Many have heralded this shift as a democratisation of media—a breaking down of the gatekeeping walls that allowed only a select few to shape the public narrative. Politicians now tweet their policy updates, address voters directly on YouTube, and make carefully curated appearances on influencer podcasts rather than press conferences. There’s even a growing belief that this new media, raw and seemingly more “authentic,” will shoulder the journalistic responsibility left vacant by legacy media.

But this belief deserves a pause, or at least a much cautious thought.

The truth is a large section of India’s new media creators are not journalists—nor do they claim to be. They are “content creators,” and that distinction matters. Of course, there are journalists on social media who are not solely content creators. Journalists like Ravish Kumar have been pushed out of the traditional media system and have found a way to do their journalistic content on social media. Channels like The Wire etc. produce news content with journalistic intent. This article is not about them. However, this article is about those creators on social media who engage with advertisers/sponsors and generate content including news content but do not call themselves journalists.

Take Samdish Bhatia, a widely popular YouTube figure known for intriguing and witty political interviews and videos of his travels across the country. He is articulate, progressive, and clearly influential. But even he does not identify as a journalist. He calls himself as a content creator. That is not a knock against him or his work. It is a recognition of the difference in mandate. Journalism, at its core, is about accountability—of those in power, of systems, of narratives. Content creation, however, is about engagement, reach, and often—neutrality that does not ruffle feathers. Truth be told, if people who call themselves journalists are not being held accountable as they should be, it is a rather hard task to hold social media content creators accountable.

And it is not just neutrality. Many of the most visible faces in the new Indian social media ecosystem are unabashedly capitalist and pro-market. Their discussions are less about the structural problems that plague India—such as homelessness, unemployment, agrarian distress—and more about how to “capitalize” on these contexts. So, while homelessness continues to plague millions, the conversations in popular podcasts revolve around real estate  as an investment opportunity. Instead of interrogating inequality, there are video essays on personal finance, sponsored by a company or two.

This tone fits comfortably within the vision of a country aspiring to produce unicorn start-ups and billion-dollar tech moguls. Indeed, some of these billionaires have now become social media personalities themselves. Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha, is a case in point. With little precedent, he was granted a rare, exclusive interview-podcast with the Prime Minister of India ahead of the Delhi Assembly Elections—a privilege rarely extended to even the editors of major TV news channels. Given Mr. Kamath’s power as a billionaire himself, he also did interviews with personalities such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, New Zealand Prime Minster Christopher Luxon and Industrialist Kumar Birla.

One must ask: when billionaires with government proximity become the popular voices of public discourse on social media, are we truly breaking away from “Godi Media,” or are we just replacing it with a new, glossier version that’s algorithmically friendlier and better branded? More importantly, will this new media ask the questions that the traditional media was supposed to ask or even attempt at creating ‘content’ around the issues?

Take Mr. Modi’s interview with Mr. Kamath for example. While discussing ideologies and idealism, Mr. Modi mentions Mahatma Gandhi and Savarkar in the same breath to remark that both had the same ideal of freedom with different paths. In an ideal world, this would have been met with another question about Savarkar’s credentials as a freedom fighter par Gandhi, or at least with a remark. What we get is Mr. Kamath continuing with next question as to what to do when someone trolls and how to develop a thick skin?

Or take another question about politics and money. The data on electoral bonds came out in 2024 but Mr. Kamath could not ask the question, at least on what Mr. Modi thinks of electoral bonds. Instead, he asks about how to facilitate youth entering politics given the huge amounts of money it takes to be in politics!

There’s also another curious and worrying trend: prominent intellectuals and creators within these spaces who align with the ruling ideology often criticize the opposition or even level attacks against dissenters with unchecked impunity. An advocate, who is one of the most popular voices on social media, aligned with the views of ruling establishment  was asked on ‘The Ranveer Show’— “3 Indians that should leave India and never return are?” and the advocate said the names of news presenter Barkha Dutt, Professors Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar. The show’s host was the news cycle’s recent villain Ranveer Allahbadia. To keep up with the illusion of a critical and engaging podcast, the host asks “Why?” only to have the advocate say that these three have harmed Indian interests in their own ways and that they have done grave injustice to facts, truths and integrity. In the interest of critical engagement, one would expect the host to ask “How?” but he comfortably moves on to the next question.

This tells us two things. One, it was a bizarre question tailored to get a certain provocative answer. Two, it was not asked to critically engage with it. It was merely done to be performative

The bar for evidence is low. The responsibility to inform is often secondary to the need to perform.

