The experiences bestowed by Him — Part 10 : The Journalistic Dharma-sankata, that I learnt from Goenka
(A humble translation of the original article by Sri S.Gurumurthy , as it had appeared in Thuglak Tamil Magazine) — https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_28_10_2020.php
Ramnath Goenka was a perfect paragon of having devotion towards God. Rasthra-Bhakthi & Bhagavath-Bhakthi, were two forces that molded him. Even during the critical times of emergency, he was regularly visiting Kanchi to have the darsan of Mahaswami and Thirupathy for darsan of Lord Balaji. Before & after Independence, his newspapers (The Indian Express & a Tamil daily, Dinamani) were perfect examples for operating with the Press freedom based on Dharma. Goenka was purely running them for the cause of nation alone, without any selfish motive (neither money nor circulation). Even after the independence, despite being a congressman, he was managing them independently. I have learnt from him for 16 years and then became his adviser. Along with my qualifications, there was some other factor that drew me closer to Goenka and got me the opportunity to work with him.
What are Journalistic Dharma, Freedom & Rights?
To support the Independence movement, Goenka had started the newspaper. After independence, he continued to be part of congress party till 1966. He relinquished congress membership, on account of Congress party not preventing cow-slaughter. From him, I learnt the journalistic Dharma, Freedom & Rights. Acting with a focus on future & present day benefits for the country is journalistic dharma. Running a newspaper without any selfish motive and boldly is journalistic dharma. He was following this in managing the Indian express newspaper, in-spite of being within/without of congress party. If being neutral is a requirement then participating in freedom movement could not have been possible.
Journalistic rights and freedom are not the same. It has been elaborated in the first press commission report. Journalistic rights are derived from the constitutional laws. Whereas, journalistic freedom is based on the atma-sakthi of the journals. It is a high philosophy based on dharma and comprise the following — keeping the well-being of fellow country people in mind, supporting the govt from outside without getting closer, fearlessness, not afraid of being branded as one-sided writing. Freedom is not based on personalities but on the issues.
Being an independent and neutral are not two different things. Being correct, staying neutral are also different, as per Goenka. Not differentiating between good and bad is not freedom, dharma, politically/morally/ethically correct. “Guru, neutrality is not balancing on two benches but falling between them”, says Goenka. Whatever we think is good/correct should be expressed without being worried about its effects or getting branded being not neutral, is called journalistic freedom. Being an independent journal is more important than being a neutral one. His policy was that Journalistic freedom is not taking a middling stance between the govt-that-needs-to-be-opposed and opposition-that-needs-to-be-supported or honest-govt and faulty-opposition. Between 1969 and 1991, Indian express continued to take opposing stance against Indira Gandhi & congress party. That’s why it gained a name for itself as fearless, independent newspaper instead of a neutral one.
In the case of supporting a govt or it cause, a journal should not get closer to the govt and stay away from it. If there is any expectation from the govt then it may compromise the freedom of journal. Goenka was very firm on being independent is also not accruing any personal benefits from the journalistic decisions that we take. Sometimes, we may have to choose between deep see and the devil and taking a stance against the most of the two evils. It is part of journalistic freedom and not to be mixed up with neutrality. Readers may be well aware of the fact that your Thuglak magazine had taken such stances between the two main Dravidian parties — DMK & ADMK in Tamilnadu. The stance that we took was based on the situation at that time and may not be justifiable in a different situation. In 1991, we supported Jayalalitha and reversed our stance in 1996. The only driving force for Thuglak is the goodness the people. There is no change in that.
