Writing or expressing one’s views in newspapers under the pseudonym is not new. We have many such instances where people go for mudslinging against their rivals under a heavy veil of anonymity. Our local media many times carry write-ups and essays under fancy but virtual names. However, it is very rare that someone within the system while continuing with the system raises a voice against the failure of the system or people who are duty-bound to steer it with sincerity and morality but failed. And it is here when the New York Times almost created history by publishing, ‘Anonymous’ an op-ed essay by a senior official of the Trump administration. The newspaper itself acknowledges the ‘Anonymous’ act as a ‘rare step’ nevertheless for the sake of delivering an important perspective of the happenings within the setup that almost navigates the world order.
Anyways, the New York Times being a credible newspaper house in America such adventures are not new for it. But publishing a piece from a reliable fellow sitting and delivering from inside of American administration that too in the backdrop of Trump’s well-known hate for media articulated through his finely nurtured notion—”press is the enemy of the people” is nothing but a daredevil act or a professional suicide.
Two issues crop up out of this anonymity. One authenticity of the essay and credibility of the source and second the health of presidency and president’s amorality he is accused of possessing a lot. For genuineness and reliability of essay and its writer New York Times has hugely put its image to test and it claims that it knows the writer and have published it on his request for a good cause. And on the other hand, President Trump articulates his defence as well as offence against the newspaper in one line—”the failing New York Times”. He expressed his doubt about the existence of the writer and called him or her a “gutless” if he or she exists. Trump sums up the whole episode with one huge word “Treason”.
The writer defends his actions as a duty to his country and claims that the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of the republic. Further claiming that many of the senior officials in the Trump administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of Trump’s agenda and his worst inclinations. The anonymous writes, “I am one of them”. If this whole story is true then the ‘Anonymous’ reveals a very sick picture of the president and the presidency and while sitting in the Trump team is trying his best in tandem with others to thwart anything that is bad for his country and people. Simultaneously, the ‘Anonymous’ works as a positive Samaritan by not only supporting and effecting good of the administration but also mentioning and writing firmly about that in his essay—”Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more”.
The ‘Anonymous’ may be a ghost for some and phoney source for many but the newspaper by publishing the essay has shown a different but bumpy path for the whole media fraternity world over. It has given a vent that not only allows the animosity and acrimony to go out but allows the fragrance of positivity to flow for the best of the people and their administration. We in the press and our newspapers throughout the subcontinent should learn a lesson from the New York Times and its experiment—The Anonymous. Our press too should venture into the new arena of positivity that must be far away from the stinking paid news and the dirty scoops.
I believe the ‘Anonymous’ episode can have a huge impact on the shape of the press, particularly the newspapers world over and with Trump’s treason remark and his aversion towards media, there seems no smooth going for the New York Times in near future. But nobody knows, America the land of political and personal high drama can tolerate anything short of the real treason. A nation where the political impact of the Watergate scandal after a long politico-legal battle, in the end, was neutralized in just thirty days with a simple pardon may also gel the ‘Anonymous’ with its system comfortably!
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