Arnab Goswami's controversial WhatsApp chats with Partho Dasgupta, then CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), have triggered a huge controversy over manipulating his channel's TRPs. National Broadcasters Association (NBA) has expressed shock, stating that it "clearly establishes collusion" between the two in "manipulating" TV ratings. In a statement, the NBA said that the messages "not only reflect manipulation of ratings but is also about power play" as it referred to the appointment of Secretaries, Cabinet reshuffle, access to the Prime Minister's Office and the workings of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Anju Grover for the Indian Currents spoke to the Founding Editor of The Wire, M K Venu, to know the impact of the leaked chats on media. Venu said he has never heard of a nexus [as seen now] between the government and a media house in his journalistic career. 

Q: What are your views on Arnab's WhatsApp chat issue?
A: Arnab's WhatsApp chats with BARC's ex-chief reflects a deep nexus between the government and a private media channel which is unprecedented in many ways. A private media channel has acted as an ideological and propaganda arm of the government with absolutely no pretension of doing objective journalism. In return, the government seemed indulgent towards the private channel as the industry regulator BARC was helping the channel to increase its TRP rating and make more profit, by suppressing other channels. So, the WhatsApp chats clearly show Arnab's active collusion with BARC as the former CEO of BARC was asking Arnab to help him get a media advisor’s job in the PMO. Other channels have been complaining to National Broadcasters Association (NBA) about manipulations in TRP rating process.

The chats show that every strategy of Republic TV channel was possibly being shared with top people in the government to get support in systematic manipulation of viewership to become the No 1 news channel. The government is silent on this issue.
The governments had earlier used Doordarshan to project their viewpoint and ideology but this time, the government has used a private TV channel to successfully do the same and much more. Interestingly, Doordarshan appears harmlessly objective now. In past, there used to be pro and anti-government media platforms but never such committed media. Some basic truths were accepted as such by both pro and anti-establishment media in the past. Now falsehoods are being manufactured on behalf of government. 

In a polarised polity, this channel acted as the most important vehicle for pushing the majoritarian agenda of the government. Some people in the government constantly fed a certain agenda and in turn the platform got support. In some ways, Republic TV acted as an ideological extension of the sarkar and was able to manipulate TRPs with impunity. That created a psychological effect on other channels which followed suit while giving totally distorted coverage of Sushant Singh Rajput case or Tablighi Jamaat congregation during the lockdown. A few channels soon realised this game was a race to the bottom and began moving away. 

The Bombay High Court indicted TV channels for their coverage of cases like Sushant Singh Rajput and Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi. In Tablighi Jamaat case, the Court blamed media channels for creating propaganda and persecution of members of the Jamaat who had come from abroad. It said an attempt was made to create a picture that these foreigners were responsible for spreading Covid-19 virus in India.

The Bombay High Court also used harsh words on media channels in Sushant Singh Rajput’s coverage saying that a media trial during the investigation of any case violates program code under the Cable TV Network Regulation Act and does have an impact on the probe. Such divisive coverage of events was intricately linked to the TRP scandal.

Q: Is it not an eye opener for media and media pundits?
A: It is an eye opener. In fact, it will serve as a template for journalism schools on how not to conduct the business of media. Crucially, the moral and ethical dimensions of the way mass media can manipulate society in a polarised polity should be of particular concern.

I hope some positive things will happen like re-structuring of BARC and a complete overhaul of the system of self-regulation of content. Media has an elaborate code of conduct and even laws to curb content which is hateful and divisive. None of it was invoked against the Republic TV which has a free pass. In the end, it was the UK regulator Ofcom which imposed a Rs.20-lakh fine on the Republic for the same programmes aired in the UK. This exposes our content regulation thoroughly.
 
Q: The Congress party has described Arnab's social media chats as anti-national activity and demanded an inquiry into the leaking of classified information about the Balakot air strikes. Your comments.
A: It would be difficult for Opposition parties to make it a fool-proof case of an information leak.  So, these parties can raise it as a moral issue. The moral issue is that Republic TV is rejoicing over the killing of CRPF jawans and subsequent Balakot strike. In my view, the real issue is the TRP scam. The Mumbai police claims it has collected enough evidence. It has several witnesses as well. The Mumbai police also acted on the TRAI complaint about Republic being registered in dual networks, i.e., a news channel wrongfully listing itself in the entertainment category besides news, leading to higher TRPs. Dual LCN seems like a solid case against Republic TV. This issue figured in the WhatsApp chat between Arnab and Dasgupta. Also, TRAI has proposed a digital recording system for TRP ratings directly from the set top box but most TV channels have opposed it. 

It is true that the TRP system, governed by manual metering of TV sets in households, was quite corrupt when Republic TV came on the scene. Other channels were also trying to gain from the system by paying “service providers”, a euphemism for people who would manipulate meters in households. At one time, BARC officially recorded that 90% of Republic’s viewership in Gujarat came from just one household! Such blatant distortions were seen with other TV channel TRPs too in certain geographies. Clearly, Republic TV learnt to play the game much better than others, until the law caught up with it.

Q: Do we have pro and anti-establishment media? 
A: Media has always been divided. TV channels have been fighting against each other over TRPs & a small advertisement pie. There is a lot of politics within the News Broadcasters Association whose members are broadcast media companies. NBA has been complaining about manipulations in TRP ratings. It has demanded suspension of TRP ratings of Republic TV with immediate effect till the case related to manipulation of ratings is pending in the court. In my view, BARC has lost its credibility. It should be replaced with an independent Commission comprising retired SC judges and honest administrators. Media owners should be kept at arm’s length from this body.

Q: After Arnab's chats leak, has media itself become a story? 
A: It is very sad that media has set upon the media for the first time in this vicious manner. Polarisation of politics is sharpening the ethical divide in media as well. We should learn from what the US President Joe Biden said, that both truth and democracy are under attack in America and he pledged to bring the much-needed sanity. In India too, democracy and truth are under constant attack. 

The larger point is also about social media and its dangerous role in sharpening polarisation. How social media is becoming a tool in the hands of TV channels dishing out daily propaganda to polarise the society is a big issue. So, we must have a national debate on regulation of `social media' platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter etc. Hate speech gets weaponised so fast on social media that you don't get time to even think these days. The traditional view was that free speech and expression must have precedence over any form of censorship which is still valid. It would be wrong to blame TV channels alone for polarising the society. It is the social media which is largely responsible for spreading and making viral hate content. It is difficult to stop or totally control everything, including hate speech. Courts and media bodies need to create a framework of self-regulation and keep a close watch on social media as a means to contain hate speech. 

Q: What is your vision about media? 
A: An introspection is needed within the media on programming, content and business practices. Advertisers should look at the content on media platforms where they advertise. A lot of advertisers have withdrawn their advertisements from Fox news in the US which openly propagated Trump’s lies. Similarly, some advertisers have withdrawn from Republic TV. 

Social media needs a universal and global code of conduct. Separately there is also a need to regulate the business aspects (monopoly) of big tech. The more they gather information on the private lives of citizens the more powerful they become, both politically and commercially. They will have more information than the State itself. So big tech also needs stricter regulation on these counts. We should learn from the US which has realised the need for regulating big tech giants like Face book, Google & twitter. The US has already taken a call to bring radically new regulations to control the big tech and their monopoly in collecting citizens' data and influencing consumers’ psychology. This could have an impact on the future of democracy and citizen rights. There is a need to have well-established principles on self-regulatory norms for social media.