[Goanet]BEN ANTAO: Free Goa's First Elections...

[Sachin Phadte]

I hope I am not paranoid, but I found the first chapter in the book 'Behind 
The News: Voices From Goa's Press' somewhat disturbing.  This refers to the 
article "Sixties' stories: Free Goa's first elections" by Ben Antao.

Ben writes that his 'idealism received a jolt of reality when Lambert 
Mascarenhas, editor of the periodical then, engaged in propagandist 
campaigning, suggesting that such slanted writing was necessary to achieve 
the end.'  However, the slant that Lambert employed seems to have been 
dictated by his first employer, that is the owners of Navhind Times.  Ben 
also says that Lambert told him that whetting the editorial written by him 
was part of the contract that the latter had entered into with the owners.

Under the circumstances, one has to inquire whether Lambert was ever 
committed to a free press.  The events that Ben writes about relates to 40 
years ago, and one wonders if the rot that is there today, and so intensely 
discussed recently on Goanet, seems to have a long history.

It would also seem to me that Ben also presents himself in poor light. He 
says: "On the campaign trail, I traveled the length and breadth of Goa, 
speaking to Congress candidates and often manufacturing 'news' that 
purported to show that people, by and large, were in favor of Congress 
candidates."

This seems to be completely against the ideals that Ben had set out for 
himself when he joined the profession.  Furthermore, it seems that he 
expected to be rewarded by the Congress party if the party had won the 
elections.

Then there is the point about the effectiveness of the media, vis-�-vis the 
society at large.  While the Navhind Times tried to manipulate the facts to 
project a Congress victory, on the other side of the world at another time, 
that is Canada in the year 2000, another newspaper tried to manipulate the 
readers into voting for a particular party.  In both cases, the results were 
utterly against the publications.

So, I wonder at the relevance of the media in fulfilling the needs of the 
society.  I wonder if the lesson is that the society has a mind of its own 
which cannot be manipulated.  And perhaps this is what Rajan Narayan should 
keep in mind in his new venture.

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