Tehelka fiasco puts Indian media in a tight spot

While we know newsrooms are not insulated from sexual overtures, the rape charge against the Tehelka editor-in-chief has exposed the institutional inadequacies of media outlets in dealing with complaints of sexual harassment. As Tarun Tejpal, the celebrated editor, will stand trial for an outrageous sexual crime he allegedly committed against a junior female colleague, the onus is also on the Indian media to come out clean on issues of women’s safety and gender sensitivity. It is no doubt a personal act of deviance stemming from sheer arrogance and supercilious vanity of a top-notch journalist. But unfortunately, his organisation’s skewed attempt to play down a grave gender crime will be remembered as the media’s double-standard and hypocrisy on women’s issues, especially that of sexual crimes against women.

Such is the irony of the case: Tehelka is a news magazine built on the edifices of human rights and gender equality. Its feisty editors and their brand of investigative journalism were always at the vanguard of social justice and equality before the law. Here, both the people and the institution they built, are in the docks for a flagrant violation of all that they stood for and fought against.

I think the fourth estate in India cannot isolate itself from the Tehelka fiasco for the sheer reason that institutional inadequacies in dealing with gender crimes in this industry have got exposed. Now it is no secret that Tehelka did not follow the Supreme Court’s 1997 ruling, asking of organisations to have mandatory internal committee to look into complaints of sexual harassment in the work places. Confessions and angry retorts of journalists on social media platforms point out that Tehelka is not the only media outlet that has failed on the Vishaka guidelines.

In a country like India, where sexual harassment and rape are endemic (a rape being reported every 20 minutes), an independent and righteous media cannot afford to lose its moral high ground while covering these crimes. In this context, we have to remember that sexual crimes against women have become part of India’s national discourse, greatly due to media’s unrelenting coverage of some high-profile cases. The recent example is that of the roaring protest in Delhi against the brutal gang rape of a medial student in a moving bus on December 16 last year and the ensuing policy amendments in the anti-rape laws in the country.

It is both shameful and inexcusable that whistleblowers themselves are being painfully slow at catching up with the same change they advocate. Progressive journalism that seeks to inspire and encourage social reform should begin at home — with editorial policies and workplace ethics that tilt towards gender empowerment. Failure to ensure a sexual harassment-free newsroom will only lead to the eroding of public faith and confidence in the media as a watchdog and crusader. Beyond its weighty social responsibility, another reason why the media cannot afford to err on women’s right to dignity is the swelling number of female journalists in the newsrooms. It is a fact that they cope with sexual harassment and intimidation while covering difficult assignments in the field. The young photojournalist who was gang-raped by five men in a deserted mill in Mumbai on August 22 while she was on an assignment, represents the lurking dangers female reporters endure in a male-dominated society.

Unfair and unethical

But despite the gender-specific occupational hazards of journalism, the print and electronic media owe some of their best investigative and breaking stories to its female journalists’ grit and professionalism. It is unfair and unethical to subject their female employees to similar discriminatory and intimidating conditions in the workplace where they are expected to put in flexible working hours and work late shifts. We know that newsrooms are not insulated from sexual overtures and depraved behaviour from male colleagues, but news organisations can adopt a zero-tolerance stand towards sexual harassment by having in place mechanisms and procedures to ensure complainants are not objectified or slandered and men in power do not get away with their acts of transgressions. Hushing up of complaints through voluntary recuing and penance has no place in a newsroom because it will cast a shadow on the integrity of the organisation and discourage female journalists from pursuing their vocation in a fear-free atmosphere.

Tehelka’s disgraceful fall from fame must act as a wake-up call for the Indian media that is not setting an example in gender equality. While it is heartening to see Indian media going after one of its own without fear or favour in the exhaustive coverage of the Tehelka issue, that is not vindication enough. The fourth estate has a bigger responsibility now to look inwards and fix the fissures in its moral rectitude.

Anjana Sankar is Senior Reporter with XPRESS, a sister concern of Gulf News.