GIRISH NIKAM writes from New Delhi: Now that the elections are over and done with in Gujarat, one needs to look at the role of the media in that State, its pliant nature and the increasing commercial angle in its reportage. Whether newspapers or TV channels, the Gujarati language media by and large tried to…
Tag Archives: Elections
‘Media became a prisoner of its own fabrications’
Swapan Dasgupta in The Telegraph, Calcutta: “In Gujarat, the media were neither disinterested observers nor merely biased against Narendra Modi; they were an active participant. From disseminating ridiculous stories about lack of crowds in Modi’s meetings and overplaying the Patel revolt in Saurashtra to Yogendra Yadav’s self-confessed doctoring of the exit polls, the media took…
‘The English media is being pigeon-holed’
The branding of the “English media” in India as “elitist, pseudo-secular, left-wing, liberal, disconnected, rootless, pro-Muslim, anti-Hindu, pro-Congress, anti-BJP”—as if the English media is one animal; as if all of us receive our assignments and paycheques from Prakash Karat if not the Pope himself—would have gone down as one of the most successful campaigns undertaken…
Is the BJP still just a ‘Hindu nationalist party’?
The phrase “Hindu nationalist” has almost always prefaced western media reports of the BJP, and it is no different despite Narendra Modi‘s sensational, conversation-stopping hat-trick. But it is not just fair-skinned whites who feel dutybound to slap the appellation. # “Hindu Radical re-elected in India,” screams The New York Times. “On Sunday, voters re-elected the…
‘Modi has punctured vanity of corporate media’
Sheela Bhatt, managing editor (national affairs), rediff.com, and one of the few journalists who predicted the Gujarat elections accurately, on the strange symbiosis between the media and chief minister Narendra Modi: “In Gujarat, many people wondered: “Look, how powerful is Modi. He can even defeat the media.” “Today, the common belief is that the corporate…
How Narendra Modi has bred media cynicism
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi‘s image—whom The Economist this week called a “disgrace”—has been built on the rapid economic development of his State, coupled with his obscene demonisation of the “other” and a distrust of all media that doesn’t support his State-sponsored pogrom of 2002. Modi walks out of television interviews when questioned about the…
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