The media urgently needs to work at earning back public trust, but that also involves keeping the PR industry at a professional, arm’s length relationship
Dilip Cherian
Founding Partner, Perfect Relations
The best PR for the media at this point of time would be a clear and visible effort to weed out the corrupt and the colluders from among them — starting at the top
Graham Greene once remarked: “Media is a word that has come to mean bad journalism.” Media has had a rather good run in recent times. Scalping the powerful, and generally terrifying the populace with its power and pelf, the bully boys of the media have accreted power to themselves. The media has become, in more senses than one, a weapon of mass-based destruction.
But like all bull runs, the big question that needs to be asked now is, has the current expose on media ended all this? The Media’s Masters of the Universe are now being revealed as having feet of clay. In some cases, the connivance and levels of cosying up displayed in phone conversation verging on the conspiratorial, have clearly demolished the myth that big media stands free, fair and far from its independent influence. In some places it seems to be the willing handmaiden of those emboldened enough or in a position to attempt to twist and turn it to their private advantage.
The media often plays up or becomes a willing partner to a certain agenda. It would be naïve to think that mediapersons who get roped into an agenda would not know the reality of it, at least partially. So, in a sense when the the elaborately constructed bubble bursts, the public often looks to identify not just who created that line of thinking but also try and figure out whose line is it anyway.
Would public relations (PR) help restore the damaged image of the media today? Can the media get back on the pedestal? Or will it still look bruised and battered? The answer is, good PR could indeed help. The best PR for the media at this point of time would be a clear and visible effort to weed out the corrupt and the colluders from among them — starting at the top.
This goes well beyond the issue of “paid media”. It is time media professionals created the checks and balances the business needs and made them visible to a now doubting public. This is vital because there is no other institution quite like the media in which the public feels a level of scrutiny is being exercised on its behalf. The level of public anger in the country is rising and it is already high enough for a general call of “off with their heads” for the least provocation. So, good PR for the media would have to be done quickly or else retribution would be extreme. The sooner it’s done, the better it is for the media. The smarter the way in which it’s done, the better are the chances for the media to regain its sheen.
The most critical question is: who does the media need to do PR with, for itself? And the answer is partially, the three other estates that precede the fourth estate, namely the political establishment, the bureaucracy and the law. Then there is its main target, the general public. Attempting to address the bureaucracy and the political establishment is not easy but my guess is that they can be swayed more easily than the judiciary. The judiciary, which would have paid close attention after the recent revelations, is bound to feel that the press, or at least some players in it, have lost their credibility. But it’s with the general public that the media has to rebuild its faith. This will require cleaning up; this will require a renewed honest aggression; this will also require new champions from within coming to the fore to lead a new and improved version of media 3.0.
In any case, this is the time for the renewal of the media. The fact is that conventional media, as we know it, is dying, without the current scams and without even realising that it’s happening. It is the new media where the chatter about old media’s failure has been the most virulent after this particular sordid episode. But this is not just episodic. The fact is that the new media is chipping away at the reach, credibility, penetrative quality and the speed of the conventional media. This is part of media evolution and the conventional media needs to recognise this and pay attention to the fact that if it’s not to be overtaken and taken to the undertakers, it must reinvent itself and be more open to direct scrutiny.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Independent journalist and educator
A journalist should not be solely dependent on a PR handout for a story because he or she must recognise that the PR professional is being paid by someone for the information, which may be one-sided
Let’s admit that in today’s context, journalists and public relations (PR) professionals have a close and symbiotic relationship. It would be too extreme to argue that the media can work without the public relations industry. PR practitioners have, after all, become gatekeepers of information that journalists require, including information about corporate entities. But it is also important to recognise that the link works well when an arm’s length relationship is maintained by both. For instance, a journalist should not be solely dependent on a PR person’s handout for a story because he or she must recognise that the PR professional is being paid by someone for the information in the handout, which may be partial or one-sided. If a journalist believes that journalism should be independent, then the PR input could be just one element in the overall story. Merely paraphrasing a press release in a news story means that a journalist is not fulfiling his or her obligations to readers or viewers to provide information that is unbiased, balanced, objective and well-rounded.
It is also important to recognise that the PR industry or corporate communications has evolved way beyond its original role of being a forum for the exchange of information. It has acquired a far more pernicious role as an influencer of public opinion and, therefore, views gifts, junkets, taking journalists to the fanciest restaurants and other forms of bribery as a “legitimate” part of their activities. The recent transcripts of phone recordings involving Niira Radia indicate how journalists get roped into the business of lobbying for and on behalf of politicians and corporations. The question, of course, is, why journalists should be susceptible to such inducements. The issue often boils down to sheer ego. Journalists (like many others) are prone to flattery and because their work involves meeting the rich and the powerful, they begin to acquire delusions of grandeur. It’s an occupational hazard that has gobbled up not a few journalistic reputations.
This may sound old-fashioned, but if the media is to play its role as a watchdog for society, it must be fearless and independent and conscious of that role. Instead, the emerging culture of celebrity journalism is making some people in the media lapdogs of vested interests and those in positions of power and authority, easily influenced and ready to bend over backwards to accommodate their wishes. It must be acknowledged, of course, that just like every other section of society, journalists, too, are vulnerable to greed and corruption. But the argument that journalists are particularly susceptible because they are poorly paid is untenable, not just because this is no longer the case but also on moral grounds — after all, the media regularly censures the police force for corruption even as it points out that policeman are underpaid. In any case, the media has a unique role to play in society. To extend the canine analogy at the beginning of this paragraph, let me say that there are dogs and dogs. Apart from watchdogs and lapdogs, the media also has intelligent guide dogs and sniffer dogs. Despite what the cynics may say, these roles are effective. After all, let’s admit that if it hadn’t been for the media, the tapes that are creating such controversy wouldn’t have been out in the public domain in the first place. Though corruption in the media may be rampant and some of the largest and most profitable media organisations may have taken the lead in throwing to the winds ethics and principles of good journalism, other sections of the media have not hesitated in exposing the “rot within”. Journalists cannot arrogate to themselves the right to criticise everybody and his brother and then become squeamish when the spotlight is turned on themselves.
At the end of the day, the media certainly needs to be in touch with PR professionals. But for journalists’ own credibility, that relationship must be professional and objective. It is in the nature of the profession for a PR person to provide not just facts but a spin on those facts. And, let’s face it, the economics of doing so are much better — it is so much easier to gratify a journalist for a slanted story or column than to put an advertisement in the same publication for which he or she works.
(As told to BS Reporter)
The writer was a member of the Press Council of India’s two-member sub-committee that prepared a report on how “paid news” undermines democracy in India