Ranveer Allahbadia and another content creator Raj Shamani were some of the selected content creators who were given the opportunities to do interviews with union ministers like S. Jai Shankar and Nitin Gadkari. They were also attendees—Raj Shamani being the creator to introduce Mr. Modi, Ranveer Allahbadia being the recipient of the Disruptor of the Year Award—at the National Creators Awards organised in March 2024, just before the 2024 General Elections. Raj Shamani also hosted Arvind Kejriwal for an interview before the Delhi Elections.

This is not an allegation of social media creators selling space on their platforms to the government. There is no indication as of now. However, it is an observation of how close they are willing to be with power and how that hampers their capacity to be neutral, and courageous enough to ask questions, engagingly sharp ones if not tough ones.

This is also not a personal attack on these individuals. Many of them are intelligent, talented, and operate in good faith. But collectively, they form a media ecosystem that is, for the most part, timid when it comes to holding power accountable. And that makes them complicit—not by intent, but by design.

There is an imminent need to resist the temptation to confuse visibility with credibility. Just because a YouTube video racks up a million views or is made by a Billionaire does not mean it is accountable. Just because an influencer is articulate does not mean they are committed to the truth. Just because the production is slick does not mean the content is rigorous.

Social media is not journalism. It can include journalism, but it is not structurally bound to its principles. And in a country like India, where power is both opaque and muscular, the distinction between the two is not just academic—it’s existential for democracy.
So yes, we should celebrate the diversity of voices that social media enables. But we should also be wary—especially of the ones that get a little too close to power. Especially the ones that never ask hard questions. Especially the ones that call themselves everything—except journalists.

(The author is part of the legal research team of the organisation)

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Bihar: How festival holidays become target of fake news

NBDSA acts on CJP’s complaint, directs News18 to take down fake news video about bombing in WB school

The post Treading Carefully: Illusion of Accountability in an age of social media content creation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This propaganda is an attempt to derail the current discussion on misguided Waqf Bill. This campaign falsely claims that the DMC has suggested and DWB has demanded lands of Hindu temples. The fact is that neither DMC nor DWB ever suggested or demanded that temples built on Waqf land be demolished or their land be returned to the DWB. This is an unmitigated lie.

The DMC report of 2019 on some West Delhi mosques (https://archive.org/details/dmc-report-on-illegal-mosques-delhi) was prepared to examine the claim of the then BJP MP Mr Parvesh Verma that “illegal” mosques have been built in his parliamentary constituency and that such mosques should be demolished.

Mr Parvesh Verma had sent his complaint to the Delhi Lt. Governor in June 2019 claiming that 54 “illegal” mosques have cropped up in his constituency (West Delhi) during the last 20 years. He demanded that action should be taken against these mosques. In other words, he wanted these mosques be demolished. When no action was taken on his complaint, Mr Verma re-sent his complaint to the L.G. the next month.

On the publication of reports in the media about this communication to the L.G. by Mr Verma, as the then Chairman of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC), I formed a 5-member committee consisting of two Muslims, two Christians and a Sikh. All of them were reputed members of society and were active in legal and human rights fields. The committee inspected all the mosques on the list provided by Mr Verma, inspected their papers and finally presented a detailed report to the Commission saying that none of these mosques is illegal while some of them were centuries-old and thus protected as ancient monuments. At the same time, the Committee came across a number of illegal temples found in the vicinity of the so-called “illegal” mosques and at times built on the same plot of land as the mosques.

In its report, the Committee mentioned these temples along with their locations and photographs, although Mr Verma had missed them.

Copies of the said DMC report were sent to the L.G., Delhi Chief Minister and even to Mr Parvesh Verma himself. The report was also released to the media during a press conference. Thereafter, Mr Verma never raised that issue. Now, after five years, Zee News suddenly remembered that report but (deliberately) potrayed this in a skewed, totally wrong context. Zee News presented it claiming that DWB wants to grab temple lands, while the report only passingly mentioned that some temples in the vicinity of the so-called illegal mosques stood on Waqf lands.

Our committee had inspected each and every mosque on Mr Verma’s list and found that no mosque in the list was “illegal”. All were legal while some were centuries-old. During its visits, the Committee came across illegal temples found in the area and discovered that some of them were built on Waqf lands. The Committee registered this fact in its report but did not make any demand on the said lands of the illegal temples. The DWB too did not stake any claim on such lands.

The propaganda aired by an entranced, ‘godi media’ now is totally concocted, brazenly motivated. This campaign obscures the real purpose and findings of the said report. It is an attempt to misdirect the current discussion on the Waqf issue and pave the way to drastic changes in the Waqf law as planned by the Modi government.

A few days back a reporter of Zee News phoned me saying that next day they are holding a panel discussion on the issue on their channel. He wanted me to participate in the said discussion. I apologized saying that for the last four and a half years I do not talk to Godi media due to bitter past experiences about its bias and lies. The said reporter quickly apologised and ended the call.

Next day a reporter of Zee Salam, the Urdu section of Zee News, phoned me for an interview. I repeated what I told earlier to his colleague. He assured me that Zee Salam is different and that my interview will be carried in full with no cuts. After this, I accepted to meet him. He came in the evening and recorded a long interview with me in which I explained the gist and the circumstances and the result of the DMC report and how it is being twisted now. I also gave him a printed copy of the said DMC report. That interview was not carried that night. Upon my enquiry, the reporter told me that the interview will be carried next day. On the following day, Zee News assembled six persons including three saffron-clad Hindutvites. The panel included an advocate who was a member of the said DMC committee. He tried to explain the issue but was not allowed by the anchor to complete his explanation while time was amply given to others including a saffron-clad sadhu who bluntly announced that if you take the land of one temple, we will take ten mosques!

Later, a reporter of a Hindi newspaper talked to me on the same issue but I ended the call when, instead of listening to me, he kept blurting out his understanding of the issue on the Godi media lines.

This propaganda continues on various Godi media and Hindutva platforms. The fact is that these people are not after truth. They can utter any lie in order to serve their agenda. The agenda is dangerous and divisive, to generate lies, half-truths about India’s minorities, the Muslims. 

(The author is a former Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission)

The post Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) did not demand land of Hindu temples; former Chairperson DMC appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The phenomenon of Godi media beginning in the months before 2014 took us back considerably to propaganda. This time it was worse than in Old India and more damaging. On Doordarshan, the Opposition was merely ignored; it was not daily vilified and attacked and called anti-national. On Doordarshan, even when it was in the hands of hypocrites, minorities were not the constant target and distraction was not the only game. In New India this became the daily fare of the channels and remained so for a decade. But a third shift has now come and while it is relatively recent it is so fully established that the government is moving to gain control over it. That shift is the rise of independent journalists using social media to reach large audiences. This includes the set of people known as content creators, who might not necessarily be journalists by background but engage with current affairs through humour, particularly satire. How large are their audiences? Have a look at the numbers. On YouTube, independent journalists have as much reach as news channels. Punya Prasun Bajpai (47 lakh subscribers), Ajit Anjum (61 lakh), Abhisar Sharma (67 lakh) and Ravish Kumar (1.1 crore) can rival entire news networks. Times Now (53 lakh subscribers), Republic (62 lakh) and India Today (93 lakh) are in the same region. Dhruv Rathee (2.3 crore subscribers) has as much reach as Zee News (3.6 crore). Indeed in many ways the reach of the independent voices is more because of the concentration of their content on one specific daily issue. The average Ravish Kumar video gets over 10 lakh views while the average one from Zee gets a few thousand, because there are so many of them. Distribution of these clips through WhatsApp further amplifies the independent voice’s reach. The sharing of advertising revenue by social media networks like YouTube affords these individuals the opportunity to be able to do their work outside of a corporate space.

In addition to the journalists, a set of humourists has risen to comment on our times. They are the product of the stranglehold of Godi media and the suffocation people have felt of having propaganda inflicted on them. A few names are worthy of mention, like Bhagat Ram, Ms Medusa, Meghnad, Garima, Ranting Gola, Shyam Rangeela and Urvish Kothari, all of whom I follow and greatly admire and whose work I enjoy. Unfortunately for the government there are few quality creators on the other side. This is because propaganda and sycophancy are not good ingredients for humour. Godi creators tend to produce content that is sullen and angry and for this reason generally ignored.

It will take an academic paper or a book to examine the effect of the independent voices on our democracy. There is to my mind little doubt that they have managed to loosen the monopoly of the Modi government on narrative.

It is for this reason that the government has moved to throttle the voices of the creators and independent journalists. This is being done through the broadcast bill a draft of which is being circulated. Essentially it seeks to regulate everyone who is on social media because that is the only way in which the government can interfere, block and ban content it doesn’t want seen. The government is also trying to go after independent websites like The Wire, Scroll, Newslaundry and Newsminute.

Because these creators are independent individuals on social media, they cannot be licensed or regulated in the way that news channels can. This is why the government is attempting to do this with the broadest of definitions that will affect every single person using social media. The intent might be to use the law in targeted fashion but that will not be how it will turn out. Bad laws produce bad outcomes.

Will the Modi government be successful in pushing the regulation through? It will not. This is not the same place we were last year. There are too many obstacles for it and too many points of resistance. Even if it had been passed in the previous Parliament through brute force it would have been a total mess in implementation. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet will be compelled to do what governments in other democracies must: listen to criticism from citizens tolerate it and even learn from it. In doing so, perhaps they can also get a laugh out of the material, as many of us so often do.

