Noted journalists and editors of print and visual media Vinod Mehta, Mrinal Pande, Sunil Jain and Rajdeep Sardesai spoke their minds at a panel discussion on ‘Radia Tapes and Journalistic Ethics’ at the Press Club of India in New Delhi.  The discussion was moderated by T. R Ramchandran.

 The 2G Spectrum scam is by far the mother of all scams in India until now. Nobody could have imagined a scam involving 170,000 crores of rupees a decade ago.  At the centre of the controversy are A Raja, the erstwhile Communications Minsiter and Nira Radia who was trying to fix the appointment of the communications minister suitable to her moneyed clients so that policies that favoured her clients could be formulated to benefit them.

 That is the extent of rot that has set in. As if that was not enough, there was this alleged involvement of top journalists such as Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi in the whole conspiracy.  Have journalists taken over from power brokers and god men who were being used to fix this kind of deals to avoid detection?  Are journalists really turning into fixers and powerbrokers or are they victims of an illusion to this effect being created by politicians.

 Media has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent years.  First, for sting operations that turned into instruments of blackmail.  Then, for involvement in space-selling operations at the instance of management in the ‘Paid News’ syndrome.  And, now, for allegedly acting as go-betweens in political fixing.

 Are journalists guilty of impropriety? Are their journalistic ethics in question? Can they be pronounced guilty without prior investigation?  The Panelists discussed these any many other issues related to the 2G Scam as it has come to be known.

 On the question of journalistic ethics a lot of cloud was being sought to be brought in during the last few weeks as the journalists in question are rated amongst the top journalists in the country.  But, demystifying all these, Vinod Mehta (Editor-in-Chief, The Outlook)  was forthright in dispelling any grey areas of journalistic ethics in this case.

 Vinod Mehta insisted that the journalists in question were top professionals and they knew very clearly that they were being used as lobbyists.  He stressed that these are fundamentals of journalistic ethics and among the first lessons that are taught to journalists.  He said the rules are very clearly laid out and even cub reporters know them.

 Everything is in black and white and there are no gray areas in this, clarified Vinod Mehta. Political journalists have a special mandate…they are supposed to use the sources…the sources are not supposed to use them.

 The matter related to induction of a telecom minister explained Vinod Mehta.  Radia was doing her job which was public relations and lobbying.  Likewise, journalists are supposed to do their jobs. W e should not exaggerate the enormity of the problem to shield erring journalists.

 The next speaker, Sunil Jain raised some pertinent questions.  He contended that newspapers and television channels have private treaties with organizations.  “Are we saying that we will not work with paid news?” He asked.  Fixing has always been there.  Let us not pretend that we didn’t know about them.

 During the last ten years, Mrinal Pandey has seen editors of English newspapers becoming owners and owners of Hindi language newspapers taking over as editors and IPOs being floated.  This has created obvious problems.  Earlier the owners had no say in editorial decisions but with the disappearance of the dividing line business interests are taking precedence over editorial necessities.  In case of IPOs, the owners owe their loyalty to the shareholders.  Therefore, editorial decisions become a casualty.  And, now we have political parties and politicians owning newspapers and televisions channels. 

 Mrinal Pandey (former Editor of Hindustan) was, however, critical of bloggers and citizen journalists as they are not professionally trained and making sweeping statements. 

 In fact, if you look at it, this is a sweeping statement from a professional journalist.  May be all bloggers are not equipped to carry out responsible journalism.  But, many have been seen to have been bold and forthright in matters where editors sulk under pressure from owners with vested interests and reporters suffer undue editorial intervention.

 Head of CNN-IBN7, Rajdeep Sardesai, turned the whole topic on its head and said that we should celebrate the 2G Scam expose rather than point fingers at journalists.He said this is one of the greatest scams to be exposed and the journalists should get credit for a good job done. 

 Rajdeep acknowledged that a deep rot existed in journalism but that the alleged involvement of top journalists in the scam should at best be viewed as professional misjudgment.  He argued that the journalists in question should be given an opportunity to reply before they are pronounced guilty. 

 One of the journalists present among the audience checked Rajdeep on this and said that the media has pronounced Laloo and Modi guilty though nothing substantial have been proved in the courts of law against them.  If politicians can be pronounced guilty without giving them an opportunity to respond—why not media persons?

 Presently, journalists have less access to the powers-that-be than the kind of access they had decades ago contended Rajdeep Sardesai. So, it is natural for them to cultivate sources.  However, there is worrying proximity among journalists, politician and the corporate world.  It is as fact that the corporate world subverts the system through public relations and lobbying.  But, access comes from proximity.

 Commenting on the journalistic ethics of some of the editors and senior journalists who participated in panel discussions of CNN-IBN7 and were trying to be self-righteous journalists were themselves under the cloud.

 Many journalists get co-opted into the system continued Rajdeep.  He said that sometimes practical necessities throw up ideological, ethical and moral challenges to journalists. Faced with such a situation, some journalists tend to succumb to the situation.

 Purnima Joshi reacted sharply to this.  She contended that the journalists who succumb to such situations are over ambitious.  She added that many of the journalists don’t want to become Barkha Dutt…”

 Another revelation by Rajdeep was that many editors themselves are not above board as far as ethics is concerned.  Out of the 200 editors in the Editor’s Guild, only 20 editors have disclosed their assets after all of them pledged to do so.

 Senior journalist and columnist, Kuldip Nayar, who was among the audience, humoured everyone with his disclosure that he had never heard of Nira Radia before. Taking a dig at factors responsible for the erosion of journalistic ethics, he revealed that he has not been offered any job by anyone since he quit his job decades ago.

 This Panel Discussion was jointly hosted by The Editors’ Guild, The Press Association, Women’s Press Corps of India and Press Club of India.  This marks a welcome change from the Pakistan overdose during the last four years. At last, the Press Club of India is returning to its journalistic roots and becoming a news hub again from the watering hole of journalists and associate members it had turned into.