Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 16, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Friday, Nov 16, 2007 ePaper |
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British journalist Sir Harold Evans delivering the K.C. Mammen Mappilla Memorial Lecture in New Delhi on Thursday. NEW DELHI: Describing identity politics as the biggest menace to a plural multiethnic democracy, celebrated British journalist Sir Harold Evans on Thursday said foreign ownership of the media would not serve a complex and sensitive society like India. Delivering the K.C. Mammen Mappilla Memorial Lecture here on ‘Freedom of the Press in an Age of Violence’, Sir Harold spoke out against the national press being dominated in any sector by foreign ownership. Though against any custom barrier to ideas and information, he said: “Newspapers and broadcasting media in complex, sensitive societies like India, in particular, would not be well served by foreign ownership that is blind to the traditions and subtleties; in fact, [it] sees culture only as a marketplace.” Also, according to him, ownership of media by conglomerates — “bundles of different businesses in which the press is but one” — has yet to prove a blessing to journalism anywhere. Favouring family-owned publications which regard newspapers as a “public trust,” he said: “Conglomerates hate the risk, expense and discord inevitable in investigations of any kind of which the investigation of corruption and violence is the riskiest.” Speaking out against identity politics, Sir Harold — who has been voted by journalists as the Greatest British Editor of All Times — described the Godhra and Gujarat riots as stains on India’s reputation and heritage. “Identity politics are most menacing to a plural multiethnic democracy when political parties exploiting the emotions of a single identity forsake reason and peaceful persuasion for street violence.” In this regard, he was appreciative of Tehelka for its recent sting operation on the Gujarat carnage. Referring to the criticism in India of the sting operation on the ground that it would provoke more violence, he described this argument as “moral blackmail.” The Hindu also came in for mention in his lecture while making a point on freedom being indivisible like justice. “When a newspaper or TV station is under attack for doing its job — as The Hindu has been in the Tamil Nadu State [in 2003] — its competitors, once satisfied of the accuracy of the reporting, should not hesitate to cover the case, and, on its merits come to its support. We must not get hung up on competitive jealousies.” Further, Sir Harold cautioned journalists against “becoming a tool of terror” and falling for the temptation to follow the official line “out of a mistaken sense of patriotism.” Referring to bombings that leave a long trail of bodies, he posed questions: “If you publish the hideous videos of beheadings jihadis circulate or display the image of a hooded hostage, are you not doing exactly as the killers wish – creating terror by becoming a tool of terror? Or are you exposing the jaws of the beast? Are you exercising freedom or are you indulging in the pornography of violence?” Urging journalists to remember that the “right we exercise to ask and argue is a derived right” and that the media claim no greater civil liberties than those of the ordinary citizen, Sir Harold, during a short question-answer session that followed, underlined the need to respect citizens’ privacy. As for crusade/activist journalism, he said it should be anchored in thorough research.
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