If it stings, there?s a reason

Before something else cropped up to change the subject, India?s political class had been busy earlier this week.

Before something else cropped up to change the subject, India’s political class had been busy earlier this week cogitating about how to deal with sting operations conducted by the media. Unlike before, however, it wasn’t so much a debate but a plan. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Priyaranjan Das Munshi — who is, not so incidentally, also Information & Broadcasting Minister — stated that the government would soon come out with ‘guidelines and steps’ to ‘control’ sting operations. He went on to suggest that all sting operations should be banned. Whether Mr Das Munshi was talking in terms of a possibility or an obligation, one has to wait and see. But a ministerial ‘should’ always contains the seeds of a ‘would’ and that is always a matter of concern.

HT Image

Whether undercover exposés amount to kosher journalism or not remains a matter of opinion. But when the reason given for objecting to stings lies not so much in its efficacy but in the way it allegedly undermines the political class as a whole, we have no option but to raise our eyebrows in consternation. Speaking on a set of ‘guidelines’ to control the media regarding sting operations, Mr Das Munshi talked about television channels conducting hidden cam exposés simply to up their TRPs and in the process not only denigrate political parties but “the entire nation and this prestigious House”. The fact that TRPs are indeed a factor need not make sting operations so disreputable. As for lowering the prestige of the political class and Parliament, if there weren’t crooks and greasy palms among politicians to start with, there wouldn’t be any exposés, would there?

Coming from the media, the message, ‘Physician heal thyself’ might sound self-righteous. But by trying to paint those who have been exposed by the spy cam as victims takes the cake. If there were other methods in which the media could have — and can — expose wrongdoings (and crooks as well as their public exposure have not been confined to politicians), there would be no need for the sting. But till then, to condemn the media for conducting them sounds like a return to the Tehelka exposé days when the messenger of unpalatable news became fair game for the government. Saner voices in politics should not worry about a hidden-camera toting media. They should worry about those who provide the media with the fodder. Curbing the press and curbing corruption are — and have always been — two very different things.