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Media and society: Who wins the blame game? On Record |
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Profile
Reflections
Diversities — Delhi Letter
Kashmir Diary
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Media and society: Who wins the blame game? IT is said that the concept of the good old days is a mirage — they seem 'good' only because they have spent so much time in the editing. We hark back to the time when journalism was a mission, a vehicle of social reforms and of political independence, a catalyst for economic change, and most important, a voice of the voiceless. We look back and mourn for what is more. But we would be wrong. That journalism is still out there - it is just that it has been crowded out. We have had our share of scandal sheets in the past. Editors did succumb to pressures from the powers that be, isms did cloud the issue, the pen was misused to settle personal scores. But then, they were the exception rather than the rule. Today, the numbers don't read right. The boundaries between reality and fiction, facts and rumours, objectivity and bias, fairness and sensationalism, right and wrong, decency and vulgarity, issue and trivialities, are blurring. Who do we believe? Following disillusionment with the political class, we have now turned to the journalistic fraternity to show us the way. We take what is written in the newspapers as the gospel truth. We feel the camera cannot lie. We believe in the press because of its legacy. Now we need to do a rethink. The race is to the finish. Journalistic norms seem to have become a casualty. The focus is on the moment. The emphasis is on information rather than knowledge. What suffers in the atmosphere of immediacy is analysis. What suffers in this search for speed is depth. The media in the wealthy world are becoming increasingly simplistic, superficial, and celebrity-focussed. The poor man is the first to be guillotined by the media. He becomes a front page story only when he follows some pagan ritual or eats grass to stave off his hunger. He is a curiosity, not a norm. The page fixtures are the politicians and the socialities. The focus is on the froth rather than the substance. Journalism is up for grabs to the highest bidder. News is becoming a filler for advertisements. Editorial space is being bought. Content is being dictated by partisan motives. The soul has gone out of journalism. The consumer is being sold a shell. The tragedy is that he is taking it. Let us introspect on how the media sees us. The reader doesn't really exist. The rat race today does not permit relics. Instead, we have the consumer. The option of the 'media addressee' has been overshadowed by the 'media client'. Journalistic ethics is founded on the respect of a human person's dignity, implying that its very foundation is incompatible with the market-driven journalism which does not treat a person as an end in itself, but as a means to achieve a higher goal — profit. The big story no longer lies in the little man. Sadly, news today divides people instead of achieving social cohesion by the simple act of ignoring the information needs and aspirations of a majority of the people within the country. The media disseminates news, reconstructing social reality for those who are not directly in the know. The "nose for news" is now used to not sniff out the story so much as the scandal. Cater to their base instincts. Give them what they want. Hook them. Trial them as bait. The advertiser will follow. Our coffers will fill. End of story. Or is it? Increasingly we are becoming a myopic society. We are fed on a daily news diet of corrupt politicians, rapacious men, inefficient babus, of war and strife, hunger and poverty. For the media, bad news is good news. But why blame the media alone? We are just as much a part of the system as the media. We have allowed it to become our drug peddler. We seem to have forgotten that the remote is in our hands. Why should there be a supply when there is no demand? The power of the market can be used to influence decisions in local newspapers. The consumer is king after all. Public praise and shame can be powerful motivators of behaviour. The people need to stand up and be counted. How many of us move out of our cocoons and object to the soft pornography in the national press, the full front-page advertisements or to being fed opinion in the guise of fact? The real answer lies in self-regulation — by us in general and the media in particular. The media should turn the spotlight on itself as well. It is hard to stomach a newspaper reporting on corruption when it accepts money to publicise a particular individual or institution. It is hard to accept a newspaper's castigation of inefficiency in an administrative setup, when its own reporters base their stories on press notes alone. Our actions do rebound on us as individuals, and to the collective to which we belong. The long-term survival of any business enterprise is going to lie in consumer loyalty — a reader who will stay with you regardless of the marketing gimmicks of your rival. As for us, it is a wake-up call. No longer are these issues academic niceties. The paradigm shift is in place. The empires of the future are going to be the empires of the mind. There is an old Japanese legend that holds the symbols of imperial power to be the sword, the jewel and the mirror. The sword signifies strength, the jewel signifies wealth and the mirror signifies self-knowledge. The latter is considered the most powerful because, unlike the former two, knowledge is inherently inexhausitable; it can be manipulated in various ways, for or against the other two and it is the ultimate power lever. The media knows it, the governments of the world know it. It is time we, the receivers, knew it too. It is time to put a premium on our brains. The current trend of 'dumbing down' of the media has dangerous ramifications for our collective evolution. We are evolving into pygmies. n
