Financial transparency in the media: is there anything to hide?

The widespread use of the Right to Information Act has broadened the public field of enquiry. The executive now feels the heat of unrestricted scrutiny of its decisions. Even the judiciary has agreed to “voluntarily” disclose its assets. And mandatory pre-election affidavits declaring their assets as well as those of their spouses have subjected the political class to some popular check.
With three of the four estates being made accountable to the people in some form of the other, it is time to make the financial workings of the Fourth Estate—the media in all its avatars— more transparent and subject to the public gaze.
Such a demand is bound to meet with strong opposition on the ground that you cannot compel individuals and private companies to throw open their books of accounts. As long as the various laws of the land are being complied with, there should be no mandatory disclosure of accounts, it will be argued. Further, such disclosure will impinge on the right to conduct business.
But the media-owners never tire of reminding us and the government that the “media is not just any other business”. It is often argued that the media has a social purpose and performs the larger role of informing the people and keeping the government on its toes. Such arguments (and behind- the- scenes lobbying) have yielded frequent and lucrative sops and subsidies to the Indian media .
In the circumstances, those who claim to perform public service and often seek governmental protection and largesse, should be subject to public scrutiny. In fact, media-owners and their high-profile editors should voluntarily agree to the public scrutiny of accounts and personal assets.
While there is some scrutiny of listed media companies through the annual statements and quarterly results they are statutorily required to file, a majority of media companies are still Private Companies or are controlled by closely-held Holding Companies and are thus more difficult to monitor.
Moreover, in the last decade or so, the media has become an arena for the most unscrupulous financial practices: from the signing of private treaties (essentially the acquisition of shares of an advertiser in lieu of allocation of advertising/promotional/editorial space) to the outright sale of editorial space as typified in the recent assembly elections in some parts of the country
But three other factors have lent a sense of urgency to the need for transparency in the financial functioning of the media. First, a whole slew of global conglomerates, angel investors and benami investment companies have pumped stashes of money into the media. Where is all the moolah coming from? Industrialists? Politicians? The underworld? Since all these investments are bleeding, what are their long-term goals? No one has a clear idea of what’s going on. The accounts of all media companies, big or small, should be open to free and unrestricted public scrutiny at the National Informatic Centre (NIC) website.
Second, a whole class of journalists has now essentially become entrepreneurs and wheeler-dealers. Many of the TV channels are fronted by this species and they serve a bewildering array of invisible vested interests. Take the example of Dileep Padgaonkar, editorial panjandrum of the Times Group. Padgaonkar also runs a dubious newspaper in Nepal called The Himalayan Times. Among the activities conducted from The Himalayan Times office at Chiranjiv Towers, Nehru Place, New Delhi, is the import of dental products from Switzerland!
Another high-profile editor of humble origins has a sprawling farm-house outside New Delhi. No one has a clear idea of what’s going on. All editors must file annual affidavits declaring their assets as well as those of their spouses and children. These affidavits should be posted at the NIC website.
Third, the political class is steadily consolidating ownership of the media at the regional level and further muddying the financial waters. No one has a clear idea of what’s going on. Apart from keeping their accounts open to public examination, such media-owners should also disclose the sources of their funds. These documents should be posted at the NIC website.
Financial transparency and accountability of the media are desirable not from an abstract moral or ethical high ground. Nor is the demand being voiced to shore up the faltering credibility of the media. The demand stems from the need to expand democratic and popular control and scrutiny of the media. Does anyone have anything to hide?

