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Tejpal scandal: How social media, and not mainstream, showed the way
by R Jagannathan

T he social media, much criticised by sanctimonious mainstream media (MSM) f or being abusive (f or good reason), has proved its worth repeatedly over the last two years. Even though the establishment is trying very hard to control or emasculate it, the social media (including the digital media) has been aggressive and unrelenting in showing wrongdoers the mirror and the f inger, one must add. T he news treatment of Tarun Tejpals predatory sexual behaviour with a junior colleague in Goa was nothing less than exemplary in newspapers and T V channels, with f ew attempts being made to shield Tejpal f rom getting his just desserts. Full-blooded discussions on T V channels, f ront page lead stories and even f ull pages inside were devoted to discussing Tejpals culpability something unthinkable a f ew years back. A square mile of f orest cover might be destroyed in discussing the transgressions of Tejpal in print something that has never happened bef ore but it is well worth it. Tejpal is hardly the f irst editor to conduct himself thus, but which editor in the past has been hauled over the coals f or such conduct or worse? A f ew boorish attempts by Tejpals pals lyricist Javed Akhtar among them got hooted down in the social media when they tried to invest the hero of sting ops with some invisible halo. Akhtar, who half congratulated Tejpal f or apologising like a man, had to eat crow and beat a hasty retreat. He deleted his tweet on Tejpal with this statement: I didnt know the gruesome details; thought it was a drunken misbehaviour at a party. I take back my words and delete the tweet. Shouldnt he have checked the crime bef ore rushing to def end the alleged criminal? None of this would have been possible Tarun Te jp al. File imag e . without the strenuous ef f orts of vigilant individuals on the social media. From the Anna Hazare movement to the Delhi gangrape protests to the Mumbai Shakti Mills gangrape to the Tehelka Editor-in-Chief s escapades in a hotel elevator with his f emale victim, it is social media that has brought mainstream media to toe the line and f ocus on the real issues. T he reason why social media has become so important, and an object of f ear to those in power, is simple: over the decades since independence, the mainstream media has grown so close to the powers-that-be that it had become eminently manipulable. Dissent in media was reduced to arguments over policies and individual politicians who were inconvenient to the system and of ten the result of media and politicians scratching each others backs, and f eeding of f one another.

T his cosy cartel controlled the dissemination of news and restricted the nations agenda to issues that the powerf ul wanted to discuss. It has been shattered by the advent of the social media, with its unf ettered ability to set its own agenda on its own terms. No longer is it possible f or mainstream media to decide what issues to discuss, and what to brush under the carpet, on the basis of a wink-and-a-nod f rom the establishment. To give the other side, it is not as if mainstream does not have honest journalism or good editors. But it was extremely vulnerable to action and blackmail by government and business. When newspapers were the main f orms of mass communication, access to imported newsprint, of f ers of special f avours to journalists (cheap land, f ree junkets) and threats of action against newspaper owners other business interests were enough to keep all of them in check. T he advent of T V changed the game somewhat, but not too much. T V enabled sting journalism, and this is what brought Tehelka its day in the sun. Stings involving def ence deals during the NDA regime, and the petty bribery case involving Bangaru Laxman made stings really sting the high and mighty. But even T V was amenable to pressure f or the simple reason that you need neta-babu f avours and f ootage, including access to the powers that be, to be visual and viable. It is also a f act that so f ar stings have stung the Congress establishment less than the opposition. T he only major sting mounted against the Congress and UPA the 2008 cash-f or-votes scam ended up with some BJP members getting arrested, not the of f ending parties. Major UPA def ence deals have entirely gone under the radar, despite strong evidence of commissions being paid. Stings seem to succeed when journos are lying in wait f or unsuspecting politicians, but real def ence scandals are not being unearthed at all. Even stings, it seems, are amenable to political pressure. No such restraint is possible in the digital space. T his is why government f ears the social media and why mainstream media has to f ollow social media to retain its credibility. A large part of mainstreams remaining power depends on what is discussed in the social and digital media. It can ignore real issues and biases only at the cost of its own credibility. T his is not to say that social media is a f orce only f or good. T he north-eastern exodus, the Muzaf f arnagar riots and other kinds of social trouble can be f anned by using social media platf orms. Abuse is also substantial in the social media. However, there is another side to the abuse story. Social media language and abuse ref lects what many people actually think in private. Social media allows us to use the same bad language we use when we know nobody is watching us; it enables us to be sexist, communal, or casteist just as we of ten are when we think we are among f riends or people like us. Social medias anonymity enables society to hold a mirror to itself and the f act that it is sometimes abusive enables us to learn what we truly are. We can no longer pretend we are so liberal or so cool when we talk in the social media. T he right answer to abuse and boorish behaviour is self -regulation and blackballing of of f enders by those who care about civility. T hat will take some time to evolve, f or the social media revolution in India is still young and uncontrolled. A bigger worry about social media and sting operations is not really being talked about: if everything we say or do is going to be in the public domain, who can we ever trust? A low-trust society levies high costs on everybody. But thats a problem to worry about on another day. For now, social and digital media are game-changers f or Indian democracy, more good than evil, simply because they show us our true colours and keep collusion between the powerf ul and the compromised in check. In this sense at least, social media is mainstream. It is good that the tail is wagging the dog.