NDTV group editor Barkha Dutt, who has courted controversy by agreeing to be a messenger of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to the Congress during the formation of the UPA-2 ministry, was grilled on her channel about her conduct by four senior journalists on Tuesday night.
Dutt, however, failed to come out ritually clean, as seemed to be the object of the programme. She, instead, covered herself in more mud, particularly when subjected to questioning by Manu Joseph, editor of the Open magazine, which first published the transcript of her telephonic talks with Radia.
Outlook had also carried the transcript, now uploaded on its website. Its editor Vinod Mehta declined to join the show.
The programme, in fact, ended up blurring the line between corporate lobbying and journalism.
The other three scribes who questioned Dutt - on a show moderated by her subordinate Sonia Singh - were former Times of India editor Dileep Padgaonkar, Business Standard editor Sanjay Baru and BJP columnist Swapan Dasgupta.
The two key questions which Dutt, also a shareholder in NDTV, couldn't answer to the panel's satisfaction were: Why was she alone chosen by Radia to carry a message like a courier to the Congress when both parties (Congress and DMK) were already in touch with each other?
And, why didn't she see a news story in a corporate lobbyist's attempt to influence cabinet formation?
The NDTV group editor's response to the first poser was why was she being singled out when Radia also talked to other journalists. But she couldn't say how many of them carried the message to the Congress on behalf of the DMK. Dutt used the NDTV forum to charge that the reports were highly personalised and aimed at damaging her reputation.
To the second poser - described by Joseph as the biggest story of the century - Dutt said she did not think it was such a big story. However she refused to admit that this was an error of judgment, a term she used for talking to Radia.
She in fact accused her accusers by saying: "You used raw material - which NDTV would never have done - to publish a cover story. You never sought my comments." Dutt seemed to lose her temper but Joseph kept his cool on what could have been a story then or later.
Dutt tried to pull ranks with Joseph by saying: "I didn't think it was that big a story…. I'm sorry to say, but you do not have full understanding of political journalism or how politics works."
Padgaonkar asked Dutt why she strung along with Radia with highly suspect responses like "what should I tell them (Congress leaders)?" " You (Barkha) were not chosen (by Radia) because of your lily white reputation. She chose you because of your influence (with Congress leaders)," he told her bluntly.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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