While the media has been involved in an act of self-flagellation in the backdrop of the Radia tape expose what has escaped the scrutiny is the role of former revenue secretary and the JD(U) MP Rajya Sabha N K Singh in fixing debate in Parliament, Rajdeep Sardesai, editor in chief of CNN IBN said in the capital on Friday.

“We are underplaying the larger story that needs to be on the front page,” Sardesai said, referring to the role of N K Singh, who has also been caught on tape in conversation with the lobbyist Niira Radia.

He said the focus has been unnecessarily directed at the two journalists (Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt) who were pronounced guilty even though theirs was just a case of professional misjudgment.    

Sardesai was one of the panelists speaking on ‘Radia tapes and journalistic ethics’ organised by the editor’s guild at press club on Friday.

Prabhu Chawla, editor, languages, India Today too was of the similar view.

Discussing the Radia tapes and his role (transcript of Chawla’s conversation with Radia also figured in the Outlook) in it on English news channel, Headlines Today, he said, “The media needed to focus on how debates are fixed in Parliament."

NK Singh’s name figured along with those of Vir Sanghvi, Barkha Dutt, and several others in outlook magazine’s cover story 2G scam.

In the transcript of his conversation with Radia, he is heard telling radiia, ‘we have managed to do is make him Arun(Shourie) the second speaker and made Venkaiah (Naidu, another BJP member), the first,’ referring to a debate on the tax proposals.

This was allegedly to take an accommodative position on a tax proposal which could have helped Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.

The allegation was confirmed by senior BJP leader Arun Shourie who said in a TV interview that he indeed was replaced by his party colleague M Venkiah Naidu as a lead speaker for the Opposition BJP in the Rajya Sabha on the 2009 Budget.

Singh, meanwhile denied the allegation.

"It was for the BJP leadership to take the decision in accordance with the conventions of the Party", Singh said.

"At no stage, and this can be ascertained from the BJP leadership, did I try to influence their (BJP's) choice of speakers, much less the contents of their speech", Singh said in a statement here.

As for the conversation with corporate lobbyist Radia, the JD (U) Rajya Sabha member said "any such conversation was more in the nature of a social chat".

Read the entire transcript here: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268459