Media Misworks

The newly-formed Opposition bloc INDIA will boycott 14 news anchors from half-a-dozen English and Hindi channels in the country, among whom are Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, Bharat24’s Rubika Liyaquat, India Today-Aaj Tak’s Sudhir Chaudhury and TimesNow group editor Navika Kumar.

https://theprint.in/politics/arnab-goswami-navika-kumar-rubika-liyaqat-among-14-tv-anchors-blacklisted-by-india-bloc/1761978/ 

The grouping’s coordination committee decided Wednesday not to send representatives to their shows, in keeping with their long-standing grouse that a section of the media only mouth the ruling BJP’s narrative. In the past, certain Opposition leaders have even called them “Modia”.

The other ten singled out by INDIA’s media sub-committee are Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant and Shiv Aroor from the India Today-Aaj Tak network; Aman Chopra, Amish Devgn, Anand Narsimhan from CNN-News18; Sushant Sinha from TimesNow; Prachi Parashar from India TV; Aditi Tyagi from Bharat Express and Ashok Shrivastava from DD News.

by ISHADRITA LAHIRI

https://scroll.in/article/1054587/how-did-indias-news-channels-become-so-full-of-hate 

In one of India’s most chilling hate crimes, a Railway Protection Force jawan named  Chetansinh Chaudhary shot four train passengers dead on July 31. Three of those people were Muslim. Chaudhary had roamed through the train he had been entrusted to protect, hunting for people who looked Muslim, asked for their names and then pumped bullets into them. In the middle of this terror rampage Chaudhary’s reference to the Indian media as he carried out a mass killing of Muslims is a reminder of just how profoundly this hate on India’s airwaves is changing its politics and, in fact, its social structure.

What explains the incredible rise of hate on Hindi and English news channels?

 there is plenty of data to show that hate in Indian media is top-down, driven by the government and media owners.

To understand how this happens, we must first acknowledge that major news channels in India are closely controlled by the government. The Union government has stout sticks at its disposal, such the ability to grant (or withhold) broadcast licences for news channels.

by Shoaib Daniyal

21/08/2023

More arrests, Rahul Gandhi coverage: Why press freedom continues to take a beating in India  Kalpana Sharma 23 Mar, 2023https://www.newslaundry.com/2023/03/23/more-arrests-rahul-gandhi-coverage-why-press-freedom-continues-to-take-a-beating-in-india Just days ago, the editor of a media house broke records of sycophancy in his speech while welcoming the PM at an event.  After the Emergency ended, LK Advani, who was the information and broadcasting minister in the Janata government, famously said of the press that when asked to bend it chose to crawl during the Emergency. In this case, even though we don’t live under a state of emergency, an editor chose not just to crawl but to literally prostrate himself before the powerful. ...

The charge that Rahul Gandhi asked foreign countries to step in. There is no evidence of such an accusation. On the contrary, in his session at Chatham House, he makes a very clear statement. When asked what governments or even people in the West should do in the light of his comments about Indian democracy, Gandhi says, “First of all this is our problem. It’s an internal problem. It’s an Indian problem. And the solution is going to come from inside, not from outside.”

It is evident that the reason the BJP can confidently go ahead with its attack on Rahul Gandhi is because it knows that his actual statements have been sparingly reported. Deliberately, or otherwise, the Indian media has helped spread a lie.

Other references quoted in this article...

“A functional and healthy democracy must encourage the development of journalism as an institution that can ask difficult questions to the establishment – or as it is commonly known, ‘speak truth to power’. The vibrancy of any democracy is compromised when the press is prevented from doing exactly this. The press must remain free if a country is to remain a democracy.”  CJI Chandrachud -‘Press must remain free if a country is to remain a democracy’: CJI Chandrachud at RNG awards https://indianexpress.com/article/india/ramnath-goenka-awards-2023-cji-dy-chandrachud-journalism-political-activism-full-speech-8513155/

Uttar Pradesh: YouTuber arrested after questioning minister on poll promises Mar 14, 2023 · https://scroll.in/latest/1045563/ Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader had filed a complaint against the YouTuber, Sanjay Rana, alleging that he interfered in government work.  video https://twitter.com/i/status/1635326614207877120

Irfan Mehraj: Editors Guild, Amnesty, UN Special Rapporteur Condemn Arrest, Call for Release https://www.newslaundry.com/2023/03/23/more-arrests-rahul-gandhi-coverage-why-press-freedom-continues-to-take-a-beating-in-india 22 Mar 2023

Students protest after DU bars 2 from exams for 1 yr over BBC Modi documentary screening https://theprint.in/india/education/students-protest-after-du-bars-2-from-exams-for-1-yr-over-bbc-modi-documentary-screening/1463252/ Groups including NSUI had tried to screen Gujarat riots documentary in January. University official says action 'well thought out', but MP & alum Shashi Tharoor says he's 'appalled'.

Delhi Police file 100 cases, arrest 6 for posters seeking ouster of PM Modi https://scroll.in/latest/1046048/
The authorities seized 2,000 posters, which were reportedly being delivered to the Aam Aadmi Party’s headquarters.

What Rahul Gandhi Said in the UK and Why It Hit a Raw Nerve of the BJP's https://thewire.in/politics/rahul-gandhi-uk-bjp-modi-rajnath-singh Electoral considerations do not seem to have stopped Gandhi in the UK, but it is exactly why BJP – whose projection of Narendra Modi as a likeable global leader is integral ahead of the 2024 election campaign – is so worried.

The NBDSA held that in the first episode, the anchor crossed the "threshold of impartiality" by making communally polarising statements. In the second, the body observed that the anchor condemned the entire Muslim community for the actions of a few miscreants who were accused of pelting stones at a garba event in Kheda. Self-Regulatory Body Fines News18 India Rs 75k for Two Broadcasts of Aman Chopra's Programme (thewire.in)

 The self-regulatory body for television channels on Monday, February 27, fined News18 India Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 for two separate broadcasts of anchor Aman Chopra’s programme. The first programme dealt with Yogi Adityanath’s “80 vs 20” statement, while the second was on the public flogging of Muslim men in Gujarat’s Kheda district.

01/03/2023