Elections 2019: How Corporate Media is Projecting a Binary Narrative in West Bengal

Kolkata: This is a rare election in West Bengal, if you go by what the media is projecting. For, if one side of the divide has the Left Front, the other side consists of Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while Congress, with its dwindling fortunes, is mostly playing the role of spoilsport in a handful of parliamentary constituencies. But, for the media, the Left campaigns just do not exist. 

In fact, it is a study in contrast if one examines the way election campaigning is being done by all the parties in the fray, with the Left Front standing out by conducting a conventional style of campaign that focuses on making people-to-people contact, while the BJP, TMC and Congress are mainly relying on paid campaigns in the media, especially the electronic media. 

Passing through various districts in the first three phases of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections, what was visible on the ground was red flag-bearing people marching the streets and engaging with the common people, something being ignored by the electronic media. In fact, the mass media seems to be consciously trying to ignore the presence of the red flag bearers, who are the organized force resisting the muscle power of the ruling TMC, which is being backed by the state police.

On April 22, this correspondent witnessed an election meeting of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Berhampore where only about 1,000 people were present. However, the epicentre of all the electronic media in the region was Yogi’s rally, which was projected as being “flooded” with people.

In Hariharpara, Murshidabad, this correspondent that on the eve of polling, there was no police personnel in the 22 super-sensitive booths.  The area has around 19,000 voters.  While questioning the poll panel personnel, who themselves looked fearful, we came to know that the rule of assigning police with poll panel personnel and electronic voting machines (EVMs) had been flouted. When told this to the EC officers and top police officers, they refused to even admit this. Only when we challenged them and told them that we were on the spot that after midnight central forces started arriving in the area.

 A senior journalist who did not wish to be named said that this was perhaps the first time in the state’s history that the so-called “independent media” was also farther from objectivity. The continuous pitching of stories of ‘BJP upswing’ and TMC’s dominance would lead to post-poll situation whereby the people would have a bifurcated view, he said, adding that those who were democratic in nature may vote for BJP, given the media’s campaign, and those who are anti- communal or belong to the minority community may vote in favour of TMC.

Though their organisational capability is low in Bengal, some BJP leaders are saying in private that this kind of media management has paid off in Tripura and will do so in Bengal, too, this time. 

This is reflected in the partisan attitude of some police personnel, too. The TMC, at the block-level, is being backed by a section of the police force, while some of the same officers are said to be helping the BJP ‘s tactical campaign and are reportedly telling all those who are anti-establishment that only BJP can protect them from the wrath of the ruling party in Bengal, as BJP was the ruling party at the Centre.

However, the Left Front  is focusing on mass mobilisation, which is noticeable in constituencies such as Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Raigunj, Murshidabad,  Burdwan-Durgapur, Bankura, Bolpur, Asansol, Ranghat, Jadavpore and Howrah  -- all overlooked by the electronic media which is busy  projecting a mock fight  between Modi and TMC, portraying the latter as the champion of ‘secular’ ideology and Modi as the champion of ‘ .  

On election day in the past three phases, PM Modi’s rally and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee‘s rallies were live telecast by the electronic media so that that person, especially in rural areas,  are overtly influenced to make a binary choice.

According to Tanny Chatterjee, a senior journalist, this is the first election in West Bengal where issues like education, job losses, inflation and terror are being completely ignored by the media, which is trying to be a force motivator for voters prior to the election.

“Even the Election Commission, contrary to earlier experience, has not given in to repoll demands even in segments where votes were completely rigged”, said Chatterjee. Most of the electoral malpractices have been reported in strong areas of the Left Front. What’s more, projection of a binary election campaign by the print and electronic media is being further spread by word of mouth by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers, who are campaigning that it is only the BJP which can oust TMC from Bengal.  This, despite the fact that rallies held by BJP president Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Adityanath failed to draw crowds, while the rallies held by the Left front has been seeing widespread people’s participation, including peasants, workers and students.

 “The BJP ‘wave’ that the media is trying to project will reap benefits to TMC and vice-versa”, said Shomendranath Bera, media commentator and professor of journalism and mass communication in Calcutta University. 

Corruption, scams, riots, communal polarisation, secularism, constitutional values are all secondary issues for the media, especially TV channels. News of attacks on Left Front candidates is not getting media attention. No one has been arrested, neither has the EC taken action on these acts of violence. Left to the media, “it looks as if the BJP has come up as the real opposition and can dethrone TMC in West Bengal”, Bera said.

 “The bias in the media’s campaign is clear to everyone, but the human mind unknowingly is influenced by it” said Paromita Roy, a psychologist, who practices in Kolkata.

“In Bengal, what we are seeing is not paid news, but a “paid corporate-propelled media campaign” in support of BJP and TMC”, said Sajal Ganguly, an advocate at Kolkata High Court. Earlier, the EC and Press Council used to take cognizance of all this, but this time, everybody is quiet.