The fears over what happens when a big business house with deep pockets and political influence across parties funds a big media house to legitimise its hitherto-hidden media interests, are coming true even before the controversial Reliance Industries -Network18/TV18-Eenadu Television deal can be inked.
Obviously, the political class is silent. Obviously, TV18’s competitors won’t touch the story for reasons not difficult to imagine. Obviously, The Hindu won’t even publish a media column for reasons not difficult to fantasise.
But there has been no serious discussion of the implications of the deal on the media or on democracy in the mainstream media. Not on any of Network18’s usually high-decibel shows since the tie-up was announced on 3 January 2012. Not even on Karan Thapar‘s media show on CNN-IBN, The Last Word.
Print media coverage too has at best been sketchy. Even the newspapers and newsmagazines which have attempted to probe the complexities of the menage-a-trois, The Economic Times and The Indian Express, Outlook* and India Today, have barely managed to go beyond the numbers into the nuance.
Rajya Sabha TV, the newly launched television channel of the upper house of Parliament, has filled the breach somewhat with a no-holds barred discussion on the subject.
Anchored by Girish Nikam, a former Eenadu reporter who wrote five years ago on Eenadu‘s travails, the RSTV debate—with an honourable mention for sans serif in the third segment—flags all the important issues raised by the deal and underlines the role public service television can play in the service of the public when the corporate media gives up—or gives in.
Some of the comments made by three of the four participants on The Big Picture:
S. Nihal Singh, former editor of The Statesman: “My first reaction [on reading of the deal] was that it was time for India to have a really good anti-monopoly law for media, which is the norm in all democratic countries in the world, including the most advanced….
“The press council of India is totally dysfunctional because of the new chairman Justice Markandey Katju, who is baiting the media, who doesn’t believe in conversing with the media, or exchanging views with the media.”
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Madhu Trehan, founder-editor of India Today and director, content, of the soon-to-be-launched media site, News Laundry: “It need not have happened if the government and corporates were more alert. One person owns much too much….
“Already every policy is decided by corporates as the 2G tapes (of Niira Radia) show. Not only is it dangerous that Mukesh Ambani will be deciding what policy will be decided, as you know has happened in the past, but he will also decide whether we can talk about it, or criticise it or expose it….
“Why is Reliance interested in media? It is not for money; it is obviously for influence. Rupert Murdoch was endorsing PMs and Presidents in three continents. Now we have the richest man in the country owning the largest network. Yes, there is an independent trust, but I don’t believe that. The purpose is to control the media. You are influencing policy, you are influencing how the government decides, and now you are going to decide how the people will hear about about you and the government….
“When a politician or a government spokesman speaks, we don’t believe them, but when somebody like Rajdeep Sardesai or Sagarika Ghose speaks, or anyone at IBN7 or TV18 comes on, we presume we should believe them. Now there is a big question mark [when RIL has indirect control over CNN-IBN]….
“In a deal of this size we are looking at very subtle plants of stories, subtle angles, subtly putting things in a certain way so that people think along in a certain way for a particular way. I don’t know if anyone can shut the door. It’s too late.”
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Dilip Cherian, former editor Business India, head Perfect Relations: “Globally we have seen when big capital enters media, that is exactly what we are about to replicate for ourselves.
“Oligopolistic tendencies are visible in global media today, whether it is Silvio Berlusconi or Rupert Murdoch, the fact is they exercise humongous influence not on media but politics. Are we headed down the same road? At this time, the answer seems to be yes. Is it good? The universal answer from the question is that it isn’t, not just because it affects the quality of news but because it affects the quality of politics….
“The entry of big capital is not new or news. What has happened in this case is a big distinction between foreign investment and domestic. Because of 4G, because the same business house owns the pipe, owns the content, there could also be another issue of monopoly. If I were the owner, I would say there needs to be a publicly visible ombudsmanship [to dispel the doubts]….
“There is room for concern, there is room for elements of self-rgulation. As a country we are not able to legislate for two reasons. One because of the influence business houses have on policy making. And two, when you bring in legislation (on regulation) up, the other group that is affected are politicians who own media houses of their own. You are talking about now a coalition of forces which the public is incapable of handling. You won’t see Parliament doing the kind of regulation they should, in an open manner, because there are interests on all sides.”
* Disclosures apply
IJR 
Ben H. Bagdikian author of “The Media Monoply”(in the USA), writes:
“[M]edia power is political power. Politicians hesitate to offend the handful of media operators who control how those politicians will be presented — or not presented — to the voters. Media- political power has always been a fixture in American history. But today the combination of the media industry and traditional corporate power has reached dimensions former generations could not match. … Today … political variety among the mainstream media has disappeared. As the country enters the twenty-first century, the news and analyses of progressive ideas and groups are close to absent in the major media. Similarly absent is commentary on dangers of this political one-sidedness to American democracy.”
Thanks for highlighting RSTV. The debates and discussions of the Rajya Sabha TV (and also the Lok Sabha TV) are indeed well presented and educating, sans any ‘drama’. It is also heartening to see a public channel slowly airing well founded criticism of the ruling government.
You journalist guys still have a high opinion of yourselves.Indian media owners are basically crony capitalists and Indian journalists are available for a bottle of scotch.The screaming bunch we see in Times Now,CNNIBN,,NDTV are pathetic to watch.Many like me have stopped buying newspapers nor do we see the above mentioned stupid channels.Thank god for internet, I could stuck to channel9 coverage of current AUSSIE tour of India.Wonderful that I can live in my own country and easily avoid all the mediocrity dished out by our media.Wonderful world now!!
Nihal Singh’s comments on Katju were atrocious – and sadly typical of his fraternity. One wonders why Indian media-people are so defensive and incapable of acknowledging genuine and honest criticism. Say anything even slightly critical about the media and Arnab, Barkha and Rajdeep are all guaranteed to start shouting in no time. Ashutosh might even leap across the table and bite you!
Katju points out the innumerable shortcomings of the media, and instead of thanking him for the favor you attack his credibility, calling him a govt man. Grow up, Mr Singh!
It is indeed very difficult for a lay reader /viewr to differentaite between th efact that whether this is a proxy war against [yes , indeed] a ‘player with real big pockets’ into a highly fragmneted but otherwise quite a unified ‘industry’ or a proxy war by the other induastrail houses, who directly or indirectly own a klarge media organs as well or is it a genuine cocern for the veritable shadow of ‘influence’ on the ‘executive’ arm of the government.
If it is the last one, then one wonders what difference it make to a big’daady(!)’ if it has lever of influence more direct to the ‘powers’ or has lever to influence that lever, in trun to influence the ‘powers’ along with other mechansims deployed so sucessfully for all these years.