Stinging rebuke to journalism

It’s a matter of time before sting operations of TV outstrip saas-bahu serials in terms of TRP ratings. Quite possibly, Ekta Kapoor may soon set up a Sting Division of Balaji Telefilms, which will have starlets posing as intrepid journalists trapping politicians accepting bribes in each episode. The serial could well be titled Main bhi kabhi MP tha and show the real-life tale of woe of a succession of people’s representatives getting stung, losing their seats in Parliament and getting expelled from their party.

I don’t intend to be facetious. The scenario visualised above is not to suggest that some MPs have been unfairly targeted, or that they should be pardoned. In fact, stringent punishment ought to be meted out to those who were caught on camera displaying crude greed. The Ethics Committees of both Houses will, surely, indict them and I hope suspend them for at least one more session. Ideally, those who have accepted cash for raising questions or negotiated a cut for sanctioning projects from their MPLADS funds should be stripped of their membership of Parliament. But since such a course might run into legal complications, suspension for one session may be a more practical alternative.

But the issue is larger and involves the ethics of sting journalism. The TV shows that revealed our politicians in the raw, however, were not necessarily motivated the high ideal of cleansing the system contrary to the producers’ claims. They were primarily driven by the urge to make a quick buck or climb a few notches on TRP ratings. So, two wrongs don’t make a right.

The latest sting operations are ethically unjustified because they are staged; they do not depict actual happenings. While that does not justify MPs taking money or conspiring to do so, the depictions violate the cardinal principle of sting operations: Entrapment of people or luring them to commit a crime through monetary inducements is prohibited worldwide. But there being no such law against this in India, channels have started using sting as a easy option to boost viewership.

Sting operations must conform to statutory laws that prohibit the invasion of privacy by the media. The hidden camera is a powerful instrument in the hands of a genuine crusader for social reform but an equally dangerous gadget in the hands of a greedy journalist. Taking pictures or recording conversations with a person without his/her knowledge is an unacceptable breach of the ethics of journalism and social behaviour. A couple of years ago, dandiya festival organisers in Gujarat were forced to ban camera phones because voyeurs started taking snaps of women’s cleavages at these dances and MMS-ing them to their acquaintances.

It has been argued that a distinction must be made between sex-laden MMS clips taken on the sly or even catching the likes of Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma making advances to decoy starlets, and capturing politicians accepting bribes. Holier-than-thou Tehelka-types assert that their stings serve a public purpose whereas others amount to invasion of privacy. Unfortunately, no such distinction can actually be made.

As it transpires, at least one MP has indignantly asserted that he took the money only because it was offered for an NGO he runs and that he even gave a receipt for it. Without vouching for the veracity of his version, this is a perfectly credible scenario. In the growing desperation to make money or enhance TRPs, TV channels are quite capable of going the whole hog to frame politicians.

Sting has thus been reduced to a huge entertainment operation. People’s appetite for drama being insatiable they get easily addicted to newer forms of excitement. That’s why I believe saas-bahu is passé and sting has emerged as the biggest driver of India’s entertainment industry.

The time has come to devise appropriate regulatory mechanisms for conducting and airing such operations. A recent expose of sales tax officials accepting bribes is a justified use of the hidden camera since it shows actual transgression of laws. While not holding any brief for the condemnable MPs and small-time actors, it is necessary to underline that it is unfair to demand superhuman standards of morality from them.

Indian journalism has a fine record of investigation—Bofors and the fodder scams come immediately to mind. None of these exposes required resort to the hidden camera. So, I believe public interest journalism does not need to be conducted only through deceit, which is the basic principle of sting. Jocularly I remarked to some journalists the other day that soon we shall witness a sting to end all stings: It will be called Operation Haman and show all MPs in their bathrooms to prove the old adage, “Hamam mein hum sabhi nangey hain” (We are all naked in the bath). It might not be such a far-fetched thought!

The writer is Editor, The Pioneer and MP, Rajya Sabha.