​By Ranjona Banerji
The trolling by the rightwing in India at least is far more ferocious than trolling by other interest groups. And the media are obviously an easy target. In most cases, journalists have to take this in their stride. But there comes a time when the attacker on social media goes too far.
That time was reached for senior TV editor and anchor Rajdeep Sardesai when a well-known rightwing Twitter handle, @ippatel (Prashant K Umrao) known for his sectarian tweets and his love for fake news, that Sardesai had called for the murder of a thousand Hindus. Not only was this blatantly false, it was a deliberate attempt to create mischief. Sardesai filed a police complaint against the lawyer.
Umrao, a lawyer, responded by tweeting that he would file a disproportionate assets case against Sardesai, which as a lawyer he may have known does not really apply to private citizens. Then he proceeded to attack Sardesai’s son, saying that he had got into medical college on an NRI quota and that some sort of bribe had been paid. This was also proved to be false and malicious.
One can only applaud Sardesai for standing firm and deciding to file a police complaint. As expected, he and all those who stood by him, received a lot of “whataboutery†but that is how supporters of the BJP government attack anyone who they perceive are not outright admirers.
In the links below, more on the lawyer himself, which make his track record of deliberate and vicious lies clear.
Serial faker Prashant Patel Umrao spreads fake news about Rajdeep Sardesai’s son
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Another trouble story comes from the India Today group. This one would have been shocking even a decade ago but since then, the group (where I cut my journalistic eye teeth) has spiralled into territory that none of my colleagues from 30 and more years ago could have envisaged.
Angshukanta Chakraborty, political editor with DailyO, an opinion web platform (for which I have written without any problems, I must add), was asked to delete a tweet from her personal Twitter account. When she refused, her contract was terminated. What was so offensive about the following tweet?
“Promoters turning a blind eye to hate-mongering, fake news spreading news anchors, editors, reporters and writers, or hiring them in the first place, must be tried in courts as hate speech enablers-profiteers. Must be boycotted socially by secular politicians & Industrialists.â€
That she spoke out against fake news spread by journalists? Or that she asked they be boycotted by secular politicians and industrialists? Maybe not. Maybe it was because the tweet was directed at promoters who allowed journalists who get away with hate speech.
As we have written in the columns before, the India Today group does have a lot to answer for when it comes to its TV anchors and journalists some of whom are well-known for spreading both fake news and sectarian bile, whether on TV and in their newspapers or via Twitter. The recent violence at Kasganj is one example but there have been countless others. The tweets of Abhijit Majumder, Rohit Sardana, Gaurav Sawant and even, sadly, Shiv Aroor have been called out before and their reporting accuracy has also been under the scanner.
The whole sordid story is here on The Wire.
https://thewire.in/223540/angshukanta-chakraborty-dailyo-india-today/
It is interesting to note, as per The Wire report, that the main objection did not come from DailyO but from the holding group itself. Chakraborty must be congratulated for sticking to her guns where many would have capitulated. Her courage is rare in today’s times, where growth and promotions are increasingly based on one’s political inclinations, the more pro-BJP the better. I must repeat that I am shocked at this action by the India Today group, that it should shield those who have actively promoted hatred and spread lies and sacked someone who asked for better action against those who are known hate-mongers. I can think of endless examples in my time of when the India Today group was known for its principles and higher values and employees who transgressed paid the price. Those values appear to have been turned on their heads. Shame.
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Meanwhile, if anyone had any doubt that following a pro-BJP agenda and spreading hatred for minorities was not lucrative, the following report from the Indian Express tells us that Abhijit Majumder, managing editor of Mail Today, is likely to be the chief editor of Prasar Bharati.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/prasar-bharati-shortlists-two-journalists-for-top-edit-jobs-5063097/lite/?__twitter_impression=true
QED?
​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are personal​