By Ranjona Banerji
A month after Hamas’s terrible assault on Israel, the relentless attacks on Gaza by Israeli forces have not stopped.
And nor has the pro-Israeli propaganda from large swathes of the Western media and rightwing media in India. American news channels CNN and ABC have even agreed to terms by the Israeli army (IDF) that all their news reports from Gaza will be vetted by the IDF before release to the public.
I know the argument that will follow: better to be inside and see what’s happening than not know at all. Which may make sense to some, but really, how does it benefit a viewer looking for the truth or indeed journalism itself, if you cannot report freely?
Shorn of all excuses, it just become another version of press release journalism. Until at some later point that you can comment on what you actually wanted to report about, and hope that becomes a best-selling book? The immediate result, the “first draft of history” that us journalists pride ourselves on, remains imprinted forever as propaganda for a brutal force.
While the bulk of the Indian media, as ever most of television, remains overjoyed at the mass killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces and settlers, the same media continues to ignore brewing problems within India. The situation in Manipur remains untenable. Violence continues, raids on armouries continue, the total blanking of the state by the Prime Minister and ruling BJP continues. The arrogance of the BJP and certainty that it will never be questioned is displayed in the insouciance with which it campaigns in neighbouring Mizoram and makes grand promises while Manipur’s problems are ignored.
The Prime Minister himself announced last week at an election rally that the free rations scheme for 80 crore Indians will be extended for another five years, until 2028. No matter how the media tries to spin this, it is an acceptance from the government that almost half our population requires free rations to survive.
Also last week, came a report that private data of 815 million Indians was being sold on the dark web. That is, Aadhaar, bank account and all linked private information had been breached. The potential for fraud is immense. And yet all we hear from some of the media is silence, from the government dismissal and that leaves a few outlets willing to report on the breach and its consequences.
In India it falls upon a few news outlets to hold up a mirror to the government. In the US, it falls on the likes of satirical websites like The Onion (even the US’s famed comedians have been unable to question Israel and US government policy).
“The New York Times invents entirely new numerical system to avoid reporting Gazan death toll” reads one Onion headlines.
And then there’s this, on US politicians:
Politicians Try To Recall How Their Constituents Feel About A Ceasefire
What has exercised the Indian media is the pollution in Delhi. Delhi is not just India’s national capital; it is also where India’s most influential journalists and TV people live. So obviously, the unbreathable air that afflicts the plains of North India around Delhi at this time of the year is of national importance.
However, year after year it only gets worse because the bulk of the media is not really bothered about environmental issues until the pall of poison descends on Delhi.
We are, like the American media, permanently embedded in the filth we refuse to acknowledge.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. Her views here are personal. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays.