#The Reporters: “Occupy journalism. Occupy media”, Stalin K of Video Volunteers

Stalin K. is the managing trustee at Video Volunteers, a “media and human rights NGO” headquartered in Goa. Over the last decade or so, Video Volunteers has built a team “Community Correspondents” across the length and breadth of the country. These correspondents produce and often edit videos on highly localised issues..Video Volunteers, in many ways, marks a democratisation of media not only in consumption but creation as well. In this interview with Bar & Bench’s Anuj Agrawal, Stalin talks about the state of Indian media, the resistance against community radio and much more..Anuj Agrawal: You fought for making community radios legal. Why was it illegal in the first place?.Stalin K: Archaic traditions, I guess. The old conventional thought that radio and television and all those things belong to the government and all that..Television freed up for two reasons: one was the post-liberalisation ’90’s phase. But the cable law was actually post-facto. In a sense, what the cable guys did was to pirate television, in terms of carrying television waves and then the government had no option but to bring these guys together and say, “Can you guys be regulated by our cable law?“.They said “ok” but they had much more weight when it came to deciding out what the policy should be..In the radio sector, there were two schools of thought. One was, “Let’s go pirate”. The history of radio everywhere is “Chuck the laws, just do the radio”. Berkeley, the seed of community radio, did the same thing. Everyone did..Here it did not happen that way. There were a few experiments and a few individuals who did do that. But, then the media wrote about it and the government came in and said its illegal, and they pulled it down..So there was a section that decided to work with the government to make a policy possible. If I could go back in time, I would have done the pirate thing though..Anuj Agrawal: But what’s wrong with going through the system?.Stalin K: It takes ten years! And then what you get is a sort of “NGO-ised” radio, which is not radical enough. The content is good but it has sort of become development radio which I am not against, but I could just have radio for my folk songs..Anuj Agrawal: So the policy dictates what you can talk about?.Stalin K: Not really, but when the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) and Community Radio Forum and other forums – when we do joint consultations, the overall tone is that radio should be for the community, by the community etc..This is something that we propagate as a principle of ownership, editorial independence and stuff but not really in terms of what content comes up..In 2002, then I&B Minister LK Advani said 2,000 radio stations would be set up; when the 2006 policy came out they said it would be 5,000 stations. We are currently looking at 150 community radio stations of which a vast majority are campus radio stations..Anuj Agrawal: Why ?.Stalin K: Because the licensing procedures are so tedious. It takes a lot of money to be set up. If you were really interested in multiple radio stations and diverse voices, you would be encouraging all kinds of technicians building their own transmitters, make it really entrepreneurial..Instead, we have a system today that if you want to buy a transmitter, you have to buy from a government approved licensed company. Private companies, like NOMAD, have to work really hard to get “empanelled”. You cannot build, manufacture your own transmitter..Anuj Agrawal: But why would the government be afraid of radio?.Stalin K: A colonial mindset. This is the last bastion of media that they have under their control, and they don’t want to give it away. That is why news is not allowed on private radio. Even now..Manish Tiwari, then I&B Minster, very patronizingly told me when we were asking for news to be allowed on community radio, “Nahi Hoga” (It won’t happen) .Anuj Agrawal: Moving on, you have spoken about the dominance of the upper caste, of men, in the media. Isn’t it time for the media to introspect?.Stalin K: Absolutely. I would say, very often the mirror has to be flipped. The same way we [the media] asks people to behave, for governments to be accountable – I think we need to see how we behave..Anuj Agrawal: When do you think it went wrong?.Stalin K: That’s a good question..I don’t know if we are ready to write the post-mortem report on the demise of Indian news. Some people say that there never was a golden period of news. People like Ravish and Parunjoy Guha Thakurta have said so in the past..We have known of corruption in the news during the Emergency, and even before that. And there has always been a fair bit of propaganda since the beginning, be it Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar etc. They were all publishing ideology-based newsletters. It also had a fair bit of news but also a lot of opinion, ideological positioning etc..But I think what has changed disturbingly is the ownership element. There is this Goenka tradition of ownership; Shekhar Gupta said that Ramnath Goenka was one of the few owners who never interfered with the editorial line..Can we even imagine that kind of an ownership today?.But I think what has changed disturbingly is the ownership element. There is this Goenka tradition of ownership; Shekhar Gupta said that Ramnath Goenka was one of the few owners who never interfered with the editorial line. Can we even imagine that kind of an ownership today?.Why would Mukesh Ambani own the entire TV18 network? Is that even a question today in the media? It is assumed that corporations have the money, and media is a business so what is wrong with the ownership?.Of course, on a business level, I think that is fair. But then the question to me is should we continue to call it “news”? I am okay calling it “reporting” because you can report on anything. But should we call it “journalism”?.Anuj Agrawal: Is that why you started Video Volunteers?.Stalin K: Well no but all of this put together. Being a filmmaker, I am keenly aware of the power of camera. I know I can manipulate during edit. I am aware that it is a highly egotistic game..Fiction filmmakers do the editing at the script level, but we [documentary makers] sit with the footage and edit. Ethical filmmakers try to be as close to the reality as possible but of course one’s bias creeps in, political ideology, everything..So what would happen if we were to handover that power to people who actually suffer? Would content change? Would narration change?.Plus there is this whole thing about non representation and non-diversity in the media, which is very painful..There are various indicators that are crying out for urgent action. And a lot of that action will only be taken if we admit that there is an issue. And for admittance of a problem one needs a reporter..So the need for true journalism is more today than ever before..Anuj Agrawal: When you started Video Volunteers, were there any specific moments when you thought this would work..Stalin K: This doesn’t have anything to do with Video Volunteers but the first time I did a participatory film was way back in 1992. It was with tribal women in Bharuch on the issue of maternal health..We did this workshop on theatre, and every evening we would have this really interesting talk. There was this seamless flow between fiction and fact. That is when I realised that people may have different languages but there is this intrinsic need and creativity to reach out..And if you are affected by an issue then you have a vested interest to change it. If you are unaffected and yet you want to change it, it remains a cerebral thing. There is only so much you can do intellectually..I think content and discourses will truly be very enriching if affected people themselves do the talking. Also, this is important for finding peace because it is a cathartic process..I remember Krishna Kumar’s book about the ’84 riots in Delhi. Apparently schools in Delhi had put a rule saying no teachers would discuss the Sikh riots. So students of class 7 or Class 8 would sit for a very innocuous drawing class..And what were they drawing? Burning tyres around people’s necks, burning buses and stuff like that..Anuj Agrawal: You mentioned that a lot of MSM ask Video Volunteers for free content? Is there a feeling that what Video Volunteers do is not “true” journalism?.Stalin K: Yes, there is definitely a Brahmanism there. And this is not just journalists. I knew very senior well-known filmmakers who said that it is one thing to be participative but it’s another thing to be making it..For me that comes from a deep insecurity. There is no other way to explain that. News organisations say that they cannot trust news until it comes from “their” person. But the best part is that “their” person is stringing for seven different organisations. That person has no training from you, just a card with your logo..Have you ever heard of a stringer’s meet? That is a question that reporting organisations should ask. When is the last time a journalism stringers orientation workshop was held by ZeeTV or Eenadu or PTI?.Have you ever heard of a stringer’s meet? That is a question that reporting organisations should ask. When is the last time a journalism stringers orientation workshop was held by ZeeTV or Eenadu or PTI?.And yet we have the audacity to say they are “my” people. So if it comes from a stringer they are fine with it but if it comes from me as a non-stringer – it is not fine..And guess where your stringer is