BackSome thoughts on the ways of the press
If there is one profession in India that has equality among sexes, it is the media, writes Aakar Patel
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And, for a Saturday, a few stray thoughts and a few general observations and a few points of view (almost all my own work). Like tomorrow is World Press Freedom Day. This is ironic because it is a Sunday which, as all journalists know, is a bad news day, however free the press may be. Nothing ever conspires to happen on Sunday and I have always held that the test of a good newspaper is the quality of its Monday edition.
Like the UN says that 3 May “serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom—a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered".
Like the problem of intolerance towards press freedom in this fine nation is as much from the state and political parties as from society. Two examples from personal experience will illustrate this. The office of one newspaper I edited was attacked and vandalized by the Congress (the next morning I was gifted a bouquet and some crocodile tears by Congress MP Gurudas Kamat, both of which I returned). A few years before that, the office of the newspaper my wife edited was firebombed. This was serious and people were almost killed in that attack, provoked by nothing more than an agency report about events in the West Bank.
Like the other thing the UN says is that tomorrow “is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics". Let me say a few things here.
Like I am proud to be a journalist, and I wonder if bankers feel the same about their work. Or businessmen.
Like it is the only profession (though I see it as a trade) where there is a spirit of egalitarianism and though there is a hierarchy, journalists are encouraged to refer to one another by their first name.
Like this rule I referred to for some reason does not apply to a few editors either because the staff are terrified of them (“Mr Akbar") or because they were venerable (“Mr Mehta").
Like I have held every designation from trainee to editor-in-chief (a pointless, pompous tag that communicates the same position as editor), but the one I liked best was correspondent. It communicates distance, a formal relationship with the reader, and has great dignity.
Like if there is one profession in India that has even a semblance of equality among the sexes, it is the media. Those who work in it will bear this out.
Like most of the editors who commission and supervise my writing—Sanjukta Sharma here at Mint Lounge, Amna Lone at Pakistan’s Express Tribune, Rupa Jha at BBC, Neelam Raaj at The Times Of India, Meenal Baghel at Mumbai Mirror, Suparna Sharma at The Asian Age, Saira Menezes at The Economic Times, Anindita Ghose at Vogue, Archana Masih at Rediff.com and Meru Gokhale at my publisher Penguin Random House India—are women. All are younger than me and all are terrific editors. I can say that in my experience women are better at their work, more meticulous, more disciplined, particularly in this work, than men. I am not being patronizing, merely pointing out the facts as I have experienced them.
Like if there exists a truly discriminated group in our parts, it is women. It doesn’t matter what faith and class she may be from, a woman is likely to be worse off than the men around her, not because of lack of ability but because of lack of opportunity.
Like we may not always notice it but women are a minority in South Asia, though they are a majority in most parts of the civilized world, which do not slaughter their daughters at birth.
Like one of the first things I noticed on coming to Mumbai was women in the workplace, something I had not encountered during my years working in the polyester business. Let me correct that, because of course there were women in our little textile plants, but they were labourers, and I did not see them as my equals, as I learnt to do the women in the office.
Like it takes effort for many of us to be able to look at the world without the prejudice we are steeped in. Does it come effortlessly to others? That thought always troubles me.
Like I like the “press" part of World Press Freedom Day and some of the most enjoyable and satisfying moments of my working life have been standing at midnight between two Newsline 45 printing presses throwing out the morning paper, and watching my work take physical shape. I imagine a carpenter might take the same sort of pride in his work.
And this final point of view: that writers, like painters, like sculptors, need models. The great Behram Contractor, who wrote his columns as a man might speak—easily, colloquially, conversationally—was one of the three models I was drawn to.
Like Eklavya, I tried to absorb his style from afar and emulate it. He died 14 years ago and I miss him.
Read Aakar Patel’s previous Lounge columns here.
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