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| Journalism is about ethics not absurdity | | | | “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands”, this is what Oscar Wilde once said and all associated with the journalism took a critical lesson. What wild meant to say was that the public psyche is oriented in way that they always want to know the ridiculous and gossip and this is what the journalist serve them with. Long after Wilde’s observation the best in the journalism are suggesting to lead the public and not being led by them. Therefore, even if public asks for gossip, the journalist must convince them that they are into the business of serving news worth meaning and not the absurd. In this backdrop, the emotional rupture of Jammu’s Mayor Kavinder Gupta on Monday should be taken note of by all in the media business. A choked Gupta alleges that a particular newspaper tried to push him in a deep political soup by publishing what he alleged a false and fabricated interview. Calculating the damage he must have suffered due to the interview he claims was not based on what he told the reporter of the said newspaper, Gupta goes on making a long list of allegations –over and covert. Politicians have always been a subject of censure before the Press just for the purpose of public good, transparency and accountability. But when politicians start not only censuring but also indicting the media, then the scribes, the managements and also the proprietors should look inside. If the records are not settled and such trends are allowed to continue, the profession which is called in India as fourth pillar of the democracy may loose its reputation for the worst. Looking at the amount of allegations Jammu’s Mayor levels against once particular newspaper, an average journalist or an average observer of journalism would certainly feel that nothing worst could have happened. We all must understand that the media scene runs on faith and mutual trust in each other. Politicians, bureaucrats, business leaders and celebrities etc feel free to talk to the media persons only on the unwritten rules and conditions that the ethics are respected. There are few things on the record and few off the record. The on record conversation is for the purpose of the subject while the off record conversation is purely an element of trust between the journalist and the one who is giving the interview. This part of conversation should be respected and withheld at any cost. If the journalism and journalists enjoy a high degree of reputation in the society it is all drawn from ethics and not the misconceived notion of power –the power of deciding what public should know and debate. There has to be a fair degree of honesty in deciding each word to be presented before the readers and onus is on all of us to maintain and uphold this ethic lest the profession gets exposed to unwelcome censure. |
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