Is Media right or are we wrong?
“It is the press, above all, which wages a positively fanatical and slanderous struggle, tearing down everything which can be regarded as a support of national independence, cultural elevation, and the economic independence of the nation.” These are not the words of a democrat but those of Adolf Hitler!
For someone who tore into human freedom, broke down laws and made new ones to create a path for his own ideology based on crazy fantastic ideas, Hitler must know what prompted him. The context is not known at the time of scribbling this but the words reflect on the role of modern media in enabling the rights of the common man. Without the media, undoubtedly, one cannot question tyranny, defend fundamental rights and initiate social or economic changes. But what happens when the media moguls convert their platforms into avenues to score against their own enemies, bring down rules that just didn't agree with them or create a furore that may usher in a new world order. As the common men like us have the right to speak and act as per provisions of the constitution, the media also have their own rights to create whatever they deem fit, the only difference being, they need to act responsibly. A story carried without research or responsibility can make or break lives of people, water down relevant issues and bring in unproductive debates that will end up being time wasting exercises, unless we let them be the stooges of politicians who purposely create such issues or initiate them to either deviate from a hotly debated topic and divert the attention of the readers or viewers to another topic that may be sensuously attractive.
But as I said, the media is also a business, even though we may believe that it is the fourth pillar of democracy. Like any other business, they also need to compete with rivals to remain in the reckoning, pay salaries and prep up to face market backlashes. They need to be in the news themselves to remain afloat, especially in these times when everyone with a mobile phone and a blog column can run a feast and make the right noises that could replicate what a media house can do with ten people! What every media business house, hence, needs something fresh each day, something that has a News Peg!
A News peg is an aspect or angle of a story that makes it newsworthy! If a media house doesn't get enough of these stories, they may go out of business. And all these reporters and journalists who arm themselves with pens and microphones to save us, hapless people, from the evils and perils that surround us, will be jobless!!
I have been interacting with media from the 90s. From my city to state to national and international media, I have faced them constantly on a number of occasions related to my work, be it corporate or entertainment. What each press person needs from a Press meet or an interview is the News Peg, a situation that will get his story a space on the front page on his broadsheet or on the prime time telecast. If he doesn't have it in his story, it won't see the screen or page. How do they get this peg then? If the person sitting on the dais, opposite to the report is smart enough, he can make this story a routine, mundane and boring experience!
So what does our man with the pen or microphone do? He has to survive, he has EMIs too and his bosses are famished and needs enough to gorge. He has been given the liberal right to ask any question, be it the high and the mighty or the low and the laity. And if its a boring, routine, mundane stuff that is doled out of the media desk, this poor pressman is impoverished. He also gets famished and thirsty. He needs meat, he needs his fluids. Where does he get it if his antagonist is boring?
He has to be proactive and make a News Peg himself! How does he do it? He will rephrase and paraphrase his question in a way that he will ensure that he irritates the man on the dais, who has not come prepared to face a deviant question! And he falls into the trap!! Whose fault is it? One should know what to expect and men in politics should know this as a cardinal rule if they have to face the media. They should remember that when they face the media, they are facing people, not because all media houses represent the people; but people certainly base their opinions on the reports filed by the news hungry reporters, and they are the real masters of our politicians who think their words cream the bun. Not always!
I was addressing a set of international media in 2012 in Dubai when the brand that i was heading had just signed up Pakistani Captain Younis Khan as the Brand Ambassador! During the Press meet and after routine Q&A, a Malayali TV journalist present popped this question to me. “You are an Indian Brand. Why do you want a Pakistani cricketer as your brand representative?” Almost instantly my instincts told me, I am in for trouble. If I make a wrong sentence, tomorrow I will be a horror story and my EMIs will get stuck. I knew what this guy wanted was his News Peg!! Despite the novelty of having Younis Khan, I am sure he was yawning all through the Meet. I addressed him by his name and told him, “Sir, here is an International cricketer who have scored over 8000 test runs and captained an international team to a world cup victory. He is a thorough gentleman and cricket is a gentleman's game and we are a gentleman brand!!
Amidst a loud round of applause, the press meet was adjourned for Dinner. Younis Khan went to his hotel smiling and I went home, thanking god!!
We need to know whether we want to give them what they want or to give them what we want!! As responsible people doling our news, we need to ask ourselves whether we want to give the media a story or stories or do we want to become the story. There is no point in assuming media houses are here to malign a political dogma or displace a government. It is their job to make news and we cannot deprive them of their livelihood. They have the cover of the same provisions of freedom that we have to protect ours.
Leaders, both in business and politics are generally masters in manipulating the media and twisting their pens and mics into making the noises they want. They are the really far sighted people who knows the tricks of the trade and plays them on their own court, with a serve and volley game. If a leader loses his temper and shouts out expletives, uses gestures and aggressive rhetoric to thwart the patterns of media, they are not only unbecoming of a statesman, but are sure to be feasted upon.
What is happening currently in Kerala is a cacophony created by the dogma vs business. Communists have never had a free leash by the media, constantly nagging them and sniffing even their knickers whenever they are in power. The Congressmen can do anything and get away but a communist cannot. Why so? The communists are people friendly and therefore needs to live a life of high moral standards and understandably so. Their words, acts and gestures will be monitored and interpreted at a minuscule level by the News peg hungry pressmen. That is a reality and that reality sells.
The role of the PRD (Public relations department) is to create a plan whereby such mud slinging can be prevented. They are, like the media, paid employees who needs to spring into action. If the king is naked, these PRD officials should garner enough courage to say it to the King, lest the media will have him for breakfast. The King should know that his men just do not have the guts to put him in place as they are worried about their own EMIs too.
“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” ― Albert Camus
Sujil Chandra Bose