KEVIN CARTER'S 'THE VULTURE AND THE CHILD'

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta was making a spirited submission in front of Supreme Court on May 28 this year attacking journalists as ‘prophets of doom’ for highlighting the desperation and plight of workers who had been trying to reach home amid the lockdown. You can read the details of Mr Mehta's arguments here, here and here.

Mehta later on June 1 said he had never referred to journalists as "prophets of doom". To defend Mr Mehta, Times of India carried an interesting refutal of Mr Mehta where he reportedly said that he used the term 'Prophets of doom' against "certain NGOs and so-called activists who filed a slew of PILs and intervention applications before the courts to look into migrant workers and other problems. These were the same people who contributed nothing to mitigate the problems of any section of the society during the pandemic."

On March 31, the same Mr Mehta told Supreme Court that "No one is now on road. Anyone who was outside has been taken to available shelters". A blatant lie about which you can read here and here. A day before, hearing two petitions by advocates Alakh Srivastava and Rashmi Bansal seeking immediate redressal to the "heart-wrenching and inhuman plight of thousands of migrant workers walking back home",  the SC had asked Central Government to submit a status report on the measures taken to prevent exodus of migrant workers in the wake of the 21-day lockdown that began on March 22 midnight.

After 63 days of the lockdown and many hearing on the two petitions, the SC finally took sou-moto cognisance of the issue of migrant workers on May 27 and asked the Central Government to file a reply in two days. While appearing before the court, Mr Mehta referred to the iconic photograph of a malnourished child and a vulture in Sudan taken in 1993 by South African photo-journalist Kevin Carter, which got him a Pulitzer.

This has brought into sharp focus a decades-old debate on ethical dilemma faced by journalists. While submitting that the government was doing a lot for the workers walking home, the SG accused journalists of spreading negativity. What the SG failed to tell the court is that he quoted verbatim from a social media post (mainly in WhatApp) that was doing rounds since around 19^th May. 

Various well-crafted translation of the post in regional languages were also being circulated. ‘Remember the picture? The name of the picture was The Vulture & the Little Girl’ – the post read. The child in the picture was actually a boy, but the SG said it was a girl – just as circulated in the social media post. He also told the court that the photo was taken in 1983 missing the actual time by exactly a decade.

The social media post described how Carter committed suicide after being called a vulture for choosing to take photo instead of helping the child. ‘There was(sic) two vultures in the picture, one with a camera’ – the post screamed. The depiction of Carter as the second vulture sought to draw a parallel between Carter and the media’s role in reporting the migrant workers’ crisis.

 

“Today, 26 years later, the vultures are still returning home from all over India with cameras in their hands, busy taking pictures of workers walking thousands of kilometers... These vultures are more concerned with gathering news, with increasing channel TRP, than with worrying about workers' deaths. They are busy collecting breaking news by pouring spices on the bodies of dead workers and children”. These were the venomous words in the post which was being forwarded.

 

Carter’s photo has a story behind. Sudan was experiencing a ‘silent famine’ during 90’s following a protracted civil war and hundreds were dying of starvation and malnutrition, which the world at large was not much aware of. The United Nations was aware of the need for a massive humanitarian support and wanted to highlight the plight of the people. Carter was one of the journalists engaged to document this human tragedy.

 

On that day in March 1993, Carter had completed the day’s work and was returning to the waiting aircraft at the small airstrip in the Sudanese village of Ayod, when he noticed a child resting amid a crawl, trying to reach the United Nation’s food distribution centre run by and NGO called Doctors’ of the World situated near the airstrip. The NGO had divided the population in need of assistance into two categories – T for severe malnutrition and S for supplementary feeding. People in T category were to reach the food distribution centre first. If anyone looks carefully, a plastic band with the letter T3 inscribed can be seen on the wrist of the child in Kevin’s photo.

