MxMIndia

Tag: Bharatiya Janata Party

  • Checkmate, Legacy Media!

    Checkmate, Legacy Media!

    Ranjona BanerjiNow that the Greatest Showman on Earth has been brought down from his Non Biological origins to the hard, bumpy ground of coalition politics, what will happen to the Indian media is the question that some people are asking.

     

    The voter has spoken and both Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have badly missed the most ambitious target they had set themselves — to win over 400 of the Lok Sabha’s 543 seats. No Indian TV channel had questioned this figure; rather they amplified it as the absolute, incontrovertible truth. The exit polls they conducted and promoted also pushed the same figures or figures close to this remarkable claim.

     

    Reality provided a harsh check and far from 400, Modi’s campaigning skills managed to garner just 240 seats for the BJP. His party managed to lose in the constituency where, as PM, in an extraordinary move for a Constitutional democracy, he inaugurated the Ram Temple. Far from being a winning masterstroke – as the media has projected every act of Modi’s – it turned out to be an electoral damp squib.

     

    Modi will form the next government. The BJP and his allies have the numbers. The Opposition put on a great show but it would require massive contortions to form at best a minority government. But Modi’s third term will exist at the mercy of coalition partners, who have already demanded high returns for the promise of support.

     

    We come back then to the Indian media which has spent the last 12 or 13 years attacking the Congress and other parties while promoting Modi and the BJP as India’s panacea. As counting day progressed, channels were hard-pressed to interpret results, as we have already discussed. Which from a journalistic point of view is criminal, if funny. Possibly they stayed with their own hype, knowing it was lies. Or their heads are so far into Modi worship that they actually believed their own lies. But for any journalist, departure from the expected or the usual or the normal is what makes news – man bites dog. So, the air leaking out of Modi’s balloon thanks to a voter and Opposition pushback is the biggest news of all. Unless, as we know, you are one of the people who’s been charged with pumping air into the balloon.

     

    Mid-Day came up with a killer headline on June 5, taking off from Modi’s own boast: “Ab ki baar, 272 bhi too far”.

    The Telegraph comes a close second with “India cuts Modi Down”.

     

    The rest, as mxmindia.com showed yesterday, played it down with straightforward bread and butter headlines or played around with the coalition angle.

    https://www.mxmindia.com/media/newsstand-and-this-is-how-the-dailies-covered-results-2024-results-on-their-page-1s/

     

    However, most newsrooms have had to deal with the details of the results and what they entail. The fact that voters have signalled unhappiness with government policy. The fact that social factors of religion and caste have re-entered the arena, thanks in fact to Modi’s divisive and discriminatory policies. News agencies and websites have also picked up on the unhappiness within the RSS – the BJP’s parent organisation – with Modi’s style of governing.

     

    Times of India informed its readers that nothing lasts forever: “(Modi) was the BJP’s campaign. And that was the problem. No political brand is immune to political fatigue.” (“18 takeaways from an election which redefined Indian politics”)

     

    I might add here that if the media had identified voter fatigue as it happened and not after the fact, it would have better served its customers and consumers.

     

    As several within the media know, it is the non-traditional non-mainstream non-legacy media which has kept the spirit of investigation and enquiry flying high. Journalists and media teams have taken to digital spaces, and found success there. As much as Youtube is full of propaganda and crackpot sites, it is also full of robust journalism. Several old-timer news junkies woke up on June 4 to be pleasantly surprised by the return of Dr Prannoy Roy and his election analysis on DeKoder Digital, with many from his old NDTV team.

     

    And it is not just big names and definitely not just the English media. Across India, on the ground reporting, news and analysis from local journalists via media like Youtube have provided voters with information which matched their lived experience. This is where the mainstream media failed the most: by harping on BJP propaganda and Modi fandom, they forgot that most basic democratic tenet set down by Abraham Lincoln. That you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

     

    Many hope that the mainstream media will correct itself. I find myself sceptical. It may try, but there is no comeback from the depths to which several media houses have fallen. The change and direction will now be set by these new voices, and new ventures. It is very hard to relearn journalism when you have wilfully abandoned it for 10 and more years. Voters across India have mentioned the term “Godi media” or media which sits on the lap of Modi when referring to TV channels. They know they are being fooled.

     

    This extraordinary rant by Zee News anchors against media rivals underlines the bizarre world in which Indian TV lives:

     

    https://www.newslaundry.com/2024/06/05/from-india-today-to-india-tv-zee-goes-all-guns-blazing-against-top-media-owners

     

    The other danger is that journalists have lost the game to the public. When a talented YouTuber like Dhruv Rathee can provide better researched analysis on Indian politics than most TV anchors, you have a real danger at hand for traditional media. Years ago, the media tried to shoot itself in the foot by promoting “citizen journalists” only to discover that without basic fact-finding rigour, random opinions are boring and dangerous. But people like Rathee have facts and indepth research at their fingertips. They have beaten the big names at their own game. And they have both viewership and success to cement their status.

