By Patricia Mukhim
Psychologists say that when we are unable to articulate our thoughts (which obviously come from the brain) we tend to use our brawns (fists). That is why communication is so important. A few bizarre incidents happening inside the State Assembly and in its corridors ought to make us reflect on the painful episodes with greater seriousness. Firstly, Mr FS Cajee’s outburst is uncharacteristic of a leader of the people. Judging from who suffered greater casualties in the fisticuff, it is obvious that the while the journalist’s only tool is his camera he was physically not poised to take on the brawny Cajee. (Does this mean we all need to carry helmets as well?) I suppose the matter should have ended with an apology from the MLA for losing his cool. But he did nothing of the sort. In the evening Cajee filed a counter FIR to basically defend his indefensible actions. To make matters worse, Cajee dragged the people of Mawlai into this controversy. He said the photo-journalist called them “Savages.” How could anyone of us just walk to an MLA and call his constituents savages? Difficult to believe and there are no witnesses to that!
At about 7.30 pm on March 19, Cajee sent his supporters to media houses asking them to publish the counter FIR. Was this necessary? Or was it meant to intimidate the media? This is uncalled for. Undoubtedly, the media and politicians have a difficult relationship because the media is meant to scrutinise the public acts of politicians. We do not pry into their private affairs, not unless they spend public money to support their private ambitions. How politicians deploy public funds is our business to know. It is our brief to find out what acquisitions (landed property, cars, bank balances et al) they have made since being elected and how they have managed to jump up the ladder of affluence in short a short span of time. It’s our duty to critique government schemes and to find out if the money is siphoned off to minister’s/MLA’s pockets. Sadly we are not doing enough of this! Investigative journalism is still unchartered territory in Meghalaya. But can anyone imagine how all hell would break loose if we started doing serious investigative work? For sure, many of us will be roughed up and intimidate especially if we stay in places that are not exactly ‘safe.’
Cajee’s misdemeanour does not end with beating up the photo-journalist. He had given a cheque of Rs 5 lakhs to a local school from his MLA scheme. The amount was meant for creating additional classrooms and the cheque is dated November 4, 2011. The headmaster of the school presented the cheque to the bank only to be told that there is no money in the account of the Greater Mawlai Coordination Committee for Development (GMCCD) from which the cheque was issued and of which Cajee is the Chairperson. Issuing a cheque without having the requisite funds is a criminal offence. The cheque is not post-dated so the payee has the right to present it anytime after the date on the cheque. But Cajee says this is a media witch-hunt. Sorry, for us in the media this is ‘news.’ We are not in the business of defending the misconduct of MLAs but to expose them. That’s independent journalism as far as I can understand. MLAs should know how to carry themselves or they should not be in the electoral fray at all.
Let’s also not compare ourselves to Bihar and the goonda-raj elsewhere. This is a tribal society that believes in “Ka tip briew tip Blei,” (To know man and know God) meaning that you can only reach God through your interface with another human being. The larger conglomerate of Khasi-Pnar-Achik society is not violent. The Khasis believe in settling all disputes through a discussion moderated by a non-partisan elder (“ban ia pynbeit da ka jingiakren ym da ka jingiaktah kti ne jingia kura). There are a few aberrations but you don’t expect those aberrations to enter the state assembly. That they now walk in and out of the august house is a slur on our collective character.
Once again I come to the point of the rather problematic and tenuous relationships between the Government, legislators and the media. What is news – has been the eternal poser of those who read news and those who are written about. Tony Harcup in his book, ‘Journalism- principles and practice says,’ “News is mostly about people doing things. Things such as fighting, saving, killing, curing, crashing, burning looting, robbing, rioting, stealing, stalking, kidnapping, rescuing, giving, marrying, divorcing, striking, sacking, employing, resigning, conning, suing, investigating, arresting, quizzing, freeing, loving, hating, kissing, bonking, hunting, chasing, escaping, fleeing, creating, destroying, invading, deserting, voting, leading, following, reporting, negotiating, accepting, rejecting, changing, celebrating, commemorating, inventing, making, breaking, selling, buying, treating, operating, comforting, mourning, leaving, arriving, delivering, succeeding, failing, winning, losing searching, finding, giving birth, surviving, dying, burying……”
News can also be about people saying things in the form of speeches, announcements, publications, accusations or replies to journalists’ questions. News stories are what interest people and what they discuss in cabs, restaurants, or wherever they gather. However, in terms of news hierarchy, politics is important. Virtually every action of the chief minister is considered newsworthy. So too those of his colleagues, but the weightage dips as we come to MLAs. Policy announcements always make news because they affect the people in the entire state. And normally it is the CM who announces policies. The problem arises when someone who is a minister today and gets written about every second day suddenly loses his job. Then he is out of the frame and out of the journalists’ consciousness unless he does something extraordinary. Is this FS Cajee’s affliction? Was it his way of making news? In the west MPs are hardly written about unless they are embroiled in some scandal, row, rebellion or defection. I guess it is the same here as well.
Coming back to politician-media interface, it must be said that there are politicians and there are politicians. Some know exactly how to relate to the media. Others just keep journalists at arms length. But if the media believes the guy has something to hide and hence the distancing, be sure a good journalist will ferret that out sooner than later. Others adopt a lukewarm stance; they are courteous yet not friendly (they need not be friendly, courtesy is enough). They will give out information that enhances their own political graph. If we wish to know more we have to ask their rivals and balance out the story. Some politicians though are outrightly aggressive with the media and become personal. If looks were poison darts many of us would have been dead!
But there’s something to be said about relationships. Recent brain research suggests that the human brain is not so much a “thinking brain” but a relationship making brain. Dr Gerald Huther head of the Department of Neurobiology at the Psychiatric Clinic of Gottingen, Germany, says “Until quite recently, it was held to be self-evident that human beings have a big brain to make it possible for them to think. However, the research results of the last few years have indicated that the structure and function of the human brain is especially optimized for building relationships. Our brain is thus much more a social organ than it is a thinking organ.”
Those of us who find it difficult to maintain even the minimum decorum in personal and professional relationships perhaps ought to get our heads examined. I would list myself as the first patient.
Having said all of the above this is not a treatise in self vindication but in defence of the profession. As journalists we are prone to the same human depravations and also capable of the same virtuous acts as any social being (I still hope we are not considered anti-social). We can be pompous and insufferable; we commit factual errors while reporting (although we should not); we put words into peoples’ mouths; we also misquote (not because of ‘badmashi’ but because people like Dr Mukul Sangma speak too fast and use jargons and we are not walking computers), besides many other personal and professional handicaps. Taking a cue from Craig Silverman I say, “We regret the error.”