Media "most trusted" institution in India

As one who has been in media for 37 years, I have often come across skeptics and cynics. The first category is acceptable and welcome. We need a little more questioning in this country, a little more reluctance to accept something simply because someone says so, even if it is attributed to the Almighty.

It is the second category that disturbs and repels me -- the cynics. And I have come across a lot of people who are cynical about the media ("reporters need to add mirchi-masala to make their stories readable", "after all media is a business" and so on).

Which is why I was most interested by the findings of Edelman's first-ever quantitative study of stakeholder expectations of companies operating in India (I work for Edelman). The study covered 140 opinion leaders across the country. It found that despite the popular perception that people are in general cynical about media, most so today because media is big business, in India at least media is the ‘most trusted’ institution.

In fact, the study found that media got a top rating of 50 percent on trust, followed by business at 44 percent. The study also found that Government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are the least trusted institutions with equal ratings of just 32 percent. Now I am not surprised that Government is not so trusted. But the finding that NGOs are least trusted, barring a few exceptions certainly, makes for interesting reading. It indicates which way the wind is blowing.

I have a lot of respect for NGOs. A lot of them do good work. They were the product of Mrs Indira Gandhi's Emergency from 1975-77 when many of us discovered what hypocrisy meant. When the emergency ended, many new "rebels" who had fought the Emergency on the quiet in their own way, came out into the open and began to fight for justice for the poor and the underprivileged.

Some used their legal acumen. to do so. Judges began to see the other side of an unjust system and Public Interest Litigation came into being. In course of time, a triad of the mediapersons who believed in standing up for a cause, lawyers and socially-conscious judges came into being. A lot of good resulted.

But, as often happens, some began to misuse the system. Many jumped on to the NGO bandwagon as a new career opportunity, not as a mission. And hence perhaps the distrust that has crept in and grown. There is a growing perception that NGOs are very well- funded and that many of them are doing the bidding of their funders.

There is also a perception that NGOs shout fire when there is smoke in order to attract attention. I remember reading this in an NGO instruction manual! Also, that activists should "step on the toes of your opponents till they pay you to get off"! The campaign eagainst all dams, rather than fighting for more rigorous rehabiliation of displaced people, is another example of the distrust of NGOs that has crept in.

There is a feeling that NGOs are out to push a cause, regardless. As one of them told me many years ago, "I am not interested in the truth, I am only interested in my cause."

Rains prove the hollowness of official claims

Today's rains in Mumbai are a clear indication that official claims about being ready for the monsoon this year are nothing but water down the river. Someone must take the rap for this. Why should the municipal commissioner, whoever he is, not be sacked for failing to deliver on promises to taxpayers? More expecially when he and other officials over the years have been talking about making Mumbai first a Singapore, then a Sydney and now a Shanghai. Balderdash!

As a first step, the municipal commisioner's residence should be moved from Malabar Hill to Malavni in Malad and he should be forced to commute to Mahapalika Marg daily -- for a start he can do so by road using his official car, rather than by train. That will help reduce the shock! Let's give him a chance to prove his mettle from Malavni rather than Malabar Hill. If he fails to deliver on promises, then withdraw his car and ensure he travels by train and bus.

That's just for starters...