Markandey Katju teaches Barkha Dutt about journalists ethics

Former CBI director Alok Verma is talk of the town from the past few days. Newspaper headlines and editorials are screaming about some imaginary gross injustice that he is enduring. Intellectuals and senior journalists are sad over dismissal of Alok Verma for reasons best known to them only. They are so sad that they have went to extent of publishing a questionable report claiming that  Justice A K Patnaik had personally told them that there was no evidence against Verma regarding corruption, and the decision of a Prime Minister-led committee to oust him as chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was “very, very hasty”. Many media houses carried out the same story with the same quotes along with some bizarre commentary.

After torrents of reports making the claim surfaced, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Markandey Katju decided to cross-check the claims made in these reports. In an article titled: Faltering fourth estate: Alok Verma’s removal and the shabby role of Indian media, Markandey Katju wrote that he contacted Justice Patnaik through a phone call and asked for his response on these news reports. Markandey Katju said that Justice Patnaik has permitted him to mention that no journalist bothered to take an appointment with him to discuss the matter, and only one lady journalist from Indian express had telephoned and the conversation lasted less than a minute. 

Markandey Katju further wrote that on the basis of that less than minute telephone talk, several media houses published long stories, each claiming as their original story without even speaking to Justice Patnaik.

He even named one media house which made bogus claim that the decision by the High Powered Committee was too hurried.

Katju’s stance on the issue led to a spat with former NDTV journalist, Barkha Dutt. Katju schooled Barkha Dutt when she tried to corner him on basis of report published in Indian Express claiming that ‘No evidence of corruption, decision of PM-led panel on Alok Verma very hasty’.

Katju asked Barkha Dutt how can she jump to conclusions on the basis of Indian Express report, did she even bother to check whether the Indian Express report is correct or not?

Next, Barkha Dutt gave a very diplomatic reply, to which Katju responded by saying “On reading Indian Express was it not ur duty as journalist 2have contacted Justice Patnaik&asked him if wot was published is true (sic.)?”

Markandey Katju has rightly observed in his article published in The Week: “Stories and comments by journalists without proper investigation is fake news. The expression by Donald Trump—media is true enemy of the people—may not be true for the American media, but it is certainly true for most of the Indian media which largely believes in creating sensations and providing masala to the public. It is no surprise then that the people do not hold most of the media and journalists in high regard.”

The former Supreme Court Judge also claimed that he had detailed talks with Justice Sikri through phone call and tweeted “What was published by media is false & fake news. Tomorrow I will publish true facts on my fb page&twitter (sic.).”

https://twitter.com/mkatju/status/1084415797051691008

It is important to note here that the panel led by PM Modi removed CBI Director Alok Verma in light of the Central Vigilance Commission’s report and “the extremely serious nature of observations made by the CVC against Verma”. The CVC in its report suggested a criminal probe against expelled CBI director Alok Verma. It termed Verma’s conduct suspicious in the controversial meat exporter Moin Qureshi’s case. The CVC claimed that it had found evidence of influencing of investigation in the Moin Qureshi case and also claimed that ousted CBI director took bribes from an aide of Qureshi.

For more details: Who wants to protect Alok Verma and why: Explained

Also read: What the PM-led committee said about Alok Verma’s removal from the CBI