When social media first emerged, I welcomed it wholeheartedly. I saw it as a great way to bridge the gap between the journalist and the viewer, to democratise opinion, to create a large pool of citizen journalists who would be able to tell their stories from every corner of the country. I am sorry to report that a large part of social media has only poisoned the news ecosystem even further. Twitter, for example, is often used to spread lies, disinformation, hate and propaganda: we now have armies of political operatives who will use the medium to target each other and confuse and corrupt the news environment. Between Bhakts, Congressis and appatards, between Pappu, Feku and Farjiwal, social media has only coarsened the public debate. Abuse is now seen as a badge of honour, defamatory statements are seen as par for the course. Worse, our netas actually celebrate some of these abusive elements. I was shocked to learn that Prime Minister Narendra Modi actually held a tea reception for some of his supporters on Twitter, supporters whose sole task it is to “take down” in the most abusive terms anyone who is critical of the government. One of these Twitter trolls, who even physically attacked lawyer Prashant Bhushan in his chamber, is now a BJP spokesperson. What can be more shameful? But then, why are we surprised? The prime minister targets journalists who may be critical as “news traders”, one of his ministers calls us “presstitutes” and the Delhi chief minister calls us dalals. The Congress, too, has joined the bandwagon: those who were critical of their leader Rahul Gandhi after the recent UP election defeat were accused of being “paid media”.
Rajdeep Sardesai, veteran journalist, and author