The Jan Lok Pal Bill movement is awash with mudslinging on the civil society participants of the drafting committee. Anonymous CD's claiming the Bhushans can fix sitting Supreme Court justices, land allotment "scams" created on the fly, stamp duty "evasion" discovered overnight, Santosh Hegde being told he's partial and politically motivated, and who knows what else yet to come.
What saddens me most is the role of the media. I don't see a single media house even *attempting* investigative journalism. Instead it's all about hurling microphones in the face of civil society activists and asking questions that range from irrelevant to downright stupid.
To elaborate, when the CD controversy emerged, the Bhushans got the CD verified by two independent and respectable laboratories in India and the US. Their findings were made public. Responsible journalism would have analyzed the track record of the laboratories, what the findings exactly stated, where else the laboratories had weighed in, the impact of their analyses in the past and therefore the probability of their analysis being correct (or otherwise) in this instance.
Instead, to date the media continues to say the Bhushans "claim" the CD is doctored, while harping about a government laboratory claiming the CD isn't doctored. The government laboratory, in a CYA measure, also stated that it needed further inputs to be sure. That of course has been lost in the noise.
It would, of course, be laughable to suggest that the media has done *any* investigation into the techniques and equipment used for analysis by the various laboratories. No one in the media has made ANY attempt to find out who is behind the CD either.
All of this makes me wonder whether the media is as uncomfortable with a strong Lok Pal Bill being implemented as are the corrupt who are clearly trying to scuttle it. Have the media denizens gotten so used being thrown generous scraps by the corrupt political class? We have heard of enough scandals that involve our media "stalwarts" who brazenly continue to be on air despite ample evidence indicting them.
Now, to another point.
The Bhushans, Santosh Hegde, Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare are honest, upright people who are NOT personally corrupt.
Let's, for a hypothetical moment, assume that all of the civil society participants are indeed corrupt to the core. Why, then would they be trying to draft an anti-corruption bill against THEMSELVES? And -- isn't it then in the interest of the nation to have a strong Lok Pal Bill under which they can then be prosecuted?
I support the civil society activists and all their hard work in trying to make the Lok Pal Bill a reality. I trust that other fellow Indians are wise enough to not fall for mindless sound bites and give this nation a chance to move out of the quagmire of corruption it has descended into. The results of various polls conducted by diverse sources give me hope. We the people of India WANT a strong Jan Lok Pal Bill, support our civil society activists, and can see through the media shenanigans.
To conclude -- a word of advice to the media. Use the time until the Lok Pal Bill becomes reality to clean up your act instead of siding with the corrupt to try and scuttle it.
Satyamev Jayate.
PS: More about the Bhushans here.
What saddens me most is the role of the media. I don't see a single media house even *attempting* investigative journalism. Instead it's all about hurling microphones in the face of civil society activists and asking questions that range from irrelevant to downright stupid.
To elaborate, when the CD controversy emerged, the Bhushans got the CD verified by two independent and respectable laboratories in India and the US. Their findings were made public. Responsible journalism would have analyzed the track record of the laboratories, what the findings exactly stated, where else the laboratories had weighed in, the impact of their analyses in the past and therefore the probability of their analysis being correct (or otherwise) in this instance.
Instead, to date the media continues to say the Bhushans "claim" the CD is doctored, while harping about a government laboratory claiming the CD isn't doctored. The government laboratory, in a CYA measure, also stated that it needed further inputs to be sure. That of course has been lost in the noise.
It would, of course, be laughable to suggest that the media has done *any* investigation into the techniques and equipment used for analysis by the various laboratories. No one in the media has made ANY attempt to find out who is behind the CD either.
All of this makes me wonder whether the media is as uncomfortable with a strong Lok Pal Bill being implemented as are the corrupt who are clearly trying to scuttle it. Have the media denizens gotten so used being thrown generous scraps by the corrupt political class? We have heard of enough scandals that involve our media "stalwarts" who brazenly continue to be on air despite ample evidence indicting them.
Now, to another point.
The Bhushans, Santosh Hegde, Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare are honest, upright people who are NOT personally corrupt.
Let's, for a hypothetical moment, assume that all of the civil society participants are indeed corrupt to the core. Why, then would they be trying to draft an anti-corruption bill against THEMSELVES? And -- isn't it then in the interest of the nation to have a strong Lok Pal Bill under which they can then be prosecuted?
I support the civil society activists and all their hard work in trying to make the Lok Pal Bill a reality. I trust that other fellow Indians are wise enough to not fall for mindless sound bites and give this nation a chance to move out of the quagmire of corruption it has descended into. The results of various polls conducted by diverse sources give me hope. We the people of India WANT a strong Jan Lok Pal Bill, support our civil society activists, and can see through the media shenanigans.
To conclude -- a word of advice to the media. Use the time until the Lok Pal Bill becomes reality to clean up your act instead of siding with the corrupt to try and scuttle it.
Satyamev Jayate.
PS: More about the Bhushans here.
Excellent blog! The media is being the least responsible as always and that makes my blood boil! I don't understand how common sense and simple detective skills are so lacking but then I don't think they are lacking but they are choosing not to use them as this is "sansani" khabar and they are in the pockets of the corrupt!
ReplyDeleteRuchika Kumar