Mps Need To Become Techno Savvy

Parliamentarians are a little upset that national newspapers are no longer giving them the same importance in their daily coverage as they used to do some years ago. Recently, a group of leading parliamentarians invited senior journalists to share their concern and evolve methods to reverse the trend of declining news coverage of parliamentary proceedings.

According to a study conducted by them, national newspapers carried on an average three to seven news items on Parliament per day. This, they regretted, was very low compared to the large number of speeches, discussions and proceedings taking place in the two houses of Parliament.

 

Newspapers were more obsessed with walk-outs and angry exchanges of words in Parliament and gave them more prominence in their coverage, the parliamentarians felt. But the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha also conducted serious business and many good speeches were delivered by ministers and eminent leaders of the opposition. And the complaint was that these were not adequately covered by newspapers.

The suggestions from parliamentarians to improve coverage varied from dedicating special pages in newspapers to coverage of daily Parliament news to bringing out periodic supplements on Parliament news. Another suggestion was to devote a special corner in a newspaper where reports from various parliamentary committees could be carried.

There is no doubt that the coverage of Parliament in most national newspapers has declined dramatically in the last one decade. An average of three to seven items per day in a newspaper which has about one hundred news items in total is indeed very low. Such a situation is also unhealthy for any democracy, where parliamentarians and newspapers have to play an equally important and often complementary role to ensure quality governance for the people.

But the manner in which parliamentarians have gone about correcting the apparent distortions indicates that the real problem has not been properly diagnosed and its real cause is not being tackled. The primary reason for newspapers relegating Parliament coverage to only half-a-dozen items per day is that proceedings in the two houses have ceased to make news for the readers. An additional reason is that even if an important development takes place in Parliament, that news has to compete with more exciting and more relevant developments taking place in other fields. This results in relatively reduced space for Parliament news in most newspapers.

The first thing parliamentarians should do is to make the two houses of Parliament more interesting, more meaningful and more relevant for the people and the economy. If indeed parliamentarians do get more serious and make Parliament proceedings interesting and meaningful, newspapers are bound to take note of these developments and allot them more space.

And if even then newspapers do not give enough space for Parliament, the parliamentarians should not lose much sleep over this. This is because just as the changing contours of the Indian economy have forced Parliament developments to compete with and often lose out to other news about people and the economy, technology has reduced the society's or Parliament's dependence on newspapers. Parliamentarians should recognise the technological change and take advantage of this.

Television has already made a big difference. Live coverage of Parliament proceedings can do wonders and minimise the need for comprehensive coverage of developments in Parliament by the print media. Internet is another new tool offered by technology. Our parliamentarians are yet to take full advantage of the Internet. Instead of complaining about newspapers blacking out reports of parliamentary committees, both the houses of Parliament should ensure that all their reports are made available in the Indian Parliament's website.

But is anybody in the secretariats of the two houses thinking of having independent websites for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha? Yes, there is a website that can take you to Indian Parliament. But you will be disappointed if you wanted to know the day's questions and answers that figured during the question hour that morning or if you wanted to find out the key suggestions made by a parliamentary committee which submitted its report earlier in the day.

The reality is that like most institutions in India, Parliament in our country has not adapted itself to changing technology. One example should suffice. Expunging an objectionable part of a statement made by a member of Parliament is an old convention. But with live television coverage taking place, the system of expunging a statement or part of it has developed serious weaknesses.

Recently, a newspaper wrote an opinion piece on the basis of a live television coverage of a statement made by a member of Parliament. Little did the writer realise that a part of that statement had been expunged later in the day. Soon enough the member of Parliament moved a notice of privilege against the writer. Although the issue was resolved without any controversy, live coverage of Parliament proceedings has called for a review of the system of expunging statements from the record.

Similarly, the use of Internet for sharing of parliamentary proceedings and reports may call for changes in other prevailing conventions, which were framed at a time only newspapers were the primary conduit for disseminating information.

But the manner in which our parliamentarians are upset over the declining coverage of Parliament proceedings in newspapers seems to suggest that they do not want to look beyond newspapers. True, newspapers are and will continue to be an important media for sharing information and developments in Parliament with the people of the country. But the growing reach of television and Internet should not be underestimated. In fact, parliamentarians will do well to devote more resources and time in taking full advantage of these new media, instead of just complaining about inadequate coverage in newspapers.