Mameluk media complains that Modi is ignoring them!

So folks, I am sorry I goofed up yesterday. I spent the day before trying to think of something really funny to post for April Fool’s Day, but let me just admit that I ust couldn’t think of anything 😦 So, now I am back to the usual stuff today, covering an article by Ashok Singh that I planned to debunk a week ago, but it got pushed down the line. So Modi has been called a dictator for multiple reasons by Mameluks, but this one is going to make you laugh for sure 🙂 Apparently, he is a “dictator” because he ignores the “independent media”. Folks, did you hear that? Someone just described NDTV and HT and Indian Express and all as “independent media”. Let’s get to the article:

http://www.dailyo.in/politics/narendra-modi-twitter-bhakts-jnu-sedition-mohammad-akhlaq-dadri-dalit-rohith-vemula/story/1/9673.html

Let’s get started:

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a social media junkie. He is also a news junkie. Yet, he ignores the mainstream and traditional form of media and prefers to communicate through social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook.”

Okay…you got that right. So, what’s your complaint?

“Modi’s strategy of using Twitter over traditional media as a form of communication hides a dangerous tendency. Firstly, it speaks of his proclivity to have complete control over information and information channels….”

 

 

Yes, I  also prefer to use Google maps  to find my way around the city instead of the more “traditional” way of asking people  for directions as I drive around. As you can see Mr. Ashok Singh, this attitude speaks of my “dangerous tendency” to have complete control over the city!

As a journalist, it is obvious that Mr. Ashok Singh sees forms of direct communication as a threat. After all, his friends have worked as middlemen making careers off controlling the flow of information. They see this both as their livelihood and their privilege. Now, direct forms of communication are supplanting the traditional ones and Ashok Singh is angry. More generally, as a typical Commie journo loser, I can understand why Ashok Singh sees any deviation from the “traditional” as a dangerous tendency. As unproductive parasites, Commies spend decades infecting social institutions…and when new institutions come along, you see frustrated Commies complain that they have to start all over again.

His complaints continue:

“Twitter users enjoy absolute control over the medium. One can say whatever one likes and wishes to communicate in 140 characters.”

You would think that cheerleaders of freedom of expression would see that as a good thing. ROFL 🙂

“Unlike newspapers, radio and television, social media doesn’t obligate users to observe the ethics of fairness and impartiality.”

At first, this might sound like a joke to you. Describing our mainstream media as “obligated to observe ethics of fairness and impartiality” may seem like a sick joke. But on a second reading, you will realize that the language being used is deeply Orwellian. The problem as Ashok Singh points out is that Twitter allows people to say whatever they like outside the control of those who think they have the birthright to formulate the ethics of “fairness and impartiality”.

“It’s true that like any other medium, a Twitter user gets feedback both for and against from other users who comprise supporters as well as trolls.”

Like any other medium? Seriously? Do you mean the letters to the editor section of a newspaper? Yes, traditional media can get feedback both for and against as long as people are not free to say whatever they like and are obligated to observe the “ethics of fairness and impartiality”… I see…

“However, Modi’s stratospheric list of Twitter followers stands like a virtual protective wall around him to keep his tweets inviolate. His millions of followers transform themselves into trolls and are ready to wage war for him whenever there is an attempt to critique his tweets that may be a policy announcement or an expression of views.”

Actually, this is the first time Ashok Singh makes a decent point. Yes, the Prime Minister has so many supporters that it is hard to criticize him on Twitter, because of his “protective wall” of admirers. But ha! What about the traditional media? If the protective wall of supporters scares you, what about the million dollar protective walls around the traditional media? I am a citizen of India as much as Barkha Dutt or Rajdeep Sardesai, except that they have access to millions of $$$ to run their own news channels. I don’t. There are 1.25 billion Indian citizens and maybe 10 mega media houses. How are we supposed to break through those walls? Of course you don’t want us to…that is your whole point. If a couple of people praising Modi’s tweets on his timeline feels to you like such a mountain to climb, imagine how I feel when I see the million dollar wall that separates my opinion from that of Barkha Dutt’s.

“This sort of communication is a one-way process. It forecloses the option of Modi’s interactions with those who don’t necessarily agree with the government. Basically, it stifles dissent.”

And TV channels and newspapers are two way processes…

As a Commie journo, you should be in favor of individual people coordinating on social media to take on these giant corporate media machines, no? But of course you don’t want that. Commies don’t believe in democracy, just in control.

“It’s because of this mistrust of the media that Modi has avoided holding press conferences during nearly two years of his government. He doesn’t give interviews, and even during his many foreign visits, he keeps the media at bay.”

Ouch…the lack of free foreign trips is something many ethical and fair minded journos have been complaining about for a while… 🙂

“Modi has friends among media czars. He has friends among senior journalists. But he hasn’t given them many interviews…”

In a rational world, that would be seen as proof of the Prime Minister’s supreme integrity. But in the world of Mameluks, what this means is that even if a journo becomes a “Modi bhakt”, chances of receiving favors from Modi are a BIG ZERO. The frustration is driving them crazy 🙂 🙂 The government simply isn’t interested in buying … 🙂

“This sort of antagonism arises because Twitter with its 140-character limit encourages blunt, non-varnished messaging.”

Blunt, non-varnished messaging? Of course, professional “varnish workers” in the media don’t like that…

“But the prime minister doesn’t realise that in the absence of proper interactions through newspapers and television, his government is impeding the process of participation of the common people in the political process and thereby, alienating them.”

I might not have been able to write a decent April Fool joke, but I can offer you this piece… Did you hear that? By not giving interviews to cable news and newspapers, Modi is stopping people from participating in the political process…. By common people, he means the “experts” who sit on TV panel debates…ROFL. A sick joke or Orwellian, you decide….