Page 28 - English Tehelka Issue 12 - June 30, 2018

OpiniOn
Spotlight
Vipin pubby
Former resident editor
of The Indian Express,
Vipin Pubby is a senior
journalist based in
Chandigarh. He can
be contacted at
vipinpubby@gmail.
com. The views
expressed are personal
Sting operations
are generally
looked down upon
as surreptitious
journalism in which
“immoral and
unethical” methods
are used
28-29 Opinion Vipin Pubby.indd 2 16/06/18
MEDIA STING
Cobrapost sting: Peddling • Media under attack: Media houses need to
respond to the readers by taking an ethical
fourth estate for a price ground
cerned made no move to come clean
It is not often that media turns the searchlight on itself and lays on the issue.
Yet to assume that the Cobrapost
bare warts and all of the media houses, including the top guns, by sting has ‘nailed’ the India media or that
it is the norm would be a big fallacy.
conducting sting operations against them.
There may be a few black sheep, whose
so-called “wrongdoings” did not even
alled as Operation 136, who has specialised in organising and materialise, but there are most others
named because that’s the conducting sting operations, deployed trying to do an honest job and who do
number at which India a senior journalist Pushp Sharma, who not succumb to such crumbs.
figures in the World Press posed as the frontman of an organisa- It is also a pertinent point that of
Freedom Index, the Opera- tion seeking to spread Hindutva and the top media houses were open for
C tion was conducted over make fun of some political opponents. sale, they would have been purchased
an extended period of a few months And, all this, of course, for a hefty fee much earlier by the tycoons who have
without raising any suspicion among ranging from a few crores to Rs 500 enough money power to easily pur-
those who were stung. Of course one crore. chase all the media houses.
of the top media houses subsequently The bait was enough to attract top Surely questions can be raised over
claimed that it was trying to “counter media houses and their representa- the method used to sting the top man-
sting” the alleged representative of a tives who fell for the money promised. agement of some of the media houses.
fictitious religious organisation called Some of them even going to the extent concurred to besmirch or thrash organisations to explain their posi- This sting operation was quite unlike
Shrimad Bhagwad Gita Prachar Samiti. of accepting cash routed through front political rivals of the party in power tion to the people. The Guild also said the other major investigations done by
The alibi was not just lame but also companies. Over two dozen media by posting or publishing defamatory that the media was under attack from international organisations like Wikile-
laughable as it came after the Cobrapost. houses, both mainstream and regional, content about them. Many of them different quarters in an environment aks and Cambridge Analytica, where
com had released all the evidence it had across the country accepted the bait were ready to accept unaccounted that required journalists to be “extraor- illegal actions already completed, had
gathered. and there were only two honourable cash, in other words, for the job to be dinarily vigilant and conscious of the been exposed.
All the others caught in the sting exceptions — Bartaman Patrika and the assigned to them” and in the process need to adhere to the highest standards Nevertheless, the Cobrapost sting
operations maintained a deafening Dainik Sambad. gave a go bye to the principle of neu- of free and fair journalism”. has exposed the soft underbelly of
silence and have still neither denied nor A press release from the website said trality. Worse they offered to compro- The Guild said, “Editorial freedoms these organisations and lessons needed
confirmed that they were fooled into the operation “shows Indian media’s mise on all moral principles and didn’t must be fully respected. Paid news, to be learnt. The investigation has led to
negotiating contracts to spread a par- underbelly in its most visceral form, bother if their actions could lead to even a suggestion of it, is ruinous for several questions. One wishes that the
ticular ideology or to run down specific where even the “big daddies” do not cheating and misguiding their readers the media’s image.” operation should have also involved
political leaders. mind agreeing to undertake a campaign or listeners. The Guild, which is currently headed confronting the organisations con-
While sting operations are gener- that has the potential to not only cause The investigation by the website by former Editor-in-Chief of The Indian cerned and getting their responses.
ally looked down upon as surreptitious communal disharmony among citizens led to quite a buzz in the media world. Express and founder of theprint.in, Although the credibility of a section
journalism in which “immoral and but also tilt the electoral outcome in fa- While journalists discussed the sting Shekhar Gupta said that while it can- of media is already low, the sting opera-
unethical” methods are used to ensnare vour of a particular party. This they will operation and how it has exposed some not ascertain the veracity of the tapes, tion is no reflection on the working of
the unsuspecting victims, there are do if they are paid the right price....”. of the media houses, the organisations it urged media organisations, whose the entire media in the country. It is
times when it is difficult to pin down the Even as the undercover journalist concerned remained tight-lipped and representatives were purportedly too soon to write the obituary of media
culprits through conventional inves- approached these media houses with declined to be drawn into any discus- caught engaged in inappropriate con- in the country which has been tak-
tigations. It is obvious that persons or his preposterous proposal, “Cobrapost sion. The conclusion was obvious that versations, “to explain their conduct to ing stands as and when required and
entities dealing in suspicious activities saw them all crumble under the weight they or their senior management had their readers and the public at large..... remains essential for the success of
of a “big business opportunity” that was
taken the bait. Only one media house
democracy as a watchdog rather than
They must squarely address the charge
would attempt to leave as little foot-
prints as possible and that it becomes knocking on their doors without asking. approached the courts against the that some media organisations seem a lap dog.
One major saving grace from the op-
virtually impossible to pin them down Almost all bent themselves backward to claims of Cobrapost and obtained a inclined to sell editorial content for eration was that none of those who fell
stay on the publication of any material
revenue.”
or establish the wrongdoings.
grab this opportunity”.
This was perhaps one of those The website claimed that the media which referred to the Group. Most jour- While the Guild said there can be to the sting were professional journal-
instances where it would not have been houses “agreed to promote Hindutva nalists’ organisations also preferred to no compromise on maintaining the ists. Not that all journalists are above
possible to wash the dirty linen from
wall between editorial and advertising
in the garb of spiritualism and religious
maintain silence on the issue.
board but one must not lose faith in the
media houses with conventional in- discourse. They agreed to publish con- It was after a week or so that the Edi- and that all sponsored and advertorial fourth pillar of democracy.
vestigations. Cobrapost.com, headed by tent with the potential to polarise the tors Guild of India expressed concern content must be clearly identified and letters@tehelka.com
over Cobrapost’s sting and urged media demarcated,” the media houses con-
well-known journalist Aniruddha Bahal, electorate along communal lines. They
Tehelka / 30 june 2018 28 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 30 june 2018 29 www.Tehelka.com
12:14 PM 28-29 Opinion Vipin Pubby.indd 3 16/06/18 12:14 PM