MxMIndia

Tag: NRC

  • While individual journalists showed remarkable courage across platforms and owners, the worst slip-sliding sycophancy came from the big names, writes Ranjona Banerji

    2019 saw Complete Polarisation of Indian Society

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Cries of “Media go back” or “Godi Media go back” have faced members of our tribe who have arrived to cover the anti-CAA-NRC-NPR protests across India. The media is often the brunt of anger and worse, during the course of its duties. Usually this anger comes from officials, authoritarian rulers, puppets of the state, political party functionaries or goons. Usually, when people protest against government atrocities, the media is seen as an ally. Someone to be relied on to help, spread the word, speak to power when power does not listen.

    For members of the public to turn on the media in their hour of need is nothing but tragic. For some sections of the Indian media, this is the sad note on which 2019 has ended. With them being called “Godi”, or to translate the idiom, “sitting in the lap of those in power”, with a rhyming twist on the prime minister’s surname.

    The end of 2019 is marked by the most complete polarisation of Indian society since the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, since the 2014 majority government of Modi and friends and the 2019 majority government of Modi and Shah. The Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register between the three of these efforts of the Modi-Shah government have spilt India. But what have they done for the media?

    Funnily enough, and in spite of the “Godi media” or even “modia” chants by protestors, some sections of the media have been less supplicant to the powers that be than one might think. I was shocked to see that even Times Now, which usually competes with Republic TV, ANI and PIB as a government publicist, found itself compelled to correct the “spiritual” celebrity guru Sadhguru Vasudev on his “interpretations” of the CAA-NRC-NPR. This is so against the grain that many have shrugged it off without trying to analyse what just happened. I was doubly surprised because I was under the possibly false impression that Vasudev was the current patron “guru” of the Bennett Coleman group, having taken over from or ousted the earlier incumbent, Double Sri.

    It is another matter that so many sections of the media found it perfectly normal for the Prime Minister of India to recommend via a tweet the cud-chewing ruminations of Vasudev and then call them “lucid”, when even Times Now found about six errors within the first five minutes. And indeed, that Vasudev starts by saying he has not read the actual acts or proposals.

    But one cannot blame either Modi or Vasudev. Modi has gone largely unchallenged by most of the media since 2013. And even after the horrors of demonetisation and the subsequent collapse of the economy, of our various foreign affairs disasters, of the signal lack of governance in every sector, the media has remained compliant. Whatever little shoots of courage sprung up in the 2019 election campaign died out with the May 2019 return to power.

    It is matter of shame and amusement that for some sections of the media, the various parties which lost the general election are still held responsible for the state of India today. I still haven’t understood whether this comes from extreme love or total hatred.

    It is only between the Maharashtra elections and the students’ protests that we have seen signs of media courage.

    However, I must make some distinctions here. Individual journalists across India have shown remarkable courage across platforms and owners. The worst slip-sliding sycophancy comes from the big names. They are unable to criticise without adding riders. And that is no longer a sign of “objectivity”; it is a sign of cowardice.

    English language newspapers like The Telegraph, The Hindu, increasingly The Deccan Herald, the Deccan Chronicle, Asian Age, Business Standard to some extent, remain at the forefront of challenging those in power, this praise comes with caveats for all. Some allow more variety on their opinion pages like LiveMint. The Indian Express has become a sore disappointment. The Times of India? Well, it depends on which part of the country it is based in. Hindustan Times, hmm. The international media has been strident in its criticism. When it comes to news channels, it is still NDTV which is seen as the sole reliable, non-publicity mouthpiece of the Modi-Shah government. Some like CNN News18 or India Today TV have their moments of freedom from government PR, but they are few and far between. The rest are largely sucker-uppers. When they change, you know Olympus has fallen!

    Websites like the Wire, Scroll, Quint, Catch, NewsMinute, and a whole bunch of local news sites from Kashmir to Kochi fill in where the mainstream media fails. And this remains the main media battleground, much as so many in print or TV refuse to accept it. All those who thought citizen journalism and blogs could bring them into the 21st century ought to have realised by now that there’s no substitute for fact-finding and groundwork. Which is why AltNews, Boom and all the other fact-checking websites remain the most trustworthy.

    The last shout out has to be all the young and brave reporters, deskies, producers who follow, report, track and edit the first drafts of history being made, in spite of the tremendous pressures from their seniors, their owners, the public. These are the only hope as long as they stay this way and learn this simple lesson: Those glamorous fence-sitters? History will not remember them well.

