Hamaam mei Sab Nange Hai

The WIRE vs META Saga

“If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're misinformed.” – Mark Twain.

The tragedy of Indian mainstream media today is that even if you read the newspapers you are both: uninformed and misinformed. Uniformed about what they do not cover and misinformed about what they do. ?Anyone relying solely on newspapers, will not be aware of the WIRE versus META saga that unfolded in October 2022.?Two newspapers: The Hindustan Time & Mint read by this writer,?both did not cover the Wire versus Meta story as a news item.?But Mint’s excellent Monday columnist Manu Joseph wrote on The Wire fiasco in his usual witty way:

When activists look like pawns in a war against Meta | Mint (livemint.com)?

This was after the fake story that The Wire had done against Meta blew up and Manu Joseph has a track record of taking on many so-called high priests of Indian Journalism.?He was the editor of Open magazine that had published the Nira Radia story.??What was that Nira Radia story about???An in-house courtroom-like drama by NDTV on the controversy sums it up well.??

Barkha Dutt, other editors on Radia tapes controversy (ndtv.com)

Forget the Hindustan Times group, most publications sealed their lips on the Wire versus Meta story.?If anyone is aware of the story it is only through social media.?The right wing obviously has had a field day.?They had called out the story as fabricated at the first instance.?A few questions arise from the story and its coverage:

Can a media house have an anti x y z stance or a pro a b c stance??Yes, they can. Only thing is that they must declare it upfront.??The WIRE does not mention anywhere that it is anti-BJP or anti-government.??All it mentions in its About Us Section is that they will be independent, not attached to any corporate house, for the reader and funded by the reader.???It does not mention anywhere of its leftist ideology and most associated with them are somehow related to leftist or anti-right thought.?

For all its homilies, it is funded only 9.5% by readers.?The rest of the money comes from trusts backed by corporates.?So instead of corporates paying by the right pocket (the business pocket), they are paying by the left pocket (the empathy pocket).??On the other hand, SwarajayMag.com is very clear – its tagline is Read India Right.?Also, its one-line descriptor is clear: Swarajya - a big tent for liberal right-of-centre discourse that reaches out, engages and caters to the new India.??No beating around the bush about objectivity and all the usual trope that journalists like to dish out about themselves.??Even OpIndia is also clear about its positioning – News and opinion website that brings you reports and narratives from a perspective often ignored or suppressed by the mainstream media of India.?That the mainstream media is infested with leftist liberal jamaat dishing their narrative is left unsaid but understood.?

The second question that arises is how does one remain informed and correctly informed???Simply read all shades of opinion.?All have their biases.?They will act on their biases by printing stories favouring their bias and ignoring what does meet their bias.?In Behavioural Finance, our biases are hidden from ourselves, but in journalism fortunately they carry their biases on their sleeve, not hidden from anyone, though they may wax eloquent about their objectivity.?

This is of significant consequence relating to economic news and views.?If one invested on the basis of the tone of the coverage and commentary of the economy in pink papers one would feel that India is some riot-infected place with no peace and harmony, and one should stay away. In Arthur Hailey’s fiction “In high places”, the character who is the Canadian Prime Minister comments that the editors have solutions to all the problems, but what about the problems created by the solutions suggested by the editors themselves??? Thankfully investors, whether portfolio or direct, do not make their decisions based on these newspapers. There is now a conscious awareness of the bias of mainstream media filled with leftists and liberals.

Will Mark Zuckerberg be happy? On a day when the Meta Stock craters 24%, a small victory against a tinpot leftist rag would be no solace. Meta lost market cap due to missed numbers and The Wire lost credibility due to missed editorial rigour. There are some wars where there are no victors, but defeats come not from direct opponents but from another force, in both cases internal.

PS: As is write this, The Economist and a few global media companies have covered the story.?Television media started coverage yesterday, and mainstream newspapers- there is still the omerta code of silence. ???