AN ART OF PEDDLING PROPAGANDA

 THE ANTI-INDIA STANCE OF THE US MEDIA IS WELL-KNOWN. WHETHER IT WAS KEJRIWAL’S SO-CALLED EDUCATIONAL REFORMS OR DELEGITIMISING TRUMP’S ELECTION TO THE US PRESIDENCY, TRUTH HAS BEEN A CASUALTY

- AVATANS KUMAR

India’s elites are obsessed with Western media that cuts across the (political) party and ideological lines. In a recent viral video clip on social media, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appears to be bragging about a news item published in a US daily newspaper, The New York Times (NYT). He says in Hindi that getting things published in The New York Times is difficult and is a big deal. Kejriwal also tweeted: “Delhi has made India proud. The Delhi model is on the front page of the biggest newspaper in the US.”

The news story in question appeared on the first page of the TYT on August 18, 2022. It serenades the Delhi Deputy CM and Education Minister Manish Sisodia, and Kejriwal by proxy as a reformer in public education.

OUTLANDISH MEDIA BLITZ

But the real story seems to be not the alleged “education reform” brought about by Sisodia. Instead, it is the purported credibility assigned to the report by its publication in the NYT. Beyond credibility, the disproportionate prestige given to the story simply for being published in the Times also drew much attention. The report filed by Karan Deep Singh, a Delhi-based NYT reporter, also claims that Kejriwal’s Government has spent “billions of additional dollars” to overhaul Delhi schools. However, the budget for education in 2022 was Rs 15,707 crores.