Tycoons as Holy Cows

Please allow me to bore you for just a while. Pundits say that there are two key reasons behind the success of capitalism – political democracy, that makes elected rulers accountable to stakeholders otherwise called voters; and corporate democracy where entrepreneurs and tycoons are accountable to stakeholders, otherwise called shareholders. Both power centres are subject to judicial scrutiny; and often more importantly, media scrutiny. Both power centres are also supposed to work within a framework of rules and liable to both criticism and punishment if they violate the rules or cross the line. Both power centres, at least in theory, are supposed to be afraid of the anger of the stakeholder.

In theory, stakeholders in the political process can throw out politicians who misrule and harm the future prospects of the stakeholders. It does happen in real life: politicians and political parties often get booted out of power during elections.
End of boring lesson on capitalism. Let’s face another uncomfortable reality – how many times have the other set of stakeholders, otherwise known as shareholders, been able to successfully throw out a management of a company that was mismanaging the company? Or running the company as a personal fiefdom? Or enriching his or her family at the expense of shareholders? Well, miracles do happen sometimes.

You might be wondering why I am dishing out this drivel in a magazine that claims to follow, analyze and critique what is happening in the world of media? Well quite simple really: my point is that in modern capitalism, political democracy has been working quite well, at least most times. But it is corporate democracy that has become a sham, a farce and a fraud perpetrated on stakeholders. And, a large part of the blame for this state of affairs has to be squarely laid on the door of contemporary media.

Let us take just two recent examples to highlight what I am trying to say. The first is the scandal involving Rajat Gupta, the former Boss of McKinsey who has been accused by the American stock market regulator SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)  of insider trading. It has been a few months since the accusations first became public. But anyone who follows the Indian media scene closely will know that Rajat Gupta was treated with kid gloves at best. There were no angry shouts; no studio discussions and no hand wringing among the chatterati about how ethics has become a dirty word in public life. Just contrast this with the sound and fury that resonates across media space whenever a politician is charged with unethical behaviour.

In fact, the only publication that didn’t mince any words and decided to call a spade a spade in the ugly Rajat Gupta episode was Business & Economy, a sister publication of this magazine. No one else in Indian media demanded that Rajat Gupta resign as the chairman of the Board of the Indian School of Business since his presence there was doing incalculable damage to the image of ISB. Even now, as more and more skeletons seem to tumble out of the closet in the murky Rajat Gupta case; and even as the mighty McKinsey seems to be running scared of how much damage it will have to suffer, there is virtually nothing in the Indian media on it. Why, the irony and joke is that the Indian media was busy carrying speeches and columns of Rajat Gupta on philanthropy and good governance weeks after he was charged with insider trading!

The second example is much better known – the 2G scam. This one scam has occupied media space like no other in contemporary times. And very justifiably, the media has been going hammer and tongs at the politicians and bureaucrats who were instrumental behind this monumental looting of national resources. But what about the tycoons who must also have been involved in the whole process? Sure, some entrepreneurs and some professional managers are behind bars. But you and I know that the real money bags will get away scot free. And that the Indian media will prefer to look the other way.

Actually, there really is no point in just blaming the media for the often servile and subservient manner in which it treats business and corporate tycoons. The reality is: the media survives almost solely because of the advertising that is done by companies.
That is the structure of the Indian media. In the event, how do you expect a media owner to risk killing his/her own brand by publicly lambasting corporate tycoons when they have done wrong? Till the Indian media
houses find a better business model, this
glorification of even crooked and unethical tycoons will continue.
That is sad but unavoidable – at least in the near future. But can we at least admit this much even if we don’t keep shouting about from rooftops: that all tycoons are human and quite a few tycoons behave in a manner that would embarrass even the most crooked politician?