There’s a major difference between Hindi and English newspapers or television news – and no, it’s not just language.
Here’s a quick look at some of this week’s lead stories in English and Hindi newspapers’ Delhi edition.
On Monday 24 August, The Times of India led with ‘Jaish Pak HQ, razed in Sindoor, up and running’.
Dainik Jagran went with ‘Now onions are following sugar lead’ as the price of the staple vegetable rises to Rs 50-60 per kilogramme.
Forward to Wednesday, 26 August, Hindustan Times front page lead story was ‘Let July 20 probe kick off: SC on plea to widen remit’. This concerned the inquiry into alleged excesses by the Delhi Police during the 20 July student protest in Delhi.
‘Who will answer for the death of our children?’ asked Navbharat Times in its front page top story after an IIT Delhi student died by suicide and the body of a 15-year-old boy who fell into a drain was found after four days. “How is it that in the country’s capital, we cannot save a boy from dying in a drain?’ added the Hindi daily.
Switch to television news. On Tuesday, 25 August, while both Hindi and English news channels went to Patna for the student protest over competitive exam and recruitment processes, the English ones soon returned to what Rahul Gandhi said and Kangana Ranaut replied, or what Kangana had to say about actor Kriti Sanon’s attire in a Rakhi advertisement and Sanon’s terse response.
They’re also mightily interested in news from South India, especially Tamil Nadu.
Hindi news channels stick to their North Indian constituency. News 11 Bharat asks local people in Jamshedpur about severe water-logging. News 24 telecasts ‘Mahaul Kya Hai’ in which the anchor visits different cities and speaks to the public about local issues.
On English news channels, anchors and reporters speak to ‘experts’ or argue with political party spokespersons over Union Minister Kiren Rijuji’s swimming prowess and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s views on Rahul Gandhi (Times Now).
On these channels, you hear from the public a) during protests b) during election campaigns while will `we the people’ speak to Hindi TV news each day.
Also read: What TV media and newspapers saw in PM Modi’s Dimagi Naxals remark
Who is crying over onions?
Hindi news media has a civic sense.
English newspapers and news channels cater to their readers’ and viewers’ interest in national and international affairs.
Hindi newspapers, in particular, think the rise in the prices of onions and sugar is just as important. Remember, the price of onions is famously believed to have brought down the Delhi government in 1998?
The sugar-onion stories wers covered for many days in newspapers like Dainik Jagran, Rajasthan Patrika and Amar Ujala.
Amar Ujala wrote an editorial on how “high prices have arrived” for sugar and onion (25 August).
What appears in the Hindi newspapers is often picked up by Hindi news channels. Aaj Tak, News18 and NDTV India did stories on onion prices in Delhi’s markets and spoke to consumers after Hindi newspapers had headlined the issue. Others followed. As NDTV India wrote, “After sugar, onions are making us cry.”
Dried-eyed English news channels mostly ignored the issue. India Today picked up the Aaj Tak story, but otherwise it wasn’t until the government flagged off the Kanda Express onion train that the vegetable received more attention on them.
The English newspapers weren’t overly concerned about the price rise either. Hindustan Times had the one detailed, in-depth story on sugar — “Sugar surprise: How India went from surplus to shortage” (25 August).
Elsewhere, it received only a column of space.
Also read: Ranchi protesters have replicated CJP formula. So has the Jharkhand news coverage
Hindi media goes hyper local
It’s not sugar or onions.
The state of education, the condition of schools, the spread of swine flu and floods across states receive considerable coverage in Hindi newspapers and even on some TV news channels.
Amar Ujala warned of swine flu spreading to six states and an eightfold increase in cases in Delhi.
Hindustan did a full-page article on “We expected more from government schools” on Wednesday. Its second lead on the front page was about special wards for swine flu in some Delhi government hospitals.
On 25 August, Rajasthan Patrika did a story about a classroom in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, where two classes are separated by a curtain. Global India TV also carried the story.
Rajasthan Patrika did a page-one lead on Gen Z’s Jantar Mantar moment in several states — Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka… And what about the heartrending Dainik Jagran report on schoolchildren in Barwani, Madhya Pradesh, walking 15 km to meet the district collector and complain about the poor conditions at their school?
On TV, there were reports on News18 India about the condition of government schools in Rajasthan. “Jaago Sarkar Jaago,” said the channel as it showed us the shed where students studied.
These are local reports, told in Hindi by news media catering to the Hindi-speaking states. Do English news channels, with very different, more urbanised viewer profiles, need to tell these stories?
Well, yes. Hearing about the latest political antics of politicians is surely less important than knowing about the condition of much of the country?
No DD News for Sergio Gor, please
By now, most of us know what US Ambassador Sergio Gor said about Indian TV news channels at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum, New Delhi.
He marvelled that “At 10 pm, there are 12 people who are all speaking at the same time…” `Speaking’ is a kind verb. More like shouting.
This virus has now struck sobersides national channel, DD News. In a clip that has gone viral, Mahant Raju Das forgot his saffron robes and launched into an abusive tirade against the Congress spokesperson, during a debate. The anchors tried to stop Raj Das but in vain.
Just as well Ambassador Gor didn’t see or hear this one.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)