Making people swap roles, and putting them in unlikely situations, is a kind of fantasy that is normally employed by inventive filmmakers. Such a situation, where roles were upended, was witnessed at Manorama News Conclave 2024 held at O by Tamara in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
Kerala Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, instead of being in the default position of being the interviewee, was seated on the other side. He was offered the chance to grill three prominent anchors of Manorama News: Nisha Purushothaman, Ayyappa Das, and Shani Prabhakaran.
As it turned out, Shamseer used the occasion to pour out his frustration with the media. His grievances were both personal and general. He had some tricky questions, too, up his sleeve.
Shamseer began with a dig. "Unlike these three, I will not intervene after asking a question. Like they usually do, I won't cut them short. It is up to them to answer my questions as an essay or in brief," he said.
SHAMSEER: Where will you stand when media ethics comes face to face with the interests of the newspaper management?
SHANI: We are guided solely by journalistic ethics. We remain as objective as we can be.
SHAMSEER: (Though he began by declaring that he will not intervene, the Speaker could not resist the temptation): It is not enough that Shani alone feels it. People should also sense it that way. At least in certain occasions, it looked like you had taken up a quotation job.
AYYAPPA DAS: It is the merit of the story that decides which side we take. We need to provide clarity to the people. So certain questions will be asked. This can perhaps seem like bias.
SHAMSEER: Why are questions not hurled with the same intensity at the Centre?
NISHA: I follow what K M Mathew had told me as a student. An editor has only one side: the people. If you have the facts, you can fearlessly question anyone.
However, the Speaker seemed unconvinced. "I expected answers from the heart, not the mouth," he said. His next question was about accuracy and the urgency to give 'breaking' news. He felt that most reports related to the CPM were false.
SHAMSEER: In this pursuit of breaking news, are you telling the truth?
SHANI: We will not purposefully report false news. In this age of social media, and quick information, we know that we will be hauled up, and that too very harshly, for our mistakes. And the credibility of party-related news will depend on the credibility of the source.
SHAMSEER: Once you get information from a single source, will you cross-check it with a second?
SHANI: The problem with some party men is that they will utter the same lies.
SHAMSEER: You once reported that a certain party leader faced criticism in a party forum unaware that the leader was not at the forum. When you report, shouldn't you be aware of the party structure?
SHANI: The party will be better off with a bit of transparency. What is it that you discuss that the people should not know?
SHAMSEER: Will I be invited to the management meeting of Malayala Manorama?
The Speaker was also insistent that a media outlet peddles the interests of the management. "It is your lack of understanding that prompts you to assume that editorial decisions are influenced by the management," Nisha said. The Speaker's combative questions were in fact a build up to a personal grudge he had been carrying for 10 long years.
SHAMSEER: In 2014, when I was contesting for the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat, I was implicated in a murder by the media. You wanted me to lose. You spread false propaganda and you had your way. But do you regret your actions now?
AYYAPPA DAS: Manorama has not given any such news linking you to a murder.
SHAMSEER: It was me who had the bitter experience. So how can I forget even if you claim ignorance?
(The Speaker then revealed that it was in the T P Chandrasekharan murder that he was implicated.)
SHAMSEER: My name was not there for the first two years after the death of Chandrasekharan. But suddenly, just when I became a candidate, I was linked to the murder.
AYYAPPA DAS: We have not discussed this issue.
SHAMSEER: You have selective amnesia.
AYYAPPA DAS: Of course, the wedding function had become news. We had reported that. (Das was referring to the news that Shamseer had attended the marriage of Muhammad Shafi, an accused in TP's murder, in 2017 when he was MLA.)
SHAMSEER: It is strange that you don't remember how you felled a first-time contender.
NISHA: Even if the media had done it, would people change their perception of a candidate all of a sudden?
SHAMSEER: That is why I lost only by a small margin. (He had lost by 3306 votes to Mullappally Ramachandran in 2014).
The Speaker, however, had another complaint, but an endearing one. "We were one of the first participants of night-time channel debates. We grew up along with these anchors. But there were times when we were put in jail, and during those times, these anchors never bothered to ask after our well-being, they have not visited us even once," he said.
The Speaker's anti-media prejudice was so rooted that he maintained that the media had done nothing good. "I don't know whether you have ever taken any initiative to provide positive news," he said.
Eventually, Das asked the Speaker whether he enjoyed the new role at the conclave. "Since I am functioning as the Assembly Speaker, I did not find it difficult," Shamseer said.