If you thought the media’s shameless antics in the Taj episode were vomit-worthy, read Vir Sanghvi’s outrageous op-ed (thanks to a commenter). It proves that the Indian media can keep plumbing deeper and deeper in the bottomless pit of muck.  Read the most relevant portions of his sludge and judge for yourself.

After paying lip service to our heroic warriors, he writes that

…it is fair to say that despite the bravery and valour of the combatants in this battle against terror, the armed forces have been let down by their desk-jockeys,  by officers who sit in offices and take the salute at parades.

The behaviour of the Chief of the Naval Staff over the last two days has been regrettable, shocking and on a par with that of the worst cowbelt politicians who blame the media for their failures.

This is the kind of contemptuous tripe that Sanghvi has for the chief of a force that suddenly jerked open the eyes of the world to India’s naval capabilities by blowing the brains out of Somali pirates. Two extraordinary feats accomplished with amazing prescience. If he is a Desk jockey, what is Sanghvi, a Desk spinner?

But what exactly did the Naval Chief say?

Addressing a press conference on the eve of Navy Day, he also pulled up the media for casting aspersions on the Navy’s sinking of a pirate vessel in the Gulf of Aden by “going all the way to the house of the vessel’s Thai owner” to interview him…“The Thai vessel was a pirated trawler. The ship was operating there for a long time. The ship was doing what it should not be doing. You went to his house to interview him. Those reports are now floating worldwide. The media should have asked what the trawler was transporting between Yemen and Oman for such a long time. What cargo was it carrying? If it was low on fuel, how come the fireball was so bright? It was because of all the ammunition that was lying on the ship. There is nothing wrong your Navy has done,” asserted Admiral Mehta…The competition among news channels to score brownie points reminded him of the “famous shot” during the Kargil War that led to the destruction of an ultra-powerful artillery gun of the Army. Three soldiers died and the Colonel, who yielded to a woman reporter’s entreaty to fire the gun for the camera’s benefit was dismissed from service….Admiral Mehta said he was disturbed by the “extra heavy reporting” on the attacks. “When operations are taking place, you are reporting that two commandos are going inside. They [terrorists] were in live contact with their masters, who were telling them what the channels were reporting. I think it requires a certain amount of restraint in ongoing operations. Do you really have to give minute-by-minute coverage? Media is an enabling instrument. Today it is a disenabling instrument.”

But Sanghvi completely spins this to arrive at the following interpretation.

There are well-documented allegations to the effect that it failed to police our borders. My own story in this paper two days ago revealed that R&AW had provided the exact coordinates of the vessel  that was bringing the terrorists to India. It may well be, as the Chief now claims, that this information did not reach the navy.

Sanghvi, these mere allegations, not proven truths. Repeating an allegation as you do don’t make them truths. Your point on RAW maybe right, but did you check what Arun Shourie wrote about the abject lack of coordination among our various intelligence agencies, thanks to abysmal security infrastructure? The fact that despite these shortcomings, our armed forces showed exemplary performance is what is really laudable. The thousands of ordinary Indians who overwhelmed the heroes with their emotional gratitude have a greater sense of values than people like Sanghvi who have a twisted sense of ethics and even basic decency.

Sanghvi also fantastically claims that the Kargil episode is a mere concotion.

The Naval Chief’s press conference will go down among the sadder episodes in this crisis. At times , he appeared to have lost it entirely, berating a channel for running an interview with him ahead of the broadcast time he had asked for and then shamefully, rehashing old, discredited lies about the media and Kargil, going so far as to concoct details of Bofors guns being fired for the cameras that have no foundation in fact.

Again, note the disgusting contempt in Sanghvi’s tone. He almost says the Naval chief is insane (appeared to have lost it entirely). When a man in Mehta’s position says a Colonel was fired from service, he knows what he says. But to Sanghvi, it is “discredited lies.” The burden of proof lies on Vir Sanghvi to prove how it is discredited lies. Further,

Nor can the navy complain about publicity. It’s commandos actually held an ill-advised press conference at which they revealed sensitive information. And its officers gave TV interviews during the crisis. If the media were so bad, then why use us to get publicity for yourselves? Why not exhibit the restraint of, say, the NSG?

Let’s grant for a moment that the press conference was ill-advised. Why attend it then? Or after attending it, and after knowing about the said sensitive information, why reveal it? Also, when was the last time any of the armed forces indulged in wanton publicity-seeking? The restraint of the NSG was truly remarkable despite media pressure. I am witness to Burkha Dutt’s incessant blabbering as the operation was in progress. She kept pressing an NSG commando to “give some details of the action” tugging at his arm, mike in the other hand, yelling incoherently. The commando smiled and said, “aap log to sub kuch jaante hai, kuch bhi bolo na” (You guys know everything. Say something.) and walked away. That is exemplary restraint. Grace under media pressure.

And Sanghvi concludes with

If this is the level of the navy’s leadership, are we surprised that the terrorists came in so easily?

Very punchy eh?

But then, the Naval Chief is only an excuse for Sanghvi’s vacuously-foul rant. Had one of the NSG men said the same thing, Sanghvi would squeal similarly. Sanghvi is one of the more senior and outspoken representatives of a media that has so far not been asked to be accountable for anything. Only stray blogs and unheard voices have both questioned and criticized its (lack of) credibility and outright falsehood. This is perhaps the first time anybody in the position of Suresh Mehta has so vocally and publicly called its bluff. The media only subserviently listens to politicians–remember Turdesai and the BJP boycott of CNN-IBN? While the “general public” is both nauseated and furious with the media, it has no way of making its voice heard–to whom will it go, again to the selfsame media?

The media also grossly exaggerates the estimate of its own importance in shaping national events. When Sanghvi writes,

The navy chief should ponder over the damage his foolish press conference has done his service.

One doesn’t really know how to respond to this degree of ridiculous narcissism. India is a free country and Sanghvi is entitled to disagree with Mehta. But making veiled threats–almost Bollywoodian–you don’t know how this will screw your career–is neither good journalism nor in good taste. Blaming the entire Navy for personal reasons is childish. Only, one assumes Sanghvi is not a child. It is Sanghvi who should ponder over things such as respect and honesty. But that is too much to expect of a paper wedded to the Congress party.