By Ranjona Banerji
The international media continues with its articles and investigations into the allegations against the Adani Group. The Indian media, largely, restricts itself to reporting on the fall and occasional rise of Adani companies in the stock markets. This therefore provides protection from the accusation of “you never cover Adani” but doesn’t do enough to anger the Adani Group and any powerful associates it is rumoured to have. (See how neatly I did that???)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnhyatt/2023/03/30/inside-gautam-and-vinod-adanis-controversial-conglomerate-and-why-it-may-be-too-politically-connected-to-fail/?sh=71d2b621199d&s=09
Although, there is interesting stuff in the business papers and pages, assuming you have the courage to search.
For instance, this article about inflation and India’s big conglomerates:
https://www.livemint.com/news/india/reliance-adani-to-tata-these-fab-5-are-not-allowing-inflation-in-india-to-ease-says-ex-rbi-officer-11680142514587.html
Or this article about how the government is going to take action against 76 pharma companies for manufacturing spurious, dangerous medicines. This is significant, downplayed though it may have been. After children in at least two African nations died after drinking Indian-made cough syrup, the media’s basic reaction was fury that India had been maligned. The deaths of these children thanks to criminal companies were thus sidelined.
Now we learn this:
https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/pharma/indian-govt-to-take-action-against-76-drug-companies-for-shoddy-products/99118437?utm_source=twitter_web&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialsharebuttons
India’s unemployment rate continues to rise according to the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indias-unemployment-rate-increases-to-7-45-in-february/articleshow/98515291.cms?from=mdr
However, the Government of India will go unquestioned, and the prime minister will continue to make fantastical projections about India’s world domination. Obviously, he cannot be questioned in person. As we all know.
It’s only in the dribs and drabs that you would know what’s happening.
Apart from your own “lived experience” as the young people put it.
Then there’s the international media on Donald Trump’s indictment. They’re not holding back on it. Or rather, the American media is largely putting Trump on the wringer. No shying away or foofling about. Full on aggression. All those evil anti-Trump media houses like New York Times and so on.
India’s petty little right-wing media watchers can find solace however in Fox News. It has done good by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s good friend. The right-wing TV channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch, has played true to itself by presenting all news about the indictment from the Trump perspective.
But then as we all know, Fox News is the lodestone for the worst of Indian television masquerading as news.
The link here on Trump’s indictment, is from the Associated Press, so as not to upset everyone.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-new-york-indictment-election-027d0e5ac1881a4c55c6379deae75faa?taid=64260232d0078700011ea2b3&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter
Fox News aside, there are some journalism tips here for the Indian mainstream media but let’s not upset them that much, right?
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What should really upset us is that the demonisation of Indian Muslims continues by majoritarian rightwing religious organisations and by the ruling political dispensation and the media will not present this hatred. Instead, several TV channels – and not just RSS/BJP propaganda channels and websites – knowingly and deliberately spread this hatred against all non-Hindus and all religious minorities.
The deliberately provocative rallies held at mosques, the attacks on Muslim shops, during recent Ram Navami celebrations in various states – how much have you seen about that? The continued targeting of Muslims by seemingly Hindutva-driven religious gangs? Rampant, violent Islamophobia has not stopped since the lynching of Mohammed Akhlak in 2015. It has just slipped to the far corners of our news cycles.
How many of your favourite TV channels hold “debates” on subjects like “Should the RSS’s wings be punished for setting fire to Muslim-owned shops during Ram Navami?”
I know, I know.
Why do I ask, huh?
Ranjona Banerji is a senior jouranlist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal