A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA ISSN 0042-5303 October-DecemberJULY - SEPTEMBER 2012 2011 VOLUMEVolume 3 4 IssueISSUE 4 Rs 3 50 RS. 50 In a world buoyed by TRP ratings and trivia, QUALITY JOURNALISM IS THE CASUALT Y 'We don't need no thought control' n High time TAM/TRP era ended n The perils of nostalgia n You cannot shackle information now n Child rights/ child sexual abuse/ LGBT youth n Why I admire Justice Katju n In pursuance of a journalist protection law Responsible journalism in the age of the Internet UN Women: Promises to keep Your last line of defence n Alternative communication strategies help n The varied hues of community radio Indian TV news must develop a sense of The complex dynamics of rural Measuring n Golden Pen of Freedom awardee speaks n Soumitra Chatterjee’s oeuvre/ Marathi films scepticism communication readability n Many dimensions to health, nutrition n Tributes to B.K. Karanjia, G. Kasturi, Mrinal Gore Assam: Where justice has eluded journalists Bringing humour to features Book reviews October-December 2012 VIDURA 1 FROM THE EDITOR Be open, be truthful: that’s the resounding echo witch off the TV. Enough of it.” Haven’t we heard that line echo in almost every Indian home that owns a television set and has school-going children? “SIt’s usually the mother or father disciplining a child. But today, it’s a different story. I often hear children tell their parents to stop watching the news channels (we are not talking about the BBC and CNN here). “Why do you want to watch the same thing over and over again? What’s so interesting in them anyway?” they chorus. Children usually get it right. So, are we being held hostage by television? We hardly seem to know… or care. N. Bhaskara Rao, chairman of the Centre for Media Studies, says Indian television has been under the “siege” of TRPs (television rating points); he calls it a “hijack” and the “tranquilising effect”, such that we cannot avail of TV channels for national endeavours, cherished goals and the needs of a majority of people. He adds that Indian television is all about promoting consumerism to maximise returns. He makes some startling points: it’s TRPs every week that decide content priorities, including for news bulletins. Somebody even told him how TRPs are “guaranteed well ahead”. Rao is so convinced that the ratings etc are all a sham, he says the damages TRPs have caused India over the years is not inconsequential and is comparable to the Bhopal gas leak tragedy. If TRPs do not reveal the truth, can influential media houses hope to fool audiences for all time? Perhaps not in today’s age of social media. Veteran journalist M.B. Lal says government and media houses should remember that the more you suppress vital information, the more wings you provide social media. He is convinced no state control will be able to prevent information from reaching the people. As digital technology advances and digital products become cheaper, it will not be possible for governments to exercise control on the flow of information. To that, I would add: neither can the truth be suppressed. We have all seen the Facebook page called Tahrir Square. Some would say that in a scenario like this it’s good having a proactive person like Justice Katju at the helm of the Press Council of India. His comments about the media in particular have ruffled many feathers, his blunt speeches and writings have provoked reactions. However, as P.N. Vasanti, director of the Centre for Media Studies, says, the controversy surrounding his bold statements is mostly about his way of delivering them. She comes up with her take on Justice Katju, who she says stands out as a personality who is not afraid of saying what he believes in. He is able to voice opinions that popular media seems to obscure. ************************* Sakuntala Narasimhan has an interesting piece on alternative means of communication, some of which are simple and proving effective. She gives the example of Edify School students on Kanakapura Road in Bangalore resorting to a novel way of communicating a public message – they blew a whistle every time they saw someone littering, and presented the offenders with a handout as well as a whistle. No righteous lecture. The novel approach of communicating a message seemed more effective in terms of promoting compliance. The definition of ‘media’ we are adopting, is based on a Western-centric idea where reading abilities are higher compared to the developing world, she points out. Smoke signals, drum beats, music, dirges or elegies, effective communication is an art requiring certain skills. And if you can inspire people across the world, like Anabel Hernández has been able to, then you are in a different league altogether. The Mexican journalist who received the Golden Pen of Freedom Award from WAN-IFRA in September, opens her mind and narrates her touching story, of her life in a country 2 VIDURA October-December 2012 where in six years more than 60000 people have been executed by government or organised crime. In December 2010, when Hernández’s book, The Drug Lords, a product of five years of journalistic investigation, was published, she was sentenced to death by high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Public Security of President Felipe Calderón’s Government for having exposed his relationship with kidnappers and the dreaded Sinaloa Cartel. Since then, a price was put on her head; and since then she decided to fight for her life. In a country where the media “are afraid and preserve their economic interests with the government, and barely fight back when their journalists are killed, are threatened or disappear,” it’s Hernández’s lone voice that cries out loud against injustice. “I know that I have nothing but the truth, my voice and my work as a journalist to defend myself with,” she says. And it is such nerves of steel that are now being displayed by girls like Malala Yousufzai. ************************* Health/ nutrition, child sexual abuse and community radio – important subjects all. India is home to 42 per cent of the world’s malnourished children. Statistics (and they don’t always lie) reveal that almost every second child under five in India is malnourished. Creating health and nutrition related awareness among mothers and care-givers is crucial if the nutrition targets are to be achieved. Senior journalist Neeraja Choudhury writes about the coming together of five young parliamentarians who formed the Citizens Alliance Against Malnutrition group and visited several Indian villages. Every visit yielded new insights into ground realities and also threw up some good practices in the fight against malnutrition. Pamela Philipose makes a pertinent point: women’s status, not just as mothers but as productive human beings in their own right, is the surest foundation for lasting and sustainable change. It’s against such a background that B.G. Verghese’s article fits in well. It’s time for India to move forward, is his message. Land is limited but population has multiplied more than threefold since Independence and is still growing. India is fast urbanising as a development necessity and the land can no more support such numbers. People need to get off the land and take to non-farm occupations, he stresses. And, yes, there must be a change in mindset. Anjali Singh, who is doing some laudable work at the Saaksham Foundation in Uttar Pradesh, writes about incidences of gross and inhuman violations against children continuing even after they have come to the attention of the administration and enforcement agencies. She says there is surprising lack of enthusiasm among the stakeholders particularly when it comes to the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. From an event conducted by Tulir, Centre for Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, in Chennai, Susan Philip reports how communication holds the key to the issue of child sexual abuse. Unfortunately, the information children gather about sexual activity comes largely from movies and media, which do not portray it in a responsible way. Strong words from Peter Choate, clinical social worker and lecturer from Canada, who was the guest speaker at the event. And from Bangalore, Pushpa Achanta says the guilty in CSA cases can be members of the household or family, teachers or care givers, who exploit the vulnerability of a child in a clandestine manner and leave her or him feeling confused, hurt and afraid. Overall, it’s a petrifying situation for children and media must treat the issue with sensitivity. Kanchan Malik says it is possible for community radio stations to challenge the hegemony of the mainstream media and its programming methods only by developing rigorous and appropriate codes of conduct and practice in the spirit of self-regulation. Shoma Chatterji pens a wonderful piece on veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who recently received the coveted Dada Saheb Phalke Award. We have lost three giants who’ve left their imprints on the sands of time – B.K. Karanjia, G. Kasturi and Mrinal Gore. Each one of them was versatile and gifted, each a colossus, yet simple and modest. The kind of influence they wielded came from the sheer strength of their work. Sadly, such human beings are a rarity today. We pay tributes to them. Sashi Nair [email protected] October-December 2012 VIDURA 3 October-Decebmer 2012 High time the TAM/ TRP era ended/ N. Bhaskara Rao 04 You cannot shackle information anymore/ M.B. Lal 08 Why I admire Justice Katju/ P.N.