     

    The Modi government has been very unhappy with the rare criticism from the foreign media. But as the Economist points out, in a piece which still praises Modi in some roundabout manner, “…the opposition parties have been given a new lease of life; and debate and dissent will be reinvigorated. That may be the most lasting consequence of the 2024 general election.”

     

    https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/06/04/a-shock-election-result-in-india-humbles-narendra-modi

     

    Swati Chaturvedi writes for Russia Today: “Modi was the medium and Modi was the message, complete with a “Modi guarantee” for voters in the most presidential-style elections that India has ever seen.

    And the little guy – the voter – cut the prime minister down to size in the biggest reversal of his political career.”

     

    https://www.rt.com/india/598784-modi-in-limbo-india-election/

     

    The media will know be forced to change its strategy on Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and Stalin, to name just a few. From constant attack – merely parroting BJP lines on them – they will have to be analysed more fairly. Their success in the face of enormous odds has changed the game.

     

    That is, if the mainstream media remembers how to play after over a decade of lying down and playing dead just for Modi’s cuddles.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Friday, and when necessary, on other days as well. Her views here are personal.

  • The event is happening today and tomorrow in New Delhi

    Aaj Tak holds 2-day ‘Agenda Aaj Tak’

    By Our Staff

     

    Aaj Tak is back with “Agenda Aaj Tak”, the thought-platform for debates and discussions in Hindi language. It is being held in New Delhi today and tomorrow (December 3 and 4) with the theme ’Naye Daur mein Likhenge Nayi Kahani’ (new stories written for a new age).

     

    Notes a communique: The event will unite marquee leaders to decide the nation’s “agenda”- across its most important spheres. Shri JP Nadda, Chairman of the Bharatiya Janata Party, will deliver a keynote on the party’s vision and mission for the upcoming elections while Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, hon. Finance Minister of India will offer insights on India’s financial outlook. The event will also witness the presence of eminent union cabinet ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Kiren Rijiju and Mansukh Mandaviya. This will also be the first time when Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be seen addressing a public gathering, post the three controversial farm bills got repealed. “ The event will stream live at www.aajtak.in

     

  • India finds itself in the piquant situation of having no deaths but an  increased pressure on Indian journalists for reporting news perceived as “anti-government”, writes Ranjona Banerji

    When Real Journalists Suffer

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The annual press freedom index published by Reporters without Borders (RSF) for 2020 sees India drop down two places from 140 in 2019 to 142 in 2020.

     

    The 2020 report “suggests that the next 10 years will be pivotal for press freedom because of converging crises affecting the future of journalism: a geopolitical crisis (due to the aggressiveness of authoritarian regimes); a technological crisis (due to a lack of democratic guarantees); a democratic crisis (due to polarisation and repressive policies); a crisis of trust (due to suspicion and even hatred of the media); and an economic crisis (impoverishing quality journalism).”

     

    India, according to RSF, finds itself in the piquant situation of having no deaths, a relief, upended by the increased pressure on Indian journalists for reporting news perceived as “anti-government”.

     

    This is what the RSF report writes on India:

     

    “With no murders of journalists in India in 2019, as against six in 2018, the security situation for the country’s media might seem, on the face of it, to have improved. However, there have been constant press freedom violations, including police violence against journalists, ambushes by political activists, and reprisals instigated by criminal groups or corrupt local officials. Ever since the general elections in the spring of 2019, won overwhelmingly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, pressure on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line has increased.”

     

    This is especially true as far as coverage of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is concerned. Journalists have been arrested, jailed, had draconian laws used against them, all for questioning government information or presenting the government’s relief efforts in a “bad light”.

     

    https://rsf.org/en/2020-world-press-freedom-index-entering-decisive-decade-journalism-exacerbated-coronavirus

     

    https://rsf.org/en/india

     

    The Committee to Protect Journalists has done a number of stories about the threats and attacks which journalists, especially those who cover the Covid-19 crisis, face from the police, local administrations or the enormous might of the state or Centre face.

     

    https://cpj.org/blog/2020/04/journalists-in-indias-uttar-pradesh-say-threat-of-.php

     

    The CPJ and 73 media and rights groups have issued this statement to several Asian heads of state:

    https://cpj.org/2020/04/cpj-73-media-and-rights-groups-urge-asian-heads-of.php

     

    Journalists working in Kashmir have been targeted since the state was stripped of its civil liberties and disenfranchised by the Modi-led government last December. Now, those covering the virus are being attacked once again.