getting [the news]? Me..For me it is an excuse to not pay..The other is the whole citizen’s journalism boom thanks to cellphone and internet video – nobody wants to touch it. The multibillion dollar Youtube doesn’t want to touch it. This is an entire industry that does not create any content..Anuj Agrawal: Why?.Stalin K: I think there is an intrinsic understanding in a news organisation that citizen’s impetus to report comes from a non-commercial space. The citizen is outraged about something and wants to report. So as a news organisation I am doing social service by amplifying that outrage..This is the paradigm under which they operate..We have been told these lines- “Paise? Arre bhai hum toh apka amplify kar rahe hain”. (Money? But we are actually ensuring your content reaches more people!).As if they are doing it from the goodness of their heart..Anuj Agrawal: Thoughts on ownership of media?.Stalin K: I think we need a fair amount of not for profit journalism organizations..Anuj Agrawal: So who pays the bills?.Stalin K: Individuals, corporations, government, advertisers. I think there has to be a re-churning in society and I mean particularly those in society with money such as the Ambanis, the Adanis and Azim Premjis etc..I remember there was this one big Kolkata newspaper which was owned and run as a non-profit entity. India Spend is a non-profit..Why can’t you have an enterprise which supports reporting for the well being of democracy? Because, the better the democracy the more money one can make in shipping, cement, construction, education and other things..That economic logic has to be understood. You cannot make money without democracy. Unless of course you are a despotic dictator..Anuj Agrawal: Are you an optimist?.Stalin K: Absolutely..I mean we had 31% people voting for Modi, the rest did not. That is a very telling sign of how people rejected his ideas..There are people within the media who are extremely frustrated with what is going on. I hear most criticism about the current journalism from people within the media..That is a hope no?.Anuj Agrawal: Any advice for future journalists? .Stalin K: Take over journalism, occupy journalism, occupy media. You absolutely have to take it back. If making pots of money is your goal, don’t go to journalism. Then you need to go and do something else. If profit is your only motive, then go do something else. But not journalism..Anuj Agrawal: And future lawyers?.Stalin K: I remember doctors had to do one year of rural internship before getting an MBBS. There was a reason for that – people were dying of malnutrition, illness, sickness etc..Lawyers also need to do that. The highest number of lawyers in the last five years have come from Jammu & Kashmir, and Jharkhand..What does that tell us? The more repressive the police the more lawyering to be done. There are two hundred odd districts which are disturbed. Why are all these lawyers in the non-disturbed areas?.The more repressive the police the more lawyering to be done. There are two hundred odd districts which are disturbed. Why are all these lawyers in the non-disturbed areas?.You want challenging jobs? Go to Rajnangaon, Bastar, Barahmulla, Kupwara..More challenges? Go to the Ghatkopar slums and just look at the evictions. Just look at how many rules, by-rules and regulations laid down by civil corporations and State have been violated. Don’t take any political positions but just go there..Anuj Agrawal: What keeps you going?.Stalin K: Have you seen the videos ya? (laughs).If you were to travel with me, I would take you to a family where a 16 year old girl was raped and murdered. You will see the pain, the anger, and the sense of loss. But when the family members talk about the case, the post-mortem report, you will also feel the sense of determination in their voices..“I know this is wrong but I am going to get you.”.For me all, the fear is when people will refuse to talk. They will be completely silent. Then you know you are in trouble..I was teaching at the Qatar campus of NorthWestern University, the best journalism school in the world. A bunch of students wanted to make a documentary, so I said lets make a documentary on the voting rights of Indians in Qatar. They said, “We can’t do that!”..The host country does not have any citizenship rights to any non-Qataris, no matter if you are third-generation or fourth-generation. And this is true in a lot of middle eastern countries,.I said the film should be that a lot of Indian, Pakistani and South Asian people living in Qatar do not feel the need for any political rights. They don’t want these political rights.They are getting so much money that they are fine with it..The question is what does North Western do about it? They say, “No, we cannot do it.”.For me, that is hopeless.