Fekulogy By NDTV & Headlines Today

One of the most interesting developments of the last few days of Narendra Modi speeches at multiple events is that the MSM has run out of fire. NDTV, Headlines Today, CNN-IBN found that the battle on Social Media and Twitter was far more exciting than the silly debates on their channels. Needless to say, many in the MSM were quite upset that #PappuCII had trended during and after Rahul Gandhi’s speech at CII on April 4. The Pappu trend was covered internationally and each journal and news outlet explained what the term meant. In short, RahulG as “Pappu” was being referred to as a naïve, dumb kid. Well, considering his speech and interaction at CII it wasn’t quite off the mark. Naturally, channels like NDTV and Congress supporters were thirsting for revenge and wanted desperately to similarly trend the Modi speeches in a negative fashion.

Narendra Modi’s speeches themselves were largely on expected lines. There was great oratory, facts, wit and sarcasm. It started with the women’s wing of FICCI, then an interaction at the ThinkIndia event at CNN-IBN on April 8 and then another one at Kolkata on April 9. Minutes after the Kolkata event ended, NDTV jumped for joy and reported #Feku was still trending on top. This #Feku hashtag was supposedly the Congress response to #PappuCII as our media would have you believe. So Headlines Today, NDTV and some newspaper outlets were indulging in the same predictable LIES again. Unable to come up with anything substantial against Modi’s speeches, except the usual suspects singing the 2002 song, the media was thrilled with the #Feku tag. Headlines Today reported “Congress draws first blood” in Twitter battle and then headlined “Feku trumps ModiStormsFICC”. The hashtag #ModiStormsFICCI started with a tweet by me just before the start of Modi’s speech at FICCI. It’s not clear who created the #Feku tag as everyone was using it, including Congress and BJP supporters.

Now, here’s the problem: Both #PappuCII and #ModiStormsFICCI are very clear hashtags and the reference to the person concerned is not ambiguous. In contrast, the #Feku tag is a very generic tag that can be used by anyone to target anyone but the media went around lying that the #Feku tag was created by Congress to target Modi when facts do not support such a contention. Take a look at this tweet from Pawan Durani at 3.00pm on April 8, which is just a while after the FICCI event:

Notice carefully, that all the TOP tweets at that point of time were using #Feku for Rahul Gandhi and not Modi. But yes, the Congress supporters were also using #Feku to target Modi. As a consequence of both sides using the same hashtag it became the top trend. There wasn’t any question of Congress drawing first blood or #Feku trumping #ModiStormsFICCI. If only Congress supporters had used #Feku there is hardly any doubt it would not have been the top trend. It is because the supporters of both Congress and BJP were using the tag that it became the top trend. In fact, in the later part of the day on April 8 it was the BJP supporters who had hijacked the tag and most of the tweets with #Feku were by them.

What is laughable is that TV news channels are now watching Twitter battles and that is surely a good sign for social media regardless of which political group one supports. As is the tradition with NDTV, the lies continued and in their Social Network programme on April 8 the anchor was desperately trying to suggest there was a battle between #Feku and #Pappu. That was hardly the case and as @Surnell points out, both tags were being used interchangeably as substitutes. Moreover, Pappu wasn’t used for just the CII event, RahulG is frequently referred to by that name. So once again NDTV was reporting on a battle without the slightest bit of fact-check. Well, I guess fact-check is not in their DNA when their reporting comes to Congress.

The single most tweeted and re-tweeted tweet With #ModiStormsFICCI on April 8 was one that I had posted in a sarcastic reference to RahulG’s “man on a horse” comment from CII. The CNN-IBN screen grab shows the tweet was RTd 458 times. By afternoon of April 9 the tweet was already RTd almost 600 times. So the battle between #Feku and #Pappu is a fake one that NDTV reported. To add to that Rahul Kanwal also spent an entire primetime session on the fake battle between #Feku and #ModiStormsFICCI. Kanwal was ecstatic that some Congress hashtag had beaten the other tag when that was hardly the case. A successful hashtag on Twitter usually has a direct reference to the target. #PappuCII had no ambiguity on who the beneficiary of the tag was. #ModiStormsFICCI had no ambiguity about the beneficiary. So for Rahul Kanwal to claim that #Feku had a clear target or beneficiary reflects his ignorance about Twitter and hashtags.

Neither NDTV nor Headlines Today could manage to poke any holes in Modi’s speeches. Some female media anchors and panellists were woefully picking on nonsense like women being called “Ma or behen”. Such frivolous crap is all they could come up with. In contrast, the audience at FICCI, at ThinkIndia and Kolkata were thrilled by the interaction, so were many other observers in the media. So when they couldn’t find any genuine criticism to hurl at Modi the news channels and newspapers like Indian Express turned to imaginary Congress victories on Twitter. More than Tweeple from either side it was the news channels who indulged in a lot more “Fekulogy” as I call it. But I derive immense satisfaction from the fact that the social media is now dictating the discourse to MSM. That is for everyone to celebrate, regardless of political persuasions. The MSM is already famous for “Fekulogy”, they just fell into a new trap of the art.

