Previous
part to this story, from December 2013: “The political conflict at CNN-IBN”
In a tribute to John Lennon, Elton John
sang “Empty Garden” referring to
Lennon as a wonderful gardener who weeded out tears and grew good crop and
refers to his killer: “It’s funny how
one insect can damage so much grain”. That’s true for any organisation or body.
One insect is all it takes. News channels are meant to inform and educate the
public. If they are into crooked acts in their kitchen, it is in public
interest to know what’s going on; even if some are private business entities.
Therefore, the goings-on in every news channel that claims to be doing public
service are liable for scrutiny. On the flip side, every business must watch
for the insects and rats that float
in their offices and board rooms. Here’s a tweet from Sagarika Ghose when the Tarun Tejpal incident broke in November
2013:
Interesting, eh? “Many of us journos have faced harassment…” she says. The sick
statement implies she speaks for many when she doesn’t. It implies she knows
those who suffered but she didn’t speak out for them. It also implies she
herself may have suffered silently. At whose hands? It implies she is some sort
of “victim” too? And what does she
fear? She doesn’t hesitate to slander those she doesn’t like and heap wanton
abuses. After all that, she does a camouflaged “Saving Tejpal” act too.
“Aan
– men at work” is a Bollywood movie loosely inspired by Brian De Palma’s “The
Untouchables”. But there is a particular scene in “Aan” that shows how to put
your bosses and other top leaders in a tight spot if they are a hindrance to
you. That’s what Akshay Kumar does when he drops a mischievous hint to
reporters on how they will be transferred if they leak names or speak up. Let’s
watch the video (1.30 mins):
So Akshay Kumar gives the media a vague
hint and tells them if he reveals information he and his men will suffer. This
is because his boss doesn’t allow certain investigations. Clever, isn’t it?
Somewhat like this tweet by Sagarika:
Oh, there is an “evil” out there stamping out free speech and silencing independent
journalists who should unite. Ahem! Who is she trying to put in a tight spot? In
case you aren’t aware, this tweet was made probably after a private meeting at
CNN-IBN’s office between Raghav Bahl,
Rajdeep and Sagarika. How do we know? Patience! We will find out. And who is
this “evil” that Sagarika is hinting
at? Well, presumably, the same evil that other cronies like Ashutosh and Nikhil
Wagle keep ranting about: Narendra Modi.
The implication is that Modi is pressurising CNN-IBN or Raghav Bahl through
some other powerful people. Snitches and Rats are bad for business and healthy
work atmosphere but the news media does depend on snitches and rats. It’s their
job. Soon after the “evil” tweet by
SG on February 7, someone promptly
puts out an article with a sensational headline on February 9:
Shivam Vij who wrote that article tweeted about it. It is fair to
assume Vij was not present at the meeting between the 3 senior folks at
CNN-IBN. So who gave him this juicy
input to put out a story? It has to be one of the 3, right? And who, among
those close to the CNN-IBN couple, picks up this article quickly and makes
noises about suppression of free speech? Well, that would be family friend, the
Commie Ram Guha. SG was in
Bangalore on February 9 for some show but didn’t meet or talk to Guha.
Believable? By some strange coincidence (?), Rajdeep puts out a tweet about NaMo and Nemo on February 8
(which too was after the duo had their meeting with Bahl):
Off-TV Rajdeep is generally known to be
a nice guy and I have said often that there are two Rajdeeps. So Rajdeep may
have thought his tweet would be funny but it ended up being seen as more abuse
on NaMo. And why not? Since simple comments and analogies by Modi have been
taken out of context and twisted heavily by both Rajdeep and Sagarika all
through the last many years. Consequent to the article by Vij and the alarm by
Guha, Raghav Bahl was naturally angry. People in the know mentioned heated
exchange of mails between Bahl and Rajdeep. To add insult to the injurious
“leaked” tweet tip (and some snitching) that led to the article “Why Sagarika Ghose may no longer criticise
Modi anymore...” the internal communications also seem to be leaked to some
folks and it makes sorry reading and tells the story behind the whole drama by
Sagarika. I will narrate from the exchanges (in brown) that happened very early
morning on February 10.
Bahl
to Rajdeep:
RB asks Rajdeep to see Guha’s tweet and calls Guha somebody
as influential/credible as him (also one of Rajdeep’s closest professional associates),
claims it is damaging. RB mentions a mail of Sagarika’s which clearly says she
has never been “muzzled” over the
last 8 years in N18. And RB demands that: 1 Sagarika isses a CATEGORICAL denial
of this tweet; OR 2 They could release
the relevant text from Sagarika’s mail to RB to the public, so that this
matter is put to rest.
Rajdeep
to Bahl:
Rajdeep responds by referring to the article by Vij in
scroll.in, and says it is a website run by someone called shivam vij. Rajdeep
quotes his tweet to vij denying any such pressures. The tweet Rajdeep is
referring in his response to Bahl is the one below:
Bahl
to Rajdeep
RB says Guha saying this is as good as Rajdeep/Sagarika
saying this (especially since Sagarika was in Bangalore the previous day). A
full, formal and unambiguous clarification/denial, of the sort that Sagarika
wrote to RB should be issued, he says. And then RB says if not, the full text from Sagarika’s mail should be put out in the
public domain since Sagarika’s mail so clearly implies that the truth is
totally different.
