'Presstitution': The public's perception about sports media necessitates more independent voices

“Nobody wants to do tabloid news but some are forced to,” a friend from one of India’s top journalism schools remarked, as I was trying to understand what a student graduating a journalism school looks for in his/her work profile. “There will be absolutely no tabloid,” I reassured her.

I couldn’t help but recall this conversation as a sympathy wave engulfed social media following Harsha Bhogle’s axing.

Two weeks ago, India limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni’s response to an Australian journalist who quizzed him about his retirement plans was construed as humorous by some, and patronising by some. But there was a third category conspicuous with their choice of words. “This serves the presstitutes right,” they exhorted. (For the uninitiated, presstitutes is an amalgamation of the words ‘press’ and ‘prostitutes’.)

The principle underlying the slothful categorisation is this: “You chose to be part of a fabric that I’ve deemed condemnable, and therefore you deserve every bit of humiliation that comes your way”.

What kind of people hounds athletes with questions about their retirement plans as if they are going to provide them with life insurance? Hint: You just learnt the word.

There is for me an irony in mourning for Harsha at a time when people hold the view that the entire media is made up of sycophants.

Thousands of people dream about doing what they love for a living, and in a cricket-crazy country like India, writing and debating cricket falls smack dab in that bandwidth. One of the greatest joys of watching sports is that it lends itself to so many levels of arguments.

The primary job of a journalist is to serve as a conduit between athletes and the public without losing sight of the big picture. This would mean that he/she would not just add value to what the public sees, but raise questions about pertinent issues concerning the game.

This is what press conferences are for. They are meant to dissect the mind of the athlete – What drives them? How do they respond to challenges? What is their take on an issue? Why did they decide to take a particular course of action?

Sadly, press conferences today have been reduced to a place of inane tautologies.

Sure, not every reporter visits the press conference with the best of intentions. There are media houses that not just survive but thrive on petty titillation, making a mountain out of a molehill. A senior journalist once told me that the first question directed towards Gary Sobers during one of his visits to India was about his alleged affair with an Indian actress. This, right after he had briefed the art of spin bowling.

But not every reporter goes into the conference room to find out if Anushka Sharma texted Virat Kohli after Indian won the game; not every journalist uses the zoom lens of his camera to capture Kate Middleton’s billowing skirt exposing her legs.

This perception that every journalist is a sell-out is not just flawed but belittles the body of work done by the honest ones. It is also a lose-lose situation for the journalist as it leaves him/her without a comeback.

To paint every journalist with the same brush, to blacklist the medium that gives out the message is not just defensive but one-eyed. This stereotyping only discourages them from raising questions with the big picture in mind.

Siddharth Monga, one of the strongest critics of Dhoni, also captures the essence of Dhoni best. Sharda Ugra, who takes on the unprofessionalism of bodies that govern sports, also took on the journalistic contempt that accompanied reporting India’s performance at the Olympics.

To heap praise when a team wins, and stay silent when it loses, is a case of individual opinion wilfully compromised. Incidentally, this is exactly the kind of intellectual corruption that has plagued the commentary box over the years as the board has hankered control over the message emanating out of it. (The BCCI world-feed commentator is asked not to discuss issues such as team selection, captaincy, and administration on air.)

Now that would amount to ‘ presstitution’!