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Howdy Modi


Shalini Sinha
Prof. Kiran Thakur 
24th Sep 2019
Principles of News Editing and Design 

The reality of “Howdy Modi” Coverage 

Indian media has made a mark in the Indian audience about the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to USA, as a groundbreaking showcase of excellent leadership. With the social media also flooding with #howdymodi, it is a question that we as journalists need to ask, that is this rogue about Modi’s historical leadership is actually true, or is it just another hyped political propaganda as an ode to the Prime minister. To testify the Indian media’s accuracy, we change the Indian lens to an international one. For this paper, the various South-Asian newspapers of countries like, Nepal, Sri Lank and Bangladesh have been looked into. The coverage in these papers about the event has been compared to the ones in India, to understand the actuality of the event. 

In India, the newspapers have a tendency to lean towards the ruling party. In fact the recent Prime Minister elections demonstrate how popular Mr Modi is in Indian hearts. It is safe to presume that the media has a huge role in creating this soft corner amongst the Indian audience. For quite a while now Mr Modi’s personality is being idolised and the media is always on to glorify it. Therefore, it is essential to check if the noise about the remarkable US trip is true, and if the conduct of PM Narendra Modi was truly that historical. To examine this, an article on this topic from The Indian Express, was taken into account. The headline of this article reads “Brothers in arms”. The editorial portrayed PM Narendra Modi as a very humble, down to earth, and Indian rooted person. The article outlines that the motive of Mr Modi was to gather support from NRIs and other Indians regarding the Jammu and Kashmir issue. The article begins with glittering on BJP and how efficient the party has been in maintaining foreign relations since 2014. The article is clearly written in favour of the Prime Minister, and is almost seeming biased. The article gives out an impression that the two leaders out there are doing ground breaking work, and our leader is taking our nation to new horizons with his wit. The article attempts to make the event seem like an international craze. The editorial went to an extent to stating that “it is the biggest rally in America of an international leader after Pope.”

As seen, the Indian media has extensively given the space and time for this event. But on the contrary, the case is not the same other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. It can be argued that the South-Asian media’s lack of interest in this event is due to the lack of relevance in their country. The deal that the two leaders are weaving, does not concern these countries directly at large. Anyhow, the Indian media made it look like an international buzz, which it is not. Anyhow, all the articles, including the one in The Indian Express, has not only pseudo campaigned for PM Modi, but has dedicated a paragraph to Donald Trump Too. In fact the articles explicitly mentions the re-elections that are soon to take place in USA. It can be a strategic play, as Modi is being bombarded with his questionable design with the erosion of the special status from Jammu and Kashmir. And such types of articles gets him support from not only India, but also the Indians sitting outside the national boundaries. On the other hand, for Trump, whose anti immigration policies are extremely popular, it is a great opportunity for him to gather support from Indian-Americans before the fore-coming presidential elections. In totality, it is safe to say that the Indian media has not been true to the nature of events, and there is political role involved in such articles. 


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