Why we should be concerned about Nira Radia tapes.

As I first got to know about the Nira Radia tapes through twitter with descriptions like 'Wow this is huge', 'this is going to change the whole media scene in India' I opened the link and read the transcripts with weary excitement. As I first read the whole transcript of Barkha tape my first reaction was so what is all the noise about? I mean sure her closeness with the politicians is a little unnerving and from the tape it didn't sound like it was just simple news gathering and gossiping and chitchat with the high and the powerful to get a scoop but it was a purposeful conversation aimed at achieving something. However in the end I gave Ms. Barkha the benefit of the doubt. She could have been going to the government quarters for interviews and was just passing along a message to help out an important news source. In the days just after the election and hectic days of govt formation it is possible that she got involved in just more than news gathering and reporting and also helped create the news by passing on info. This is uncomfortable development and it raises questions when journos get so close to the power that they have the influence to change the course of events and create news rather than report it but I passed it off as an aberration and just hectic days of govt. formation and probably harmless.

However, the tapes of Vir Sanghavi appear a little bit more disconcerting as he almost appears to be setting up interview with the Mukesh Ambani in the way that Mr. Ambani wants to and what we see as an honest interview where an interviewer is asking hard hitting questions trying to get the truth out was just a PR exercise. It raises larger questions of ethics. Again, it could be argued that many times before an interview (especially with a big personality be it from film industry or business field) is held there is a preinterview discussion with the agent or secretary to discuss the main points and to better prepare the interviewer so that the discussions are coherent and the interviewer comes prepared so the viewer time is not wasted. However, here Vir is discussing what kind of spin they want to put on the interview and seems more concerned about the image of Mukesh Ambani and the outcome of his case. It could be just polite nodding with the PR of Mr. Ambani just to land the interview but that we can never be sure of.

However, the most disconcerting part about this whole thing is how close Nira Radia is to the politicians when she is working as PR agent for big businesses like Ambani and Tata. In the old license raj days this probably was a norm and a necessity but it is disconcerting to know that it is still the same. It is true that such kind of lobbying is nothing new and it is common to hear stories about big business in the US spending billions for lobbying, though I don't think it is ever done by such high profile journalists, and it is no reason for us to make the same mistake just because the US of A is making it and as we see the result of fossil fuel lobbyists making sure to block every new environmental legislation we need to make sure that we do not go down that road and keep the good of the nation in mind rather than the good of a few industrialists.