“THE WIRE’S SHADOW – “THE HINDU DAILY NEWSPAPER” BY S . SANKARAN
LINK TO THE HINDU EDITORIAL:
After reading “The Hindu Newspaper” Editorial published in
its 4th November 2022 edition under the caption – “Heavy Handed Hurry – Perils
of editorial laxity are obvious, but defamation should be decriminalized”
pertaining to the controversy over ‘The Wire’, I honestly thought that The
Hindu Newspaper had become ‘THE WIRE’S SHADOW’.
I am quite aware that this is a serious allegation against a
renowned newspaper existing even before India got Independence and that its
editorials are highly valued and rated giving five stars status amongst the
public in general.
Such being the case, I am duty bound to explain the grounds
on which I allege The Hindu in such a defamatory phrase.
Let me first jot down the points from the Hindu Editorial
where I defer and object to their views and judgements and analysis.
1. Heavy Handed Hurry in police cracking on The Wire.
2. Perils of Editorial Laxity of The Wire.
3. The Wire filed a complaint against its consultant Devesh
Kumar for allegedly perpetrating an elaborate hoax by submitting fabricated
digital proof.
4. BJP complaint to the Police against the Wire did not name
Devesh Kumar – the Man of Political Match.
5. The Absence of Malice – a key defence in such cases is
quite obvious in the Wire Case.
The Malicious fake stories were published continuously for the last one year by The Wire inspite of objections from the BJP and its supporters.
Even The Hindu, in its editorial, had admitted that the Wire had published series of stories which the Wire had admitted that these were fabricated posts provided by one of its own consultants – viz Devesh Kumar subsequently – say after lapse of 10 months.
On 27th October 2022, The Wire head, while apologizing to the readers (Note: Not to the victim Amit Malviya of BJP) - saying the Meta – Malviya reports were fake, as they had been deceived by a member of its investigative team.
On the same day, the Wire withheld from public view report it published in January 2022, alleging that the BJP was using a mobile application named 'Tek Fog' to manipulate social media trends and send automated abuses to certain journalists and commentators.
More alarming and specific allegations run thus:
The online news portal The Wire announces the discovery of something resembling a ‘fabulous monster.’ Apparently Meta, the tech giant that owns Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram has given the BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya the amazing ability to take down any social media post that he does not like. Effectively, this makes him the ultimate information czar on planet earth. Not the United States government, not the CIA, but Amit Malviya is in charge.
The Hindu had failed to acknowledge the fact that how long these fake damaging stories discrediting India stayed around, and how far it traveled, before The Wire finally pulled down the articles. Since then, it was not just widely reported on Indian television, but also covered in columns in leading international publications such as Bloomberg and Washington Post. It was even reported by the French language newspaper Le Monde.
In India, there were calls from the opposition for a Supreme Court monitored investigation into the alleged existence of the Tek Fog app.
Several opposition MPs wanted the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs to look into the matter.
In fact, Tek Fog even finds a mention in the latest report by Freedom House, which rates India as “partly free.”
Hence, I have the following questions to the Shadow of the Wire – The Hindu:
Who takes the blame for the damage to India’s reputation due
to these Tek Fog allegations?
Given how the internet works, is it really possible to scrub the mushroom cloud of misinformation after nearly ten months?
Hence the Hindu’s observations of “Hurry” is buried fathom deep and have no substance or truth.
In the next allegation, the Hindu talked about ‘Perils of Editorial Laxity’ but wanted ‘Defamation to be Decriminalised.’ It is against any logic, as any act of damaging laxity – and that too against India’s interests and safeties and securities could not be left off without any punishment.
When one enjoys the rights under freedom of press, then he
has to be more responsible in reporting. Actually The Wire knowingly erred
inspite of many having pointed out the wrong and false reportings at regular
intervals.
The founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan has repeatedly taken to Twitter to insist that their story “came from multiple Meta sources – whom we know, have met and verified.”
And finally, in an interview published by the Platformer on Oct 19, when Varadarajan is asked about Devesh’s credibility, given that concerns have been raised about his reporting on Tek Fog as well, Varadarajan answers, “I don’t think we should make this about Devesh, frankly. This should be equally about me, I was hands on involved in the story.”
But now suddenly, Devesh was blamed for everything. Not only that. The Wire had gone to the extent of saying – Kumar is highly disturbed mentally in Police Complaint – which is tantamount to calling him a lynatic – his own trusted reporter a few days ago.
It is to be noted that the Wire’s Varadarajan had given an
excellent chit to his employee – Kumar only a few days back openly.
Again the same Varadarajan who admitted that if Kumar’s credibility is questioned, then as I am myself involved in the story, this should equally be about me.
Now, Varadarajan is Divine while Kumar became Devil to be punished as a criminal! – The Logic of The Wire becomes the Logic of The Hindu – The Wire’s Shadow.
There is no ABSENCE OF MALICE in The Wire’s Publication, but, Presence of Malice is very much evident – For Example, The Wire said: “Praise us for our good faith on removing the fake story immediately on knowing the fact.”
Earlier this year, a court ordered The Wire to take down as many as 14 articles on Bharat Biotech and Covaxin. Many of these articles had been published at a critical time for our country, when vaccine hesitancy would have had lethal consequences.
Back in 2019, the Supreme Court had even remarked on “yellow journalism” while dealing with a case against The Wire filed by the son of a union minister.
Those who questioned the credibility of anti-national medias
like The Wire are labelled by the so called liberals as the Members of Whatsapp
University. The Whatsapp University jibe has coined by the liberals who do not
care for facts. Let us not expect liberal elites to learn anything from the
current fiasco.
One last point against The Wire’s Shadow – The Hindu - is about its statement pertaining to “Absence of Menace – A Key Defence”.
The Hindu said: “The Wire would not willfully publish a
report based on fabricated proof and fake validation by experts under the clear
risk of exposure”. But, the write-up
above will prove that The Wire was critized by the Apex Court for its ‘yellow
journalism’ which is enough to prove The Wire is full of Menaces – Losing its
Defence. However, to be fair to The Wire’s Shadow The Hindu, a thin silver
lining was revealed when the Hindu paper ended its editorial with the following
sentence: “At the same time, media outlets should acknowledge the perils of the
interplay between editorial laxity and confirmation bias in assessing a
potential story.” Hence Action against the Wire is justified even according to
the Hindu – if not directly but indirectly in view of its prejudicial
judgements even in such vital case.
“India” The Mother Country, Purity and Independence – are the Ideals on which The Hindu stands. Laxity and Bias in its editorial are against its declared ethics of Purity and Independence – more so when such yellow journalism of The Wire type publish stories tarnishing the image of our India – The Mother Country.
E-TOUCH HONOURS THE WIRE AND ITS SHADOW THE HINDU WITH CROWN OF THORNS.
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