CJI NV Ramana’s scathing remarks on the media should be regarding in right spirit

There can be three media responses to Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana’s scathing remarks on the media. The first, and most inappropriate, would be whataboutery: what about the judiciary’s own failings? The huge backlog, the glacial pace of justice dispensation, entertaining frivolous petitions, judicial overreach, malpractices — long is the list of issues that plague the system. The second is defensive: okay, the media does things it should not be doing but it is also because of the outcry raised by journalists that justice was served. There have been innumerable cases which resulted in the guilty getting their comeuppance because of journalists — Jessica Lal, the Ryan International School murder, the fodder scam, the securities scandal of 1992, etc. The third and appropriate media response would be the acceptance of guilt.

“Media trials cannot be a guiding factor in deciding cases. Of late, we see the media running kangaroo courts at times on issues even experienced judges find difficult to decide. Ill-informed and agenda-driven debates on issues involving justice delivery are proving to be detrimental to the health of democracy,” Ramana said. In fact, an agenda-driven section of the media is more dangerous than even the one that is ignorant and corrupt. As the CJI said, “Biased views being propagated by the media are affecting the people, weakening democracy, and harming the system. In this process, justice delivery gets adversely affected. By overstepping and breaching your responsibility, you are taking our democracy two steps backward.” He was especially critical of the electronic media. It is time media barons and senior journalists did some introspection about the state of journalism—and tried to find the way out. Just bemoaning the falling professional and ethical standards of journalists will do no good; it has been done earlier a zillion times, the latest being that by the CJI. Often the decline is linked with liberalisation: this is usually that Leftist analysis of the situation, and it is a well-known fact that in the Left’s scheme of things anything bad is the result of market forces and corporate greed. The term ‘corporate media’ has a ring of sin around it. But this analysis fails to explain why the Western media, mostly owned by corporations, is largely from the problems plaguing its Indian counterpart.

The degradation of the Indian media is primarily because the top media houses and senior editors working there indulged in unscrupulous practices paid news, slanted presentation of events, and politically-motivated coverage. This brought short-term benefits to many of them but, in the long run, damaged their own credibility and that of the entire profession. There are journalists who are identified—not just by fellow journalists but even by ordinary people—with political parties. In short, they have forgotten their dharma and karma. Which also means that redemption of the media lies in something very simple: journalists following their dharma and karma.