India

Media conference with Journalists in the Kannada media (organized by the International Journalists Alliance)

9th & 10th August 2008

Fireflies Inter-cultural Centre, Bangalore

The Journalists Alliance organized an intensive two-day conference of journalists working in the Kannada language media. Twenty journalists participated on 9th and 10th August 2008. The meeting was extremely vibrant and interactive, prompting several of them to state that this was the first meeting of its kind to be held for Kannada journalists.

Siddhartha welcomed the participants on behalf of The International Journalists Alliance and Pipal Tree. He briefly described the history and activities of the International Alliance of Journalists as well as its activities in India. The substance of his speech is as follows:

The objectives of the Alliance in India are along two broad lines. One is to start a debate on the functioning of the media institutions and government policies with regard to the media. Obviously, all journalists would agree that the workload has increased and the focus has shifted to making a newspaper, journal or TV news programme more marketable. This has become a priority. Advertising revenue is directly proportional to the scale of viewership and readership. The eminent journalist Mr. Nagesh Hegde has often said that ‘The circulation manager and the advertising managers are far more important than the news editor of the newspaper.’ All journalists are by now aware of this situation. The majority of them even feel disillusioned and fatalistic about the way things are going. However, in a democratic context, nothing is ever permanently lost, and new and more imaginative efforts are needed to sensitize the media business houses, the public and the government. This was one of the goals of the workshop, even if it was a difficult one. The second goal is to get journalists to do in-depth social and environmental reporting. India is the largest poverty area in the world. One third of the world’s poor live in India. Besides, as the second fastest growing economy in the world it is also becoming a major contributor to global warming. Journalists have to be motivated as well as receive training for reporting these challenges as many journalists do not have the competence to deal with complex social, economic and environmental issues. It is not that the journalists themselves are not purposeful, but the management do not contribute to a meaningful vision, and there is no attempt to provide on-going training to upgrade their understanding of issues.

Siddhartha’s introductory talk was followed by the lighting of the brass lamp of freedom and illumination. All the participants joined hands in lighting the five wicks of the lamp. The symbolism was significant in the sense that the workshop moved on to a participatory mode right from that moment.

Many of the journalists who attended the workshop felt that they were too isolated. While they were well connected with the local situation they were not sufficiently exposed to national and international currents. They were not part of any media network which motivated them to understand issues better and contribute more significantly to their profession.

Some of the other problems that the journalists brought up for discussion were:

• The media establishment and the reading public are going through a kind of ‘poverty fatigue’. Apart from the more dramatic issues related to farmers’ suicides, other matters related to rural and urban poverty, and human right-abuses are not seen as sufficiently newsworthy.

• Sometimes the issues are reported rather emotionally, for example the suicides of farmers. The emotional nature of the reporting excludes the analysis needed to understand the issues related to the collapse of agriculture in many areas.

• Ten years ago some of the media institutions had unions which defended the interests of journalists and other staff. But today all these unions have broken up, and the journalists are largely defenseless. A favourite way of harassing journalists is to shift them from one district to another, creating enormous hardship to them and their families.

• A part of the responsibility of journalists is the insistence by the management to report events and stories that have no social relevance whatever. The majority of journalists have resigned themselves to spend a part of their precious time reporting gossip on film actors, other sensational events, etc., which can increase circulation.

• The growing importance of TV journalism has made the competition for the print media very difficult. Many people who watch television expect the newspapers to be exciting, with reports of scandals and juicy stories. News analysis and reporting on the problems of poverty are almost considered boring.

• When reporting on technical subjects like coal-based power plants, or genetically modified cultivation, like growing B.T.cotton, rural journalists find it difficult to understand many of the issues. If this meeting led to a network of journalists in the region, perhaps a way could be found to providing the technical information needed.

• Sometimes the issues have two sides to them, making it difficult to take a stand for or against. Again the difficulty to take a stand is because the journalists lack information and political understanding.

