By Ranjona Banerji
The Marathi newspaper Loksatta was apparently forced to retract an edit that was critical of Mother Teresa, after news of her imminent sainthood became public. This perhaps represents everything that is wrong with newsrooms. But it is also curious. Criticism and some of it quite vicious of Mother Teresa is not new. In Kolkata, where she did most of her work, many fulminated against her work and her methods. The Left Front government disliked her intensely as it did all Christian missionaries in Bengal.
Many others felt that she got more attention than she deserved and that other people who did similar work were neither glorified nor given as much money and attention. The most trenchant criticism came from the writer Christopher Hitchens who called her out for her hypocrisy because she took money from all sources and applied no moral code to her donors.
The Loksatta editorial said no more than this. It is curious why the management would force the editor to retract. Mother Teresa died in 1997. Her achieving sainthood is of interest mainly to the Catholic Church and to Catholics.
But we have a history in India of tiptoeing around “religious sentiments†and it seems apparent that this is what happened here. It also shows the dangers of management interference in newsrooms. Let us not pretend that it has never happened before. But usually, editors had the wherewithal to fight even if they did not win every battle. But what we see in some newsrooms today is editors who have already capitulated or editors who are unable to withstand the onslaught. Both cases do journalism no favours.
Incidentally, for those crowing that they have proof of some evil Christian plot to destabilise Loksatta and the media, let us remember that representatives of every religion in India apply as much pressure as they can on media houses to censor criticism. Is there anyone here old enough to recall the hysterics in newsrooms when India Today (the magazine) ran a story that made allegations against Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi? Never have so many journalists staved off calls from so many famous people they are usually dying to speak to!
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This is a call to tennis journalists. After Maria Sharapova’s dramatic announcement earlier this month that she had tested positive for a newly banned drug in January this year during the Australian Open, we saw some fulminating, reporting and so on. But since then, the news cycle appears to have moved on to routine match reports. Indeed, it is soon to be overtaken by the gender war brewing in tennis again, after irresponsible remarks by a CEO of the Indian Wells tournament and unfortunate remarks by ATP World Number One Novak Djokovic over equal money.
However, the issues of match-fixing and doping need to remain at the forefront if the game is to be saved. On TV now is an excellent documentary on cyclist Lance Armstrong and how he lied and manipulated his way around drug charges while winning innumerable races and setting up his cancer foundation. It is an abject lesson on how to ignore clear signs. At the time, it was France’s L’Equipe magazine which made the charges against Armstrong and was attacked for being partisan and jealous. Take a look at the defences being raised now. That should give a journalist some hints.
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Tired of being accused of being constantly anti-government by BJP fans, the Hindu’s Readers’ editor delved into history and this is what he found. The pointing finger? Hmm.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/charges-of-bias-how-the-upa-regimes-were-covered/article8377808.ece