“Everyone has to fight against the slavery of Godi media,” senior journalist Ravish Kumar said after quitting NDTV. What makes Ravish different?
On 30th November 2022, India’s popular TV journalist Ravish Kumar resigned from his post as senior executive editor at NDTV India after the channel was bought by an Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani.
Prior to this event, Ravish publicly expressed his angst over the corporatization of the news media industry on several occasions over the past few years.
In a farewell message to the public, the recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for Journalism wrote on Twitter, “You are all included in my being. Your love is my wealth. You have a one-sided and lengthy dialogue with the audience. On your YouTube channel. This is my new address. Everyone has to fight against the slavery of Godi media”.
माननीय जनता,
मेरे होने में आप सभी शामिल हैं। आपका प्यार ही मेरी दौलत है। आप दर्शकों से एकतरफ़ा और लंबा संवाद किया है। अपने यू- ट्यूब चैनल पर। यही मेरा नया पता है। सभी को गोदी मीडिया की ग़ुलामी से लड़ना है।
आपका
रवीश कुमार https://t.co/39BKNJdoro— ravish kumar (@ravishndtv) December 1, 2022
What is Godi Media?
Given the economics of running satellite news channels, it becomes imperative for a vast majority of them to rely on Political patronage and largesse to keep the channel alive. This was always the case; however, the content used to be tempered with impartiality, appearing balanced.
However, post the sweeping Lok Sabha victory of the BJP in 2014 led a vast majority of the most influential news channels to switch their editorial policy, leaning almost 100% in favour of the Government and calling anyone who didn’t support this stance – “Unpatriotic” and “Anti India”, equating the criticism of the Government or the Prime Minister to criticism of India.
In this context, Ravish Kumar coined and popularized the pejorative term ‘Godi Media’ (Lapdog Media)’, to define the band of print and television journalists who apparently had sold their souls to the Government.
This term literally translates to “media sitting on the lap”. In one of his shows, Kumar used silent actors to mime “Godi Media”. This was accompanied by miming what the ruling party leaders wanted to listen to, using the Hindi film song; Baghon Mein Bahar Hai; (its spring in the gardens).
Corporatization of the news media industry
After 2014 when the Modi government came into power, the first change was brought in the media industry, in which the government tried to take over control via their corporate cronies. A part of the media network was bought by the powerful Ambani conglomerate and others, while perhaps the only remaining Independent Satellite News Channel – NDTV was recently acquired by the Adanis, another business house which is supposed to be closer to the PM than the Ambanis.
The Godi media has a penchant for handling the PM and the Government with kid gloves. In one such incident, in a staged interview with Mr Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, popular Indian Actor Akshay Kumar was seen asking him whether he ate mangoes, reducing the staged interview into a farce. Incidentally, this was perhaps the only or one of the only interviews ever given by Mr Modi since he became Prime Minister. He also has been known to avoid Press Conferences studiously, perhaps to avoid uncomfortable questions…who knows?
In fact, this kind of biased and friendly media relationship with the Government is against the basic tenets of journalism. Journalists never used to hide the Government’s failures and try to build a good image, i.e. public relations. When all news channels were singing the songs of the establishment, Ravish Kumar’s prime time on NDTV carried on with trustworthy journalism and highlighted the people’s voices. Ravish also took the stand against the sacking and arresting of journalists in other media houses because of their anti-establishment reporting. It never happened that criticism of any government cost the job of any journalist, but it happened under the Modi government.
As Ravish puts it aptly, “Seth ke pass bahut paisa hai par Main Nahi hu” (Corporates have money but don’t have Me). It means a journalist can’t be sold, but in this era, the majority of journalists have sold their souls.
What makes Ravish different?
In the ’90s, when there were no news channels, Doordarshan broadcasted news that was completely based on facts and was just typically read by news readers without putting in it any personal opinion. NDTV gave India its first 24X7 private news channel in 1988.
Even a decade after its launch, when Ravish Kumar joined NDTV, journalism continued to be true and objective. Reporters bring out stories from the ground and ask tough questions to the respective governments, like state or central governments. However, there was no ‘widespread’ hounding of journalists by the governments.
In 20th-century media, a new form of journalism emerged, i.e. opinionated journalism. Though it was quite limited to some news anchors, it was gaining momentum. The problem wasn’t opinionated journalism, but it has given rise to ‘biased’ journalism.
A case in point, Veteran journalist Ramnath Goenka, the then head of Indian Express, had sacked a journalist who was ‘in bed’ with a politician because as soon as you start ‘favouritism’ instead of journalism and hailing politicians, your journalism is lost. A journalist who cannot criticize, ask tough questions, or hold any politician or Government accountable is not a journalist.
Ravish Kumar has remained a staunch flag bearer of unbiased journalism. He never compromised on the ethics and values of journalism regardless of any government in power.
In 2010, Ravish reported on ‘Delhi’s Water Crisis’. It was one of the best reports; if any budding reporter wants to learn journalism should watch those old reports of Ravish. Apart from ground reports, Ravish starkly criticized the Congress Government, which was in power at that time. He even criticized the economic survey in 2013, calling it disappointing. But at that time, journalists were not usually jailed for criticizing governments or politicians.
After 2014, when opinionated journalism took an ugly shape and completely shunned the ethics and values of journalism by doing crass, biased, communal, and ‘unverified’ reporting.
The four prominent pillars of democracy are:
The Legislature – The Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament;
The Executive – The Government and its branches;
The Judiciary – The Courts and legal system; and,
The Media – comprising all media dealing with the news.
This 4th Pillar of Democracy plays a very vital role, incidentally, in keeping Democracy Alive. It is like a mirror which reflects the Good, the Bad and the Ugly aspects of civic life and Government, helping give a direction on helping deliver a better life to the citizens of any country, and in our case, India.
Unfortunately, with the wholesale mindset change of the vast majority of News Channels and media at large by the ruling Party, collectively called ‘Godi Media,’ A new low has been hit in terms of journalistic ethics.
As a matter of fact, the vast majority of news channels can genuinely not be called news channels at all, given their content, but Propaganda Channels. The deleterious effect of all this will, heaven forbid, only be felt fully in the years to come, where diminishing democracy will become the accepted norm.
At times like these, Ravish Kumar and NDTV stood like a beacon of hope for the democratically minded Indian citizens.