Other meaningful reflections were shared by some senior journalists and activist-scholars:

K.P.Suresh stated that in this age of globalization, media has an added responsibility to create awareness and develop critical thinking. But now the media too has become a commercial venture and the pressure of financial profitability is driving the media to cater to the demands of a newly created consumerist class. This has led to a serious crisis where the ethical foundations of the media are getting eroded. One of the most leading journalists of the state of Karnataka, Mr.Nagesh Hegde, has specialized on environmental reporting. As one of the keynote speakers, he talked of the need of more environmental consciousness among journalists. As environmental reporting was a relatively new area many journalists had not applied their mind to these issues. The state was now busy promoting coal-based power plants for electricity generation. However, despite the fact that a number of civil society organizations were opposing these plants on environmental grounds the journalists were yet to write well-informed articles on the pros and cons of these plants. It was generally agreed that these plants were going to use low grade coal with a high carbon emission potential. A power plant would highly pollute areas within 50 kilometres distance. These plants were also being located in areas where there was high population density. In the case of the Chamalapura power plant , not only was the human density high there but it was also close to the Nagarhole and Bandipur game sanctuaries, which boasted of a tiger population, besides hundreds of elephants and other wild-life. It was also close to the Kabini water reservoir that provided water to hundreds of thousands of people, both for irrigation and for household purposes.

He concluded his talk by quoting Einstein’s famous statement that the world is a dangerous place not because of people who do evil, but because of people who do nothing.

Mr. Parusharam Kalal said that in the context of globalization powerful economic forces were at work that prevented the media to report fearlessly and objectively. For example, in the district of Bellary the iron ore mining companies had become a law unto themselves. In this small area the individual owners of these companies own more than a hundred helicopters. They control the police, the local political processes and nobody can question them. Human rights violations go unreported. Mr. Kalal distributed a small book about this situation that he had published by himself. He had to do this as he was by and large unable to publish the truth of the situation in the media. The editor modified his stories considerably before publication in the local newspaper.

The situation of the farmers committing suicide in North Karnataka was slightly different, said B.L.Sridar. Here the media reported the cases of suicide. It was also clear what the reasons were: poor rains, inadequate irrigation facilities, high cost of seeds and fertilizers, inability to pay back the banks and money lenders, lack of crop insurance, etc. The media was able to offer criticism about the situation, but not a single journalist was able to offer concrete solutions. (This led to a discussion about the media being pro-active and also being capable of offering solutions. This was difficult since journalists were overworked, especially with the cost-cutting initiatives of the media. There was little time to follow up on issues, as the journalists did not have the time for it. The management of the media was also not interested in follow-up on issues and reporting in depth.)

There was also a reflection on the role of journalists to deal with inter-religious conflict and violence. There are extremists in Hindu, Muslim and Christian traditions who are destroying the secular fabric of the nation. Identity politics is becoming important, where the religious identity of a person is being pushed to prominence. Journalists have a role to underline the dimension of the ‘citizen’ in the identity of each person. Unfortunately, many journalists are also confused and are often themselves influenced by narrow religious views rather than secular ones. In recent times, violence against Christians have increased dramatically in many parts of the country. There is also the consolidation of Hindu fundamentalism as a major political movement. Islamic extremists trained in Pakistan and the Afganisthan border regions are also creating panic through bomb blasts. In the past few months alone, hundreds of people are killed or seriously injured in these bomb explosions in crowded shopping areas. The rise of religious extremism and identity politics would distract the nation from the real issues of poverty, social justice and climate change. What could journalists do in this context?