 

It is not that Carter just clicked the photo leaving the child to the vulture as the social media posts insinuated. What he did as a professional photo-journalist may seem even more revolting to many readers who does not understand the profession. Carter later recollected that he, in fact, waited almost twenty minutes for the vulture to open its wings for a more impactful photograph. But, when he realised that it was not going to happen he took the image anyway, shooed the bird away, and left.

 

The question about the fate of the child remained unanswered for another 18 years when the Spanish newspaper El Mundo tracked the father of the boy in 2011. The severely malnourished boy named Kong Nyong was the third to reach the UN food centre that day; he survived the famine but died of ‘fever’ in 2007.

   

 

It is a dilemma faced by not only journalists but almost every professional in their life - whether to be professional or be humane. Many journalists face this moral and ethical question – whether to intervene or to observe and tell. Carter's death had given a new dimension to the ethical debate. There is no conclusive evidence as to why he committed suicide; it was just a convenient conjecture that is being spread that he felt remorse for his action of not helping the child in Sudan. Maybe there were other reason! He had a failed relationship and fathered a daughter out of wedlock. He had little money and a lot of obligations. His closest friend died a few months ago. May be these were the passive causes for his suicide.

 

When the Solicitor General told Supreme Court that Carter’s work spelled “doom” he was wrong on at least two counts. First - as representative of the executive, his tasteless remarks on journalists and others highlighting the crisis actually amounts to one pillar of democracy attacking another pillar, which is ominous. His reference to Carter as the second vulture is derogatory to the entire profession of journalism. Second – his longwinded submission based almost in toto on a WhatsApp forward was not only factually inaccurate, but also symptomatic of a greater malaise in the society. By replacing sound legal arguments with propaganda materials to question the motive and credentials of people highlighting the crisis, the solicitor general has erred in professionalism, to say the least.       

A shorter edited version of this post was published in The Assam Tribune on 3 June 2020.

 

Government and Religion: State should have no religion

 

Published in The Assam Tribune, 24 August 2020. The link to the e-paper is here.

"You cannot buy peace" ....... but they can buy you.

The next piece (2nd lead in editorial page) just below Arup Dutta's writing in Assam Tribune (on meter gauge heritage railway line in Assam and what authorities need to do to preserve it, you can follow the link to read it) is by M Venkaiah Naidu, titled "Let us not politicise farmers' issues". Mr Naidu is currently the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting. The same article was published as lead article in editorial page of Times of India across all editions.

Now read what Arun Shourie has to say about Mr. Naidu. While referring how newspapers and media people want to buy peace by providing politicians space. Shourie said, "Never delude yourself into believing that a little concession will buy you peace". He was speaking in front of an array of veteran journalists at the Press Club of India in New Delhi. The event was to protest the CBI raid on the founders of NDTV, Pranoy Roy and Radhika Roy. Mr Shourie added, "Many of you think that if you give prominence to some of the articles of these ministers or if you give them air-time, they will help you in a crisis."
"Give Venkaiah Naidu that small third-standard notebook, and ask him to fill one page coherently on any random topic. But you keep printing his articles, when you know very well that he cannot write. Because you think that by giving him that space, that much airtime to these fellows, you are buying peace. No, in fact, when the assault comes to you none of them will help." [The Telegraph, Page 1, Saturday, 10 June, Guwahati edition]

Asomiya Pratidin

P.S.  The meet at Press Club of India on Friday, June 9 to protested CBI raid in NDTV offices on trivial ground and the veteran journalists felt it was an attack on freedom of press. Here is how newspapers in Assam, which otherwise are very sensitive about freedom of press, treated the news -

(1) The Telegraph - page 1
(2) Assam Tribune - not covered
(3) Times of India, Guwahati - not covered.
(4) Asomiya Pratidin - Page 9 with smallest headline in the page.
(5) Dainik Agradoot - Not covered
(6) Asomiya Khabor - not covered
(7) Dainik Janambhumi, Guwahati edition - not covered
(8) Dainik Asom - Page -10

Dainik Janasadharan

(9) Janasadharan - page -1 (2nd lead)The newspaper is owned by Congress
politician Rakibul Hussain.
(10) Dainandin Varta - not covered
(11) Amar Asom - not covered.(They carried it in front page on Sunday, 11 June)
(12) Dainik Gana Adhikar - not covered.
(13) Ami Asomor Janagan - not covered.

