Satyarthi, Malala and the Frenzied Media!

Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai: so different yet so alike!

Kailash Satyarthi is 60. Malala Yousafzai is 17! Satyarthi has hitherto been almost a ‘nameless’ cause in the media, Malala has often been called ‘Media’s darling’. Satyarthi has 35 long and arduous years of movement for children’s rights behind him, Malala has promise to serve and effect change ahead of her. Satyarthi has taken the suffering of tens of thousands of children upon himself and healed his wounds caused by the fire to bring about change in the society. And, Malala: she has been a sufferer herself, a victim of dogmatic ideologies who has survived from the jaws of death and displayed steely determination coupled with courage to make a difference, and, she did, of course! Satyarthi is from India and Malala is from Pakistan. So far, their paths have been different. Their tales of excruciating pain and struggle have been unlike too! But, their paths met, because, their varied roads led to the same goal. Because, they challenged the ‘usual’ norms, because they cherished the same hope, because they nurtured the same vision for every child under the sun: right to a happy and a fulfilling childhood.

Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai with their Nobel Peace Prize Diplomas.

Addressing thousands of distinguished guests including the Norwegian Royal Family, the Prime Minister of Norway, artists from all over the world, prominent guests from various walks of life and a congregation of media from every corner of the world, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjørn Jagland announced, Satyarthi and Yousafzai are precisely the people whom Alfred Nobel in his will calls “champions of peace”.

And, when Satyarthi and Malala in their characteristic composure took to the lofty podium to receive the honour, the entire Oslo City Hall reverberated with thunderous applause. The distinguished guests stood up to nod and marvel at the greatness of two ‘champions of peace’: one, a school girl and the other, a grey-haired middle-aged man! And, the packs of cameras with their frighteningly long zoom lenses flapped on, incessantly.

 And, the frenzied and insolent media

Quite ironically, while thousands of people celebrated the prestigious Peace Prize ceremony in the gigantic Oslo City Hall, there was ‘chaos’ written all across the entire gallery on the second floor! Photographers with their fiendishly long zoom lenses swarmed the entire gallery. They jostled for space, they nudged their lenses onto each other and spat venomous comments on their fraternity at the slightest of provocation! The reporters looked a harried lot too, they elbowed others and took very little care of the others beside them. Young women empowered by the assumed power of their microphones were hardly interested in anything, but an ‘exclusive’ report or an interview with any of the winners. I stood there, amused and appalled. An elderly photojournalist requested a young reporter who had come on the way of his lenses, and she retorted, “I can’t, I am sorry, I can’t I am sorry!” Even after repeated requests from the photojournalist, her response was curt and her facial expressions were repugnant! I stood there, speechless at her insolence.

There was more in store for me…more of contemptuously rude behaviour from journalists around. Another photojournalist wrapped with three cameras around him walked towards me; he gestured, snapping his fingers at me, insinuating me to step aside and make space for him. I was startled at his behaviour initially, but decided to move aside and give space to him. I thought, being a photojournalist, he deserves to be there right in the middle of action, to capture moments of history for posterity. Alternating between two snazzy cameras, he went on capturing every bit of the event, his lenses flapped on incessantly. I waited…and, waited…for him to move aside. But, he didn’t. After almost half an hour, I requested him to make a little bit of space for me as well. Though not as sophisticated as his, my camera was waiting far too long to capture historic moments in the city hall below. He curtly refused to move an inch aside. I was polite and yet firm, “I guess, each one of us should get equal opportunities to take pictures here,” I said. Behind me, around three photojournalists were waiting too, “You shouldn’t have given in your place to him”, they said. At that very moment, the insolent photojournalist turned back and hurled, “I am a photographer. I need to be right here. I can’t move”. “We are all here to do the same,” another reporter countered from behind.

There were two more similar incidents of altercations. I noticed another photojournalist who seemed to be quite an ‘Angry Young Man’…impulsive and insolent. Obsessed and occupied, they hardly smiled (even the young female reporters from India), except for any quick favour. And, they never cared to say ‘hi’ or even a polite ‘thank you’. (Yeah, yeah, I know…they are the busy bees!) I was bewildered, disappointed too! Many years ago, I had extensive arguments with my father to convince him to let me become a Journalist. He was convinced and I did become a Journalist too. But, after many years, when I ponder upon the current situation of journalism, instances of their insensitive, selfish and shallow take on humanity and human stories, I feel relieved that I am not a journalist OF THIS KIND (No offence to hundreds of many sincere, dedicated and committed journalists all over the world, my highest regards to them). I am content being just an ordinary writer who is passionately interested about issues pertaining to humanity!

What Satyarthi and Malala said:

“We need collective actions with a sense of urgency. Every single minute matters, every single child matters, every single childhood matters,” said Kailash Satyarthi, the man who achieved the release of some 80,000 children, rising above violence and constant threats to his life. His son and wife looked on, as he addressed the whole world in his distinctive white ‘kurta’ (an Indian traditional attire for men) with a familiar smile on his face. He called upon all the governments, intergovernmental agencies, businesses, faith leaders, the civil society and everybody to ‘put an end to all forms of violence against children’. “Slavery, trafficking, child marriages, child labour, sexual abuse and illiteracy have no place in any civilized society,” he affirmed. He also announced that the single aim of his life is that every child is ‘free to be a child, to grow and develop, to laugh and cry, to play, to learn, to go to school and above all, to dream’.

In her distinctively soft yet firm voice, Malala announced before the world that she is not a lone voice, she is the voice of 66 million girls who are out of school today. Emphasizing the importance of education, Malala recalled her speech at the United Nations last year, “One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.” Along with her parents and two little brothers, she had brought along girls from Syria, Pakistan and Nigeria: little girls with similar stories of anguish, violence and pain. The occasion of Nobel Peace Prize was befitting for her to reach out to the world leaders who will meet at the United Nations to decide on the next set of goals, the Sustainable Development Goals in the year 2015. “Leaders must seize this opportunity to guarantee a free, quality primary and secondary education for every child. Some will say this is impractical, or, too expensive, or too hard. Or even impossible. But, it is time, the world thinks bigger,” she stated. “My great hope is that this will be the last time we must fight for the education of the children”, Malala, ‘the girl who wanted to go to school’, as she was known to the world a few years ago, opined.