Indian Media - some thoughts

Is Indian media really biased as perceived by some section? Is it truly doing an outstanding work of exposing faults in the Governance? Is it truly secular, liberal and democratic as it portrays itself to be?


I know that we cannot generalize and stereotype all media and put them under same bracket. But here we are talking about a majority. You may argue that there are different types of media, like print and electronics, and even internet is a separate media, but I am talking of media in general, the category does not matter. If there is a fault which is inherent everybody needs to share the blame simply because others did not have the guts to rise above a majority and point out its faults.

First, the English speaking, “secular liberal” media, to my mind, is highly partial. It is partisan not only because it highlights only the plight of specific people belonging to specific communities and ignores the need of people in general irrespective of caste, creed, and communal affiliation, it is partisan because it chooses to ignore the wrongs of people or parties of what it considers to be right or less evil and highlights or magnifies the wrongs of people or parties of what it considers to be wrong or greater evil. It is partial because it never admits that it is mistaken, and even when it is grossly mistaken, it will assume an air of smug contempt and try to analyze the situation from “other angles”, ostensibly how it is right in a “different way”. Specific cases – a) During Mumbai carnage how its reporting provided real time information to the terrorists and how it jumped into TRP bandwagon b) How not a single English newspaper condemned the atrocious behavior of two DMK ministers in Tamilnadu who chose to let a bleeding cop die rather than taking him to hospital in their car c) The cases of corruption and nepotism were highlighted only in isolated and half hearted, without asking why the prime minister, a man of impeccable integrity himself, is not concerned about all pervasive corruption and the low human development index, esp. during delivery of flagship NREGA scheme d) How their favorite politicians and Government have failed in delivering basic services in the states they ruled, e.g. West Bengal in comparison with some other better performing Governments whom they do not like (e.g. Modi Government in Gujarat) f) No English speaking newspaper asked the question that if Narendra Modi, who did nothing when innocent Muslims were targeted and killed in Gujarat riots, can be dubbed as a pariah, communal and partisan, and even as a mass murderer or genocidal and denied a US visa, why cannot the same treatment be meted out to dhoti Punjabi clad Bengali bhadrolok Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the eminent intellectual under whose reign many poor peasants of Nandigram (no exact figures of how many were killed, but numbers do not matter, what matters is the similar attitude, a genocide does not depend on number of people killed, it’s the attitude of systematic elimination of any opposition, the similarity in both the cases, counts) were butchered, many of them again innocent Muslims, and who, much like Modi, dismissed the incident with brusque arrogance (at least Modi initiated some actions against some errant police officials, Bhattacharya promoted his SS commanders) , g) why should we look the other way round when an alternative of “disruptive” and “communal” Shiv Sena in Maharastra is massive corruption and nepotism of congress and NCP big wigs h) why should Mamata Bannerjee be vilified in successive English speaking newspaper editorials (e.g Times of India/ET/Business Standard) just for bringing out the fudges that took place during his predecessor’s reign in the form of white paper, for establishing the truth? Is bringing out the true accounting figures a crime? Some edits do think so, they don’t like her, and therefore they don’t like anything that she does. Moreover they think that any attempt to embarrass UPA Government is a crime as it is the epitome of secularism i) Why should there be so much eulogy in the death of a corrupt and massively arrogant communist feudal lord who single handedly brought in economic ruin of a once prosperous state, and whose only contribution was to make his son a multi millionaire j) The one year of non performance of UPA Government – no adverse comments so far in any edit except for benign complaints, mostly ascribed to allies, not Congress. Even prime minister’s grand declaration in Egypt did not raise any eyebrows, even though he considerably weakened our position vis a vis the blatantly communal and hypocrite neighboring country.

These are just a few instances. There are many, many more. English speaking liberals have utter disregard for the value system and faith to which they belong. They also routinely disregard leaders other than Nehru Gandhi clan, for instance Netaji Subhash Bose does not even appear in any of the newspaper columns even on his birthday. All spaces are occupied by Mahatma Gandhi – because he sells. To them Tagore was just a fad, To English speaking elite Vivekananda and Ramakrishna were some crackpots who have lost their relevance and rightly so and anything remotely connected to religion (even though the message is of universal tolerance and harmony) is bigotry and blasphemy. Fact does not matter, their opinion is the fact and anything can be fed to people, including hope of establishing peace with a rogue nation which single point agenda, of destroying us. That the hope is futile does not even cross the mind of our eggheads.