Now let us have a look at the display advertisement received from government by these newspapers on Saturday, June 10. Classified like tenders etc. is not counted.


(1) The Telegraph - Nil, except a Railway function advt released by Eastern & South Eastern Railway for Kolkata edition, which is carried by default in Guwahati edition.
(2) Assam Tribune - two half page advt from Social Welfare Department, one half page from Assam Minorities Development Board, 1/4 th page from National health Mission, Assam
(3) Times of India, Guwahati - Same railway advt released to Telegraph, again to Kolkata edition but printed in Guwahati by default.
(4) Asomiya Pratidin - one half page from Assam Minorities Development Board, 3/4 page from National Commission on Women & Social Welfare Deptt,
(5) Dainik Agradoot - one half page from Social Welfare Department, one half page from Assam Minorities Development Board.
(6) Asomiya Khabor - one half page from Social Welfare Department, one half page from Assam Minorities Development Board, one half page from Central Board of Direct Taxes, 1/4 page from Central Excise Board, one half page from National Commission for Women.
(7) Dainik Janambhumi - two half page, one from Social Welfare Deptt. the other from Assam Minorities Development Board, 1/4 th page from National health Mission, Assam, another half page from National Commission on Women.
(8) Dainik Asom - None
(9) Janasadharan -None
(10) Dainandin Varta - one half page from Social Welfare Department, one half page from Central Board of Direct Taxes, one half page from National Commission on Women.
(11) Amar Asom -  two half page, one from Social Welfare Deptt. the other from Assam Minorities Development Board, another half page from National Commission on Women.
(12) Dainik Gana Adhikar - two half page, one from Social Welfare Deptt. the other from Assam Minorities Development Board.
(13) Ami Asomor Janagan - two half page, one from Social Welfare Deptt. the other from Assam Minorities Development Board, another half page from National Commission on Women.

I am not asking you to draw any correlation from above, and I will come back at a later date to record the revenue collected by these newspapers for these advertisements.
(Reports on 11 June 2017, in the newspapers which received the Assam Minorities Welfare Board's half-page advertisement on Chief Minister attending Iftar, said the government spent close to Rs. 24 lakh on this advt) 

