The Editors Guild of India, an organisation dedicated to protect freedom of press and raising the standard of editorial leadership of newspapers and magazines, has organised a conclave on ‘Media Controls: Regulations, Denial of Access & Curbs on Press Freedom’.
The conclave is scheduled for Friday, April 14 and will take place via Zoom, according to a press release.
There will be five sessions one each and eminent journalists, editors and writers will discuss regulations and controls in different areas of reporting namely Politics, Sports, Business, Films and Legal issues.
Those participating are –
Ms. Mrinal Pande,Sankarshan Thakur,Umakant Lakhera in the political segment while on challenges in reporting on Ayaz Memon, Mr. Chandra Shekhar Luthra and Sharda Ugra. will share their views. The session will be moderated by Pradeep Magazine.
Those speaking on constraints in Business reporting are Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and T.N. Ninan. The session will be moderated by Anant Nath.
Speakers on the session on films include Mayank Shekhar, Shobhaa De and Anuradha Raman. This session will be Moderated by Nandini Ramnath.
In the session on legal reporting we will hear Sanjay Hegde and Samanwaya Rautray. This session will be moderated by KV Prasad.
The Guild welcomes wider participation and those wishing to attend the Conclave can write to the Editors Guild of India on info@editorsguild.in for Zoom link or can join live proceedings at organisations Facebook page –Facebook.Editors Guild.
The Supreme Court of India was applauded this week by some sections of the media and free speech advocates. The SC struck down a 2022 Central decision to revoke the licences of Madhyam Broadcasting’s channels Media One and Media One Lite for their alleged “anti-establishment” content. The court said that such “actions to force the media to shun its duty to speak truth to power would pose a grave danger to democracy and have a chilling effect on free speech” (from a Times of India report, dated April 6, 2023).
So, media 1, government 0.
Or, well, let’s be honest.
This is one tiny drop of hope in the current ocean of despair when it comes to media freedoms and an authoritarian regime.
The government uses its control over broadcasting licences, newsprint imports and government advertising to keep the traditional media in check. These tactics have been largely successful and that is why so many sections of the mainstream media can be wary of being critical of the government or of appearing to be “anti-establishment.
There is also inherent cowardice and capitulation and of course those in the community who cheer on and contribution to social disharmony, the spread of hatred and misinformation.
But the government knows that digital platforms – because they do not need broadcasting licences, or paper, or government advertising – are more openly critical or even, gasp, anti-establishment.
Thus, there have been constant attempts through the Information Technology Amendment Rules, to try and restrict the digital media.
The latest assault is on online gaming and “fact checks”. According to the Internet Freedom Foundation, the garb of a “fact check” by a government agency could in effect take down social media sites and block content. If extended, this amendment would also affect news platforms. The Editors Guild of India has also taken note of these proposed changes and issued its own statement.
Everyone within the media knows that the threat is real and that the media has bent over backwards to lie on behalf of the government. Those within the media and members of the public who equate this genuflection only to monetary pressures are lying and fooling themselves. The BJP is not the first political party to try and control the media by these means. But the resistance to pressure has now more or less vanished. This definitely means that there are enough within newsrooms who agree with the new configuration of India, of the slow destruction of democracy and the rise of social hatred.
Some of these people outed themselves and joined BJP propaganda platforms. But there are even more within newsrooms, who control the dissemination of information. These are far more dangerous because they are insidious. And powerful.
Are there small glimmers of hope, when the traditional media gets out of genuflection mode?
The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has urged editors and journalists to exercise utmost restraint, and observe the highest professional standards, in reporting communal disturbances that have erupted in various parts of the country.
The statement said:
“While EGI is cognizant of the hazards faced by on-ground reporters in riot-like situations, it is dismayed to note that due diligence has been wanting in the evaluation and presentation of reports of the clashes between communities. This is especially evident in electronic, digital and social media.
“In the understandable desire to be first with the news, and to catch the eye of news consumers, many editors and reporters appear to be rushing to conclusions, and assigning responsibility to one or the other community, without a full appreciation of the facts, context and calculations at work. This could have lasting implications.
“As the long arc of communal violence in the country shows, most incidents are rarely what they seem to be on the surface. The patronage of politicians, police, officials and non-state actors is well documented. It is, therefore, incumbent for editors to bring their experience and perspective to the newsroom in these surcharged times.
