In one of his recent interviews Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Mr. Arvind Kejriwal who doesn't seem to be very happy with the negative media coverage his party and some of its top leaders are receiving nowadays advocated about conducting a public trial of media. One can interpret this statement in various ways, his supporters will obviously justify this statement and point out to some channels that are clearly hostile towards this party whereas opponents of AAP will question this statement and even call it a hypocritic stance because it is coming from a party which is largely perceived as a creation of media. There is no doubt that the media gave disproportional coverage to AAP and its leaders, especially to Mr. Kejriwal in the beginning. Maybe this was because of the novelty aspect associated with the approach of AAP towards Indian politics and the issues they raised. At that time, most of the media was perceived as AAP's friend, and other political parties were complaining about unfair attention to AAP. Because of some recent happenings in AAP and even after their emphatic win in the Delhi assembly elections, they are getting a lot of negative press and now many people are saying that it is not much different than all other political parties. This has resulted in a very hostile attitude towards media from many AAP leaders. It is now no secret that after becoming CM of Delhi Mr. Kejriwal doesn't like public scrutiny or any criticism about himself or his party from any quarters of his own party or from media. It seems he doesn't like the taste of his own medicine.
So, what is wrong with advocating a public trial of media (or for that matter public trial of anyone)? We all know that mob mentality or public trials are dangerous as they are not based on facts and evidence but are based on perceptions. These perceptions can be right or wrong and it is easy to manipulate perceptions. That is why we have courts and judiciary so that there can be an unbiased and fair justice system. Even though this system many times fails to live up to its expectations, most of us will agree that we can not depend on public sentiments to deliver judgments in criminal or other cases. If a public trial becomes a norm, then people with a large fan following will never be convicted as there will be always a huge section of the public who will support their idol no matter what they do. Does Mr. Kejriwal want to go back to this stone age justice system? Is he trying to incite people to take the law into their own hands and deliver judgment based on their own opinions and perceptions rather than going to the courts to get justice? I fail to understand what he even means by a public trial of media and how he wants to conduct it? There is no doubt that media has its own issues and problems. There are many questions about transparency, conflict of interest, and accountability that various media houses need to answer, but definitely public trial is not the solution to resolve any of these issues. Let's also be clear that he was not talking about public debate and discussion, these things go on all the time on news channels, the public trial that he is recommending is something altogether different.
It is also clearly evident that politicians are more media friendly when they are in opposition but the time they get in power they start seeing media as a hostile opponent and nuisance. The same questions that they love to ask when in opposition, they try to avoid once they come into power. This was not expected from Mr. Kejriwal and his party as they claimed to be different and also claimed that they were in politics to change the way it functions but it seems that the politics changed them. I hope he was not serious when he talked about the public trial of media, the role of media is very important in any democracy. Questions about the media's accountability and transparency should be raised, the media can not run away from these questions. I hope Mr. Kejriwal will raise some relevant questions rather than being in a hurry to deliver a verdict against the media.
So, what is wrong with advocating a public trial of media (or for that matter public trial of anyone)? We all know that mob mentality or public trials are dangerous as they are not based on facts and evidence but are based on perceptions. These perceptions can be right or wrong and it is easy to manipulate perceptions. That is why we have courts and judiciary so that there can be an unbiased and fair justice system. Even though this system many times fails to live up to its expectations, most of us will agree that we can not depend on public sentiments to deliver judgments in criminal or other cases. If a public trial becomes a norm, then people with a large fan following will never be convicted as there will be always a huge section of the public who will support their idol no matter what they do. Does Mr. Kejriwal want to go back to this stone age justice system? Is he trying to incite people to take the law into their own hands and deliver judgment based on their own opinions and perceptions rather than going to the courts to get justice? I fail to understand what he even means by a public trial of media and how he wants to conduct it? There is no doubt that media has its own issues and problems. There are many questions about transparency, conflict of interest, and accountability that various media houses need to answer, but definitely public trial is not the solution to resolve any of these issues. Let's also be clear that he was not talking about public debate and discussion, these things go on all the time on news channels, the public trial that he is recommending is something altogether different.
It is also clearly evident that politicians are more media friendly when they are in opposition but the time they get in power they start seeing media as a hostile opponent and nuisance. The same questions that they love to ask when in opposition, they try to avoid once they come into power. This was not expected from Mr. Kejriwal and his party as they claimed to be different and also claimed that they were in politics to change the way it functions but it seems that the politics changed them. I hope he was not serious when he talked about the public trial of media, the role of media is very important in any democracy. Questions about the media's accountability and transparency should be raised, the media can not run away from these questions. I hope Mr. Kejriwal will raise some relevant questions rather than being in a hurry to deliver a verdict against the media.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
No comments:
Post a Comment