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T R JAWAHAR

        Self-respect is the sole-privilege of the Dravidian politicos. Admission to this exclusive club rests on certification by the Thaanai thalaivan. Obviously, mediamen are as yet outside this charmed circle. On the contrary, the Kalaingar has told them in clear terms what he thinks their place is : At the receiving end, in many ways.

        Now we are not just talking about threats to journos and attacks on media establishments. CMs in TN have routinely resorted to the stick to rein in intrusive or intransigent scribes. But with K now talking of carrots, instead, that 'he' has so magnanimously favoured the press fraternity with, the latter clearly has been hit below the belt.

        The CM, in a statement, has meticulously listed out the welfare schemes and the various benefits for journalists that the DMK dispensations had initiated over the years. From financial assistances to ex-gratia to aid, he has quoted with rational precision the figures and facts to prove what a supreme benefactor he has been of journalists, dead and alive. The CM, in a grand display of Dravidian decency, has even mentioned names.

        Now, why this laboured exercise and the emotional recall of his charitable inclinations? To tell the world at large and the media in particular what an unworthy and ungrateful lot they have turned out to be! After all, with his family's dirty linen getting washed in public by the family's own media, the minimum the 'other' media could have done is to put aside their cameras, pens and keyboards and look the other way as that family ( ex, now?) media is now doing. Instead, these journos, gripped by an epidemic amnesia of K's largesse to them, are taking out rallies and processions demanding the arrest of the murderers and justice for the dead. Oh, god, how they have hurt K, the hand that fed them!

        However, why should he be hurt? But why not? After all he knows his elder son had absolutely nothing to do with the killings. In TN, that knowledge is final, as final as Mahesan's verdict. Did not the media see Azhagiri getting escorted by a high-ranking police official from the Airport? Did not the press publish photographs of the him at the felicitation function even while all the guardians of India's democracy were adorning the stage? Will the ruler, who holds the torch of justice handed down by the great Cholas and Pandiyas, allow such a travesty? Also, many of the 'suspected' culprits were arrested soon enough. That they got out on bail within hours was because law took its course. But K's regime had done its duty. In any, case a CBI probe has been recommended. That should rest the case, at least as far as the journos are concerned. How can the journos emulate Dayanidhi and his anti-party activities and stab 'their' unsuspecting 'leader' in the back? That is, where was the need for a procession? Particularly when the self-appointed, but non-playing 'captain of the media-ship' himself was convinced by K's rational explanations, not to speak of, his super-rational emotions and has certified as much?

        The CM's vulgar attempt to call in favours and extract gratitude is a direct hit at the self-respect of journalists and really a warning bell too. Indeed, not just journalists, but newspaper establishments and the entire fraternity as a whole must have a rethink and introspection on their dealings with politicians, on all sides of the Dravidian divide. What's at stake is not just their safety and honour, but their very professional existence. It may happen that either out of some restraint or certain other considerations, legitimate or otherwise, a journalist will decide to bend a little. But the politicos here are adept at converting his bending into breaking. So, is it not wise to be careful before one takes the bow itself?

        And there is a bigger predicament facing the mediamen in TN. While those who died were no doubt newspaper employees and therefore deserve all posthumous justice that the fraternity can muster, one cannot also ignore the fact that the media they worked for was a rank political mouthpiece. The murdersous fracas itself was a result of a fratricidal battle in a political family and had very little to do with press freedom. Under no circumstance should the solidarity for the victims be allowed to be hijacked as support for that media establishment. That would be more vulgar than K's charity list.