The Fourth Estate

         No news is good news. True, but for whom? If the frenzy of the various TV channels and the print media, to pounce upon and sensationalise anything and everything is any indication, then,  no news is very bad news for at least one section of the society, the Fourth Estate.

     Responsible,unbiased reporting and honest investigative journalism can indeed be strong pillars of a society and can act as pressure blocs for keeping in focus, that which requires to be brought to the public eye. Unfortunately, in the blitz of News, News and still more News, that we are now being flooded with, the veracity and quality of news, even the motivation behind a particular story seems to be governed by a lot more, or perhaps , one should say, a lot less than honest reporting.

    There was a report in the “Hindu” of 18^th April, about a wall that had been built in Uthapuram village of Madurai District in Tamil Nadu, by the Caste Brahmins to deny public space access to the  Dalits in the village. The village, it is reported ,has a long history of caste animosity and saw the erection of this wall, following clashes in 1990. One understands therefore, that this event took place nearly 18 years ago .What has brought this wall into focus again , is that it was being electrified during the night, for the previous ten days.

     “The Dalits in Uthapuram village do not visit the teashops owned by caste Hindus. They are not allowed to enter the streets dominated by a particular caste. They are denied space in village squares and community halls and access to burial grounds”, the report says.

    Surely, such things should not be happening. Fortunately, as it says in the news item, prompt action was taken by the Electricity Department , after this issue was raised in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, following an earlier report in  the Hindu. The power line passing through the wall, has been removed. So far , so good.

   Personally, I like the balance and lack of sensationalism of news reporting of the Hindu and I really had  no reason to doubt the authenticity of the news. But then , the next day,  I chanced upon the following letter in the section of “Letters to the Editor” , witten by S.P..Murugesan of Tirupur :

     “I belong to the Uthapuram village. Dalits constitute a majority in the village and the so-called caste Hindus are in a minority. In 1964 and 1989, there was violence between the communities, which affected the Dalits as well as the caste hindus. Other than these two major incidents, there have been no caste tensions and the communities have been co-existing peacefully. Dalits move freely in the village purchasing grocery from caste Hindus and the latter buy their vegetables from the dalits. Even the Panchayat President was elected with the help of caste Hindus’ votes.

     The caste hindus constructed the wall on their land(for which they have a patta) with a view to protecting themselves and not for the reasons reported. Some vested interests are trying to portray a picure of caste discrimination in the village. I request officials and the media to visit Uthapuram and ascertain facts for themselves.”

     Now, this letter could also be a motivated attempt to salvage the image of those practicing discrimination or it could be the truth. How is a reader, sitting far away from the scene of the event being reported, to gauge which of the versions is true?

      There was a time, long ago, when I naively used to think that if something is published in a newspaper, then it had to be the truth, for it would be subject to public scrutiny and countered by those concerned, if it was not a factual representation. Now I realize, that it is not as simple as that.

     A year after(anniversary) the incident of the discovery of the remains of children , who had gone missing in Nithari, there were several visits to the area, by the media. Saksham, an NGO, who runs an informal school in the locality had many such visits, mostly because it is a convenient place for those wanting to interact with the kids in the area, who belong to the same background as those who had become victims. The usual questions were bandied about…how did they react initially, are they scared to move about now, do they stay put in their homes, do they go to the nearby park to play and so on and so forth and then they conclude, because that is the angle they had already decided upon , that yes, the kids are living with trauma every moment of their lives.

    And that is not to be contradicted. How can children not be affected by something so bizarre happening so close to them. What is not given focus, is the fact that  many of these kids face trauma on a daily basis for a variety of other reasons as well -domestic violence, beatings by alchoholic fathers, uncertainty of livelihood, physical abuse and so on.  In spite of all that, there is a certain robustness in them, an awesome joy that is locked up in their young hearts that forces itself through and blossoms with even a little bit of sustenance. That , sadly, is not featured , for to see  that, one would have to spend a little more time than that assigned for a “story” for the next news edition, the “relevance” of which would be lost ,in a particular context,  if not aired or printed in time.

