Annie Zaidi: How to ruin readers and alienate people

So I got into another crib-fest about Hindi films and how disconnected they are from ‘reality’. How our filmmakers have turned into elitist bubble-vermin, how the bubble shall surely burst, how it deserves to burst because films are media, and media has responsibilities. On and on.

Then I thought, but what about ‘media’ media? What about good old-fashioned newspapers and websites? They are supposed to be the fourth pillar of democracy. They are the mirror to which the nation turns every morning (and afternoon) and asks: “What’s happening?”

Information is the most critical tool for changing a society. If we don’t know where we are headed, or how we can stop damaging ourselves, positive change becomes impossible. But thinking about the information put out by the ‘national press’ has goaded me into making a list — a list of things to write about that are guaranteed to make various groups of people fear the nation and her institutions, including the fourth pillar of democracy. Here are some items from that list:

Write excessively about a visiting skinny blonde who wants to sell us hand-bags. Do not write about Gopalgarh (Bharatpur) and the firing in which at least 8 people died and 23 were injured.

Do not write about how all the dead and injured were from the minority community. Or about the preliminary fact-finding report done by an activist team.

Don’t talk about the role of the District Magistrate and police officers who were on duty at the time. Don’t ask about how, if the Rajasthan police was, as claimed, firing neutrally at both sides to control rioting mobs, there were no deaths reported until the police opened fire. Don’t ask how most of the deaths took place inside a mosque.

Do not remind us about what happens when the police force is filled with members of mostly one particular community and are posted in areas where they are likely to have regional, caste affiliations.

Do not ask what the home ministry hopes to accomplish by allowing the Border Security force (BSF) to arrest alleged Maoists, and the Central Reserve Paramilitary Force (CRPF) the power to interrogate them.

Avoid asking why Lingaram Kodopi is wanted, or why Kopa Kunjam was arrested. Do not ask who will be granted powers to undo interrogations that go too far.

Respond to the public’s need to figure out the new Facebook. Do not respond to the public’s need for more public transport.

Write a few pieces every year about how floods in Bihar or Orissa have left hundreds of thousands of people stranded. Do not write about the full cost of rebuilding lives after massive flooding, and whether it is worth our while to allow ‘river engineering’ that powers a few big industries. Don’t do a comprehensive
cost-benefit analysis.

Don’t remind the public, again and again, about how local elected representatives have been spending their time and money. Do remind us of the dating histories of film stars, because that information badly needs to take root in public memory. And do it on subsidised newsprint, paid for by taxpayers.

—  Annie Zaidi writes poetry, stories, essays, scripts (and in a dark, distant past, recipes she never actually tried)

Correction:

Gopalgarh was inadvertently mentioned as Gopalganj in this article.

Subsequently, the line 'Or, write so little that if one runs a Google search for ‘Gopalganj + riot’, nothing relevant shows up in the news section for India.' has been removed.

The error is regretted.