Why a remark from American journalist Chris Hedges offered a perfect (yet grim) lens for me to understand what’s going on in our world today.
Gues op-ed
Surabhi Srivastava
As I was drinking my coffee this morning and listening to a podcast — an interview with the prolific American journalist and author Chris Hedges — I had to pause the podcast for a minute after Hedges in his response to a question about the decline of legacy and mainstream media stated that “media has stopped examining power”. It’s worth repeating it again:
“Media has stopped examining power.”
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
In a week that has entailed the release of 3 million additional documents of the Epstein Files and the ensuing numerous stories and discussions in its aftermath, not just in the U.S. but globally, the sweeping layoffs at The Washington Post, the “sudden” trade deal accomplished between the U.S. and India (with little known about what the deal actually means for India and its people), and the censoring of Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition, in the Indian Parliament from raising and asking valid questions regarding the role of the Indian government and Prime Minister Modi’s leadership in relation to the military conflict with China back in 2020, Hedges’s simple yet powerful statement deeply resonated with me, compelling me to also pen this essay as a way to reflect on it and unpack it further.
The motto of journalism is to speak truth to power, and it is obvious, that one cannot speak truth to power until one is able to understand it, disentangle it, distil it, and yes, examine it to then be able to lay it bare, question it, and perhaps even disrupt and upend it. If I look at just the events of this past week, it is not rocket science to come to the conclusion why the statement from Hedges is so relevant for our contemporary times. The grotesque and horrifying story about Epstein’s crimes and the absolute misuse and abuse of power could precisely carry on unabated for decades because in addition to law enforcement authorities and the state, the media rarely bothered to examine just how and why Jeffrey Epstein had managed to accumulate an egregious amount of wealth and power, while also using this power to assault, abuse, and intimidate the most marginalised in our society – children and minors, primarily vulnerable young girls.
Even when some media publications and journalists attempted to uncover and understand Epstein and his connections that made up the wealthy and powerful elite in America and beyond, it was often the bosses higher up within the media that quickly shut down such endeavours, given the fact that they were themselves very much a part of this disgusting milieu of powerful elites. However, this isn’t just restricted to the Epstein case.
If we look at the news coverage on the ongoing genocide in Gaze (it cannot be called a ceasefire anymore, as Israel continues to kill Palestinians every day, with over 500 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire was implemented four months ago), it is clear as day that most of the legacy and mainstream media in the West (but also in the global south, including in my home country India) has given up entirely, not just in relation to understanding the role of power and its influence in shaping Israel’s political and military actions in Gaza (and West Bank and beyond), but also done a severe disservice to public interest by not bothering to explain the context and evolution of this power to the public, and instead, erasing an entire peoples’ narrative, experience, and history.
The media’s responsbility is therefore, not just to examine the power, but also explain it in an accessible and fact-based manner to make an informed sense of the political, social, economic, and geopolitical events. Therefore, questions such as who holds the power (institutions/networks/people), how did they cultivate and accumulate it, whom does the power marginalise and harm, who benefits, etc. are not merely relevant as information, but crucial for public understanding, action, and accountability.
Examining and explaining power is what enables media to truly inform the public and both create and strengthen democratic discourse, participation, and action.
In the last two decades, within my adult lifetime, as we have confronted one crisis after another, media has failed terribly and repeatedly at abiding by this basic principle. Even in my home country, India, the mainstream media does not even fake attempt or pretend to be interested in examining power anymore, let alone explain it to the Indian public or question it. If anything, the Indian mainstream media has become completely subservient to power, thus playing PR to the Modi government, rather than doing any form of basic journalism. As is popularly said in India now, the mainstream media sits in the lap of power, aka it has become “godi media” (lapdog media), a stunning fall for the reputation and legacy of Indian media, that continues to destroy Indian democracy.
There are some glimmers of hope, nevertheless. In India and globally. At least while they still last. There are independent media houses and journalists that have been doing a tremendous job and heavy lifting of still examining, understanding, and explaining to the public the invisible hand of power in shaping world and domestic events (I have shared a list of some of my go-to publications below for reference).
However, we as news consumers, and as citizens and believers of democracy, ought to also shoulder some responsibility for enabling a media ecosystem that can continue to examine power — free of fear and in public interest.
This means actively following and supporting media and journalists that, still, adamantly and doggedly practice journalism that matters to the public and is in public interest. Journalism that is invested in getting to the root of an issue. Journalism that takes time and meticulous determination to uncover and render visible the invisible, and ask questions and demand answers of those in power and those who abuse power — or as Trump would say, journalists who apparently don’t bother to smile while doing their job
We ought to realise the dangers of what happens when media ceases to examine power — in fact, we are experiencing it now. We see/hear/read about it every day.
A feckless media that ceases to examine power is one that allowed for an Epstein and his network to thrive and flourish for more than two decades. It has allowed for Palestinians in Gaza to continue to be killed despite a “ceasefire”. It has allowed for anti-Muslim rhetoric and lynchings shape the last 11 years of Indian democracy (with its continuous decline into authoritarianism). It has allowed for (undocumented) migrants to be “otherised”, deported, and killed, not just in the U.S., but also in Europe.
Hence, if we as people, are not alert to the dangers and consequences of a media that stops examining power, it will eventually also impact us. Directly or indirectly. And will erode our democratic rights and freedoms. Ultimately, destroying our communities and our societies.
I wish I had a more hopeful note to conclude this essay on. But I have none today.
Early in his proprietorship, Bezos endorsed a new motto for the paper: “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” It turn out that one of democracy’s most celebrated media institutions can be strangled in broad daylight.”
Indeed. Media that ceases to examine power strangles democracy every day, be it day or night.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this guest op-ed are those of the author. RNW Media is not responsible for the opinions shared. This essay was originally published on Surabhi Srivastava’s personal Substack: https://substack.com/@thecuriousfeminist