The manhandling of a reporter and cameraman of vernacular television channel in Hyderabad, when they were planning a sting operation, opens up the debate on the modus operanda of sting operation, and the ethical issues involved in the entire exercise. The channel went one-step ahead and conducted sting operation on its own staff member, hailed as unprecedented in media history; this is fraught with dangerous consequences. Do we need a sting operation to expose the black sheep among hacks or is it for public consumption is debatable.
Tehelka the Indian version of sex lies and videotape, where high public officials were seen accepting bribes. The Tehelka closed shop, but it left behind a legacy, which is being exploited, to the hilt by politicians and the media. Politicians took over from where journalists left, in a show of political one-upmanship Dilip Singh Judeo and Ajit Jogi bowled swinger and reverse swinger at each other, where no public concern was involved.
With the entry of more television channels there is surge in competition and channels are vying for eyeballs. This has resulted in media resorting to unethical practices. And sting operation is an unfortunate fallout of this development. Today television channels are coming up with sensational disclosure using hidden cameras with an objective of achieving public attention. But how many of them serve any public interest is a different issue.
Is the sting operation ethical? Do means justify the ends? Is the sting operation legal? Can the stinger be challenged in a court of law? What methods are valid to reveal a wrongdoing? Is deception legimate when the aim is to tell the truth? There are no easy answers.
There are serious privacy issues in tapping people without their knowledge. Unlike in the west, In India in the absence of stringent privacy laws, journalists indulge in sting operation and a get away with it. Is it ethical to hold someone responsible for a crime that would not have been committed if the undercover journalist had not encouraged the act? Tehelka people were quick to defend ‘extraordinary circumstances justified the use of extraordinary methods.’
There is the ethical issue, of journalist forcing the man to commit the crime who has no intension of committing the crime at the time. This undermines the very role of journalist, who’s job is not to encourage people to break the law. The ensnarement often results in a violation or distortion of rules of natural justice that no person can be made to incriminate himself using deceitful means. The journalist becomes party to the incident and cannot observe the incident from a journalistic perspective. To put a check on the misuse of sting operation by politicians and journalists the government must enact a law conferring only the investigative agencies of launching such operation.
It is an endless debate with no resolution in sigh to arrive at a consensus on the ethics of sting operation; journos need to determine who will benefit as a result of such reporting. One has to go beyond ethics and assess what is legally correct. If journalism is committed to democratic accountability, will the public benefit as a result of specific investigative reports. Does the press fulfill its social responsibility in revealing wrongdoing? Whose interests are being affected? Whose rights are being invaded? Is the issue at stake a matter of legitimate public interest?
Media of late has been resorting to frequent sting operations, which are of dubious nature, where the identity of those carrying such operations is not known. In a society plagued with high levels of corruption, sting operations have a legitimate role, if the public interest can be firmly established. Journalists who carryout sting operations must function in a transparent way so that their motives as well as source of funds can be identified. In the absence of such safeguards sting operations will be reduced to sheer sensationalism and voyeurism. In the name of exposing corruption, people may resort to black mail.
Investigative reporting is real hard grinding work, which requires hard labour poring through heap of papers. Nixon’s Watergate or Bofors scandal investigation entails months of painstaking step-by-step, methodiacal work before they are published. A short cut is sting operation an unethical recourse to entrapment. In these days of instant fame, who has patience for hard work and commitment to get at the bottom of the truth? Sting operation is short cut to fame for indolent journalists. We live in a decaying society, where ethics and norms have no place and journalism, as a profession is no exception to the rule. This is not to suggest that we need a docile press. Investigative reporting ensures transparency in governance. The bane of Indian newspapers is the absence of honest reporting on slipups of politicians and a total lack of investigative reporting and the media is generally prepared to go with the government view of things. Today’s journalism is so fast paced with no follow up and press shifts its focus from one issue to the other. Readers are treated to spectacle of series of scams without any real insight, when the next issue comes the previous issue is forgotten and the media moves.
The country will achieve full development if media is prepared to uncover and report on corruption and misuse of power by politicians and government officials. A free independent and responsible media is country’s best hope. A passive and weak media leaves a critical void in our democratic structure. We need a virile press in search of truth. Let the power of the pen prevail.
Tehelka the Indian version of sex lies and videotape, where high public officials were seen accepting bribes. The Tehelka closed shop, but it left behind a legacy, which is being exploited, to the hilt by politicians and the media. Politicians took over from where journalists left, in a show of political one-upmanship Dilip Singh Judeo and Ajit Jogi bowled swinger and reverse swinger at each other, where no public concern was involved.
