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Journalism of Courage
There8217;s something about India that makes every western journalist worth his or her salt reach for the pepper. Formidable bylines from Old Blighty or the Big Apple, dispatched to file 8220;colour8221; stories from this part of the world, have lived off India8217;s snake charmers and two-headed calves, whirling dervishes and dowry deaths, 8220;sadhoos8221; and village fairs. For decades, in fact. In the meanwhile, the country may have mo-ved on. But something in the great collective consciousness of the international media resists the registering of change. Some honourable exceptions apart, it prefers to stereotype rather than to study; swoop on the exotic and leave the reality untouched. The blaring Le Figaro headline, Un intouchable a l8217;Elysee an untouchable at the Elysee Palace, for a story on President K.R. Narayanan8217;s current visit to France, should therefore come as no surprise. It betrays an old, familiar mindset.
Call it the great cultural divide, the inevitable sideshow amidst the clash of civilisations, but some journalistic genius out there decided that the only way French readers could be persuaded to look up from their morning coffee-and-croissants and read about the visit of the Indian president was to spice up the news item in this fashion. The news copy that followed the headline was not much better. While commending Narayanan8217;s glorious rise to becoming the President, it rued the fact that 8220;150 million Indian untouchables are as far from power as ever8221;. That is indeed the case, but what is not recognised is that this country has witnessed some memorable struggles against the obnoxious hierarchies of caste; that Indian democracy, at its best, has recognised and responded to the terrible legacy of caste persecution. But is Le Figaro seriously interested in all this? Not really.
