What hopes could you nurture from Corporate Media?
Corporate Media by its very definition is a media catering to only rich and powerful. It has no space for ordinary citizens. Affluent don’t care for poor; so why would corporate media?
Stories which are important to tens of millions of Indians never see the light. Why?
Or you would’ve seen homes torched, families fleeing and people battered to death in West Bengal. Reporters should’ve descended onto the killing fields of Bengal by now. Instead, you have interviews of Mamata Banerjee how she has protected democracy.
You have Indian Express running a series on Covid-19 situation in Uttar Pradesh. No such initiative did you see with Maharashtra in all these months. The newspaper would rather gush front-page on BMC Model in Mumbai even when Maharashtra still is consistently showing 62,000 plus cases daily.
Our newspapers everyday are full with how Delhi High Court and Supreme Court are pulling up Centre on Covid crisis in the Capital. I am sure none of you would’ve read that Delhi High Court also questioned the “mohalla clinics” of Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP government. Delhi government’s response?: We can’t maintain social distancing in small Mohalla clinics!
It’s an established fact that Delhi is asking for far much Oxygen than other states with comparable cases. Centre supplied over 700MT as required. Now, the demand is for 940MT oxygen. What’s wrong if Centre says that at least, for god’s sake, have oxygen supplied audited. It’s a perfectly legitimate ask. When oxygen is being hoarded and black-marketed, and when Delhi’s numbers don’t support such a demand, and when extra Oxygen to Delhi could eat into pressing needs of other states, there is every reason to know how the supplied oxygen is being used. Why would Delhi government resist such a move?
For two days, this corporate media had a field day claiming that Centre was so myopic it didn’t place orders with manufacturers, such as Covaxin and Covishield. That the last order was placed in March. Now we know that the last order placed was as recent as on April 28. No less than a Minister of State (Anurag Thakur) has placed all the details in public domain. It’s an eye-opener. But your corporate media would rather have you not read it.
✅Vaccine TRANSPARENCY
Serum Institute of India
Total order: 26.60 cr doses
Total Supplied: 14.344 cr doses
Amount Billed: 2353.09 cr
Amount Paid: 3639.67 CR(includes advance payment Rs 1732.50 cr paid on 28th April for 11 cr doses to be delivered in May,June,July 2021)
1/2
— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) May 6, 2021
This corporate media is legitimate on hyping super-spreader events like Kumbh Mela and election rallies. Any possibility of thousands of protesting farmers sitting cheek-by-jowl being a threat to themselves and others? Not a fat chance. They won’t even tell you that Punjab is now in a deep hole on Coronavirus.
This corporate media never asks a Rahul Gandhi why he keeps shifting his stance on lockdowns. Why is he panting that the details of foreign aid are unavailable when every bit of it is available on official website across 31 States and Union Territories?
Time to rise above petulant politics Mr. @RahulGandhi. Information regarding allocation to 38 institutions across 31 states / UTs was available in the public domain before you tweeted. If you care for the truth as you proclaim, do share – https://t.co/8LhL4lU8OV https://t.co/Flc9QXuU0u
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) May 6, 2021
So, ordinary citizens, think how many times, if any, have you read critical articles on Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Uddhav Thackeray, Capt. Amarinder Singh and Rahul Gandhi? That alone should tell you who controls the ecosystem in this country; to whom our corporate media is beholden.
There is a time-tested theory: You know who controls the ecosystem by the one you are not allowed to criticize. Sonia Gandhi has been at the helm longer than a Nehru or Indira Gandhi. How many critical articles have you read on her? Ever?
Even internet is corporate, it’s not for common people. A Kangana Ranaut is promptly banned on twitter; there are so many who use the most vile and fake claims and continue to prosper.
If we at all mattered to this corporate media, you’d have known where to find oxygen cylinder, database of plasma donors, live update on beds vacant in hospitals, ambulance service details etc. But they would rather chortle at India’s misery, the deaths at our crematoriums, patients on road.
There is no coverage when elites, both political and economic, weigh on the other side. The closer a story gets to powerful, the less reliable the reportage becomes. The affairs of working class people have virtually disappeared from our newspapers. They are only ready to provide favourable coverage to those who help them with contracts and advertisements.
If democracy is important, there is need for structural reform of media. The so-called advocates of free market are actually captive to this eco-system. And this eco-system is heavily loaded against Narendra Modi and his BJP. You have it’s proof everyday in your corporate media. Where Modi can’t be seen doing anything right and the likes of Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray anything wrong.
We all could stop buying these rags. That’s one step. Another step is for regulatory authorities to make public how corporate media benefits by way of advertisements and contracts. And then have legitimate checks to stop the spread of this cancer. It’s eating away the vitals of our democracy. It’s openly doing fraud on trust of gullible readers. They ought to be accountable. Only then crooked politicians could be straightened.
