MURDER OF A JOURNALIST

Gauri Lankesh, a not very well known journalist and an editor of a tabloid was shot at point blank range to death. It is highly abominable and condemn-able  that a journalist and that too a woman had been murdered.  Before this murder took place and became a national obsession, let us look back and ask ourselves, how many of us have heard or read about this journalist. The people in the very close circles and in the secondary rings within the state might have heard about this woman.  But not many outside the state of Karnataka.  But today there is not one in the country, who has access to a TV set and a news channel in any language, who has not heard about who this woman was and had not come to a conclusion as to who her killers are.

The media, just as the news of her killing came out, started delivering judgement that the right wing outfits are responsible for her murder.  The media had been highly biased. There are many reasons to believe that the media is now controlled by many vested interests who are inimical to the interest of the nation concept of India.  Gauri Lankesh had been a strong critic of the present administration in the center and was a staunch supporter of Maoists and their activities.  She had declared both Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid as her sons.  She had been a editor-publisher of a tabloid where she reportedly employed about fifty people without any advertisement revenue worth its name for her paper.  Any one in the media is aware that without advertisement revenue, the media house will not be able to function. Here is one media house without any ad revenue to its name but had been reportedly engaging people and paying them for their time. Who was funding the tabloid and what was the motive for such financing? These questions, if answered, may open a Pandora's box.

In the social media, there is a spate of posts and tweets condemning the right wing outfits for this murder. Some of the people who are considered erudite thanks to their publications and writings also went overboard that the Prime Minister himself has celebrated this murder; the reason for such outrageous conclusions is that he is a follower of some of the persons who tweeted some celebratory messages. In another instance, another erudite person questioned the language used in the tweets of some of the persons reportedly from the right wing outfits with Prime minister as the follower of these tweeters and commenting that the language of the PM has slipped much below. The PMO had to issue a clarification that the PM also follows the VP of GOP and the CM of Delhi and has not un-followed any of the people so far.  Every one knows the quality of tweets from these worthies.

From the vice president of the GOP to the popular matinee idol of Tamil Cinema every one is jumping into the fray castigating the right wing outfits as the perpetrators of this murder.  A TV channel in which the anchor who has a pathological hatred for the current Prime Minister and his party, went out of the way to portray the murder was committed by the right wing outfit.  In an interview with the person who won a defamation case against Gauri Lankesh, the anchor of this TV channel had lots of eggs on his face.  The anchor had been a known bully and he was trying to get his views across than getting the views of the interviewee.  In this interview he was put in place firmly and told in no uncertain terms that he should have his data checked fully before accusing any one.

Be that as it may, it was downright opportunistic on the part of the state Chief Minister to order a state funeral to the killed journalist who is a convicted felon and a person out on bail.  The action of the state in according a state funeral and a twenty one gun salute speaks volumes about the nadir to which the GOP has slipped.   The leaders and the media would do well to allow the law enforcing agencies in investigating and finding the killers.  It would be appropriate both morally and ethically for the state government, having ordered a state funeral, to hand over the case to the central agency than rely on its own machinery.  Even if the state agency does an impartial investigation and arrive at a conclusion, it will be looked upon with suspicion given the atmosphere prevailing in the state and the country post this murder.

Be that as it may, between 1992 and 2017 September, there were about 30 journalists murdered across the country. Many of these murders had not been solved as yet as to the motive or the killers nor apprehended as yet.  There had been spate of killings of journalists in Assam and J&K, many of which go unnoticed or un-reported in the national level by the media. In the decade ending May 2014 there had been 10 murders of journalists and many still remain a mystery.  There was absolute silence on the part of the news channels about the motive or the identity of the killers in these murders, though some of these murders took place in broad day light.

The outrageous claims made by the media and some of the political upstarts in the country do require the same level of condemnation as befits the murder of this journalist.  The question that leaves most of the readers aghast is the total silence on the part of the media in respect of many other killings of journalists in the past 25 years.  How much of national TV time had been spent on the murders of the "other journalists" who met the same fate as Gauri Lankesh? Had there been such a relentless coverage or debate or discussion in any TV channel, be it local or national on the death of any other journalists as in the present case? This much clamour is made mainly because this murdered journalist had been a left sympathiser and  a staunch critic of the present government and the entire media feels alienated thanks to the actions of the present administration.