In this column we will be featuring the writings by award winning women journalists in India found in the collection of the book ‘Making News Breaking News Her Way. It is a publication by Tranquebar Press in association with Media Foundation, New Delhi which instituted the annual Chameli Devi Jain Award for an Outstanding Women Mediaperson in 1980.
Anita Pratap
The answer will find me
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here has been tectonic shift in the media world since I received the Chameli Devi Jain Award in 1997. This shift is ideological, generational, cultural and societal. Maybe it was an’ Age of Innocence’, but at that time, journalists were perceived as part of the solution. Today, many would argue, they are seen as part of the problem.
Thankfully, there are still remarkable exceptions to the rule, but overall, the credibility and independence of significant sections of mainstream media, in India and around the world, have taken a beating. They are seen as spokespersons of various lobbies -corporate, government, nations or political parties. Collusion between lobbies and media has always existed. The crucial difference between then and now is that this collusion, which once was marginal, has moved mainstream, big time. Media is now widely seen as being in cahoots with big business or big governments.‘Embedded Journalism’ became mainstream with the Iraq war. This phenomenon severely undermined independent reporting. Unfortunately, the concept spread like cancer and journalists became embedded not only with the military, but with governments, corporates, institutions –the establishments in general. The pillars of the ‘Fourth Estate’ crumbled from within.
As long as the media is the watchdog of democracy, it will be seen as part of the solution. When it mutates to a lap-dog pretending to bark or barking only when it sees a particular type of thief, then it becomes part of the problem.
The only defence mechanisms against ‘vested interests’ are an independent media and the judiciary, the last resorts of a democracy. When they are no longer independent, bold and honest, then not only the nation, even the planet is in peril.
In 2006, I was commissioned by the Press Council of India to write a paper on the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, on Journalism, Media and Ethics in an Era of Globalisation.’ In that long and rather sad paper, I wrote: ‘Most disturbing has been the mutation of the media from a dignified forum where ideas and dissenting views could be expressed freely and fairly, to a Tower of Babel, where the loudest and the foulest, the richest and the strongest, and not the most sensible, get heard and seen. Sections of the media today have become a marketplace of intolerance and venom, where opinions masquerade as facts, prejudice as analysis. The result is a skewed, distorted debate -the rabid get their five minutes of fame; but the voices of reason, restraint and moderation, which actually represent the bulk of humanity, are silenced. The preoccupations of the rich are amplified; those of the poor, ignored.’
The cream of journalists in my generation was composed of men and women who wanted to represent the underdog, to be the voice and face of the millions of dispossessed Indians. We believed the rich could hire PR agents; the poor had only us. That’s why I became a journalist. I wanted to contribute my bit to making the world a better place. Truth, justice, equality, good governance -these were the big issues that motivated me. For over a quarter of a century, much beyond the call of duty, I risked life and limb to achieve this.
But has my reporting made a difference? No. Absolutely not!
Honestly, what conceit to think my reporting would make a difference! I’ d like to explain by breaking down the concept of ‘making a difference’ into tactics and strategy.
Tactically, yes of course I can give countless examples when my reporting made a difference. My eyewitness reports of war-torn Colombo in 1983 were used by Indira Gandhi to officially intervene in Sri Lanka, ostensibly in the name of protecting the minority Tamils (that she had already surreptitiously started arming the Tamil militants earlier is another story). My expose of the liquor corruption by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MGR (M G Ramachandran) led to a probe against a man considered to be a living God. My reporting aborted a land mafia’s bid to usurp land that belonged to an orphanage, and so on.
But strategically, did it make any difference? Did India save the Tamils? Was corruption eradicated? Have land grabs ended?
Not in the least. Objectively, haven’t things become worse, if only because stakes have become much bigger now? Strategically, my investigative reporting made no difference because corruption continues to thrive. My friends say I should not be so pessimistic -that I ought to see my reporting as building blocks that raise barriers against corruption and wrongdoings. But did the exposes of my generation of journalists through the 1980s and 1990s raise the barrier for corruption in India? If anything, the bar has been lowered; the sense of promiscuity, entitlement, impunity has become deeper and more widespread.
When I remember the national outrage and toppling of governments because of a Rs 10 or Rs 64 crore bribe that characterised the 1980s, I could burst out laughing -if only my twisting heart would allow. In the ‘Age of Experience’, we now talk of an ungraspable sum like Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Earlier, bribes were either lakhs or crores, not both at once.
Strategically, all the terrible issues that we exposed – corruption, injustice, disparity -have become worse in India and the region. The world I find today is far worse than the one I entered as an eager-eyed, enthusiastic, energetic twenty- year-old. I find it worse because what mattered to me then and what still matters to me today, are universal values of human dignity, freedom, justice, fairness and peace. I am not excited by the latest iPhone or Twitter. Don’t get me wrong; new technology, especially robotics, fascinate me, innovations thrill me, scientific discoveries excite me, as much as art or music. I am delighted when I see millions of Indians taking planes, which until the 1990s was the privilege of a few, that many more Indians today own cellphones, cars and washing machines.
