The illusion of media freedom in India

There are thousands of newspapers and TV channels in this nation of more than a billion. Unfortunately though it doesn’t mostly reflect the reality of the nation, they are generally frivolous sensation seeking profit intending conceptions. They tread dominant mainstream narration and attune themselves to these, in the meanwhile they also try to be abreast with international nuances so as to show themselves as liberal and progressive. Indian constitution has been quite egalitarian, providing all the possibility but the Indian mediocre society has hindered.  Out of 179 countries India ranks 140 in terms of press freedom, just below Libya, Zimbabwe and Burundi. Shocking indeed. You might wonder what is preventing the media freedom, and you may wonder!! The news channels are full of chattering and opinions, the news columns are full of columnists and news. Everyone seems aware of moral high ground and quite assured of their rectitudinal role as self-appointed benevolent guardian. Ready to scream hoarse to any intrusions onto their turf. So what is the problem here? Why is India ranked so low on Press freedom? Much lower than countries that cannot even claim democracy while India preens it status as world’s largest democracy? 

Curtailing of media freedom in India happens at two levels. Firstly, the Market: in terms of people who control, as also those who sponsor. Both these have acquired a vicious form in this part of the world as the control is with few and immense potential of exploitation. So the reason for manipulation and corruption, it is being given the name of competition. Almost all media outlets in India is controlled by people with dubious background either they are beneficiary of feudalistic nature of society or product of corrupt system. With this foundation it is bit farfetched to expect them to be sensitive to the needs of the society or to even show some professional commitments. The sponsors too are another viscous breed, peddlers of cheap inane products that is sought mass appeal. The stampede is most vulgar here as the market (read unthinking population that is their prime target) is huge, recruiting mediocre actors and equally substandard sportspersons who are referred to as cricketers, their personal lives are manipulated to be squeezed, since professionally it seems they are quite limited. So their trials and tribulations are national concerns and subsequently milked in an elaborate con act. In this milieu the market even tries to bring in favour by taking up cause and placing up their product right up the throat. In crude India subtlety is like, as mediocre-but-truly-pseudo-secular-muslim-symbol Salman Kurshid meant ‘no mardangi’. This fellow is also our Foreign minister, thanks to sycophancy to The family.    

Market therefore will only allow those news or views that are market friendly or friendly to the friends and well-wishers of its owners and sponsors. The reason why Indian media is referred to as market media. Then there is huge black money that is doing the round that obviously the media honchos too are beneficiary of. With these kinds of money it is market which sets the agenda for this nation that thrives on mediocrity. Market censoring of news is of the worst kind in India, that has made even some well-intentioned journalist slaves to the great Indian fate. 

Second type of censoring is that of the Traditional form. This uniquely Indian phenomenon is the reason why India is bottom of the pit despite all the possibilities. Media is generally controlled by people with money and power, but when it comes from certain section of society because of deviant nature that thrived because of discrimination, then the situation becomes acute. That precisely is the problem of Indian media and its lack of sensitivity. The reason why in a country where the news channels role is so very critical but they have been reduced to pedalling entertainment related news of some really mediocre people. The humongous problems due to discrimination that most deprived of this country face and the news related to the vast land don’t seem to exist except maybe for some sensational market exciting events. There is a bias even in the way the news is approached, objectivity doesn’t seem to matter.  What is expected from the media is to deal situation objectively and once the reality is understood the section who are wronged should be supported. 

Statistics will confirm that the people who control, sponsor the media, and the journalists, are mostly from temple squatters and their hang arounds background. The reason for these censors therefore has a very deep traditional bias. The reason why Indian media is in the pit is because they have been used (with rare exceptions) for furthering these discriminations with silence, perpetuate it with their nuanced ignorance and redeem themselves with smokescreen of market friendly causes. Most likely the bias is so entrenched that they don’t even see it. Indian media is reduced to meeting point of cheap hawkers and opinion hagglers. 

Satyamev Jayathe is back

So what Crude woman has to say?

 “Mua Amir hath me aagya to gala got dalungi”

Journalist zombie said “Aisa kyon kehthe ho ji kuch tho tameez dikhao”, expecting some spicy footage that will help digestion of their viewers and sponsors.

“Arre tameez gayi gaye charane. Madamji ne kudh bola tha ki desh ko bachane ka tekka hum logon ka hai. Jab tekka hamare pass hai tho ye mua kahan se aagaya?”

ZK informed “copyright violation tho hai magar mua bohuth aage nikal chukka hai, hath se nikal gaya murga”, he should know, if you cannot defeat them join them, so has already hoodwinked into the show.

 “Tho hum kon se kam hai ji” Crude woman wasn’t ready to be evicted from her traditional turf. Her PR intervened for a saving grace “Tony bola ye gandhian hai tho ye gandhian hai”

It was their sad looking servant (who had got tired of disposing empty complimentary liquor bottles) who had the last say on the matter “Tony kya bola Anthony kya bola isse hamko kya, ghatiya log tho ghatiya he rehenge!”

