I don’t know about you, but I don’t think political campaigning has reached this kind of feverish pitch and frenzy as during this 2024 parliamentary election in India. Most of it has to do with what else is happening around election time, I think. Such as ED and CBI interrogations and arrests of politicians most of whom are from opposition parties, electoral bonds being scrapped which is good, politicians defecting left, right and centre, as well as the battle between TMC and the BJP in Bengal which is now a drama in Delhi.
I also think it is the media reporting of it which raises the pitch of the electoral contest more than necessary, but mostly in plugging for the BJP and the Prime Minister. I also noticed that just ahead of the elections, TV news channels decide to hold summits and conferences. And guess who the main speakers are at these events? Political leaders and ministers from the ruling BJP who get to air their political views and rants, in long interviews with the channel’s journalist in front of an audience as well as for the entire world to watch. This has been a growing trend in India in the past couple of decades, and I suspect it is the influence of PR agencies such as the unprofessional circus-like ones that I had the misfortune of working for briefly, in Delhi in 2006-07. There is no doubt that such summits and conclaves are held so media can ingratiate itself to the powers that be.
This got me thinking about what media’s role at the time that elections are around the corner, should, in fact, be. And what the EC (Election Commission) should be doing as part of enforcing the model code of conduct. Is there no regulation of media and its coverage during elections? I remember the EC ruling that political polls be scrapped decades ago, because it was seen as influencing the vote during elections, with the result that we now have exit polls only after the last vote in the country has been cast. Similarly, should the EC not be ensuring that media channels give all political parties and their leaders equal amount of air-time and news coverage, since it appears that TV news channels seem incapable of being impartial and regulating themselves, even though most of them are private news channels.
In my opinion, media’s role and responsibility during elections is paramount in keeping the spirit and principles of democracy alive. This is the time they need to step up to the plate and demonstrate that they are an important pillar of the institution of democracy. Their independence and impartiality matter most to the country’s political leaders and the entire electorate.
I think there are several important actions that media can take during election season. For a start, they need to provide impartial and wide coverage of election campaigning by all political parties, not merely the PM or the Home Minister addressing rallies. More importantly, they need to report on what the most important election-related issues are, according to ordinary citizens and voters. People tend to vote differently in state assembly and parliamentary elections, but people’s concerns need to be addressed.
Therefore, journalists need to be out in the field, following campaign trails and also providing ground reports of critical issues facing voters across the country. Sitting inside news studios and interviewing politicians, or providing opinion polls analysis is not good enough. The analysis and commentary aren’t always insightful or deep enough either to help viewers understand political swings away, and to political parties, and the changing political landscape, as it were.
There is a lot of talk about the rising importance of the woman voter across TV news channels, but most of the discussion revolves around freebies and sops to women voters, which is only reinforcing women – especially the poor – as vote-bank narrative. Most of the conversation about empowering women is nonsensical, because it only helps to highlight the gullibility of the woman voter as seen by politicians. I should know, since this 2024 election will be the second general election that I will not be able to vote in, when I had applied for a renewal of my voter card in Goa in January of 2019, so that I could exercise my franchise that year.
Media also has a huge responsibility to make the youth of India cast their vote. In a predominantly young country, how the young vote can matter a great deal. There are no statistics that I have come across on young voters (aged 18-25) in India and how they vote, and I suspect that their participation might be abysmally low in urban India, as it is for all age groups. I read and hear that the youth are targeted more through social media, and some political parties such as the BJP are said to have developed highly sophisticated social media cells for this purpose. However, social media campaigning is more advertising – of the kind that is below the radar – and cannot substitute for media reporting. Therefore, the media still has a job to do, in terms of helping the youth engage better with the processes of democracy.
I think media also has a huge job to do in terms of helping undecided voters and fence-sitters make up their minds during elections. Therefore, intelligent TV debates on important election issues between political leaders/candidates can help. People don’t decide who to vote for based on a debate, but it can and does help resolve issues and doubts in voters’ minds, which is why they are quite common overseas. Instead of conclaves and summits where some politicians get to profile themselves, facing off against an opponent candidate in an intelligent and well-moderated debate makes much more sense, and needs to be introduced in India.
Finally, TV news channels need to wean themselves away from so-called debates with party spokespeople, which are nothing but ugly and unpleasant slanging matches. Where everybody raises their voices, and the moderator ends up screaming the loudest. Bad enough, this is daily fare on news TV, unfortunately, and I think the electorate deserve better in election season. Most of these spokespeople are not decision-makers nor do they have any authority within their political parties; they are merely there to represent the party line and answer media’s questions. This spokesperson concept is itself born of the PR industry and the corporate world has its equivalent as well. They are people who do not have a say in company decisions, or strategies or operations, their only say is what the company would like them to say on certain occasions. When news TV spends all its time talking to party spokespeople, it is a waste of precious media time and a disservice to the viewers as well as to the nation.
I am old enough to know that media news coverage of elections in India wasn’t always this shrill amplification of ruling party messaging, or spokespeople jousting, or polls analysis. It appears that unprofessional PR agencies and their equally unprofessional cronies in RK Swamy/BBDO Chennai have captured the media lock, stock and barrel, as I have long suspected and have written about before on my blog as well. It’s reached such ridiculous levels that I am not sure even the most experienced and seasoned of journalists and editors have it in them to be able to withstand this circus, that now operates with government sanction.
The animated owl gif that forms the featured image and title of the Owleye column is by animatedimages.org and I am thankful to them.
Post script:
While this Owleye column is about English TV news coverage of the elections, I think the same role and responsibilities apply to the print media and its digital editions. While live TV debates are obviously not possible in print, the same principles of impartiality and upholding the idea of democracy hold good for all media.
In Times of India Goa edition, the initial reporting soon after the EC announced polling dates focused on stories of obscure farmers and poor people from remote villages across the country, and I suspect this too was PR agency mischief. Having guessed that I was writing this column for my blog, the reporting soon changed to key political battles between various candidates and also to editorial – such as in Saturday Times April 13 – about the BJD fielding the most women candidates in the Lok Sabha elections under Naveen Patnaik’s leadership. It is not something I was aware of earlier, but I suspect PR agency meddling in the scripting of the news all the same. On Sunday, April 14, the newspaper carries a story about Patnaik’s 5th class-pass tailor and some nonsense about politicians’ measurements!
Peripatetic Perch 