With the entry of more television channels there is surge in competition and channels are vying for eyeballs. This has resulted in media resorting to unethical practices. And sting operation is an unfortunate fallout of this development. Today television channels are coming up with sensational disclosure using hidden cameras with an objective of achieving public attention. But how many of them serve any public interest is a different issue.
Is the sting operation ethical? Do means justify the ends? Is the sting operation legal? Can the stinger be challenged in a court of law? What methods are valid to reveal a wrongdoing? Is deception legimate when the aim is to tell the truth? There are no easy answers.
There are serious privacy issues in tapping people without their knowledge. Unlike in the west, In India in the absence of stringent privacy laws, journalists indulge in sting operation and a get away with it. Is it ethical to hold someone responsible for a crime that would not have been committed if the undercover journalist had not encouraged the act? Tehelka people were quick to defend ‘extraordinary circumstances justified the use of extraordinary methods.’
There is the ethical issue, of journalist forcing the man to commit the crime who has no intension of committing the crime at the time. This undermines the very role of journalist, who’s job is not to encourage people to break the law. The ensnarement often results in a violation or distortion of rules of natural justice that no person can be made to incriminate himself using deceitful means. The journalist becomes party to the incident and cannot observe the incident from a journalistic perspective. To put a check on the misuse of sting operation by politicians and journalists the government must enact a law conferring only the investigative agencies of launching such operation.
It is an endless debate with no resolution in sigh to arrive at a consensus on the ethics of sting operation; journos need to determine who will benefit as a result of such reporting. One has to go beyond ethics and assess what is legally correct. If journalism is committed to democratic accountability, will the public benefit as a result of specific investigative reports. Does the press fulfill its social responsibility in revealing wrongdoing? Whose interests are being affected? Whose rights are being invaded? Is the issue at stake a matter of legitimate public interest?
Media of late has been resorting to frequent sting operations, which are of dubious nature, where the identity of those carrying such operations is not known. In a society plagued with high levels of corruption, sting operations have a legitimate role, if the public interest can be firmly established. Journalists who carryout sting operations must function in a transparent way so that their motives as well as source of funds can be identified. In the absence of such safeguards sting operations will be reduced to sheer sensationalism and voyeurism. In the name of exposing corruption, people may resort to black mail.
Investigative reporting is real hard grinding work, which requires hard labour poring through heap of papers. Nixon’s Watergate or Bofors scandal investigation entails months of painstaking step-by-step, methodiacal work before they are published. A short cut is sting operation an unethical recourse to entrapment. In these days of instant fame, who has patience for hard work and commitment to get at the bottom of the truth? Sting operation is short cut to fame for indolent journalists. We live in a decaying society, where ethics and norms have no place and journalism, as a profession is no exception to the rule. This is not to suggest that we need a docile press. Investigative reporting ensures transparency in governance. The bane of Indian newspapers is the absence of honest reporting on slipups of politicians and a total lack of investigative reporting and the media is generally prepared to go with the government view of things. Today’s journalism is so fast paced with no follow up and press shifts its focus from one issue to the other. Readers are treated to spectacle of series of scams without any real insight, when the next issue comes the previous issue is forgotten and the media moves.
The country will achieve full development if media is prepared to uncover and report on corruption and misuse of power by politicians and government officials. A free independent and responsible media is country’s best hope. A passive and weak media leaves a critical void in our democratic structure. We need a virile press in search of truth. Let the power of the pen prevail.
2 comments:
The point about sting operations in India is that they manage to sensationalize a news story and achieve very little. Do we not know that corruption exists in every nook and corner of our administrative set-up? Do we need a sting operation to tell us that we are a corrupt nation?
The media should focus on issues of pressing concern such as depleting water reserves, climate change, the technology gap between the haves and the havenots, the perennial problem of poverty, etc. Highlighting these issues do not require any sting operation. The fundamental problems of India have always been very basic - relating to food, shelter, clothing and drinking water. These should occupy the headlines of media rather than stories involving voyeurism.
The point about sting operations in India is that they manage to sensationalize a news story and achieve very little. Do we not know that corruption exists in every nook and corner of our administrative set-up? Do we need a sting operation to tell us that we are a corrupt nation?
The media should focus on issues of pressing concern such as depleting water reserves, climate change, the technology gap between the haves and the havenots, the perennial problem of poverty, etc. Highlighting these issues do not require any sting operation. The fundamental problems of India have always been very basic - relating to food, shelter, clothing and drinking water. These should occupy the headlines of media rather than stories involving voyeurism.
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