Observations:

1. It was very anguishing to watch BJP spokesman being grilled one after the other almost endlessly
Thier opinion on most issues was trivialised not only by plastic smiling anchors but even by biased audience.
It was as if they had entered in an interrogation centre.

2. On issues related to weak governance, the anchors were seen batting for the congress.
The congress ministers were being prompted/helped during interviews.
There was no coverage of ineffective congress ministers & their policies – at all.

3. During the last phase of elections the news anchors went a step further.
They tried to break BJP alliance partners, pushed Left front in UPA camp and formed an anti BJP front.
They started quoting constitutional experts, that the largest party need not be invited to form government.

4. Just before counting day, the media also fooled the Left front & regional parties into forming a “secular front with congress”.
While it was the Congress party that ate into major chunk of their vote bank.
They were quoting left front – “We won’t allow BJP to form government at any cost”.

The result was surprising & regional parties were decimated.
In Bengal, it was BJP that prevented a complete rout of the Left by dividing votes & saving them 6 seats.
BSP was left with only dalit/hindu votes & SP does not have a single Muslim MP!

It was a trick in visual imagery.
The general middle class perceptions on BJP would have been different had the TV channels shown repetitive videos of:
Shivraj Patil fumbling, virulent speeches of Muslim League leaders, divisive policies of Arjun Singh etc.

So my humble suggestion to BJP is to setup own TV channel.
The above view echoed in several of the comments posted across the internet.

Benefits of setting own news channel:

1. Instantly reach an audience in Kerala/West Bengal/Tamil Nadu/Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP presence is zero.
They constitute 143 out of 543 seats and in those states the TV penetration is staggering.

2. Unlike other parties, BJP has intellectual depth. Its leaders are presentable & knowledgeable.
Information can be presented cohesively – especially without stupid interrogations.

3. Using your own TV medium would allow you to present your side of the story and set your agenda.
Let the Left, SP, BSP, NCP etc take on the Congress in TV debates.

4. Every political party except the BJP has its own TV channel.
By proxy Congress operates several TV channels across regional lines apart from the leading two news channels in India.
Even regional parties now have their own TV channels.

In TV news channels it was the BJP interviews, speeches & briefings that were most watched/popular programs.
Every spokesperson was articulate, knowledgeable and had an air of superiority.
However the news channels used BJP, presented them as a ruling party, polarized voters, increased their own TRP’s while all time vilifying them!

It is time to give the agents of congress party some competition.
For a start – stop visiting those two news channels and watch their TRP fall.

The media industry in India is very competitive. In order to grab maximum viewer attention TV Channels organise interviews, debates & TV shows on controversial subjects. Some of the popular TV shows are big fight, devils advocate etc. These TV shows are manipulated cleverly by TV channels to grab highest TRP’s. Instead of raising the issues as right vs wrong, the moderator talks on Hindus vs Muslims or Hindus vs Christians. There are invariably some people in the debate and audience who have pathological dislike towards Hindus and openly represent the views of terrorists, evangelists and separatists.

Some of the prominent loonies are:

• Shabana Azmi – is one of the leading actresses of Indian Cinema. Recently in an interview she said that she could not buy a flat in Mumbai due to religious discrimination. She should have gone ahead and named the reason (lack of trust) on why it is happening, rather than blaming the overall society. Almost all the Indian Mujahadin terrorists caught by police are highly educated Muslims. This reflects an inherent problem in their own mindset and not discrimination in society towards minorities.

• John Dayal- is a Christian activist. He quotes the constitution every time on freedom of religion issue. But never raises the issue of discrimination within the Christians & Dalit Christians. The fact is Dalit Christians have segregated churches, cemeteries, services and even processions. Conversion to Christianity does not free Dalits of the bondages of caste system. Today discrimination is a class not birth or caste problem and it can be resolved by change in their economic status.

• Teesta Setalvad – is a Mumbai based civil rights activist. Highly aggressive and talks in such a shrill voice that she even forgets the issue the debate is about. She is a classic case of a person indulging in majority bashing in the name of secularism. Her replies are so crass that even if the debate is on gender equality she raises the issue of Gujarat riots! Her organization Communalism Combat receives funds from the Congress Party & the Communist Party of India.