Mujafer Assadi spoke on the new economy and displacement. He described the Chinese experiment with Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and compared the Indian initiative regarding SEZs. In Karnataka several SEZ’s are being set up in each district. The whole idea of private participation has consistently led to projects that systematically displaced people. The state has been reluctant in relocating and rehabilitating these people. This abdication of duty by the state has led to severe social unrest, Assadi observed. According to an estimate, over 40% of Indian farmers will leave farming and move to urban areas for survival by 2015. The displacement is both physical and cultural. The psychological impact of displacement is yet to be studied. The situation is worse for tribals and dalits (former untouchable castes) as they have no proof of land ownership to ask for compensation. There are very few well written articles that investigated the displacement of people, although this is a major problem, both in the state and the country. During discussions the participants discussed the topics vigorously. They also felt that both Nagesh Hegde, Dr. Mujafer Assadi, B.L.Sridar, K.P.Suresh and Siddhartha helped them understand the issues. The participants felt that the broad framework and intellectual clarity to see things were offered by these resource persons.

In the evenings two films were shown: one on iron-ore mining in Bellary and the other on Aghanashini River. The Bellary film showed the illegal iron-ore mining that went on with political patronage. The mining areas throw up iron ore dust which has become a serious health problem. Water-bodies and agricultural lands are also polluted. There are about 30.000 trucks that carry the iron ore out of the district each day, ruining the roads and creating dust pollution in the communities that live along the roadways. The Aghanashini River- basin is one of the most sustainable as far as livelihood is concerned. People are engaged in farming, fishing, crafts, like bamboo-craft, etc. The setting up of the Tadadi super-thermal power plant will completely destroy their way of life, with enormous air and water pollution. Both the films were thoroughly discussed in terms of their relevance for the media. In the concluding session, K.P.Suresha asked the participants to offer concrete suggestions that could lead to some action. Nagesh Hegde told the participants not to worry about the limits of column space and go for an in depth study of a subject. After a round of discussions, each participant volunteered to work on a specific issue with reference to his local area or district. He or she would then write a series of articles on a major issue.

The list of articles that the Journalists Alliance had promised to write were as follows:

1. It was decided to conduct a study on crisis in agriculture after revisiting the families of the farmers who committed suicide during the last 2-3 years. This could lead to a series of articles in journals and newspapers.

2. A study of state health-services (with a focus on Sagar region).

3. A study of poverty alleviation programmes with reference to Sagar region.

4. National horticulture mission in Karnataka—implementation, impact; an assessment.

5. The Chikungunya epedimic in D.K.district. Inability of the state to deal with the magnitude of the disease; its socio economic impact, etc.

6. Development of lakes. A study of state projects in Bagalkot District.

7. Devadasi system (women being dedicated to temples as dancers, and the aspect of exploitation of women.) in Koppala District.

8. Rehabilitation of displaced people after construction Alamiti dam.

9. Asian Development Bank project in Sirsi town.

10. A study of state welfare schemes for scheduled castes (former untouchable castes) and tribal students in Gadag district.

11. Rehabilitation of displaced people from the Kali project.

12. Hassan SEZ (Special Economic Zone) - a study.

13. Changing priorities of Tungabhadra dam and its implications for farmers - a study.

It was decided that K.P.Suresha will coordinate these investigative articles and Pipal Tree will extend all needed help in this project.

The other journalists, who could not participate, have expressed their willingness to join the group. K.P Suresha agreed to contact them and discuss the assignments they are likely to opt for.

Other follow up resolutions:

Many journalists also requested for training sessions where their social reporting skills could be improved upon. There was a request to have zonal workshops, (Each zone includes about four or five districts). We plan to have two follow-up workshops at Sagar and Hospet.

It was unanimously agreed that this workshop was the beginning of the Kannada Journalists Alliance. A system for making the network viable and meaningful would be worked out by K.P.Suresh and Siddhartha, in consultation with other journalists.

It was decided to start a blog that would keep the journalists in touch with each other. The blog will be started very soon. The blog will be coordinated by Pipal Tree and have other journalists like Vekatagiri (from Sagar) and Ramasamy (from Bangalore) assisting with the tasks. On behalf of the participants, Venkatagiri and Raghavendra Bettaoppa thanked the organizers for this initiative and for giving them an opportunity to participate.

Report by Siddhartha and K.P.Suresha

List of participants

Media Conference