http://www.mauritiustimes.com/091107atul.htm
Letter from New Delhi Changing Face of Indian Journalism -- Atul Dev In September a sting operation aired over a prominent TV channel showed a schoolgirl who claimed that she was persuaded by her teacher to indulge in prostitution. The follow-up telecast on the TV news channels of this damaging clip created chaos in Old Delhi's Daryaganj and nearby areas. The public badly roughed up the teacher, who was teaching mathematics at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Delhi. Later the local police arrested her. Subsequently, she was sacked from her job. Teacher Uma Khurana was humiliated in public, attacked by a vicious mob, fired from her job, and spent ten days in jail, but last week, the trial court discharged her. The trial court also let off the private TV channel that aired the sting. Both these orders completely reversed the earlier perceived culpability. Further investigations into the episode have shocked the police, public and media in the country. The unedited version of the tapes revealed that Uma Khurana had been framed and there was hardly any truth in the story. The entire drama was conducted by Prakash Singh, an India Live TV Channel reporter, and Rashmi Singh, who writes for a Hindi newspaper. She posed as the schoolgirl in the sting operation. After going deep into the matter, the police found that the entire sting operation was conducted on behalf of a businessman who had personal animosity towards Khurana. He had hired Prakash Singh, who took the help of Rashmi to frame Uma Khurana. Both Prakash and Rashmi have since been arrested and formally charged. Investigations into the entire sting operation clearly showed that Uma Khurana had been framed and the allegations made against her were not true. The entire episode has put a question mark over the honesty and integrity of the media in India. Of late the integrity and role of the media has been questioned in several similar such cases. Ever since the concept of sting operations came into limelight, some journalists have been trying to exploit and manipulate the truth in order to gain personal notoriety and, perhaps, even cash. The question is – are these isolated cases or are they reflecting the changing face of journalism in India? My response to this question is to positively affirm that the face of journalism in India is changing! Years ago we did come across rare cases of investigative journalism and the readers admired the journalists for their painstaking efforts in fretting out information and thus revealing the truth. Names like Arun Shourie became household names for an entire generation of readers when he dug out the misdeeds of the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, eventually leading to his ouster. I still recall the headlines in the tabloid 'Blitz' in the early 60's; the Editor Rusi Karanjia named Dharam Yash Dev as India's most investigative journalist for his exposure of the Jayanti Teja financial scam, the Shastri murder investigation and a car theft case in which Sanjay Gandhi was allegedly involved. Unfortunately, the present generation of scribes do not spend too much time in investigations; instead they have taken the attitude of being always right and dare anyone contradict them. Today journalists act as if they are the investigators, the prosecutors and the judges, all rolled into one! It will be noted that these sting operations are being carried out by the electronic media for their news channels. In what seems to be the call of the day, sting operations have become a source for higher Television Rating Points (TRPs) more than the actual reason for which they were conducted in the first place. The channels may defend their stand under the guise of investigative journalism, but who can explain the complete loss of credibility the media is suffering from with sting after sting. Sting operations first became popular when Internet news magazine Tehelka.com carried out an expose showing several prominent politicians accepting bribes from a decoy in early 2000. This sting was followed by another sting operation to trap actors Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma. The nation went into a tizzy when the sting was aired on news channels, depicting the two, leeringly staring at and suggesting a casting couch to a young aspiring starlet. Interestingly, Tehelka was an Internet magazine but the expose was aired on a TV Channel! All these stings have raised some ethical questions. Would a sting qualify as investigative journalism when, firstly, there was no obvious relevance of the sting to the public? Secondly, how fair is a sting when there is clear ensnarement? The two female journalists in both the cases trapped the two actors into propositioning them. It is my very considered opinion that these two stings were motivated by attempts to sensationalize news and raise TRPs rather than highlight legitimate public interest issues. Tehelka has overnight become a known name but not many may be reading it on the Internet and even less in its printed avatar! The business climate affecting journalism has radically changed over the years. Mergers between entertainment companies and news organizations have contributed to what many journalists see as an erosion of seriousness in the news media. And as news organizations take measures to remain competitive and profitable, there are concerns among journalists that media barons will abandon their commitments to ethics of journalism. As the industry changes, the skills that the new generation of journalism professionals will need are changing as well. As a result, many journalists and journalism educators are feeling the pressure to learn and teach how, for example, to incorporate audio and video into online news reports. A large part of any journalistic course is now being devoted to technology. The exponential increase in TV channels, radio channels and Internet news sites has greatly contributed to the change in the very image of the journalist. Gone are the old journalists carrying a notebook and pencil. Today's journalist records on electronic equipment what he sees or hears. The country's changing demographic landscape is also fueling a change in consumer demands. The viewer or reader is interested in masala news. The ownership of media houses as independent business entities is putting pressure on management to ensure profits by increased TRPs or readership figures. Today journalism is passing through the age of instant information. Where is the time for the journalist to follow the principles and teachings of the best practices taught in journalism schools such as: integrity, carefulness, open-mindedness, determination, corroboration, etc. With the rapid change in the availability of technology to transmit news instantly, speed gives way to accuracy; the sensational gives way to mundane; direct visuals replace written reports; instant 'war movies' have invaded our drawing rooms; and, the advertising community is laughing their way to the bank. New media like the Internet has virtually revolutionized the time concept with instant capability of worldwide distribution on real time basis with no limitations of space like the print media or even the electronic media. In fact the Internet has combined the best of both worlds and provided journalists added opportunities. Recall the time when we could barely carry a few Letters to the Editor. Today 'blogs' on the Internet have made it possible for every one to express their views on every possible subject under the sun. Today we need to learn skills covering developments in news production and practice (digital newsrooms; multi-skills), newer and alternative forms of production and programming (24-hour news/current affairs; online/alternative journalism) and source strategies and communicative action (corporate PR; political spin). Public Relations practitioners have added a new dimension to the availability of news and features from the corporate world. Virtually every media office is flooded with press releases from anyone who has something to tell the world, often simply to gain some publicity, without really having to pay for it, as would be necessary in advertising. In the past decade, a new phenomenon called 24-hour news coverage infiltrated our airwaves and created competition between networks to get the best ratings for news coverage. While the Americans had their Gulf War that brought the Scud missiles right into our living rooms, we had our Kargil war that brought the booming guns right onto our laps. Note how reporting has turned into presenting! Today, there are an increasing number of stories of great consequence whose complexity is often beyond the competence of many of the reporters assigned to cover them. By and large, the people now running major news operations don't want to take the time or pay the money that it would take to field suitable reporters. The media has also migrated towards an unhealthy obsession with celebrities. The media first creates these celebrities and later the same media takes an obsessive interest in them. One thing is certain; it will be many years before we know how much of an impact the changing tide of journalism will have on generations to come. (Atul Dev is a New Delhi based senior freelance journalist. 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