India’s media has a problem. Prime Minister Modi talks a lot, and talks well, but not to them. During the LS elections, Mr Modi made himself accessible to reporters, particularly TV interviewers. Now he has gone back to his original manner, which is to communicate through social media and speeches, not press conferences.
The only journalist he has given time to after taking office is CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, a soft interview aimed mainly at introducing India’s leader to the world.
Now, the Editors Guild of India, a mostly dormant body that is controlled by proprietors rather than professional editors, feels sufficiently alarmed to have complained about Mr Modi’s insularity. In a statement this week it said there was a “deficit in transparency in the functioning of the government.”
The Guild said that “by delaying the establishment of a media interface in the PMO, in restricting access to ministers and bureaucrats and in reducing the flow of information at home and abroad, the government seems to be on a path that runs counter to the norms of democratic discourse.”
Things have been moving in this direction for some time now. The website scroll.in reported as early as June that “one of the facts that went largely unremarked about Mr Modi’s meeting with senior bureaucrats was that he instructed them to keep away from the media.” The PM had also “asked his Cabinet colleagues to refrain from speaking to the journalists and instead letting official government spokespersons do the talking on their behalf.”
This was “the first serious step to turn New Delhi into Gandhinagar, where during Mr Modi’s three terms as CM, members of his Cabinet would not speak to the press unless they had obtained permission from him. Even the customary press briefings after the state Cabinet meetings — which in other states are addressed by ministers — are either not held at all in Gujarat or are addressed by spokesmen of the government.”
When Mr Modi feels the need to say something, he tweets it or makes a speech. The Guild says that this is not good enough: “A top-down, one-way interaction in a country with limited Internet connectivity cannot be the only answer for readers, viewers, surfers and listeners. Debate and discussion are the essential ingredients of a democratic discourse.”
This is true of course but the history is that Mr Modi rarely gave access even to Gujarati media for formal interaction in his years as CM. However, this was not the case before the riots. He became insular later, and shut out the media after the episode on Karan Thapar’s show where he walked off mid-way, offended by the line of questioning.
After the riots, Mr Modi’s relationship with the media became adversarial. He has long disliked the largest circulated newspaper in Gujarat, the Gujarat Samachar. The government once produced an unusual response to it, a newspaper of its own called Gujarat Satya Samachar, which it delivered free to all homes. It was a pamphlet highlighting Mr Modi’s achievements, which he felt that the newspapers were not highlighting.
One way that Mr Modi has sidelined the mainstream media is by building a phenomenal Internet presence. Mr Modi has a team of 2,000 people who manage his social media, led by a man called Hiren Joshi.
Mr Modi has probably the most effective social media propaganda network outside of the Chinese government. However, it must also be said that it is not just the forcing of information down unwilling throats. He is attractive to youngsters, especially those of the middle class, and he connects with them well.
He gave access to most networks during the campaign because he needed them, but he now believes he doesn’t. He is a gifted speaker and can reach his audience directly, over the heads of the media. This is unlike other leaders who are not usually covered live and must necessarily go through the media.
Reporters will need to speak to those around him to figure out what’s going on. It will not be easy.
Aakar Patel is a writer and columnist
