What is the media message of 2023? There isn’t any. Just that the moon became a star and news stars fell from grace while the unusual achieved stardom.
Otherwise, it was another year of living dangerously. The media was under attack, reminding us of the important role it plays.
If journalists associated with the NewsClick website were investigated by the Enforcement Directorate and had their electronic equipment seized—its promoter faces charges under UAPA—the opposition INDIA bloc boycotted 14 television news anchors.
Far from standing together, united, to oppose such challenges to press freedom, many in the media remained silent or, worse, supported the actions. In 2023, the media is split wide open like the political class: there’s the ‘Modi media’ and then there’s the ‘Lutyens media’—other journalistic enterprises live precariously between the two.
And shame on the media for almost entirely ignoring the tragic ethnic violence between the Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur. Since clashes broke out in May 2023, the only time the Northeast state was in the camera’s focus was when a video surfaced in July of two women, who had allegedly been gang-raped, being paraded in public. Indian journalists rushed to Israel for live coverage of the ‘Israel-Hamas war’; they mourned the death of babies and civilians there but were blind to Manipur’s suffering.
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Prime anchors, timely stories
On 23 August 2023, a star was born. The lunar landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission made the moon the most unlikely hero of TV news in 2023. “The moon is ours,” crowed Aaj Tak, and so say all of us. Will we ever forget the sight of a playful Vikram lander and Pragyan rover scampering along the lunar surface?
As the moon rose above all others on the TV firmament, news anchors have been dropping down the charts. It’s fair to ask: are prime time news anchors, once considered news-views messiahs, even relevant now? Some are MIA like Prannoy Roy, others have relocated to YouTube—no Ravish Kumar or Nidhi Razdan at 9 pm on TV, post Gautam Adani’s takeover of NDTV. A Sreenivasan Jain (NDTV) and a Rahul Shivshankar (Times Now) have switched channels and lost the prime time spotlight while Rubika Liyaquat is hunting for a new place after being the leading lady at ABP News.
The prime time debate has a staleness to it: anchors attack the opposition; some guests have taken up permanent residence on certain shows (Shehzad Poonawala, anyone?); anchors deliver opinions as if by rote—and interrupt speakers every third second. All of this at the top of their voices— surprised they don’t suffer from chronic laryngitis—hey, there’s a thought…
Once ardent 9 pm news opera disciples, now prefer to watch Korean soaps on streaming channels (Netflix)—unless, of course, they are interrupted by don Atiq Ahmed being gunned down on live TV (April), the trapped miners’ rescue in Uttarakhand (November), or Parliament under attack (December) with the ludicrous sight of journalists playing ‘catch-the canister-if you-can’. Or simply the Jagdeep Dhankhar-Mallikarjun Kharge duels in the Rajya Sabha (Sansad TV).
Live TV broadcasts are still bestsellers.
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Newsmakers on screen
That brings us to three new and unexpected TV celebrities: Vice President Dhankhar, Congress chief Kharge, and Dhirendra Krishna Shastri aka ‘Bageshwar Dham Sarkar’. Each tells you something about the mood of the country.
Shastri is the latest in the list of self-styled religious ‘gurus’ who mesmerise the public—and therefore television news. His boyish, cocky style and astrological soothsaying, tinged with patriotic fervour for ‘Bharat’, has made him a hit on Hindi news channels and among politicians who vied for his blessings ahead of elections. He even relegated Ramdev to second position.
Meanwhile, Parliament is a playground for politicians who frolic and fight in the new building in full view—perhaps hoping to catch the public eye.
Courtesy Sansad TV’s edited version of live proceedings (which ignores the opposition benches as much as possible), we watch the antics of our representatives. Suspended animation has acquired an entirely new meaning in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, where presiding officers Om Birla and Dhankhar regularly suspended opposition MPs this winter season.
In this situation, two senior citizens of politics stand out– Dhankhar, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and Kharge, leader of the House. No one would have thought they would shine with a Mahua Moitra or Shashi Tharoor around. But their avuncular eloquence charmed the media and they’re right behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in TV’s list of favourite people.
Modi continues to ‘boss’ over TV coverage as India TV said about him on his trips to Australia and the United States this summer—nothing new about that. Not much has changed for Rahul Gandhi either besides the outrage over his disqualification from Parliament and subsequent reinstatement.
Otherwise, he is either contemptuously referred to as “Rahul baba” and dismissed as the “albatross around his own party’s neck” (Arnab Goswami, Republic TV) or seen/heard at his frequent press conferences. Say this for him, he has made himself available to the media.
Also read: 2023 results show Modi is the Messi of mass politics. But don’t rush to watch TV channels
International matters
Foreign affairs is another area of interest. The war in Ukraine continued to inexplicably fascinate Hindi news channels until it was summarily replaced by the ‘Israel-Hamas War’ (India Today). That Ukraine has disappeared almost entirely from the media map—in the Indian and international press—is a story in itself.
From India’s standpoint, the media was all over the PM’s foreign trips—12 since June 2023—and of course the G20 summit in New Delhi. The latter was a two-day reel, starring the PM, the red carpet promenade of world leaders, and Modi’s cold handshake with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The big international story was the ‘K Menace’, as TV news called Khalistani activities abroad. Trudeau, publicly accusing India of conspiring to kill its citizens in Canada, saw TV news denounce Canada as the new home for terrorism and Khalistani separatists. Suddenly, Canada was the villain—Zee News went so far as to say that Trudeau might have had cocaine on board his plane to the G20.
The question to ask is whether the extensive media coverage of Khalistani propaganda abroad brought centre stage what was a basement show?
The Indian media was less forthcoming about the Pannun incident in the US—where India was accused of plotting to kill an American citizen. Unlike in Parliament, the government’s security network over information is so secure that no one knows what happened there—or anywhere for that matter unless the government wishes to reveal it.
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Playing the key role
Fortunately, the wrestler’s protests against Brij Bhushan Singh, former chief of Wrestling Federation of India, for alleged sexual harassment were out in the open, in the streets of Delhi. The media didn’t disappoint: in May, TV news pinned down the story and put Bhushan on the mat. It gave all the time in the world to the outraged wrestlers—Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia—when they spoke up or were manhandled by Delhi Police.
Did the coverage help tip the scales against Bhushan? Well, it certainly turned the public against him. You see that in Gaza too: coverage of Israel’s relentless assault on Gazans, most of them children, in the international media is starting to weaken—we hope—the western governments’ support for the attacks.
That suggests the media will play a crucial role in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Watch out.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)