The just ended Jaipur Literature Festival had a lot to offer for the visitors. The panel discussions hosted by it touched upon several burning issues. Majid Alam describes two important discussions ~ democracy and Right to information.
In the wintry morning at the Diggi Palace Hotel which once used to the palace of the princely states that exist across Rajasthan. A huge crowd had gathered at the Zee Jaipur Literary Festival which hosts writers, journalists, politicians and academics from all over the globe. But one of the main attractions in this literary festival had been a group of discussion around the future of media and its challenges. The festival invited journalists from print, television and digital news portal for an engaging discussion which enthralled the audience.
Who is accountable in a democracy? Is the government solely responsible for the development? What makes you a nationalist? These were some of the pertinent questions that were the centre of the conversation between Rajdeep Sardesai and Madhu Trehan.
Rajdeep Sardesai is a popular television journalist and is presently a consulting editor with the India Today Group and anchors a prime time show on India Today. Sardesai has authored 2014: The election that changed India and has recently written “Newsman”. Rajdeep was in conversation with Madhu Trehan, senior journalist and writer, founding editor of India Today, runs a digital platform Newslaundry.
When there is a debate on the accountability of the politicians and the impartiality of Journalism, it requires for a dialogue. In a democracy, the citizen is the pivot around which the system of the government functions. Sardesai stressed in his conversation about the need of the citizen to actively engage in the democratic processes of the country. a democracy succeeds only if the people decide to stand together and rectify the political system whenever the need arises.
But in a time when the country is under the grip of communalisation and politics of hate, it is necessary that the citizen should realise whether they are being guided on the right path and question those in power. On this note Rajdeep said. “India is strongest when we are together not when we are divided. We must have a dialogue.” Dividing the people on the basis of the religion, ideology and political affiliation shouldn’t be there to the extent of polarisation.
Rajdep said that, “We are caught up in identity politics, caste identity, community identity; and our politicians have played at it and it has become worse.” At this crucial time, according to Rajdeep when the political parties are trying to bring out the worst in us, it’s necessary to follow the philosophy of Gandhi. Gandhi tried to bring out the best in us at a time when the Britishers were playing the politics of divide and rule.
Taking some crucial points from the democracies around the world Rajdeep also said that in countries like Israel people take up developmental works in their area rather than depending on the government for everything. Taking another example from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, where a group of people along with the District Magistrate decided to clean up the city making it a successful cooperative initiative which proves the capability of the citizen. “This Republic is ours and we are going to fix it”, advocated Sardesai.
Paying for your news
Did you ever think where the money for journalism come from? Does the fourth pillar of democracy really require money to run? Well, some of the journalists in the digital age believe so. Abhinandan Sekhri from the digital news portal Newslaundry is one of the many who thinks that the consumer should pay for its news.
Sekhri says, “If the advertisers pay for your news then the advisers are served when the public pays the public is served”. Sekhri is one among the many journalists who advocate the ownership of the media industry needs to be changed to make it more as a public good. The discussion with Abhinandan Sekhri, Co-founder, Newslaundry; Nistha Gautam, Opinion Editor, The Quint and George Eliot, veteran journalist was titled “More Views, Less News? Eyeballs and content” and was being moderated by Rajeev Punnoli Irupattil, a former investigative journalist.
The conversation began with the existing media setup in the country. The TV News channels, needless to say, are full of programmes such as debates where the motive of the News channel isn’t to educate or inform the masses but the sole motive of viewership and engaging the audience in a new entertainment. The debates full of shouting, howling and sometimes fistfights have infected the news medium today. The panelists find the motive behind these phenomena in the concept of free news where the audience doesn’t have to pay anything to watch such debates. The moment they are asked to pay for such programmes the audience will cease to exist. In the newspaper, if you don’t like the news you don’t buy the newspaper.
Therefore the journalists believe that for news to be credible and trustworthy the audience should pay it. The emerging form of new media that is the internet has transformed the news space digital space. Thus the commerce behind the news industry has changed. A news portal with the maximum number of page hits earns substantially, while those with probably a serious content wouldn’t receive such a good response. Therefore the consumers should come forward for healthy journalism and pay for what matters them- a credible and unbiased truth.
Citizen’s Right to know
“In a time when all kinds of violence are being stifled, when people seeking information are imprisoned and fake knowledge is being created” begins Urvashi Butalia, well known feminist and publisher, “the Right to Information becomes relevant. Urvashi Batulia talks to Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander on the Right to Information, a legal tool in the hands of the common citizen by which they could get information concerning any government office. Aruna Roy and Harsh Mander, are former civil servants who resigned from their posts after the Constitutional Emergency of 1975 and 2002 Gujarat Rights respectively. Both of them are into activism and focus on grass root issues in the country.
Right to Information was a legislative act which was enacted in 2005. It allowed a citizen to demand government records to bring in transparency and prevent corruption in the economy. According to Aruna Roy who was one of the first proponents of the law, the battle for the law began in Rajasthan. The demand for Right to Information began with some poor people demanded their wages from the government. The government didn’t pay the wages and when they asked for the documents, the government employees said that it were secret documents.
The article was published in The Statesman. The original article could be accessed here
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