New show, old story

IN Media Watch Briefs | 24/01/2017
Arnab Goswami's successor at Times Now, Rahul Shivshankar, launched his own signature show last night (January 23) with much fanfare. India Upfront succeeds Goswami's Newshour and guess what, does much the same thing. Hollers away about the misdeeds of this government's critics. The story on Teesta Setalvad  by the anchor's own admission was based on material already in the public domain. Excerpts from an HRD report were read out by a reporter, questions that have been asked before by her critics were asked,  and overall the show would have gladdened  hearts in  the ruling dispensation. But why launch a new show without a new story to tell?                         
 
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