Later I met the sad looking servant and asked “ye log ithna kyon peethe hai?”

“Kya malum saab inka kuch patha nahi kabhi khoon peethe hai kabhi daru, kal thenthees bootle ek he meh pee gaye dhono ke dhono”

Later I came to know that it was symbolic Number one friendship ka spirit for 33% women’s reservation!!

Take action against this fellow

This blatant temple squatter breed has been strutting around for some time now. I am told he is some kind of a devious genius. Devious alright, genius my foot. He has been making wild allegations and mucking people for his nefarious reasons. Quite understandably other temple squatters, that includes, pretentious Kasturi & Sons have been fuelling him and providing him a base for years now. So much so for freedom of expression and objectivity. Left can only make its presence in TN if it dissociates from likes of Kasturi & Sons, people know these scoundrels and their deceitful ways, they lack credibility. It is clear this fellow has backing of some very powerful people. As I said, in Indian context things have to be viewed from entirely different framework, media freedom is just a ruse. 

Let’s come to the issue at hand, few months back, during Tehelka case, I was flipping through the news channel (it is a travesty) and during one of these so called discussion this fellow revealed the sexual assault victim’s name. It was a deliberate act of slander. Vinod Sharma (of HT) was very much there, and wimped, in a hilarious act of protest. Well with genocide recalling surname nothing much was expected of him. I dare him to put up a case and be responsible rather than waste his time sipping drink at IIC and staring at the ceiling, which I am told is how these people indicate their stature as senior priest.. oops..journalist among hang arounds. This silence has been baffling, even the Channel concerned could take it up or the judiciary as suo moto case. What is NCW doing for so many months??...well, i forget, we have another temple squatter heading it! I am thinking this to be a case of temple squatters nudge and wink camaraderie at work. This has worked for some time now and they have been able to significantly control the Indian narration but I guess it’s time up for these scoundrels. UN will have to convene a special session to declare India a racist country.   

The grandest publishers can do tap dance

I am terribly unconcerned about what is being reduced to pulp and the ensuing protest by India’s ineffectual intellectuals. There are two reasons: 

Firstly the Indian tradition of argumentation were mostly elitists, actions if ever were self serving this is because it traces its nuances and skills from temple squatters traditions which was almost always devoid of reality of surrounding or acute existential angst of people. This deviance is being hallowed by likes of Amartya Sen, not denying there is some truth to it but the overwhelming factor is that these were superficial to the surrounding as also mostly fell short of intellectual rigour and discipline (some like Shankaracharya was flash in the pan of 2500years old history). The otherworldly concerns were nothing but elaborate jokes. The reason why myths are given importance over facts since if you look at the facts there is nothing to point to the contributions of mediocre people. Thus there is no framework of intellectual presence in public space. Most critically, common people have instinctive distrust for intellectuals as they know these are self serving scoundrels who have congenital skills of twisting views in whichever direction that pleases. There is no tradition of earnestness as also their preoccupations with grand worldviews don’t find any resonance with people. We are now therefore reduced to talking shops of conniving knuckleheads; grievous social concerns are handled by market, lawyers, actors, brands so on as part of parampara. It about humility and entertainment.  

Secondly, the question is not what is being pulped by the grandest publisher. The question is what is not being published. The question is also what the media ignore. The question is also deviant nature of society. Publishers like market media are driven by concerns of profit, in Indian context it means amazing crass considerations, pandering to dominant views. Essentially it is a self-serving structure that leads to aggrandisement and grand omniscience of worth.

Every issue and concern of Indian elites falls woefully short of the reality and smack of hypocrisy and vulgar exaggeration. Whatever skills they may employ to attach to international narrations, the reality of India will not leave them. Indeed this is more than racism as the world understands, because in racism there is a tell tale sign of target, the difference is obvious but caste system that has completely dehumanised 'Dalits' and created a crude structure is targeting people who are no different. To target people who are racially similar and to commit genocide on them need unique civilizational skills. Also genocide here is not killing (probably the reason why the outsiders don’t get it, and temple squatters fake vegetarianism as sign of nonviolence!!), it is acute disparities and discrimination that is sought to be perpetuated over generations. If you are anywhere associated with Indian media that propagates these distinctions through matrimonial columns, complete blackout of issues of marginalised and carry genocide reminding surnames then you too are culprit and have no right to take high moral ground.

Yesterday UN report on North Korea was out, the commentators were horrified by the kind of atrocities committed on people. Among other things that are being quoted as sign of horrifying reality is that 23% of children are malnourished. Well in India its more than double that figure, and in Indian context this is not even horrifying, one squatter charlatan appearing on TV in all humility of shudh acharan and elaborating that you have to pour mustard oil on gods statue to prevent enemies while ‘pure ghee’ should be poured only for good work. We need UN report on this.

 Mediocre India is here to capture the world!! Ye Doniger mue kahan se tapak padi??

