Election in the Time of Media Hype

Elections play a pivotal role in a democracy. The democratic form of government is well-decided by the free and fair exercise of franchise by the voters in a democracy. The elections in our country too are conducted with such a spirit. India being the largest democracy in the world, the elections here always attract global attention. This has been the practice from the very beginning of electioneering in the country.

The Election Commission of India (ECI), a Constitutional body, has the sole responsibility to conduct election. From the date of announcement to the declaration of results, all activities regarding the election process are administered and monitored by the ECI.

Media being an integral part of the various estates of the democratic system, it has got the role of a facilitator in an election. Whatever the ECI wants to convey to the public is brought to attention by media—the message of election; instructions and announcements by the ECI; announcement of candidates by various political parties; manifestoes issued by political parties; various phases of election campaigns; the tug-of war between candidates and political parties; campaign tours of political parties; the voting euphoria; the announcement of results; and finally the formation of the Parliament, which culminates in the establishment of a new government. All these processes are to be facilitated and supported by the media. This is what is demanded from the media, and undoubtedly, that has been well performed by the media in various elections in our country.

The 16th Lok Sabha election was conducted this year. From the very first Lok Sabha election that took place in 1952 up to the present election, each election had its own significance. But it is the latest election that has created history with many a record. It witnessed the highest turnout of voters. Even in the remotest and highly sensitive areas, voters came in plenty. It was the first election in which the None of the Above (NOTA) option was incorporated in the Electronic Voting Machine.

All these records in the election, to a great extent, seem indebted to media coverage, or rather media hype. The media itself seemed to be glorified in this election. The visual media, which utilised its maximum technological advantages publicly, and Internet-related social media which did so silently, transformed the election coverage to an unprecedented level. Conventional print media seemed to be constrained to follow the extravaganza of the visual media. Rather, the print media had the added responsibility to compete with the visual media. In this context, the print media seemed to be resorting to all sorts of gimmicks to attract readers.

The 24x7 exclusive news channels vied with one another to be in the forefront of election coverage.The major chunk of every news bulletin carried political stories, especially election stories.1 Even serious and human-interest stories that triggered the conscience of readers were sidelined or were not elevated to the status of a lead story. For example, in Kerala, when a five-member family was found dead, allegedly after consuming poison, in their home in Peroorkada near Trivandrum, the story was taken to the inner pages by most of the newspapers. Even those who carried the story on the front page did not seem to be concerned much about its significance. But in earlier times, such stories always got honourable treatment. Even the splinter groups in various political parties seemed to get wider attention in the visual media. Those capable of performing well on television and those blessed with oratory were most-in-demand as far as the news channels were concerned. As a result of this, even small factions of a small party got disproportionate time and space on TV. The rhetorical brilliance of select leaders of such parties was an added advantage in this respect. This was very well seen in the case of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) in the state. No doubt, when RSP, an ally of the Left Democratic Front in the state for the last 34 years, left the Front, it was a major turn and shift in the political permutations and combinations in the state. But apart from this, the party seemed fortunate in attracting media attention, especially by the rhetorical acumen displayed by leaders like N. K. Premachandran.

If it was the ECI that was conducting the election, it was actually the media, especially the visual media, that was celebrating the election. Apart from simply carrying the message or giving publicity to the campaign programmes of candidates and political parties, the visual media took it as an opportunity to make the election a colourful extravaganza. Programmes of any sort seemed to be a part and parcel of this celebration. Political stories, articles, political and electoral history, politainment (political entertainment), political speeches, dialogues, discussions, war of words, entertaining politics and what not! Novel ideas and novel stories proved to be the main attraction of daily news coverage. In this respect, each news channel tried to compete with the other. Programmes such as “Nerkkuner” (Asianet), “Kurukshethram” (Manorama News), “Janapaksham” (Reporter TV), and Open Forum (People TV) arranged platforms for candidates, political parties and voters to express their views. Every day, the same programme was telecast at least twice, and during the week it was re-telecast three or four times.

The same happened in the case of stories falling in the category of political entertainment— programmes such as “Democrazy” (Reporter TV), “Thiruva Ethirva” (Manorama News), “Politrics” (Indiavision), “Cocktail” (People TV), “Vikatakavi” (Asianet News), and “Dhim Tharikita Dhom” (Mathrubhumi TV). These programmes were also repeatedly telecast many a time a week. Regular viewers of news channels seemed to be eagerly watching these programmes too. Each channel was very particular to see that these political entertainment programmes contained the maximum level of comic entertainment. For this they resorted to the use of parody songs, and mashed-up comic dialogues and scenes from films. As a result, TV viewers had the feeling of watching an entertainer.

A major chunk of the various political items that appeared on TV was live. Usually the channels take the risk of live telecast while doing a serious programme in which there is much scope for breaking news or which has got a large and deep impact on society. But during the time of election this year, anything could be the subject matter of live telecast, it seemed.

Political actors too took advantage of television programming. Leaders from various political parties appeared to be grooming themselves up to suit the technical parameters of television. Just like actors, many of them began to seek the help of beauticians too. There are reports that a few leaders who regularly participate in TV discussions have their own personal beauticians.

In short, election coverage was a colourful event for the visual media. The news channels in Malayalam have a brief history of just a decade. But within this short span itself, the news channels seem to have been successful in “manufacturing consent” and assuming control of the election campaign.2

It is against this background of glorified election coverage by news channels that the conventional print media have had to reach the reading public. So, the print media was tempted to give a re-orientation to news stories. Even for a one-shot news story, the channels are in an advantageous position. They can carry any item with a spectrum of colourful videos or photos. For a story running for three minutes, a large number of photos can be used. With the help of these photos, any news story can be made more attractive and comprehensive on TV.

To meet this challenge, the newspapers followed the path of using more sidelight stories along with news stories.3 The number of photographs also rose. Newspapers carried photographs showing the various moods of leaders who took part in meet-the-press programmes. Such photographs of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the Leader of Opposition V. S. Achuthanandan got prominent display in almost all newspapers.

Descriptions in political news stories also got a touch of drama. The language became more spicy and the tone dramatic. The scope of narrative journalism in political news items was made use of to the maximum by newspapers, with special reports such as “A Day with the Leader” and “A Day with the Candidate,” being carried by almost all newspapers. Those that appeared in the Malayala Manorama stood out in this respect.

The newspapers were very particular to see that all the news stories had a tint of dramatic description. The conventional style of news stories–the Inverted Pyramid—was conspicuously absent in almost all the stories. By resorting largely to the narrative journalistic style, the newspapers tried to attribute various levels of meaning to the story, as Jonathan Franklin says.4 This also has helped the newspapers to a great extent to meet the challenge of channel stories.

The Bharatiya Janata Party–led National Democratic Alliance came out with flying colours in the 16th Lok Sabha election. But figuratively it can be said that it is the media, and that too the visual media, that has scored cent per cent marks in this election. Historians termed the Viet Nam War as the “first living-room war,” pointing out how television celebrated war reporting during the times of that war. It is said that people could experience war moments in their living rooms just like watching a firework. Likewise, it can be said of the 16th Lok Sabha election and the media, especially the visual media.