Courtesy: Orissa Post

The post Listen to Criticism appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Anti-Muslim slurs by a BJP MP, Ramesh Bhiduri against a sitting Muslim MP in parliament seem to have been given significantly less media attention on Friday despite the fact that the issue was covered exclusively by international media outlets like Al Jazeera. The incident saw an erasure from the Primetime news segments which reveals a disturbing reality where big media seems to be revolving around the whims of the ruling party rather than on focussing on what the nation actually wants to know.  Few debates on the infamous news hour on Indian channels actually dealt with the rank unparliamentary language unleashed by an elected official that was an ugly first for Indian democracy under the Modi 2.0 regime.

Here’s how the events unfolded.

On Thursday, September 21, during the much-speculated upon “special session” of the Indian Parliament, a BJP MP hurled slurs and abuses at an MP Kunwar Danish Ali as the BSP MP objected against the unparliamentary language Bidhuri used for PM Modi.

The MP in question was BJP Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Bidhuri who represents South Delhi constituency. In a video that has since surfaced, Bidhuri can be heard delivering a highly charged speech with communal undertones while discussing the recent Chandrayaan 3 mission. He goes on to refer to MP Danish Ali as a “terrorist”, and “pimp”, and called for him to be removed from the proceedings, using further offensive slurs. The Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla had to intervene by requesting all MPs to take their seats.

This incident is a disturbing reminder of the growing discrimination, prejudice, and violence Muslims continue to face in India despite constitutional protections in place. The internet has been taken over by a storm after the video went viral. Kunwar Danish Ali has written a complaint against Bidhuri, and BJP has furthermore issued a show cause notice to its MP after the outrage refused to stop. However, as the pressure fomented on social media, we must ask what were viewers inside homes who access news through television sets watching? Did this harrowing incident make the cut? Let’s see how far and wide the coverage took place.

Our survey of the coverage of the event by some of India’s mainstream news channels on Friday proved to yield acutely disappointing results. Aaj Tak reported the incident and conducted a ten minute programme, citing how Bidhuri ruined the efforts for establishing the new parliament by PM Modi. The anchor, Shweta Singh, asked if action taken against the MP could be a “moment for learning” (sic) for everyone.

संसद के असंसदीय शब्द

देखिए @SwetaSinghAT के साथ #10Tak#RameshBidhuri #DanishAli #BSP | #ATVideo pic.twitter.com/Mtobw7Cs8v

— AajTak (@aajtak) September 22, 2023

The segment further discussed how these words were against the tradition and integrity of the parliament, as it played MP Danish Ali’s statement after the incident went viral.

India Today too dealt with the matter in some depth holding a debate anchored by Rajdeep Sardesai with Advocate Sanjay Hegde and and former MP Satya Pal Jain, asking if suspension or anything beyond suspension can be done to implement a precedent to prevent such abuse. The segment also featured Sanjay Hegde stating that ‘enough is enough.’

Similarly, News18 too covered the incident. However, the channel attempted to seemingly engage in diluting the severity of the case by pinpointing the limelight on Danish Ali making out the victim to be worthy of the slur, or almost. . In a news article on their website to portray him in poor light by referring to how he apparently objected to ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans by  BJP MP MLC Hari Singh earlier this year. In another short segment by CNN-News18 on what they call  the ‘controversy’, the reporter, Pallavi Ghosh seems to spend significant air time time highlighting the INDIA alliance is taking this moment in the parliament to sway voters against the BJP in the upcoming general assembly elections.

The INDIA alliance is a name released by opposition leaders for an upcoming alliance for the 2024 general assembly elections. The reporter also asserted that the BJP ‘clearly’ did not waste much time issuing the show-cause notice as it doesnt want the narrative of the BJP being anti-Muslim to takeover, nor does the BJP want the the ‘emotive words used by Danish Ali’ to ‘divert’ from the work it has done. The reporter ends by saying that the ‘Bidhuri vs Danish Ali’ issue has now given an opportunity to Opposition parties to capitalise on for the upcoming elections. News 18 Hindi too did a short section on the issue. And Zee News (Hindi) did an afternoon segment on the issue this Friday, broadcasting Danish Ali’s statement.