The Shadow of the Glory

Scandals involving betting and fixing in the game of cricket are international phenomenon. So far at least five cricket betting scandals have been reported. With the arrest of Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan in mid-2013, the spot-fixing scandal in cricket hit India. Judicial intervention in the form of an inquiry under Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal started in October 2013. Later, Supreme Court set up a committee of three retired Supreme Court Judge headed by former Chief Justice R. M. Lodha. The committee submitted a report - now popularly known as the Lodha Committee Report - advising radical changes in the governance of BCCI - a club synonymous with cricket in India.
The Supreme Court instructed BCCI to implement Lodha Committee report by end-October 2016, but BCCI kept on delaying it on the pretext of one or other. When the BCCI failed to meet the deadline, the SC fired BCCI president Anurag Thakur - a rich politician with hardly any cricket in him - and secretary Ajay Shirke. Exasperated, the SC on 30th January 2017 appointed a Committee of Administrators (CoA) to oversee implementation of Lodha Committee recommendations in BCCI. The members of the CoA were former CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) Vinod Rai, Vikram Limaye - the CEO and managing director of IDFC Ltd (holding company of IDFC Bank), Diana Edulji - former captain of Indian Women Cricket team and Ramchandra Guha - a sports historian.
Four months into working - Ramchandra Guha resigned from CoA on 28th May. In a letter to the chairman of CoA Vinod Rai Mr. Guha cited several 'conflict of interest' in BCCI which CoA ignored.
On June 3, Shekhar Gupta wrote for Weekend Business Standard pointing out 'conflict of interest' of CoA chairman himself. Gupta wrote, "Mr. Rai, who heads the central government's all-powerful Banks Board Bureau (BBB),reforming and restructuring public sector banks, is also the chairman of IDFC which promotes IDFC Bank, a private competitor of government banks. Then he chooses his own CEO Mr Limaye as a member of the CoA to assist him". Mr Gupta also writes about possible conflict of interest for Mr Limaye flagged by SEBI - the financial market regulator who refused to clear appointment of Mr Limaye as CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE) unless he relinquishes the membership of CoA. As it happens, many IPL franchise has either been listed or are in the process of being listed for trading. So, can Limaye be both in BCCI and NSE?
At least two years before all these broke out, I had written how we swarm left-right-front and behind glorious people just to busk in reflected glory and why I do not like BCCI. As I am writing this piece, Pakistan dropped Virat Kohli in ICC World Cup match between India - Pakistan at the fag-end of indian batting. Kohli was short of his fifty and It was an easy catch. Soon he completed his fifty and was seen in an explosive display of sixes and fours. Immediately it came to my mind - was it fixed. With many details of BCCI affairs coming out in last few years - it has becomes difficult to enjoy the game unbiased. A lingering doubt remains after each game - was it staged like any other show? It seems we are now living in the shadow of glory.

Every year in December they say car prices will increase in January, Why?


News like to one above is published by all newspapers across India in the month of December every year. Car prices are likely to increase - why do I need to know that? So that I can buy the car now in December before the price is hiked in January. Simple! Car companies are indeed doing a great social service by telling everyone in advance about the imminent hike in prices and thereby helping us to save a few thousand rupees.
But, does it make any business sense? I mean telling everybody that "input costs have gone up and we were so far absorbing them. But from January, we are going to pass in on to you, keeping our profit intact". And then, why such news appear every year invariably during December, not any other time?
Moreover, why do I read about a lot of incentives, discounts and other freebies on car sale during December? Such announcements are understandable during festive seasons as many people like to buy cars on auspicious occasions. December does not have any festivals.
To understand this, we need to consider a few facts. First, the depreciation in value of a car is in the range of 6-10% every year. So, a car bought today will have 24-40% less value after four years. Second, car registration in India is on calendar year basis. That means a car registered in December 2016 is one year older than a car registered in January 2017 even though the registration is only one month apart. So, a car bought in December 2016 will become four years older in January 2020. But, a car bought in January 2017 will become only three year old in January 2020.
Therefore, if you want to sell your car in future you will get less value if you had bought it in December. It makes sense not to buy a car in December if you want to sell it later.
Now, let us come back to the apparent news. What will be the likely consequences of the news? It is basically aimed at enticing you to buy the car in December. That makes it advertising, not news. There are other reasons why car makers want to sell all stocked up inventory in December. The total number of a cars sold up to December gives the car fancy title like "Car of the Year" "People's Choice of the Year" etc. No wonder, they want to clear all their stock in December. For this reason most car maker postpone new launch till January. Tata motors have postponed its launch of Hexa till January next year.
To help calculate benefit or loss of buying a car in December, I am listing the price of a few Tata Motors' vehicles here (as on today, price is approximate only as it varies from states to states). Find out in January (with simple arithmetic) whether the news above is actually a news to help you or an advertisement to entice you.

