The contrasting coverage over Citizenship Amendment Bill by the English media and Hindi Media has unveiled what is essentially wrong with the English language media of the country. While most of the English Media houses, especially the newspapers – Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Hindu and The Telegraph reported as the world would fall apart after the Bill becomes a law, the Hindi media was responsible, objective and calm.
Dainik Jagran, the most read Indian newspaper as per the Indian readership Survey, opined that the opposition’s claim that the bill discriminates in the name of religion is a fallacy because it keeps even the Tamil Hindus of Sri Lanka out of the purview.
The newspaper also called out the ‘intellectuals’ for the fear mongering and opined that violence in Northeast over the Citizenship Amendment Bill shows what can happen due to misinformation, as the majority of the areas in the region are protected by Sixth Schedule or Inner Line Permit, therefore will bear no damage due to the bill.
Dainik Bhaskar, the most circulated newspaper in the country, asked why there is so much fear over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which seeks to provide Indian citizenship to members of minority communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh that have fled religious persecution.“This persecution is on the basis of their religion and the government has no option but to give them shelter and citizenship,” reads the editorial of Dainik Bhaskar.
Overall, the reporting in the Hindi newspapers over CAB (now CAA) was objective, sensible, and responsible. On the other hand, the opinion and editorial pages of English newspapers were filled the ‘views’ on CAB, which, according to them, ended the “secular” character of India, and is against the constitution.
The English media establishment collaborates with the opposition, mainly Congress which has nurtured and nourished it since the days of state monopoly over media and spreads ruckus. The state monopoly over media ended in last the few decades but the subservience of left-liberal media to Congress remains the same. The people in the media still pursue fear and rumour-mongering in the direction of their political masters.
The media sensationalized the Citizenship Amendment Act issue and hyped it out of proportion, which resulted in violence in the states like Assam and West Bengal. The short-sighted and ideologically polarized anchors and journalists, particularly, in English media reported on the issue as if the country will fall apart after the Citizenship Amendment Bill become a law.
Indian media exaggerates every issue and the TV shows lack mature content. The Prime Time shows on TV give a sense that the world will fall apart on just the other day. The media needs to behave more responsibly and should have the national interest in the top of their priority list.
The high moral ground taken by the left-liberal media establishment remains in front of the camera. In back rooms, they behave as tax evaders, money launderers, sexual predators, sycophants and what not. This establishment is responsible for informing the public, if their personal dealings are full of scams and biases, how it could be expected that they would tell ‘right’ story to populous of the country. The interesting thing is they cry foul of ‘political witch hunt’ when some legal action is taken against them. The establishment’s pleas for freedom of the press whenever their corporate wrongdoing is exposed but the question is how objectivity is expected from these tainted media houses.