Journalism is the best job in the world, asserted eminent Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez some 27 years ago in an essay he wrote for Index on Censorship magazine. There are some valid reasons to differ with Marquez, and only a few in South Asia now believe in the Latin American writer's assertion. Over the years, people's faith and trust in journalism has eroded in this part of the world. A key reason is the irresponsible attitude of some journalists and media outlets who have often failed to maintain professionalism and journalistic ethics.
Journalism is the work of collecting and, writing and presenting news and stories for newspapers, magazines, radio, television or online portals. Journalists have responsibility for doing their work with care and caution. Their core task is to present the events with facts and without any exaggeration. There is no scope to twist or distort the facts, whether it is bitter, goes against someone, or favours some other. Thus, doing work as a journalist is a great responsibility and there are also risks incolved. The states and the governments are generally uncomfortable with journalism as the work is used to challenge the narratives of the establishment with facts and evidence. Through challenging and rigorous works, journalists expose the misdeeds of governments and political parties, cronies and rent seekers, businesses and other evil elements of society. That's why people look for news and reports.
Under a democratic regime, journalism is considered a key pillar of society and country with the expectation that it will carry out the task without any favour or fear. To perform the task, democratic states are responsible for providing legitimate support or necessary environment by ensuring freedom of the press. From the journalists' perspective, it is their responsibility to avoid misuse of freedom by maintaining professional ethics and commitments to people. In autocratic regimes, space for journalism is limited, and regimes sometimes encourage yellow or irresponsible journalism so that people may be busy with less important issues. The regimes also apply repressive tools to curb the freedom of expression and professional works of journalists and instigate irresponsible journalism only to extend the curb on media.
The proliferation of newspapers, television channels and websites, thanks to the advancement of technology, has made professional journalism more challenging nowadays. Many business entities invest in media to protect their interests and deal with the government. Even the government sometimes backs some media outlets through the proxies of corporate houses. Many of these media outlets are primarily irresponsible and intentionally distort facts to mislead people, create sensation, increase views, and go viral in the virtual world. It is now a common experience in South Asia, especially Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
During the recent students' protest movement in Bangladesh, a number of television channels aired distorted versions of what was going on and also telecast commentaries with hatred only to flatter the regime. In the case of some channels, reporters appeared eager to join the protesters and their activities. The failure to keep emotions in check and maintain the right balance in news presentation made the situation worse. There is no doubt that during a turbulent time, it is difficult to do so.
After the fall of Hasina's regime as she resigned and fled to India on August 5, people on the streets became euphoric, and some resorted to vandalism and looting. In some places, there were attacks on houses of the ousted ruling party leaders and activists. There were also a few attacks on minority communities in some places. A section of Indian TV channels and newspapers jumped to it and capitalise on the issue to present the attacks from communal viewpoints only along with distorted facts. Instead of checking the authenticity of many video clips and footage spread on social media, the channels tried to use those as evidence. Many of these clips have already been proved fake. However, the damage was done.
The irresponsible behaviour of a section of Indian media is not new. They usually demonstrate such propensity when they cover critical events in the neighbouring countries. Except for some leading newspapers and a few TV channels, the rest of Indian media have been trying to interpret such events mainly through the lens of the South Bloc, the Indian foreign ministry to be precise, and ultra-nationalist viewpoints. The way some reporters and camera persons talked with people and recorded videos were very much disturbing. Indian media's coverage that faced backlash during the devastating earthquake in Nepal in 2015 is a case in point. The Indian government provided relief and logistic support to help Nepali people on a big scale and received appreciation. However, at one stage, the Nepalese people burst into anger against the Indian media for its irresponsible coverage of the devastated people and sites. The hashtag #GoHomeIndianMedia became a top social media trend in Nepal, with tens of thousands of tweets on the subject. Nepalese complained that the coverage had been insensitive, jingoistic and irresponsible. When thousands of people who survived the earthquake were struggling to recover from trauma and wounds, Indian TV channels were busy recording and telecasting the sufferings in a twisted manner, which further traumatised the victims and hindered the recovery process.
Again, during the Sri Lankan crisis in 2022 that forced the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to resign first and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa later amidst mass anti-government protests, the coverage of Indian media also faced criticism. India's print and online media outlets were flooded with articles and opinions largely blaming Chinese loans as the major reason for the island's economic disaster.
Such irresponsible behaviour by media is not journalism but a frenetic effort to spread fear, hatred and anger. The cost is too high to bear as its casts shadow on bilateral relationship and also hurts professional journalistic work.
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