[Reader-list] On Journalism in Kerala

[A. Mani]

http://beta.bodhicommons.org/article/the-tragic-death-of-tp-chandrasekharan-and-the-stand-of-cpi-m

The tragic death of T.P. Chandrasekharan and the stand of CPI (M)
Pinarayi Vijayan

In May 2012, the UDF government not only celebrated its first
anniversary, but also stared at a severe crisis. The issue of the 5th
Minister (from IUML) had brought out differences within the Congress
into the open. Many leaders of that party came out openly against the
stand of the leadership. Congressmen themselves declared that this
stand would affect communal harmony in the state. Other parties in the
UDF were ranged against the Congress on this issue even though they
too were riven with dissensions. The government was also increasingly
isolated due to its anti-people measures. It was in this context that
the Neyyattinkara bye-election was declared. To add to their
(Congress) woes, there was a very powerful anti-Selvaraj sentiment in
Neyyattinkara constituency owing to his desertion.

Incidentally, the murder of T.P. Chandrasekharan happened at this
juncture when the UDF was experiencing these anti-incumbent responses
from the people. It is evident that the UDF wanted to evade these
opposing voices - and hence reap a political mileage - by marketing
the unfortunate death of R.M.P. leader T.P. Chandrasekharan.

At the same time, the CPI (M) has condemned the murder of T. P.
Chandrasekharan and has also requested to find the culprits, so as to
bring them to the law. The party has also denied any sort of
responsibility in the aforementioned incident. However, the UDF
leadership had accused the CPI (M) and tried to make them responsible
for the murder. By doing this, they were trying to come out of the
maze in which they were trapped. Sri. Mullappally Ramachandran, the
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs had immediately stated that
the CPI (M) is the one who is responsible and P. P. Thankachan (UDF
Convener) and Ramesh Chennithala have called for a statewide hartal on
the 5th of May.

The fact that the Congress had no interest or intention of protecting
T. P. Chandrasekharan became evident in the light of some statements
made on the same day itself. According to what Sri. Mullappally
Ramachandran had told the media; T. P. Chandrasekharan had informed
him earlier that his life was under threat. The criminal negligence on
the part of the UDF has been revealed as it came to light that T. P.
had been denied of police protection even though he had requested for
it. Later Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy had stated that T. P.
himself had denied the police protection. As per law, if the
government decides to give protection to a certain individual, an
order will be issued and will be given to her or him in person. And if
the person chooses not to accept the protection he or she has to give
a letter to the government stating his or her refusal. If things are
as Mr. Oommen Chandy has stated, he should produce both the order and
the letter given by T. P. to prove his statement. Nothing has been
done in this regard and so it becomes clear that the brutal murder of
T. P. Chandrasekharan could have been avoided if the UDF government
had taken the necessary steps. This fact has been concealed by the UDF
who are now shedding crocodile tears with political aims.

Later the state witnessed how the UDF tried to accuse the CPI (M) with
the help of the media in order to overcome their setbacks. The media
came up with news which they claimed they have come across through
either their independent investigation or were given by the police as
official information. In the meantime, several news pieces had popped
up which were nonsensical,self deceptive and self-contradictory in
nature. Right from the beginning the media has taken care to spread
the misinformation that a gang from Kannur had committed the murder,
with no evidence at all. To prove these initial rumours they later
came up with several other stories. The Innova car, in which it is
believed that the culprits supposedly travelled, had been found
abandoned, by the CPI (M) members near Chokli. It is they who informed
the police but the fact that the media has refused to take note of
this reveals the predetermined and biased stand of the media.

The media had claimed that the owner of the car, Naveendas, was a CPI
(M) supporter. Many TV channels started showing this as breaking news
and from there on this this was picked up by several newspapers.
However, it soon became clear that Naveendas was an Indian National
Congress person, rather than a CPI (M) supporter. However, none of
these media outlets formally corrected their reports or expressed any
regret for attempting to tarnish CPI (M)’s reputation with such
baseless allegations. Mathrubhumi claims that they are burning
midnight oil to identify T.P. Chandrasekharan’s killers. On May 6,
Mathrubhumi carried a news item on the front page with a title: “Whose
phone call was that?”

