“I have been in the field of journalism since 1985 and I can say for sure that free press is nothing but a myth. It exists nowhere in the world. However for the last 4 or 5 years news websites have popped up, about which it can be said that they are free press and people’s media,” said Mr. Ajit Sahi, a very well renowned journalist, at the weekly programme organised by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind at its headquarters in the Capital on Mar 17. Mr. Sahi addressed the eager audience on “Freedom of Press: Truth or Imagination.”
He initiated his talk by narrating an incident which happened to him a few years ago when he was addressing a gathering at Delhi University. “Everything was going fine until some students of ABVP stormed the place and spat on SAR Geelani and shouted slogans like Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram. Next day almost all the newspapers reported that such treatment was meted out to Geelani as he shouted slogans of Bharat Murdabad and distributed anti-Indian pamphlets. This is how things are moulded as per the requirements,” said Sahi.
He not only painted the picture of Indian media, but talked about the biasness of the media all across the globe. He gave the example of the recent “Occupy Wall Street’ campaign and said mainstream media of the country never mentioned about the campaign. “Recession was covered extensively by the press but no one bothered to expose the people who were and are responsible for the recession. Instead banks were given loans in order to sustain themselves,” he said.
Sahi classified the media into three categories; First type is the one which is backed by political parties and are mouthpiece of the organisations. For example, People’s Democracy is backed by Communist party in India. Second type is the government-owned media like Doordarshan and Prasar Bharti. And the third type of media is the one which claims to be free press like TOI, Dainik Bhaskar, NDTV, NYTimes, Washington Post, etc.
However, he said, this free press is also not free as it also has its own biases. Owners of free media are rich businessmen who work for the interests of corporate. They publish only those news items which are in the interests of the corporate and do not bother to publish the other side of the picture, which is the people’s perspective. He referred to the term ‘corporate media,’ coined by Noam Chomsky and said it is the corporate that are moulding and manufacturing the news so as to suit to their interests. He gave examples of Arun Poorie’s Thomson Press, NGO and Vasant Valley School and said why India Today would cover the news of huge donations that are asked by the school to be deposited in the NGO, which are also owned by the family members of Poorie, in order to get admission. He further took a dig at Ponty Chaddha and said how Network 18 could report the news against Chaddha. “The rule of hire and fire and the fear of losing the jobs keep the journalists on the back foot as if they go against the will of the editors, who are also following the will of the corporate, they will be fired,” he said.
He then talked about tribals and Naxals and said the reason why the state has painted them as internal security threat is because the ‘red corridor’ where the tribals live is a rich source of minerals and natural resources upon which the corporate have their greedy eyes on. Various MoUs have been signed between the state and the corporate and in order to facilitate these MoUs, the state must clear all the villagers so as to provide ample opportunities for the corporate to feast upon the resources. Because of this, the ‘media government complex’ has emerged, which does nothing but provides the government perspective only.
“We have got all the reasons to believe why the media is anti-tribal, but what is the rationale for their being anti Muslim,” he asked. The reason for such surge in the anti-Muslim sentiments can be traced back to the 1980s when the Soviet fell at the hands of the Capitalist forces led by the USA. Now the people who were into the manufacturing of arms and ammunitions feared their business prospects. Hence there was a need of a new enemy so that the arms industry could earn more and more profits and this greed of profits led to the propaganda of Islamic terrorism. “To keep the arms industry up and running there needs to be no peace in the world, hence create a situation of fear and unpredictability,” he said. He mentioned a book, written by a South African journalist, entitled ‘Inside Global Arms Trade’ and emphasised the surge in the sale and purchase of arms and ammunitions even by the developing states that are not even self-sufficient in food production and distribution within their own country. He further said Israel comes in the top five countries which produce arms and India is its number one defence purchaser. Hence to keep the arms industry going liberal laws need to be changed into draconian ones so that more and more arms should be purchased in the name of so-called security.
“Media is not something that exists in isolation, but it is a part of the system, where capitalists, governments, police, IAS, IPS and other authorities dine together on one table,” he said. He again gave reference to Noam Chomsky and said Chomsky rightly opines when he says, “Media is used to manufacture consent of people.”
Finally as a solution, he urged that there should be people’s media, which should portray and present the picture from the people’s perspective. That media would be governed by the individuals where they can write the facts without fearing for their jobs.
The programme was conducted by the Assistant Secretary, JIH, Mr. Intizar Naeem, who presented a poem in praise of Ajit Sahi, for his courage and strength to stand for justice.