In a shocking turn of events, ABP News omitted a part of an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the omitted part, which included PM Modi’s response to questions on the Rafale deal was included later on, in the re-aired version. But, this could not escape the hawk-eyed social media users who quickly pointed out the discrepancies on the part of the channel. The interview was conducted by two senior journalists of ABP News.
The discrepancy found in the two clips raised questions on ABP News, which tried to censor the interview of the Prime Minister of the country. In the re-run clips, PM Modi questioned ABP News about the reporting it had done on various national issues. In the clip that was supposedly edited did not include PM Modi asking the biased stand of the ABP News against the BJP, regarding various policies and initiatives but was present in the re-run version.
PM Modi, in the alleged uncensored clip, also demanded the news channel to answer as to why it was scared of exposing the nepotistic family rule in politics. He also brought out the Rafale issue in the re-run clip. PM Modi hit out at the two journalists for not taking into account the Supreme Court ruling as well as that of the Government of France. Is ABP News scared of opposing the Nehru-Gandhi family about its wrongdoings?
A new low for the Indian media. As PM Modi exposed ABP News' biased reporting in an interview, @abpnewshindi conveniently blacked it out. Here's the portion which these dishonest crooks did not play.pic.twitter.com/ADr2akHKm6
— Ajit Datta (@ajitdatta) April 6, 2019
PM Modi questioned the policy of the channel and asked the two journalists about how the channel has not questioned the Gandhi family on various corruption charges in past years. He hit out at the ABP News for dragging baseless news about the ruling party for months saying that despite answering all the doubts in the parliament, the channel kept repeating a lie in a loop. PM Modi asked, “A family that has been allegedly charged of corruption and was exposed with proofs in enough quantity and sources by the Finance Minister and ABP News blacked out that particular press conference, ABP News can ask the Prime Minister questions but does not question a guilty family, what is ABP News’ compulsion?”
After being thoroughly lambasted by PM Modi on the interview and subsequently exposed by social media users, ABP News tried to shift the narrative by claiming that PM Modi got agitated on the ABP News once he was questioned on the Rafale deal. This was certainly not the case as the questions on the Rafale deal were indeed irresponsible as PM Modi himself reminded the two journalists of the Supreme Court verdict, the CAG report and numerous questions answered by the government on the floor of the parliament. But alert and informed social media users totally demolished the ABP News’ argument about PM Modi’s reaction.
Not being able to withstand the constant criticism and after being exposed, Sumit Awasthi, the co-anchor of the show came up with a hilarious explanation and said that the decision to omit the Rafale part of the interview in the original broadcast was nothing but an editorial call and the said part was included in the re-aired version of the interview.
https://twitter.com/awasthis/status/1114420463101517824
The fact remains that ABP news conducted an interview with PM Modi, shared a horribly edited video and got caught. After getting caught it tried to spin it by saying some tough question for PM Modi made him lose his cool, which was definitely not the case. And finally, after getting hammered in the social media, ABP News defending the decision came up with a flimsy excuse as it was an editorial decision.
This is a clear violation of media ethics. If the ABP News censored the interview of the PM Modi, it has definitely been exposed. The omission of an entire section of the interview is questionable and it raises doubts on the credibility of the media channel. In the times when the audience deserved to know the truth, are media channels like ABP News, the right choice? With the censoring of a section of the PM Modi interview and coming up with a hilarious explanation, the ABP News has hit a new low.