The Satire Of Freedom That’s Still Being Written

A journalist is a response to the times one lives in. He/she turns into the embodiment of those eyes, ears and all other sensory faculties that the world loses in the daily grind. The collective consciousness of the society today hangs on a thin thread that’s firmly stationed in the million networks of computers connected by the magical word -- Internet. What happened in the absence of Internet? Weren’t we sensitive? Weren’t we expressive? Didn’t we offend anyone?

Oh yes, we did. And boy, were we generous at being so! But, the world without Internet probably had more retrospection, space for introspection, had umpteen businesses to take care of; than fall for the bait of spreading falsehood and be a partner in the crime. The world is mourning Charlie Hebdo massacre. We can call it by any other name, but that’s what it will remain -- a massacre, and genocide of the worst order. The world of expression always breeds more expressions. And any attempt to plug an expression litters more of them. That’s the most sanguine response we see today, while the world reacts to 12 people killed in the wake of mindless violence in France. The country, which was a heady destination of fine living and anything elite and artistic, today has been seeing blood on its roads. Again, Islam has blood on its hands.

The suspected shooters, who ended a dozen lives, triggering a massive outrage of sorts all over the world over cartoons that offended their messenger of god, will probably dig themselves deeper into the manhole.

Freedom of expression, at least in India, is the beautiful wrapper something as mammoth as ‘Freedom of press’ comes wrapped in. And be sure, the wrapper is way too short of what it has to cover inside. Much like a grown up wearing baby clothes – much like a cover, and miserably short of covering the strategic parts. Time and again, press in India has managed to hold on to its space, sometimes at a cost. In a country that has held on democracy, freedom of press is just about the same as expression. Hence, we toe the line without bothering much about what tomorrow might bring in the face of increased unrest and assaults on opinions that seem to speak a language that’s way different from the one certain people like to hear. Fanatics and lunatics almost weigh on the same scale everywhere in the world, and that includes India. A genuine voice is either deemed too ‘dangerous’ or ‘scandalous’ or simply drowned in the need to ‘maintain hierarchy’ to reduce the risks and manage to stay on. Say nothing, speak nothing, hear nothing and never react – these are the mantras that keep majority of the Indian press going till date. Anyone who is ANYONE has known it better by now surviving journalism is like staying afloat while taking home SOME salary.

The case of Rajdeep Sardesai, who is often criticized for his biased journalism and who resigned after a mega business conglomerate took over the television channel he had helped build, had written a very touching farewell letter to his mates talking about the times we were engaging in journalism. It was not about providing expressions to the world outside, but standing tall during stormy times when we were being questioned, our integrity being strip searched.

Terrorists who arrive with blazing guns to silence voices that are much radical over the world they believe in, are something. But, then there are those systematic efforts to silence the journalist in you within the system. How do we even begin to see the light of the day when we are stuck in the process of evolution, somewhere at the deep end from where there isn’t a ray of light visible? Those are dark tunnels that rush to silence us. They gag us and they snatch our eyes, ears and voices.

Some of the India’s celebrated journalists quit in the last few years, turning it a poor battlefield. Today, journalism is not about what you can see; but more about what you can cleverly turn away from. It is not about how sensitive you are, but more about how senseless you can be.
P Sainath, Rahul Pandita, Qamar Waheed, Sumir Lal – the list will just grow in the years to come. Rahul Pandita probably wrote one of the most frank resignation letters when he quit The Hindu. He said he wasn’t chasing news; he was waiting for a nod from the management to publish news. A reputed journalist that he is, who has covered battles and wars from the field, was tired of waiting for a certain someone to remain consistent for the second consecutive day, and allow the news to be published. Now, battles are raging both inside and outside! Fanatics, you aren’t the only ones we are fighting.
Image: Cyprien Twitter account