The important thing to note is that no matter how much Trump gets annoyed with the likes of the New York Times or CNN or Buzzfeed, he cannot do a thing because the media in the United States enjoys protection guaranteed under the Constitution. In India, the media enjoys no such luxury. Just try to be uncompromisingly critical of any government in power, be it the Gandhi family in Congress party or prime minister Modi in the BJP, and see the iron hand of the state come down upon you like a ton of bricks.
That is exactly what I discussed too with Mehul! Here all talkshows openly make fun of the President. Infact, Obama was also ridiculed (according to me) in person, when he interviewed with Charlie Rose earlier in 2016. Back home, the ruling party would have shut down the news channel itself for being so brash with the leader.
ReplyDeleteAs much as we would like to believe, the pen is mighty, there have been instances of control and fear of expression.
Also, I think some news channels are Democratic and some are Republic. Having taken these stands, the reporters on those channels can only endorse their respective candidates whether they actual believe their ideals or not. So there is an element of political influence, to a certain extent, in reporting news. Another instance would be of Huff Post being pro-Democratic.