RADIA TAPES- IS THE MEDIA GUILTY?

‘When the Hunter got hunted’

This was the status message of one of my friend’s on his facebook account after the Radia tapes were leaked. Much has been spoken about the 2G scam but it’s a very interesting case to actually discuss media ethics.

Media which is often referred as the fourth estate has become an integral part of Indian democracy. The print media was always vigil for the past six decades but the real turning point came when the electronic media (TV) made an entry. The whole coverage & news reporting approach has taken a three sixty degree turn in the last one decade or so. Expose, sting operations, sound bytes, powerful visuals have all changed the dynamics of the way media functions. Till one & half decade back the only piece of television news one saw was on state run Doordarshan which at best can be described as the mouth piece of the government. The entry of private media players marked the real change in news reporting.

But unlike other institutions media is primarily a private driven enterprise and therefore is not under pressure from the government. The involvement of two celebrated journalists- Barkha Dutt (Group Editor of NDTV English) & Vir Sangvi (Consulting Editor of Hindustan times) in breaking the deadlock between Congress-DMK at the time of government formation in 2009 has come as a real shocker.
Just to give a clear context the tapes also contains conversations of Radia with Barkha Dutt & Vir Sanghvi at the time of government formation in 2009. Radia is heard lobbying for the DMK, while both Dutt & Sanghvi are seen to be presenting views of the Congress. The conversations indicate that Radia asked Dutt & Sanghvi to use their access to the Congress to pass on messages from the DMK.

Most people are shocked to see that two stalwarts of Indian journalism were involved in the lobbying process which has to a great extent tarnished their image. Journalists are not expected to be involved in any sort of deal which may not be monetary in nature but may lead to one party benefiting.

Dutt & Sanghvi are not corrupt but the fact that they were part of the lobbying process is a shameful act. On their part both have denied to have passed on those messages to the Congress leaders. They both claim that they were playing along to extract information and did not pass on those messages.

So what are the charges against these two journalists? No one is alleging corruption charges against them this act is a clear breach of media ethics. Journalism is all about of credibility and if that takes a beating then the journalist’s past track record & image does gets tarnished. Both have accepted that they should have handled Niira in a proper manner.

Journalist as a part of their job to extract information talk to all sorts of people from all walks of life. But there is a thin line between extracting information and divulging details that can benefit the source. Both Dutt & Sanghvi have crossed that line or at least seemed to have crossed that line. Both have done a mistake and should apologize to for that

But this brings me to a bigger question- Can the whole institution (Media) be painted with same brush. Now that is a very narrow & prejudice way at the looking at it. Yes, this incident has raised questions on the ethics followed by journalists but the medium is still fair & honest in its approach. The biggest testimony of that it is that the very same media that has actually made these tapes public without any fear of the whole institution’s image take a beating.

Like any other institution media also has grey areas and these tapes are example of that. So if there is a certain section (which is a small section) that believes that media in general is like that then by that principle – the army will have to also called corrupt because some its top officials were involved in Adarsh scam and the Tehelka scam which broke a few years back. They will also have to call the whole judiciary corrupt because of judges like Justice Dinakaran. Outlook magazine have made 141 tapes public, out which Radia has spoken to over thirty journalists. But the ones who have been found guilty on account of breach of ethics are hardly six to seven. The remaining twenty five odd have come out clean. This clearly shows that it’s not the whole institution that practices poor journalism. There are always a few rotten apples in the basket and it’s important to throw them out before they spoil the basket. And that is what is needed.

The same friend who I mentioned at the beginning of this piece also put a this status message
‘Radia deserves the Padma Bhushan for this expose’

For those people – had it been not this media then the multi crore scams like – CWG games, IPL, Adarsh society & now 2G scam which saw the exit of two cabinet minister, one chief minister & one sports administrator would have never happened. That is the impact of a genuine & vibrant media. Instead of asking for severe punishment for corporate lobbyists who work only & only for the benefit of corporates & politicians this friend of mine is much happier to see media found guilty for once forgetting all the work media has done for so many decades. Well, despite a section of cynic Indians the nation has overcome obstacles and shall continue to in the future as well. As for the media and journalists- this is a big lesson to look within and take corrective measures to ensure that the over all credibility remains intact.

Manmohan, Mahendra & The Media

Manmohan Singh & Mahendra Singh Dhoni have two things in common. Their maiden name starts with ‘M’ & they both have the surname ‘Singh’. Their connection with the media (which also happens to start with M) is quite interesting. Both were not considered as natural leaders at the beginning of their leadership tenures. While Dhoni became an instant hit as captain after winning the T20 championship in 2007, it took Manmohan Singh 5 years to prove his mettle as the effective political leader of India.

