New Delhi, May 10, 2016: On 30th April, 2016 came the news that Rajdeep Sardesai had left Twitter after a hacking scare. Some journalists were aghast and lashed out at Narendra Modi government and against some ‘paid ‘trolls after his exit.
His leaving Twitter became a huge point of discussion, but then the good news is that he has quietly come back on Twitter (May 5, 2016) and did not say a word on the hacking but seems to have doused himself in his work.
Rajdeep Sardesai has more than 3 million followers on Twitter which is a huge number and his popularity rivals that of several prominent newsmakers.
But there are things that we must think over now.
The first thing is that it is not always possible for a person to agree with someone else’s point of view and we must respect that.
He is a senior journalist and he knows that the vocabulary of certain journalists and their activism on certain issues sometimes crosses the line of journalistic ethics.
For example, and surely Rajdeep Sardesai would know, that some journalists are using words like ‘bhakts’ to describe a certain political group. Isn’t that below the belt and a needless provocation? Why belittle someone’s harmless political views? Surely, Rajdeep Sardesai has every right to protest but then he should, as a senior journalist, stand up against the agent provocateurs in the profession too.
If a journalist does not want himself to be called a presstitute or a news trader, then he should also set the bar higher and not lose his patience like a road-side bully.
Besides this, it is a great relief that he is back on Twitter because the strength of a democracy lies in tolerating the view point of those who differ from us. We may not like his views or it could be the other way round but let us not run down each other online.
The delicate thread of decency which we so follow in our ‘real’ lives must be followed in our online space too.
Pic credit: Rajdeep Sardesai
