Founder-editor of Tehelka Tarun Tejpal made the headlines a couple of days back and continues to seep his way to every newspaper, news channel and news website, making top news. That however is not such a big deal. The man is an eminent journalist and we have all seen him in the headlines before. What seems to matter today is the fact that he has made it to being a twitter trend, catching the nation's interest.
An employee of Tehelka has accused Tejpal of alleged sexual assault towards her on two occasions, while they were in Goa for the magazine's Think Fest. Tejpal, in response, issued an apology to the concerned journalist and stepped down from his editorial position for a period of six months.
His so-called apology was appalling and his insensitivity shocking for a journalist, who upholds moral standards in his professional opinions, something that made people look up to him. Thousands of people from all over, regardless of who they were, ensured that their criticisms were vocalised via the web. Judgments on his character were passed, demands for action were made, controversies were cooked up, his family was attacked. Social media, mainly Twitter was the courtroom; Twitterati, the judges; while Tejpal was a new undertrial.
The victim is a journalist working in Tehelka. The scandal was bound to attract media activism. However, what makes this situation threatening is the fact that what used to be popularly known as 'Trial by Media' has now escalated to 'Trial by Social Media.' The power of widespread fact-based opinion, which was the privilege of every media organisation, has now become an easy tool in the hands of everyone capable of using the internet, albeit without the art of fact checking.
Whether it is voicing opinions about CBI Director, Ranjit Sinha's passing comments on rape or the character assassination of Tarun Tejpal, the Twitterati vent their anger on every issue. A single tweet is posted; information is picked up and passed around. Before you know it, people all over are talking about, with nothing to stop them, except for their own disinterest in the subject. In this entire process, everyone tends to forget facts and evidence, most of which are still needed in an official investigation.
As if criticising Tejpal was not enough, Twitterati made sure they also had enough anger left for Shoma Chaudhury, the managing editor of Tehelka. Chaudhury has been one of those eminent personalities whose name has always been associated with everything controversial, albiet as a crusader for justice and women's rights. Today, she is being pilliored because what she deemed to be the right decision in this case did not fit in with the Twitterati's sense of right.
Twitter today gives its users the power of content publishing, while the media has settled down into the role of being the catalyst to usage of such power. Basic responsibility that should come with such power is unfortunately still being ignored.
In the Tejpal case, the victim's friends have been passing around tweets, requesting people to refrain from circulating leaked emails and messages. But their requests have fallen on deaf ears.
Being outraged is easy. Anger and disappointment come easily to many. But what after that? Does common sense prevail at all, or is everyone too busy showing off their righteousness, that they forget the need for basic humanity?
While wrongdoers need to be punished for their acts, the final judgment should be left to the courts of law. Trial by social media does not only threaten to influence the direction that a case might take, but it also deeply affects family and friends of the undertrial and the victim, merely for the fault of association.
Even our law upholds the right of people to be presumed innocent, until proven guilty, then who are we to presume guilt with a complete blind eye?
