The Indian Media has been accused of being biased towards the ruling party since the time BJP came into power.
It has been using their platform to hide the facts and keep your minds on issues which should not matter to you, such as Pakistan and Modiji’s favourite fruits.
I’ll be going through a few things in this article which will worry you. A lot.
Let’s see if the Indian Media is really acting like the government’s puppet or this atmosphere has been created by the opposition.
1) Journalists Being Killed
On Jun. 1, 2015. Jagendra Singh, a journalist from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was set on fire by some local policemen and henchmen allegedly under the directions of one of the state’s ministers, Ramamurti Singh Verma.https://t.co/wWiFVllhYh
— Affinity Magazine (@TheAffinityMag) December 18, 2017
Jagendra Singh was set ablaze by mobs because he was investigating land grabs and alleged illegal extraction of sand from Garra River, located in Uttar Pradesh.
Sand is mined legally as well as illegally to extract minerals and for construction projects.
He had received threats 2 weeks before he died, and he posted it about on his social media.
Singh had been investigating land grabs and alleged illegal extraction of sand from the Garra River. Sand is mined both legally and illegally, to extract minerals and for construction and reclamation projects.
The multibillion-dollar business, which supplies up to 50bn tonnes to the construction industry each year, is prohibited in an increasing number of states around the world as erosion, floods and other environmental consequences become harder to ignore.
He accused the minister Ramamurti Singh of having property worth billions and many other charges.
“Ram Murti Verma can have me killed. At this time, politicians, thugs, and police, all are after me. Writing about the truth has gone against my life,” Jagendra, wrote on his Facebook profile.
In straight words, the minister got him killed.
The forensic reports came out and said that he had committed suicide.
This death is just one of the many deaths which go unnoticed and do not gather much coverage because of our media, who does not decide to show what happens when you go against the government and quietly follows the guidelines from their supremo.
Here’s some more:
Karun Misra, a journalist in India, has been killed https://t.co/5nw6JOpPnA
— Kristen Hare (@kristenhare) February 16, 2016
#WATCH:Chilling CCTV footage of moment when Journalist Sandeep Sharma was run over by a truck in Bhind. He had been reporting on the sand mafia and had earlier complained to Police about threat to his life. #MadhyaPradesh pic.twitter.com/LZxNuTLyap
— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2018
Aarti Tikoo Singh,senior Indian journalist from Kashmir at US House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on ‘Human Rights in South Asia’ in Washington DC:On 14June 2018 Shujaat Bukhari was shot dead by LeT in Srinagar, terror group banned by US that perpetrated Mumbai terror attacks pic.twitter.com/OzE0NtkUN6
— ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2019
Journalist Ashish Janwani and his brother shot dead by unidentified assailants in Saharanpur. Police begin investigation. pic.twitter.com/NsWtcrDhxO
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 18, 2019
India is even more unsafer than Pakistan for journalists. Where are we heading as a nation?
#Video | Here’s why India is one of the most unsafe countries for journalists today. #WorldPressFreedomDay https://t.co/lG1Cqs3sAB
— The Quint (@TheQuint) May 2, 2019
2) Scripted Interviews
Indian Media has been accused of doing “scripted interviews” with PM Narendra Modi.
Mr. Modi has avoided press conferences like Salman Khan avoids going for hunting or driving a car.
He did his first press conference right before 2019 Lok Sabha elections but did not take a single question. He directed all the questions to his right hand, Mr. Amit Shah.
Unscripted hasn’t worked for Modiji as of yet.
Question to Modi :-
Why Tax burden and Difficulty in processing loans for Middle Class?Modi Said :- puducherry ko vanakkam
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/gJGAqVSzeH— Afrin Ahmed™ افرین احمد (@listenafrin) December 26, 2018
Modiji did appear in many interviews for news channels. But all of them were criticized due to the questions being “useless” and “not helping in any way.”
This is an interview taken right before 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, an “apolitical interview”:
Here’s one taken by ABP News:
With an interview with News Nation, he was caught with a script, but since no one is to question, does it even matter?
PM Modi is asked to recite a recent poetry of his in the @NewsNationTV intvw. He asks for HIS file which is duly handed over, and he starts fiddling with a bunch of papers. The paper on which there’s a printed copy of a poetry also has a printed question on the top.
1/3 pic.twitter.com/S5TEffE60F
— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) May 13, 2019
These are just a few of them, internet has more details.
Can we even trust media if they do not even have the authority to question our beloved PM?
3) Showing What’s Not Important
Ramit on Newslaundry tells us,
I have also been studying the airtime that mainstream news channels allocate to major issues to understand their editorial bent. The trends are worrying.