**** The writer is Lecturer, Department of Mass Communication, Panjab University, Chandigarh |
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On Record
Q: How have attitudes towards knowledge and wealth creation changed in our society? A:
At the end of the day, all of us want to better our lives. Money is important for the security it brings, opportunities for our children, and the ability to help others. But we cannot become victims of money - then we lose mental peace, we get into a rat race. The need is to strike a balance. I have always said that the real power of money is the power to give it away. Money can buy clothes, houses, travel, but its real power is the power to make a difference. Q: What can be done to engineer a true entrepreneurial culture? A: This is about another balance which is very difficult to strike. I see modern youngsters who are easily satisfied. They have made five crores and they are happy. That is actually not a lot of money! I have seen people in Infosys make Rs 50 crore and retire at 30. You should still be hungry. While it is good to be contented, you must retain the passion for work. Look at Bill Gates, he is still so passionate. In the West, I have friends who have made US $ 200 million, and they sell their companies and start again. They are serial entrepreneurs. I think the best message is the message of the Gita — you must be detached from the fruits of action, but you must act. You must run the marathon, be there for the long haul. Our society does not put up with people who fail. In the West, failure is not victimised. Here you will be reminded of it everywhere, in every conversation. People will say, "he failed." Another issue is there is still a lot of friction to business. It has gotten better in the last five to six years, but it is still there. Q: Now both intellectuals and political parties are talking about returning to socialism… A: I really hope that does not happen. Socialism has proven to be ineffective in alleviating poverty, in creating jobs. I thought that was a settled issue and it will be sad if it is revived again. By and large, governments here are changing attitudes towards business, they are realising that they should get off their backs, but there is still tremendous friction. The tragedy of countries like India is the enormous gap between the haves and have-nots, and the solutions that we seek are those that will satisfy us, not necessarily everybody. IT has enriched out lives, but 20 miles out of Bangalore, they are not touched by it. That is not the case with technologies in the West. But the benefits of IT — reduction in costs/cycle times, increased productivity, e-governance, who needs it more than the poor? On our part, we have programmes like the creation of a completely "digital village" in Mandya, where the power of the Internet is brought home to everybody there, with the objective that of using IT to change all aspects of the life of a farmer. We have other programmes where we give training and scholarships for youngsters to come and intern in Infosys, and there is the on-going donation of two-year-old PCs on a regular basis. Q: One of your roles as Chief Mentor is to interact with "global thought leaders to enhance the leadership potential of Infosys." A: Yes, I give 50 to 60 talks a year. Wherever I go, I make it a point to connect with CEOs of companies, and various writers and speakers on business strategy, approaches and the like. I am always on the look out for new ideas that will be relevant to our needs. Q: Some of these consultants and writers of 'self-help' books have been criticised as witch doctors in the sense that they do not have a genuine role to play in the corporate world… A:
I don't think so. I am a great fan of learning. Even if I learn one minor aspect of one minor thing somewhere, it is worthwhile. When you listen to many of these people speak, you will learn at least one good thing. We are all so fixated on what we already know, and what we think is the right way to do something, so we do not listen. But if we are open, we will be the winners. Q: What are the future plans for Infosys' Chinese presence, and how do you see the future growth of the Chinese economy and its implications for India? A: China is big, and it is established. I have great respect for China. Every time I go there, and I go there about twice or thrice a year, I see steady progress, the kind I have not seen in any other country. They do what is right, what is required, and they believe in quick action. I can second what Jairam Ramesh says - China is a closed society with an open mind, while we are an open society with a closed mind. As for our view as a company, we are at a stage, as a billion dollar plus company, where we cannot afford to skip out on China. Our approach is in three phases. In the first phase is the development centre that is up and running, from where we will service global customers. In the second phase, we want to look at MNCs operating in China, and service them. And in the third, we will be looking at the Chinese market itself. We are looking at 2000 people in the next three years, may be more. China is very important, very strategic for us. You know, China has gone very far ahead of us. As a resource base, India will be important to us, but as a market, China will be far ahead. Q: You have stressed the need as Infosys grows to retain a "small company culture." A: It is all about attitudes and mindset. The important thing is to have an open culture, with mechanisms and structures for the free flow of communication, hunger for new ideas, and collective action and vision. There have to be institutional mechanisms internally that will help us be agile. We have units within Infosys today that are as big as the entire company was a few years
