The Press: Sethji Is Watching

NK SINGH

True, the Government is trying to make the already willing Press more submissive. But where stands the Sethji in this game of I-obey you-command?

He is still very much there, though nowadays he cares only to manage the news that affects him or his cronies directly. For the rest, his class interests depend on the other interests that have ganged up during the last decade or so. After all, the 'other interests', which have easy access to the jute press newsroom, have the same class interest as Sethji. They may have some minor differences but where their class interests tally the contradiction is at best not a basic one, it is rather an inner one that can be solved through negotiation.

However, the small newspapers have a different story. There the owner is often the "editor-in-chief" and his near and dear ones 'correspondents' or 'specials'.  In such cases, it is pretty difficult to differentiate between the freedom of the Press and the freedom of Sethji.

Recently there was a story by a fellow columnist about the editor of a Banaras newspaper who protested at the inclusion of this Delhi correspondent in the Prime Minister's entourage without his permission. He was told that the selection was based on the individual's rating with the PM's Secretariat. Only when the editor threatened that he would not use this correspondent's copy did the PIB relent.

A clear case of favour to 'committed' correspondents, isn't it? And the editor emerges as a champion of Press freedom. But the behind-the-curtain story is another matter altogether. The newspaper in question is a Hindi daily. The editor is also the owner. He opposed the inclusion of his Delhi correspondent  in the entourage because he wanted his son, also a 'journalist', to accompany the PM on his foreign jaunt.

Among big business newspapers, the Birlas are the most well-known news managers going around. There are scores of cases of interference in the day-to-day functioning of their concerns, Hindustan Times and Bihar journals. The Birlas have, of course, their reasons for this over-sensitiveness. Their shady business dealings have made them meek enough to obey directions from every quarter, especially the Government. 

On the other hand, another newspaper magnate, the Goenkas, has often given a good fight to the Government. That is why the latter had to adopt other tactics such as filing criminal 'misappropriation' cases to browbeat them.

A case in point is last year's episode when the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr S. S. Ray, threatened to take over the Birla industries in the State. He was piqued over the rather uncomplimentary despatches filed by the Calcutta correspondent of Hindustan Times. The capitalist Press, complained Mr Ray, had launched a campaign against his progressive Government. 

His threat, however, did work. A Birla rushed from Delhi to Calcutta, talked with Mr Ray and, despite the fumbling of the editor, after some time the Calcutta despatches were not as un-complimentary as they appeared to be once. The editor's claim that he did not budge may be true but the fact remains that the Birlas had struck a deal with the West Bengal Chief Minister. 

At about the same time the Birlas sacked or to put it politely, did not renew the contract of the editor of their Patna daily, the Searchlight, Mr S. C. Sarkar. Though an anti-communist, the editor was a 'liberal democrat'. He was also known for his professional integrity and would not spare anyone if he considered him wrong. And that was the source of the whole trouble. 

Politicians of all shades were annoyed with him and when a displeased Chief Minister, Mr Kedar Pande, approached the Birlas to "take this man away", the latter could not afford to keep him in a State where they had a big interest in the sugar industry and through whose patronage the Bihar journal is also run.

The Birlas picked up Mr S. K. Rau of the Lucknow Pioneer as the new editor of Searchlight, Mr Rau had formed the pro-management National Union of Journalists to break the unity of the working journalists who had been functioning under one trade union, the Indian Federation of Working Journalists.

Mr Rau has completely changed the tone, style and editorial policy of Searchlight. Just after his taking over in July last, there was student trouble and subsequently large-scale police repression in the State. The Searchlight followed a naked pro-government policy. Referring to this a senior journalist of Searchlight bitterly complained, "The paper had never gone down to such an extent in its entire history of fifty years." 

However, now the Birlas, the Government and the corrupt politicians are all happy. Who cares for the rest?

The latest story of news management also comes from the House of Birlas.

In the first week of July, the Haryana correspondent Hindustan Times, Mr Suresh Sharma, received an order for his transfer to Simla. On the surface, it was a routine transfer. But in reality it. was not. Sharma had been transferred from Delhi to Chandigarh only a few months back. However, in this short period, he had invited the wrath of the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, an old hand in news management.

The Press Council had passed strictures against him for stopping ads to the Tribune. Mr Bansi Lal had once proudly declared that he did not care for Delhi newspapers, "and anyway, who reads them in Haryana".

As soon as Sharma landed in Chandigarh, he was summoned by the Chief Minister for a 'private discussion'. (It is a well-known fact and no one finds anything unusual about it now, that the agencies seek the consent of concerned State Governments before posting anyone as their bureau chief.) Sharma refused to attend the 'Durbar' and subsequently filed some anti-government stories. Finding the young chap unmanageable, Bansi Lal withdrew the housing subsidy from HT, which is given to every correspondent accredited with the State Government. 

But that was not the only folly of Sharma. After all, many a correspondent, considered 'unmanageable' by the State governments, have managed to stay and function smoothly. Mr Sharma had also refused to procure ads for HT. Such indiscipline, was, obviously, intolerable. 

It is an open secret that almost all newspapers exploit the influence of their correspondents to procure ads. Leave all the jute press, even the so-called left dailies expect their correspondents to look after their business and financial interests as well. This, in turn, is followed by favouritism in recruitment, i.e. those with links with 'higher ups' are taken with an eye on the ads, they may help to secure. His double folly made Sharma unqualified enough to be transferred from Chandigarh. The transfer has not materialised as yet. 

But it does not mean that the Sharma episode has come to an end. According to the latest information, the Haryana Government had disconnected the power connection to a Birla factory in Faridabad. 

The Birlas would now promptly see to it that Sharma leaves Chandigarh. Let us see what the editor does in this case.

Frontier 

August 18, 1973