Dear Diary,
You know all about our struggles we face at our work day in and day out ever since Narendra Modi became the PM of the country and his government came to power.
Right after becoming the PM of India, you know all about how he banished us from the corridors of power and closed down all our source based stories. After taking away that access Modi took away our access to PM’s plane. Suddenly we couldn’t travel around the world and enjoy all the luxuries of that plane. We Miss you Dr Manmohan.
We could put up with all that, but then PM Modi came after what we needed the most- Our news stories.
Back in the UPA days, there was no dearth of stories for us to cover. Each scam used to ensure news stories for weeks and weeks. There was a new scam every week as well and after 2014? We felt like we are doing some real journalism, some real news coverage. But right after 2014, we were reduced to covering Mushrooms Modi ate, or sunglasses he wore. Because there were no scams happening and there was no access to corridors of power for source based stories.
After all, we also have some self-respect, we want to cover some real news stories and not just give anti-Modi statements and call them news, or try and elevate the next JNU President as the main rival to Modi.
During UPA, there was a flood of major political controversies, that we could use to convert them into reports and keep our TRPs high, but now, now we have to manufacture controversies to get TRPs.
What is this dear diary, are we just supposed to cover positive stories only? Stories about economic growth, infrastructure development, Make in India success? Who will watch such stories, we need some spice, we need some scams, we need some scandals. These are what constitute good national stories, not the success of Indian space sector or the alleviation of poverty in India. And on the subject of reducing poverty drastically, where will we take our foreign friends now? Nobody is going hungry either with Modi giving free ration to 80 Crore people.
All this work done by PM Modi and his government has dejected us. There has to be some negativity around for us to cash in on, to get our news reports back.
Disappointed by this drought, many of our colleagues have even become YouTube influencers. Some of them have even been forced to go to the ground for reporting and ask people to give them some negative comments about centre government.
Alas, too depressed while thinking about it all. Anyway, I can’t go on writing now. Let me go back and write on 4 more Naxalites with crores on their head getting killed. Sigh, another positive story for Modi government, their success against Naxalism.
