By Nasiruddin Haider Khan,
For a large number of Indians, anything that is American is the best. So our language, living, clothing, food habits all are changing to suit our new belief. This trend has now even reached journalism. This American style of journalism was always present but now it is the loudest voice out there. American style journalism is our new benchmark, it is the best and it is the lead.
When the United States attacked Afghanistan and then Iraq, we learned a new word. I have not heard this word before. I did not learn about it when taking my Mass Communication classes. This word is –Embedded Journalist. This word is from the journalism associated with war and we can find it during World War II. But the popularity that this word acquired in 21st century is phenomenal. It has added a new dimension and has given a new meaning to journalism.
Embedded journalists were those reporters who were under protection of US forces in the “war on terror.” Not only they were on US side physically but they were doing the story in the light of what US government was providing them. They were their confidant… high officials… anonymous source…. on the condition of anonymity… all were reporting on behalf of the US government. They were given information which they wanted to publicize. Which journalist will get how far for his reports was also decided by the government. Some of those embedded journalist were famous Indian journalists too.
This new form of journalism did not remain confined to the war zone. A new breed of journalist has cropped up. In this “war on terror” only those views, news got published that was favorable to the US government. This has not remained limited to America, rather it has acquired a foothold in other countries too. Only a few journalist like Robert Fisk has rejected the batch of embedded journalist.
Same thing is happening in India now. In our “war on terror,” the truth is what intelligence department or local police feed the journalist. Reliable… high official… anonymous… source… on the condition of anonymity … all these are nothing but police press agents. These are the same police, from which just to get a simple information will take ages for common people and journalists. But when it has anything to do with terrorism then detailed inside information is easily available to any big or small journalist. Each report sounds like the reporter was present when these incidents happened. Each newspaper and TV channel has stories with new angles and every day. No one has any qualm about turning the “selective leak” of the police to a “breaking news.” Except for a few, no one seems to question their own material.
(Now we have come to a point where we have a permanent category of journalist- embedded. You can also say that a group of journalists are always ready to bow on the altar of the establishment. And in India this means that this group of journalist is completely aligned with the party that they are reporting for. They will report what party tells them to do and it is according to the party line.)
And this information attack is conditioning our brain to accept as gospel truth what is being told. Most of the people are accepting it without asking any question. Journalism school tells us that the basic rule of journalism is not to accept any thing blindly… ask questions. In this “war on terror,” most of the journalists have forgotten this basic rule. If you see headlines, choice of words of some of the stories of past few days and weeks, you will have an idea of what is going on. The most unfortunate part is that those who are pointing this out are themselves made out to be the suspects.
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Journalist Nasiruddin Haider Khan blogs at http://dhaiakhar.blogspot.com/