Free Speech & The Fiberal Farce

Pratap Bhanu Mehta is a very intelligent man. He writes with great insight and thoughtfulness. He probably considers himself a “liberal” too (maybe in the Yogendra Yadav mould) but like most Fiberals he is pretty clever in dumping important ailments to look at the “larger” picture. That is what he does in his article “Silencing of liberal India” (IE February 12) over the withdrawal of a book by someone called Wendy Doniger by her publishers. Here’s one of his opening paragraphs:

“Liberal India is being silenced because its joy at exposing hypocrisy is far greater than its commitment to defending freedom. Every time a book is under assault, the same tiresome argument breaks out. “Oh, you did not speak when so and so was banned. You did not speak when Taslima Nasreen was the target, or when Jitender Bhargava was ordered to withdraw his book on Air India.” Or there is the partisan division: you did not object to what the Congress did to Salman Rushdie, or the CPM in West Bengal”.

PBM finds the argument over hypocrisy tiresome not because it is misplaced but because he could be one of the criminals who remained silent. Remember, PBM earlier wrote an article “While we were silent” when what he meant was “I was silent”. Imagine, this same MSM was silent when Jitendra Bhargava’s book “Descent of Air India” was withdrawn just recently. So when they want to outrage, they will tell you “Oh let’s not bring past issues... this is different and this is terrorism” (As Dalyrmple wails). But unfortunately for PBM, it isn’t free speech but the hypocrisy that is the problem. You can write all the crap you want about Hinduism or Hindus but please don’t offend Muslims or Christians, they are touchy secular people. Never forget what a grand Fiberal like Shashi Tharoor said (in a debate with Christopher Hitchens):

1. In the first instance Tharoor narrates a story carried in a Bangalore newspaper about a boy called Mohammad, an “idiot-boy” (No reference or connection to the Prophet as Tharoor confirms) This seemed to have angered muslims who attacked the office and the editor of the newspaper. The editor had to later apologise. Tharoor mentions that even if the article was never intended to refer to Prophet Mohammad, the editor should have been careful enough to avoid misinterpretation and should have been aware that this would cause trouble. Sure, the victim of the violent attacks was wrong and should be the one to apologise. That is freedom of speech according to Tharoor.

2. In the second instance with reference to the Danish cartoons issue, Tharoor continues the same argument. That the Danish paper/cartoonist would have known well the publication of the cartoon would cause a worldwide backlash and should have resisted going ahead with it and exercised restraint. Tharoor strongly maintains that free speech/expression should not be used to hurt anyone. I suppose nobody told this scholar that “consensus” does not require a freedom of speech law.

3. It’s the third issue that is striking. The discussion moves to the M.F. Hussain paintings. Here’s where our happy-tongue minister reveals his true self. He argues strongly that it was Hussain’s freedom of expression for which he should not have faced a backlash. Well, obviously Hussain was so blissfully ignorant that his controversial paintings would cause friction or offend a whole community.

There is nothing wrong in what PBM has written in his article but he follows the same hypocrisy that is epitomised by Shashi Tharoor. This is the same hypocrisy that flows through our MSM. What upsets all these Fiberals is that the Doniger book-withdrawal didn’t happen with riots or violence but through a legal process. I haven’t read her book but from a few excerpts here and there I am certain she broke Indian laws of respecting religious beliefs and values. The MSM talks a lot about free-speech but what they mean is they want it only for themselves and not for others. If that wasn’t the case they would have protested all the bogus laws in India that restricts free speech.

This is a country that has banned pornography and even Adult toys; you think people will tolerate abuse of religion? It is just that some Hindu group, instead of agitating, rioting and burning shops, resorted to a democratic, legal process that has upset the Fiberals. They would have been happier if there was violence so they could sing their song of “saffron extremists” and “evil Hindutva”. Swapan Dasgupta calls it rightly when he states that the media and some Fiberals were desperately trying to link the Doniger issue to the rise of Modi or the rise of Hindutva. You know, like the case has some direct link to Modi’s campaign. The Commie Fiberals have a particular problem with anything remotely critical of Islam and that is why the Hindus have started retaliating to Hinduism-abuse. The Hindus have long tolerated nonsensical writings like those of Doniger and are now reacting using the same laws that are actually being used to suppress any criticism of Islam. This is simply the root of the problem otherwise who cares what trash Doniger or someone else writes. Oh wait! I’m wrong there, someone does care. It is usually the “White-Christian” Doniger types who write trash and are given awards by the likes of Indian Express or some other organisation.

