Alok Mehta’s new book chronicles Indian media with credible impact

We often hear people saying that the media today is facing a crisis of credibility. While there have been attempts to address it, with journalistic bodies occasionally trying to introspect and find out where it has gone wrong, all this has often led to some form of course correction.

Now, veteran journalist Padma Shri Alok Mehta’s new book, Power, Press and Politics, gives us a deeper insight into this debate. He draws from his vast experience and as a witness to some of the epochal events in the country.

Mehta, who recently completed 50 years in journalism, provides an insider’s account of the working of the media, particularly print media. It must be mentioned that he has spent most of his career helming Hindi publications like Outlook Hindi, Hindustan, Navbharat, NaiDunia and Dainik Bhaskar, among others.

At the recent dialogue and virtual launch of his new book in association with exchange4media, Mehta, who is also the former President of the Editors Guild of India and Editorial Director at ITV Network (Hindi); Anand Narasimhan, Executive Editor, Network 18, Sachidananda Murthy, Resident Editor of Malayala Manorama and The Week, Rubika Liyaquat--News Anchor, Presenter and Journalist at ABP News and Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld and exchange4media Group, discussed some important issues raised in the book and the key takeaways that it offers.

Speaking about the inspiration behind writing the book, Mehta said that everyone he met, including senior journalists and the new ones, used to ask him what was the problem with the media today, from paid news to polarised news.

“My friends in the media suggested that I should write a book explaining what is wrong with the media today. With this book, my attempt is to delve deeper into various issues facing the media and reach out to readers not only in India but overseas too”, said Mehta.

Sharing his thoughts on the new book, Sachidananda Murthy, Resident Editor, Malayala Manorama and The Week reminisced how he started his journalistic career just before the emergency and how the book has taken him on a familiar route.

“Through this book, Alok ji holds a mirror to whatever has happened and it reflects the reality of the media today. He has also closely looked at various models of journalism that are at play today. The last powerful book of an editor in India was D R Mankekar’s book of anguish –No, My Son, Never! Now through his book Alok ji captures the history of the Indian Media over the last 50 years with great impact”, shared Murthy. 

Murthy also spoke about his favourite chapters in the book. “I would like to mention two chapters –one is on the historical role of the Editors Guild because Alok ji was its Secretary-General for six years and President for two years and I was his Secretary-General when he was the president.

The other chapter which is my favourite is on the new threats and trends vs the editor. Alok ji’s biggest contribution towards press freedom was during his tenure as the President of the Editors Guild. A big legislative threat came in the form of the Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India Bill, which was moved by the UPA government. It was a piece of legislation that had tough rules, tougher than the current IT rules, which the media is now agitated about. The bill could have authorised any police officer to enter a TV studio and seize the equipment. The bill had also given all the powers to bureaucracy to control the Indian broadcast media. We were able to convince the government to exempt media from this bill and that is where the leadership of Alok ji mattered”, shared Murthy. Rubika Liyaquat, News Anchor, Presenter and Journalist, ABP News said that the book offers many solutions to address the problems faced by news practitioners today.

“While people say journalists are biased, the truth is that journalists don’t belong to any side, they are only loyal to their story. The only true friends of a journalist are eyeballs/viewers, and not politicians and business leaders. It’s sad that people in the media have been reduced to just punching bags today”, shared Liyaquat. 

While sharing his thoughts on the book, Anand Narasimhan, Executive Editor, Network 18 says that the book is a great example of the courage of conviction, guts to go ahead and follow through with that conviction.

He also spoke about the “lack of a balanced view” which newsrooms are often accused of. “There is an issue in the way we discuss ‘balanced view’. It can be different for different people. If the argument is based on fact and a perspective, you have the freedom to agree with that perspective or disagree. Now if you disagree with that perspective, can you abuse your right to freedom by trying to cancel me out? asked Narasimhan.

While Narasimhan shared that new media today allowed creating balance amidst chaos, he was at the same time critical of social platforms dictating the newsroom narratives.

“Twitter is a place of three crore people in the country in a nation of 135 cr plus, how can Twitter decide who we are?”, he questioned. 

Sharing his thoughts on the new book, Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld and exchange4media Group said that it was an important milestone in the chronicling of Indian media.

“It’s a book that was needed. The chapters in this book are about interesting people and it is a book that everyone in journalism schools, universities and media planning should read. This book raises a lot of important questions and I believe much more should be written about Indian media, Indian media owners and editorial leaders,” he said.

Dr Batra further added that Mehta’s book, Power, Press and Politics was a heady cocktail.

“At the end of the day, our loyalty is towards our readers despite the fact that we are working in a tough environment. If you do not give good content, you will not have editorial impact and traffic. Journalists do not live just for money, they live for editorial impact”, he added.