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     Teluguhero Comedian Username: Teluguhero Post Number: 1327 Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 63.151.12.167 Rating: N/A |
http://www.niticentral.com/2015/02/05/delhi-polls-opinion-po lls-medias-dirty-game-299752.html Delhi Polls: Opinion polls or Mediaâs dirty game The bookies are betting on the BJP for the forthcoming Delhi elections. According to the various reports available on the Internet, for every 1 lakh that you bet, every BJP win can get you 36,000. The same win for the Aam Aadmi Party will get you 2.5 lakhs. The mainstream media on the other hand, propped up by the polls and surveys they have been buying lump-sum, claim that the AAP is getting a clean sweep and Kejriwal is the favourite. In fact, opinions are being floated that Kiran Bedi has harmed the BJP instead of increasing its vote share. Not trying to downplay the media predictions because after all, they have the wherewithal to not just dig out numbers but also produce numbers from nothing, but whom would you believe? Bookies who have put thousands of crores of Rupees at stake, or the media whiz kids for whom the numbers they throw around are just a matter of a few keystrokes of the computer keyboard? The Black-Friday-sales sort of stampede among the media men and women has heightened to such a level that on 16 January 2015, the ABP News-Nielson opinion poll gave 31 per cent vote share to the AAP. On January 19, 2015, the vote share jumped to 47 per cent! This is history in the making â a monumental jump of 16 per cent! Even if these numbers are not fake, it would help one to recall that in 1984 the Congress got 49.10 per cent votes (source) after the assassination of Indira Gandhi when the country was gripped in the sympathy wave that was, to be frank, bigger than even the Modi wave. In the preceding General Elections â the Congress got 42.69 per cent (source). This is a âbigâ jump of little over 6 per cent and that was when the history was actually being made in terms of vote share. Of course, Delhi is different and it is definitely not India, still, donât you think 16 per cent is kind of a stretch even if they are not using the numbers randomly on their own? Whatâs happening? And itâs not just ABP that is running wild with different numbers. Most of the media channels are claiming that the BJP is on the back foot. Even the so-called friendly channels are a bit two-minded, such is the hype and noise created by the âexpertsâ and the polling agencies. How you take these pre-poll results depends on your political affiliation. If you are an AAP supporter it must be quite exciting to see all these big numbers splashing on TV screens with ominous font types and pie charts that can send even a seasoned mathematician into a tizzy. If you are a BJP supporter you might be downplaying the numbers, rejecting them outright, or feeling a bit alarmed. If for sometime you can detach yourself emotionally and observe the numbers and the body language of the various reporters and journalists juggling these numbers and manipulating the flow of the debates, you will notice some sort of game being played. The primary aim of this game is to portray the BJP as the underdog, the party which is constantly having to defend itself, the bungling party, the fumbling party, the party constantly taking the wrong decisions, the party not having its finger on the pulse of the public mood, the party riding on a wave that has lost its steam, the party that is being run over by its fringe elements, and the party that is so insecure that all its big leaders have come together to salvage the situation. The AAP on the other hand is the more level-headed party. It throws questions.Arvind Kejriwal challenges Kiran Bedi with a grandiloquent smile, she snubs him nonchalantly, and the media immediately spins it into a âKiran Bedi runs awayâ headline that is played 24-hours for multiple days. Arvind Kejriwal says that when he was in power, one could buy cauliflower for Rs 8 per kg and nobody questions him because questioning him would distract people from the real issue at hand â showing the BJP in bad light no matter what, even if it takes ridiculous lies. When he says that electricity was cheap when he was heading the Government, nobody asks him how cheap it was. If he says that the law and order situation was much better during the 49-days he was the Chief Minister, nobody asks him the figures or exactly what he did to make the law and order situation better and what sort of checks and balances were introduced. When he claims that the corruption levels had drastically come down during the AAP days, nobody asks him what indicators he used to conclude that. The basic modus operandi is, let Kejriwal and his party say whatever comes to their minds and simply broadcast, no questions asked. The moment, the BJP says something, dissect it under the microscope and come