If you are anti-Hindu you will find more space in the MSM. Those who cry for free-speech over the Doniger issue are lying hypocrites. Jitender Bhargava’s book had nothing to do with religion. The publisher withdrew the book just because one man (Praful Patel) was offended and threatened them legally and the media didn’t even bother to find out which parts offended him. The book dealt with the scams and misdeeds of Air India. Yet, our Fiberals didn’t bat an eye-lid because the “victim” was their darling Praful Patel. Some media houses in particular would like the book burned because they were the beneficiaries of scams in Air India. Consider the fact that Doniger’s book offended a whole community and also broke the law and the evidence is out in the open. Bhargava’s book offended only ONE man and there is no evidence the book said anything illegal or defamatory. Did the media examine this? Here’s what the emotional bimbo tweeted:

When convenient she brings in Ma Saraswati and such nonsense for a bogus argument. Like I said in the tweet, the book was not withdrawn to respect Hindu sentiments. The book was withdrawn because Penguin knew their case was weak and they had broken Indian laws and knew the price they would have to pay. Are our laws stupid? It is these same laws that were used in the famous “Calcutta Petition” to prove that the Quran instigated violence and hatred and should, therefore, be banned. The petition was dismissed not because the contention was wrong but that the book was religious and there was a time-bar. These same Fiberals were thrilled when Wharton cancelled an interaction by Narendra Modi. These same Fiberals cheered when Harvard cancelled courses of Subramaniam Swamy after he wrote a provocative article. On the same topic of Swamy’s article here’s what was transacted by a MoronRatna called Dipankar Gupta on the predominantly anti-Hindu channel CNN-IBN and Rajdeep Sardesai watched like a fool:

So Dipankar Gupta’s argument against Swamy’s article was that summer-school teaching isn’t “top of the tops”, implying Swamy was a “faaltu” teacher. What has that got to do with his freedom of speech? Ha! But a personal attack passes for an argument. And he makes an even more absurd statement “Swamy has the right to his opinion but NOT the right to be published”. So according to this Commie Fiberal only those opinions should be published which are acceptable to morons like him. And these are the guys who will sermonise on what should be published and what should not. Dipankar Gupta, the intolerant, is a frequent flyer on CNN-IBN and other channels. That should tell you what these idiots really think of free speech: “We should have it but you Hindus don’t deserve it”. It took a long time for SwapanD but he finally acknowledged that our media only uses these incidents to heap more abuse on Hindus and Hinduism even as both remain the most tolerant among all religions of the world:

What upsets these Fiberals is that the Hindus aren’t suffering this nonsense anymore. Because the Islamic extremists take to the streets and protest everything that hurts them the Hindus have started retaliating. Remember the Danish cartoons and bounty offered by an SP MLA? Remember Azad Maidan? Remember extreme pseudo-atheist Javed Akhtar wanting a female cop jailed just because she wrote a poem? Now, by the standards of NDTV, CNN-IBN, Barkha Dutt, Dalrymple, Rajdeep and all… Javed Akhtar is a secular free-speech lover. As long as the hypocrites exist in our society free speech will not flower. People like PBM wail like injured hyenas in cases like the Doniger issue but refuse to speak up against other incidents and draconian laws like 66A. If you don’t protest and seek the removal of bogus laws it will invariably come to be smartly used against you. Next time, they should save this Fiberal farce and look inward and see how much they actually hate free speech. And yes, of all people, even Barkha Dutt continues to claim she respects free speech. The Fiberals missed the irony somewhere. 

