Selective newsworthiness

IN Media Watch Briefs | 14/08/2015

BS reports that Left party MPs were not amused at the publicity former Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra Yadav garnered on news channels for his protest highlighting the woes of farmers. They focused on Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and others when he was arrested on August 11. The MPs wondered why the half a dozen such protests they had taken out in the past one year, with thousands converging from across the country to attend them, never merited such coverage. If their protests were mentioned at all in news bulletins and city pages it was for the traffic snarls they caused!

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Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

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.

Let the games begin

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.