I bribed a journalist!

It isn’t unusual for a journalist in Chennai to encounter instances of casual bribery. Only, it happens regularly on their line of duty

In the journalistic circles of Chennai, it is simply referred to as the “cover”.

Possessing the subtlety of a government lobby and the crudity of paying for a harlot’s services, the “cover” is, simply put, a monetary favour to a media reporter/ photographer in exchange for better coverage.

Cover and thy shall be covered with glory, in print or on TV.

Mediamen in most press conferences and symposia in the city’s glitzy star hotels (repeat: most, not all; italicise, bold, underline) and even protests by the bourgeoisie, including slum dwellers, are, invariably, handed over glossy looking packages containing a host of gifts ranging from diaries to pens, folders, pamphlets and literature about the event in question (also known as the ‘press release’) and, of course, the “cover” – an innocuous looking envelope containing currency. The handing of the cover is a process of convenience: no eyebrows are raised; it is as essential as the greasing of palms at the local government office for a document. In crude terms, it is insurance, a surety, for positive — at least definite — media coverage. 

One incident would serve as a testimony. According to an account, the organiser of a presser, an industry executive and a newcomer to the city, was taken aback when certain scribes, TV and press reporters alike, stipulated to him the phenomenon in no uncertain terms and stormed out in a huff.

Decay of morals, did someone say?

Lots may have been written about paid news, the bubonic plague of the media, but no one talks of the cover phenomenon, which may, of course, be referred to by other words elsewhere. While the former is dependent on the publication’s allegiances (surprise, surprise!), the latter can be a test of character for scribes.

This phenomenon, in my understanding, can be distilled down to the question: gift or graft? While accepting tid-bits at such events surely do not amount to a crime, the scope to enhance the grandness of the tid-bit (till it ceases to be one) always exists. This is when the transgression into graft happens.

That this is reading too much into hospitality and distorting it is a matter of conjecture; however, the inducement a journalist faces, when in a ‘yet so near and yet so far’ situation is for real. I must, however, reiterate that not all organisers of pressers are ATMs for journalists and the latter a bunch of salivating, money-minded chauvinists.

It may also be pertinent to note that the pay packages of scribes of regional TV channels and dailies, in particular, is a pittance when compared to their English counterparts. Such organisations, on their part (although reminiscent of Goebbel’s — he, of Hitler’s lieutenants — theory, I must remind that this is hearsay!) reportedly encourage their employees to satisfy their financial needs via such events. Behold, Krugman, Amartya Sen, mutual co-existence could never have been illustrated better. And then there are stringers, scribes working in non-urban centres, for whom “take a hike” is more a swear word than words printed on their payslips.

Journalists, as an occupational hazard, need to socialise (and I don’t mean of the Rani Mukherjee in No One Killed Jessica kind). Lunches or drinks at five-star hotels or tee-offs with industry honchos offer us that rare opportunity to deconstruct them, for the benefit of the public and publication. Tales also abound, of senior scribes who would not even accept a glass of water at such events.

However, what matters, above all, is public perception. If the public begins to slot us along with the corrupt, need anything be said about the media’s credibility?

Forget the next 2G or the CWG expose; if the Fourth Estate is to scrub India squeaky clean, it will have to begin from its own Aegean Stables.