Aditya Sinha: How journalists serve the nation

I recently attended my neighbour VNs 50th birthday party and met other neighbours business associates and school friends of his One was a Colonel in the ordinance corps who apparently was once a mischievous boy We bumped into each other at the bar After the usual small talk Colonel Saheb asked Dont journalists ever stop and look at themselves at what they are doing When people ask such questions they usually do with certain TV anchors or editors in mind I still object What kind of question is it anywayA journalist who takes personal risk to cover a riot or an insurgency is as courageous as the soldier in a bunker shooting at the enemy Representation picThinkstockFirst journalists do nothing wrong What they do is their job To inform the public and to act as a watchdog of democratic institutions including government It is fashionable of late to smear journalists merely because they ask tough questions of the government or of the party in power Thats their job Such smear is not exclusive to India US President Donald Trump is forever deriding CNN and the New York Times as fake news though unlike craven Indian news outlets the American media does not back down from a confrontation with the White HouseSecond as uncomfortable as journalists questions might get they do not resort to abuse I pointed out to Colonel Saheb that his own former army chief now a Union minister early on used the ugly term presstituteThird journalists dont drop into society from another planet Like Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Lalu Yadav or Rahul Gandhi they are a part and parcel of our stratified society Indians are hypocritical On one hand we feel pride that more than any country we are able to celebrate the clicheacute unity in diversity yet at the same time we succumb to paranoia and fear about that diversity when it comes to elections and political mobilisation True journalists should actually look at themselves but only when our entire society including our military men undertakes honest introspection and selfexaminationFourth soldiers dont have a monopoly on patriotism There are enough cases of cowardice corruption and even treason on record against members of the military Many soldiers dont join the military to make the ultimate sacrifice but because they need a job or theyre under family pressure A journalist who takes personal risk to cover a riot or an insurgency is as courageous as the soldier in a bunker shooting at the enemy on an opposing hilltopI have respect for soldiers as I do for doctors scientists teachers entrepreneurs sportspersons and even other journalists But another encounter during the past two years saddened me about the attitude of uniformed personnel towards the media Im currently working on a nonfiction book for which Ive had to conduct interviews and hold conversations and one participant is a retired army General Were cordial but I have noticed the disdain he has of the media and his wariness of me at the start of my project to the point that I had to overlook a bit of rudeness to get on with my job He seemed to think the media was not only loud and unnecessary but that it got in the way of important workImportant work If the media isnt vigilant governance detrimental to individual rights under the guise of important work would be the norm Should the government increase petrol tax to 100 per cent for instance and get away with it unquestioned The media helps mediate public debate on what exactly is more important a civil nuclear deal with the USA for instance or the Right To Information Act We remind the public not to be blindly trusting of governmentIts perhaps also a matter of temperament The retired General has spent his life in a highly regimented and disciplined milieu with set rules necessary in order to for an army to become a wellmechanised mammoth fighting machine As a journalist in the late 80s and early 90s I broke bread with terrorists in Punjab and in Kashmir As a crime reporter I drank with policemen It is an undisciplined life and there are no rules so that you can interact at different levels of society Even our daytoday schedule is undisciplined though with a rigorous structure every night a newspaper has to be produced on time Many journalists go to sleep at the same time as Emergency room workers Soldiers and journalists are opposites in this approach to life With this in mind I was sympathetic and forgiving of the retired General despite his best effortsAt VNs birthday party the Colonel and I shook hands and ended our debate We ordered drinks and discovered that soldiers and journalists have at least one thing in common The love of a peg or two of rum each night before dinner Truly there is unity in diversityAditya Sinhas crime novel The CEO Who Lost His Head is available now He tweets autumnshade Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go