The image trap

If for nothing else, the BJP certainly deserves an A Plus for media management. Not only does it have a formal media division headed by senior party functionaries and sympathetic journalists which systematically grades newspapers and television programmes according to its own BJP-friendly index, the party has in Pramod Mahajan a pro-active minister of information and broadcasting. Now no one can accuse Mahajan of not taking his job seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has his own informal cell gathering its own information on news presentation in both the print and visual media, with the conclusions reached then being duly broadcast to the concerned editors and TV network presidents.

If this is done for the relatively benign purposes of deepening and strengthening news values in Indian media and promoting values like freedom of information, and so on, there would be no great quarrel with such a display of overzealousness. But it does appear from all accounts that these exercises border on themanipulative. They, in fact, seriously serve to undermine the freedom of the media. The very fact that there is a Big Brother out there constantly watching the scene does not particularly make for an atmosphere that is conducive to free and fair coverage. After all, it is the government and the highest functionaries in the land that are doing the monitoring and lesser mortals like media personnel may find it more convenient and comfortable to fall in line. Besides, the Iamp;B minister seems to follow the classic carrot-and-stick routine. While his disapproval over perceived 8220;biases8221; is subtly conveyed to 8220;erring8221; editors and mediapersons, he is also willing to farm out lucrative airtime on Doordarshan8217;s new 24-hour news channel to those whom he believes deserve to be thus honoured. In other words, he and his party colleagues make it very difficult for media personnel to distance themselves from the ruling party, as their profession demands them to do.

The media, like the executive, the judiciary and thelegislature, is guided by its own rules and values. If one infringes upon the other, the delicate mechanism that makes the democratic clockwork tick, is destroyed. It is also not a coincidence that all this flurry of media scrutiny is taking place in the run up to the elections. This is the period when the media must necessarily conduct itself in as exemplary a fashion as possible, showing neither fear nor favour to any of the parties in the electoral race. The ruling party would therefore be advised to let its own record speak for itself rather than try and tamper with the evidence. Indeed, if it has nothing to hide and everything to celebrate, as its spokespersons never fail to remind the electorate, that is even more reason why it should keep its hands off the media. For starters, the Iamp;B minister could set an example and dissolve his extra-constitutional media cell.