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Profile
He is of the view that Sanskrit has been barbarously sidelined in India while in a country like Israel, Hebrew, declared dead 1000 years back, has now been revived. There was a time when Persian was the lingua of elite in India. An adage is still quoted from contemporary Hindi literature: Pharen fari, bechan tel, dekho yeh kismat ka khel (Look at the mysterious ways of fate; some have read Persian but are still selling hair oil). Persian gradually disappeared from India. Even in Iran it was somewhat relegated to the background but it was revived and now the ancient lingo is thriving and the powerful medium of communication in that country. A study conducted by Prof Pande reveals that in schools of Punjab, one has to pay extra fee to study Sanskrit because a teacher has to be arranged for the purpose. In states, supposed to be the hub of Sanskrit, the classical language of India got a serious setback. The lingo in which Lord Krishna is supposed to have delivered the wisdom of “Geeta” to Arjuna has been relegated to the background in southern states like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The local lingos in these states have Sanskrit as their base. Malayalam, Kanada and Telugu have still more Sanskrit words than Hindi but, sadly, the classical language is in bad shape. In the Marxist ruled West Bengal, Sanskrit is almost wiped out. There were activists too who protest against the revival of Sanskrit. Prof Pande was, therefore, aptly chosen for conferment of the prestigious Saraswati Award instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation. He was bestowed the honour for his collection of 163 Sanskrit poems titled “Bhagirathi”, manifesting his passionate commitment to popularise the ancient language. In the words of Prof Pande: “The Bhagirathi is not only a purifying stream of water but it came down to the earth as a result of our ancestors’ prayers. Indian culture and history appears to me a literary stream. Bhagirathi is resonant with many notes but history, nature and consciousness are the main themes. Consciousness is denoted by language and time mediates and creates history. Time and memory have a special place. The awareness of these subjects, on the one hand, gives birth to sorrow of lost things, and on the other hand, its identity is created by awakening future possibilities. The great beauty of nature suggests such transcendental feelings. To plunge deep into consciousness, to discover, and to search for the essential truth is a major direction of Bhagirathi”. Prof. Pande himself poses the question often: “People ask me if Sanskrit is dead”. “My reply is that language is not a human being that can live or die. It is a form of expression that comes straight from the heart. The ancient Sanskrit grammar has never changed its form, and poetry in many other languages is indebted to this language”. Prof Pande is the recipient of many other awards and among them is Ramakrishna Jaidayal Dalmia Shreevani Nyas Award. It was conferred on him for excellence in Sanskrit language and literature, for his work “Saundarya Darshan”, on the Indian theory of aesthetics. Among other things, the book argues the case for the “Rasa Shastra” (romanticism), a scripture which, he says, has not received its due share of attention from literary scholars. Age has not dampened the spirit of Prof Pande. He is now busy with a poetic translation of the Rigveda Samhita and penning Sanskrit verses on the 1000 names of the Goddess, known as “Lalita Sahasranam”. Born in Allahabad in 1923, Prof Pande had a brilliant education career. He was Professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology in Allahabad University. In the seventies, he became the Vice-Chancellor of Rajasthan University. He was invited by his alma mater in 1978 as Professor from where he retired as Vice-Chancellor in
1983. |
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Reflections WHEN does leadership begin? Can we not de-mystify it? This was one question, which kept coming back to me, as I heard Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Rudy Giuliani, Francis Ford Coppola, and Warren Bennis speak at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore on “Defining Leadership”, where I too was a speaker and a panelist. I felt we all said the right things about leadership but perhaps took it to a conceptual plane from where it needed to be de-mystified. In addressing the question on when does leadership begin we may succeed in placing it in hands of all. What made me keener on this question was when the learned speakers said to over a thousand bright and keen audience that Leadership is about, mission statements, inspiring others, skills, communication, optimism, vision, strategies, hard work and discipline, team spirit, direction, risk taking and courage, observation and listening, values, integrity. I pinched myself to ask when do these qualities arrive? Do these fall from heaven? Are these learnt, acquired, born with or develop as we grow in life? And one quick answer in the form of a question, which flashed my mind, was, that do we not first begin with ‘learning to be led’ before we grow up to ‘lead others’? Also do we not ‘learn to lead our own selves’, before we get into ‘leading others’? I found the answer which de-mystified leadership for me. It was in the ‘Power of I’. Stated in other words it was in self-growth. Growth through the parents, teachers and the environment. All of which, teaches one to love and be loved. Give and Get. Share and learn. Inspire and be inspired. Accept and accommodate. Listen and express. Cry and laugh. Patience and anger. Experience life and death. Win and lose. Sweat and rest. Fear and courage. Respect and humiliation. Honesty and deceit. Enjoyment and responsibility. Tasks and performance. Friends and