     

    The CPJ has issued statements to stop harassing Masrat Zahra and Peerzada Ashiq:

    https://cpj.org/2020/04/jammu-and-kashmir-police-launch-investigations-int.php

     

    Posts on social media are also being used to harass journalists, as with Gowhar Geelani:

    https://cpj.org/2020/04/jammu-and-kashmir-police-launch-investigation-into.php

     

     

    And this is Tamil Nadu, and again the crime is giving a “bad name” to the government in their Covid coverage.

    https://cpj.org/2020/04/police-in-indias-tamil-nadu-state-arrest-journalis.php

     

    When much of the general public refers to “the media”, they usually mean TV anchors orchestrating hate talk in their studios or what they see as intrusive TV reporters and camerapersons. The tremendous work that goes into a news report or an investigation by a number of people is obviously unknown to them. So also is the danger under which they work. And the main job of journalism has to be questioning the government in power. Which includes showing it in a “bad light” and giving it a “bad name”. Every journalist who has acted as a govermment – any government – publicity agent has helped to create this situation where journalists are harangued and harassed for doing their basic job.

    When you consider that a substantial number of journalists on the ground have caught the virus themselves, that should alert even us within of the hazards of our profession. If, that is, we can tear ourselves away from the drama of Arnab Goswami and hot social media debate over his inalienable right to hate speech under the Indian Constitution. However horrific a 12-and-a-half-hour interrogation by the Mumbai police, it cannot compare to Masrat Zahra having the UAPA used against her for posting her photos on social media. Nor, if it is not unfair to mention this, Gauri Lankesh being shot at her doorstep by rightwing goons, for daring to oppose the rightwing.

    We go down the press freedom index because of people like Goswami, people who do not just toe the government line but actively exacerbate the hatred of Muslims, other minorities, Dalits and whoever else the Hindutva machinery takes against. These are the people who help the Modi government to carry on with its RSS agenda. It’s not as if they don’t know. They do it because they know.

    Goswami is at the “increase hate” part of the pro-Modi-BJP spectrum, others are the Modi-BJP publicity end like India Today TV, which may well lose its mega-city TRP status after the Goswami drama. One shudders to imagine what new lows they will now come up with to compete.

    The result, as we can see, is that journalism as a whole suffers; and real journalists suffer.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. Her views here are personal

     

  • Journalists must realise that if the fascist dream they are pushing becomes a reality, the first to lose jobs will be them, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Can one use the word ‘journalist’ for hagiographers?

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The doings in Maharashtra have frustrated not just the Bharatiya Janata Party but also journalists who have the BJP beat. These journalists have, after all, spent the last six or seven years building up images of Narendra Modi and lately Amit Shah as veritable supermen, unchallengeable in their enormous store of statecraft and ability.

    Even Superman had his kryptonite but let’s not get into comic lore for people who either actually believe the bogus stories of the Bal Narendra or have spent the last six years propagating those lies!

    Although there are maps doing the rounds of social media and I saw one in the Times of India yesterday, of how the BJP’s grasp on states has reduced since 2018, there is no need to rejoice that sections of the media have found any courage to stand up to the government. As long as the RSS’s Hindutva propaganda continues to be spread via television and social media – Hindi news channels are major culprits here – the idea that India is a constitutional democracy is getting closer to the shredder.

    It is a pity, laughable perhaps, that the journalists who work for these channels do not seem to realise that if the fascist dream they are pushing become a reality, the first lot to lose jobs will be them.

    Maharashtra though has shaken the Hindutva tree a bit. Those journalists who informed us that the BJP has working round the clock to save Devendra Fadnavis’s early morning surreptitious swearing in have not now explained how those efforts failed. There is conjecture that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah engineered these late-night events. But there is no confirmation, even from ever-chatty “sources” on how Batman and Robin failed. And we still don’t know the Ajit Pawar story.

    Instead, Rahul Kanwal, big cheese at India Today TV, took to Twitter to tell us that he was being abused alike by BJP and Congress trolls and had therefore his channel had done a good job in its abysmal coverage. Kanwal had also “informed” us that Amit Shah had incomparable state craft and that senior unnamed BJP politicians had told him that the “thinking” of Shah and Modi (sorry, it should be Modi and Shah, for now that is) is different from everyone else’s.

    Veteran journalist and author Tony Joseph countered Kanwal on Twitter, “That is a self-serving but baseless argument. The strongest criticisms have come from those who are fans of no party, but are outraged by the despicable lows to which most mainstream media has sunk, without spine or spunk to hold the govt of the day accountable to people.”

