Trash Talking Tehelka

Tehelka is a good start, now let’s go after everyone.

WrittenBy:Abhinandan Sekhri
Date:
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The Tehelka scandal has exposed more than just Tarun Tejpal. It has exposed many aspects of the Indian media which until now were invisible.

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The e-mail leaks and subsequent revelations forced a hard inward look and newswallahs really went at the story that’s grabbed headlines for almost 2 weeks now. The attention to the case and ferocity of the reportage gave little opportunityto those cynical of the news media to accuse it of protecting its own.  There are still some who claim otherwise, but a loony fringe will never be convinced.

While the media going after Tarun Tejpal is a step forward from the cosy club mentality that dominated the news world, the pack of wolves tearing an organisation apart could be a good thing too if that courtesy is extended to all news organisations, since  this would ensure the demise of all that is rotten which can be replaced with a new healthier ethos. Selective elimination only kills one small organisation for all the wrong reasons and does not deal with the malaise that may extend beyond Tehelka. Ownership patterns, full disclosure of shell companies, hidden debt and vague overseas fund transfers must be scrutinised for others as well. If not, then all we are doing to Tehelka is a more dignified version of the classic desi habit of every passerby slapping a criminal caught in a marketplace. Each time Newslaundry has asked some of the big guns for any details about ownership patterns or payments from DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity) for government ads they have published – we have been denied.  Okay, maybe we’re a bunch of morons who don’t deserve any attention or response (unless the very same people write or call us to complain and whine about how unfair and nasty we are, which they do all the time), but what stops them from disclosing that data on their websites? Does it take an alleged rape to dig into the completely unrelated aspect of ownership, balance sheets and profit and loss accounts? The digging into of every little aspect of Tehelka would be welcome if it went beyond just Tehelka. The ownership patterns of many other big media houses, how money has been routed, who owns shell companies, where debt was offloaded and what kind of loans have been picked up will be a bigger and more important story. Hopefully, Newslaundry will be able to put in enough resources to do that at some point.

The allegations against Tarun Tejpal are serious and the e-mail leaks and all other details that have been made public leave him on very thin ice. Yet, to use this opportunity to trash all that Tehelka as a news organisation has ever done is just dumb. It’s as foolish as trashing every performance of the Indian cricket team and every player because the captain was caught in a criminal case. Sachin still played some great innings whileAzhar was captain.Tehelka’s journalists and journalism are more than TarunTejpal’s individual actions.

Rape is a crime that must be dealt with, with the severity it deserves. Going by the subtext of this particular case it’s probably justified to give it way more print space and airtime than many would like.Especially because Tehelka positioned itself the way it did and Tejpal was its editor-in-chief.  Going overboard in a case like this in India is not just inevitable but also desirable since the gender dynamic is so horribly warped that over-compensating may correct some of the imbalance. But this is also a good time to scrutinise other aspects of the news world.

Those convicted of rape must be made examples of. To entertain any kind of intimacy with colleagues one’s daughter’sage who look upto you as a mentor is crude. To dance around the corpse of a fallen maverick of journalism is not exactly classy either.

The Tarun Tejpal case has displayed sleaze, venom, jealousy,creative accounting and archaic conventions. And it’s not just Tehelka I’m talking about.  Also on display are deep-rooted prejudices of Raj-era relics against “small town” upstarts, political leanings of “unbiased” journalists and intense professional rivalries, all peering out from under those starched fancy overalls.  As are primitive mindsets of previously progressive feminist warriors now trashing victims and until recently a too-dignified-to-battle news media turning on each other like hyenas. Nick Carraway said it best in The Great Gatsby – The transition from libertine to prig is now complete.  And it’s not such a bad thing either.

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