The Telegraph's bias comes 'out of the closet'

Kolkata: Today's front page of Calcutta's leading English daily carried a token mention of the fresh cash recovery (reportedly 40 crores + in total) while demoting the details to the 'Metro' section. Instead, the focus was on milder national matters, like the enhanced powers of the ED and the travails of the recently detained journalist. This is a continuing pattern over the last few days, with the Smriti Irani daughter issue (Goa) superseding the dramatic revelations.

Now, newspapers are entitled to take political stances, due to varying motives, as that has been a global pattern. This subjectivity, however, rests in the domain of opinion and analysis, as editorial has the unhindered license to be relentlessly one-sided. However, the sheer elimination or suppression of facts and information, of vital interest to the readership, is not responsible journalism.

The Telegraph still happens to be the most influential English daily in the state, the galloping might of the Times of India notwithstanding. In its forty-year history, it has earned tremendous respect, ably succeeding the archaic The Statesman, and recently developed a quirky reputation for fiesty headlines, creatively fearsome. Yet the very same daggers remained in the closet when the most sensational story of the year startlingly appeared.

Years ago, in the post-graduate programme, I learnt about the agenda-setting role of media, and how societal priorities are shaped by media exposure. Whoever be the political or apolitical perpetrators, the significance of this scam is mammoth, as it is to do with primary education, a travesty no less potent than poisoning baby food or infiltrating life-saving drugs. What would have been perfectly understandable is a reservation of judgement, but the sheer non-reporting is certainly not acceptable from a paper of such stature.

There is a large section of readers, both Bengali speaking and otherwise, for whom the English daily is the primary hub of credibility, a legacy of perceived integrity. While nobody is blind to the TV channel deluge, many still form their primary foundation of information from the written word, now let down very badly by The Telegraph, circa 1982. Everybody deserves to know the highlighted facts, as they are being officially disseminated by the ED, and not emanating from some dodgy sting operations.

Most ironically, the parent group of the publication recently celebrated its centenary, flaunting a mega communication campaign celebrating curiosity, questions and answers. A classic instance of advertising promise not being delivered by product outcomes, as the fundamental fuel of curiously, prominently accessible information, was denied to its trusting readers. It is necessary to repeat that the assessment may still have remained one-sided, purely their prerogative, but the bigness of the heist cannot be submerged.

Whatever happens to the minister and his partner is a sub judice matter, and its political implications are left to the fertile imagination. The disturbing subject is the dogged reluctance of an iconic thought leader, one-time most surely, to fail in its most fundamental duties. It possibly suggests a colossal dip in integrity or plain good sense, and a tragic loss of hard-earned credibility.

Decades back, the very daily had borne an iconic advertising line, 'Black and White and read all over.' It's still well read but with views that are disappointingly coloured.