Dangerously selective

IN Media Watch Briefs | 23/02/2018
The Hindu, The Times of India and  Hindustan Times reported the most controversial parts of the Army chief's Feb 21 speech on immigration in the North East and the growth of the AIUDF as a party. It was only Indian Express that reported a longer excerpt, in which he spoke of amalgamation rather than identification as a solution in Assam, and pointed out that Muslims had come to Assam with the Ahoms in the 1200s and had equal rights over the land. "Both these people have claim to the state of Assam and therefore to the North East region," the army chief said.  Why didn't the others report this crucial admission, which is rarely heard? Because it would have gone against the sensational headlines all the papers gave to their report of the speech? The headlines either highlighted Rawat's comparison between the growth of Badruddin Ajmal's  AIUDF's and the BJP, or his accusation that Pakistan and China were driving the illegal immigration into the North East.                     

            

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The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

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