    On that note, Happy New Year and see you on the other side!

     

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

     

     

  • How can the political capital of the country, the news hub of India, witness such a media blackout at the behest of politicians’ will, asks Shruti Pushkarna in the first of a new fortnightly column

    Shruti Pushkarna: Are there hints of hypocrisy underneath the dissenting voices?

    Shruti PushkarnaBy Shruti Pushkarna

     

    Yesterday I had a unique experience. Almost 37 years old, I have grown up listening to stories of the India-Pakistan Partition from my paternal grandfather, stories of my maternal grandfather about protesting against the authorities to protect the rights of labourers, and more recently, stories from my father and aunt from their time in prison when they upped their voices against the Emergency imposed by the then Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

     

    However graphic the pictures were in my head as these stories were narrated to me, but never had I experienced anything first-hand. Now before I build up your hopes as a reader for some thrilling piece here, I must confess I was not part of any action. I was just a first-hand witness. Not a listener, a spectator, watching the action live on the ground.

     

    The entire country is up in arms against the Citizen Amendment Act, recently cleared by the two houses of the Indian Parliament. Protests and slogan shouting everywhere. We have witnessed reports of services being disrupted, internet being withdrawn etc on several occasions from other parts of the country, but yesterday it was the capital of India. Parts of the Delhi city had internet, voice and SMS services withdrawn by network providers, on a directive issued by the government. This was a first for us. Access to media thwarted. How can the political capital of the country, the news hub of India, witness such a media blackout at the behest of politicians’ will? Are we assuming that if I’m unable to share my views using social media or develop an opinion based on others’ experiences being posted on media platforms, my voice can be drowned? We all assumed we were living in a fortress, untouched by common man’s woes. But yesterday these assumptions came crumbling down in the face of dissenting voices dissing the arrogant ruling class.

     

    When I left home yesterday morning, it was a regular working day for me. Taking a one-hour cab ride to my office in South Delhi, getting through meetings, meeting deadlines and so on. And then the news alerts started to pour in. One after the other. Roads blocked, police barricades, long winding traffic jams, metro stations being closed down, Section 144 imposed in pockets of Central Delhi. News bits went from bad to worse. I stepped out for a cup of coffee in my lunch break and saw CISF troops being rushed into the metro station nearby (same one I access to travel home daily). And it all came alive. Offices started to close down, parking lots started to clear up, people started to rush back homewards.

     

    As I took the Delhi metro back home (taking the roads was a bad option because of the violence on the streets), I looked around at my fellow commuters. Some were responding to phone calls from worried loved ones. Some were watching the news on their mobiles struggling with the sketchy mobile data. Some were watching right wing videos loudly on their phones, telling others around them that India is a Hindu sovereign. This last set of people actually broke out into shrieks of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” on the train. Some scared travellers looked away. Confused ones simple stared. A third category of people like me, not confused or scared, simple outraged, looked at them in disgust.

     

    A train journey is not the place to voice your opinion in an unruly manner. A train journey at that, where most stations were shut and people couldn’t wilfully deboard at their desired destinations. Also I doubt how much of the so-called ‘Bharatvarsha’ sentiment do these people embrace when it comes to other issues crippling the country.

     

    I for one work towards getting persons with disabilities an equal status as citizens of India. Will the same people stand by me, and fight for rights of this minority section tomorrow? I don’t think so.

     

    Will the same people offer food to the cook, driver or maid working tirelessly for their families? I don’t think so.

     

    When I go to a restaurant in Delhi, I see the same ‘protesting’ lot of people enjoying their dinner and drinks as their children’s nannies look from a distance. The nannies who are feeding their babies are not allowed on the same table, not offered the same food.

     

    I respect equality for everyone. I standby each religious group and their rights. But I also respect other vulnerable groups in their fight for rights. And I practise that respect in my day-to-day actions as much as I would do if I were at Jantar Mantar tomorrow.

     

    Let’s not be hypocrites ourselves when we accuse our leaders of the same. Would the same people hurl stones at the authorities if tomorrow a person with disability seeks equal employment or education rights? Will their children be told not to isolate disabled students in their classroom?

     

    If we talk of an equal India, then I must confess we are so far away from it. So who are we kidding.

     

    Shruti Pushkarna is a former journalist (part of the founding team of MxMIndia). who has now moved full-time to the social sector. She heads operations of New Delhi-based Score Foundation where she works as Director. Her views here are personal. She can be reached via Twitter at @shrutipushkarna