    So who are these journalists accountable to? In any newsrooms, beats are assigned to reporters and often with seniority, political correspondents become experts on any political party they are assigned to. They are therefore expected to have not just institutional knowledge, or invites to cosy single malt dinners, but the inside track and of understanding of the party’s internal wranglings. You will notice that almost all journalists on the BJP beat indulge mainly in hagiography. Not accountable to the reader or viewer then.

    Most of the media criticism of the Congress however, as an example, also comes from old Congress hands who have honed their skills on covering the Congress. These are the journalists who remind you that every transgression by the BJP has a parallel in the Congress’s past. They are the ones who therefore set the agenda for the new BJP lot: that you can easily spin myths in praise and deflect all criticism by looking into the past.

    To further the point, senior journalist Coomi Kapoor’s column in the Indian Express has spent five-and-a-half years NOT telling us about what happens inside the corridors of government and instead has focused on what happens in non-BJP party headquarters. The corridors of power have been shielded by shining the spotlight on the Opposition.

    The events in Maharashtra have shown that as far as journalism is concerned, this strategy has reached its limit. I am certain however that these BJP journalists will continue with the BJP agenda of bringing the Uddhav Thackeray-led government down. But how long can one use the word “journalists” for them?

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. Her views here are personal

     

     

  • Madison which had successfully steered BJP's media spends for the 2014 general elections has bagged the mandate for the forthcoming UP, Punjab and Goa polls

    Madison to handle BJP’s poll spends in UP, Punjab & Goa

    By A Correspondent

     

    According to information we have received and as confirmed via Twitter by Chairman Sam Balsara, Madison Media has been mandated to handle the media planning and buying activity of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa elections that are scheduled for early 2017.

     

    The value of the account is said to be in the region of Rs 150-200 crore, though the number could see up to a 25 per cent increase or decrease in the last few weeks of the campaign.

     

  • It's been a week since Living Media announced a 27.5% buy by KM Birla. While the minister didn't comment, we spoke to politicians across party lines

    What politicians think of big biz in news media

     

    By Karuna Madan

     

    Even as Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni recently said that the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) did not hold any direct stake in any news media company in the country, politicians across the party lines feel that the statement does not hold water. Rather, they lament the sorry state of affairs caused due to the unholy and unnatural nexus of business and news in India .

     

    Vice president of the main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Karuna Shukla regrets the fact that the mighty corporate and business houses are investing in news media only for the purpose of “twisting” public opinion or government policies in their favour.

     

    She feels that the news media must, essentially, be free and neutral at all times and circumstances: “You see, the news media is supposed to be free, neutral and free from biases. So much so that even the advertisements shown or published by the media groups defeat the very concept of neutrality. The case of 2G spectrum can be taken as a valid example. These business groups are now moving to all possible avenues of money-making. But news is sacred, it should not be touched. It cannot be sacrificed at the altar of big bucks.”

     

    “The people we are talking about are smart. They are not only buying stakes in media but have now started their own newspapers. Today it is ‘their money’ which is controlling news media in India . Their money decides how much truth must be revealed and how much be kept hidden. What are they trying to prove by buying stakes in existing media houses or starting their own news businesses? Investment by industrialists in media is no social service. They have no social responsibility. They invest only with the intention to influence public opinion; creating favorable opinion for them and disapproving opinion for their competitors,” Ms Shukla emphasised.

     

    Ambeth Rajan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) said that the news organisations these days are not only taking money from big business houses of the country, they are also shamelessly taking directions from them and blindly following the diktats.

     

    “These corporates decide what news must be flashed and what not, and which news item can be used for blackmailing a certain politician or a rival business group. You see a certain kind of news flashing on a particular channel only because it has the potential to harm the interests of the rivals or support the interests of a particular segment of society or a particular political party. All this is orchestrated and staged. Is this what we know and understand as ‘sacred business of news’,” Mr Rajan averred.

     

    A powerful Congress leader at the Centre, who does not want to be named, told MxM India that “nobody is a saint here. Yahan doodh ka dhula koi nahin hai.”

     

    Meanwhile, Nilotpal Basu, Member of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), describes it as “very disturbing trend.” “Corporate investment in news media is nothing but marketing, rather aggressive, shameless marketing. The big business houses do not really bother about what repercussions it will have on the state of affairs in the next ten years or so. These big business houses are aware of the power of media and are abusing that. The industrialists in the country exploit the news business, particularly during elections at the state and national level,” said Mr Basu.