Walking The Dog

The theory that dogs resemble their masters or vice-versa has been around for a long time. I have no idea why. It’s possible that people look around for pet dogs that look like them but that again is a theory. Maybe stray dogs somehow find their way to houses of people resembling them but that again is a theory. Whatever the reason, there seems to be some valid logic for such theories. Look at these pics and I think you’ll find it hard to deny that there is some secret or divine resemblance dogs have to their masters:

No matter how far you drive a dog away it has this uncanny but natural ability to find its way back to its master. Is the dog biased? Sure it is! It is biased beyond reason and will remain faithful no matter what. It does not tolerate any reason, question or logic against its master; which is why it’s called a man’s best friend. (Is it sexist to say just ‘man’ anymore? Should I say a person’s best friend?)

There has always been a question on many people’s minds: “Are our judges really unbiased”? The answer is a simple but emphatic “No”. Judges are as human as you and I and have their biases, opinions and preferences on almost all issues that come to their courts. In an unusual incident a former judge, Justice SM Soni, even wrote to the SC to keep Justice Aftab Alam away from Gujarat related cases due to his “communal mindset”. If you have heard the frequent statements by Justice Katju it won’t be hard to see that he has very strong views on almost every issue that surrounds us. The reason why judges are able to rise above their biases is because they are trained long years to interpret the letter and spirit of the law and go by facts and evidence. In higher courts it is rare to find a single judge deciding a case. It’s usually a bench of two or even more judges. Also, for their judgements they are accountable to the Law, the Constitution and their conscience and no other master. Beyond that, there is also a system of appeals that includes seeking a review of an SC judgement and can go right up to the President. What are our options with the media?

So when the eternal journalistic-bimbo announced her FTN show “Is Narendra Modi PM material?” you naturally wonder if she is even fit to discuss the topic given her hatred and bias. No, don’t take my word for it. Look at her tweet and look at the response she got from noted journalist Swapan Dasgupta (SD). Now I have to tell you, I have rarely seen SD being so blunt about anything. He is usually direct but with a lot of subtlety but in his tweet he directly charges the Social Genius not with bias but with “hatred” of Modi. Just a few weeks back Modi had sarcastically asked Rajdeep Sardesai, the ‘Numero Uno political analyst’ according to the Social Genius, if the people had assigned the task of finding a PM to the media. What SD asks is a very pertinent question. Many of our media celebs have made their fortunes not based on their bias but based on their “hatred” for Modi. In doing so, some have been as faithful as dogs are to their masters. Naturally, some even speak and bark like their masters do. They have come to resemble them in their discourses.

I strongly recommend that you read all the responses to that tweet of Swapan Dasgupta. Some are quite interesting and I reproduce a few:

One asks: @Swapan55 that just Paradoxically displays ur love for Modi!!! @sagarikaghose #FreedomofSpeech anyone?

This guy probably doesn’t realise the difference between being a biased journalist or commentator and being an anchor. He forgets that the anchor is supposed to be a moderator and not let her own opinions, bias and hatred dictate the course of the debate. SD’s sympathies for BJP or Modi are not a big secret. He does not pretend to be an “independent observer” like Sagarika or Rajdeep. More importantly, SD doesn’t allow his bias to condone lies, untruths and outright misdeeds by the BJP. The tweeter even overlooks the fact that SD is being invited for the very reason of his sympathies for Modi. SD further tweets that owing to her hatred of Modi, Sagarika should be a panellist and not the moderator. That would have been fairer.

Here’s another one from a regular moron on Twitter: @swapan55 Ouch. Clearly @sagarikaghose didnt invite you on the panel :p

Haha! This moron tends to speak before actual events. Little did he realise that when the show actually took place SD would indeed be on the panel. Perhaps it didn’t even occur to him that SD may have tweeted for the precise reason that he knew he was on that panel. Of course, ‘scoop and break’ specialist of CNN-IBN wasn’t to be left behind so he tweeted thus:

Bhupendra Chaube: @swapan55 ha ha, where is that anchor swapan?

That’s probably a dig Chaubeji wanted to take at someone. We know that lately Chaubeji is at the receiving end of some internal politics at his channel’s office and his bosses seem to be running a cheeky rivalry between him and Pallavi Ghosh in public through their tweets. All in good fun, one hopes. There are some other silly tweets like one asking if SD is being “paid” by Modi which don’t really warrant any comment.

