The lead headline in The Indian Express said it all: ‘CONTINEW’. While that was the newspaper’s punny take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 3.0 cabinet formation on 9 June, it perfectly describes Hindi and English television news channels, one week after what TV anchor Zakka Jacob called an “underwhelming” poll result for the BJP.
The news channels still chant the Modi mantra, but they do have the Opposition on their lips—and, more importantly, in their TV studios. So yes, TV news remains the same but there is change, small change, on the air.
The prime-time example is that on Tuesday, at least two leading English news channels discussed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comments a day earlier on the true nature of a ‘sevak’, the Lok Sabha polls, governance — and the unabated violence in Manipur.
His remarks were widely interpreted as a rebuke to the ruling BJP, or as CNN News 18 put it, ‘Sangh cautions Sarkar’. The channel headlined Bhagwat’s advice that a ‘true sevak is not arrogant’. It also had Ratan Sharda as a guest who just wrote an article in the RSS affiliated magazine, Organiser, saying BJP was “overconfident”.
For its part, Times Now debated, ‘RSS chief’s remarks for whom?’ and picked up a similar message: it gave prominence to Bhagwat’s ‘shun arrogance’ theme.
We’d all agree that debates which analyse the BJP leadership — and dare to even raise an eyebrow at PM Modi’s style of politics — is a 10-year wonder.
However, Bhagwat’s speech was not one of the top stories of Tuesday on most news TV — as it ought to have been — although it did find space on channels such as APN News and Sudarshan News.
A comparison with newspapers shows that TV wasn’t all that far behind: while Bhagwat made it to Page 1, prominently, on The Times of India and The Indian Express, he got a short, single column report on Page 1 of Hindustan Times and an ‘In Brief’ news item in The Hindu. Longer reports followed inside.
The Express was alone in going for a jugular headline, ‘True Sevak never arrogant, decorum not kept in poll, flags RSS chief’. TOI did a balancing act with ‘Bhagat: NDA’s work brought it back; oppn not an adversary’— while HT and Hindu were tame: ‘Bhagwat slams ‘Poll drives of both sides’, flags Manipur issue’ (HT), ‘Poll campaigns must not increase social tensions’ (The Hindu).
Who did Bhagwat address?
When Bhagwat made his comments on the Opposition not being ‘virodhi’ but the other side of the same coin, and that its perspective deserves to be respected, he could have been addressing the media as much as the politicians.
TV news appears to have heard him: There are little shoots visible, here and there, on TV news, which suggest a growing awareness that while Modi remains the nama, the Opposition has a story to tell that needs to be heard.
TV political debates, across news channels now, feature an abundance of viewpoints from parties other than the BJP: the Congress is seen on Zee News, Aaj Tak, India TV, ABP News, CNN News 18 – and even on Times Now. Other regional parties such as SP, JDU, TDP, RJD, DMK, and Shiv Sena (Sharad Pawar) are also in these debates. This is refreshing and more balanced. One example from CNN News 18: a discussion on the BJP’s dependence on its coalition partners — ‘Nitish and Naidu’ — saw representatives from BJP, Congress, JDU, and DMK.
Here’s another possible straw in the wind: TV anchors are a little more polite to politicians from the Opposition; they are also less hysterical and less loud. It’s as if the Lok Sabha results lowered their volume. This was noticeable on Times Now, Republic TV, Aaj Tak, ABP News.
Another change: more interviews with the Opposition, at least the Congress. Prithviraj Chavan, former Maharashtra chief minister and current Congress MLA, was interviewed by Times Now; Sachin Pilot and Shashi Tharoor are in demand, too.
Shift in political focus
So much for the debates: in the news, there’s been a perceptible shift in the political focus – and that could be because this is the week after the general election results. Once Parliament is in session and the government gets down to business, it could be a very different picture.
Bharat Express reported on political divisions over ‘One Nation One Poll’ and the ‘Uniform Civil Code’, between NDA allies; Times Now Navbharat had a story on UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy chief ministers’ Delhi visit – all is (not) well. Was Yogi in Delhi to complain or to explain the UP results, asked Zee News; Aaj Tak – and other channels – gave considerable space to the heartburn in the Ajit Pawar camp over the lack of a cabinet berth for Praful Patel; ‘Maha Allies Unhappy’ was an NDTV 24×7 story.
News 24 looked at Rajasthan and discovered that Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s son Dushyant Singh was not in the Modi cabinet; the remarks of Akhilesh Yadav on Manipur, following Mohan Bhagwat’s criticism of the inaction in the state, was news across channels.
Away from politics, terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and protests over NEET 2024 results took up a lot of news time. Surprising just how much sympathetic coverage NEET has received—a channel like Republic TV has spent an enormous amount of time with students and their parents.
What received very little coverage was Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to Rae Bareli on a thanksgiving mission.
Some things don’t change.
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(edited by Prashant)
Tut tut.
That holier than thou attitude is not deserved by ThePrint.
The hypocrisy stands out when the author passes judgement, with sarcasm, on the work of other media outlets. It would be honest of her if she were to instead look at her own organization and introspect.
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Consider these articles which got published in the course of the past week.
“Why Nirmala Sitharaman 2.0 is good for finance ministry, govt & even the economy-If corporate India and the stock markets want stability, and PM Modi wants someone who unquestioningly follows his directions, then Sitharaman is the right person for the job.”
– ThePrint on 11th June.
(I commented on that article. The fatuousness is apparent in the sub-heading itself.)
“Why Nirmala Sitharaman will be the ideal choice as Finance Minister in Modi 3.0?”
-The Week, 10th June
“View: Why Nirmala Sitharaman is PM Modi’s best bet in the finance ministry”
-The Hindustan Times, 13th June.
Considering those lavish expressions of faith made by so many in harmony, one would expect to read at least a couple of decent, credible testimonials that do justice to the surfeit of capabilities possessed by the deserving person.
Alas, there is only one testimonial that one can make out, and it is common to all the three. It is that the Hon. FM is faithful to the Hon PM, and has the latter’s trust.
Just as one is about to conclude that the position is not of a finance minister but of a PA, one of them (HT) puts forth this, “It was under her leadership in the ministry that India successfully conducted the cross-border surgical strike against Pakistan in Balakot.”
There is one more educative opinion which is commonly held by all the three. That the economy is the stock market.
The rest in those articles is mostly fluff. Like the one in The Week that the Hon. FM replaced the colonial-era Budget briefcase with a bahi-khata for the Union Budget. (Shattering!)
Another says, “The Modi government took out public sector banks from the twin balance sheet problem to be the realm of the twin balance sheet advantage”.
That is amazingly revelatory! It spills the beans!!
The “tame” HT, unlike ThePrint, at least had the mettle to declare that what was published was an opinion piece.
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A one-time fluke! I doubt it. The orchestrated fandom refuses to be discreet anymore.
Look at another gem of an article by ThePrint that I discovered. today.
“India’s market cap grew faster under UPA than Modi govt, but other indicators faster in past decade ”
-ThePrint, 8th June 2024.
The author states, “In response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of stock market manipulation by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders — particularly Narendra Modi and Amit Shah — BJP leader Piyush Goyal held a press conference Friday in which he highlighted several achievements of the Modi government with regard to the stock market.”
The article agreeingly narrates the details given by the Government about how superlative the performance of the stock market has been under its regime.
There is not a single thought by the author about how the glowing self-praise is adequate justification for invalidating the accusations.
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The obsequiousness to Government and Party is hard to miss nowadays.
In reality, ThePrint is the B-Team of the Godi Media.
How long will this gloating by Modi haters in the media continue?