Are the accusations of government “threats” by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey an “outright lie” as the BJP claims or the “murder of democracy” as the Congress alleges?
The media isn’t unanimous. Most television news channels sided with the government version— ‘Union Minister fact checks Dorsey’ (Times Now). They prominently displayed ministers’ allegations that this was a “toolkit” operation, perhaps even linked to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the US – at one point on Tuesday, Republic TV had five BJP leaders refute Dorsey. Does the government protest too much?
Primetime anchors like Padmaja Joshi dripped scorn on Dorsey’s claims – it’s a “lament” on the “hell hole called India” where “you can’t even tweet”, she said (Times Now). However, India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai did corner BJP spokesperson Ajay Alok: “Are you saying JacK Dorsey is working for the Congress party?” he asked. After an appreciable silence, Alok replied, “….anything is possible…”
Newspapers offered more perspective: The Times of India, The Hindu, and The Indian Express led with Dorsey’s comments, reporting both sides’ viewpoints and the subsequent political “slugfest” (Hindustan Times). What The Indian Express, The Hindu, and Hindustan Times did establish is that the Narendra Modi government had asked for the removal of tweets and the blocking of accounts, particularly during the 2021 farmers’ protests, for a variety of reasons.
The Indian Express had an in-depth analysis of the chequered history between the government and Twitter in ‘Arc of Chill: Dorsey poster to farm protest to Musk’s new line’. The newspaper wrote an editorial ‘Denial is no answer’, cautioning both big tech and the government.
In its 50-word edit, ThePrint said Dorsey’s “revelation about the kind of pressure that was brought on Twitter is important for transparency. BJP and the Modi government have a love-hate relationship with social media. They have made sharper use of it than others. If you embrace them, also learn to deal with inclusive global platforms.”
The standout story in The Times of India was a detailed account on ‘Cops: Indian MD of Twitter Tried to Mislead in 2021’. Here, it spelt out the Delhi Police’s version of police “visits” to Twitter offices in Bengaluru and Delhi and the prevarications of India CEO Manish Maheshwari.
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Testing times
A subject that united the media was the World Test Championship final between India and Australia at The Oval. They took us from ‘hope’ to ‘despair’ within a few hours Sunday.
On the fifth day of the Test match, India needed 280 runs with 7 wickets in hand: most cricket lovers felt India was staring at defeat. ‘Hanging on grimly,’ wrote TOI.
However, optimists in the media lifted our mood: ‘Australia in command,’ wrote HT but ‘India hopes hinge on Kohli classic’.
‘Can India Dare to Dream?’ asked NDTV 24×7. At Aaj Tak, sports editor Vikrant Gupta, in London, suggested this could be a “red letter day for India” while former cricketer Harbhajan Singh declared it was a “historic opportunity” for the country. Star Sports commentator and former opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar thought an Indian victory was “eminently possible” (India Today).
Everyone spoke of ‘King Kohli’ winning the day — we were all pumped up. Yes!
And then, “Comprehensive…. massive win for Australia,” announced former cricketer-coach-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri before we’d even had a chance to brew afternoon tea (Star Sports). “Completely outplayed,” exulted ex-Australian player-commentator Ricky Ponting. A little later, one of the Aussies pointed out that a country of 27 million people had conquered a nation of 1.5 billion — “impressive stuff”.
The media’s hopes had been dashed and recriminations followed: a livid Gavaskar said the team’s batting was “in shambles”, that Kohli played an “ordinary shot” when he was caught out by Steve Smith. That opened the floodgates — commentators and sports writers attacked the Indian team they had hoped would put up a fight. Alas, “No stomach for a fight,” reported The Hindu on Monday (12 June).
“Superstars flop again,” said TOI; “kingsize implosion”. India’s dream “ends in heartbreak again”, wrote HT, which buried its story in the middle of the page. Now a dejected Aaj Tak’s Gupta was snide: “This is not gully cricket,” he said. “`Very disappointed with Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma…”
Interestingly, TV commentators like Harsha Bhogle and former cricketers reminded us that India had made it to a second successive WTC final—no mean feat. Also, little was said about the BCCI’s role in India’s preparations or the lack of a chief selector.
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Gaming or chopping?
Which would the media prefer to report? ‘Gaming jihad’ or the murder of a 32-year-old woman by her 56-year-old partner — ‘Man chops off woman’s body, boils, feeds to dogs in Mumbai’s Mira Road’ was Hindustan Times’ gruesome headline.
Normally, such a grotesque crime would leave news channels salivating for more – maybe hunting for the dogs and the recipe of this dastardly act: “He pressure-cooked some body parts, roasted others, and ground some more in a mixer and fed them to stray dogs,” wrote HT (9 June).
Oddly, there was barely any coverage of the victim, Saraswati Vaidya or the crime. Certainly, no wall-to-wall coverage of the apartment where Manoj Sane dismembered Vaidya’s body — not the kind of coverage we saw in the equally horrific Shraddha Walker case where accused Aftab Poonawala cut her up and threw her body parts into the jungle, last summer.
Why the difference? Perhaps because the name of the alleged murderer was Manoj and not Aftab?
Let’s face it, giving a communal lens to crimes appeals to television news. Monday was all about ‘Gaming Jihad’. From Mumbai to Ghaziabad, channels like India TV, Times Now Navbharat, and Aaj Tak tracked one Shahnawaz Maqsood Khan alias Baddo who was accused of converting young people to Islam by luring them with an online game, Fortnite.
English channels joined in: `Massive terror plot’, said India Today in ‘NCR Jihad racket’. According to Aaj Tak, ‘400 children had changed religion’ – although where it got the figure from, it alone knows.
Suddenly Shahnawaz was the ‘mastermind’ of a conversion syndicate (Zee News) and News 18 India went after it ‘live’ – a breathless reporter ran after the police van transporting Khan to court.
News channels provided clues to the game, and how Khan allegedly slipped the Quran into the playing rules—recite from it and win; ignore it, lose…
By Tuesday afternoon, there was ‘Breaking News’—a ‘Pakistan’ link had been found in the matter (CNN News 18). So, what else is new(s)?
Many newspapers ignored it but for a paragraph or two — The Indian Express had a straight account of the case (11 June) while ThePrint visited Ghaziabad to meet some families of youngsters who had allegedly been swayed by Khan’s way of thinking.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)