“EGI believes it is necessary for every journalist to make the extra effort to maintain fairness, neutrality and balance, and not allow themselves to become pawns in the larger game of polarisation. Journalism has many noble objectives as well as professional obligations. Helping preserve social peace and communal harmony—by not fuelling rumours; by not being partisan; by not setting citizen against citizen—is one such worthy professional obligation.”
You know how it is when a government messes up and people die and there is horror, fear and panic everywhere. The media is to blame. Because the media has exposed the government’s incompetence by giving voice to the suffering of the people. The pain of the people, for all fascist regimes, must be kept hidden and secret. The media must concentrate on flowers and happy songs and praise for the Great Leader and his Great Leadership.
In most cases until now, most of the media has sunnily obliged. Mob lynchings, gang rapes, oxygen shortages in hospitals, farmers protests, citizenship protests, migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres in the heat during a pandemic, demonetisation, voting machines behaving oddly, buying of party-hopping politicians, allegations of shady deals and corruption, have all been well covered up with toxic positivity and lies. See how much the Dear Leader cares, see how he feeds peacocks, see how long his n… sorry I mean beard has grown.
Therefore, the Government of India turned on Twitter because it did not like photographs of mass cremations and mass burials being made public. Because how dare anyone, not just the media, criticise the Leader and the Great Government of India which does no wrong?
Twitter, which has been a source of information and solace during these terrible times succumbed to Modi government pressure because it has one policy for America and a contradictory one for India.
It’s worth checking Trevor Noah on The Daily Show about the Modi Government’s demand to Twitter.
How else do we cover up? Most of the world’s media, print, TV and digital, have covered the mess over the Covid second surge in India right now. But the Indian High Commission in Canberra has surpassed itself in the petulant, badly written letter to the editor of The Australian, for its criticism of the Modi government. The letter actually claims that Modi government’s approach to the crisis has been “universally acclaimed”. That BJP offices are part of the known universe is the only way anyone can justify that lie.
If the Modi Government is upset because people are ungratefully dying, gasping for oxygen, medicines and hospitals, can its various high-profile saviours and enablers be far behind? With its change of office-bearers and new-found confidence, the Editors Guild of India issued a strong statement on April 23.
It reads: “The Editors Guild of India is outraged by suggestions from certain influential sections within media, who have been casually and irresponsibly asking for suspension of our fundamental rights to speech and expression, when instead greater accountability is needed from the authorities for gross mishandling of this monumental health crisis”.
The rest of the statement is in the screenshot. It outlines just how difficult it is for the media to operate in such an authoritarian atmosphere. This is not the first time we have seen this. But this Covid Emergency is one of our worst times. All we can see is horrific stories and images of death and suffering and the pleas of both patients, their families, our health workers, and from amongst the public those who have tried to help. All we have seen from the Central government is “headline management” as Arun Shourie put it, grandstanding, politicking and scrambling finally to do too little to late. We have seen lies told to the people and to state governments. We have seen cruel contradictory policies in place over vaccine procurement, pricing, oxygen supplies and medical help. Bad news is what we face and what the people themselves experience.
And of course, we’ve seen irresponsible electioneering. If only the bulk of the media could take courage from the Madras High Court:
A letter, possibly fake, has been doing the rounds, apparently written by the staff of Times Now to its star anchors, Rahul Shivshankar, Navika Kumar and Padmaja Joshi. It says, “Instead of asking questions to Prime Minister Modi for his callous attitude and misgovernance, the editors are hellbent on saving his image and protect him from getting a bad name.”
Whoever has written this, at least feels the shame of bad journalism as practised by some of our worthies.
At the end, a number of media workers have lost their lives to Covid, many in the line of duty. This is a heartfelt tribute written by Siddharth Varadarajan to The Wire’s manager, Radhakrishna Muralidhar who died of Covid complications on Monday, aged 63. Like many who contributed to The Wire, Mr Muralidhar impressed with his efficiency with payment and his kindness to questions from dimwits like me when it comes to money matters.
By Ranjona Banerji
It reads: “The Editors Guild of India is outraged by suggestions from certain influential sections within media, who have been casually and irresponsibly asking for suspension of our fundamental rights to speech and expression, when instead greater accountability is needed from the authorities for gross mishandling of this monumental health crisis”.