Take, for example, the last 202 debates (till October 19, 2019) across four major Hindi news channels, Aaj Tak, News18, Zee News and India TV. Their coverage is telling:
Attacking Pakistan: 79 debates
Attacking the Opposition (including Nehru): 66
Praising Modi and the BJP/RSS: 36
Ram Mandir: 14
Bihar floods: 3
Chandrayaan Moon Mission: 2
Rape case against Swami Chinmayanand: 1
PMC Bank scam: 1
Economy: 0
Unemployment: 0
Education: 0
Healthcare: 0
Public infrastructure: 0
Farmers’ distress: 0
Poverty and malnutrition: 0
Women’s safety: 0
Environmental protection: 0
Mob lynchings: 0
Questioning any government decision or policy: 0
This is based on an analysis of four popular news debate shows: Dangal (Aaj Tak), Aar Paar (News18), Taal Thok Ke (Zee News), and Kurukshetra (India TV). Surprisingly, none of these are the titles of a 1990s action film starring Sunny Deol or Ajay Devgn. These shows behave less like objective news programmes and more like mouthpieces for the incumbent BJP/RSS establishment and their ultra-nationalist agenda.
The topics not covered by these channels are all detrimental to the governing establishment and to the fairytale that is “Achche Din”. In 2011, the news media would question the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directly at press conferences. Today, it’s dedicated to defending the current prime minister, who has not held a single press conference in over five years.
Media shows you what their leaders tell them to. They brainwash you until you start chanting their God’s name.
4) Journalists Resigning
If good journalists who question the governance and the system are forced to resign,who will become the spokesperson of an ordinary citizen of India? Is it #UndeclaredEnergency? Faye D’souza resigns from Mirror Now; Vinay Tewari becomes the Managing Editor https://t.co/0ydddDERGD
— GoodNewzIndia (@GoodNewzIndia) September 10, 2019
Editor in chief of ABP news Milind Khandekar & Prasun Bajpai, anchor of primetime show Masterstroke made to resign. Anchor Abhisar Sharma sent on leave because Shah threatened to teach #ABPNews a lesson for running shows critical of Govt! Media Censorship! https://t.co/7ulcpqbCZa
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) August 3, 2018
If you try to broadcast the truth, you’ll be forced to resign.
5) Vote For BJP or You are Anti-National!
Delhi Elections 2019 happened and all the exit polls predict a landslide victory for AAP. It seems like someone wasn’t happy about it……
Sudhir Choudhary rants that Delhi doesn’t care about the country and only cares about freebies. They are “muftkhor” and “lazy” because they only care for where the sale is.
In the full coverage, he even went on to say if Pakistan PM Imran Khan came to Delhi for elections and offered freebies, Delhi would even vote him to power!
I thought Journalism was a neutral game and being biased would mean basically going against the basic laws of journalism. It’s not the same anymore.
Why Would Anyone Even Like To Become A Journalist?
If I broadcast truth against the government, I’ll face death threats and might even be killed.
I need to be the government’s puppet if I want to become a journalist because then I’ll able to broadcast news on TV the way they want.
The good thing is online media has boomed since internet access is getting affordable and easier every year. You can speak the truth online, hoping you don’t get lynched.
What happens when you meet the TV journalists outside their natural habitat i.e Studio?
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, a strong critic of Modi government recently met Arnab on a flight and gave him his piece of mind.
I did this for my hero…
I did it for Rohit pic.twitter.com/aMSdiTanHo— Kunal Kamra (@kunalkamra88) January 28, 2020
The result? He was banned from 4 airlines on the recommendation of our Aviation Minister Mr. Puri.
Offensive behaviour designed to provoke & create disturbance inside an aircraft is absolutely unacceptable & endangers safety of air travellers.
We are left with no option but to advise other airlines to impose similar restrictions on the person concerned. https://t.co/UHKKZfdTVS
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 28, 2020
The captain of the flight which Kamra boarded said this is the first case in 9 years of his career where a person was banned without any input from the pilots.
While Arnab was clearly speechless when he was asked questions from Kunal, He is super confident in his studio debating about random things. Here is a snippet of Arnab being Arnab:
Kunal Kamra has filed a case challenging the ban, let’s see how it goes.
Arnab has refused to comment on the matter and neither has filed anything against Kamra.
What’s The Reliable Source For News?
Not TV Media for sure. Try online news outlets such as Logical Indian, The Wire, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Ken, The Hindu and a lot more.
I have subscribed to this amazing e-mail newsletter which keeps me updated, unbiased.
Try out Broadsheet to have a new take on news. Click here to subscribe.
This is how the news mafia works. Journalism is dying a slow death and so is Democracy.