Let’s have a look at the minimalist news coverage of the shameful incident in parliament in some of the channels guilty of being repeat hate offenders:

Times Now Navbharat
(No Prime Time)
#BSP सांसद #DanishAli के खिलाफ #BJP सांसद #RameshBidhuri ने की अभद्र टिप्पणी
सब्सक्राइब करें #TimesNowNavbharat
https://youtube.com/c/timesnownavbharat
#TimesNowNavbharatOriginals #TNNOriginals

Republic TV
(No Prime Time)

Aaj Tak
(No Prime Time news segment)
(has done a 10-minute Programme)
संसद के असंसदीय शब्द
देखिए @SwetaSinghAT
के साथ #10Tak
#RameshBidhuri #DanishAli #BSP | #ATVideo
https://twitter.com/aajtak/status/1705280008330133547

India Today
(No Prime time)
Is this a fit case for the suspension of a session or something more can be done? ASG @SatyaPalJain
answer this and more Full show: https://shorturl.at/rtvyY #DanishAli #RameshBidhuri #NewsToday |
@sardesairajdeep
https://twitter.com/IndiaToday/status/1705258645632491799

News18 (English)
(No Prime Time)
Ramesh Bidhuri Today Speech | BJP MP’s Slurs In Sansad: Will ‘Hate Speech’ Be Punished? | News18  (Heading is BJP slur but video is on Women reservation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYebv_tc3ME

They are trying to do character assassination of Danish Ali
BSP MP #DanishAli grabbed the headlines in August for strongly opposing chanting of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ by BJP MLC Hari Singh Dillon in his address at #Amroha railway station
By: @Oliver056
https://www.news18.com/politics/when-bsp-mp-danish-ali-opposed-chanting-of-bharat-mata-ki-jai-slogan-bjp-mp-ramesh-bidhuri-controversy-8588069.html

BJP Issues Show Cause Notice To Party MP Ramesh Bidhuri | English News | News18 | BJP News | N18V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFnaw6Qv_q4

News18 (Hindi)
(No Prime Time)
Only small coverage in afternoon
Danish Ali on Ramesh Bidhuri Remarks: BJP सांसद बिधूड़ी ने BSP सांसद दानिश को गालियां दीं | N18V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXlUv_2s_HA

Zee News (Hindi)
(No Prime Time)
‘मैं रातभर सो नहीं पाया’ बिधूड़ी पर दानिश अली का बयान | Ramesh Bidhuri | Lok Sabha | BSP Danish Ali
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWE10jMi6fI

What does this exclusion of any discussion on hate speech means?

The message one can take from these is that the abusive words hurled at the BSP MP in parliament are not that severe an issue for commercial news media channels, and that the attention and outrage it has garnered is something that is being dubbed “politically motivated in light of upcoming state and general assembly elections” (by the ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, the party from whom the hate offender hails).

This seems to be a gross misrepresentation of the situation.

A sitting MP from a minority community has been assaulted with the aggression of anti-Muslim slur, within the portals of the Indian Parliament, is surely a situation that would ideally demand urgent legal attention? An immediate suspension? A party decision not to allow him to contest elections in future?  In places like the USA, or even in India, identity-based slurs for black or Dalit communities are a cause for outrage and, in some cases, incidents that may be subjected to punitive measures by the legal system.

Furthermore, it is crucial to note that this news from the special session of the parliament did not make it to any of the Primetime segments of mainstream media surveyed by the team at Sabrang India. This disturbing outcome comes at a time when freedom of the press is increasing at risk in India, and there has been much discussion about how mainstream media has seen death at the hands of the corporate-BJP nexus.

In sharp contrast the channels responsible for this significant gloss over of such a shameful act in Parliament (News18, TimesNow Bharat, ZeeNews, Times Now, AajTak) have been over the past three years especially, guilty of the worst and most unprofessional newshour debates that further hate-mongering and stigmatising the minorities

Here are some examples

For instance, as recent as May 2023, Aaj Tak was released a one hour  programme which had the title ‘Gaming Jihad’ with Sudhir Choudhary as the anchor. The show was allegedly about a gaming racket busted in Ghaziabad which was engaging in religious conversion of young children. The show’s tagline ended with the sentence ‘Is mobile converting you child’s religion.’

The anchor proceeded to peddle a baseless story about the possibility of four lakh children being converted by these tactics. These claims continue to have no base to back them, however Aaj Tak provided a full one hour coverage to them, which makes it clear that the show was seemingly another attempts at propagating false narratives to spread hatred against Muslims by alleging a conspiracy by religious minorities in India.

In another incident where Citizens for Justice and Peace, filed a complaint was filed against a programme by Times Now Navbharat which used the term ‘Mazaar Jihad’ in a show titled ‘धामी सरकार का ‘ऑपरेशन मजार’, ‘गजवा-ए-हिंद’ की साजिश के किससे जुड़े तार?’ It was broadcast in May earlier this year. The programme once again alleged falsely that the Muslims in India are waging a conspiracy to conquer India. The programme repeatedly used terms like ‘mazaar jihad/ zameen jihad’. This is a repeat offense despite News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has, time and again, warned new channels to not use such terms.

