The TRP atyachaar: Media should refrain from denigrating CWG

THE REPORTING on the Commonwealth Games 2010 has shocked serious viewers. The naked display of brute power by sections of the media has been most wantonly on show during the last few weeks and some from both the print and the electronic media are equally culpable.

It must be said to the credit of many that they have not sacrificed objectivity, and have maintained the tenure of constructive and objective criticism. These sober papers and channels have not allowed themselves to be swayed by the vitriolic attacks and acerbic denigration of the paparazzi variety.

Unfortunately and understandably, in their quest for target rating points (TRP) those with larger circulation have been more complicit and ironically have adopted a holier than thou position. All this is being done most hypocritically in the name of freedom of expression and showing how independent they are.

If the country gets damned in the process, so be it. They have become a power unto themselves with no accountability or concern for miscarriage of justice – that is what they seem to be dispensing albeit without the support or collaboration of any other agency unlike the judicial or administrative procedure where processes move through inquiry, defense, prosecution, witnesses etc – as every thing is decided by one or two individuals representing a newspaper/media house.

Now, we only have what can be called Tughlaki firman, which can be challenged at the peril of your life. This is nothing but yellow journalism, sullying the image of the country before the world and surely corrupting the young minds by spreading misinformation. Enter the real bullies; unfortunately both the political and bureaucratic classes have shown sheer helplessness to deal with this onslaught because of their weak grounds. The unhindered and easy access always provided to these knowledge and information elite by the power elite is instructive as it should be clear that riding the tiger has its own hazards.

It will be emphasising the obvious to say that our preparation for the games has faltered very badly and plagued by time-overruns, cost escalation, shoddiness of work and allegations of corruption. It is very unfortunate that the situation has come to this pass.

But the system should take care of the allegations in due course – and if it does not take, heavens would not fall – after all how many corruption cases have been decided in our country ending in conviction, perhaps none. But that is beside the point. There are two issues to ponder.

Firstly, why didn’t the media start highlighting these failures in 2009, a year before the games or at least a couple of months earlier, which could have constituted some advance warning to the organisers and the public?

Even the arrogant Mani Shankar Aiyar started making noises, irrespective of the merit of their arguments much before the games and not on the eve of it when the foreign guests have started arriving. Washing the dirty linen now is like criticising your members of the family for their acts of omission and commission to the world at large.

This is against Indian ethos and against normally acceptable social behaviour. Our ‘enlightened’ media wants to impress the international audience that while India may not have arrived, they have arrived and can now vie for status with BBC, CNN, Reuters etc. How seriously they are being or will be taken time will tell but as of now their scornful snarls smack of spite and malice/ So this is a motivated campaign to claim a pound of the flesh; TRP must rise notwithstanding cost to the nation in terms of loss of prestige and repute.

There is just no concern for the esteem of the countrymen – the Indians abroad are facing barrage of questions from their co-workers and friends wondering whether Indians are so hopelessly bad. Never before the country has faced such loss of face, thanks to the crescendo raised by these self-styled protagonists of good governance! Our aspiration to be counted among the developed nations of the world that can fulfill international commitments has received a severe drubbing.

The philosophy behind the moves of such self-appointed guardians of social audit stands exposed. Actually some smart guys in the media after evaluating the preparedness of the games could assess the weaknesses; finding it to be their opportunity, they jumped on in full strength and there was no threat either. They had tasted blood earlier on several occasions like that of Arushi murder case. They have been able to put the experience so gained to good use this time around for extracting maximum mileage. Having been assured that the state doesn’t have the will to resist or retaliate, they started masquerading as crusaders for truth while actually trampling all truth under duress.

Secondly, why could not they wait to start the media trial after the games? There comes to play the greed for TRP! The gain is immediate and money today has more value than money tomorrow. Those who swear by morality have been very vain and unethical. It is the power of blackmail pure and simple.

How succinctly this was expressed by a poet!

'‘dushmani jum kar karo, per itni gunjaish rahe
dost bun jayen hum to phir sharminda na hon!’

Many of these will return in search of state patronage and positions. It will be enlightening to keep a roll call of some of these crusaders and spot where they are located three to five years from now vis-à-vis government benefaction. As of now there is no qualm.

The country has become a laughing stalk in the world. Every Tom Dick and Harry is taking a pot shot at the country’s capacity to organise international events. Not even emergency had done such harm to her image what our animated champions have done in couple of weeks and it will be very difficult to retrieve the position for staking a claim, if at all tomorrow for Olympics etc.

The other day a responsible English writer speaking live on a national channel compared Sheila Dikshit to Madhubala, alluding perhaps to dramatics or whatever. That was in bad taste to say the least. The point is Dikshit is a highly respected figure in national politics. Is it proper for somebody to throw ridicules like this, made possible only because an atmosphere of no-holds barred has been created? In fact increasingly the language of much of the media is becoming singularly strident and threatening. The self-righteous and all-knowing stance in itself is bad enough but more deplorable are the utterances that are couched in impolite and disrespectful idiom.

The probable solutions are good sense, self-imposed discipline and public censure, the last one being very remote, we can only pray for the first two and continue to do so till the foreigners have left the much maligned Games Village.

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