Good point by Bahl. Did Sagarika meet
Ram Guha while she was in Bangalore? She was doing some show at the Infosys
campus as I recollect. If she hadn’t met him did she interact with him? I
believe that it’s unlikely that Sagarika wouldn’t have given at least a little
phone call to dear friend Guha. And why is it that Guha so deliberately puts
out a tweet? Since Rajdeep and Sagarika
are such “close” friends would he not care to at least ask them about the
stupid article before tweeting about it? Surprising? As with the article by
Vij, Guha’s tweet is also meant to deliberately embarrass Raghav Bahl and I am
in absolutely no doubt about that. Let’s snitch some more. Having learned about
the trouble brewing Sagarika quickly replies to Guha with a “sorry” tweet:
Rajdeep
to Bahl:
Rajdeep confirms Sagarika has not met/spoken to ram in a
while and that Guha is close to a few of
those who run the scroll.in website which is an ideologically left website.
So all that balderdash of Guha’s leftist
leanings having “lapsed” does not
hold. And he’s a close friend of those
running that website. Fantastic! He is still as much a Commie as he was and
appears to be a willing participant in this game going around Sagarika, Shivam
Vij and himself. “The boss shouldn’t be
given a chance to sneeze” says Akshay Kumar in that video. Doesn’t he? And
that would prevent chances of any transfers or any other action on those
leaking stories to the anti-Modi brigade. Do note, Bahl is clearly indicating
there should be a categorical denial by Rajdeep or Sagarika and he also implies that he would release parts
of an earlier mail by Sagarika which mentions there is no muzzling at
Network 18. It gets more intriguing.
Rajdeep
to Bahl:
Rajdeep wonders why issue it to all media and attract even
more attention to an article which has appeared on a fringe website. Says they chose the same path when the Caravan story was published… and that response
should be measured and fitted to the publication/medium on which they are used.
Bahl
to Rajdeep:
Bahl claims the problem is Ram Guha’s “endorsement” – and that Guha has personally charged him by using
the word “proprietor” and refuses to
be so charged. Bahl’s mind is made up – either this is retracted publicly by
Guha, or Sagarika, or Rajdeep – or he
shall act to clear his name. Rajdeep again gives him a reply on how to go about
this withdrawal tactfully and painlessly.
Bahl
to Rajdeep:
By now Bahl is furious and stops taking calls from Rajdeep. He says “I am in no mood to “talk”
about this. Bahl asks an important question: how did a private conversation, known only to the three of them, get
into a “leftist” website of Shivam Vij? He swears with his “hand on his
heart” that he did not share it with them.
So who put out the juicy titbits to
Shivam Vij? Your guess is as good as mine and it doesn’t take an Einstein to
figure out. More importantly, from all the exchanges that I have read
thoroughly, I have found no truth in the “Evil”
that Sagarika is trying to peddle. It is true Raghav Bahl is a business man who
is now more oriented towards Modi (millions of others are too) but Rajdeep says
“go by our actions”. Are the mails
circulating genuine? I would think they are. Going by actions alone neither
Sagarika nor Rajdeep have stopped their anti-Modi shows or rants. If I remember
right, there was a recent programme at Jamia where Sagarika provoked Muslim
youth to heap more trash on Modi. It is important to note that even if this duo
of Rajdeep-Sagarika toned down half their rants against Modi it still would
amount to a huge negative campaign.
So what Sagarika was essentially doing
through her “Evil” tweet is what
Akshay Kumar does in that movie; to
sound a warning indirectly to her bosses and the public in general about fake
suppression of journalistic independence. Having tweeted that and attracted
some sympathetic concern she attempts to create suspicions in the minds of
people. I would read such tweets and articles (such as those by Vij) as
collective “ambush-journalism”. If a
deputy editor of a news channel plays so much politics over her own channel and
issues inside it, then how good is the trash she delivers on TV?
Both Rajdeep and Sagarika (and probably
Bahl too) have been Congress cronies all these years. When the masters had
become a political liability both these people shifted allegiance to Arvind
Kejriwal and AAP. What they want is not
real journalism. What they want is not delivery of fair news and discourse.
What they want is to trash the politicians they don’t like, peddle lies and
distortions about them and promote those they think will nurture their own
security and future. Don’t look too far, all this has been neatly explained in
“The AAPSucker Proxies”.
Bahl has a twin problem on his hands. Someone
leaks discussions to a “fringe” website and then someone leaks mails to many
media folks. He has to maintain journalistic honesty and also business
profitability. Sagarika provides neither journalistic sense nor business sense.
Events have shown she is not only a bad journalist but also undermining her
channel by stupid statements. Whether “personal
political preferences” should rule over journalistic principles is a choice
Bahl will have to make. So far, it’s the public that gets a poor ride in all
this. It’s funny how one insect can
damage so much grain.
