Blame Modi: No proof required
English tv and print media are getting exposed every day for untruth, bias and agenda driven, and pandering to worst elements. Viewership which is already low will vanish to nothing soon. An eye opening article by Mr Balla based on a tv debate he participated. Link at the end for full article.
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No Proof Required: Some media-bashing
Surjit S Bhalla:
The writer is chairman, Oxus Investments, and a contributing editor for ‘The IndianExpress’.
I have been an active participant in the media (both print and TV) for the last 30 years. But never before have I been as embarrassed to be a part of the media as I was on Wednesday, April 24, the day of the suicide of a farmer at a political rally organised by the AAP.
The Congress and AAP were the worst offenders, arguing for a direct linkage of the suicide to poor farmer distress and the BJP’s attempt to introduce the land acquisition bill. And the media, especially TV, gleefully joined in
support of this. Is there no shame left?
Paraphrasing its angst, “the suicide shows how the BJP government is out of touch with the needs of the poor; don’t they see the distress caused to the farmers by the pro-rich and pro-corporate policies the BJP is pursuing”. The politician sayeth, and the glib media agreeth, that now is not the time to bring in the land acquisition bill because it will add further to farmer distress.
Notice the “logic”in the media’s pronouncements. Farmer distress and farmer suicides have occurred for centuries — and without the push to suicide by land being acquired. So what caused those previous suicides?
Singh comes from a family that owns 40 bighas of land in Dastur, Rajasthan. According to NSS landholding data for 2011-12, that places him and his family among the top 5 per cent of all landowners in Rajasthan and the top1 per cent of all landowners in India. A relatively rich farmer committing suicide — what has that got to do with the land acquisition bill? Indeed, even a poor farmer committing suicide — what has that got to do with the land acquisition bill, or for that matter, with the setting of the MSP?
No Proof Required: Some media-bashing | The Indian Express | Page 99