• Mahesh Bhatt – is a prominent film director, producer and screenwriter. He has had some personal problems with his dad. And he removes all his frustration on Hindus in general and views every Hindu as a fundamentalist. Always taking the so called secular stand, he doesn’t know that the dictionary meaning of the word secularism i.e, ‘not connected with religion’. When you talk about fundamentalism in India you cannot talk in exclusive term, but compare it with the minority rights and privileges in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Israel, Vatican etc.

• Arundhati Roy – is a writer and activist. She is an anti-national roaming around freely. Recently she was in news for advocating freedom for Kashmir. She is unaware about its consequence on the rest of the population of the subcontinent as the devastation will be nothing short of partition. It is very tragic that she chooses to use her intelligence and analytical abilities on unsound, irrational and anti national issues such as condemning USA, Israel and conducting trial by media on issues such as parliament attack and recently the Batla house encounter.

The main problem with such people is that they don’t convince but confuse people. The above loonies don’t realize the harm they are doing to their own community. They don’t take a balanced stand and never mention contentious issues such as partition, persecution of Hindus in Kashmir, Haj subsidies, gross exploitation of Muslim women. All their arguments revolve around Gujarat riots, Babri Masjid, alienation of minorities, constitutional privileges for minorities etc.

They are openly promoting anti Hinduism & anti nationalism in the garb of secularism and democracy.

Media is the most powerful tool to reach a large section of audience and inform them about the latest happenings.

However organized media is easily converted into propaganda. That is sending a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience.

Propaganda often presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented.

The desired result is a change in mindset of the target audience to further a political agenda.

The mass media in India was generally considered as autonomous, impartial and fair in reporting. However in recent times it has lost a great deal of respect especially after the parliament vote for cash – tapes issue. The media has become judgemental, partial and to a large extent controlled & influenced by a certain group of people with vested interests.

There are several instances where it has not played an fair & objective role:

1. Our parliament was recently witness to the most shameful act in democratic history. MP’s were being bought by the UPA to stay in power in the recent trust vote. Rajdeep Sardesai was aware of the scandal and betrayed those who were managing the sting operation. He is the managing editor of the channel CNN IBN that was conducting the sting operation and he personally ensured that the tapes were not telecast that day.

2. Suicide of a Muslim man who married a Hindu girl received huge coverage. It sparked of candle light vigils, discussions etc. But a murder of a Hindu man by his muslim In-laws exactly during that time, received absolutely no coverage.

3. Thousands of Kashmiri Hindu’s were killed and millions displaced from their homes.They are forced to live like refugees in their own country. There is a shocking silence on this issue with absolutely no media coverage, interviews etc to tell their side of story.

4. In almost every exit poll before election results, the media portrays BJP as a loser. It has become so repetitive that most pollsters and journalists have lost credibility. Even a roadside Chai Wala is able to predict the polls better that our so called election survey experts. It appears to be a direct attempt to influence the voter.

5. All news involving Dalits or scheduled castes are shown as symbols of Hindu caste oppression. Whereas most such ghastly acts are simple cases of criminal intent with economic status and not caste being the major issue. Similar acts of discrimination within other religions are never taken up by the mainstream media.

6. M.F Hussain is glorified by liberals to attack and portray Hindus as fanatics. But there was no media noise when an absorbing Hollywood movie – Da Vici Code was banned and there were several violent protests across the country.

The main reasons for the selective propaganda by Indian media could be:

• Most leading journalists and media barons are Christians ( Pranoy Roy )

• They are educated and indoctrinated in Christian run institutes like Stephens college (Rajdeep Sardesai)

• The media companies in India are completely in control by western companies through cross holdings (CNN, NBC, Viacom).

• The media is advertising driven and almost all leading Ad companies in India are foreign subsidiaries of global Ad companies.

The propaganda unleashed by the Indian media can be countered by supplementing the existing media channels and using internet as a tool to spread truth. Already in most western countries, TV and newspaper viewings are rapidly shrinking. Using Internet, ordinary individuals now have the same tools of potential exposure on a scale comparable to large media companies.

So switch off your TV remote and start blogging!