Disturbing Bee-haviour

Unlike those who call themselves journalists, ordinary people can see misfits immediately. They are able to spot silliness instantly while the so-called journalists thrive in bootlicking the most absurd.

There is a movie called “Lamhe” from the 1990s with Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. There was someone else in that movie; Deepak Malhotra. Now Deepak was a top model of that time and very successful but in an emotional love scene in the movie he fondly calls Pallavi (Sridevi) as “Pallo” and that one utterance was the end of his career. His utterance of “Pallo” was so comic and laughable that Deepak totally disappeared from the media, never to be seen again. In recent times Priyanka Chopra’s boyfriend made his debut in “Love story 2050” and people could again spot a dud. It’s not only Harman Baweja’s movie career that ended but also, unfortunately, his relationship with Priyanka Chopra. Love’s unkind, you could say. But what does it say about our media morons who still crow about Rahul Gandhi’s greatness? What does it say about our political analysts, the ‘Numero Unos & Unees’ who still can’t accept that they couldn’t spot a dud?

In this one, let’s just stick to one group: the wiseguys from TV18. And the best place to start is Rajdeep Sardesai himself, the “Boss” of CNN-IBN group. Youngsters at their first jobs are entitled to a fair bit of latitude. They are allowed to make mistakes and are expected to learn from those. So Rahul Gandhi enters active politics at age 32 which must be at least after an 8-year stint in some other domain. Right? RG probably entered politics partly out of his “DNA” and partly because he must have bombed at his previous endeavours. Because the Congress won 22 seats in UP in the 2009 general elections CNN-IBN bestowed upon him the “Indian of the year” award. Here’s what they said:

So Rajdeep the “Boss” had concluded back then that RG was IOTY material merely because Congress won 22 seats and then had to realise the horror of UP in 2012 under the same campaigner. So who lacks “vision and insight” Rajdeep or Rahul? The citation in the pic erroneously says “CNN-IBN facilitates RG” (instead of felicitates). I know it’s an error but it seems quite appropriate because that is precisely what Rajdeep & Co. have been doing all this while: “Facilitating RG”.

Many ordinary men and women (and I dare say that may include Congressmen), including yours truly, have seen absolutely nothing in RahulG’s words or actions that merit anything less than the #PappuCII trend that he got on April 4. Remember, if there is real substance it is not easy to deny and those who lie will be exposed. And political astuteness? Where did CNN-IBN find that in RG? He has not shown being involved in any decision making, any policies, has not confronted any opposition or agitation and doesn’t speak of anything except in vague terms and Rajdeep sees “astuteness” in the guy? Every time RG has opened his mouth he has only demonstrated more comic genius than political astuteness. So once again Rajdeep sees some non-existent first principles in RG’s CII speech on April 4. Facilitating? Even a regular economics panellist like Surjit Bhalla had to ask Rajdeep which principles he’s talking about.

The so-called “journos” are being fooled very badly or maybe they genuinely are. Here’s another one from the IBN group. Ashutosh found RG’s speech brilliant, very modern and introspective. This guy is dumbness personified and it will remain an eternal mystery how he became a journalist. Or is that the norm? I guess nobody taught Ashutosh that it’s not possible to trend topics on Twitter unless a whole lot of people join in. Trends by ordinary people are not a conspiracy against RahulG or anyone at all. They just reflect the instant reaction to an event or incident. In this case even international journals have recognised that the speech was without substance and the “beehive” was a major gaffe. If Ashutosh, calling himself a journo, finds it brilliant it is only possible if he is a die-hard Congress supporter. He doesn’t stop there. When others point out that he’s being silly he claims they are “paid supporters” out to demolish RG. Ashutosh doesn’t realise that by making such comic allegations he almost confirms that he himself is a “paid media” supporter of Congress. It never occurs to the likes of Ashutosh and his gang at IBN that if RG had indeed turned out a good thinker, leader and politician then even his most trenchant critic would have to admit he has talent and skill. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Someone accurately pointed out on Twitter (I think Vijay @centerofright) that had it not been for the social media a few reporters closeted in the CII hall would have splashed headlines all over the place calling it the “speech of the century” and how RahulG was ready to lead India to being a global super-power. This is the same reason why Rajiv Gandhi was awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna’ despite the Sikh genocide under his watch. If social media were around back then the lies of MSM around many events and individuals would have been exposed quite badly. And the fun is never over until the ‘Social Genius’ certifies herself as “neutral”. I think she has already forgotten her gluttony tour of Gujarat before the elections. She is truly the jewel in the crown of the IBN group. And I doubt whether Congress or BJP really want her endorsement at all.

In the ten years that RahulG has been in active politics he really has had nothing to show but frequent silly utterances. It’s even possible he’s a good guy and his cronies are forcing him to play a role he definitely doesn’t want. In politics, all that RahulG has demonstrated so far is ‘Disturbing Bee-haviour’ but cronies like Ashutosh or Rajdeep seem unwilling to see it. The obvious reason for this blindness is not such a big secret. There is someone disturbing the sleep of the MSM as much he is making the Congress burn midnight oil. Don’t take my word for it. It comes from none other than Pallavi Ghosh, who is CNN-IBN’s embedded reporter with the Congress party. That’s what disturbs Ashutosh and the rest in the MSM too.