Editorial failings, victim card: By shifting blame for fake Meta article, The Wire harms its own brand of journalism

Successful careers are often swiftly upended by unsavoury circumstances. Look around and you will find scores of examples across the world. Powerful politicians, rich corporate executives and influential editors were felled or their reputation sullied by swirling scandals.

The unfolding fiasco over the Meta story by The Wire, is no less a scandal. Sworn to holding the government to account and having set an extremely high standard for itself, The Wire has had to eat crow.

It has been no ordinary editorial mistake. Every newsroom does that and we all have erred at some point in our careers. But what raises the stink and sets this particular fiasco apart is that the reputation of The Wire as a spunky website and the credentials of its founder-editor Siddharth Vardarajan are in the line.

Felicitated around the globe, its fall over the Meta story that it has now been forced to retract after having vainly defended it initially is, therefore, more startling. Shocking is the word to describe the story and the manner The Wire handled the resultant controversy.

At a time when Indian media is generally said to be badly compromised–doing the bidding of the government–The Wire had taken up the position of being the nation’s conscience-keeper. It claimed to be uncompromising in speaking truth to power and often set the country’s discourse.

Though not many–apart from those firmly on the side of the government–spoke out against The Wire‘s brave but unfailingly activist-journalism, discomforting doubts always persisted. What particularly was unsettling was The Wire‘s deeply partisan journalism in an already polarised media world.

However, many swayed by their own anti-Modi sentiment remained in awe of the journalism practised by The Wire and Varadarajan. They remain so even now, though The Wire‘s Meta story, which alleged that the tech giant surreptitiously empowered the likes of BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya to take down anti-government social media posts, has resoundingly fallen flat.

I have no particular problem with a story falling flat. It always happened and will continue to happen. But what’s troublesome is the self-righteousness that is on display.

There is little doubt that The Wire failed in editorial gatekeeping on many counts. It allowed a dodgy story to go up and then stoutly defended it when people began to call it out.

Similar arrogance was on show months before when the website broke the much-talked-about Tek Fog story, accusing the ruling party of gaming social media to its advantage. Red flags were raised but they were contemptuously swept under the carpet.

What is disconcerting is that no lessons were learnt and The Wire attempted to dismiss all criticism of the Meta story, before being caught red-faced and compelled to retract it alongside its Tek Fog expose.

The episode has clearly exposed The Wire‘s editorial failings.

Reporters make mistakes and it is for the editor to take responsibility since the buck stops with that position. In the case of The Wire, it didn’t exactly happen that way. Also, the apology that was finally issued was half-hearted. No one said sorry either to Meta or BJP’s Malviya.

What is more disingenuous is perhaps the attempt to deflect the blame, now that The Wire has been clearly wrong-footed. Some two weeks ago, suggestions that one its staffers could have planted the story to bring disrepute to The Wire were brushed aside on Twitter as ‘outlandish’.

Now, however, The Wire is seeking to embrace victimhood. It has gone and lodged a police FIR against a person, accusing him of being a possible ‘plant’. And a vociferous ecosystem is loudly batting for the beleaguered website.

The aftermath of the Meta story could have been disregarded as comical. But then its consequences could be serious. Imagine this: now that The Wire has set a precedent, employees of any news organization can expect their management to lodge a police complaint against them whenever they go wrong with a story, either unwittingly or deliberately.

This is not to say that the FIR filed against The Wire by Malviya, alleging pre-planned conspiracy, has any more merit. There is nothing to suggest that the Meta story was anything but an editorial mistake, and any attempt to exploit it to settle scores must be resisted.

But it would be difficult to absolve The Wire‘s failings. More so because The Wire‘s ‘cavalier’ journalism to score quick brownie points compromise courageous journalism that it itself espouses. For years to come, the government will brush aside any story against it as ‘unfounded’ as the Meta and Tek Fog ones.

One mistake is understandable. But two on the trot? One has to be totally blinded by anti-BJP bias to trip twice.

Journalism in India has been on a downhill journey, and one reason for it is the unabashed partisanship that has come to define it in recent years.

Journalists masquerading as government propagandists cannot be expected to mend their ways. They have neither scruples nor shame.

But perhaps The Wire can help redeem the profession by taking some responsibility. Minus their fanatic partisanship and hubris, they would serve us better.

The author is the former editor-in-chief of Outlook group and the author of Editor Missing: The Media in Today’s India. Views are personal.

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