"Don't Be Cynical. Fight The System!"

As I sit down to write this note, Mr Vinod Mehta, your inspiring words areresonating in my ears: 

"DON'T BE CYNICAL. FIGHT THE SYSTEM!"

Paradoxically, it is difficult to get people toagree to this viewpoint, precisely because cynicismis so deeply entrenched.

A cynical friend called up after dinner. He alsohappened to watch "We, the People", on Star News.

"You watched the circus?" he wanted to know. "Stage-managed, like all circuses".

"What circus?" I queried.

"Why of course, that show on Star. Vinod Mehtawas there, delivering a smooth, masterly performance.Playing to the gallery. To the hilt. All emotion.Near real-looking outrage. Claps. Applause."

"What do you mean, playing to the gallery? Wasn'tit rather inspiring?" I was puzzled.

"B***s. Amongst themselves, Mehta, the Tehelka guy,and Barkha Dutt neatly fixed Jaya Jaitley. Don'tyou suppose they rather scored a self-goal? It'sdifficult not to sympathize with Jaitley consideringhow the gang left her looking utterly vulnerable."

"I can't make sense of what you're saying!" Iprotested, shocked at the way he was referring tohonourable members of the media. "Are you suggestingthat the show was unfair to Jaitley?"

"Unfair my a**. It positively stank. Audience clappingfor Bahal and Mehta as if on cue. And that bumblerin the audience ranting about exposing wives. Why doyou think they wouldn't censor him out? Well, so theycan demonstrate what sort of scumbags Jaitley supporters are!"

"You are cynical", I interjected, "you're readingway too much between the lines."

"The Tehelka guy. Watched him closely? He looks soalike our match-fixer ex-captain, Azhar", there wasa chuckle on the line," that I feel cheated theyhaven't brought in Prabhakar too to battle Jaitley!"Laughter.

"Stop this. Always finding a motive in what journalistsdo. Always questioning their credibility. Haven't youheard Mehta complain about it?"

"Gimme a break, bud. Do you really think these mediaguys are knights in shining armour? Corrupt bunch,all of them! Every one of them has got gazillionskeletons in his cupboard! It's a show, man. Everybodyis playing their bit roles. What happened duringSt Kitts? They raised a stink using forged documents!"

"That was an aberration. Journalists were misled."

"You're such an idiot, Sandi. Your faith in the media,if it weren't so tragic, coulda been so comic. I movedin media circles, and I still do. One lives and learns.Listen, feller. The politician-journalist nexus is asreal as the poilitician-criminal nexus."

"Why don't you take a walk? Your post-chondrial seemsto have a rather strong effect on you. Are you alsosmoking something illegal, per chance?"

"Ridicule as proof, what? Prove me wrong!"

"This is crazy. You are the one making the accusations.YOU ought to prove yourself right!"

And that's how, Mr Mehta, I came to know about acertain alleged media scandal.

DON'T BE CYNICAL. FIGHT THE SYSTEM. 

How true. Aren'tthe times like we've begun to take corruption in ourstride! We're so politicized, we'd rather notcountenance what stares us in the face, and we go onmerrily voting the same slimy bunch because, well,we are so politicized! We must fight back. We must,to begin with, fight the cynicism that we are so miredin. We must make people like my cynical friend opentheir eyes and take in a comprehensive reality check.Once we restore their faith in the media, the battlewill be half-won.

I have immense faith in your integrity, Mr Mehta.Outlook is doing signal service to the country.After all, it was in the lap of Outlook that theintrepid Tehelka team were schooled. YOU can restorepeople's faith in the media, thereby renderingthe institution once again the instrument ofsocietal change. As it was during the freedomstruggle. What I need from you is a gesture thatwill demonstrate to my cynical friend, and allcynical Indians at large, the Indian media's sincerity,uncorruptibility and its willingness to take acritical look at itself.

My friend tells me that your colleague in theprofession, Mr Vir Sanghvi, was castigated by thePress Council. I looked up in newspaper archives,and to my utter disbelief, discovered that whatmy friend said was indeed true. Here's therelevant PTI wire:

QUOTE

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 13. The Press Council of India (PCI) has censured the formereditor of Sunday, Mr. Vir Sanghvi, holding him guilty of ``blatant unethicalconduct'' by publishing a ``motivated ghost story'' in January, 1999, eulogisingthe then Orissa Chief Minister, Mr. J.B. Patnaik, who was in the thick of theAnjana Mishra controversy.

At its recent meeting here under the chairmanship of Mr. P.B. Sawant, theCouncil opined that the article in question was an attempt at propaganda for Mr.Patnaik at a time when his role in the raging case of Anjana Mishra was beingquestioned and that publishing it under a ``false'' byline made matters worse, aPCI release said on Tuesday.

``It gives a distinct impression that while the editor wanted to oblige theChief Minister, he desired to pass on the buck to one of his staff,'' it said.The complaint was filed by a journalist, Mr. Surendra Patra, who alleged thatthe story ``One of a kind'' had been published in January last year by the theneditor of Sunday (Calcutta) using his name and ``damaging his social andprofessional status''.

UNQUOTE 

Truly shocking, isn't it? No wonder my cynical friend talks about'journalist-politician nexus'.

You'll break this, Mr Mehta. You'll demonstrate that itdoesn't exist. Your colleague might have published afavourable review of your book, "How Close Are You ToThe PM?", but then what? I have immense faith in yourintegrity.

Kindly publish a scathing editorial in the coming issueof Outlook, asking your friend to quit immediately fromthe editorship of The Hindustan Times, and also his twoshows on DD and Star. For all we know, your friend mayactually be innocent, but then, like George Fernandes,he can get back on after proving himself innocent.

I shall eagerly look forward to the editorial. Stronglyworded, it will sound, in comparison, like you've beenletting politicians off the hook with rather weak admonitions.Let's show all our cynical friends how wrong they areabout the truly independent and apolitical Indian media,hunting for motives in whose actions would be sheermean-mindedness; utter calumny.

And I sign off with your inspiring words still ringingin my ears: 

DON'T BE CYNICAL. FIGHT THE SYSTEM!

Sandeeph