When Manmohan Singh was picked up by Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister in 2004, the media called him the wrong choice. The general view point was that Manmohan Singh was reputed & an amazing economist but he lacks the ability to lead a country. Through out his first tenure as PM,he was constantly referred as a ‘weak’ prime minister who was following the directions of 10 Janpath (Sonia Gandhi’s residence). The turn around came in July 2008 when Dr Singh threatened to step down as PM if the nuclear deal bill was not passed. He got full support from Sonia Gandhi and eventually he did manage to achieve the most important goal he had set out in his first tenure as PM. Post the nuclear deal suddenly the media started regarding Dr Singh as a good leader. Congress named Dr Singh as the official prime ministerial candidate for 2009 elections & a direct battle with LK Advani was set (the official PM candidate of the NDA). The media thought he lacked the oratory skills of Advani & would lose a head to head contest. But election 2009 was the turning point for Manmohan Singh’s image. Suddenly he emerged as the darling of the media. In the last few months, many media houses named him as one of the best prime ministers ever!! These are the same media houses which laballed him as the weakest ever just a year back. His opinion amongst the masses saw a dramatic turnaround. Suddenly he was referred as the man who can lead as stronger India in the future. He officially earned the title of ‘Singh is King’.

MS Dhoni had a much easier time becoming the heartthrob of the same media. His 183 against Pakistan brought him under the lime light. But he achieved super stardom by captaining India to a spectacular victory at the T20 championships in 2007. The media declared him as the uncrowned ‘King of India’ after the one day victories in Australia and Sri Lanka and the comprehensive Test victory against Australia. He was proclaimed as the best captain of India by the media in a span of 1 year. But one series changed it all for MSD. The loss at T20 championships in England last month transformed his persona overnight. From ‘Captain Cool’ he became ‘Captain Fool’& ‘Arrogant Dhoni’. Some media channels that use to carry his promotional campaign till a few days back, now wanted him to be dropped as the T20 captain.

These two cases clearly reflect the inconsistent approach of the media. Certain sections of the media have played a very irresponsible role, especially in the case of MSD. Yes, we all are disappointed that India lost and above all played miserably. But that does not mean that they can carry a malicious campaign against a particular individual. One victory cannot discount the 2 years of tremendous leadership that MSD has displayed. Cricket thrives on passion in India and makes a good story for any media house. But when they add more fuel to fire by questioning the ability of an individual based on just 5 matches then it can only be termed as ‘obnoxious journalism’. Similarly the same media had arrived at the conclusion that Manmohan Singh is a weak PM even before he took the oath. One has to give time to a person to prove his calibre. Just because one politician is so unlike his counter parts by not indulging in only lip service but instead believes in doing genuine work with utmost honesty, he cannot be termed ‘weak’. In Dr Singh’s case one thing that has emerged very clear, is that actions speak louder than words.

The media has to be more responsible. It’s a section of the media which creates and twists people’s image day to day based on the event. Like no one series can determine a good captain, similarly certain traits (like ordinary oratory skills) cannot undermine an individual’s potential. Manmohan Singh & MSD both have contributed substantially in their respective fields. Obviously their fields can’t be compared but their commitment & intentions can never be doubted. People & specially the media should be more forth coming and practical. Winning all the time is not possible and cannot be the bottom line all the time. A curious defeat at times is a much bigger victory.

IPL Vs IPL

The summer of 2009 was truly special for televison viewers. The two biggest television events of India took place at the same time. The Indian Premier League in South Africa & the Indian Political League (Elections 2009) kept the audience enthralled from April to May. What made this even more interesting was the fact that, there was a huge clash between the two in March, which saw IPL shifting to South Africa due to security concerns. There was a huge debate on whether it was the right decision to move IPL out of India. It was interesing to see both the reality events clash with each other on the small screen. But who won this battle?



To judge the winner of the television battle would be tough, if we go by the day to day data for both the events.But if we pick up the two most important days for both the events- 16th May, the day elections results were announced & 24th May, the day IPL 2 final was played, then it would be a fair comparison. There are broadly two parameters to judge the success of a event/program on television- 1) Total viewership – the total number of people that tuned in to catch the event & 2) TVR ( Televison Viewership Rating)- This also includes the ‘amount of time spend’ by the audience watching the event. From a commercial perspective, TVR is more important for an advertiser than the total viewership.

The total viewership for Election 2009 results on 16th May, according to, TAM Peoplemeter System (Televison Viewership Agency) was 60 million. Close to 45 million watched the coverage on Hindi news channels, while the remaining 15 million witnessed the political drama unfolding on English news channels. On the otherhand, the IPL 2 final on 24th May, according to aMap (Televison Viewership Agency) was 11.7 million. This was higher than last year’s IPL final.



The TVR for Election 2009 final (16th May) was 10% on Hindi channels & 1.08% on English channels. The combined total for both Hindi & English news channels comes up to 11.08%. Now, the TVR for IPL 2 grand final was 8.3%, slightly lower than last year’s IPL final.Surprisingly for many, Election 2009 emerged as the clear winner in the television battle.
Though one major difference between the two remains that, Elections 2009 threw one clear winner, in the form of UPA. IPL 2, on the other hand had two winners- Deccan Chargers & Lalit Modi (Thanks to the moolah IPL 2 earned).


Published on - http://behindindia.com/india-news-stories/article/ipl-03-06-09-1.html