Why is Smriti Irani arm-twisting the Press Trust of India and forcing it to delete tweets?
Smriti Irani has been rehabilitated with a generously awarded portfolio after a year of relative political exile as the Union minister of textile. Now, Irani holds the additional charge of information and broadcasting, and she's ensuring she stays in the news.
In her line of fire is the news agency PTI, or the Press Trust of India, which she's getting upset with every now and then. Sometime back, Irani, justifiably, alerted the PTI to a wrong image of a flooded airport, which was being passed off as Ahmedabad airport in flood-ravaged Gujarat.
Irani pointed out the mistake and PTI apologised for the photo, but not before mainstream English dailies such as the Indian Express had used the photo with the caption "Waterlogged" in their front-page.
It's interesting exactly how Irani got the wind of the photo being old and not of Ahmedabad. That said, PTI fired the photographer who was guilty of putting in the "fake image" after the ensuing controversy.
Now Irani had trained her guns against the PTI again, but this time for showing a picture of BJP and JDU cadres wearing Modi and Nitish masks to mark "Friendship Day", the first Sunday in the month of August. Exactly what was offensive about the image that prompted Irani to tweet this?
.@PTI_News is this how elected heads will be projected? Is this your official stand ? https://t.co/YrAuxPT6wJ
— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) August 6, 2017
How is merely reporting a development taking an "official stand"? Can the minister kindly explain what ought to be the official stand in this matter? Why was it wrong for PTI to depict cadres wearing Nitish and Modi masks? Is the reality of stark opportunism too harsh for the minister to accept and own up to?
PTI apologises for hurting sentiments and therefore has withdrawn the picture. @smritiirani
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 6, 2017
Picture issued was of JD(U) and BJP workers wearing masks to mark Friendship Day @smritiirani
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 6, 2017
What is this repeated denigration of the PTI all about? While bullying of media houses and news outlets that are critical of the government goes on unabated, this fresh focus on an absolutely crucial news and wire agency - the very first and basic source of information - is highly suspicious.
I wonder why @smritiirani found this tweet offensive & had it removed. Why should I&B Minister be arm-twisting news agencies? #GundaRaj pic.twitter.com/RDi2pb8mAW
— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) August 6, 2017
The freedom of speech situation is so grim that, I&B Min., @smritiirani force @PTI_News to apologize for just reporting event#मोदीfiedMedia
— Syed Maqbool (@maqbool_sm) August 6, 2017
What is this if not censoring at the very source? How can the I&B minister think of arm-twisting a premier news agency, forcing it to delete and apologise for news items and tweets, and systematically, begin a process of discrediting it altogether?
The government that Irani is part of, when not dealing with pliant editors and sold out - literally - media houses with fancy names, tries to subdue the press with various techniques of suppression. Raids by the CBI, income tax department are becoming the new normal when the news outlet refuses to bow down to the acceptable narrative. On other occasions, threats of criminal defamation, costly litigation suits and maligning the editor forcing him to step down - as was seen in the case of the EPW row and removal of its editor-in-chief Paranjoy Guha Thakurta recently - are the practices deployed.
Is a reworking of PTI underway? The present head of the PTI - Vijay Joshi - has taken over the mantle from the veteran MK Razdan only recently. What can we expect from the PTI in the future? Is this the beginning of PTI's unceremonious recapitulation?