Acche Din One Year Later: PM Modi And The Media

NEW DELHI: In 2014, the media was unanimous in its choice of Prime Minister of India. The corporate big media threw its full weight behind then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi covering his every meeting, shrieking with delight at his turn of the phrase, and making it clear over and over again that he was head and shoulders over his opponents (read Rahul Gandhi) in the fray. The contest became one of personalities with the Congress scion being crushed under the Modi juggernaut, and the election results went as predicted: the BJP formed the government with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.

For a while then there was silence, as the media tried to assess the person it had helped bring to power. The fear and trepidation was palpable, with most major media houses following a pro-government line. Those who had followed his election trail were hopeful that they would be recognised, and singled out for special attention in the form of access and interviews. After all that is what most media houses were used to under the Manmohan Singh government, with the ‘favourites’ included in most trips abroad, and given easy access to the Prime Ministers Office and the senior bureaucrats as a carrot for support. The barter system---for want of a charitable term---worked, and the media houses lived happily with this ‘pat on the back’ approach.

So despite the trepidation that the persona of the PM naturally aroused, most media houses were not prepared for the distant ‘hands off’ approach that he initially adopted. The media that was encouraged to cover his rallies during the election campaign, was now kept at more than an arms length with access to the PMO and the Ministries virtually banned. The camera teams that gathered on Raisina Hill waiting for a passing Minister or official or visiting dignitary to stop and give a sound bite was told to pack up and leave, and not be seen in what constitutes the road of power in Delhi again. At least not without special permission that was never easily forthcoming.

Ministers were then issued gag orders, and told that they could not speak to the scribes unless the PM gave them the permission to do so. Perhaps the only exception in government was Finance Minister Arun Jaitley but even he became more reticent and cautious, although of late he seems to be returning to his old garrulous self. BJP Spokespersons often accused by the opposition of having verbal diarrhoea suddenly disappeared from the radars after they became Ministers and are rarely heard even now a year later. The word spread that silence for PM Modi was golden, and he did not want to share the national verbal space with any other Minister from his government.

PM Modi ensured that access to his Office was stopped for the media, with his decision not to appoint a press advisor. Usually this person works as a contact point between the PM and the Media, regulating entry and interviews on a regular basis. He also works on the PM’s image in the media, handling irate newspapers and channels as and when required. By doing away with this post, the Prime Minister did away with the regular trickle of media persons into the PMO and hence blocked this valuable centre of information.

The PM also stopped taking the entourage of journalists with him on foreign trips. All those who had lined up after trying to establish contact with him during the campaign, found that the Manmohan Singh policy of filling the aircraft with his ‘favourites’ had been dispensed with. And PM Modi was not keen to be surrounded by journalists from home as he traversed the world. Having played the media, he has also understood the pulse of the media and knew that this would not result in adverse publicity. He was right, as the media that did cover him on these foreign tours toed the line. And the media that did not, remained dependent on the handouts from the Ministry of External Affairs with little emerging by way of ‘unauthorised information’ from these trips.

Even photographs were clicked over the year by the official photographers, with the PM himself or his trusted officials selecting the few for the final release to the media. The ‘unguarded moment’ that are a news photographers delight were done away with, and it is indeed rare for PM Modi to be caught in an unflattering pose. Most photographs in colourful head gear, and designed clothes, have him in just a few poses---studied and deliberate.

It soon became clear to all that the PM after the oath taking was not keen on bringing the media closer to him. He warned the Ministers against sting operations, and was strict and firm about keeping the scribes out of the corridors of power. He refused to give one on one interviews for months, until finally the pressure made him open the doors to some extent. But the rules were clear. After he had walked out from an interview by Karan Thapar during the election campaign, PM Modi was not going to take any chances. Thapar, conducting the interview in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s residence at Ahmedabad, had opened it with pointed questions about the Gujarat riots, leading him to walk out within five minutes of the interview. Recent interviews even with foreign journalists---like the Time magazine that put him on the cover---have been bland and restricted to eulogising the PM and questioning him about development and the economy. Le Monde was denied a one on one interview, and recently refused to accept a written question and answer version that the PMO was insisting on.

The image is important for the Prime Minister who guards it zealously. The social media, that he has used to his advantage, however is not that suppliant with several satirical sites questioning PM Modi and churning out cartoons and jokes at his expense. This levity is not visible in the more controlled print and television media that is muted in its critique, except for the odd article, and lavish in its praise as a big media house has demonstrated in its coverage of the PM’s one year in office.

PM Modi knows better than most other politicians, the limitations of the media and uses it accordingly for his benefit. The independent journalists are kept away, the more establishment scribes are allowed occasional access, with the PM aware that in the scramble for rankings even a word from him is sufficient to keep the last category that is also in the majority asking for more. He has recently started meeting journalists in batches of 20 at Finance Minister Jaitley’s residence----note not his own office or residence---- where the sessions are off the record, and where the PM speaks more or less about what he has spoken of before in his public statements and speeches. Benign questions are asked, and banal answers given, a step forward though from his first meeting with journalists as the PM at the BJP party headquarters where the scribes all thronged for selfies with him. Not a single question was asked, nor was encouraged to be asked.