As for the debate itself, there was Modi sympathiser Dasgupta, Modi critic Yogendra Yadav and Modi-haters Javed Anand and Sagarika Ghose. Yogendra Yadav has made a gentle shift from a “jholawalla” to politician recently. Javed Anand, husband of the washing machine of justice Teesta Setalvad, is as much a Modi-hater as Sagarika herself. So it’s 3 against 1 so you can imagine how the dice is loaded, loaded.

So let’s ask the same question we asked about judges. Can we expect media celebs to rise above their biases? Absolutely not! Especially not when it borders on hatred as has been over the years. Sagarika, Rajdeep, Barkha, Vir Sanghvi, Vinod Mehta, Vinod Sharma are not driven by bias. They follow a political agenda set by their masters. In the absence of independent moderators these media celebs automatically become the voices and barks of their political masters. By pitting 3 against 1 CNN-IBN has already skewed the time-share that would be available to each participant in the debate. This is the simple reason that the US presidential debates now have a clock running on the screen for viewers to see if both candidates are getting a fair timeshare.

Even in pointing out non-threatening PMs in the coalition era the SocialGenius reels off names to compare what she calls a “polarising” candidate in Modi: MMS, Narasimha Rao, IK Gujral, Deve Gowda. Oops.. the most assertive and yet a non-threatening PM in the recent past would have to be Atal Behari Vajpayee. Reminder: No matter how far you drive a dog away it has this uncanny but natural ability to find its way back to its master. It’s not only unconscious it is second-nature for dogs. As for threatening, who exactly does Modi really threaten? India? The idea of India? (As the social scientologist kept mentioning), the minorities, the media? Looks like Modi threatens the very Macaulay Putras and Putris who have so far lived a life of luxury and entitlement. He threatens the very masters of this class who hate anything that is likely to challenge the status quo.

After years of an insipid, lack-lustre, puppet PM like MMS it is only natural that many would like to see an assertive and decisive PM. Modi need not be the only candidate who fits that bill but there isn’t anyone else who's standing up yet. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that the Cong-UPA under MMS (or Sonia if you like) has figuratively burned down mission-India and many dreams and houses. As for the dogs, even if their masters literally burn down the mission and the house, I leave it to you to wonder who they will still follow. Seems their masters walk them well.

India's Best Journalists

Since the article on India’s Worst Journalists-2012 (IWJ) last April I had received many suggestions to do one on India’s best. Some even recommended that the same ‘worst’ should be put to another poll to find out which are the best among them. When I looked up the ‘Charter of MediaCrooks’ there were hundreds of provisions to identify and talk about the crooks but not a single one to identify the good ones or the best in the business. Fair, since that wasn’t the task of MediaCrooks. So I derived inspiration from the 'Worst list' and ‘manipulated’ the Charter to enable this site to identify the best journalists. The candidates on the best journalists list were all picked by people on the social media. (Thanks to all who contributed). If I had left it to the Anti-SocialMedia (MSM) probably none of these names would have figured.

There is something else about the journalists on the list. You won’t find most of them flamboyant or glamorous. You won’t find most of them frequently in those back-scratching media awards functions. The greatest thing about the candidates on the ‘best’ poll is that when they write an article or appear on TV it is highly unlikely you will find them asking: “Oh God, what should I tell them”? They speak their own free minds. So here are those who have been voted India’s Best Journalists (Poll results appended at the end of this post):

10. Ashok Malik – Malik has been in the business for over two decades now. His association has mostly been with The Pioneer but you can also find him in other journals and lately also on many TV channels as a panellist. His writings are not the kind that will set you on fire but Malik manages to put across his views and arguments gently and without offending. That might be surprising since many bios of his mention his wanting to be a gossip-writer in film magazines. That’s hard to believe because he looks so serious. It would be nice, though, to see a gossip column from him – just to see some stuff from him on the Poonam Pandeys, Sonam Kapoors and Uday Chopras.  In any case, don’t expect him to be politically incorrect. Like other successful journalists who have adapted to the Internet Malik understands and values the social media. He is happy to write in a form that the MSM wouldn’t consider really ‘Sexy’ in these times. He speaks his mind anyway and that’s the obvious reason he’s here. 