Tata Tiago – Rs. 3.32 to 5.85 lakh

Tata Zest – Rs. 5.28 to 8.73 lakh

Tata Nano – Rs. 2.33 to 3.31 lakh

Tata Bolt – Rs. 4.73 to 7.42 lakh

Tata Safati – Rs. 9.72 to 10.95 lakh

Tata Indica eV2 – Rs. 4.89 to 5.60 lakh

Tata Indigo sCS – Rs. 5.12 to 6.54 lakh

Tata Safari STORME – Rs. 10.50 to 15.48 lakh

Tata Nano GenX – Rs. 2.33 to 3.31 lahk

Tata Hexa – to be launched in Jan 17 (exp 15 Lakh)

Tata Kite – to be launched in July 17 (exp 4 lakh)

Tata Nexon – to be launched in Dec 16 (exp 8 lakh)

Tata Aria – Rs. 12.15 to 17.46 lakh

Tata Sumo Gold – Rs. 6.82 to 8.64 lakh

Tata Xenon XT – Rs. 10.14 to 11.19 lakh

   

Credibility is a lost virtue

Yesterday's (8th September 2009) Economic Times carried three news items related to India's projected economic growth for the yer 2009-10. While the Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was adamantly sticking to his and his government's projection of a 6.5% GDP growth, the Chairman of ICICI Bank had given his own projection of 7% to 7.5% GDP growth. On the other hand one of the United Nations agency had projected a 5% growth for India.
Indian current GDP is approximately $ 1.26 trillion. A 0.5% increase means $0.006 trillion. How can three estimates vary so widely? And how do a newspaper like Economic Times decides to publish all three stories in one day?
Where is the credibility of news?

Jade Goody and Media Ethics

Star of reality television show Jade Goody died peacefully in her sleep last Sunday. Goody was made infamous in India by the media for her supposedly racial remarks against Indian actor Shilpa Shetty during the shooting of the British version of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother in 2007. She was detected with cervical cancer while she was taking part in the shooting of the Indian version of the show during August last year. Since then, media all over the world and especially in Britain have been subjecting her to close scrutiny and glare, at time even intruding in her personal life.The progress of her illness was chronicled in detail in the media.
It is appallingly sad to hear someone as young as twenty-seven dying of cancer. It was equally sad to observe the role media played during her painful and excruciating seven-month personal fight against cancer and her wretched attempt to get whatever was left of her life together. Goody was inching towards certain death as the British tabloids splashed their front pages with every minute details of her personal life. She was a regular item as the weather report. Media around the world more or less followed the pattern although news about her was not as frequent as in the British media. There was no second thought while writing about Goody. The terrific fact that someone is dying slowly being completely aware of it has completely failed to have any imprint on the media.
Death is certain; it will catch up with all of us one day. Death is also very personal. Still, we try to avoid it and possibly try to evade it. How many people have the courage to stare at death with calm, composed resilience? How difficult it is to accept death; when it is not someone else’s but one’s own? How does one prepare knowing that sooner than later she is going to die? Is it ethical to put her under public glare and scrutiny every day in the name of reporting and remind her of the impending death every moment till she dies? Does she not have the right to fight her own battle in peace without being subjected to public judgment for every single act? The media was not sure.
Goody and her family appeared to be more than willing to help media report her march towards death.She underwent surgery and chemotherapy in the public eye — filming part of the experience. She confessed she was doing it to raise money for her children. "People will say I'm doing this for money," she said. "And they're right, I am. But not to buy flash cars or big houses — it's for my sons' future if I'm not here. I don't want my kids to have the same miserable, drug-blighted, poverty-stricken childhood I did." But her mother Jackiey Budden told reporters Sunday: "Family and friends would like privacy at last."
The most common logic forwarded by British media in defense of their intruding into the life of Goody is that reporting the trauma and sufferings from cervical cancer will make thousands of other women aware of the danger posed by the disease and help them prevent possible death by timely and accurate diagnosis. This may be true to a limited extant. It is hard to understand how reporting in minute details on what Goody was planning for her funeral was going to make women aware of cervical cancer. The media was not acting as the Good Samaritan that it projected itself to be and wants us to believe. It was the urge to subscribe to the (in)human tendency of making most of other people’s suffering and thus increasing the circulation bottom-line that prompted media for behaving the way it did. Goody deserved a better deal from media.

Read what BBC has to say

The Strange life & death of Jade Goody