Spare the media

There are two things that instantly come to mind: one, he appears, unsurprisingly perhaps, to have gone with the trend of media grilling by a section in the government. Secondly, it is not without significance that he chose a forum with some international audience to say what he had to. There are such misgivings about the way the election commission has been functioning that most people would like to hear him out given the crucial importance of the next general election in our national life.

We wonder where did the media go wrong? It's a question of perception how the mainstream media work is evaluated. We would have thought that by honestly reporting on terrorism, corruption and dysfunctional Anti-Corruption Commission, among other things, we have done service to the nation including the government by keeping it informed from a neutral perspective where its pitfalls lie. That can't be image spoiling. As a matter of fact, much of the good name the country has earned is because of the objective media which has responsibly mixed accolades with warnings where due.

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Let's focus on the CEC. His being catapulted on to the centre of public controversy has been his own doing. He did not sit with his two just-retired former colleagues for months together to iron out his differences over the question of electoral roll preparations -- whether it will be revised or a fresh one -- with the result a messy delay is occurring in presenting the nation with a credible voter list. Enter two newly inducted commissioners, he holds a meeting with an assured majority but still keeps the other two commissioners from the important conference. What did the feuding inside a statutory body like the EC which should have worked as a team signal to the people at large? Certainly not a credible image for either the CEC or the EC. If one were to say the CEC has been singularly responsible for eroding his image would he be too wrong?