For the past few days this middle aged man with a receding
headline and neatly trimmed grey beard and pony tail has been staring you from
TV screens, news websites and the pages of newspapers. But they are all either
his still photographs or old footages; the man is actually ducking the media
ever since the cover over his alleged sexual assault got blown over.
Dubbed as 'Nirbhaya moment' for Indian media, it is probably the first such case where a well known editor has been caught pants down, under the blinding glare of publicity and put through the wringer of crowdsourced social media. The latter is an amoral loose cannon which nobody can either rein in or apply brakes.
In earlier instances of editors indulging in such testosterone fuelled antics, things used to get swept under the carpet. The media houses used to close ranks and observe an incestuous 'code of silence'. The matter used to remain contained to the realm of office canteen and press club gossip, but never enter the public sphere. But now with social media 'following' us everywhere the rules of the game have changed. They no longer remain 'in-house' or 'internal', but go 'viral'. Caught in a time warp, Tarun Tejpal and Tehelka management failed to notice this.
Tejpal in his apology says it was 'lapse of judgement'. How true! After all he failed to gauge that this woman was not going to be frightened to silence (she even told his daughter) just to keep her job or quietly resign and fade away. Nor did he realise that times are changing and women, especially in metro cities, no longer feel intimidated by the adverse publicity while reporting sexual harassment or rape.
His apology was akin to the remorse a young brat shows after breaking neighbour's window pane while playing gully cricket. It had more to do with the fear of punishment he may have to undergo than the offence itself. His bizarre move to 'recuse himself' for six months to 'atone' for his actions were a far cry from the hammer and tongs stand his magazine usually takes to condemn others for a similar offence. And wonder what transformation is going to happen to him in these six months. Later he became less penitent and claimed it was a consensual encounter and is now even spinning conspiracy theories.
Though Tehelka came as a whiff of fresh air in the stifling atmosphere of Page 3 culture and paid journalism, Tejpal later became associated with some dubious corporate houses to boost the sagging finances. His association with ThinkFest and the presence of a Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef in its latest version also drew lot of flak (though nothing compared to this episode). The UPA government also has a lot of answering to do.
The magazine editor Shoma Chaudhury took to the 'her master's voice' tradition with a verve that would make Renuka Chowdhary or Manish Tewari envy; but decimated her own credibility in the process. Her claim that the woman journalist was 'satisfied' by the apology was the final nail. The fact that this 'activist' magazine was reluctant to form a committee to deal with sexual harassment cases only provided one more handle to its detractors.
And the magazine has them in great numbers. The foremost, of course, is BJP whose leaders were badly exposed in Tehelka's early sting operation called Operation Westend in its earlier avatar as a start-up web site. Rattled by the expose, the then Vajpayee government went after the website and its main promoters First Global in a manner that seemed like a throwback of Indira Gandhi's infamous Emergency. Later after the Gujarat riots Tehelka carried out another sting exposing Sangh Parivar and BJP. Now with snoopgate become hot for BJP in general and Modi in particular, this scandal is godsend. Internet trollers loyal to them would now like us to believe that whatever Tehelka did in past was sham. For Tarun Tejpal's professional rivals it is time for quiet celebration.
The worst hit are the Tehelka employees. Many journalists and other employees joined Tehelka because they were passionate about its hard hitting brand of reporting and soldiered on despite poor service conditions, when compared with other bigger publications. It is these people who have been badly let down by this scandal.
Also Read: Bangalore Beat
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