By Ranjona Banerji
Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is clearly causing heartburn. Within Big Mainstream Media, which refuses to cover it, and some political parties which denigrate intent and outcome. The second is understandable: that’s politics.
But the media is another story.
Or, let’s be honest, the same story.
Both Rahul Gandhi’s walk across India and the terrible collapse of a bridge in Gujarat have got similar media treatment. Scant, local and biased in favour of the BJP whenever possible.
When it comes to Morbi and the deaths of 135 people, the best that we get now from the media is from local coverage. And soon, even that will dry up. The police have arrested some low-level managers and security guards, and subcontractors.
Anyone who lives in India knows that a mess of this magnitude could not have happened without political and bureaucratic collusion. Fans of the government blame people for being on the bridge, shaking the bridge and so on. Fans in the media have so many other things to talk about like the annual winter pollution in Delhi.
Delhi is a tiny small part of a gigantic nation. But we will now discuss bad air quality for the next few months as if it affects everyone. We will never find out what happened in Morbi. The prime minister is already off inaugurating other things. No one will check whether those things work, are necessary or important. The fact of inauguration by a Great Man is all the proof we need.
The national television media has perfected the art of non-news. News-gathering costs money. It requires time and effort. A “debate”, according to a former TV journalist I met recently, costs about Rs15000 or less. Easily affordable and far more effective in drawing in viewers. Content is unimportant. Largely, it needs to be high decibel and low quality for best results.
Media watchers have been fed this diet of sound, filled with toxicity and dubious information, with intent, not just impunity. And the same media worthies who create and revel in bad journalism, especially if it creates social dissonance and disaffection, are overjoyed that The Wire is under police and government scrutiny.
Of course, as always in such matters, our dear liberal friends within the media and outside are at the forefront of the criticism of The Wire. These liberal, upstanding, fair, just, and sanctimoniously self-righteous members of the media are outraged that The Wire made so many mistakes in its articles on Meta and even worse, got taken for a ride.
It is therefore heartening to see media organisations like the Press Club of India, Editors Guild, Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists, NWMi, DigiPub, to name a few, condemning police action against The Wire, based on the complaint of one member of the BJP’s IT Cell.
“Without glossing over The Wire’s lapse, it would be pertinent to recall that in the recent past there have been numerous instances of media excesses and completely over-the-top stories by media houses: be it absurd reports of chips in currency notes; fake WhatsApp forwards on Chinese soldiers killed in Galwan or unalloyed hate-mongering and incitement. These “reports” have enjoyed complete immunity and have hurtled India into a post-Truth conjuncture, where the right to be reliably informed itself has been steadily jettisoned.”
The above paragraph from the BUJ statement makes the situation clear to anyone with a clear head on their shoulders. The negative response to The Wire’s transgression, from within the media, is lopsided and biased. The Indian media is notorious for lacking introspection. Why The Wire has to be held to a higher standard than everyone else beats me. And then there is the horror of having the government “investigating” journalists.
I personally remain sceptical about Big Tech and its policies, especially when it comes to rightwing authoritarian governments.
In general, I prefer to remain sceptical of fascism.
Unlike, you know…
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal
