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It is NOT ethical of Indian Media to lobby


(To my lovely followers: this is a subject other than writing, but an issue in my country I’m into right now. Regular programming to continue after this. Thanks for your understanding.)

In response to this post by Professor Arindam Chaudhuri, I posted a comment, which I would like to put up as a brief post, in direct response to his views that It’s totally ethical of (Indian) media houses and journalists to lobby:

@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } It is true that Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi have been targeted, but in my opinion not unfairly so. Granted, they should not be the ONLY journalists to be targeted, nor should the political/ corporate scams be forgotten in the hoopla around the media scandal.
Lobbying could be made legal in India, and whether it should be is debatable, but it is not yet so.

Further, India is not the US, UK or Malaysia, so using their contexts to clarify a point about the Indian situation is invalid.
Journalists should confess to their bias, if they have one, like we have seen Swapan Dasgupta do, because at least then the viewer knows where the opinions are coming from. If journalists publicly confess to supporting a corporate or a politician and are able to provide a moral justification, that is another story.
It is not the story under discussion.

India is an emerging economy, and as such I think it is great that we are addressing the politics-corporate-media nexus at this juncture.
The MSM has done a great job in uncovering scams this year, which unfortunately for India have been too numerous ever since its independence. The scale of scams now is bigger, which is why it is crucial that the media uncovers them, and acts as the Watchdog, which, after all, is its role. No point in being a Lapdog instead and practicing Access Journalism, is there?
The media needs to be above suspicion, and nothing but ethical in a country where corrupt politicians and profit-hungry corporate houses are running rampant. Only then can MSM take the moral high ground.
Twitter may not be organized media, and a lot of the voices may be coming from personal/political agenda.

But Indian Twitterati has succeeded where Indian MSM has failed, it has cried foul and brought attention to wrongdoing, no matter by how revered a public figure, and forced the MSM to do some self-introspection.

You cannot deny that the introspection and debate at the Editor’s guild today was a healthy thing for the Indian media or the Indian people.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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8 Comments

  • Air says:

    I loved your retort to Arindham Chaudhary on his blog. It's such a great opportunity to give that guy a piece of one's mind.

    Cudos!

  • Anonymous says:

    Damyanti

    Great post.. I think media in India is/was always 'corrupt' if you get chance to reas Mitrikhyn archives (part-1, 2) sold in book stores, it would be shocking to note that how journos since 60s were sold onto a particular ideology and using newspapers to manipulate people opinions. Many of editors were on direct pay roll of KGB for this purpose.

    Today BDutt, Vir are successor to them!

    Ash

  • Kumar says:

    Hi Damayanti,
    Let me first correct the example set by Chowdry.

    MSNBC political views are well known (They support Democrats)

    FOX News (Which has Tie up with NDTV) was openly political for Republicans

    The difference between Indian Media and US Media is that our media did not identify itself with any party "openly".

    Saying this, I totally agree with you on this discussion

  • Mr.Voltege from Twitter says:

    Arindham Chaudhari lobbying for Barkha who was lobbying for Radia who was lobbying for Raja who was….

    Its a curious chain of reaction, all out of #errorofjudgement!

  • Hi,

    Media has a well defined role,it is the so called 4th pillar of a democracy. The interface between the Govt and the people.

    Media by nature when anti establishment has served the nation better. Conversely if political affiliations are disclosed it leads to minimum debate with viewer.

    Lobbying by media is unacceptable to suggest such a role is then confirming what we have been saying all along media in India is nothing short PR offices.

    The current outrage is on account of ostensible neutrality claimed,when facts clearly point to deep political affiliations. Couriers carry messages and not individuals from media.

    I have been closely observing role of media for last 8years and am dismayed at what was playing out. There is hope now that we will not be subjected to anymore abuse than what we have suffered at the hands of MSM.

    Young Indians are safe their ability of independent objective thinking has not been impaired beyond redemption.

    visit http://www.ioretradingindia.blogspot.com/ for reading more on this subject.

  • I agree with you completely on this . It is however regrettable that due to capitalism infiltrating even our education system the young people of today do not realize the full horror of the events that is the most horrific thing. By the way you need not have mentioned the name of that nonentity. He urgently needs to spend a fortune on his face.

  • First off, I don't agree with the fact that a self-declared 'management guru' like Arindam Choudhary has any more say in what the media should or should not be permitted to do vis-a-vis a lay person.

    That being said, the larger issue that seems to be emerging from this scandal is whether or not we, as a society are willing to accept that lobbyists are an integral part of the corporate-media microcosm. Clearly, each of these entities is dependent on the other. Given this truth – a more productive discussion would entail laying down guidelines on how such information should be made public for everyone to draw their own conclusions from.

    IMHO, media should concern itself with putting the facts out and not creating opinions – it is for the viewers to apply their mind and opine on any particular piece of news 🙂

  • Vasu says:

    Hi Damayanti,
    I am with you on why the right example needs to be set.

    Your view resonate with mine and you have expressed it in a nice, concise manner.

    I have written a detailed blog providing some historical context to these people, looking at other players involed who have bigger roles, and the way forward!

    Thanks.
    Vasu (Awittytwit on Twitter)
    http://vasusworld.wordpress.com