Modi And The Media
BY R.K.MISRA Humankind craves freedom ,power demands servility . The tussle between the two creates mental fissures and physical fragmentation .When creeping intolerance and crawling ambition intrude to usurp free mind spaces ,the media which seeks to protect the right to project the wrong is a sitting duck target .It ,nevertheless ,has its own defence mechanism ,evolved over ages of dealing with both subtle and crass attacks on its own turf. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not but the battle continues. This is most glaringly manifested in the changes that have taken place in news coverage and governmental access to the media in the country’s capital ,New Delhi. Narendra Modi’s advent on the scene as Prime Minister has marked a surgical departure in the manner of government news coverage. In the past whenever governments changed at the Centre ,including the BJP led NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, there were at best some recalibrations .If the BJP came to po