Images that stay for a long time…

Sometime back I was travelling in a train in one of those crowded unreserved compartments, I suddenly realised maybe I had miscalculated my next destination and could end up stranded late into the night in some godforsaken place. It got me concerned. I wanted to recheck my plans, at the critical moment the net connectivity of my phone was down. I rarely take out my laptop while travelling in squalor surrounding as it attracts attention, sometimes of the very wrong kind. It’s always better to keep a low profile while travelling, the advantages of blending in are many. Desperate I took out my laptop and plugged in the net, and was busy working out the details. A kid who could be about 7 or 8 years old unhinged himself from his mother’s lap and moved towards me, he put his hand on my shoulder, I gave the impression of being quite busy all the while aware of his movements. Slowly very deliberately he moved it along my arms, and rested it for a while. He observed me, while I managed to glance at his mother, a woman who looked much older than she was, wore a faded saree that was on the verge of tearing. The overused slippers just about manage to cling to her calloused feet. She too was observing the boy keenly. There was sense of pride, a glint in her eyes. The boy looked at his mother; she made a face indicating “what a big man you have become!!”, she smiled, he smiled back sheepishly. The boy wore a fresh ironed white shirt and his hair was neatly parted. There was something dignified about them, despite obvious desperation the fate of life had placed them in. The boy had by now started to touch the laptop, he was sensing the object. The moment it became clear that he had intruded and is disturbing. The woman plucked him and lodged him back to her lap. He laughed, she hugged him. She held him tight till he start to wriggle. In her fragile world she saw a glimpse of him that she willed. A boy who would grow up to be someone worthy, someone who could use these complicated things that she doesn’t understand but knows is signs of prosperity and importance. Maybe she doesn’t know there is also a world of darkness in these gadgets, and that these signs of prosperity and indicators of knowledge are many a time quite superficial and means to vile away time. But in the delicate world she live dreams comes quite easily. The anxiety of their lives see possibilities in these little opening for a better world, for a world that is reachable. The innocence weaves a wonderful possibility. Atleast that is what she thinks, and may her wish come true. The journey though is arduous and constantly widening disparities has made it extremely difficult. Still you wish them to be happy, all the while you know it is going to be quite tough, tragedy awaits the nearest corner. But then you think why do we want to go to future, why see everything in terms of expectations and fulfilment? This moment of aspiration is in itself a moment to cherish. Years later, when in one of his reflective moments he may find this very moment his solace, she too will long for this very instance. To love and be loved, there is nothing more than to it. She was happy, and the child too was contented to be briefly part of something bigger, though it is a fake. I too am not what they define as success, I too am fake! But what is important is the interlude of happiness, a pause from harsh realities of life.

 Many years back I saw this movie Naseem (directed by Saeed Mirza) at a film festival, though not a great movie but the ending was compelling, wherein the elderly man says a lie and is caught by the young girl. The man says “you have laughed, that is what matters”, truly one of the most brilliant lines, remarkably the movie ends with these lines and has stayed with me forever. At the end it is not the future but this moment that matters. In the crowded compartment of the train, people who are facing immense hardship and bleak future are smiling….well that really matters, atleast for that kid!! 

If Cocacola bechne wala boy can get Ratna why cannot my daru bechne wala beta get Padma!!

…that was mediocre lyricist ZK pitching for his mediocre genes. Madamzee wasn’t impressed, the bureaucrat who was watching these drama keenly intervened “Thum log gatiya log ho thumhari aukat nahi hai” and pushed them out “Chalo niklo yaha se. Chale athe hai ye chahiye wo chahiye”. It was Crude woman, who meanwhile hinged herself against the door, saw the opening “Kya ghatiya log insaan nahi hothe?” but ZK indicated it was time to move on “Onchi dukaan feeka pakwan” “Chalo ji chalo buhut dekke hai Italy wali madamzee ko”. Crude woman said “Hum bhi ja chuke Italy kayi bar. Arre buhuth dekke hai, apna tewar hame math dikao”. It is the same person who a year back was doing “Mamamia gratzi gratzi”, ZK was seen rolling on her feet, in a heightened moment of pseudo secularism. You know the ship is sinking by the stampede of the rats. Clearly congress is out you can see that in the change of strategy of ZK& Co. They are sniffing into BJP, having sucked whatever they could they have now taken their bora bisthara for greener pasture “Hum tho pal pal ke panchi hai” ZK tries his mediocre lyricism and claims that his attack on Modi was to help Sushmazee. The old trick of chiselling the divides for benefits. This is also the right time for international angle for playing saviour to the country.

Watch them how they fix National awards, already they are building the ground. Milkha is been fed some ads and so has gone to the town with his appreciation; culture lafangas (that includes nothing to do but royal Karan Singh so on) have been pocketed. The jury will be fixed which will include the fellow who disgraced the nation with his braying at Commonwealth (if not him his connections, it is an intriguing web of saving the country). It is time to return the favour to ZK’s gene, it is matter of family parampara. It’s going to be a huge victory of secularism in this ‘trying times’!!. It goes without saying that these people have severely undermined propriety and degraded institutions, in two party scene the other side is expected to do their damage as return favour…