Ranjona Banerji: The Great, Exclusive ‘PR’ Interview

​By Ranjona Banerji​

True confession: I did not watch the “great” “exclusive” “interview” which Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave to Zee News and to Times Now. For several reasons. The first being I do not watch Zee News. The second being that once Modi spoke to Zee News, Times Now was an also-​ran. The third is that neither Rahul Shiv Shankar nor Navika Kumar impress one as sparkling interviewers who will draw out the person they speak to or put them on the spot or ask them difficult questions. This was a PR exercise because of a fair amount of flak that the PM had not spoken to the media. The channels were carefully chosen for their non-confrontational nature when it comes to the Prime Minister and the ruling dispensation. The exact opposite in fact of their nature when it comes to anyone else. And what the critics wanted was a press conference where the Prime Minister would face the media in general, national and international.

What was I doing one might ask, if not watching The Interview? (Where are India’s Seth Rogens, by the way?) As it happened, I did the unforgiveable, when it comes to being a media watcher. I had very little to do with the media all of last week. Instead, I was travelling, talking to people and trying to answer questions on why the media is so bizarre. The questions of course had more to do with television than the print but because I was in Silchar, there were several concerns on how that part of India got so little space in the national media.

There is no way to answer those concerns without covering oneself in embarrassment. The sheer depth of our ignorance about our own country is astounding. The local-global argument takes a big hit when you stand back and observe the national media and how it functions. Newspapers at least pay some attention but just try and cast your mind back to the number of times any of our English news channels have focused on the North East or even the South.

It’s only when there is political turmoil (like ​in ​Tamil Nadu recently) or a national party has some run-in with opponents in those areas that the eye of Mordor ventures anywhere. Therefore, Assam is about defeating the Congress, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh about supporting the eating of beef while banning it elsewhere, Nagaland about making false claims about peace between warring factions and so on. Kerala is in the news because of violence between the Left and the BJP.

More serious and everyday matters get left behind as do human stories. Development and employment – or more correctly, lack of – get forgotten. Several students said to me that we voted for a change of party hoping that things would improve but nothing has changed around us. This is what the media needs to focus on, regardless of the party in power. Promises made and then not kept are brushed under the carpet. The state of the tea gardens in tea-growing districts is dire as far as workers are concerned, but how much media attention has that got?

**

Meanwhile, the threats before India and the media continue to be serious. The functioning of the Supreme Court, the ongoing arguments over Aadhaar, the death of Judge BH Loya, the problems with a movie about a fictional character. Instead, we are going to see lots of Alpine snow and photographs of Modi hugging people in Switzerland. Anything for a good distraction.

​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and columnist. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are personal​