A fighter for the Fourth Estate

Surinder Nihal Singh Surinder Nihal Singh left for his heavenly abode at the ripe age of 89. I have personally known him. He was such a value-based fighter for the freedom of the press for years ! The editors like B G Verghese and Nihal Singh have a lot to convey to the new generation of young journalists, whose professional approach and values have yardsticks far different from those of the times gone by. Numerous silken threads connect our yesterdays and todays. Nihal Singh would click in any period and any setting because of his forwardlooking approach to the profession while remaining rooted in the editor's basic norms to run the newspaper freely and fearlessly without crossing the proprietor's path or submitting to any official dictates in abnormal times like the Emergency.
Singh proved his class while occupying the key slot of The Statesman in Delhi and later as its full-fledged Editor in Kolkata. He gave us an insight into The Statesman affairs which virtually took the shine off this great institution.
I appreciate Nihal Singh's fighting spirit against his Managing Director C R Irani's encroachment bids in the sacred arena of the editor. As he put it candidly in his autobiography-- Ink in My Veins A life in journalism : "The last thing I wanted to do was to remain the editor of The Statesman of its glorious traditions of fair reporting and pithy but critical editorials. And every day came small tell-tale moves that signified Irani's desire to be the boss of both the editorial and managerial sections."
Nihal Singh took Irani head on, even though he was well aware of the fact that the Board of Directors was in his pocket. Earlier, Pran Chopra, the first Indian editor of The Statesman, had run a campaign against Irani but in vain.
Nihal Singh could see the writing on the wall and decided to quit on 7 November 1979. He, however, raised one pertinent question: why did Nani Palkhivala, the greal liberal figure who had headed many civil struggles, fail to check Irani, his cousin, from destroying the great institution of The Statesman ? The only explanation was "Palkhivala was so fixated on the threat the communist ideology represented for the nation that he was willing to sacrifice a great institution at its altar".
The Statesman's downhill journey since then has been a harsh fact of the Indian newspaper industry. The decline of this great institution has always saddened me professionally. As a student in Kolkata I had grown up with the paper. My first article under the Youth Today column had appeared in The Statesman in 1962, for which I was paid a then- princely sum of Rs 75/.
I have highlighted The Statesman matter since it tells us about the changing media scene in India and how wrong moves could destroy an established, credible professional institution.
Today, the thin line between the editorial side and the managerial wing has either got blurred or been destroyed completely. These days every proprietor either conducts himself as editor or has installed himself as one.

Journalism today is a big political business. Journalists are hired or fired as per their utility on the lines of the corporate culture. There are still some proud exceptions. We have in our midst some young journalists who are basically cast in the Nihal Singh mould. But they are more pragmatic' and would occasionally compromise in today's hard times. Singh's has been a multidimensional professional career. As a foreign correspondent, he has shown us glimpses of the richness of his professional calibre while narrating the goings-on in the countries of his postings in South-east Asia, Pakistan, Moscow, East Europe, Japan, London etc.
Apart from giving his perspective on the Pakistani mindset on India and its anti-India rhetoric, he provides in his book certain lighter facets of life like how English should not be written.

In today's changing times, it will, of course, be difficult to follow the footsteps of yesterday's class editors. But Nihal Singh's example could always be inspiring at the right time and in the right situation. It is worth remembering that genuine editors are made of sterner stuff. And such persons are very much there in every period and in every age, whatever be the level of operational democracy.

He says, "Any (Pakistani) newspaper or periodical in the English language provides a crop of examples of how English should not be written. In one, an 'elite dies'. Another declares: 'change is corroding the fabrication of our society'. A third deplores 'semi-baked education'..... 'traffic on the main line', wrote a newspaper, 'was restored after railway staff had cleared away the track'...' A Dawn editorial spoke of 'the botheration of problems'.
Well, this is like a good editor. And Nihal Singh had a tremendous reputation of being a meticulous editor who was always sought by top newspapers. For seven years, he conducted himself superbly well as Editor of Khaleej Times in Dubai, a difficult task in the Kingdom of Sheikhs. He had also the honour of launching Vijaypat Singhania's short-lived modern newspaper India Post. The paper could not survive as the proprietor developed cold feet when he found the going hard financially. He often talked about politicians, the politics of syndicate, bureaucrats, ministers and Prime Ministers.
Talking about Indira Gandhi, he has said in his book: "Despite my combative relationship with Indira, she making no bones about her low esteem about journalists of my ilk and I giving as good as I got, there was unstated respect for each other.
I believe she was impressed by my spunk in criticising her and her policies and making fun of her Emergency in every way I could. I admire Indira's deportment and her queenly years, despite her hankering after the intellectual crown. In the foreign policy field, she had a knack of taking on the mightiest with a smile on her lips". How true ! Well, Nihal Singh played his onerous task honestly. He was true to his conscience as a professional editor who drew his own Lakshman rekha to discharge the task entrusted to him. Young journalists can draw their own lessons in today's highly competitive media setting.

In today's changing times, it will, of course, be difficult to follow the footsteps of yesterday's class editors. But Nihal Singh's example could always be inspiring at the right time and in the right situation. It is worth remembering that genuine editors are made of sterner stuff. And such persons are very much there in every period and in every age, whatever be the level of operational democracy. What finally matters is the courage of conviction and honesty of purpose for the larger interest of society and human values. S Nihal Singh had a long challenging journey as a journalist-editor and author.

--Hari Jaisingh