The art of managing a journal
There is one more point. Freedom of a journal is not only based on its owner’s views. It also comprises the views of its senior journalists. This, I learnt it from Goenka. Many-a-times, we had accepted views, news that are diametrically opposed to ours. We use to discuss with the editor about all the significant problems of our country, on a daily basis. In fact, he would work out a tactic to make the editor accept our view point. “Guru, let us go to temple and then visit Mulgaonkar (editorial adviser). Let us play with his pet dog and discuss about the leading editorial. It may help to nudge him towards view point. If the editor stays adamant then he would invite senior journalists like Kuldeep Nayyar, Ajit Bhattacharjee, Arun Shourie in the discussion. As part of arriving at a consensual decision, he would place our decision. Managing a journal and that too managing a group of independent, intellectual journalists is an art by itself. He was a skilled master in that and taught the same to me.
1989 — TN election — Discussion with Goenka
In early 1980s, I had introduced Cho to Goenka. Whenever he was coming to chennai, we would go to Kapaleeswara temple and visit Cho. He liked Cho very much and would tease him that, “Cho, you are an intellectual Goonda”. They were that intimate. When Goenka came to know the multiple ownership of Thuglak, he had encouraged Cho to buy the entire stake from Vikatan group. Initially, Cho was not supporting that idea. Later, due to Goenka’s compulsion, Cho had agreed. As told by Goenka, I went and spoke to owner of Ananda Vikatan, Balasubramanian. He mentioned that Thuglak belongs to Cho in spirit, though I am also an owner in letter and transferred it whole-heartedly. He transferred the ownership to Cho and who in turn, along with Goenka, compelled me to buy the stake and became a part owner (After Goenka’s death, I moved out). Then, Thuglak was published in the printing press of Indian express and distributed by them. In fact, Goenka wanted Cho to become the editor of Dinamani. Then had realized that Cho was only the editor of Thuglak but also the leading political strategist in TN. Goenka that Dinamani’s editorship may impede the fierce independence of Cho and dropped that idea. But, Cho was always considered as part of IE group.
At that time, assembly elections were held in 1989. Goenka, Cho, Gurumurthy and Dinamani editor, Iravatham Mahadevan would discuss about that. At all India level due to corruption related to Ambani, bofors, IE group was in a do-or-die battle against Rajeev Gandhi. Cho was dead against DMK. We were discussing about the stance. Goenka & I were on one side, Cho was on the other side and Dinamani editor was staying neutral. After 1971, Congress was contesting alone in the elections in TN. ADMK was vertically split. VP Singh headed party was in alliance with DMK in TN. Cho was fully supporting Congress in TN. Goenka & I wanted to defeat Congress. It was clear to us that our stance would benefit DMK. Iravatham Mahadevan does not want to support DMK or Congress.
We were discussing for many hours. We were vehemently opposing Cho’s stance of supporting Congress and Cho was of the firm view that we should not oppose Congress completely. All the selfless souls were common in having the national interests alone in our minds but vastly differing in their strategies. I had also experienced the highest quality of the discussion too. Everyone was sharing the logic behind their decision. Cho had stated that he was opposing Congress at the national level and supporting Congress to prevent DMK from coming to the power. On the lines of IE, Iravatham Mahadevan expressed that Dinamani cannot support DMK. I interjected that if Rajeev Gandhi wins in TN, it may absolve him nationally and further his interest at the national level. Hence, he should be defeated.
Finally, Goenka had mentioned, “Guru, no doubt, If Rajeev wins in TN, he may use it at the national level. But, still the parliamentary elections are a year away. Moreover, we cannot compel Cho. He is with us at the national level. Therefore, let him support Congress in TN. Congress does not stand a chance to win. Since ADMK has vertically split, DMK has a good chance of winning. If congress wins more seats, it would augur well for TN and India too. Let Cho support congress, we will oppose them and Dinamani would stay neutral; Eventually, it would benefit DMK. This consensus was finally agreed by all of us. In that meet, I had realized, how great people of different views could discuss with each other amicably and come to an agreement.
In the final analysis, though I should concur on the learning from Goenka about Journalistic dharma and its course in the tactical operations, I haveto admit that it was more of a dharma-sankata,rather than Dharma
To be contd….
