Between the night of 3 and 4 April, Bolta Hindustan’s team received an email they couldn’t have seen coming. The YouTube channel, which had been in operation for a few years now, was doling out multiple videos in a day, and clocking in lakhs of views. They were being included in the short list of ‘independent’ and ‘truthful’ news sources in the country. The email from Youtube said that the platform is taking down their channel, after having received a notice from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), directing the blocking of the Bolta Hindustan channel. It also said that the notice from MIB to YouTube is confidential. In a subsequent mail the next morning, Bolta Hindustan was informed that their channel had been taken down for good.
“YouTube had made it clear that they have been directed by the MIB. We are asking them, what is the violation that we have made? What is our mistake? To date, the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has fined multiple channels. But all their videos are still available. They are sowing hate night and day. They are spreading poison. No one is asking them any questions. Their videos are not being deleted,” said Haseen Rahmani of Bolta Hindustan.
“The actual reason (of our banning) is our name. They don’t want Hindustan to speak,” he added.
Despite the sobering news of their channel being taken down, the team of Bolta Hindustan continued to produce videos and share them via their facebook and twitter handles. In one such video, shot a few days after PM Modi’s communally charged and controversial speech, where he alleged that Congress plans on distributing wealth to Muslims, Bolta Hindustan’s anchor Samar Raj decided to bust the claims.
The opening lines of his monologue are the following:
“Muslims produce more babies that is why they eat up everyone’s share
This is what PM Modi is telling the audience at an election rally
Muslims eat more which is why they are dying of food poisoning
This is what the media is saying in the Mukhtar Ansari case
Media speaks Modi’s language
And Modi speaks communal language
This is why TV and newspapers aren’t just ‘Godi’ media any longer
They are called riotous media instead
Anchors are lighting fire sitting in their studios
Editors are spreading propaganda from their newspapers
Reporters are earning abuse on the field
TV and newspapers are doing everything
Except for journalism.”
Raj's monologue isn't just a scathing critique of the PM's speech, but also of mainstream media's inability to cover it adequately. The introduction ends with these lines:
"In such a scenario media’s role is being fulfilled by
Social media and digital media
But the government isn’t happy about that
They are directly shutting down channels
Accounts are being deleted
Still, in adverse conditions, we are doing our jobs
Alternative media is giving a platform to the oppressed
Even though we are paying a price for it."
Raj’s lines describe, rather succinctly, how social media and digital media players are quickly taking over the credibility gap created among the masses vis a vis TV channels and other mainstream media. These independent youtube channels are using cheap data and a makeshift green screen for their journalism.
“All these TV news channels do not provide the viewers with the perspective of a large population of the country. So it becomes important to have such platforms which can provide such varying perspectives. The voices which do not see any representation in the so-called ‘mainstream news’ are the ones we cover here,” says Raj.
On 8 May, over a month after the suspension of their channel, Bolta Hindustan received an email from youtube apologising for their error, and restoring their channel, for now.
From 'Godi Media' To Independent Journalism
In the last few years, there have been a spate of TV news anchors and reporters who have decided to break free and start their own YouTube channels. Like Kumkum Binwal, who took this step after 15 years of working in mainstream TV news.
“During TV anchoring, I would go to the studio, four people would come to me and do my makeup. Even before I would show up, I would be informed, ‘ma’am today we have arranged this dress for you.’ I would be given three dresses to choose from and I would get to decide. This is not just me, this is the case with all anchors. Being an anchor comes with a lot of perks, that one enjoys, the way we are pampered. I don’t have any of that anymore...I do everything on my own,” she says.
Binwal says that in the last few weeks alone, she has been able to tell many stories that she would never have been, had she still been in TV news. For instance, her coverage of PM Modi’s Banswara speech where she categorically called him out.
“I don’t believe that TV anchors would agree with those words by PM Modi. But they will have to say that they do because they work there and are a part of that system. But I didn’t do that. I didn’t defend that statement. I told my viewers that PM Modi is making wrong statements,” she told The Quint.
Voices From The Ground
Youtuber Farhan Yahiya’s modus operandi is to rush to the field each time there is a news to break.
“Often when I am already on some news, another news breaks. Just last night, I was in northeast Delhi covering a firing incident live, and immediately after there was another firing in central Delhi and a boy was injured. I rushed to the spot. The phone keeps ringing This could be yet another news,” said Yahiya, while receiving yet another phone call.
In a span of a few years, Fahan’s channel has amassed over a million subscribers. He mostly uploads live videos from the field, which garner several thousand views in one go.
On his way to his latest story, Farhan incidentally ran into one of his subscribers. The subscriber was almost star-struck on meeting him, and asked for a selfie with Farhan.
The latest story that Farhan covered, was about the family of an 11-year-old boy who was beaten to death allegedly by his school seniors. While the media paid attention to the story in the initial weeks, it soon fell by the wayside. At the family’s home, Farhan set up his lights and took out his phone for a live stream on youtube and facebook.
On the live, Farhan says, “No media, no big channel, no mainstream media, no newspaper, they won’t pay attention to this. They were only interested till the protesters were on the road.”
In a matter of minutes, Farhan’s short and raw livestream from Kintan’s home has over 60 thousand views and several comments.
“In 2016, when the Jio connection came and people got access to free internet data, and we got Facebook and YouTube livestreaming option. So in 2016, eight years ago, I got my first live video, just days after Facebook live begun,” Yahiya told The Quint.
“People have switched over now from national mainstream media, because people have lost trust in them. People call them ‘godi’ media, I call them ‘bhopu’ (loudspeaker) media. So people have lost trust in such media. And on the parallel side, a trust has been gained on social media. This is because people want to learn the truth, even today,” he said.
As per a 2022 Lokniti-CSDS survey, TV news channels have the lowest trust levels in the country, but despite that they continue to dominate as the primary news source for most citizens.
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