Controversial remarks on Karan Thapar's show by new Press Council chief

I caught the fag end of Karan Thapar's interview with the new chairman of the Press Council of India on CNN-IBN on Sunday and I was dumbfounded at what I was hearing. It seemed to me that Justice Markandey Katju did not have a very high opinion of the media; he appeared to be particularly incensed with television news channels.

So I was glad to read in today's Times of India that the Editors' Guild of India has been very critical of his remarks on Devil's Advocate.

Here is the Editors' Guild press statement in full (reproduced from ToI):

EDITORS' GUILD SLAMS KATJU’S COMMENTS

Editors' Guild press statement in response to remarks by Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju:

The Editors' Guild of India deplores the ill-considered, sweeping and uninformed comments on the media and on media professionals by the new chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice Markandey Katju. Mr Katju has been making negative statements on the media ever since he assumed office, but his comments in an interview to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN, broadcast over the weekend, touched a new low.

The Guild notes that Mr Katju thinks the media divides people on religious lines and is anti-people. He objects to TV channels that focus on cricket and other subjects that he disapproves of. He believes that journalists have not studied economics, politics, literature or philosophy, and he has a poor opinion of the media and media people (some of whom, as it happens, are members of the Press Council that Mr Katju chairs).

The Guild notes that Mr Katju, after expressing such sweeping negative sentiments, has asked the government for draconian powers to impose fines on the media, to withdraw advertisements and to suspend the licence to publish or broadcast. The Guild strongly opposes such powers being given to the Council, especially a Council led by someone who it would seem wants to invoke “fear” in the media.

The Guild wishes to draw attention to the fact that its attempt to engage in dialogue with Mr Katju has been rendered futile by Mr Katju, who however continues to express his tendentious and offensive views. The Guild wishes to remind Mr Katju that the Indian media is as diverse as it is vigorous, and that while it has drawbacks and shortcomings, on the whole it contributes to the strength of the Indian system.

Press freedom is a bulwark for the Indian people against the onslaught of people in authority, and the Guild will firmly oppose the assumption of any draconian powers by a Press Council that was created with an altogether different purpose. Further, as the very name of the Council suggests, only the print media comes within the Council’s ambit. The issues and drivers of the electronic media are such that they call for separate regulation. Therefore the Guild firmly believes that the Press Council should have its brief limited to the print media, as it is at the present.

UPDATE (November 3): Today's ToI carries this report on broadcast editors also criticising the new Press Council chairman: 

BROADCAST EDITORS CRITICIZE KATJU

New Delhi: After the Editors’ Guild of India, the Broadcast Editors’ Association (BEA) on Thursday criticized Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju for making “irresponsible and negative comments” about the media. It said such statements from the PCI chief were “extremely disappointing”.

Taking strong exception to Katju’s remark that “media professionals are of low intellectual calibre with poor knowledge of economics, history, politics, literature and philosophy,” the BEA said it “shows scant knowledge” of the great journalists the country has produced.

It said that in a democracy, criticism was welcome against institutions by individuals and representatives of institutions as that gives a fillip to self-corrective process. TNN

FURTHER READING:

• Mint editorial — "Educating Justice Katju".
• Asian Age column — "Much of what Justice Katju says is not new".
• The Economic Times on Sunday column — "Journos of the country, learn philosophy".

UPDATE (September 5, 2012): "The Hindu’s readers reveal Katju’s infinite bluff" (from Outlook editor Krishna Prasad's blog)

Why isn't the Press Council doing more to end the unethical practice of "paid news"?

That is the theme of an op-ed piece in Mint by P.N. Vasanti, director of the New Delhi-based research organisation Centre for Media Studies.

Here are some relevant excerpts for the uninitiated:

While there has been debate on and off over the relevance of the Press Council in the prevailing media scenario, the debate over so-called paid content has revived the argument over the role of the agency and whether there is any point in keeping it alive.

At the core of the latest controversy is the sale of space in the print and time in the electronic media. What’s carried in that space or time isn’t labelled as advertising for the benefit of readers and viewers, but masquerades as legitimate news.

While this trend itself is not new, it has become more deeply entrenched and even institutionalized in recent times. P. Sainath broke the story in The Hindu about politicians who engaged in the practice during the Maharashtra state elections of 2009. He even gave specific prices for the various types of coverage sold by newspapers, besides showing how the same write-ups praising chief minister Ashok Chavan were carried in three different newspapers during the elections.

Media students will find the whole article instructive.