In another instance, resultant of a complaint filed by CJP, the NBDSA issued a fine on on two separate incidents against News18 in February this year. The NBDSA also ordered the video in question to be removed from the channel. Thus, a concerted efforts at stigmatising minorities has been continuing at the behest of media.

This is corroborated by international media institutions. According to the latest report released in 2023 from the global media watchdog, RSF (Reporters without Borders) India’s standing in the global press freedom rankings has worsened. The report, released on World Press Freedom Day, places India at the 161st position out of 180 countries revealing a concerning decline. However, in comparison India had held the 150th rank in the previous year’s report in 2022.

According to the RSF, several factors have contributed to this decline, one of them being the high-profile raids on the BBC headquarters in India which had drawn widespread international criticism, and raised concerns about the overall environment for a free and fair media within which journalists are operating in India.

In contrast to India’s trip down the rankings, neighbouring South Asian countries have demonstrated improvements in their press freedom rankings. Pakistan had risen to the 150th spot from the 157th position in 2022, while Sri Lanka jumped up to the 135th rank.

The RSF report furthermore points out and stresses on how the corporate ownership of media outlets in India has changed the scenario completely. The report highlights that a majority of mainstream media in India are now owned by corporate companies with close ties to BJP and the PM Modi.  The report states that despite a large number of media outlets, there is a ‘concentration of ownership’, and furthermore stresses that this is an ongoing hit against the declining press freedom situation in India.

Just last year, after great resistance from its founders, the Roy couple, a media broadcasting channel, NDTV, that was touted to be more neutral in its reportage was lost in the fight against corporate media. In August 2022, a new venture by Adani AMG Media Networks announced the indirect acquisition of a 29% stake in the company with plans to acquire an additional 26% as well. Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy had reportedly tried to prevent Adani’s influence for a long time but to no avail and accused him of a takeover without their consent or consultation as they resigned by the board last year. News 18 too saw a similar fate when it was acquired by Mukesh Ambani in 2014.

These developments do not bode well for the country or its press freedom as more and more of the country’s popular television news channels are now placed under the control and mercy of billionaires who have very close ties to the current regime of the BJP.

Related:

The blatant anti-Muslim violence displayed in the parliament is a shame for the country

MP witnesses rising violence against tribals as BJP youth wing leader is caught beating an elderly tribal

FIR against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for hate speech

Hate speeches by VHP, BJP leaders continue as India slated to host world leaders

The post No Primetime Segment as anti-Muslim slurs rocked parliament last Thursday appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hindus and religious minorities differ in their feelings and perceptions of Indian media and issues critical to its independence. This is one of the major findings of a media survey conducted by the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.

Conducted in 19 states, the survey shows more Muslims, Sikhs and Christians than Hindus think the media has become less free than before. They are also less inclined than Hindus to accept government surveillance, its regulation of social media platforms and its imposition of internet shutdowns.

These responses of religious minorities are of little solace in the larger dark picture the CSDS surveys paints—Indian media consumers harbour illiberal sentiments, are not passionate about protecting their right to free expression, and are seemingly untouched by the worries expressed over the media losing its freedom.

Consider this: 43% of those who watch or read news feel the media today is as free as it was before to show the “truth” or enjoys greater freedom than what it did a few years ago; only 30% of them think the media is less free than before, and a substantial 27% just do not have an opinion.

These are startling findings in the backdrop of the Indian State filing a slew of court cases against journalists. Add 43% and 27%, and you would not be wrong in thinking the State can still, without fearing a backlash, harass and pressure those waving the flag of free expression.

To be free, or…

In contrast to 45% of Hindu news consumers saying the media enjoys greater freedom than before, 33% of Muslims and only 28% of other communities (a category comprising Sikhs and Christians) support this contention. In all three categories, however, those with no opinion comprise over 25% each, suggesting they are most likely not even engaged in furious debates over the diminishing media freedom in India.

The scenario gets even more pessimistic over the issue of whether the government is morally right to carry out surveillance of social media platforms and messaging platforms. As high as 45% of social media users think the government is right in doing so, even though there are varying shades of agreement with the proposition, ranging from “fully right” to “somewhat right” or “right, if on the grounds of security”. Only 40% of them think it is “fully wrong” or “somewhat wrong”. The remaining 16% have no opinion.

