Wrong as it is in the ethics quotient, the meltdown of India’s mainstream media after Narendra Modi and the BJP did not do as well in the general elections as they expected, is very amusing.
TV anchors and assorted TV people are in a state of anger and shock. Rather than scream at their guests as they usually do to invoke anti-Muslim feelings or provoke anti-Opposition rage, some are turning on each other; others bemoan their fate and still others remain bemused and bewildered.
One TV person commented on X (formerly Twitter) that the new “exuberance” of the Opposition was just not allowing the new government (almost the same as the old government) to “breathe easy”. In the land of TV, it is the job of the Opposition to let the government breathe easy and the job of the media to encourage and support the government as much as possible.
It’s toss up though as to which factors of this general election upset these media cartoons more: the fall in total BJP seats especially in the state of Uttar Pradesh, or the fall in Prime Minister Modi’s personal standing. Add to these two sad facts the further ignominy of the BJP’s loss in the temple town of Ayodhya, and the sense of loss and despair makes them inconsolable.
Not too long ago, Kallie Purie, vice-chairman and executive editor-in-chief of the India Today group said this at an India Today conclave: “The media cannot play the role of the Opposition. Expecting it to do it leads to unfair charges of Godi or Modi media. If the Opposition is in disarray, the media cannot be blamed for it. We cannot present another side equally strongly if it doesn’t exist. We are observers in this boxing match. We are not the players.”
This was the situation in March 2024. By June 2024, the mainstream media finds that there is an Opposition and that the Modi government has been, in some small way, humbled despite the overwhelming support of the “Godi” media. The term was coined by TV journalist Ravish Kumar, who quit NDTV when it was bought by the Adani Group, and means “lapdog” media, for those who came in late.
The fact that a media mogul can make such a clear, confident defence of bias demonstrates once again how completely the Modi-verse had dominated and controlled the media.
In the latest issue of India Today magazine, this is what Aroon Purie, Kallie’s father and the overall boss of the group when I worked there a few lifetimes ago, had to say about the election results:
“Besides all these factors, there is the intangible. The pervasive sense of fear in society. People talk in whispers in drawing rooms. When meeting government ministers, even in private conversations, they switch off their phones and ask you to do the same. Business people fear getting on the wrong side of the government. Academics are afraid of expressing their opinions freely. NGOs face a hostile environment. Since all the exit pollsters were wrong in one direction, I suspect they got their predictions messed up because people did not tell them the truth about who they were voting for out of fear and said ‘yes’ to the ruling dispensation. A free press is essential for a vibrant, functioning democracy. If the press is closely monitored and ‘guided’ to cover countless government events and criticism is muted in fear of retribution, then we all get far removed from ground reality. This is true of other ruling parties too. Perhaps the past regime would not have faced this electoral fate if it hadn’t lived in its echo chambers. The autonomy of institutions has been undermined. Enforcement agencies are being used as instruments of terror. Loosely drafted, draconian laws like PMLA and sedition are being used casually. With countless rules and regulations, cases can be filed without much substance. It is well known that, in India, the process is the punishment, and very few cases are ever closed. This is not new, but has been accelerated and adopted as routine practice.”
Make no mistake, Purie Pater Familias, is clear at the end of his editorial that he still believes that Modi is the best man for the job. But his comments on the importance of a free press are quite entertaining as is his assertion (not quoted here) that we also now have an Opposition which has to be accepted.
Purie Sr’s comments on the disastrous exit polls – which his own TV channels promoted quite shamelessly – are also good fun.
There is no call to extrapolate anything from this. India Today and the others in TV’s Lala Land are very likely to continue with their adulation of Modi and their promotion of Islamophobia. But it is also slightly likely that they will be forced to occasionally jump off their master’s lap and go and have a sniff and lick elsewhere.
For us, who have no hope from them, sit back, get yourself some popcorn, and watch hyper-dramas unfold.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.