Sexing up events

IN Media Watch Briefs | 20/04/2015

Media, both print and TV, do like sexing up events. For instance, Headlines Today's Gaurav Sawant said Rahul Gandhi "will aggressively" lead on the land issue even before he had spoken at the rally. The same channel later, with Rajdeep Sardesai anchoring the midday show, debunked Rahul's speech. Today, Badshah Sen's opinion was that Gandhi's speech in Lok Sabha would be "memorable" even as the breaking news was the scion would speak. When Pakistan only "deplored" the arrest of Masarat Alam, The Hindu had said "Pak slams Alam's arrest". All planned morchas are routinely described as "mamoth" even before they are held. Adjectives, apparently come cheap.

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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.