Of late, The Telegraph has veered increasingly towards the ideology of the Left and has taken the brand of ‘Woke Journalism‘ to another different level. While its thinly veiled activism is cheered by liberals across the spectrum, others do not quite appreciate their partisanship.
However, as has become the norm, ‘Woke’ institutions almost always fail to live up to the very principles they preach and when the masks fall off, behind their ‘Wokeness’ lies a very ugly face.
As it happened, The Telegraph’s mask fell off yet again today. Rather, this mask was pulled off by the very popular model turned actress Lisa Ray on social media. Ray expressed her disappointment at the picture, which the Kolkata based newspaper had chosen to publish alongside her article, on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Lisaraniray/status/1134323030400819200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
This ‘specific’ article talks about her memoir describing her experience with overcoming sexist stereotypes. Instead of publishing an author image provided by her, the newspaper chose to publish her seductive picture highlighting her sexual appeal. By using her sensuous image for an article that pivots on overcoming sexist stereotypes, the editors exposed their agenda of garnering readership at the cost of the dignity of a woman.
The irony is that these ‘woke’ media outlets are the first ones to berate others reminding them of not being feminist enough, all the while indulging in rabid forms of sexism themselves.
Sexism runs deep within the premises of The Telegraph, and this newspaper has a history of being sexist time and again. What’s amazing is that this fact doesn’t seem to affect its popularity amongst its liberal readers. Not too long ago, the liberals’ darling newspaper had mocked Union Minister Smriti Irani as ‘Aunty-National’ in one of its lead articles.
Much like the comedians of the AIB who were exposed in the ‘Me Too’ saga, The Telegraph reminds us that mask of Performative Wokeness cannot be maintained for long.