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#RSS in Indian newsrooms | Thread
TV debates usually follow a template: the anchor, a ruling party voice, couple of Opposition voices, and a ‘neutral’ expert/commentator.
Lately, i.e. in the last four years or so, the neutral expert in most TV debates is an RSS guy. Always a male, he is often an obscure face with little public presence.
Viewers are supposed to be oblivious of what RSS or its men stand for. The framing of the debate by the anchor also ignores what RSS stands for.
Often, the RSS ‘spokesperson’ is described as a ‘senior lawyer’ or ‘professor’. All efforts are made by the news outlet to hide his Sangh identity.
In the debate, the RSS voice is exalted as ‘neutral’ with even the man himself repeatedly declaring he is not holding any political brief. That view, of course, is not once challenged by the anchor.
The RSS as ‘neutral’ voice immediately lends a higher moral and political ground to the man sitting there, making him the voice of sanity, reason, and most importantly, the people.
The RSS voice, by default, never speaks against the BJP or its governments at the Centre or the states. Yet, that is not a red flag for the anchors.
It’s a convenient farce being played out on TV screens every night. Uncritically. Deliberately. To legitimize RSS in public spaces and minds.
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