The Hindu Business Line : How politicians can make monkeys of the media

INSTITUTIONAL failure is no big news for us. Rightly so, if you search for the phrase, with `India' added, Google returns `nil' news, and suggests trying `fewer keywords'.

Which I do, to make the search global, and land in Howard Kurtz's article titled `Singing the News Blues' dated November 7, on www.washingtonpost.com. "New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. says his paper should have corrected its flawed reporting on whether Iraq had illegal weapons far sooner than it did, calling this an `institutional failure'," begins Kurtz.

Well, those who have been following the developments probably know about Judith Miller, a 28-year veteran reporter of NYT, `an investigative and national security correspondent', who "went to jail this summer rather than reveal a confidential source in the CIA leak case," as Katharine Q. Seelye writes on http://indiamonitor.com. She was released 85 days later, "after she agreed to testify before a grand jury".

Disturbingly, the search for whether Saddam had WMD may not have yielded weapons of mass destruction, though damage is apparent in the form of media destruction, at least in the US. "The journalism business is suffering from a double-barrelled depression that stretches far beyond the travails of a single paper. If the industry were a person, a shrink would prescribe Prozac," notes Kurtz, referring to the drug prescribed for the treatment of depression. "The methods and ethics of reporters, and their coziness with unnamed sources, are under attack as never before, just as mounting financial woes are prompting top news organizations to agonize over why their audience continues to shrink."

A linked story is about Lewis `Scooter' Libby, the former chief of staff to US Vice President Dick Cheney, who was indicted last month on perjury and other charges related to the leak. The text of the 22-page indictment is available on http://i.a.cnn.net and is a must-read for media professionals, especially because "Libby was charged with lying to FBI agents and to the grand jury about conversations with reporters," as www.cnn.com notes.

"The case against Scooter Libby is up in the air, but the case against the press is solid," declares Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist in an article dated November 20 on www.boston.com. "The press indicted itself on grounds of coziness, self-interest, and dishonesty," comments Vennochi. She differentiates between government officials using journalists "to put out negative information about a political adversary" and whistleblowers revealing secrets the public should know.

"The symbiotic relationship between press and political establishment is a fact of life," notes Vennochi, wryly. "Pick up any newspaper, and it is not hard to figure out who is entangled with whom. Sometimes these relationships lead to important news. Sometimes they lead to disclosures whose sole purpose is to undercut an opponent." If you thought that such relationships are what only insiders can make out, you could be wrong. Because, "Readers know the difference, which could explain why fewer of them buy newspapers or trust them." Shall we tell the circulation guys?

On `the sagging reputation of reporters,' Kurtz rues that rather than digging out vital information, "they are seen as conduits for political sniping and worse". He cites Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times for this quote: "The Libby indictment shows that this administration has made monkeys of the Washington press corps by playing on its desire for access, for party chatter, for being on the inside looking out instead of the outside looking in."

A dangerous institutional failure to guard against, therefore, is to let politicians turn the media into monkeys and reverse the whole evolutionary process.

E&OE@TheHindu.co.in

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