After calculating the “net support” for government surveillance (that is, the proportion of those who consider it to be right minus the proportion of those who consider it to be wrong), the CSDS survey report says, “Of all the religious communities, Hindu social media users are the least opposed to/most supportive of surveillance of social media activities by the government. Muslims are relatively less supportive, and many among them preferred to stay silent on the matter.” Among all religious communities, Sikhs are most likely to consider surveillance wrong than right, says the report.

In a media consumption ambience where a substantial percentage of people are either indifferent or supportive of State surveillance, it does not come as a surprise that they would also object to opinions expressed against the government. The survey asked respondents: “People should be free to say whatever they feel about their government on social media or WhatsApp, however objectionable or offensive their opinion may be. Do you agree or disagree?”

Well, well, well—a shocking 45% of social media users say they should not be doing so, and 40% say they could. What kind of democracy is that where people themselves object to the voicing of opinions against the government?

Again, as against 45% of Hindus and 44% of Christians and Sikhs claiming social media and WhatsApp are safe places to express political opinions, only 37% of Muslims agree they are safe. Perhaps the response of Muslims is largely influenced by the State targeting them for their posts. A prime example of this was the Delhi Police relying on WhatsApp messages to accuse a group of Muslim youth leaders of conspiring to foment the 2020 riots in the Capital. The CSDS report, in fact, says, “Many Muslims also remained silent on the question and didn’t express their opinion on the issue.”

Shut them down

As many as 40% of Hindu social media users think there is nothing wrong with the government regulating social media. By comparison, only 31% of Muslims and 34% of other religious communities favour government intervention. It would seem Sikhs are the torch-bearers of media freedom, for the CSDS survey report especially mentions them for strongly opposing the idea of the State regulating social media.

Those who grew up before the advent of the internet wistfully think of what they might have been had they had access to the world wide web in their more youthful debates. They would have followed debates around the world, for instance. Or had greater opportunities to nurture their innate talent.

The CSDS survey shows, rather ironically, that 47% of active internet users (defined as those who confirmed internet usage for any purpose in the two months prior to the survey) believe it is right (that is, those who said fully right, somewhat right, or right, on grounds of security) for the government to shut down the net on the grounds of law and order. Only 36% say they do not endorse internet shutdowns.

The attitude towards internet shutdowns varies from community to community. Only 36% of Muslims endorse the shutdowns against 49% of Hindus and 47% of Christians and Sikhs doing so. This difference would have possibly ballooned had the CSDS also conducted its survey in Jammu and Kashmir, whose people have inordinately suffered from internet shutdowns. Conversely, Hindus perhaps endorse internet shutdowns because they have not had a prolonged experience of it.

The Hindu-Muslim divide is also reflected elsewhere—far more Hindus than Muslims trust the TV channels they watch, the newspapers they read and the news portals they visit.

There is, however, unanimity among all religious communities on one point—all of them believe the media’s portrayal of the Modi government is just “too favourable”. The clamour that the media is biased in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party is not without basis. But for this exception, there is a clear distinction between the attitude of religious minorities and that of the majority community over the State’s oversight of the media.

Romancing the State

The CSDS survey report is not explanatory. Yet a few broad conclusions can be drawn from it. More Hindus than religious minorities seem to repose faith in the State—that it must have valid reasons to shut down the internet, regulate social media, and put what is a chaotic but democratic space under surveillance. Media freedom and the quality of our democracy is dependent on Hindus as they constitute 80% of the country’s population.

Religious minorities look askance at the State because they, particularly Muslims, have endured a vicious campaign of the BJP targeting them. A select band of TV channels and newspapers have echoed the BJP’s hate rhetoric, often fanning the flames of hatred. This is perhaps also why Muslims are less trusting of the media.

Yet we need to out in a caveat here: Given the experiences of Muslims since May 2014, the year in which Modi came to power, it is still surprising that 36% of them endorse internet shutdowns; or that 37% of them think social media and WhatsApp are safe places to express political opinions. These are just the spaces that bristle with hatred against them. It would seem they, like Hindus, also have an abiding faith in the State, making them presume it must have justifiable reasons to curb the right to free expression.

Perhaps a large number of Indians believe the State is their mai-baap, which, like parents, must be strict with children for the latter’s welfare. This attitude explains why people do not take to the streets over draconian laws such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, or why the Supreme Court upholding absurd, anti-democratic amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act does not trigger a public outcry. Or why the people are so reluctant to protest against dissenters being summarily packed off to jail.

Our democracy is widely regarded to have deepened. It has only in the sense of marginalised social groups being pulled into the democratic process and acquiring a degree of representation denied to them decades ago. In terms of ideas and ideology, our democracy remains shallow. That is undoubtedly the saddest part of the CSDS survey—and perhaps an impetus to strive towards inculcating the democratic spirit in the people of India.

