Truth a casualty amid media's complicit silence, says Sashi Kumar

The undermining of the role of mainstream media is adversely transforming the way news is produced and consumed in the country, senior journalist and chairman of Media Development Foundation Sashi Kumar said on Sunday.

Delivering the Gauri Lankesh Memorial lecture here on the slain journalist-activist’s 61st birth anniversary, he said mainstream media no longer wielded the power it had and was silent on critical issues also because it did not want to get in the crosshairs of the people in power.

“This is another factor that complicates matters for the free press today. The net result of all this is that truth has become the casualty. Truth has either been replaced, in many instances, by silence or by lies,” he said.

Speaking at the event, human rights activist Teesta Setalvad underlined the dangers of the weaponisation of the criminal justice system. She called for more dialogue on Oxfam’s India Discrimination Report that showed how unequally wealth was distributed in the country even though figures of economic growth are being bandied about.

“As a proponent of free speech, the biggest task is to explain to the people the difference between free speech and hate speech. This is something we need to do at a dlilaogic, intellectual and jurisprudential level,” she said.

Gauri screened

The evening also saw the screening of Gauri, Kavitha Lankesh’s poignant film that traces Gauri’s journey through her fights against state excesses, her collaborations with citizen movements and her work that relentlessly spoke truth to power.

The film, with extensive footage of Gauri’s engagement with the public cause and confrontations with right-wing politics, was screened to a packed house at the Karnataka Chalanachitra Kalavidara Sangha.

“I wanted Gauri’s voice to be heard. What she stood for was important. For me, this has been the most important and intimate screening (of the film),” Gauri's sister Kavitha said.