9. Madhu Trehan – She’s one of the survivors from the journalism of the old world charm. The co-founder of IndiaToday, India’s first weekly news-magazine, has many firsts to her credit. The other significant claim to fame has to be her video news-magazine ‘Newstrack’, in the days of Doordarshan’s monopoly, which was made available as videos through her magazine and through regular video outlets. But Madhu Trehan is not on this list for her past laurels though. She has re-invented herself and has been active on the social media. Her news channel Newslaundry is growing in popularity. It’s a site where Madhu and her colleagues launder the regular crooks in the media with a lot of humour and candour. Viewers and readers of Newslaundry have often felt she has been soft on the crooks but that takes away nothing from her sincerity and her commitment. She has also learned to engage with the crowd on social media. Her popularity is on the up again.

8. R. Jagannathan – Business World, India Today, Express group, Business Standard, DNA he has worked with all of them. A significant involvement has to be the launch of Business Today. Other than that he has spent relatively smaller tenures with most of these publications. But TheJaggi, as he calls himself on Twitter, came to greater prominence with FirstPost. Though I call Firstpost the online sidekick of the Network18 group (CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18 etc.), Jaggi has brought a lot of balance and freshness in the online news business. As editor of Firstpost not only his own articles but even those of others have largely been truly interesting and fair. That’s what is amazing. Since the group’s TV channels are heavily biased and are nearly political mouthpieces, Firstpost doesn’t appear to be so. Being a business journalist himself, his articles on economics and financial matters make exceptional reading. I don’t have numbers but I would dare to state Firstpost could easily be the most popular dedicated online news site at the moment and will grow in strength. A lot of credit for that must go to TheJaggi.

 7. P. Sainath – He calls himself a ‘rural’ reporter. One of the few Indians to receive the Ramon Magsaysay awards Sainath is the art movie equivalent of Bollywood in journalism. And I say that nicely. On the mainstream media degenerating into entertainment he once remarked: “"I felt that if the Indian press was covering the top 5 per cent, I should cover the bottom 5 per cent” and that he does splendidly. On another occasion he observed there were 400 journalists reporting on a Fashion show in Delhi but not one reporting on poverty in India. One recent article by him “Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint” about the misreporting and twisted journalism by TOI is indicative of the tenor of most of his articles and exposes. It is indeed surprising that he hasn’t been called upon to be a panellist on TV shows relating to farmer suicides and such related issues. Maybe he just detests the very format of these debates and avoids them. Outspoken against Paidmedia and other evils of the press he is one reporter who should be inspiration for a lot more.

6. J. Gopikrishnan – There must be a reason his name starts with G. His stunning investigative reports on the 2G scam has exposed many corrupt politicians and the entire UPA govt itself. Gopi, as he is called in trade circles, systematically pursued and exposed the manner in which scarce national resources were sold for a song by the corrupt. Naturally, apart from rising popularity among people a number of awards followed as well in the last year or so. The mostly compromised bigger media outlets started following the 2G story only after his reports. That Gopi works with a relatively small newspaper like The Pioneer also reflects on where good journalism is coming from lately. In the words of his own editor, Chandan Mitra, “He has put on no airs despite the accolades he has received and the many awards he has won. He remains committed to his profession and profession alone”. What followed Gopi’s reports are similar assessments by the CAG on 2G and worse, the explosive Radiatapes that exposed the media-politician-lobbyists nexus. More power to him.

5. Sucheta Dalal – She could have been somebody…. Somebody like… You know who, a media super celebrity. She could have easily compromised ethics and traded that for millions. But Sucheta Dalal is one of the most reliable financial journalists around. From the Harshad Mehta scam to Ketan Parekh to current misdeeds in the financial markets she has served ordinary investors and consumers all her career. Having worked with all the major newspapers in the country she now runs her own web magazine, Moneylife. Apart from various investment and securities boards, including those of the govt, she is also on the board of Consumer Education & Research Centre in Ahmedabad. In the crowd of many unscrupulous financial and stock market journalists, in print and on TV, she stands out like a beacon. One hopes future aspirants in this domain will look to her for inspiration.

