The harmonious relationship between the Congress party and the mainstream media of the country is not a hidden secret anymore. Congress party with its media ecosystem seems to have managed the issues extremely well in both creating and sustaining narratives for decades now.
An event that took place on Wednesday at Prayagraj soon after the announcement of the decision of Congress party to appoint Priyanka Gandhi as the in-charge of the party in Uttar Pradesh-East, will cause dismay regarding the nature of propaganda media houses resort for setting a narrative in favour of a political party, who otherwise laments on the issue of shrinking space for independent journalism in the country.
Mausami Singh, a reporter of India Today group was present at Anand Bhavan to record the celebratory events of Congress workers to welcome the joining of Priyanka Gandhi as the UP East in charge. However, in a video which has gone viral now, it can be seen that the journalist was orchestrating the event all along in order to create a narrative of excitement.
In a series of videos, a Twitter user with the handle @OkiaTataBye has recounted the scenes at an event that was purposefully staged so that it could be broadcasted in the media to sustain a narrative. The social media user who was at the spot claimed that few supporters belonging to the Congress party were chanting slogans “Priyanka Gandhi Zindabad” after it was announced that she would be joining politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
However, Mausami Singh and the camera crew did not bother to record the initial celebratory event held by those few Congress workers present as there were few other media persons present at the spot. The user claimed that once other mediapersons left the spot, Mausami Singh directed the Congress supporters to once again express their views on Priyanka Gandhi’s decision to join electoral politics while directing them to chant slogans too.
4pm aajtak live ..top slot hai and all. pic.twitter.com/05P3M1DCCf
— Okie Tata Bye Bye (@OkieTataBye) January 23, 2019
Sharing the images and videos of the event, the social media user went on to say that Mausami Singh was actually managing the entire event to make it more presentable. Shockingly, in the video, it can be clearly seen that Mausami Singh was indeed instructing those Congress workers to make certain statements to the media. The social media user further added that Mausami Singh had successfully managed to bring in some more crowd, especially women to the spot, who claimed to be Congress party workers.
Few more reporters were there , they took few bites and logged off .
But she needed more out of them.She is feeding them something in this video . pic.twitter.com/9NZupPoofp
— Okie Tata Bye Bye (@OkieTataBye) January 23, 2019
The most bizarre part of the event was that the India Today reporter was caught red-handed on the tape while instructing and signalling the Congress workers to chant slogans while in the middle of a live reportage. Mausami Singh, in a live show, went on to falsely claim that they are was huge excitement among party workers following the decision of Congress President Rahul Gandhi to induct her sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra into the party.
The reporter can even be seen making the persons present chant and rehearse the slogans before she went on to report.
When she was interviewing someone , with another hand , she was asking crowd to raise the slogan .
See this 🙂 pic.twitter.com/de6u3lifFC
— Okie Tata Bye Bye (@OkieTataBye) January 23, 2019
In her news byte she mentioned Utsah in workers, people are rejoicing , mahila supports PGV etc…. but not a word was true. She was just making a good show out of 15 people.
I helped few of the congressman in taking pics and video so that they can post on FB 🙂 pic.twitter.com/haDbxHYWCH
— Okie Tata Bye Bye (@OkieTataBye) January 23, 2019
The live video, telecasted on the India Today news channel had carried a story as against the real incidents that occurred at the spot. The behind-the-scenes video confirms that the whole incident was staged to a large extent.
Here is the video that was telecast live on the India Today news channel:
The Congress party has finally exposed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to mainstream politics. Will she be able to counter the Modi juggernaut?
(Report: @Supriya23bh, @mausamii2u)Watch more videos at https://t.co/NounxnP7mg#ITVideo #NetaPriyanka pic.twitter.com/OaJIvZ3mur
— India Today (@IndiaToday) January 23, 2019
The journalist in question later tried to defend herself by saying they were not Congress workers but the ‘people of Prayagraj’ and she was not feeding them words but was telling them what Rahul Gandhi had to say about it.
U r damn right ! ?Good job expect i wasn’t feeding them something, people of prayag are smart I was telling them what rahul gandhi had to say about it ! ? https://t.co/kkHN9DuRdu
— Mausami Singh (@mausamii2u) January 23, 2019
This is not the first time that the India Today reporter Mausami Singh has indulged in behaviour raising questions on the standards of journalism practised nowadays. In 2017, Mausami Singh had gone to the extent of shielding Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar who had not only abused and misbehaved with the Republic reporter but she had also prevented a reporter belonging to rival Republic TV from doing his duty. In a viral video, Mausami Singh was seen taking the side of Mani Shankar Aiyar and asking the fellow journalist not to ‘peddle his agenda’ there.