     A photographer, who had accompanied a journalist of a particular newspaper to Nithari, had clicked photographs of several of the children . These photographs were used in the Hindi edition of that Newspaper, for quotes on what different children had lined up for celebrating the New Year. Here are a few samples:

 Ganga: “ New year ke liye hum nainital ja rah hain. Vahan hum apne rishtedaron ke saath ja raha hain.Wahan jjake hum khoob maje karenge aur enjoy karenge.Nainital ke packing abhi se shuroon kar di hamne. Bahut khushi ho rahi hain wahan jaane ka soch kar.Thand mein new year ka mazaa aur hi hain. Khoob choclate karidoonga aur doston mein bhaantkar maze se Khayyonga. Mein apne dodton ke liye uphaar bhi kharidoonga”

Ganga lives in a small room in Nithari. Her father, who was a paralytic for many years, passed away recently. Her mother and elder sister work as household helps. Ganga has two other siblings, younger to her. She is now studying in the 9^th standard in the Govt. Sr. Secondary school. In the evenings, she earns Rs,500/p.m at Saksham, teaching the basics of literacy to the smaller children. The reporter  hadn’t even bothered to match the(mis) quote with the gender of the person saying it. Or perhaps , he or she was a mallu?J

Nitish: “ New Year ke din khayenge, peeyenge , aish karenge aur kya?Aise mauke pe dance party se achcha kya hoga? Mujhe dance ka bahut shaukh hain.Isliye hum disco jaayenge, gharwalon ke saath. Wahan dance karne ke baad restaurant me khaana khayenge aur naya saal ka swagat karenge.”

  Nitish’s father works as a mistry with a building contractor. He is the only earning member of the family with four children. Very bright kids. The eldest , Sunil qualified in the entrance exam for admission to Navodaya Vidhyalaya and is now studying in the Gahaziabad school. Like Ganga’s family, they stay in a small rented room. Disco? Restaurant me khana?

Mumtaz: “New year har baar aakar chala jaata hain. Is baar bhi vaisa hi hoga. Ghar par hi rahoongi new year ke din. Apni pocket money se kuch paise bachaya hain. Unse mein garib bachchon ke liye garm kapade kharidoongi. Mummy ne mujhe is baat ka idea diya hain. Hume kisi cheez ke kami nahi hain. Mummy papa sab de dete hain. Doston ke saath milkar aisi party humne pehli baar rakhi hain. Isliye bahut khushi ho rahi hain.”

    The father of Mumtaz and her brother Azharuddin, who has been quoted as saying that he will have a party at home, with his friends,  is a tailor by profession. He works in a garment export factory, sometimes double shift,s to maintain his family.Both the children, have been coming to Saksham, since they were small kids. Both of them are now studying in the 9^th std. in the Govt. Sr. Sec. School. Like Ganga, Mumtaz comes to Saksham in the evenings to teach little kids, in a way, giving back what they had derived from there.   The spirit of the quote is very much alive in Mumtaz . I wonder if the reporter will ever come to realize that.

     The above are a few samples. There were many  more such misquotes.

    These kids knew nothing of the words that were thrust into their mouths. It was only when some of their classmates at school started making fun of them, for talking big that they became aware of the mis-reporting. It was a huge shock to them and a cause for a lot of embarrassing moments . But who cares? They had their feature published on New year’s eve, which was all that mattered them.

     When the reporter was contacted , the explanation was that the English and hindi editions functioned separately and that she was not aware of how the mistake came about and may be she is right. But somebody was responsible for this irresponsible feature.

   I personally know several people in the field of journalism who take their work very seriously and have loads of integrity. But then, there are others. ….One would be well advised not to believe everything that is put forth as “News”.

P.S:   Thanks if you read this throughJ