adversaries. Mine and thine. Thus the first decade of our lives is when we are being led by the circumstances around us, absorbing the tendencies we are born with. This is the time when subtly the seeds of habits are being sown; of all the possible qualities of future leadership, as were being so eloquently communicated. The next decade is when these seeds (the tendencies and habits) have taken root and we are now nourishing or identifying them through nurturance dependent on our individual circumstances and this is what also, makes one different from the other. The follow on decades are the fruition/ hibernation/dominance/ loss/postponement/transplantation/nourishment or multiplication of all or some of these seeds, which were sown and nurtured accidentally or by design with care or neglect. We now are as we made or allowed ourselves to be. We reap as we sowed. Situations reveal our respective orchards as what kind of gardeners we were and what had we done with our soil. Our real selves get visible, sooner or later for the saplings and the plants sprout and spring. We now develop a self-image and a reputation. As we grow and unfold we see for ourselves what does our orchard look like and comprises of. We want to change to what we would like to be. But there is an inside, which opposes. For it is rooted. We succeed and fail. Before we compete outside we struggle within. But we are the same person who was but is now progressing or regressing. Fully known first to ones own self. But constantly choosing to learn or not to learn, all at a price. All along in our lives we do have the choices of planting, transplanting and nurturance. But the fact is we all dig, build, rebuild or even do nothing visibly, all our lives. And we are to be fully responsible for our choices not the circumstances always, as compared to the first decade of our lives. My impatience to know the answer started to get addressed. Rewind. Was the inner voice. Trace leadership seeds — homes, teachers, the influencing environment. And the self-seeding the gardener/ person tended to. The additional answer was: consistency and authenticity with the spirit of giving ones who did their own gardening persistently. They planted for others from day one. That is what made Gandhi the Mahatma, Gautama the Buddha, Mother Teresa into Saint Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Ramon Magsaysay, Vivekananda and Florence Nightingale for all that they stood for. They were what they were within. They were followed without seeking followers. They were visible and live examples for all times. And they were authentic. They were their own gardeners. But from decade one onwards. And stayed on course. Leadership is simple: It’s easy. It’s daily. It’s persistent. It’s selective. Its ethics based. It’s vigilant nurturing. It’s just careful
gardening. |
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Diversities — Delhi Letter
I am amazed at how wives overtake writer-spouses. This late spring when Sir V.S. Naipaul was here with wife Nadira, it’s she who did all the talking. He was almost in the background. At a dinner as I asked him on the upcoming elections and the political slants at work, she ensured that just as I threw a query, she put food in his mouth. With his mouth stuffed, she did all the talking. I have heard that old men like to be mothered, but this was a little too beyond that theory. This week, it was Salman Rushdie’s recently acquired spouse, Padmalakshmi (third or fourth, I have missed count), hogging limelight. She did mothering of a different kind, packing him back to the UK to complete his novel, whilst managed to stay back. Pouting, posing, promoting herself. The climax was when Padmalakshmi said that she even cooked for him. I have met Rushdie once. Wearing an oversized coat, he looked self-conscious and overpowering. Workshop on non-violence Jain Vishva Bharati Institute is holding a training programme on creative non-violence and ahimsa for the foreign students studying in India. This will be done during a week-long dialogue session on non-violence and peace. This programme will take the students into the actual reality of India and Indian-ness and what our culture stands for. For details, contact the Jain Vishva Bharati Institute, Ladnun-341306 (Rajasthan) (Ph: 01581-22110) or Project Office, IInd Floor, Nehru House, 4, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, New Delhi (Ph: +91-11-51509015)
N-E show again
on demand The hit play, Essentially Yerma in Imphal, was staged again on popular demand in three colleges of Delhi University. Its director, Parnab Mukherjee, is only 28. He seems to have grasped the pain of the people of the North-East, though he hails from West Bengal. “As a young child, I studied in Darjeeling and could feel the sense of alienation among the children from the North-East”, he says.
Depression deaths Mother Teresa said that after cancer the second most dreaded ailment was loneliness. Invariably this gets compounded and reflects through offshoots — depression being most prominent. This week alone there have been two depression-related suicides here. Much highlight and focus on those deaths. But as usual the basics and whys have been bypassed. No, we don’t talk openly about depression hitting us and till that doesn’t happen, God save us all.
