| Friends,
The Barkha-Vir-Nira tapes have created a storm in the tea-cup. The nation, already reeling under the spectrum scam, where an ex-minister is being openly accused of a massive misappropriation of public exchequer, has got a further jolt when it comes to hear these kinds of tapes where Barkha Dutt, the renowned, massively respected and recognized star-reporter of NDTV has been heard talking to Nira Radia on issues concerning formation of Ministry. Not one or two but five such tapes have come in public realm. Similarly at least one tape of conversation between Vir Sanghvi, the authoritative and moralistic Editor-in-chief of Hindustan Times and Nira has got leaked.
In all these tapes, Nira is heard talking to these two journalists about the composition of the Central government ministry, particularly with reference to one political party from Tamil Nadu. She is heard requesting these legendary people to talk to influential people in the Center about getting a few particular members of that political party inducted in the Central ministry. These two people are heard assuring Nira to do the needful. They are heard brining up some particular names who are believed to be very powerful in the political structure and telling Nira that they could do their best to help her out. To quote a few parts of the conversations between Nira and Barkha-
"RADIA: No, they wanted to; they didn't want any infrastructure, that's what Prime Minister said, so he said that's why they give him labour, fertiliser, chemical—and telecom, IT, they said for Raja. So what has happened is, is that message not relayed to Karunanidhi? BARKHA: Oh I see! RADIA: They might have told some minion down the line or told Maran who is not relaying the truth. BARKHA: No, I'll set it up as soon as they get out of RCR. RADIA: What she saying is that, you know, that someone senior like Ghulam (Nabi Azad, senior Congress leader) because he is the one who is authorised to speak. …. BARKHA: Theek hai, not a problem. That's not a problem, I'll talk to Azad—I'll talk to Azad right after I get out of RCR [Race Course Road, presumably, the PM's residence].
Similarly, some part of the Vir Shanghvi- Nira conversation goes like this-
Radia- "They had a meeting. I had suggested of Kani only. They talk about 4 formula and 1 independent. There was no issue. He has clarified everything that you had told them. There was a lot of relief from the Chief Minister's side. But he is still under great pressure from Maran."
Vir-"Where is it coming from?"
Radia-"It is coming from Stalin and his sisster Salvi. They have given 600 crore to Dayalu's mother."
Vir- "600 crores! It is hard to argue with that kind of pressure."
Vir-"Basically what they want is a little bit more flexibility. One more Cabinet, I suppose."
Radia- "If they stick to 3 and Kani gets independent, then Alaghiri, Baalu and Raja come in."
Vir-"That is not so bad unless Maran is one of the Cabinets."
Radia- "Because Baalu and Raja thing is spread by Maran.If Narayan was to come back tomorrow, let us look for Alaghiri, Baalu and Raja."
Vir-"Actually Narayan anyway will talk to PM. He will not talk to Congress President. PMO will send feedback to Congress Party."
Radia- "So they will anyway speak to us, Naa."
Vir-"yeah, yeah." ."
After these tapes have come in public, the NDTV on behalf of Barkha and Vir for himself have come in the open to defend themselves. I quote some of the parts of their defence-
"In response to the Open Magazine cover story dated 20th November, 2010 NDTV would like to object in the strongest terms to the clear misrepresentation of conversations between Barkha Dutt and Ms. Nira Radia, that took place in May 2009. In the pursuit of news and information, journalists talk to an array of people from all professional backgrounds; this case being an an unfolding political story on cabinet formation, after the general elections. To caricature the professional sourcing of information as "lobbying" is not just baseless, but preposterous.
At every stage effective journalism involves engagement with a multitude of characters in the process of gathering news and information. To call this process "lobbying" is a serious and defamatory distortion of journalistic practices."
Vir says-
"Moreover, there is nothing at all in the transcripts to suggest that I lobbied for Mr Raja. The conversations recorded relate to the phase when there was an impasse between the DMK and the Congress. Ms Radia called several journalists, including me, to ask us to convey a message to any Congress leaders we met in the course of our work. This message was, essentially, that the Congress was communicating with the wrong people in the DMK. While gathering news, journalists talk to a wide variety of sources from all walks of life, especially when a fast-moving story is unfolding. Out of a desire to elicit more information from these sources, we are generally polite."
While both of them say things to defend themselves, citing the job of a journalist but going through the conversations and the active roles played by each of Barkha and Vir in getting the work done, including talking to the highest quarters in the political echelons one fails to believe if it was mere journalistic work or something much more. At least prima-facie it does not seem palatable that these two people were having such conversations as a part of their journalistic work. This looks more like a foray into unwarranted murky hinterlands of middleman-ship. Though there is not a single word in the conversations that remotely points to exchange of money but the fact that one of these people for whom Barkha in particular and Vir to some extent exercised their influence, later got named in one of the biggest scams known in independent India does make the entire episode very serious. It also brings them under some kind of severe scrutiny and penetrating scanning. This is more so because of the kind of respect these names have been commanding among the Indian masses through their writings and deeds. They, seen as hopes for the Middle class India are found faltering and getting caught in supposedly "dangerous liaisons" in these conversations.
These are the issues that have got generated after the exposure of these tapes. And certainly there seems to be an immediate need to get the matters enquired so that the roles of these two people gets clarified.
At the same time, this episode has also generated the issue of judicial impropriety and the need for a moral code of conduct for the journalists. Each role has a definite set of duties assigned to it. By no stretch of imagination can we assume that the role of a journalist is to play a role in the formation of Ministries. So, if such things are found, it does raise eye-brows ?
Amitabh Thakur
IPS,
Currently at IIM Lucknow
# 94155-34526 |
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