बरखा -अर्णब वादात हर्षा भोगलेची उडी

बरखा दत्त आणि अर्णब गोस्वामी यांच्यावर क्रिकेट समालोचक हर्षा भोगले यांनी टीका केली आहे. एकेकाळी पत्रकारांची छबी न्यायाधीशांसारखी होती, मात्र आज लोकांपर्यंत बातमी पोहोचविणारे पत्रकार लोकांना आपल्याभोवती आकर्षित करण्यासाठी वादग्रस्त विधाने करताना दिसत आहेत, अशी तिखट प्रतिक्रिया हर्षा भोगले यांनी फेसबूकवरुन दिली. पत्रकारितेमध्ये दिसणारे हे स्वरुप समाजासाठी धोकादायक असल्याचे सांगत त्यांनी दोन प्रतिष्ठीत वृत्तवाहिनीवरील पत्रकारांना पत्रकारितेचे धडे देण्याचा प्रयत्न फेसबूकपोस्टच्या माध्यमातून केला. यापूर्वी ‘एनडीटीव्ही’च्या पत्रकार बरखा दत्त यांनी फेसबूक पोस्टच्या माध्यमातून ‘टाइम्स नाऊ’चे पत्रकार अर्णब गोस्वामी यांना लक्ष्य केले. ‘टाइम्स नाऊ’कडून प्रसारमाध्यमांचा आवाज बंद करण्याची, पत्रकारांवर खटले चालविण्याची आणि त्यांना शिक्षा करण्याचा मुद्दा चर्चेला आणण्यात आला. ही मागणी करणाऱ्या अर्णब गोस्वामी यांना पत्रकार म्हणायचे का? त्यांच्या या मागणीमुळे मला मी पत्रकारितेच्या क्षेत्रात असल्याची लाज वाटते, असे बरखा यांनी म्हटले होते. काही दिवसांपूर्वी ‘आज तक’ वृत्तवाहिनीकडून अर्णब गोस्वामी यांच्यावर अशाच प्रकारची टीका करण्यात आली होती. अर्णब गोस्वामी यांनी त्यावेळी पंतप्रधान नरेंद्र मोदींची मुलाखत घेतली होती. मात्र, ही एका चमच्याने घेतलेली मुलाखत आहे, असे ट्विट करून ‘आज तक’ने एकच खळबळ उडवून दिली होती. पण नंतर या प्रकरणात दिलगिरी व्यक्त करण्यात आली होती.

लोकसत्ता वरून साभार

हर्षा भोगले यांच्याच शब्दात 

In times of social media when Twitter and Facebook have become major source of news, it has become increasingly difficult for newsrooms to decide, what to take and what not to take. Often, the lines between truth and what makes news blur putting the difficult responsibility of selection on media organisations.

Harsha Bhogle, renowned cricket commentator and journalist himself, has shared his thoughts about the same in a Facebook post that has gone viral. In his post, he talks about the alarming times that we’re living in “When mass media abdicates its responsibility”.

He talks about a time when responsible journalism was practiced and the only way to compete was to put the news out faster than other and not resort to delivering what’s sensational.

“There was a time when being a journalist, a bit like being a judge, meant that you were bestowed a certain responsibility. People believed in you and that trust had to be worn at all times. But news was competition too and so you needed to stay ahead. You did that by getting news early but you were still truthful, or at least a majority felt the need to be so. Then social media arrived and with twitter, facebook but increasingly with whatsapp, everyone is a journalist but without the responsibility of being one. And so the onus of sifting between the dignified and the truthful, and the provocative and the untrue, is now no longer with the disseminator of the news but with the receiver,” he writes.

Bhogle also talks about the present state of journalism when the provider of news becomes news himself/herself. “When the provider of the news seeks to become the news and therefore needs to act provocatively to attract attention (the very act he/she should be filtering out), we are in dangerous times,” he writes.

The thought may or may not be provoked by the recent Facebook post made by journalist Barkha Dutt slamming Arnab Goswami that went viral.

In her post, she had spoken about how Times Now calls for “gagging of media & for journalists to be tried &punished” and how it would “kill” her to be on the same side of any issue as Arnab.