     

    “The corporates are investing and owning media to influence media space and policy directions. We are opposed to unregulated investment of corporate in media. These investments undermine the concept of free media, and media as an avenue for information. This is extremely sad that this trend is going completely unchecked and the government seems just not bothered to rectify the malady,” he added.

     

    Likewise, Prabhodh Panda, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Communist Party of India (Marxist), feels that the news media was controlled by the corporate sector even earlier by way of paid news, which came to be openly discussed only recently: “We know that the corporate sector is trying to influence public opinion by investing in news media. Even otherwise, the media is mostly publishing or telecasting paid news. It is an unethical practice by media groups, which must be curbed. It can be curbed only if the governments at the state and national level display the political will to do so. Media must maintain high stands of morality and ethics. The government, particularly at the Centre, must initiate steps to ensure that the media is not abused by the industrialists for their petty benefits, sometimes even at the cost of national security. Also the Press Council of India should come out with guidelines on the entry of corporates in the news media business and adopt a firm stand in this regard. What else the Press Council of India , or for that matter Prasar Bharti, are for,” said Mr Panda.

     

    Interestingly, Debabrata Biswas, General Secretary, All India Forward Bloc, stated that the motive behind corporate investments in news media is an open secret: “It is a well known fact that the multinational companies are completely controlling print and electronic media in India and even outside the country, thus trying to influence international government policies and the state of world economy. Earlier, the character of news media was altogether different. It was more of a catalyst to bring about positive change in the society. It played a major part during the freedom struggle of the country. News essentially meant positive and developmental reportage, free of all kinds of biases and prejudices. It was aptly described as the powerful fourth pillar of democracy. When one talked of media, one talked of an independent and neutral news providing machinery, not of the handmaid of industrialists. These industrialists have now completely taken over the business of news, directly and indirectly. Everyone knows that Birlas, Tatas and Ambanis are now controlling the newspapers and news channels in the country,” said Mr Biswas.

     

    Amarjit Kaur, National Secretary, Communist Party of India (CPI), feels that the investments by big business houses into the news media is most certainly “not innocent investment.” “The purpose of investments made by the big business barons of India into our news media is only profit, profit and more profit. Industrialists know that they can get their projects cleared within no time if they have a direct or indirect influence or say in any popular newspaper or new channel having a good subscriber base. These news outfits then act as agents of the corporates. But unfortunately, nothing much can be done about this new trend of corporate interest in media, the reason being that the government is pro-corporates and it shows. If the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is turning a blind eye to this malaise, do you think, the common man has any choice. We can only lament the situation which is turning worse by the day due to utter failure and inaction on the part of the government in this regard,” said Ms Kaur.

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers

    Ranjona Banerji: Sena on shaky ground, polls to decide all

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Mumbai has elections on February 16 to select its municipal corporators. Since the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has a bigger budget than some state governments, this is an important election. It is also a political test for the incumbent Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party and a signal for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance – which is in power in the state – about the roadblocks ahead for the next general election.

     

    Not surprisingly, election coverage has dominated Mumbai’s newspapers. Most seem to think that the ground is shaky for the Shiv Sena. This is, in a sense, a last bastion for the Sena – it has ruled the BMC for almost two decades. But everyday, newspapers are full of the shortcomings of the corporation and the corruption involved in most deals. Mumbai’s roads and water supply get the most attention and none of it positive.

     

    The general sense you get from newspapers is that this time there will be a challenge to Bal Thackeray from not just the Congress-NCP but also of course from his nephew Raj Thackeray and his breakaway party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Uddhav Thackeray – the son and the main bone of contention – does not have the requisite firepower, seems to be the overwhelming feeling. There is also a discussion on whether both the Senas will cancel each other out.

     

    The Times of India and The Indian Express both carry interviews with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who says he pushed for an alliance with the NCP this time – to avoid fracturing the vote as happened when both parties went alone in 2007.

     

    * * *

     

    All newspapers have also focused on the low voter turnout in Mumbai and have exhorted citizens to come out and vote. You could pick up any newspaper to find out all about the candidates from their bank balances to their educational qualifications. The new seat reservations have created some turmoil in parties, all of which have been faithfully recorded.

     

    * * *

     

    Interestingly, the high number of dry days – three have been decided by the Election Commission – has been cause for consternation in print. The bar and restaurant association has put in a plea reported in Wednesday’s papers to allow the sale of alcohol in the evenings of the dry days, after voting is over on Thursday. The right to drink is well-felt by most journalists, so it is easy to see why this forced abstinence should get prominence.

     

    * * *

     

    It is these little titbits which make newspaper reading so pleasant a pastime. The oddities of life rarely find room in the high-pitched breaking news landscape of TV land.