Obama’s Bong connection?
The Telegraph tried really hard to find local angles to the US President’s visit. Its Bengal counterpart Anandabazar Patrika however went for straight news coverage which put the Telegraph in the shade.
AJITHA MENON reports. Pix: Telegraph’s hair-do coverage.
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The Hoot's Comparitive Coverage series
“A Bengal flavour is wafting in from the most delicious culinary conundrum of recent times: whether a special ‘Obama menu’ will include a fish delicacy soaked in the state’s traditions.”
That, folks, was The Telegraph straining to find a ‘Bong’ connection for its readers, to the Obama visit, in the run up to it. Really stretching it, because the rest of the story made it amply clear that the ITC chefs were not thinking of any item even remotely drawn from Bengali cuisine.
And post visit, it came up with a headline ‘ Barack’s Bong Connection’ on its metro page which made eager readers think that Obama had a Bengali ancestor! However, the copy had this explanation, “Calcutta found a place (a rather dubious one, we dare say) in President Barack Obama’s address to Parliament on Monday, Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda completed the Bengali touch to the 4175-word speech”.
On the other hand, the Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, stayed clear of any regional bias in its coverage of the visit, sticking largely to straightforward reporting of events. The curtain raisers were mostly on the Obamas’ schedule in Mumbai and New Delhi and security issues related to the visit, with passing mention of the hotels’ preparations for the VIP guests.
When comparing the leading regional and English language dailies in a state one might assume that US politics per se would get more space in the English paper, catering to English speaking elite. But on the contrary, the Anandabazar Patrika did better in its coverage of the US mid term elections which had a sharp relevance for the about-to-visit president’s political future.
In the run up to the visit it covered the Left viewpoint on Obama’s visit and also had daily stories from November 1st to November 4th on the mid term polls to the Congress and the gubernatorial posts in the United States. The paper had stories on the queries facing Obama in the mid-term polls, its explained why the polls were a test in America for Obama’s policies and dealt with the implications of the resurgence of the Republicans after the poll results came in.
The Telegraph, on the other hand, realized the significance of the mid-term polls in the US only after the results came in on November 4, but found an interesting twist in the matter with a front-page banner headline, “Glimmer in Obama gloom”, explaining that the changes expected after the Democrats lost majority in the US House of Representatives, could benefit India because some of the Republicans voted in had a history of championing India. It made up for missing out in the beginning by carrying four other stories on the poll results on the same day.
The Telegraph had two interesting stories on November 6, the day Obama was scheduled to arrive. “Bill dance over, Nayla stands still”, was a follow up on the life in Nayla, a village in Rajathan, where the then US President Bill Clinton had danced a jig with the villagers in March, 2000. Another story on a US-funded survey in the Muslim dominated areas of Tiruvananthapuram found place under “Mystery US survey in Kerala raises brows”. The story pointed out that the survey had asked several communally sensitive questions, some of them aimed exclusively at Muslims. It also had questions related to Obama’s administration, PM Manmohan Singh, West Asia, Israel and Bangladeshi Muslims. A section meant exclusively for Muslim women had asked questions on the burqa and what life in India was like.
On November 6, The Telegraph had a front page banner ‘Vision in mission, please’, with the story discussing Obama’s stand on India and whether he will justify his statement that Indian was the cornerstone of Asia, with how and why? Anandabazar Patrika remained low-keyed about the visit, also carrying a banner on the day, but on the Maoist problem. “Threat of big Maoist attack ahead of polls”, the lighter font banner had a story quoting a statement from Home Secretary G K Pillai, expressing concern that there might be increased Maoist activity in West Bengal.
Between Oct 28 and November 10, Anandabazar Patrika gave due space to Left’s viewpoint on the visit, the boycott of Obama’s speech in Parliament by Forward Bloc and SUCI (both parties having good presence in Bengal). The Telegraph had a story on Nov 4th pointing out that cracks had appeared in the Left Front over Obama’s visit but did not mention SUCI.
After food, it was fashion for The Telegraph on November 7, with a piece on Michelle Obama’s new hairdo, including answers to what she had done to her hair, what impression it gave, whether the style had a name and how to get it done. There were reactions from hair and fashion designers. The accompanying photos explained it all!
On the same day, the front page banner headline in the English daily took pride in “Dance to India Tune”, with the story on 53,670 India generated jobs for Americans beautifully juxtaposed with a huge picture of Michelle Obama dancing with disadvantaged children in Mumbai. The Anandabazar headline also gloated, “Hain amraao paari” (yes we can too). No queries were raised by either paper on the unemployment rates in India!
Anandabazar Patrika adopted a more serious tone in its entire coverage of the visit, sticking largely to political and policy related stories but The Telegraph also had several side stories on food, fashion and celebrities in the context of the visit.
The Bengali daily had some significant asides, including an insert story on the US banning the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Toiba on November 5, within a larger story on Obama’s security from Mumbai. The other one was on November 7, with the headline “Sheraton Hotel e Ekhon Daak Porchey Honumanwallahder” (Hanuman trainers being called to Sheraton Hotel). Apparently, Sheraton Hotel had called in trained Hanumans to scare away the monkeys in the area!
The Bengali paper acknowledged a ‘bong’ connection on November 9, with a humble story “Banglar ek gaanyer chobi mon bhoralo Michelle Obamar” (pictures of a small village in Bengal capture Michelle Obama’s heart) about how the handicraft pieces from Bengal’s villages charmed the US first lady at the Delhi craft museum, who went ahead and bought several of those pieces.
After the Obama-Singh joint press conference, both papers carried Pakistan in their banner headlines on November 8. The Telegraph said “Stable Pak riddle for India” and the Bengali daily said “Obamaar Paatey Pakistan” (Pakistan on Obama’s Plate)
Aside from the party circuit finding much greater space in The Telegraph, both papers covered the policy related stories on the visit of the US President in the same tenor. The Telegraph had four pages with the header “Obama in India” on November 7 and November 8 and six pages on November 9. On all the three days, the front page too had the same in sky headlines. Anandabazar was not that effusive, restricting itself to a small font header “Maarkin President er Bharat Darshan” on one page only on November 7. The Telegraph had a total of five banner headlines on the visit and Anandabazar had two. The last one on Nov 9 said “Obamaar mukhe Jai Hind” (Obama says Jai Hind).