New Delhi: From Rafale and Aatmanirbhar Bharat to Chinese expansionism in Tajikistan, there was no one topic that dominated prime time debates Sunday. However, television news remains obsessed with the Sushant Singh Rajput’s death — Republic Bharat’s Sucherita Kukreti claimed and then explained why India is calling anchor Arnab Goswami a “hero”, while Times Now‘s Swati Joshi discussed the veracity of WhatsApp messages, allegedly exchanged between Rajput and his rumoured partner Rhea Chakraborty, that have made their way into the public domain.
First to NewsX, where Vineet Malhotra discussed tensions between Tajikistan and China over the territory of the Pamir mountains. Malhotra questioned China’s territorial ambitions and asked if, being a Muslim-dominated state, Tajikistan would be particularly suspicious of China considering “they know how China treats its Muslims”.
Diplomat Deepak Vohra agreed, saying, “As you’ve rightly said, they know about the Kazakhs and Uyghurs.’’
On Zee News, Aditi Tyagi discussed the defence ministry’s ban on the import of 101 items in a push for PM Modi’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
“Just think, India makes missiles, but imports a number of guns from outside. The question that arises here is why such a huge lapse was happening?” asked Tyagi.
She then collared political analyst and Congress ideologue Tehseen Poonawalla and asked, “If the country becomes self-reliant, then what’s the problem and who has the problem?”
We are deeply grateful to our readers & viewers for their time, trust and subscriptions.
Quality journalism is expensive and needs readers to pay for it. Your support will define our work and ThePrint’s future.
Poonawalla said that nobody has a problem with this. “PM Modi and the ruling government is expert in headline management and sadly, media channels and, journalists manage the PR and headlines, but don’t ask questions.”
“Rafale got 24-hour coverage but there is no transfer of technology in these. They will not be produced in India after some time,” Poonawalla said. “Is this Aatmanirhbar Bharat?”
Tyagi then clarified that she was referring to P. Chidambaram’s tweet. “P. Chidambaram was expecting a dhamaka… but only got whispers,” the anchor said, almost gleefully.
Meanwhile, Times Now stuck to the Sushant Singh Rajput case, specifically an article in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana that denounced the Bihar government’s “interference” in the case.
“What is shocking is on one hand there is this article…running this slanderous campaign. At the same time, Team Rhea [Chakraborty] releases a series of WhatsApp messages highlighting only those portions where one would get a sense that all was not well between Sushant Singh Rajput and his sister,” declared anchor Swati Joshi, clearly showing which side she supported.
BJP leader Shaina NC said, “Shiv Sena should answer as to why the Maha Vikas Aghadi [government] did not register a case for 55 days, which prompted the victim’s father to register an FIR in Bihar.”
The WhatsApp messages were also discussed on CNN-News18, where Maha Siddiqui asked if “the Maharashtra government and Mumbai Police were trying to cover up the case and therefore the Bihar government had to move ahead and send a team to Mumbai”.
G. Radhakrishnan, a Shiv Sena “supporter” as per the channel (although he is a Sena leader in Tamil Nadu), said, “Let me tell you very frankly, this case has been politicised to the maximum extent. Maharashtra Police has to investigate the case. What is the role of CBI in that? There cannot be two FIRs”.
Republic Bharat anchor Sucherita Kukreti started her show by saying, “Sushant Singh Rajput’s death isn’t a movie but a reality.” Okay, good to know.
“The Mumbai Police and Maharashtra government couldn’t expose even a single truth in this case,” Kukreti said. She then went on to list the number of “disclosures” made by the channel.
“In 55 days, Republic Bharat made 23 disclosures. We tried to connect each and every episode in the case which is why Sushant’s family is calling Arnab Goswami a hero instead of Mumbai Police,” Sucherita Kukreti said at the top of her voice.
“Sushant’s sister along with Arnab Goswami is continuing this mission for her brother and this is why even after 55 days, we are still asking who killed Sushant Singh Rajput. Is Disha Salian and his killer the same?” Kukreti demanded. This after Salian’s parents have clearly stated that their daughter died by suicide.
But on TV news, anything goes…
Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram
News media is in a crisis & only you can fix it
You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.
You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.
We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And we aren’t even three yet.
At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly and on time even in this difficult period. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is. Our stellar coronavirus coverage is a good example. You can check some of it here.
This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it. Because the advertising market is broken too.
If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous, and questioning journalism, please click on the link below. Your support will define our journalism, and ThePrint’s future. It will take just a few seconds of your time.