How TV channels covered the protests as ‘anarchy’ and ignored the detentions of journalists

· Scroll

Around 4.30 pm on Saturday, Republic TV, the news channel helmed by Arnab Goswami, flashed this headline on television screens across the country: “CJP Flop Show”.

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It referred to the protests in Delhi, called by the Cockroach Janta Party and Left student outfits, against the special intensive revision of voter lists – a controversial exercise that has disenfranchised millions, driving many Indians to take to the streets and demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

By the time Republic TV flashed that headline, credible reports about the police having detained over a dozen journalists for simply reporting on the protests, including three from Scroll, had been in circulation for hours. Many of these journalists were detained while they were documenting how the police were clamping down on protesters.

The high-handedness of the authorities, even towards fellow members of the press, found no mention in Republic TV’s coverage. The same broadly held true for other Hindi and English television news channels as well. Their reporters and anchors limited themselves to broadcasting the police and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s point of view on the protests for most of Saturday.