The Fourth Estate should be aware of its special position in society as the watchdog of probity and high morality in public life. That is good enough a reason why those taking the high moral ground and turning the media spotlight on possible wrongdoing in the public sphere should be seen, like Caesar’s wife Calpurnia, to be above suspicion.
But there are occasions when representatives of the media stand exposed as suffering from the same frailties as those against whom they point a finger. Whom does society turn to when bad elements with feet of clay are seen manning a vital function in a vibrant democracy?
The demand for an independent inquiry is strident at a time when Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, who was also in the eye of the storm over the coal allocation scandal, which reportedly runs into several thousand crores of rupees, turned the tables on his accusers by running a reverse sting on a group controlling several television channels. Some representatives of the media house are alleged to have figured in negotiations for advertisement commitments up to Rs 100 crore as a quid quo pro for burying negative coverage of the company.
A few rotten apples do not make the whole orchard bad and the media are only doing their duty when they expose the high and the mighty and the entrenched members of a political system who suffer from extreme self-interest whenever leading lights are challenged in public. While no special privilege is called for when it comes to dealing with members of the media, it is only right that such issues be thoroughly probed before blame is apportioned because the public has every right to know the rights and wrongs of it.
The media has come a long way since early exposes that depended solely on paper and money trails. Today’s advanced electronic communications arm society with the power to eavesdrop or run stings of the type that have brought many a scandal into the public domain. While those trapped in this manner, or in elaborate honey-traps the media in developed countries are known to spring on unsuspecting evildoers, may feel they have been tricked, they too have a right to a fair and free trial before they are punished.
The media too must be prepared to face a probe if their members are caught in similar traps while they indulge in blackmail, extortion and skulduggery that help convert such knowledge into cash for silence. Press Council chairman Markandey Katju’s call for a statutory body to monitor the media may sound draconian but accountability is something from which the media cannot shy away. To accept a system by which excesses are monitored must be welcomed.