The war of words between the new Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju and various media organisations is unfortunate. Justice Katju’s criticism of the media would have been wholesome had he refrained from voicing his desire to acquire controlling authority of a kind that is not acceptable to journalists and their organisations. However, at the same time the media bodies would have done well to take some of the criticism on board for a deep introspection of the misuse of power, and the failure to inform as an impartial watchdog of the Indian democracy. Instead the media decided to lock horn with the former Judge, and willfully throw out the baby with the bath water.
Many of us must be wondering why in the elite drawing rooms of Delhi we are not hearing an equally loud condemnation of Justice Katju and his rather brash views. It is simply because the general public is secretly rather happy about the criticism, as they are fed up of a media that distorts the truth, resorts to sensationalism, and has little respect for sobriety and facts. And some of this evident in the personalised attack on the Judge whose demand for a regulatory authority to curb in some of the channels posing as news television, needs serious consideration.
At the same time the Judge must realise that as the PCI chairman he is dealing with the media that has been ultra sensitive about its freedom since the dark days of the Emergency. Hence, the words and phrases of a courtroom will have to be tempered, and issues put on the table for discussion without unbridled rhetoric raising hackles. He is right in arguing that the Press Council, currently a redundant body, should have some more teeth but how sharp these should be, can only be determined in consultation with journalists. Currently the PCI can only admonish and censure, the powers being far out of tune with the increasing violations of basic ethical norms.
However, apart from the question of authority the entire structure of the Press Council needs to be examined and perhaps, overhauled. It has become a defunct body and needs a larger representation of journalists and editors. More powers cannot be possible if these rest only in the one government appointee, the chairman, but can be looked at if the PCI is brought under a board of eminent persons with a say in related matters.
It is, thus, important for both sides to withdraw from the brink and instead of grand standing use the opportunity to see what can be done to make the media more accountable and ethical without government control..
