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Shailaja Bajpai

Shailaja Bajpai

Indian Express

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Modi’s Newsweek Q&A was without questions—and how ANI interviews in 2019 and 2024 compare

The widely accepted belief that the BJP and its allies will win the 2024 Lok Sabha election comfortably informs Smita Prakash’s questions to PM...

18.04.2024 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Vast difference in news TV and papers’ treatment of Kejriwal—but uniformity on Gaza

While TV news channels all but called for Arvind Kejriwal's head—and his resignation as Delhi CM—newspapers simply published reports on the...

11.04.2024 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Modi’s Katchatheevu remark irked Indian, Sri Lankan newspapers. TV news is still on his side

Most news outlets pointed out that in a 2015 RTI response, the BJP government replied that the 1974 and 1976 agreements with Sri Lanka did not involve...

04.04.2024 40

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Criticism, kindness, complaints—ThePrint readers don’t hold back. And we don’t want them to

Complaints are the most common feature of readers’ mail. Much of this mail is still stuck on the same issue of partisanship—this suggests that we...

31.03.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Social media has made news more graphic. Torture by Russian military is latest example

Before social media, depiction of violence on news was the exception—graphic visuals were either not shown on TV or in newspapers or the images were...

28.03.2024 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Gujarat University violence—Indian news channels focus on ‘slap’; BBC, Al Jazeera on ‘namaz’

Did a ‘slap’ cause violence against foreign students at Gujarat University? Or was it the offering of ‘namaz’ by them? The question doesn't...

21.03.2024 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Papers clueless over Arun Goel’s exit—but TV channels certain ‘Modi averted a nuclear war’

Why did Arun Goel resign from the Election Commission? On the basis of ‘sources’, leading English newspapers came up with multiple choice options...

14.03.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

No matter what the Opposition does, it can do no right in the eyes of Indian media

From Congress’ Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the 'big story' for Aaj Tak, News 24, and Republic Bharat was the ‘aloo gift’ from BJP supporters who...

07.03.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

News channels smiling their way to the bank with Modi-Yogi ads. it’s ‘Modi ki Guarantee’

You do wonder why the BJP is making such a splash when the election tide already seems to be in its favour. If the return of Modi is imminent, why...

29.02.2024 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

How ThePrint reporters make governance, policy stories interesting for its readers

There are many important stories on governance and social issues at ThePrint that are often overlooked, sadly, amid the daily hurly-burly of political...

28.02.2024 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news on Sandeshkhali showed Mamata Banerjee in a poor light & TMC only made it worse

The ‘truth’ about Sandeshkhali is not the issue — it’s about public perception, which sees Didi in a poor light.

22.02.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news has no sympathy for farmers’ protests. The ‘high voltage drama’ is public nuisance

Republic TV, Zee News, NDTV 24X7 have been airing commuter complaints to the farmers’ march to Delhi. When the effects become personal, public...

15.02.2024 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Only Modi speech on TV news channels. Opposition is reduced to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘dog biscuit’

Indian news channels aren’t just declaring a victory for Modi in 2024 Lok Sabha election; they are also hoping for it.

08.02.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

How ThePrint’s reporters and photographers covered Ram temple and Ayodhya—beyond politics

For 22 January, five journalists of ThePrint were in Ayodhya, several days in advance. If this was the first draft of history in the making, we wanted...

29.01.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

How Mandir, Modi, & Media played their roles in Ayodhya for BJP ahead of Lok Sabha election

If a deity, a superstar prime minister, Bollywood’s blockbuster actors, cricket’s little master, and media circus aren't enough to get BJP the...

25.01.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

When channels aren’t chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, they are following Modi—ignoring Rahul Gandhi

The media story of the week is there for everyone to see: Lord Ram is omnipresent, PM Modi is ever present, and Rahul Gandhi is mostly absent

18.01.2024 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Bilkis Bano brought Rajdeep, Arnab on same page. But Sudhir, Navika ignored her SC victory

Zee News and Aaj Tak reported the Supreme Court verdict but DD News announced it in a flash and then went to visit Vibrant Gujarat. Republic Bharat...

11.01.2024 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Ramayan is back on Indian TV—this time on news channels

Since PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Ayodhya to inaugurate several projects, we have watched in wonder as almost all the news channels devoted...

04.01.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Manipur clashes coverage was ThePrint’s most important journalism in 2023

ThePrint’s Manipur coverage defines the website’s journalism: report, report from the ground, report in depth. It does 'stories the public not...