पेड न्यूज़ का सिलसिला

महाराष्ट्र में पेड न्यूज़ का सिलसिला कई साल से चल रहा है. अखबार जगत में टाइम्स ऑफ़ इंडिया समूह को इसका मसीहा कहा जा सकता है. इसकी कंपनी मीडिया नेट के जरिये मनोरंजन व व्यापार जगत की ख़बरें पैसे लेकर छापने का कारोबार शुरू किया गया. पर चुनाव के समय पेड न्यूज़ के मामले में लोकमत आगे रहा.
माना जाता है कि पिछले लोकसभा चुनाव में लोकमत और पुढारी अखबार समूह ने बड़े पैमाने पर इसकी शुरुआत की. लाखो रुपये लेकर चुनावी ख़बरें छपी गई. बड़े अखबार के कारण बाकी अख़बारों की हिम्मत भी बढ़ी. कांग्रेस के उम्मीदवारों की शिकायत थी कि हमारी पार्टी के नेता का पेपर है तो हमसे पैसा क्यों लिया जाता है? दरअसल लोकमत के मालिक कांग्रेसी नेता जवाहरलाल दर्डा थे और अब उनके बेटे विजय व राजेंद्र दर्डा इसे संभाल रहे हैं. मराठी का सबसे बड़ा अखबार भी यही है. पुढारी अखबार के बारे में शिकायत आई. राज्य में ज्यादातर अखबार बड़े नेताओं से जुड़े हैं. लोकमत के बाद सकाळ पेपर प्रभावी है जिसके मालिक केंद्रीय कृषिमंत्री के भाई प्रतापराव पवार हैं. एकमत पेपर केंद्रीय मंत्री विलासराव देशमुख का है. मुंबई में राजस्व मंत्री नारायण राणे ने प्रहार के नाम से पेपर शुरू किया है. शिवसेना का मुखपत्र है सामना. संघ परिवार की ओर से तरुण भारत पेपर छापा जाता है. नागपुर में भाजपा नेता बनवारीलाल पुरोहित अंग्रेजी अखबार हितवाद के मालिक हैं. साफ़ है कि अपने राजनीतिक फायदे के लिये ही ये नेता अपने पेपरों का इस्तेमाल करते हैं. निष्पक्ष ख़बरों की उम्मीद उनसे करना बेकार है. पिछले चुनाव में कांग्रेस के खिलाफ पैड न्यूज़ के रूप में कुछ ख़बरें लोकमत में छपी थी. तब दिल्ली तक शिकायत की गई थी और इसी वजह से राजेंद्र दर्डा को मंत्री नहीं बनाया गया था. इस बार लोकमत में पार्टी के प्रचार का खास ख्याल किया गया इसलिए राजेंद्र बाबू को कैबिनेट मंत्री बना दिया गया. धन्य है प्रेस और राजनीति का ये खेल. देश में महाराष्ट्र अकेला राज्य है जहाँ ये घालमेल इतने बड़े पैमाने पर चलता है.
वैसे एक दशक पहले भी कुछ पत्रकार चुनाव के मौके पर नेताओं से पैसे लेकर ख़बरें छापते थे. इनमे बड़े अखबार भी थे. लेकिन अब ये बीमारी व्यापक हो गई है. सीधे मालिक ही पेड न्यूज़ का सौदा करते हैं. इस बार के चुनाव में तो अखबारों के मालिक खुद ही लाखो की रकम लेने छोटे शहरों में घूम रहे थे. इसका कारण ये था कि कहीं बीच में पैसा कम न हो जाए. हाल में पत्रकारो के एक सम्मलेन में चिंता जाहिर की गई थी अब तो संपादक ब्रांड मेनेजर होंगे और पत्रकार बनेंगे सेल्समैन. दो महीने पहले के विधान सभा चुनाव में एक खबर छपी थी -बाला नांदगावकर की जीत पक्की. उसी के नीचे दूसरी न्यूज़ थी-दगडू सपकाल विजय की ओर. मजे की बात ये कि एक ही सीट के बारे में ये खबर थी. आखिर अखबारों की विश्वसनीयता का क्या होगा? क्या लोकतंत्र का ये स्तम्भ भी टूटने की कगार पर है? या अखबार मालिक और बाजार की ताकतें इस स्तम्भ को ख़त्म करने पर तुल गई हैं?
इंडियन एक्सप्रेस के रविवार ६ दिसंबर के अंक में पूरे पन्ने का लेख छपा है. इसमें पी साईनाथ के लेख से लेकर दिवंगत पत्रकार प्रभाष जोशी की और से उठाये गए मुद्दों तक पर चर्चा की गई है.

The Politics of Attacks on the Media

The hoodlums who recently attacked the IBN-Lokmat office were delivering two desperate messages to the media in general and Nikhil Wagle in particular. One, play “fair” between the Shiv Sena ( SS ) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ( MNS )and Two, the Shiv Sena has not yet lost its capacity to do “raada”( make trouble).
Of late, the media has been full of reports and analyses of the decline of the Shiv Sena and the rise of the MNS. The defeat in the assembly elections, especially the losses in the so-called Central Mumbai bastions of the SS ,cast a sullen silence over Matoshree. Heart-burn was high in the cabal that runs the SS. The assault on IBN-Lokmat was a ludicrous attempt to get back to “winning ways”, silence critics and enthuse the dwindling lumpen base.
If Raj Thackeray’s myrmidons can attack a duly elected MLA in Vidhan Bhavan, Uddhav Thackeray’s goons can run riot in your neighbourhood media office ! What better illustration of competitive hooliganism can we get? In fact , Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena MP and Executive Editor of Saamna let the cat out of the bag by his reaction to the attack : “ I am proud If the attack has been carried out by Shiv Sainiks”. QED
Attacks on the media are not new. Most political parties or their front organisations have targeted the media as easy meat at some time or the other. In fact, before the IBN-Lokmat incident, the storm-troopers of an outfit allied to the NCP had attacked the house of Lokmat editor, Kumar Ketkar, for daring to question the sagacity of installing a Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea. Today, the NCP home minister, R R Patil sheds copious crocodile tears on the IBN-Lokmat incident.
Disturbingly, the response to these attacks has become almost perfunctory over the years. The reasons for this are not far to seek.
First, the forces that can really take on the mobs are on the decline. Trade unions, dalit organisations, womens’ organisations, civil liberties organisations, student and youth organisations and organisations of artists and intellectuals have got marginalised and fragmented. We cannot go into the reasons and causes of this historical decline here, but the fact is that these organisations have lost the ability to mobilise the masses on important political issues of the day.
Second, there is intense rivalry and competition among the media players themselves and this over-rides their sense of unity and solidarity. Thus there is only lip-sympathy when a particular media house is under attack either from the government or motivated mobs.
Third, the widespread introduction of the contract system of employment and the total capitulation to commercial interests has alienated the rank and file media person from what they perceive as the interests of the management. An organised, decisive and consistent response by all sections of the media to such attacks on their fraternity is absent today. While an exposure of the structural limitations of an advertisement-based revenue model for the media is all to the good, the generation of cynicism is worrisome.
Fourth, the relationship with the reader/viewer has been swiftly commoditised. There is very little reader/viewer identification with any particular TV channel or publication. Ironically, the attack on IBN-Lokmat will also be seen as something to be consumed and forgotten the next day. Such are the wages of excessive commodification. In fact, it has been argued that the repeated telecasts of such attacks only boosts the ratings of the political parties involved!
Lastly, the attacks on the media should not be seen in isolation. Artists, film-makers, civil liberties activists -- all forms of dissent ---are under overt or covert siege. Obviously such anti-democratic trends are being generated at the socio-economic level. The tragedy is that we are not able to rouse the people to these dangers .