 4. M. J. Akbar – There isn’t much that I need to write about MJ Akbar that people don’t already know. From a Trainee in TOI to launch of major journals like TheSunday and Telegraph and to also being a member of parliament there isn’t much that MJA hasn’t achieved. One of the senior most journalists of India he has also authored many books. In particular, his analyses of Indo-Pak relations are easily among the best anyone can get to read. His recent launch, the online SundayGuardian, has acquired a fair bit of popularity with the internet news readers. SundayGuardian is as hard-hitting a news magazine as you can get. He is currently the Editorial Director of IndiaToday and their TV channel HeadlinesToday. That he retains a high level of popularity after four decades in journalism says everything about why he is still rated as one of the best.

 3. Kanchan Gupta – He is most famous for his association with The Pioneer and even more so as an advisor in the PMO for Atal Behari Vajpayee. Apart from writing on politics and current affairs you could fairly call him a reasonable expert on middle-east affairs owing to his work in that region. He can be subtle, wry and sarcastic but don’t expect him to make you fall off your chair laughing. Straight-talking, blunt and sometimes provocative, his writings do not spin facts. That’s the reason he is very popular with the right wing and not so popular in the mainstream media. Often appears on TV shows but gets shouted down very easily. That is not so much because he doesn’t have a booming voice but because he stops when asked by the moderator and cares to listen to others. In a country where journalism and media is dominated by communists and being ‘right-wing’ is almost criminal, his success stands out for his brilliant, insightful and honest writing. Has been another one to quickly learn the future of media is online and has now started his own venture called Niti Digital.

2. Swapan Dasgupta – Quite easily the best and most popular of contemporary journalists around. That should be a surprise because he too is a ‘right-wing’ journalist. Not just that, he also happens to be the most sought after TV panellist. I refuse to call him an ‘intellectual’ as many do since I consider that term reserved for ‘Nobeler’ souls. Let’s see, I would call Amartya Sen or Dileep Padgaonkar an intellectual. Which is why it is dismaying to find him debating ‘intellectuals’ like Mani Shankar Aiyar. SD is simply blessed with an extraordinary abundance of simple common sense. That’s what makes his writings a delight to read. The number of journals he writes for is too long to be listed here. Sharp observations, deep insights and simple honesty are key features of his writings. Like Sachin Tendulkar he is not gifted with great vocal chords but he makes up for that with his solid batting. If he is on a TV debate you are assured of a decent one without the usual cacophony that passes for debates. Whatever one’s ideology he is clearly a role model for budding journalists.

1. Arun Shourie – This is quite a surprise. I say that in a nice way because Arun Shourie hasn’t been a very active journalist for quite some time. That he remains the best journalist with voters is a tribute to his standing and accomplishments. He is the first of India’s true investigative journalists who led to the fall of a Chief Minister in Maharashtra in the eighties. His most reputed tenure is that as the Executive Editor of Indian Express. At one point the Congress govt had nothing less than 300 cases slapped against the IE after the Bofors episode. Author of many books, MP and was also a minister under the NDA govt. It’s distressing for many that since the days of Shourie the fiercely independent IE has more or less become a ‘handler’ of the govt’s agenda. He had also strongly opposed Pratibha Patil for president and it’s not so hard now to see why. Every article and book written by Shourie is perhaps better researched, more thoughtful and provocative than any of the ones by many modern day journalists. Not surprisingly, he was he named as one of the International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years in 2000 apart from being honoured with the Magsaysay award. The likes of Shourie and the others on this list keep the flame of hope for good journalism floating.

So there it is; India’s Best Journalists and I expect they will remain so for quite some time. In an age where skin colour, lipstick, make-up, laundering and brokering skills determine the prominence and influence of a journalist, it is not very difficult for them to stand out. I believe they would have stood out anyway. If most of the media crooks are a danger to democracy and freedom then there are some who strongly protect it too. And those are 10 good reasons to cheer.

PS: The candidates in the poll who did not make it to the Top-10 have nothing to worry. They are in great company and are sure to find their place in the sun for sure in the future.

 

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