SUE THE MESSENGER
How legal harassment by corporates is shackling reportage and undermining democracy in India
Subir Ghosh with Paranjoy Guha-Thakurta
Authors Upfront
243 pages; Rs 325
A week later, on April 22, came a second legal notice from ADAG, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. On April 23, came a third notice to all the nine respondents. This one took umbrage at comments made at the launch function and asked for damages of Rs 100 crore within 10 days.
That story marks the gripping beginning to Sue the Messenger written by Mr Ghosh with Mr Guha-Thakurta. The book has been published by the latter's publishing outfit.
Mr Ghosh, an independent journalist and researcher, says Gas Wars had only chronicled what had already appeared in the media and material that was in the public domain because of the differences between the two brothers. It was an old battle that was being put into book format. There was no factual discrepancy in the book and the RIL and ADAG viewpoint got full attention. Little wonder, then, that after the initial notices there were no legal proceedings. But they were enough to ensure that the book never got the attention it could have - much of its coverage was buried in column pieces about the notices, not about the story of two of India's wealthiest men.
Gas Wars got Mr Ghosh thinking of SLAPPs - strategic lawsuits against public participation. These are meant to harass, intimidate and silence critical writers who are faced with the prospect of high legal expenditure and the inconvenience of a lawsuit in some out-of-the-way town. More importantly, SLAPPs silence others who might want to write or speak on a subject.
Mr Ghosh uses this book to tell 10 stories similar to that of Gas Wars. There is the story of Australian journalist Hamish McDonald's eight-year-long effort to research and write The Polyester Prince:The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani. In 1998, the book was finally published in Australia by Allen and Unwin. Its India publisher HarperCollins, however, pulped the book before its release under legal pressure. It was finally published by Roli Books in 2010. Then there is the story of Tamal Bandopadhyay's book on Sahara and others.
The most fascinating one, for me, was Bennett, Coleman and Company's legal wrangle with The Financial Times over the latter's brand name. The case, of course, is very old. But when SpicyIP, a legal blog, wrote on the subject in 2013 quoting an article from Mint, BCCL, which also publishes The Times of India, went after a 22-year old law student who had blogged but not HT Media, which publishes Mint. One of SpicyIP's bloggers T Prashant Reddy pointed out the irony of a newspaper filing a criminal defamation suit against a law student while the Editors' Guild of India has been campaigning for the abolition of criminal defamation, which is used to harass journalists.
The Hoot, another website, pointed to a rather unflattering piece ("Citizens Jain") in the October 2012 issue of The New Yorker by Ken Auletta. BCCL sent him a long threatening letter saying his piece contained falsehoods. Mr Auletta and The New Yorker lawyers responded that the fact-checkers at the magazine had found no falsehoods in the piece. Nothing happened after that.
There is more in the book that focusses on untold stories and the stories behind them. It chooses good, solid episodes in India's news timeline and relates them well. My big quibble with it is the jaundiced eye with which it looks at business journalism. Not all business journalists and newspapers are bad. Some of us do try to do our jobs honestly, Mr Ghosh. But on all other counts this is a good book. Especially when you know how much self-censorship is happening within news media, films or on TV because of the fear of legal trouble, a vindictive advertiser or the state. It is in many ways a good reality check on the freedom that news media "really" has in India today.
So if you are missing some good old-fashioned investigative journalism then this book is for you. And if, like me, you worry about the state of India's democracy, pick it up to remind yourself why good journalism, free speech and media, and a robust legal system that protects it matter.
How legal harassment by corporates is shackling reportage and undermining democracy in India
Subir Ghosh with Paranjoy Guha-Thakurta
Authors Upfront
243 pages; Rs 325
Also Read
On the evening of April 15, 2014, Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis, a book written by Paranjoy Guha-Thakurta, Subir Ghosh and Jyotirmoy Chaudhuri was officially released at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The next day lawyers for Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL) sent the authors a legal notice alleging defamation, calling for a cease on the sale, publication and distribution of the book. The notice suggested that all copies be destroyed, publicity for the book be stopped and the authors tender an unconditional apology. The same notice was sent to the publisher, distributor, printer, internet retailers Amazon, Flipkart and Kobo and even to the lady who sent the invitations for the launch function.
A week later, on April 22, came a second legal notice from ADAG, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. On April 23, came a third notice to all the nine respondents. This one took umbrage at comments made at the launch function and asked for damages of Rs 100 crore within 10 days.
That story marks the gripping beginning to Sue the Messenger written by Mr Ghosh with Mr Guha-Thakurta. The book has been published by the latter's publishing outfit.
Mr Ghosh, an independent journalist and researcher, says Gas Wars had only chronicled what had already appeared in the media and material that was in the public domain because of the differences between the two brothers. It was an old battle that was being put into book format. There was no factual discrepancy in the book and the RIL and ADAG viewpoint got full attention. Little wonder, then, that after the initial notices there were no legal proceedings. But they were enough to ensure that the book never got the attention it could have - much of its coverage was buried in column pieces about the notices, not about the story of two of India's wealthiest men.
Gas Wars got Mr Ghosh thinking of SLAPPs - strategic lawsuits against public participation. These are meant to harass, intimidate and silence critical writers who are faced with the prospect of high legal expenditure and the inconvenience of a lawsuit in some out-of-the-way town. More importantly, SLAPPs silence others who might want to write or speak on a subject.
Mr Ghosh uses this book to tell 10 stories similar to that of Gas Wars. There is the story of Australian journalist Hamish McDonald's eight-year-long effort to research and write The Polyester Prince:The Rise of Dhirubhai Ambani. In 1998, the book was finally published in Australia by Allen and Unwin. Its India publisher HarperCollins, however, pulped the book before its release under legal pressure. It was finally published by Roli Books in 2010. Then there is the story of Tamal Bandopadhyay's book on Sahara and others.
The most fascinating one, for me, was Bennett, Coleman and Company's legal wrangle with The Financial Times over the latter's brand name. The case, of course, is very old. But when SpicyIP, a legal blog, wrote on the subject in 2013 quoting an article from Mint, BCCL, which also publishes The Times of India, went after a 22-year old law student who had blogged but not HT Media, which publishes Mint. One of SpicyIP's bloggers T Prashant Reddy pointed out the irony of a newspaper filing a criminal defamation suit against a law student while the Editors' Guild of India has been campaigning for the abolition of criminal defamation, which is used to harass journalists.
The Hoot, another website, pointed to a rather unflattering piece ("Citizens Jain") in the October 2012 issue of The New Yorker by Ken Auletta. BCCL sent him a long threatening letter saying his piece contained falsehoods. Mr Auletta and The New Yorker lawyers responded that the fact-checkers at the magazine had found no falsehoods in the piece. Nothing happened after that.
There is more in the book that focusses on untold stories and the stories behind them. It chooses good, solid episodes in India's news timeline and relates them well. My big quibble with it is the jaundiced eye with which it looks at business journalism. Not all business journalists and newspapers are bad. Some of us do try to do our jobs honestly, Mr Ghosh. But on all other counts this is a good book. Especially when you know how much self-censorship is happening within news media, films or on TV because of the fear of legal trouble, a vindictive advertiser or the state. It is in many ways a good reality check on the freedom that news media "really" has in India today.
So if you are missing some good old-fashioned investigative journalism then this book is for you. And if, like me, you worry about the state of India's democracy, pick it up to remind yourself why good journalism, free speech and media, and a robust legal system that protects it matter.