Certainly, as a privileged person, the quality of my life has been significantly enhanced over the years by the internet healthy diet, air conditioners, jet travel, gyms, Skype etc. But when I compare the ever-increasing luxuries of a thin slice of the world’s population to the misery of two billion people, I strongly feel that the world is worse off today. These two billion live in a habitat that is squalid, unjust and horrendously polluted. So I feel even more strongly that the mainstream news-media’s job is to focus on the wretched lives of these poor and highlight policies, technologies an4 remedies that can improve them rather than obsess about the latest trappings of the rich. We are told that’s what the viewers demand. It’s the TRPs, stupid!
I guess I am stupid because I still haven’t understood why good journalism is bad TRPs. Much of what I see on television is lousy journalism that guarantees falling TRPs once the shock value or novelty wears off. And if some leading newspapers and television channels did honest viewer surveys, they would quickly realise that people are hungering for good journalism. Weare told serious issues are boring. But as I tell journalism students: ‘There are no boring stories. Only boring story-tellers.’
Journalism teaches you many lessons, but the biggest lesson I have learnt is that the root cause of poverty is corruption. If all the money set aside for poverty-alleviation had reached the poor, they would no longer be poor. If the corrupt ruling- elite had constructed hospitals for the poor, the impoverished would not have slid into crippling debt every time disease struck. Had there been schools, their children would have got the skills needed for a job. If it were impossible for industrialists to make and then stash their black money in tax havens, they would have built more factories in India, providing more jobs. When the system is corrupt, poverty will endure. Countries like Norway and Japan have proven how good governance can transform a poor country into a rich one in one generation if income from national resources is used wisely and ethically to benefit all citizens.
Anti-corruption winds are stirring in India. Will it become a gale that topples governments or will it be co-opted and tamed to a breeze that the powerful elite can live with? Unless the ordinary citizens of India, the middle class and the poor, come out into the streets and bring India to a standstill, this wind will not become a tornado.
In the long run, a society riddled with corruption and injustice is simply not sustainable. Maybe, twenty years from now, major course corrections will occur to avoid collapse and India will become free of corruption. If it is part of a historical process, it will happen; like the way India became free. Not in 1857, but a full ninety years later in 1947. That is why I belong to the school of thought that believes the person doesn’t make history, history makes the person. All historical processes -be they liberation struggles, national greatness or economic decline -have long trajectories. Sudden shifts and events occur periodically, but real, meaningful change, takes decades.
Journalism moulded me. It enthralled, inspired, infuriated and saddened me. It was my whole life. And my life inspired several young Indian women to become women journalists, war correspondents; single mothers to be modem, fearless, independent. But seen against the context of historical processes, my reporting and my life are not even the tiniest, blip. If I hadn’t done what I did, someone else would have come along, maybe a little later, maybe a little slower. But it would have happened because Indian women were already on the path of emancipation and achievement. I didn’t make the phenomenon, the phenomenon made me. I hope and dream that India will become a nation cleansed of injustice and corruption. If that happens, I’ll be thrilled. But much as I worked hard for this all my life, I can’t in all honesty, take any credit.
Am I then saying life is futile? Not at all. You have to do what you believe in. And keep at it, no matter whether you succeed or fail. As the Bhagvad Gita says: ‘Do your duty, reward is not your concern.’ Duty -which I translate in the modem context to mean work -is not a selfish enterprise confined to personal growth, ambition, fame and riches. It is all that of course, but I strongly believe that work is, above all, a means to contribute to society, humanity and the environment. I know I have failed in my journalistic goals. But I also know I have lived a rich, meaningful and rewarding life, blessed with much happiness.
What next for me? I have always reinvented myself. But so far, I have reinvented myself within the context of journalism -from reporting for national newspapers to magazines, from print to television journalism, from being a city reporter to an international television journalist, from full-time to freelance, etc.
I still strive to make the world a better place, but in the current media environment, I am no longer sure journalism is the right tool for me.
My experience over the last few years has been unusually different. I have had the opportunity to live in different parts of the world -Vienna, Riyadh, Oslo, Tokyo. I have immersed myself in contrasting cultures, systems, media and governments. I have seen the terrible mistakes made by some countries, while others achieved spectacular success despite unimaginable odds. The question is: what are the mistakes to avoid, what lessons to learn, how to borrow ideas and implement good governance so that genuine inclusive growth can be achieved in India? I have seen how strong institutions and governments are – in India and elsewhere. Much good and much damage can be done, depending on who is in the driver’s seat. Ditto with corporate entities. My current quest is how to influence policy, how to get governments to do the right thing? How to harness the talent, energy and experience of smart, well. intentioned people so that we can together transform our nation into a better place for all Indians?
I grapple with these thoughts now. How can I contribute to bringing about meaningful change? Power, perks and privileges never interested me -even though I’ve had them all. For me, the simple question is: how can I use some of my proven skills, my professional expertise and unique personal experiences to bring about transformational change in India? I don’t know where to find the answer, but I hope the answer will find me. It always has.
Anita Pratap has been a journalist, author and documentary filmmaker for thirty years. She has worked with India Today, The Indian Express and Time, and was CNN’s South Asia Bureau Chief, covering political events and development issues in South Asia. She has won Indian and American awards, including the George Polk Award for excelling in television journalism for her coverage of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and a Lifetime Award for Journalism in 2007. Anita Pratap received the Chameli Devi Jain Award in 1997.
