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Journalism of Courage
The more competition there is in any field, the better for the consumer and, eventually, for the industry itself, right? So this newspaper has argued, maintaining that competition empowers consumers who then force underperformers to sharpen their act or bow out. Sadly, recent experience of the visual media in India seems to stand this wisdom on its head. The anxiousness to please the powers that be by Rupert Murdoch8217;s Star TV, as reported in detail by this newspaper, is nothing short of disgraceful. Can this deferential troupe, one eye fixed avariciously on obtaining permission for direct-to-home satellite transmission, be expected impartially and in a hard-nosed way to confront politicians and public figures for the enlightenment of a public whose credulity and patience have long been tried by Doordarshan? The Indian Express has, aside from those which had a vested interest in such a thing, consistently argued that the print medium should also be thrown open to foreign investors. Greater financial resources,it was believed, would give media publishers greater staying power and independence. But Rupert Murdoch8217;s brazenness and Star TV8217;s genuflections are proof that Indian viewers would be foolish to look to a shade more independent journalism from private television, and that certainly such good luck is not coming their way through the aegis of Rupert Murdoch. What has happened instead, as some observers say, is the purchase of India8217;s 8220;creative classes8221; with this money. If buying up journalistic integrity and throwing media values to the winds is a necessary concomitant to foreign presence in the media, perhaps India could do without it.
It was probably naive to expect things to be different. Murdoch has a formidably negative track record to defend. Not only was he singlehandedly responsible for the dumbing-down8217; of the serious British Press, he also dropped the BBC like a hot potato from the Star network in China when the BBC8217;s uncompromising reporting became a thorn in Beijing8217;s side. In the current rushof stories on how Murdoch, part owner of Harper Collins, personally intervened to drop the publication of former Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten8217;s book 8212; again for fear of offending China 8212; his The Times has failed even to run stories on it. But other papers are awash with reports of how Murdoch8217;s employees had to constantly worry about offending his business concerns. Good business sense, but surely journalism of a poor sort?