The author is an independent journalist. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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A section of the news media, that either has strong right-wing leanings, or is perceived to be close to the regime, appears to have taken it upon itself to push Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s claims of turning the state into a “healthcare hub”. Following the state government’s boasts in late-November, media-houses sites like Zee News, e-Health, the Hindustan Times have repeatedly endorsed the idea that ‘UP is becoming a medical hub with the Centre’s assistance’.

“Committed to provide better medical facilities to the people of Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi government is rapidly enhancing the health facilities in the state,” said Zee News while talking about the administration’s “one district one medical college” policy.

According to the article, the state government by December 12, 2021 opened two All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli that have already started out patient services. The publication further highlighted that the BJP had established private or government medical colleges in 16 districts that previously did not have this facility during the tenure of “other governments”.

Yet, despite pointing out the shortcomings of previous governments, the article did not comment on the sudden influx of viral fever cases around September. Approximately 200 people were diagnosed with dengue-like symptoms of which 100-150 were young children. Between September 10 and September 25, as many as 84 children suffered encephalitis in the Purvanchal region. Parents grieved their children’s death outside hospitals because they were unable to find vacant beds in nearby hospitals.

Still the Hindustan Times on November 21 did not challenge Adityanath’s claim that all 75 districts “are well equipped with ICU beds, 1.80 lakh emergency beds, and [that] 518 oxygen plants have also become operational.”

It is worth asking the government whether these plants became operational following the second-wave of Covid-19, when people were resorting to social media to avail oxygen cylinders. At the time, the Yogi-government had threatened citizens with arrests and FIRs if they “spread panic” regarding the pandemic by enquiring about oxygen supplies or storage capacity via the internet.

A CAG report on 2019 state functioning in particular condemned the government for their “lackadaisical approach [that] resulted in unfruitful expenditure of Rs. 1.88 crore on procurement of Central Oxygen System (COS), which could not be made operational even after a lapse of more than 8-10 years.”

The report said that the release of full payment to suppliers without getting the COS operational, the failure to ensure preventive maintenance of supplied equipment and no training to hospital staff for use of the system and failure to have timely conversations with the suppliers led to the huge fiscal waste. It also pointed out how the concerned District Hospital in Agra continued to depend on small cylinders because the COS was lying non-functional until 2020, despite government assurances as far back as December 2017.

During the Lok Bhavan speech, the Chief Minister said that the government built 33 medical colleges in the last four-and-a-half years, out of which nine medical colleges have become operational. Even so, these claims fall flat on recollecting that citizens found no vacant beds in their area despite contrary information on government portal.

The recent CAG report also showed how the Medical Health and Family Welfare Department failed to impose a penalty of Rs. 6.17 crore on non-supply of medicines/drugs resulting in undue benefit to suppliers coupled with the risk of inadequate patient treatment.

Unfazed by all this, the e-Health website on November 26 spoke about how “sustained efforts” of the BJP government led to less malnourished children as per the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5).

“Due to the relentless efforts of the state government, UP has shown considerable progress in the National Family Health Survey-5,” said the report.

In fact, the data showed that 7.3 percent of children under 5 years are severely wasted while 3.1 percent of children of the same age-group are overweight. In the NFHS-4 report, 6 percent children from the same age-group were severely wasted and 1.5 percent were obese. In general, obesity among adult women increased from 16.5 percent in 2015-16 to 21.3 percent in 2019-21. Similarly, obesity among men increased from 12.5 percent in 2015-16 to 18.5 percent in 2019-21.

The report also went on to note how 66.4 percent children between 6-59 months are anaemic as compared to 63.2 percent in the previous report.

Regarding health-related information, the NFHS-5 reported that 13.1 percent women and 22.1 percent men have comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS – less than the 17.5 percent women and 26.2 percent men who were informed about the same in 2015-16.

As UP elections 2022 draw closer, the state government, and their stooges in the news media, have jumped into action singing praises about the administrative work in the state so far. However, data and on-ground reports indicate otherwise.

Anganwadi workers and ASHAs, who acted as the backbone of the entire healthcare system during the global pandemic are yet to receive their dues. As the second wave of coronavirus subsided, ASHAs observed a nationwide campaign to demand their dues. However, like the workers in other states, their demands remain unnoticed. Instead, the state nowadays witnesses more protests by farmers and teachers, indicating that after the health sector, workers from other social sectors have begun voicing their apprehension about the state government functioning.

Related:

Covid-19: Which Indian states failed miserably in tackling the pandemic?
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Uttar Pradesh: Any neta taking notice of recent dengue, rain related deaths?
UP: After mystery viral, diarrhea cases put Azamgarh hospitals under stress

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