Skip to main content

The Fourth Censored Estate

The setting: The newsroom of an English daily in Chennai, shortly after two English papers — The Hindu and The Times of India — were served notices for publishing “incendiary” reports on Tamil Nadu CM, quoting various opposition leaders as saying.

News Editor: Editor, we have a crisis.
Editor (rolling his eyes): About time I am told if it is to do with editing a trainee reporter's copy or modifying the page layout to accommodate more advertisements.
NE: Neither; it's about a political news report. As it is, we have had a stream of phone calls from our management and circulation departments, warning us on how to edit it and present it on our page. Last told, the publisher wants to know what it is.
E: So, everyone in our establishment knows of it before us. I hope we are still the editorial. Or, have we been transported magically to Siberia?
NE: Must we worry over such subtleties?
E: Did you just smirk? I dare you to retain that expression when we stare at our pink slips.
NE: Ok, ok. But a few sentences in this report set the alarm in me.
E: (looks up, quizzically)
NE: For starters, this one: “The opposition leader roundly criticised the chief minister for her wrong policies in administration.”
E: (looks up again) What's wrong with it?
NE: I suggest that we do away with “round”. Other publications have only faced lawsuits; we may enter the wrong books of the Women Rights' Commission. And I haven't even started on us getting the sexist tag. Let us  leave it to TN's Opposition parties to describe the CM.
E: (Groaning) I wish I had stocked on my BP pills. Let the statement, then, run as, “The opposition leader was said to have criticised the chief minister for her alleged wrong policies in administration.”
NE: But that would mean the CM’s policies were “allegedly” wrong.
E: And I thought I was the editor around here.
NE: I could not agree more. But that won't make a difference if the lawsuit comes calling.
E: (Voice raising) Pray, just what on Fort St George do you expect me to do? (Takes a sip of water... then a gulp and empties an entire bottle)
NE: You've hit the nail on the head.
E: Fine, then just make it “The opposition leader criticised the chief minister.”
NE: Editor, we still have a problem with it.
E: Aren't you stretching this a bit too far? Do the words free speech and freedom of expression mean anything to you?
NE: I only wish we'd be on the safe side (examines cellphone after it beeps). It's our legal advisor, he wants to know if he could help with editing the copy if it involves legalese.
E: (Takes a deep breath and then cuts loose, mouthing some expletives) You could tell him we need an expert in Swahili, (reacts when he sees the NE texting the same). Wait, that was a sarcastic comment; can't you tell apart hyperbole from facts?
NE: I've ceased to ever since I examined our publication's circulation figures for the last quarter and the advertisements for the same.
E: (In a resigned tone) But we digress. I'd rather we do away with the first sentence.
NE: This could be me speaking. This sentence too set the hair on me standing. “He also demanded an inquiry into all the wrongdoings of the schemes initiated by the government.”
The two exchange a cursory glace as the sentence is deleted.
“The CM also seeks to muzzle the press by filing cases against them for carrying news that do not kowtow to her. This is nothing but a brazen act of arm-twisting.”
The keys Ctrl+X make the all-too familiar click noise.
NE: I suggest that we do away with this one, too: “We are confident that the public will take note of such ham-handed actions, and deliver the verdict during the next elections.”
The sentence gets wiped off the face of the LCD screen.
NE: That leaves us with only the details of the protest; it doesn't make sense carrying it alone.
E: Need I tell you what do (smiles)? Take a bow, news editor, we just did the national censor board and our Parliament proud!
You can read the reports here and here.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why the editorial is the unsung hero of any newspaper

A tad autobiographical, this account encapsulates my experiences at a news organisation. Why wait until 50 or 60 to compose one? Hell, who knows, this could even be its blueprint! So, here goes my first stab at chronicling myself... I was prepared for all kinds of weird questions for my first job interview as a journalist four years ago, for the post of a sub-editor, but I never anticipated this one that caught me off guard. Noting that I preferred to work in the editorial than the reporting section, a HR representative at the organization asked in almost an air of dismissal, implying that the editorial is something redundant, “After all, we have Microsoft Word, in built with grammar and spell check capabilities, so why must I hire you?” I stared at him blankly for a moment as a smile grew on his face, perhaps out of exult at having stumped me. I trotted a familiar refrain, which I am sure he would have encountered countless times, “Because I am passionate about writing a...
6 comments
Read more

Chennai’s Fourth Estate at War

Touching upon competitive spirit, the legendary writer George Orwell, in an essay dated 1945, had described sport as war minus the shooting. He could very well be referring to the ongoing veiled battle between two of India's English dailies. When “India’s national newspaper since 1878” and the “Largest read English daily in the world” decide to slug it out over Chennai’s newspaper readership, rest assured that the battle would spill over to the TV media, as was witnessed recently. Cheeky indeed were the ads that thumbed the nose at one another; though, few were in doubt over who the target was. To the uninitiated, the two newspapers – The Hindu and The Times of India (TOI) , respectively – have modus operandi that are as identical as chalk is to cheese, or uppu (salt) is to upma , a South Indian snack. The "war" in question is the race to get hold of the average Chennaiite, and eventually the Indian, newspaper reader’s attention. And no, this piece of opinion isn...
8 comments
Read more

Is Thuglak’s Editor Going the Thuglak Way?

The front-page cartoons of this magazine have always been considered a barometer of the nation, and particularly Tamil Nadu’s, political landscape. Rib-tickling and dripping with sarcasm, it’s following has gradually swelled, though, not in dramatic terms, as certain high-profile media houses would flaunt. Be it the DMK or the AIADMK, the BJP or Congress, the Left or National Conference, its leaders have been the butt of many an acerbic but thought-provoking joke. In fact, it may not sound out of context to liken this publication to the American humour magazine, MAD. Sample this: during the height of Anna Hazare’s high-profile fast against corruption, resulting in hectic parleys between his team of lieutenants and the Parliament, this magazine ran a front page cartoon with Team-A on one side and representatives of the UPA government on the other. Team-A, which remains silent when its demands such as inclusion of the Judiciary and prime minister under the Lokpal Bill’s ambit are met...
6 comments
Read more