Media And The Mode

They sell despite the pricing which averages at Rs 2.50- Rs 3.50 everydayhigher than the English dailies. "These are markets which have grownwithouta price war. Telugu publications Eeandu and Vaartha have healthy competitionwithout a price war and Eenadu sells at an enviable Rs 5," says DeccanHerald editor, K.N. Shanth Kumar. Nakkheeran, a popular Tamil biweekly sells5 lakh copies per week, despite the fact that it carries only two ads perissue. Hai Bangalore, a 10-year old, anti-establishment, Kannada tabloidstarted by the late writer P. Lankesh runs without advertising and sells 25lakh a week. Ravi Belagere, its present editor also publishes a fortnightlycalled Oh Manase, a niche psychology magazine which sells 2 lakh copies afortnight.

"The vernacular readership is genuinely interested in state politics,"saysMrinal Pande, editor of Hindustan. "In the states, the government controlspeople’s lives, whether it is the size of the family or the educationalinstitutions," she explains. Sex, Page 3 parties and crime have pan Indianpopularity but Pande feels this is not dumbing down but a coming of age ofthe first generation literates. Interestingly, Dainik Bhaskar, Amrit BazaarPatrika and Malayalam Manorama, hugely successful media groups, have state ofthe art printing technology comparable to the best globally.

But regional newspapers, feels Nakkheeran editor R.R. Gopal don’t get thedue credit. "Unfortuanately the 'standards' of journalism are decided bytheprofit-driven English press. We have broken several stories including theShankaracharya's involvement in Sankararaman's murder. Yet, our journalismis derided. Just we give voice to the underprivileged," he says. Gopal addsthat over 18 years, his team has faced 211 cases from the AIADMK and DMKregimes.

Exceptions apart, the sins of vernacular media create déjà vu. Manyregionalpapers too mistake journalism to be an open playing field. "Cases ofdefamation are piling up against journalists in Karnataka," says Belagere.Textual politics is certainly one of them. Sample this: On Aug 9 2004, Tamilnewspaper Dinathanthi’s headline was "Avar thanathu azhagana ThotrathaiSadagamakkikondu police athigarigalai ematrinar'' (She took advantage of herbeautiful looks to cheat policemen.), while reporting the case ofJayalakshmi, a lady caught in a police controversy. Over the next week,headlines from Thanthi and Dinamalar, another Tamilian paper, saidJayalakshmi had seduced over 20 policemen. They had no proof behind theseallegations. The copy reeked of gender discriminating, sexual and textualpolitics. Each report detailed Jayalakshmi’s clothes. Ditto with theGujarati press in January 2004, as it reported the alleged gang rape case ofBijal Joshi molested by her boyfriend and his friends. The newspaperscontinued to question what she was doing inside a hotel room at night,implying that "girls like her ask for it". Joshi committed suicide a fewdays later.

The headlines may differ, but the big picture has similar flaws. So it issurprising when Mrinal Pande and Vir Sanghvi sitting on the same floor ofthe same building in the same organization don’t know what’s happening ineach other’s court.When asked what she thinks about the importance of whatthe English media does, Pande quotes Rhett Butler in the film Gone With TheWind who said ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ "That is notthe classwhich will save India or move in and move out governments," says Pande."I am not a follower of the regional media so I don’t know. Maybe she isright," says Sanghvi.

Shorter, edited version of this was used in the print magazine