MPs, media and the mayhem

He is exasperated. He says so. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee feels helpless for not being able to persuade political parties to keep parliament as parliament. Some have, he says with regret, converted it into a place to get even. It is a platform which the rowdy or the foul-mouth use to have the spotlight on them. They are only a few but the media latches on to them, the Speaker says with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

How does he save the image of parliament or, for that matter, parliamentary democratic system is his predicament? It is a difficult proposition when the political scene reflects sharp division and when national issues have been marginalised.

On top of it, there is no consensus on any subject. Yet, before every parliament session, the Speaker invites senior journalists and editors to ask them for their suggestion to improve things. He covers the same ground with leaders of political parties. But he comes a cropper because they say nothing worthwhile.

Is there anyone bothered about parliament, the Speaker wonders? What torments him the most is the low opinion that the parliamentary system has come to acquire. The public, he believes, considers the parliament sittings a waste of time and the members' emoluments a drain on the exchequer.

He recalls with remorse the observation by a young girl that she would never join politics because it lacked honesty and integrity. "Those words sear me all the time," says Chatterjee while recalling the visit of a youth delegation which included that girl.

The purpose of his exercise is to awaken the media to its duty to stall the attacks on parliamentary democratic system. "Tell me if there is a better system," asks the Speaker. "You have an obligation to sustain faith in it." He concedes that as many as 45 members in the Lok Sabha are "under cloud" but his complaint is that the media highlights them or what they say, ignoring the quiet and honest work that the rest of 500 members put in.

Responsible speeches remain unreported, says Chatterjee, but the ones which disturb the proceedings in the house hit the headlines.

I recall my own experience as a Rajya Sabha member. Those who burnt midnight oil to prepare their speech did not get even a line in the press. In comparison, those who came into the well of the house received all the prominence. I have not known in my journalistic career of 40 years any Speaker who has made so much effort to run the house amicably as Chatterjee with so little result.

Chajerterjee is a communist. But he has never allowed his ideology to colour his objectivity and impartiality in the House. That he has not succeeded does not mean that he has failed.

What he does not realise is that it is the media which have changed. Serious stories, which include parliament proceedings, do not make the grade. The media have come to believe that people do not want to read anything which makes them think. Today, the print media are suffering from a mad disease which has played havoc with our newspapers. It is "the tabloid syndrome." You open any paper in the morning the pages are full of pictures of young models, actors and actresses in various stages of dishabille.

There are pages and pages on these models, actresses, supermodels, actors and designers -- people you have not even heard the names of -- garnished with "information" on what they love to eat, what kind of dress they like best, what they do when they relax, what they think of love and sex and such trivia.

The special city pages of the papers look like a cross between a cheap fashion journal and a puerile film magazine full of gossip and crude colour pictures. A newspaper is not a dustbin for dumping drivel, film gossip and other trivia. It must have news. It must have information. It must educate the public about events with background information and editorial comments.

One of the reasons why it has happened is: people who run the newspapers in our country now think that a newspaper is just like any other commodity. It should be nicely packaged because their idea of "nice packaging means filling the papers with semi-nude colour pictures of models and actresses and trash.

This shallow, unthinking attitude gets reflected even in the news stories and articles that are printed in the papers. Reporters do not always cross-check the information they get. They often write one-sided versions of events and about people who do not matter --absolute non-entities. Often good stories are not followed up properly. Plated stories make the front page. Even information given in a newspaper as facts is often incorrect.

Many years ago parliament was the biggest news. Both houses were covered extensively with a weekly round-up of highlights of proceedings in parliament. Now the press does not devote more than a column. TV networks pay hardly any attention.

The media are more star-oriented, whether he or she is in parliament or on the screen. One TV network has practically nothing else except what actors do while shooting or doing other odd jobs.

I recall when I was in the Rajya Sabha, the then chairman Krishna Kant called a meeting of editors to discuss how to project the proceedings of the House in the media. One, very few turned up and, two, they were cursory in their observation. One editor suggested to throw open to the media the meetings of parliamentary committees. For that Krishna Kant had to consult the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The proposal is beginning to take shape as Chatterjee says. But his loud thinking reveals that members are afraid lest the frank testimony by witnesses and the uninhibited discussions at the committee should be retarded because of media's presence.

This is an unfounded fear since the verbatim proceedings are placed on the table of the House when the committee report is presented. Despite the Lok Sabha Speaker's exhortations, the media have only a secondary role to play. The first is that of members.

The Speaker has to ensure that they do not disturb the house proceedings. If he were to introduce the dictum of "no work, no pay," things might improve. On the day when there is no business, members should not get their daily allowance. In the Rajya Sabha, I had my allowance deducted when the daily house bulletin said there was no business transacted. Such a practice, if introduced in both houses, may pay dividends.