INDIAN PRESS LIE ABOUT MUSLIMS
Indias Press: Intellectually Poor and Clueless?.
By Krishna Pokharel
The new head of the Press Council of India, former Supreme Court justice Markandey Katju, faces a backlash from the Indian media after he passed withering judgment on the state of journalism in the country during an interview last weekend.
In a statement Tuesday, the Editors Guild of India described Mr. Katjus comments in which he questioned the intelligence of Indian journalists as ill-considered, sweeping and uninformed. The guild, a representative body of the editors of Indian print and broadcast news publications, added that Mr. Katju had touched a new low.
The new head of the Press Council of India has started a war with the same editors he is supposed to oversee by condemning the nations media as divisive, poorly-read and in need of stronger oversight.The Broadcast Editors Association of leading Indian national and regional television news channels also rebuked Mr. Katju in a statement Wednesday. Coming from a person holding an august office, the utterances are extremely disappointing, the association said. It added that it welcomes criticism, but any made in a holier-than-thou fervor defeats the very purpose it is sought to be made for.
Mr. Katju has only been chairman of the Press Council of India since Oct. 5. The council is a government body with representatives from the media, Parliament and elsewhere. Its power is limited to censuring journalists and news outlets for what it sees as journalistic excesses.
In his interview with CNN-IBNs Karan Thapar, Mr. Katju made several observations about the quality, content and functioning of the Indian news media. He admitted he had a poor opinion of the media, arguing that it was not working for the interest of the people and sometimes they are positively working in an anti-people manner.
Referring to the coverage of bomb blasts that have occurred in Indian cities, he said: When you are demonizing the Muslim community within a few hours of a bomb blast, showing that SMS has come, email has come from some Muslim organization, what does it imply?
Rounding on journalists, Mr. Katju said: The majority, Im sorry to say, are of a very poor intellectual level, media people, I doubt whether they have any idea of economic theory or political science, philosophy, literature, I have grave doubts whether they are well read in all this, which they should be.
In its statement Tuesday, the Editors Guild of India said it wishes to remind Mr. Katju that the Indian media is as diverse as it is vigorous, and that while it has drawbacks and shortcomings, on the whole it contributes to the strength of the Indian system.
The editors also objected to Mr. Katju saying he wants electronic media to be brought under the Press Council of India, which would then be renamed as the Media Council and cover all forms of news media. The issues and drivers of the electronic media are such that they call for separate regulation. Therefore the Guild firmly believes that the Press Council should have its brief limited to the print media, as it is at the present, the statement said.
In his interview with Mr. Thapar, Mr. Katju said he has written to the prime minister about bringing electronic media under the councils ambit. He also said he recently met Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, who signaled that her party and the government might have a consensus to bring Mr. Katjus proposals into effect.
Editors were also irked when Mr. Katju said he wanted the Press Council to have more teeth to bite erring media outlets. I want powers to stop government advertisements, I want powers to suspend the license of that media for a certain period if it behaves in a very obnoxious manner. I want powers to impose fines. All this in extreme situations, he said.
The editors again objected. The Guild strongly opposes such powers being given to the Council, especially a Council led by someone who it would seem wants to invoke fear in the media, the editors statement said. Press freedom is a bulwark for the Indian people against the onslaught of people in authority, and the Guild will firmly oppose the assumption of any draconian powers by a Press Council, it added.
Mr. Katju couldnt be reached for comment.
In his television interview, Mr. Katju said every freedom is subject to reasonable restrictions. This is one of the recurring rejoinders to six fundamental rights that the Constitution promises to Indian citizens but which have been left to the judiciary to best decide.
Mr. Katju may be carrying this justice mentality to his new job, but that clearly isnt pleasing the journalists he is supposed to be working with.
Of course, in a country that prides itself on free speech, Mr. Katju has every right to make his views known as the new chairman of the body overseeing the press. We might note, however, that if he considers the press sub-par, then one might reasonably ask whether the press council itself needs to shoulder some responsibility for not acting more harshly against some clear abuses.
We also wonder Mr. Katju would do better to focus on the clear areas where the press is substandard and clearly crosses ethical boundaries the prevalence of paid news springs to mind, where journalists charge for coverage rather than tarnishing the entire industry with his derogatory comments.
And, in the end, are readers not the best people to decide whether they consider what they read to have been put together by able people? If they do not, presumably theyll vote with their subscription money.
That said, we do need to acknowledge that readers did appear to overwhelmingly side with Mr. Katju in his critique of the nations scribes. Every bit of Mr. Katjus allegations are correct, one reader commented. Some 5,000 readers recommended the interview on Facebook.
Indias Press: Intellectually Poor and Clueless? - India Real Time - WSJ
i suggest some of you read the bts above in red. Inda is no place for minorities
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