi himself, who in a bid to get back at the former Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for having lost a huge kickback or stake in the Kochi team, violated the confidentiality clause and disclosed the name of Tharoor’s lady love for accepting free or sweat equity in the consortium on tweeter.
Now tweeter too is a form of medium to convey a message or news to that section of the public and this section includes journalists. Thus it but natural for the journalists to provide it to a larger audience, so also it is the duty of the journalists or rather they are duty bound to dig deeper for truth and also bring it into public domain in a bid to root out the rot.
Now, this same man, Lalit Modi whose intentions were not very clean while tweeting about the Kochi consortium is the same man who after the entire controversy boomeranged against him thereby exposing his illegal dealing is now saying it is trial by media.
Before Tharoor was forced was submit his resignation, in an interview with Bharka Dutt, he listed many things that he did as a minister which he complained that the media did not highlight, but the aspect of Sunanda Pushkar involvement with him and the Kochi consortium was given undue coverage, which according to him was trial by media.
Coming closer to home, in the year 2001, for the One Day International cricket match between India and Australia excess tickets were printed and sold allegedly with the knowledge of Goa Cricket Association president Dayanand Narvekar. As the investigation progressed and the local press started to report it on daily basis, GCA members started terming it as trial by media, infact Gomantak Times which was in the forefront then in bring out different aspects of the cricketgate was sidelined to the extent all the accused in the case even refused to speak to it reporters, however no case was ever filed for defamation against the newspapers.
Even in the case of IPL gate, Lalit Modi in a sound byte to some news channel, threatened to file a defamation suit, but is yet to do so. Is this not ample proof that as long as the media is reporting as per the appetite of one section, it is positive journalism otherwise it is trial by the media.
Then let’s take the case of Jessica Lal case, recently her murderer Manu Sharma’s (son of an influential and wealth politician from Haryana) for life imprisonment was upheld by the Supreme Court. However, when he was acquitted by the lower court, it was the media that raised a hue and cry, forcing the government to appeal in the Delhi High Court. At that time, the accused and his famous senior Supreme court advocate Ram Jethmalani were saying he was being tried by the media after being acquitted by the court, but after his conviction and sentence by the High Court which was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court, victim’s sister praised the media for its help in getting justice for her sister after 11 long years.
In the case of the budding tennis player Ruchika Girhotra, the accused Haryana DGP S Rathore was found guilty of molesting her, which subsequently led her to commit suicide. The accused was held guilty and sentenced to six months imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 1000, though the IPC section provides for imprisonment of two years. Worse still accused Rathore was granted bail immediately after his conviction and sentence. In this case too the media upped its ante due to which the CBI filed an appeal against the sentence and also the police were forced to file as many as three FIR against the accused. The disgraced cop was also forced to surrender his President medal.
Again coming closer home, in the case of Goa first contractual killing in Margao over matka rivalry, after all the accused were acquitted of the charges, Gomantak Times had carried a detailed judgement, wherein severe strictures were passed against the investigation officer. This reporting made the same officer quip during his meeting with the journalist that while Session Court has acquitted the accused, Gomantak Times has convicted me.
These are just some examples, where the media an important role in correcting the ills that face the society, but like I said earlier, it all depends on what cap one is wearing lawful or lawless, to make statements like responsible journalism or trial by media. (ENDS)
======================================================= First published in Gomantak Times, Goa - April 29, 2010
