Ever since the Modi government assumed office in 2014, the media has been under pressure. It’s not that the previous Congress government wasn’t treating the media with any great respect, but it wasn’t showing telltale signs that are visiible now. Independent media is in a pressure-cooker, while the Modi-friendly media is enjoying acche din.
As much as the nation is polarised on political lines, the mainstream media is fragmented in its coverage of government and the national parties, particularly the big two — the ruling BJP and the Congress. Besides, the ideological divides, the Right and the Left, or universally noted as Conservative and Liberal.
There are obvious offshoots of the these two main branches, more so evident now on the global scene, mostly in some of the European, the Americas and the Indian sub-continent countries. They are the Far-Right and the Far-Left, which alternatively are also known as Alt-Right and Alt-Right.
In these age of Modi and Trump, the media is under tremendous pressure. Modi has disregard for the media as such, though Trump openly sings the glories of Fox. Trump has particularly shown disdain for CNN and the venerable The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Trump’s battle with those out-of-favour with him are reckless and, at times, bordering on the insane. No wonder that many noted politicians and newspaper columnists have said he has brought down the dignity of the office of president. The Trump vs Media is more of a streetfight, which can be termed as tragi-comedy.
I have said in my earlier column that Modi can be compared to former Canadian PM Stephen Harper’s handling of the press. Some books have portrayed Harper as a “control freak”, as he had made the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) the focal point of his governance. Harper favoured some journalists, just as Modi is doing now. Well-known TV journalists Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin were given Senate seats. Just as Modi has recently given M.J. Akbar a ministership, while Akbar and Swapan Dasgupta are both elected to the Rajya Sabha from BJP strongholds. Recently, he has given Dasgupta and ex-TV journalist Shazia Ilmi, who jumped to BJP from AAP, seats on boards of public undertakings.
To be fair, there’s some media outlets, particularly the news websites, which continue to go hammer-and-tongs against the government. These websites spare no time to point out the failings of the government or pokes holes in government politics. The demonetisation and the GST issues were exposed throughly as government missteps. But Modi remains unfazed by any criticism of his policies. Pro-government channels, like the newly-minted Republic, with ex-Times Now anchor Arnab Goswami, ever ready to back the government.
The journalism done by Goswami is just a pain in the ear. There’s more noise than discussion or debate, with Goswami jumping in to cut short any panelist he disagrees with or provides a counter-view to his own. I haven’t seen such a TV debate show on American or Canadian TV news channels.
Even though he has exited Times Now, his legacy seems to be carried on. No wonder Newslaundry has mischievously described the new editor-in-chief of Times Now, Rahul Shivshankar, as Arnab Lite. The battle for Television Rating Point (TRP) is hot, and the English news channels are in a neck-to-neck race in gaining a lead over each other. The casualty in such an environment is good journalism.
The invisible hand of the government is seen in the changes in some media. Of particular interest is the change in focus and direction of Open magazine and how the editor of the prestigious Economic and Political Weekly, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta had to resign. Reading the article, Inside the Hate-Modi Industry, in a Sept. issue of Open didn’t surprise me. But I do agree that articles that are either praising or criticising Modi should share the media space. Therefore, it’s left to the consumers of news to select what he or she wants.
As for other pressing factor impacting journalism in India is the murder of journalists. The number of deaths of journalists have been rising, including two very recently. One murder raised questions of the safety of journalists who write without fear. Yes, I am talking of Gauri Lankesh, who had feared that the right-wing brigade, which is runnning amok in India right now, would kill her.
I was mad like hell that Republic ran #MaskOffGauri, which suspectedly pointed to her connection with Maoists, at the time when a fellow-journalism fell to bullets, no matter what her bias or her leaning were. One journalist who had worked in Republic, expressed utter indignation at the manner in which Republic went on victim-shaming instead of expressing disgust over the journalist’s killing.
Sobha De’s attack on Goswami for his “lying” on covering the Gujarat riot brought her into the firing range of the BJP cyber-militia.
The new BBC political editor, Laura Kuenssbergn, has been assigned a bodyguard after threats against her on social media. In India, social media has become the new dispenser of news and views. Stories of how the “bakts” are using this medium to harass and intimidate those who say a thing against the BJP.
It reminds me what the Canadian media guru, Marshall McLuhan, said, “The medium is the message”. This was said of the 60s, but it’s truer today, for we have come to live in a world of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The traditional media must keep fighting back. Former editor and minister in the Vajpayee government, Arun Shourie, has shown eight ways to resist the Modi’s efforts to control the media. He regrets supporting Modi, and it’s same with Ram Jethmalani, who believes Arun Jaitley has big influence in the Delhi “media bubble”.
(Eugene Correia is a senior journalist who worked for The Hindu and The Free Press Journal)
