DECLINING MEDIA POWER

By S R Ramanujan

The media was smarting under a great delusion till recently that it was setting the national agenda and that the government of the day whether at the state level or at the Centre was scared of its enormous clout and its ability to shape public opinion or to create public perceptions. But, unfortunately for the media, this has taken a serious beating after the results of the 2014 general elections were out and its bluff was called. Media or no media, people have a mind of their own. There was a time, as the experience in the then AP would show, the media arraigned to itself the role of king maker. But the times have changed.  People’s sentiments and emotions cannot be trifled with. They are more intelligent than what the anchors or editors think they are. Throughout the poll campaign Modi was called all sorts of names like Hitler, Mussolini, polarizer, divisive politician. The results showed that this did not have any impact on the electorate and that was the first shocker for the media, especially the unbearably noisy national media.

On his part, Modi, too, kept the so-called mainstream media at a respectable distance. The media had to be content with the press handouts, sources and this made them hungry for news. When a person is hungry, what does he do? He eats anything that is available. Therefore, Tendulkar’s absence from Parliament made news, as if his absence is going to bring down the edifice of parliamentary democracy. If Rahul Gandhi dozed off in the Lok Sabha, it made headlines; if he makes some inane noise outside Parliament, it led to endless debates; an innocuous advertisement of Airtel became the topic for panel discussion on gender sensitivity at prime time; an albino child not allowed into a play zone in a mall became breaking news. An MP was pilloried for making an appeal to women to dress in a dignified manner and it was called “sexist remark” with liberated women descending on the television studios with their sermons. Whom were they defending? Not the working women nor the home makers of any class – lower, lower middle, middle, upper – who dress decently, but those miscroscopic section of  those who care a damn for any societal norms with the slogan “My body, my right”.

Narendra Modi made a precise diagnosis of this media malaise and showed its place. Social media filled this vacuum. Be that as it may, what is happening at the state level is a bit disturbing. The media which was roaring like a lion started behaving like sheep. Otherwise, how do you expect a channel to apologize to Telangana state Federation of MSOs? The channel’s letter to MSOs  stated “We hereby convey our apologies unconditionally to your association also and request you to resume our network signals to the subscribers”. This may be the first time in the history of India media that a media house fell at the feet of not even the government, but an entity which has nothing to do with the editorial content. The MSOs donned the role of censors and blocked this particular channel’s signals in all the districts of Telangana, except Hyderabad city. What was the sin committed by this channel? On the day, TRS government was sworn in, there was an allegedly derogatory reference to some of the TS MLAs in their bullet news. The channel already apologized to the party and the government and there the matter should end. How come the MSOs usurped punitive powers by blocking the signals to censor the channel for months together? As if this is not enough, the channel’s CEO was arrested and released on bail.

Astonishingly, when the press freedom is threatened in the state with the active connivance of the state, there is no whimper of protest. The journalists associations which normally lose their shirt in protest against silly incidents, is conspicuously silent. Though the matter was raised in Parliament, the Information and Broadcasting Minister made the familiar noise with no honest intention to intervene in the issue. What is worse, the arrest of the CEO of the channel was effected after the matter was raised in Parliament. The assault on press freedom in Telangana State is no news for the national media which is otherwise busy picking holes in Modi’s torn turban, or his speech, or what Mohan Bhagavat’s imagined Hindu agenda.

Is mimicking MLAs such a heinous crime committed by the media? Are MLAs above criticism? Can they not be subjected to harmless banter? NTR was made fun of, Anajaih was Cartoonists’ delight; KCR called Modi a fascist – a serious charge against an elected Prime Minister and the entire media carried it; can we punish the media for that? MPs were painted as the ones who ask questions for cash, who manipulate their travel bills, etc. No offence was meant against the media for carrying those reports. No one raised a privilege motion against the media for maligning the MPs. Perhaps, only perhaps, the fun at the cost of MLAs in TS, gave a clue to Jaya Bachchan  when she was so upset with the radio jockeys for their jokes and raised the issue in Parliament. But, she was only ridiculed for lack of humour though the MPs might have supported her. What is inexplicable is this. How can the MSOs in TS be concerned about an issue which involves the media and the government. Tomorrow, if the same media makes some funny remarks against the Cong/BJP legislators, will their action be the same? If this trend goes unchallenged, MSOs will emerge as the censors of the media and controller of media content possibly with a wink from the government of the day. Are we going to allow this?

Yet another Telugu channel was also clubbed with this particular channel whose CEO was arrested and a case was foisted against him under section 504 and 505 of the IPC. The owners of these two channels belong to a particular community which does not find favour with the present rulers of TS as they do not hail from TS. Could this be the reason for the command performance of the MSOs? Or is this an attempt to warn the rest of the media to behave? Whatever the reason, troubled times are ahead for the media which do not toe the line of the rulers. What happened with the” bullet news” is only the precursor for the bullets that are likely to follow against the uncooperative media!

One take away from TS MSOs episode that stares on your face is this. While Modi simply ignored the mainstream media, TS government is set to punish it over the shoulders of the MSOs.