The Wire’s mistake - a setback to the liberal discourse

Though the left-liberal media platforms will be targeted based on this incident, they will continue to play a role in the fight against the establishment

By Anish Pathiyil

Chennai

The recent controversy surrounding The Wire and Meta has been talked about for quite a while in mainstream media. While the sympathisers have been very forthcoming, backing the now infamous digital media entity, the critics have also voiced their opinions quite profoundly. One article in particular, written by Abhishek Banerjee and Ajit Datta, published in India Today, was circulated widely. The article takes a dig at the so-called intellectual brigade, trying to point out the leeway being provided to The Wire and similar left-leaning media publications. In this article, we shall attempt to scrutinise the points put forward by the two writers and whether they can be consumed in the same essence as they have been written.

The article begins with the comparison of the story on the Tek Fog app with the tale of ‘fabulous monsters’ and ‘talking unicorns’. The story had created quite an impact when it was published in January, with many major national and international media houses, political parties and organisations like the Editors Guild taking cognisance of the article and demanding an inquiry. The point made in the article is that the story was a case of ‘fake news’ put out by The Wire trying to deliberately create a negative image against the government. The Wire had taken down the article after many months after concerns were voiced regarding the sources of the information provided in the article.

Unlike the Amit Malviya story, where the reports were prima facie dismissed by Meta and the mail chains were found to be impersonations of the original staff, there is no evidence to prove that the story was completely fabricated. The concept of hidden surveillance using malware is not completely rabid, there have been indications of governments in many regions trying to use them to exert control and keep a check on the critics. The article tries to portray the notion that an app being used for surveillance is an unprecedented fanatical idea.

In the case of the alleged link between Meta and Amit Malviya however, The Wire seems to have gotten it entirely wrong. The idea that a IT cell head of a party in a developing country, would be given so much power as to control the content in the social media space seems to be a little too far-fetched. The article targets the organisation for its lack of editorial standards and oversight. It also questions if the code of criminal conduct is different for media platforms, suggesting that the concept of press freedom is being used as a foreground for ant-government activities. This statement is a little hypocritical as platforms like OpIndia, for whom the writers have themselves contributed, peddle many such articles targeting certain communities or individuals throughout the year. The writers’ selective targeting of editorial standards in only anti-government publications shows the bias in their views.

The final point regarding the ‘Whatsapp university’ jibe, has been taken out of context. The argument that the term is used by the elitist to put down the general public belongs to a very narrow thought process. The term in fact is in vogue beyond class and regional divides. The article seems to colour the entire liberal discourse as classist, just for calling out people who share content initially created and propagated by right-wing sympathisers. The idea that the term, generally used to denote the propagators of incessant pro-BJP or pro-Hindutva content through social media, should be used against media organisations is wrong. Comparing media entities to propaganda-spreading accounts, something which the pro-right media streams are involved in themselves, brings the entire journalism industry into disrepute.

The Wire cannot be absolved of the mistakes they have done, with even the Supreme Court calling them out in the past for ‘Yellow Journalism’. The attempts of the senior editors to shift the blame will not be accepted and they will be answerable to the law of the land, yet the article villainising the entire left-leaning liberal media is a step too far. Though the article mocks the proposition, the truth is that the most important voices in a democracy are voices of dissent. The Delhi Police raid on the offices of The Wire, uncharacteristically within a few days of the complaint being filed, shows the intent of the ruling government to crackdown on certain anti-government media houses, making it even more important for dissenting voices to be heard beyond the attempts at oppression.