SHILLONG, June 27: Newspaper readers and media consumers rely on news sources from media practitioners that have built their credibility over decades, stated Rajesh Ramachandran, Editor of The Tribune from Chandigarh, while addressing a select audience at the Asian Confluence on Monday.
Ramachandran was invited by the Meghalaya Institute of Governance to expose young professionals to how media engages with governance issues.
A media practitioner of over two decades and having worked with print and television medium, Ramachandran narrated his experiences on reporting misgovernance and corruption in the system, namely the coffin scam under the NDA-1 regime when Defence Minister George Fernandes stoutly defended the pricing of the coffins instead of ordering an investigation into the allegations.
Ultimately, investigative journalism was able to ferret out the exact price of the coffins imported from the US where India’s Defence Ministry paid nearly twice or three times the amount charged by the US firm.
Ramachandran who heads the 141-year-old newspaper took the audience through different phases of media history beginning with the British Raj. He queried how the media has given itself a role which is as big and powerful as an elected government when the press as the fourth pillar of democracy has no constitutionally mandated function other than a mention in Article 19(a).
“The first amendment to the Constitution came within 15 months of the first government headed by Nehru post independence. The words ‘reasonable restrictions’ to freedom of speech and expression were added to curtail press freedom,” Ramachandran said, adding that no other country has such a rider to freedom of speech.
There is a primacy assigned to newspapers because of public opinion which is the core of democracy Ramachandran stated adding that, “Rulers want citizens to be like children who are lulled to sleep by bed time stories. Rulers try to manipulate the public mind to make them believe they are ruled well.”
In the Q&A session when asked if long form journalism has lost out to instant newsbytes by digital media, Ramachandran said his editors kept a cap of 300 words on all stories so long-form journalism is not necessarily good journalism.
Expressing his personal opinion on present day news anchors that question the Opposition instead of holding the ruling party accountable, Ramachandran referred to a particular news channel as ‘Repugnant TV’ and says he no longer watches TV debates.
On the future of the print media, Ramachandran said that despite the negative aspects of present day TV news the fact is also that television news is real and the visuals tell mush more than prose can ever do. “You cannot capture the visuals of a war as TV does. I was reporting for a TV channel from Kargil where I was wounded and I know the impact it has.”
On whether digital news media will replace the legacy (print) media, Ramachandran said, “Media should be platform agnostic. We have to work with whatever platform has the larger following.” He however added that the print media will take a long time to become redundant.
Earlier, Principal Secretary and Director General of Meghalaya Institute of Governance, Sampath Kumar welcomed Ramachandran and stated that this was an attempt to bring together ideas and people on a single platform for cross learning.
Highlighting the need for such interface, Kumar said the media articulates the concerns of people and acts as a bridge between the political leadership, civil servants, civil society and academics and that helps to strengthen the core of governance.
