What does it take to be the government’s favourite? In this expansive piece, we speak to past and present employees of ANI to find out.
At noon on February 12, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told the media she was going to give them the “true story” of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s economic performance.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, Shrinate wheeled out data, from GDP to FDI inflow, to contrast the UPA government’s performance from 2004 to 2014 to that of the BJP’s. This was how Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “messed up” the economy, she said, even though Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had just tabled a “white paper” in Parliament claiming the UPA government had been “fragile”.
The press conference ended and reporters swarmed towards Shrinate, brandishing mics. Among them was Asian News International or ANI, which calls itself “South Asia’s leading multimedia agency”. The ANI reporter asked four questions – on the economy, farmer protests, leaders quitting the Congress – after also covering Shrinate’s speech.
That day, ANI’s main handle on X, which has 8.1 million followers, posted 346 tweets. Shrinate and her press conference did not make the cut. Unlike ANI, its video competitor PTI tweeted Shrinate’s speech.
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com. Read the full story here.
