By Ranjona Banerji
Two years ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party won the Lok Sabha in historic fashion. After decades of coalition rule, one single party won with a huge majority. The victory was attributed to a campaign that ran on the promise of one person: current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The Modi Wave†the media called it and indeed it was a tsunami in some areas.
Most of the media immediately went into adulatory mode – that is, those who had not already become Modi cheerleaders during the campaign itself. One of the finest examples of the media’s Modi Media Fan Club at work was seen during the prime minister’s first US trip. The event at New York’s Madison Square Garden for non-resident Indians saw the Indian media calling him a “rock star†(was it Barkha Dutt who started it?) and getting brainwashed by such immense popularity.
Most cynics know that such a honeymoon cannot last. It might be fair to say that in Modi’s case, the honeymoon lasted a little longer than most. Years ago, India Today (the magazine) had a cover on how cartoon depictions and caricatures of Rajiv Gandhi had changed in a year as he went from Mr Clean (after the Congress won with a massive majority following Indira Gandhi’s assassination) who promised youth and change to the same old same old. Made worse of course by Bofors.
With Modi, the shift from “rah rah†to “ha ha†has been more subtle and incremental. Television and social media have changed the discourse and the news cycle. And the left-right-centre divide of Indian society has become more pronounced. Therefore, we still have news channels that are overtly pro-government, we have prominent journalists who are pro-government and we have websites pretending to be news websites that are almost government spokespersons.
Let’s take a look at columnist Tavleen Singh who has a popular column in the Indian Express on Sunday. She promised her readers that Modi’s victory would bring a massive and wonderful change to India, as the nation needed to be rescued from the evil Congress and the even more diabolical Sonia Gandhi. But as time has changed, her column has made certain shifts. As the Modi government did not deliver on the promises she made, she started by blaming everyone around him.
First, the Congress was to blame for its legacy. Then bureaucrats were to blame. Then other ministers were to blame. Then extreme Hindutva organisations were to blame. But now, two years in, now and then Singh finds that Modi himself is to blame. For a fan like Singh, is that a reality check or her fine journalistic prowess from the past re-asserting itself?
The Times of India has declared itself a “federal†state. This means the newspapers say one thing, often critical of the government, and Arnab Goswami, ruler of Bennett Coleman’s news channels (Times Now, ET Now) says something quite else – hyper nationalism and a tendency to hold the Congress to account for this government’s failures.
The Indian Express sticks to the old journalistic principle of holding a government in power to account. So does The Hindu. The Telegraph has perfected the fine art of holding a government in power to extreme ridicule, whether at the Centre or the state.
Our other news channels walk their confused path. NDTV is accused of being anti-Modi and pro-Congress but often that just means that the channel tries to be balanced. The new avatar of CNN-News18 is far more balanced than it has been for three years – all the fears of Mukesh Ambani being only pro-Modi have not come quite true. With R Jagannathan leaving firstpost.com for Swarajya, the flagship website is also less tilted to the right. In fact, one might say Raghav Behl’s Network 18 was far more pro-Modi than the Ambani one. CNN-News18’s choice of “resident commentators†might give one a clue: Swapan Dasgupta (pro-BJP), Vir Sanghvi (not pro-BJP), Ajoy Bose (not pro-BJP) and Ayaz Memon (balanced).
India Today TV remains the most everywhere. The cartoon series So Sorrry lampoons everyone equally. Rahul Kanwal and Gaurav Sawant are the best pro-Modi pro-BJP pro-nationalist and Super Patriotic TV journalists – my due apologies to Goswami for saying this – with Sawant having a slight edge over Kanwal. These two are balanced by the acerbic and sharp Karan Thapar and the even tone of Rajdeep Sardesai. So depending on time of day, you get a different India Today TV.
News18 remains in a constant race to become Times Now with Rahul Shivshankar emulating his former boss Arnab Goswami as best he can. Which is not good enough by a long shot.
May 19 and elections results of five states will be announced. Let’s see how many jump various ships then.
Times Network has announced the appointment of Mihir Bhatt as Chief Editor – Â IPs. In his role, Bhatt will spearhead efforts to create offerings on all IPs of the network, in addition to his editorial and anchoring responsibilities at ET Now. Based in Noida, he will report to Sandeep Gurumurthi, Managing Editor, ET Now, Times Network. Until recently, Bhatt led the content team at Zee Business. As editorial incharge of IPs, Bhatt will spearhead advertiser funded programming (AFPs) on the network.