The endgame of media ethics

                                                     By Papiya De

On a hot summer day way back in 1998, I landed at the Delhi airport to find that autos and cabbies of the city were on strike. Since I was traveling for work (a rarity by itself for a young scribe working in the media industry reeling under a severe cash crunch) I availed car hire services with the comfort that my company would foot the bill. It was my first visit to the magazine's head office in Connaught Place as I had recently joined its Mumbai office. After the exchanging pleasantries with my senior colleagues, I met our editor. His reputation of being a task-master preceded the friendly guy I met at his office that morning. I was to proceed to Gurgaon to meet the CEO of an electronics MNC that morning and the PR manager of the company had thoughtfully landed at our office with a car.  She knew I was an outsider in Delhi and wanted to ensure that I did not face any difficulty in reaching that far flung destination. Here I was, happy and relieved and shared this piece of news with my editor. To my utter surprise, within seconds the friendly smile on his faced was replaced with a firmer frown. A few phone calls later, he casually told me that he had arranged a car for me to travel to Gurgaon and if the PR manager wanted, she could travel in that car but under no condition should I ever avail facilities provided by companies, other than mine. Especially, when I was planning to write about them.

At that time, in a short span of my three-year career, I had worked and met several senior journalists. But, here was this guy, who stood out amongst all of them not because he was the editor of the then largest business magazine in India, but his journalistic ethics were right up there. Over the years, with media houses becoming money making machineries, this insignificant incident is perhaps of little relevance now.

After a sabbatical, as a news reporter in a financial daily in 2007, I realized that the world of journalism has gone through a metamorphosis. I learnt about Private Treatise, a legal arrangement by which a media company picks up a stake in a company in return for discounted ads and favourable editorial coverage. With such arrangements in place, is it possible to insulate the news and opinion writing from the growing interests in business. The answer is a clear no. Examples galore when reportage has been slanted in favor of its clients and where trouble shooters have ensured that negative coverage is minimised. Media houses choose clients wisely. These are most often companies that are about to be listed and looking for a leg up, without deep pockets to support its advertising and marketing initiatives. There have been reports about editors who have sent out mails to teams to provide editorial coverage to these client companies so as to enhance their value and thereby the value of their own investments. Ethical questions have been deftly brushed aside by such media houses as sour grapes from rickety rivals raising issues irrelevant to readers of Indian newspapers.

What was pioneered by the Times of India Group, way back in 2005, is a coveted business model for practically every media house today. Reportedly, every listed media house has jumped on to this ad-for-equity bandwagon and been signing such deals at a feverish pace.

How does a media company strike a balance? On one hand it is responsible to its investors for raising the value of their investment and on the other what about its responsibility towards its readers and the media community at large?”

With practices such as these and in an age of instant gratification, journalists shy away from spending hours chasing news. Re-hashing  press releases is an easier way to the get a salary,  a means to prevent dampening of the multiplex and mall mania. The infamous Radia Tapes are just another case in point. There are exceptions, of course. But, those are few and far between. For any seasoned media person, a perceptible slant in news coverage, be it political or financial, becomes but obvious. Editorial integrity is not just a challenge, it is passé.

Little wonder then that even after 15 years, my ex-editor, a short guy by average Indian male standards, will always stand the tallest in my world of journalism.

Author's note:

Papiya De has been a journalist for 12 years with publications such as Business Standard, Business Today and The Financial Express. She started her career with The Asian Age in 1995 while pursuing her post graduation studies. She has a Masters degree in English Literature from the Jadavpur University. Papiya quit journalism to move out of the country and moved into communications on her return with a leading Indian conglomerate. Currently, Papiya is a freelance writer.