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The newspapers on the first day of a new year present faceoffs on triple talaq and AgustaWestland, but also offer examples of different ways to approach the same story. Even so, there were media misses too.
First though, the video from Turkish TV of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s remains being carried out of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul offers a chilling reminder to journalists that 2019 could be another year of living dangerously.
Triple talaq and four ways to tell it
The Triple Talaq Bill was in the Rajya Sabha, Monday, and Tuesday’s news reports set the tone for political coverage of 2019 by framing it as a contest between two opposites. The reportage also highlights how the same story can be told in at least four different ways.
So, The Times of India headlines its report, “Triple Talaq Bill fails to get Rajya Sabha nod”, while Hindustan Times goes with “Triple Talaq Bill hits Rajya Sabha wall as Opposition digs in heels”. The Hindu, meanwhile, prefers, “Govt rejects demand to send Triple Talaq Bill to House Panel”, while The Indian Express writes, “Opp unites in Rajya Sabha: Triple Talaq Draft law needs legislative scrutiny”.
The Hindu elaborates in its report, “The government on Monday rejected the Opposition’s demand in the Rajya Sabha to send the contentious … Bill to a joint select committee for further scrutiny.”
The Express adds, “The Bill to make instant triple talaq a punishbable offence hit a roadblock in Rajya Sabha Monday with a united Opposition demanding that the draft law be first sent to a select committee for legislative scrutiny.”
And while Hindu and Express lead with these reports, TOI confines the Bill to a small box item.
Agusta faceoff
A similar approach is adopted for coverage on the showdown between the BJP and the Congress on defence deals: “Shah, Antony fire fresh salvos on chopper deal” writes HT. The TOI ignores the “tu tu main-main” on the AgustaWestland deal on Page 1, but carries two detailed reports on Page 12. It juxtaposes BJP president Amit Shah’s comments with Congress leader and former defence minister A.K. Antony’s rebuttal: “Shah takes a dig at Gandhis, says family balm for middleman Michel” is followed by “Gandhis never interfered in Agusta deal: Antony”.
The Express also ignores the story for Page 1, preferring to go with the Congress’s willingness to debate the Rafale deal. Notice, how newspapers often tell the entire story in the headline: “Cong changes stand, agrees to debate Rafale deal in Lok Sabha”.
BAT: Is it cricket?
When readers see the word ‘BAT’, they usually think cricket. Not the headline writers at TOI: “Army foils Pak BAT, kills two” is the newspaper’s obscure way of saying, “Two Pak intruders killed on LoC”, as The Hindu did.
The report on the Indian Army foiling an alleged intrusion by Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT) is front-page news in Express and HT too – the latter places its report below a rather upbeat story on “World’s first January babies”.
Confusion on Mayawati move
There’s confusion between The Hindu and TOI regarding former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati. The former writes on Page 1 that the BSP chief “puts Congress govts on notice”: “If (Congress) did not immediately revoke cases filed against ‘innocent persons’ during 2 April Bharat Bandh … her party might ‘reconsider’ support to the grand old party” in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
On page 12, TOI writes, “Maya flexes muscles, Cong placates he” –“MP Congress said it had already announced its intention to withdraw such ‘politically motivated’ cases”.
Photo surrender
The photograph of the day is a story covered extensively by TV news Monday afternoon: Express and HT go with “Sajjan Surrenders” and “Sajjan Kumar surrenders”, respectively, for their headline of the former Congressman’s surrender following his conviction last month for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots: “34 years on, Sajjan finally goes to jail”, writes TOI for greater precision.
NRC’s missing are found
By the last day to reapply, 30 lakh of the 40 lakh people left out of the initial National Register of Citizens list had signed up. This is major news, which The Hindu and Express rightly give good display on Page 1 — the former leads with “30 lakh reapply for inclusion in NRC”. However, TOI and HT carry the report on inside pages.
However, HT carries six pages on the “Year that will be” and an interview with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in which he speaks about everything from loan waivers and the RBI, to CBI vs CBI, and Rahul Gandhi, saying he would love it if the 2019 Lok Sabha election became a “presidential fight” between Modi and Rahul .
Editorials
The editorials look back and ahead.
While The Hindu chooses to hail Sheikh Hasina’s victory in Bangladesh, HT sees 2019 as “a big year for India” — an understatement, perhaps? It lauds what it sees as India’s “economy overtaking, and aptly so, the UK’s… but the more important thing is what India does with its wealth”.
TOI is also “Turning the Corner”. While it deals with the political climate in an election year, it chooses to focus more on the economy: “Unfortunately, the election season has unleashed a surfeit of economic populism, a festival of bad ideas. One can only hope it draws down soon and a stable government gets elected.”
Express wishes readers “Happy New Year” and asks them to think of the “irreversible forces that are transforming the rhythms of the fluid, unbounded energy called India from below”. Specifically, women who “hold up half the sky” and young adults numbering 133 million who will vote for the first time in next year’s Lok Sabha election.
Happy New Year to all our readers.
Prime Time
As 2018 was on the verge of giving way to 2019, television news stayed with the old year till the clock struck midnight.
Through the day, there were news features across channels looking back at the year that was, after the opposition stalled the Triple Talaq Bill in the Rajya Sabha and robbed them of a strong news story.
However, channels like ET Now lived in the moment with a debate on the RBI’s financial stability report, while India Today was on the look-out for the man who will matter most in 2019 after its marathon, state-wise analysis of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in its weekend show, Political Stock Exchange.
RBI’s new governor Shaktikanta Das was the focus of ET Now’s conversation on the RBI’s financial stability report.
In his assessment of the economic situation, Das said, “Global economic prospects have noticeably softened and risk of a recession in major economies appear modest at this point of time.”
He also had a positive outlet for banking prospects: “Credit growth rate of banks improved in September 2018 driven by private sector banks. Asset quality of banks improved with decline in GNPA ratio.”
On Aaj Tak, anchor Anjana Om Kashyap returned to PM Modi’s big economic gamble: Demonetisation. Was it, in hindsight, a successful step? As you would expect, the BJP and the Congress were on opposite sides of the argument. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed, “Three lakh shell companies closed down as a result of demonetisation. Those who held black money are being prosecuted.”
Congressman Rajiv Tyagi rubbished Patra’s claim, terming it totally incorrect. “The figures given by Sambit Patraji are completely false.”
On India Today, anchor Rahul Kanwal peered into 2019 in search of a dominant character for the general elections. Who would dictate the narrative, he wondered.
Senior journalist Shoma Chaudhary said she felt it could be the Congress President: “Rahul Gandhi sweeping all the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh… makes him the man (to watch out) for in 2019.”
Political analyst Shantanu Gupta added a caveat to Chaudhary’s prediction: “If Congress under Rahul Gandhi crosses 100 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, then it will be a really big deal.”
Tweets of the day:
Everyone dreads another Modi Midnight Surprise! pic.twitter.com/KvmM50zcBz
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 31, 2018
Time to bid goodbye to Twitter/SM. I have been wanting to do this for some time. There’s so much to do in life, somewhere this digital age engulfs us. Need to break this self imposed barrier- and spend time in spiritual growth. Not sure if/when I will return. Take care everyone.
— Sadhavi Khosla?? (@sadhavi) December 31, 2018
This is a good job of highlighting the lopsided ways of the media in covering the same news. One is inclined to think that the manner in which important news is covered reflects more of the ‘wishful thinking’ of the newspaper/ TV Channel concerned rather than the actual news.
A very good column. Thanks