There are as many media houses in my country, as rooms in your whore house. I have been a part of media and now an observer, and I think the 2014 elections will go down in history as the worst in terms of partisan reporting. News flow is no longer dictated by events, but by carefully drawn out strategies in news rooms and possibly board rooms too. News reports are being timed with precision to influence the outcome. It is an ambush of democracy. It all started with the Delhi Elections in DEC 2013 - 12 days before the Delhi polls. The little known Media Sarkaar conducts a sting operation on AAP and release a report, with no time for AAP to fight the perception battle. Result - Shazia loses by 326 votes. Many contestants lost by less than a couple of thousand votes. Some news channels, led by TIMES NOW amplify the sting, with no opportunity to rebut. If the sting wasnt timed, would the result have been different? If the sting is proved misleading, if AAP had got a majority, governed Delhi, proved itself or its detractors, These parliamentary elections would have been much different. The Media Sarkaar sting, by an unknown entity, silly in its content, unverified in its detail has hurt AAP like no other, in Delhi and beyond. Democracy was ambushed a few days before the polls. And then, it became a free for all. - On 4th April, COBRAPOST releases a sting on destruction of Babri Masjid as a well executed plan, 3 days before the national elections. - On 9th April, PTI releases a misleading report suggesting that 30% of AAP CANDIDATES ARE BILLIONAIRES AND 40% HAVE CRIMINAL CASES. It was carried as front page news by TOI. The report was later proved completely wrong, but the damage was done. The report came on the day of polling in MP. - On 10th April, A front page story in Hindustan Times shouts CONTRARY TO MODI CLAIM, SUICIDES STALK GUJARAT FARMERS. The data was old, the claims were old but the packaging on the day of voting was suspicious. The report came on the day of polling. - NDTVs survey giving 275 seats to NDA was no different. They may be technically correct ( as the poll was conducted before elections), but wrong in spirit (for releasing the result in the middle of elections). They violated the spirit and influenced the undecided voter. - The interview by Rajat Sharma on India TV would go down as the crawl when you are asked to bend interview of all times on Indian television (I have least respect of a channel which has budget eve analysis by a fraudster management guru who cheated thousands of students of their careers and lives, all for money). I have known of regional media pursuing an agenda for commercial considerations. But now, it has become personal. Anchors go after parties, channels go after leaders. I was a columnist for a regional newspaper, till i started writing on corruption issues and, as expected, they dumped me. Language newspapers are known to strike deals for coverage, with pictures of massively photoshopped rallies for a price. The price varies with the size, scale, and an influence on the headline going with the report. A page one report premium is humongous. The money is received in cash and squared off against bad debts that would otherwise be written off, or used to payback expenses that are incurred in cash. In fact, many regional media houses declare bonuses in cash, post the elections. Some regional TV channels and newspapers also set targets to ad sales teams during election season. The targets are set based on political parties, constituencies and at times, per candidate. Each member of the sales team has their own individual targets. The editorial is involved to get the contacts and influence going. In a few cases, the targets are set for the sales and editorial together, motivating them to work in tandem. If politicians dont pay, you are least likely to be covered. In short, during election time, newspapers are worse than A directory of Yellow Pages. The tell all story released by the Press Council on Paid news is a saga of corruption in media. This election is over and done. Democracy has been derailed and ambushed. It is time now that we focus on transparency and disclosures from media houses. It is time, we set regulations on stings once elections are announced. It is time we protect democracy with everything that we have. It is time that during elections, media also has a mandatory code of conduct like the political parties. Because they are no different, any longer. It is time we vote democracy in and partisan reporting out! Let the grey heads get together before bloodied hands throttle democracy.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 07:21:59 +0000