up with as many questions as possible. Let the AAP speak, but never allow the BJP to speak. Whenever a BJP representative is speaking they allow every panelist to scream and they also slightly lower the volume of the BJP representative. Result, viewers never get to know exactly what the BJP wants to say. On the other hand, whenever someone from the AAP is speaking, he or she is given a patient hearing, even nodding heads and when the anchor butts in he or she often does that with a âyes yes, you are absolutely rightâ or âfair enoughâ or âyou have a point hereâ. When was it the last time you heard an anchor saying âyes yes, you are absolutely rightâ or âfair enoughâ or âyou have a point hereâ for a BJP representative? You see, the devil is in the detail. And this is just one single example. Such mind games were often played to support the Congress but these days the Congress is in the no-hope zone so the best bet right now for the mainstream media is the next best thing â the AAP. Why? Why are they promoting and protecting the AAP with such tenacity? Why for them it has become a tooth and nail battle? For that you need to dig a bit deeper and try to understand the media compulsions. First they lost Mumbai â a sort of media bastion â and now they are about to lose New Delhi â not just a political hub but also the place where lots of media brokering takes place. They need to plant someone pliant, someone who heavily depends on the media. With Narendra Modi it was the Opposite â the media depended on him. During the 2014 elections, they had to cover his speeches despite the fact that he never needed them to cover them. Arvind Kejriwal knows that he needs to keep the news media in good humour and the news media knows that Kejriwal knows that. The media very well understands that Kejriwal is a balloon that they have inflated out of proportion and they can ••••• this balloon any given day with the needle of truth and facts. They both need each other and hence, they both support each other. If the BJP comes to power even in New Delhi, the mediaâs game will be over for quite some time. Due to Twitter and Facebook â no matter how much their outdated sociologists downplay them â the news media is any way rendered useless. Most of the BJP leaders make public statements via their Twitter accounts so the political journalists wield no power. First, Mumbai and now, New Delhi, itâs a battle for survival for them. Another thing is, many of the news media biggies are one way or another involved with various NGOs. The BJP Government is coming down heavily upon some of these NGOs because of their foreign connections and the way they are receiving massive funds from international organisations whose incentives are not exactly egalitarian. The previous Congress-led UPA Government was mostly led by a hodgepodge of these NGO-supported activists through the highly obstructive NAC (National Advisory Council) and this is why the Congress enjoyed unmitigated support â both overt and covert â among the news media agencies. The AAP, now that the Congress has self-destructed itself despite mediaâs best efforts, is now the mediaâs best bet. The AAP has a soft spot for the NGO sector and its top leadership is well represented by a motley group of the proverbial âjholachaapâ activists. Yogendra Yadav was in the NAC. Arvind Kejriwal himself is the prodigy of Aruna Roy who was quite prominent in the NAC. Medha Patkar, an internationally known Narmada Bachao Andolan activist fought elections on the AAP ticket in Mumbai. Known Communist and Maoist sympathiser Kamal Chinoy is a well-known AAP face. The list doesnât seem to end. The survival of many media agencies depends on how the BJP performs in the National Capital. This is why they want the AAP to perform well, by hook or by crook. But if you believe that all this âAAP is winningâ theory is fabrication, why is media doing this? Such pro-AAP and anti-BJP posturing will achieve the following: » Trigger a mass-hysteria by constantly repeating that the AAP is doing extremely well and hence, brainwashing the voters into believing that since many people are supporting the AAP, there must be some merit to it. » Rattling the BJP cadre on the ground so that they get demoralised and start running helter-skelter in panic » Breaking the confidence of the BJP leadership even to the extent of trying to make it look like a sinking ship so that at least some abandon it and hop on to the AAP ship. » Paving grounds for the AAPâs national ambitions hoping to give birth to a Congress alternative What could work to the BJPâs benefit? The people who would like the BJP to win but werenât looking forward to casting their votes might turn up in great numbers to vote for the party. While the media is wallowing in its own quagmire of overconfidence, it may provide ample opportunity to Amit Shah to make his moves unobserved and that can certainly work to the BJPâs advantage. |
