The meltdown

"Bapu, the government spends a fortune to ensure that you live a simple and austere life," Sarojini Naidu had told Mahatma Gandhi sometime during the British rule. That, of course, may not be known to the howling brigade, who have clearly taken the borrowed right of freedom of speech and expression from the people for granted.    

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hoped that history will be kinder to him than the contemporary media and Opposition. That will be known only in future, but would the history be kinder to Indian journalism of past few weeks, particularly in Delhi, must be a subject of debate now and right now. Because in the last four weeks, Indian media -- TV, wholly; and print, substantially -- have forgotten that their primary role is to report and critique.

An editor ranking journalist opined that BJP mascot Narendra Modi is finished and Aam Admi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal would make strong impact in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This would hardly concern, for each person is the king of his mental faculty, but what followed then should alarm most.

When asked if the same ferocious critiquing was being done for Arvind Kejriwal as had been done to Modi, the journalist startled with the reply. "No. We are not doing that to Kejriwal. He should get a chance. People are tired of corruption," he quipped, allowing a semblance of Aam Admi to take over his journalistic senses. 

He is not alone in his opinion that Kejriwal should get a chance. One TV editor tweeted that Kejriwal should get 100 days at least before he is judged. Other TV editors have given ample demonstration, that they would love to pamphleteer for AAP.

John Simpson, the famed BBC broadcaster, had chronicled and critically reviewed British journalism during two World Wars in his celebrated book "Unreliable sources". He found both shallow and brilliance in those period among the British journalists. 

If Simpson were to undertake a relatively simple task to review Indian journalism, particularly those in Delhi, for a period, say, four recent weeks, one may hazard a guess that he would find majority of the media houses with their pants down. 

AAP leader and lawyer Prashant Bhushan welcoming Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a Leftist, in his party.

Simpson would easily find that Delhi media were not only taking sides of AAP but were the campaigner of this party. Thus, the newspapers splashed AAP coverage, disproportionate to what it could have actually commanded, and thereby disadvantaged its political rivals, say Congress and BJP.

Furthermore, the constant drum-beating for AAP in TV channels without seriously examining its policies and in fact demanding to know them did succeed in establishing the party in Delhi, which has 99 per cent cable penetration. People discovered after Kejriwal was sworn in that his party favoured referendum on deployment of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir and also in Maoist affected areas and that this outfit believed in subsidising the middle class at the expanse of the poor and so on.

In fact, on the first day of the iconic fast-unto-death undertaken by Aana Hazare at Jantar Mantar in April 2011, one TV reporter too had joined the Gandhian by keeping fast and working too. But his news channel did not know that the reportage was thus compromised and hence he was not sacked, as would have been the case with any professional organisations. Kejriwal then used to drum his support among reporters and liberally employed journalists at his Public Cause and Research Foundation (PCRF) NGO. And thus Kejriwal infiltrated media in a way, that no one could imagine.

And so we see a daily overdose of AAP in print and TV channels. So, the same story wearing the cloth of news appears that Kejriwal refuses security, launches helpline numbers, etc. Initially, they were falling over to brand Kejriwal another Mahatma Gandhi being the icon of simplicity, as he chose only a 10-room duplex for his office-cum-residence. If not for the social media, which reminded them of Mamata Banerjee, Manik Sarkar and Manohar Parrikar, just to name a few, living in much smaller homes, Delhi media would have by now certified Kejriwal another Gandhi.

"Bapu, the government spends a fortune to ensure that you live a simple and austere life," Sarojini Naidu had told Mahatma Gandhi sometime during the British rule. That, of course, may not be known to the howling brigade, who have clearly taken the borrowed right of freedom of speech and expression from the people for granted.