Bengaluru: In the last fifty years, Indian media has progressed from families crowding around crackling radios to catch the newscasts to an era of TV channels jostling for high ratings and social media making writers of every person with access to the internet. “There is both good and bad in this, some aspects of new media are very encouraging and others that are disappointing,” said S. Nihal Singh, as he looked back at the fifty-odd years of his distinguished career as a journalist.
Singh, who now writes a weekly column Talking Turkey for Deccan Chronicle, was delivering a lecture titled “Indian Media: Sheep in Wolves' Clothing”, organised by the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media.
“Emergency was a period of looking around and watching newspapers surrender to censorship without a fight,” said Singh. When a member of the audience asked him how he sees Indian media respond to a similar situation today, he said, “I hope they will fare better, but to be honest, I'm not quite sure they will.” Singh described the Emergency, during which he served as the Delhi Editor for The Statesman, as “a reflection of the lack of depth of freedom of expression. Everyone gave in; the values of democracy in India today are quite shallow.”
The advent of television news brought about the change the Indian media so badly needed. “Reporters were forced to go to the spot to cover an event. Now, we also have a plethora of mediums.” This does come with its own set of dangers, he reiterated. “Because of social media, everyone thinks they are a journalist. A true journalist needs to be trained, because a lot of what they do depends on objectivity. Today, we have all kinds of extremist views floating around.” The corporatisation of news is another very real danger, he added. “The big corporates own channels and the news is subject to the pressures of one’s own economic interests. The depth of our commitment to democracy is not so great.”
Accountability, he feels, is the key and it stems completely from the middle class. “We are only as good as the middle class wants us to be. Journalists are not the only ones responsible for honest media, we need readers who are aware too, who will object when things go wrong,” he said.
“Indians are very insular people. We see the world as an extension of our own beliefs, instead of seeing things as they are. With social media making journalists of even those who have no training or aptitude, we are looking at partisan warfare, despite the fact that new media has great possibilities,” he said.
Singh takes an openly critical view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - his book, The Modi Myth, will be released in Bengaluru on Sunday, at the Bangalore International Centre. “The idea of people close to Modi acquiring the media is not worrisome,” he said, in response to a question. “Modi changed the way things worked, with his extensive campaign and the holograms and the networking. It’s a new ball game now and a deadly one at that.”
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