"Sir, if you won't mistake me, can I ask you something?" said Ramanan, an enthusiastic reporter, who had joined the newspaper recently.
"Ask me anything" said Arun, encouragingly.
"Our newspaper is a non-partisan paper. But you have written an editorial exhorting the voters to defeat the ruling party, in the coming election. Does it not make our neutrality questionable?"
"It is a good question. Since you have joined our paper only recently, you need to be apprised of certain basic things. When we say, we are politically neutral, it just means that we do not support any political party. A news report may be favourable to one party and adverse to another party. But we will publish that news story, without bothering about what impact the publication of that news story will have on the image or prospects of either party. But, editorial policy is different. If a particular policy, program or action of a political party or a government is good, we will support it; otherwise, we will criticize it. In the same way, at the time of elections, we give our assessment of the performance of the party in power and give our opinion about whether the ruling party deserves to be reelected. Since the performance of the party in power has been extremely bad, we have expressed our opinion that it deserves to be voted out. It may appear that by expressing such a view, we are indirectly supporting the opposition party. But it is not true. At the time of the previous election, the party that is in opposition now was the ruling party. At that time, we wrote that that party had to be voted out. The voters also thought in that line, voted that party out and brought the present ruling party to power. If this party is defeated, only the other party will come to power. In a democratic system, there is no other course open to us. Sometimes, a new party may come to power. But even then, there is no assurance that that party would provide a good government. Therefore, when we know that a particular government has been performing poorly, saying that that government should be voted out is the only fair thing. It is our duty also. It is neutrality."
"I understand what you say, sir. But many of our readers think that we are against the TSP -Tamil Soil Party - which is in power and sympathetic towards the SDP -Social Development Party - which is in opposition."
"Such perceptions are bound to be there. If the SDP comes to power, its rule is also going to be bad. In future, when we criticize that government severely, people will understand us. Or, they may not! If, during the next election, we write that the SDP should be voted out, people may call us pro TSP! We shouldn't bother about such views. As long as we publish the news objectively and express our opinions honestly, we don't have to bother about anything else."
"Sir! Don't mistake me for harping on this point again. We have been writing that the ruling party may be involved in the recent murder of Raghu, a journalist."
"I understand what you say, sir. But many of our readers think that we are against the TSP -Tamil Soil Party - which is in power and sympathetic towards the SDP -Social Development Party - which is in opposition."
"Such perceptions are bound to be there. If the SDP comes to power, its rule is also going to be bad. In future, when we criticize that government severely, people will understand us. Or, they may not! If, during the next election, we write that the SDP should be voted out, people may call us pro TSP! We shouldn't bother about such views. As long as we publish the news objectively and express our opinions honestly, we don't have to bother about anything else."
"Sir! Don't mistake me for harping on this point again. We have been writing that the ruling party may be involved in the recent murder of Raghu, a journalist."
"Yes. There are strong reasons for our nurturing that suspicion. Raghu was repeatedly threatened by people belonging to the ruling party. In spite of his asking for police protection, the government didn't give him police protection. Only on the basis of such factors, we have been writing that the needle of suspicion points to the ruling party. Not just our paper, many other newspapers have expressed similar views."
"But our newspaper has high credibility. If we raise such a suspicion, people may be inclined to believe that it may be true."
"What you say is true. But we are not writing anything scandalous. We have raised certain questions and sought answers for them. There have not been satisfactory answers to those questions either from the government or from the ruling party."
"This suspicion will affect the prospects of the ruling party in a big way, won't it?"
"Definitely. The opinion polls suggest that there is close contest between the TSP and the SDP. Because of this issue, the scales may tilt against the ruling party,"
"Suppose we come across evidence showing that the ruling party is not involved in this murder, but someone else is involved, will you publish it in our newspaper?"
"Why? Do you have any such evidence?" asked Arun, smiling.
"I do have, sir!" said Ramanan.
"Shoot!" said Arun, getting curious.
"Shoot!" said Arun, getting curious.
"Sir, this is a big scoop. The police have arrested the person who murdered Raghu. He has confessed to the murder and stated that he was hired by an industrialist to commit the murder. But, a few high level police officials, antagonistic to the government, are keeping his confession a secret, since if it is made public, it will create a situation favourable to the ruling party in the election, which they didn't want to happen. They have been making a show of still interrogating the suspect. Voting is to take place in two days. They plan to release the confession, after the polling is over!" said Arun.
"My God! If this information is true and if it comes out in the open, it will have a dramatic impact on the outcome of the election. A perception will be created that the opposition party has orchestrated a false propaganda against the ruling party. It will make the voters sympathize with the ruling party and vote for it. But, tell me, how did you get this information and how reliable is it?"
"Sir, a few people in the police department know about this. The sub-inspector who arrested and questioned the suspect doesn't like his confession being hidden from the public. He gave me the information."
"That's not good enough, Ramanan. You know about our policy. We can publish a news story only if someone gives us an interview or we have some tangible evidence. We can't publish a news story quoting an anonymous police officer, as our source."
"I have evidence, sir."
"What evidence?"
"That sub-inspector took a risk and allowed me to interview the arrested person. He has, in the interview, confessed the truth to me. I have recorded the interview. However, the sub-inspector didn't allow me to take a photo of the arrested person."
"That sub-inspector took a risk and allowed me to interview the arrested person. He has, in the interview, confessed the truth to me. I have recorded the interview. However, the sub-inspector didn't allow me to take a photo of the arrested person."
"Play me the recording."
After quietly listening to the recorded interview, Arun said, "Very good! This is a big scoop, indeed. You have done a great job, Ramanan" and shook Arun's hands.
After quietly listening to the recorded interview, Arun said, "Very good! This is a big scoop, indeed. You have done a great job, Ramanan" and shook Arun's hands.
"Sir, are you going to publish this story?" asked Ramanan.
"Definitely. But, considering your safety, I am not going to reveal who conducted the interview. Let us publish the transcript of the interview, as it is, without trying to blame the police and without giving details about the confession the suspect had made to the police. Once the police confirms that this story is true, I will reveal to the world that you were the one who interviewed the murderer. At that time, you will become a big hero. Congratulations, in advance!" said Arun.
"But, if the interview is published, it will give an advantage to the ruling party!"
"Yes, it will. But, for that reason, we can't withhold the information we have received."
"Why don't we wait for two days, sir? We can release this after the election is over. In fact, we can publish it on our website, immediately after the polling is closed."
"No. That will not be fair. This government has to go. Our publishing the interview may cause that good result not happening. But if we desist from publishing this interview for the sake of a good result, it will mean that we are throwing to the wind values like integrity, objectivity and neutrality, we have been meticulously standing by all these years. I will never do that. I will publish the interview and write 'The suspicion about the ruling party's involvement in the murder of Raghu has been proved to be wrong, but other reasons why the ruling party should be voted out still remain valid. We reiterate our strong view that the ruling party deserves to be unseated in this election." After that, it is for the people to decide' said Arun.
Ramana looked at his Chief Editor with renewed respect.
Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue
The Path of Virtue
Chapter 12
Neutrality
Neutrality
Verse 113 (In Tamil)
nanRE tharinum naduvigandhAm Akkaththai
anRE ozhiya vidal.
anRE ozhiya vidal.
Meaning:
Even if deviating from neutrality will yield benefits, one should not deviate from neutrality.
(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'Breaking News' by the same author)
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