MP as resident commentator?

IN Media Watch Briefs | 04/09/2017
What exactly is the difference between a politician who appears on a news show as a spokesperson, and one whom a TV channel retains as a resident commentator? During the live coverage of the cabinet reshuffle on Sunday,  CNN News 18 brought on Swapan Dasgupta, who is a BJP Rajya Sabha MP and identified him as their resident commentator. Going by the anchor’s questions to him the assumption seemed to be that there were getting a person who had an inside track on why the govt. was doing what it was doing. Though he didn't always know.         
Subscribe To The Newsletter
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.                 

View More