The story said that T.P. Chandrashekharan had received a call on his
mobile right before his death asking him to come to the site of a
vehicle accident near Vallikad League House. The story claimed
supposedly on good authority that the Police have received clear
information regarding who had made that phone call. However, that
claim was rejected by Mathrubhumi the very next day. In next day’s
reporting, it claimed that it has come to light that the phone call
was not what had led Chandrasekharan to Vallikad on that evening. The
report now claimed that the phone call had been made by an RMP
supporter Babu, and that Babu had revealed to the police that he had
called Chandrasekharan to discuss matters regarding vacating his
store. This story reveals the true nature of Mathrubhumi’s
investigation, right from the beginning. The police are merely
following in their footsteps. On the same day, on May 6, Madhyamam
carried a news item that claimed that the conspiracy behind the murder
was hatched in Valayam and that two area committees had taken part in
it. In form of evidence, the news story claimed that Police have
ascertained that Onchiyam Area Committee Secretary and his family have
moved out from their home. However, that pack of lies soon came
tumbling down when it became clear that the Area Committee Secretary,
C.H. Ashokan had gone out of station to attend the NGO Union
Conference. Alongside the claim that the conspiracy had taken place
behind closed doors in a home in Valayam on a wedding day, it was
announced in screaming headlines that three individuals had been
apprehended near Nadapuram. However, none of the media outlets even
bothered to mention in passing that the Police had themselves given
the three a clean chit. In the midst of all of this, several TV
channels started announcing that the Police had taken some people into
custody in Valayam. It turned out that this news was also a purely
fabricated one - the three names mentioned in this regard turned out
to be busy at work in Valayam, blissfully ignorant of the fact that
they had been the latest victims of the surreal media trial. The fact
that none of these media outlets extended an apology to these victims
of their slander and fraud reveals a truly sinister face of the
freedoms they enjoy. Right on the heels of this development, news
stories started surfacing that someone with links to RSS has been
taken into custody.

Naturally, this mean a different tune had to be improvised. Their new
propaganda line claimed that CPI (M) is using people with a diverse
set of political affiliations. Earlier there were news items that
pointed to the conspiracy being directed from Kannur Central Jail
because supposedly phone calls were placed from Vallikad to a mobile
tower near Kannur Central Jail right after the murder. However nothing
came out of that in subsequent days. Soon afterwards, in the media
imagination, it was the turn of a bar in Mahi to play host to the
party leaders and others supposedly involved in the conspiracy. At
every stage, mainstream media outlets have by and large adopted this
strategy where, such stories are fabricated out of thin air and spread
with a stamp of legitimacy. The only common thread behind all these
flights of fancy in the media, all undertaken without a shred of
critical thinking, has been that CPI (M) has been consistently framed
as the villain. The news report published by Madhyamam daily on May
10th expressed concerns over whether it was the vengeance against T.P.
Chandrasekharan for opposing the Azhiyur Aqua Marine project, bottling
plant, export-import businesses that led to his murder. This was
exactly the issue which C.H. Asokan had raised in the Hon. High Court
while filing his bail application. In other words, this issue is an
already existing one and was not an instantly framed excuse. Rafiq was
named as one of the accused, during the initial stages of
investigation. Several labels were heaped on Rafiq - the key one being
the claim that he was involved in several murders that have hitherto
been foisted on CPI (M). On June 7 itself Malayala Manorama had
claimed that he was a CPI (M) supporter. There was also another report
that his fingerprints were found on the Innova car. However, as soon
as it became clear that Rafiq had no connections with CPI (M), there
was an attempt to quickly undo the ‘damage’ already done. As Rafiq was
deemed unnecessary to don the mask of the cruel villain, suddenly it
began to be reported that others had procured the vehicle from him
under the guise of going on a pleasure trip. Other reports claimed
that he had fled from the state. However, one fine day Rafiq turns up
inside the Vadakara court and the Police force him out. Many news
stories were written up on the basis of sworn statements supposed to
have been made by those in custody - however several of the accused
have told people who visited them in custody that these statements
making the rounds in the media have no resemblance to the ones they
have provided to the Police. The strategy has been to simply distort
facts and propagate fanciful lies in the name of media coverage. Once
again we see the age-old Goebbelsian tactics in action- that of
repeating a lie a hundred times to turn it into truth.

Rejecting news stories that do not serve to advance their narrow
interest has been a hallmark of these media outlets. After breaking a
story on how a section of the investigation team did not want to
comply with a diktat to implicate certain individuals, a television
channel decided to embargo its own story. In order to retain some
sense of brevity, I do not intend to provide an exhaustive list of all
the nonsense that has transpired in the name of media coverage in this
case. One thing is clear - if one truthfully examines the news stories
related to this case, the “impartial and authoritative” facade assumed
by news journalism in Kerala stands exposed. Every day, stories are
being fabricated to put CPI (M) in the dock and the very next day,
they are redefined and reinterpreted to implicate CPI (M) in some
other way. This shameful chapter in journalism will be immensely
valuable to understand the nature of mass media in Kerala for students
and researchers in this area. [To be continued...]

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A. Mani



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