>From watchdog to lapdog
http://www.india-seminar.com/2001/502/502%20rajdeep%20sardesai.htm
RAJDEEP SARDESAI
IN the end, all it took for me to be compromised as a journalist was one box
of mithai at Diwali time. I had been in the profession barely a few months
when the editor sent me off on an assignment to do a story on how film
personalities and sports stars were being used as brand ambassadors. In the
course of the story, I interviewed the usual suspects - advertising gurus
and product managers. Two weeks after the story was published, one of the
managers whose product had been written about rang up to tell me how much he
had enjoyed the story.
A week after, at Diwali, I received a box of sweets from the manager. A
fortnight later, he rang up again, this time to inquire if the newspaper
could do a story on a client of his. I put him onto our business desk, a
story was filed by the business reporter, and since then every Diwali, there
is one box of sweets I am assured of.
In the years since being a cub reporter, I have realised that a mithai box
is only loose change in the institutionalised corruption that is part of the
journalistic profession. From the Maharashtra politician who plies you with
a basket of grapes every season, to the airlines boss who upgrades you from
economy to business class, to the restaurateur who offers you a free meal
for two - the side benefits which come with being a pen-pusher or a
recognised television anchor can take various forms.
In each instance, the system operates on a clear quid pro quo. The
politician who sends you grapes is only ensuring that you remember to be
kind to him the next time he stages a walkout in Parliament. The airlines
boss has made certain that any criticism of his attempts to curb competition
a re not made public. And the food chain owner is making sure that when he
invites your magazine to write about his restaurant, he will get virtually
free ad space in the news columns.
Indeed, much of the matter in the colour supplements that have now become
essential accompaniments to mainstream broadsheets thrives on the principle
that there is no publicity like free publicity. So, whether it is fashion
shows or the opening of a restaurant or a film premiere, there is a pool of
journalists who will be more than happy to play along with the party.
In particular, when it comes to celebrity journalism in the country today,
the lines between reportage and public relations are slowly getting blurred.
Film producers take journalists to outstation shoots so that glowing
articles can be written on the stars of the film, or else, a three minute
story can be flashed on prime time news. Publishers invite reviewers to wine
and cheese evenings so that the author can be given a three column colour
spread the next day. Sports management companies invite sports writers and
channels to cover an exhibition match in Goa so that a bit of publicity for
the sponsor's product can be mixed with adequate sun and sand.
Take also the so-called ad supplements that are now frequent additions to
all newspapers. Most of these supplements are little more than large dollops
of public relations with a small spoon of editorial matter. For example,
journalists are taken on a full, all-expenses paid holiday for the Dubai
shopping festival. The newspaper gets ad revenues, the festival gets
publicity, and the journalist gets a perfect junket. Or, the supplements
that celebrate one year of the NDA in power, or the birthdays of Jayalalitha
or a Bal Thackeray. The newspaper editors might argue that such supplements
are revenue earners, but the fact is that they do end up compromising
editorial integrity (notice how the words 'sponsored feature' that accompany
such supplements are usually tucked away in a corner).
Or take some of the so-called hardcore corporate reporting in the country
today, both in newspapers and on television. The arrival of the pink paper
was seen by many at the time as a welcome break from the stodgy business
reporting that focused on commodity prices and business handouts. But there
is a growing trend within a section of the upmarket business papers and
business programmes on television to appear less as detached observers of
corporate news and more as partisan cheerleaders. The 'backpresent' concept
at the end of a press conference that certain business houses seem to have
perfected - whether in the form of an expensive pen or even better, a
holiday for the family in a resort, or best of all, company shares - is only
a reflection of how corporate journalism can be compromised.
As indeed can the political journalist who enjoys the privilege of
travelling with the prime minister or the president on an official tour to
Brazil or Malaysia or some other equally exotic location. The external
publicity department in the ministry of external affairs has perfected the
art of ensuring that a journalist is kept suitably lubricated at all times.
How is the Black Label whisky and