Amen! |
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Kashmir Diary
MOST analysts described Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri’s visit to New Delhi last weekend as a tepid success but I fear the truth is that the two nations’ relations have regressed over the past few months. First, it became crystal clear during the visit that Pakistan once again stands four square behind Ali Shah Geelani, who heads the truculent political grouping, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat. Kasuri’s choice of interlocutors among the leaders of the Kashmir movement was a clear indicator. He met Geelani first and then Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who now leads the relatively moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference, but he then chose to meet Shabir Shah and Yasin Malik too a day later. A close associate of Geelani told me that Geelani had said to Kasuri that these were the only other leaders worth taking notice of. Both are loosely connected to his organisation, although at least Malik claims to stand apart. Now Geelani has since the beginning of 1990 been the political mentor of the Hizb-ul Mujahideen, which gradually decimated most other Kashmiri militants outfits and is today the only significant group with a large number of Kashmiri members (groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed are comprised largely of Pakistani boys). So Geelani’s primacy in Pakistan’s book indicates that militant pressure on India could increase in the coming period. Kasuri forcefully reiterated in New Delhi that relations between the two countries hinge on a solution to the Kashmir issue. I had got the impression from conversations with Pakistani Members of Parliament and senior journalists who visited India during the previous week that the Pakistani establishment is suspicious about India’s new government. They had developed tremendous confidence in the willingness and ability of Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee to deliver a settlement acceptable to Pakistan, but seem wary of the new regime. It was owing to its confidence in Mr Vajpayee that Pakistan had for a while tried to play even-handed between the two Hurriyat groups, although it thinks of the one the Mirwaiz now leads as something of a stooge of New Delhi. At the Pakistan Day reception hosted by the High Commission in March, the leaders of this group — which was at the time engaged in talks with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani — were treated with greater deference than was Geelani. The change from then to now is evident in Pakistan’s hardening attitude towards the proposed bus service across the Line of Control. That proposal, put forward by the Vajpayee government, had been tentatively accepted in January but Pakistan appears to have had second thoughts. The divergence on this issue among Kashmiri leaders was reflected in their interactions with Kasuri. Umar spent much time during his meeting to press Kasuri for the road connection to be re-established. He even cited the precedent of a system that was in place before 1953, through which District Collectors were empowered to grant travel documents for citizens of the state to travel across the Line of Control. Umar said that he had argued that the people of Kashmir wanted access to relatives and others across the Line of Control and that opening the road would counter the widespread cynicism among Kashmiris about the Indo-Pak dialogue. Negotiations have taken place so often without any result on the ground, he argued, that most Kashmiris have little interest now in such talks. Geelani, on the other hand, told the establishment-backed Pakistani daily, Nawa-i-Waqt, last weekend that he vehemently opposed the scheme. It would effectively bury the Kashmir issue, he argued. That indeed is what the Pakistani establishment fears, for establishing customs and visa posts on the Line of Control would effectively turn it into a border — especially if Kashmiris on the Indian side of the Line of Control need Indian passports for the journey. Geelani and other hawks are chary of allowing the investment they have made over the past 16 years in the militant strategy to result in a de facto acceptance of the Line of Control as the border. For them, the prize is the valley. So strongly backed is Geelani by militant groups that his statements can only mean that a toughening of tactics is on the cards. I fear that they might just decide that the new government must be given a dose of increased violence. They might hold off until after the US elections but that is only a few weeks away
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Being heirs to Divine powers and glory, a few men form a class of their own. To this class belong Incarnations of God like Chaitanya Deva (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) and their devotees of the highest order, who are parts of the Lord. — Sri Ramakrishna In religion there is no caste; caste is simply a
— Swami Vivekananda When You are here with me, what more do I need? I am telling the truth, my Lord! — Guru Nanak Good is attractive; evil is disgusting. A bad conscience is the most tormenting pain; deliverance is the
height of bliss.
— The Buddha Men, at some time, are masters of their fates. — William Shakespeare |
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IN a country that is still groping for the right economic models to optimise the wealth creating potential of its people and the right attitudes towards business, wealth creation, governance, and social responsibility, N.R. Narayana Murthy and Infosys constitute a key template for the entrepreneurial spirit, a quest for excellence and meritocratic structures. Mr Murthy, in an exclusive interview, spoke to The Sunday Tribune about entrepreneurship, education, attitudes towards work and money, and the strategic importance of China.
RARE are persons like Prof Govind Chandra Pande. He is historian, philosopher, Sanskrit scholar, poet and linguist combined in one. He is, perhaps, the only scholar who has vowed to restore the pristine glory of Sanskrit, fast vanishing as the classical language of India. Even though Prof Pande is 81, his resolve to rehabilitate Sanskrit remains firm.