Media For the Commoners

"It was that simple. Chou En-lai knew that he was addressing lonely men, men whose mentalities had been branded with a sense of being outcasts. It cost him nothing to make such a gesture, to speak words of compassion. He offered no programs of industrialization, no long term loans, no mutual defense pacts. To the nations smarting under a sense of inferiority, he tried to cement ties of kinship." Richard Wright, The Color Curtain.
This is the voice of compassion we direly need from all quarters. The have-nots of this country have become a city within the city, the city of the poor. Marx’ words about being two cities within a single city, one of rich and one of poor, can easily be generalized for the whole Land of the Pure. What does the city of the poor, that part of the nation that is the dominant, silent majority, reeling under abject poverty or a minority among them (the so called middle class) ready to go down the spiral to be devoured by it, need to become part of the scenery rather than being the spectator?
What can we offer and how can we do it? The how becomes more important than the what because we have to look for venues of compassion. The only compassionate partner of modern men and women, no matter how backward he/she is, is the media. What type of media might bear the word “compassion”? It is community media. What is community media? Even the present day mass idiot boxes pose to be community spokespersons through giving local tickers and making a mockery of people's miseries by claiming to be “the first on the scene”. They don't qualify to do it. There is no question about it.
Community media is a media that develops out of the needs of a smaller human denomination and responds to its needs, answers its questions, and advocates for its needs. Corporate media, the media running on fear and favor, to be precise, do not qualify to do it at all. The needs of the impoverished and those "smarting under the sense of inferiority" can only be met by something more altruistic. Here again many will object that such an arrangement is impossible in the world of cut throat competition. This is also what we call mediated reality. If good schools are possible, and good hospitals are possible, than why not an altruistic community media? The need of the hour is to understand the meaning of this important phenomenon. To understand how it operates.
First, community media is a patient, audience-based enterprise. One should have the patience to listen to stories and also the acumen to tell stories. One can never tell a story if one is not positive enough to listen to one.. Our mainstream media malaise of stuffing people with preconceived questions is not of any use. Questions must arise from the very soil and souls that are being presented. It is their version of reality that is important, not what we decide is important in our cozy (and not too cozy) drawing rooms. Our being "knowledgeable" is the worst qualification for the job. We need to "come to" them "with the trust of a child," borrowing the words from Peter Gabriel's famous song “Red Rain”.
The very word community media means it is their media, not someone else's. The second most important step is to give the people their voices back. It should not transmit messages in "packages", giving the name of the reporter and the channel that streams it. The person and the community should get their name acknowledged. It is important to build confidence and develop a horizontal system of communication. People should get their views back in a form where they can see themselves; individuals as well as communities should be able to identify themselves. It is the same with movies and drama all over. And those with the tall talk about objectivity know well that there is none. The most objective is what helps the people who lay claim to it the most. That doesn't succumb to narrow, vested interests. If we make this the yardstick there don't exist many. So, enough of the objectivity chirping. And still it is objective. It is never based on fables. It is the truth of a people. Let it be in the open, let it see the light of day.
There is need to develop a network based upon community radio (the most effective), newspapers, or even TV that uses reporting methods in a humane manner. The above picture is one such example. The little guy is feeling comfortable with the camera. He is interacting. The kids are not afraid. They are enjoying being part of the process. All this comes after a patient hour or two. The reporters roam in the area with their elders, listening to their stories, the little ones watching the whole process. Then comes the moment that they let themselves play around in front of the camera. And all this ends up in a photo (also a video clip) where the media is no more an outsider.
The need of the hour is thus to develop a network that lifts images, without bias and prejudice, from the simplest level of human existence (and these shouldn't be social outcasts, exceptional problems), to the mainstream. Every part of the country should get its share of presence on the national mainstream. This can only be done if we learn the art of reporting for the poor, understand the need of "cementing ties of kinship", to give the silent, dominant, unrepresented, but never honored majority of this country, a voice.