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Pritish Nandy

Freedom from Falsehood

Last week, amidst all the political bedlam, something very important happened. But the print media, cynical as always, missed focussing on it. Simply because no one ever believed it could happen and, therefore, when it actually happened, everyone was taken by surprise. So much surprise that they could barely react.

I am talking about Prasar Bharati.

Through the Prasar Bharati bill, Doordarshan and All India Radio, better known as DD and AIR, were set free from State control and the Prasar Bharati board, to oversee their functioning, was put into place. While there will always remain different views about who should have been or not been on the board, one thing is quite clear. DD and AIR will never be the same again!

But before we come to that, may be we should look at the compulsions that brought this about. Why did Inder Gujral and Jaipal Reddy, floundering as they were on the high seas of political uncertainty, spend so much time and effort to see this bill through even though they knew their days in office were numbered? The reason was simple, in my view. Both realised that this was the surest way to get into the history books as the good guys. The next generation of freedom fighters.

As the first generation of freedom fighters -- the Gandhis, the Boses and the Maulana Azads -- are on the verge of being forgotten, India is entering its second freedom struggle. Freedom from the bondage of a State-controlled economy, a State-controlled electronic media. While the heroes of the economic revolution are already well known to the world -- Manmohan Singh and Palianappan Chidambaram -- no politician has been in the vanguard of the movement to free information. Gujral and Reddy have now earned their place in history by grabbing this role.

If for nothing else, they will be remembered in the political text books for Prasar Bharati.

The question is not whether Prasar Bharati will actually free the electronic media. Just as the question was never whether Gandhi could bring in a strong, stable, independent India that would face the world as equals. He is remembered because he created the conditions for freedom. He set the new rules.

That is exactly what Manmohan Singh did. And he did it so well that the whole world believed him and came to invest out here. Chidambaram took his reforms several steps further in a far more complex, more difficult environment where the Communists were part of the 13 member United Front that ran the government. He used his every wile to persuade them, coax and cajole them to continue the reforms and, to an extent, he succeeded.

You must hand it to Chidambaram. The fact that India has billions of dollars in its kitty today and can face up to the economic uncertainties unleashed by a selfish, greedy and uncouth political establishment making an idiot of itself in front of the world is largely thanks to the fact that Chidambaram has consolidated our economy. He has made it more stable by simply making it more free.

Gujral realised this. He realised that he had, unfortunately, come far too late to take credit for the economic reforms. So he needed another platform for history. He, therefore, appointed only one new minister in the Cabinet he inherited from Deve Gowda. Jaipal Reddy. And he gave Reddy the ministry of information and broadcasting, a ministry he had himself once held and whose importance he alone knew. Ibrahim was happy to step down and retain what he saw as his more important portfolio, the civil aviation ministry, not realising that he had missed the opportunity of a lifetime..

And thus began the crucial reforms in the information sector. Beginning, naturally, with the all important, all powerful electronic media.

Gujral understood the three basic laws of broadcasting.

The first law of broadcasting is the simplest. News put out by the State has no credibility. This means: Governments must stay away from producing and broadcasting news. However independently they may report and package it, news from a government source will have no takers. Simply because people do not trust the State. They also do not trust State agencies. There is a clear hiatus of faith.

Ergo, if DD wants its news watched and if AIR wants its news heard and believed, they must both be privatised. Otherwise, they should stay out of news and focus on other things. Like education and sports and public broadcasting. However, none of these are economically viable on their own. So they have to be supported by either State funding or entertainment shows on prime time. Which brings us to the second law of broadcasting.

The second law of broadcasting is: The worse the content, the larger the viewership. In other words, mass viewership is driven by trash and trivia.

The obverse is not true. Like art film-makers would have us believe. That shows with no viewership are the best. But this much is quite clear: The stupidest, trashiest shows always get the highest ratings. Sex, violence, idiocy and their respective covers of respectability: romance, nationalism, humour. People in the collective always have the lowliest taste. I have no intention of drawing the ire of friend producers by giving examples, but I would urge you to see the listings and arrive at your own conclusions.

Incidentally, this is not only true of Indian broadcasting. All over the world, the crassest soaps, the most brain dead talk shows, the stupidest, corniest stand up comics invariably attract the largest ratings. It is like pulp fiction or popular movies. Only a fool would confuse popularity with quality. People in large numbers are always attracted to garbage. That is why Aankhen will always score over Ardh Satya. David Dhawan will always be more popular than Shekhar Kapur. Bappi Lahiri will always have more draw than Shiv Hari. It's not surprising. It's inevitable. What works in the world of broadcasting and media is the lowest common denominator. In taste.

The third and last law of broadcasting is equally obvious. Whatever you want to keep out, always comes in. This is a direct corollary of the theory: Whatever you fear the most always happens to you. If you want to keep the Playboy channel out, someone will go and spend a fortune to hire a transponder millions of miles away and beam it at you, just to prove that he is not afraid of you. And millions of viewers will instantly tune in to big boobs and bare bottoms.

This is where modern technology always comes to the aid of the defiant. It beats back every defence strategy that any government can devise. Just as innovative tax planners can always beat the tax laws, whatever safeguards you may build in. And clever hackers can always break into the most difficult, most complex, most secretive information systems that banks and corporates may set up.

By freeing DD and AIR, the government has shown its true intent. That it intends to stay in the business of media. Not as a stupid, bumbling fool, depending on propaganda watched by smaller and smaller audiences. Who, in any case, do not believe what is purveyed as news by DD and AIR. But, as in the West, as a canny, independent investor who knows that he who pays the piper calls the tune. So, by fading into the background, the government has strengthened its position. It has made DD and AIR credible. At the same time, by being their most important funding source, it will retain its power to influence news, arbitrage truth.

Very clever, isn't it?

Pritish Nandy