Cease and Desist

IN Media Watch Briefs | 09/02/2016

While reporting on February 7 on the murder of the 23-year-old from Delhi University many news channels, prominent among them India Today, kept repeating that the victim was found in the home of her ‘boyfriend’ even as her distraught mother was shown weeping inconsolably. The network even suggested that it was her pregnancy — at best unfounded speculation, as no source was mentioned—which lead to her murder. Next morning the online edition of The Indian Express headlined with ‘Man Strangles Ex-Girl Friend’ while the Hindustan Times clarified that the college student was not pregnant and was killed in a fit of rage. But can print undo the damage TV does?

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Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.