31.12.2023 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Moon, Manipur, MPs, Modi—media in 2023 was more divided than Indian politics

If Indian media's coverage helped tip the scales against ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, then global media weakened western support for...

28.12.2023 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news was confused this week. Went from Comedy Hour with Kalyan to Kharge vs Modi real quick

'Has the Pakistan government got rid of Dawood?’ TNNB wanted to know. Nobody knew, and nobody seemed to care.

21.12.2023 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

News anchors playing musical chairs on TV. And it’s giving us a real identity crisis

Many anchors and well-known TV news reporters are no longer where they are supposed to be—they’ve taken on new assignments and left us scratching...

14.12.2023 8

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Assembly elections 2023 results show Modi is the Messi of mass politics

And the winner is… ‘Modi Magic’. The losers are the exit polls and TV news—besides the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi, of course. In...

03.12.2023 9

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘Please help me’ — readers write to ThePrint. Their way of expressing confidence in us

Requests for ThePrint’s intervention sound like cries of despair from frustrated people who see media as their last resort. As a society, have we...

30.11.2023 5

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

For once, TV news chose sensitive over sensational—Uttarakhand tunnel rescue coverage shows

The government deserves compliments for placing a barrier between the public and the rescue mission. Or news channels would have done everything to...

30.11.2023 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Sanjay Manjrekar to Gautam Gambhir, commentators failed too. But nobody’s talking about it

What the audience watching the 2023 World Cup at home often got from Indian commentators was patriotism in superlatives.

20.11.2023 3

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Hindi TV news has no time for the Uttarakhand tunnel collapse. Gaza & Ayodhya rule the air

No channels have made the effort to track down families of trapped workers. But channels like Desh News & India Voice have reams of footage of...

16.11.2023 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV channel melodrama has its uses this week. It’s about Delhi air pollution

TV news shows it like it is, newspapers tell it like it is. Together they are fighting for our ‘Right to Breathe’, and have been at it well before...

09.11.2023 8

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Israel, Mahua Moitra, Kerala, world cup—TV news covered everything but upcoming state polls

The case of Hindi news channels is more intriguing. With elections in Hindi heartland states, you’d expect them to be all over the place. Not quite.

02.11.2023 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Ahilyabai Holkar, Nehru, USSR — ThePrint’s PastForward tells us how we got here

'We're headbutting over history more and more now–not just in academia but in politics, social media, YouTube, and WhatsApp. It’s like history is...

31.10.2023 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘Mad Max’ fury to Afghanistan’s triumph, newspapers to TV—India in grip of World Cup

The audience and media jubilation on TV and in the newspapers of Afghanistan’s victory over Pakistan was such you thought India had beaten Pakistan.

26.10.2023 5

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘Bombing’ of Gaza hospital changes opinion on Israel and media headlines in quick succession

Is the news about hard facts perceptions? “The optics are not looking good” for Israel, said a CNN International anchor. A guest on BBC World...

19.10.2023 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Travel guides of terror tourism—Indian news anchors land in Israel before debris is cleared

Less than 72 hours after Hamas attacked Israel, India's Hindi and English news channels promptly mobilised their forces and sent correspondents to Tel...

12.10.2023 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Headlines say it all—NewsClick coverage shows a deeply divided Indian media

Politicians strike us and we watch the flames engulf journalism—we don’t douse them.

05.10.2023 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

ThePrint’s Delhi team is its heart but state reporters are its arteries—Chennai to Chandigarh

If a media outlet wishes to be truly national, as ThePrint does, it should have its own network of correspondents in the states who know the smell and...

30.09.2023 40

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

K menace, K terrorists, K plot, K network—Indian TV has waged a war against Khalistanis

The Canada-Khalistan coverage has been quite an eye-opener, but it begs a question: why has Indian media paid little attention to what it now portrays...

28.09.2023 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV anchors played martyrs over INDIA boycott, conflated India, Hinduism and Sanatan Dharma

After INDIA's boycott list released, news anchors raged, ranted, sneered and stopped just short of swearing four letter words.

21.09.2023 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

We remember Modi pics, not Declaration details. Little for Indian viewers in G20 spectacle

British PM Rishi Sunak’s visit to Akshardham temple with his wife received fulsome praise on TV news and his ‘proud to be a Hindu’ moment made...

14.09.2023 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Anurag Thakur in great demand on TV news channels. Everyone let him attack opposition

This week saw many interviews in television news channels and newspapers. Narendra Modi and S. Jaishankar led the way.

07.09.2023 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

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