Umberto Eco describes censorship through the noise (with apologies to Wittgenstein), by saying, “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must talk a great deal.” The flagship TG1 news program on Italian state television, for example, is a master of this technique, full of news items about calves born with two heads and bags snatched by petty thieves-in other words, the sort of minor stories papers used to put low on an inside page-which now serve to fill up three-quarters of an hour of information, to ensure we don’t notice other news stories they ought to have covered have not been covered…Nothing is more difficult to dispose of than an irrelevant but true story….In short, a fact that is too relevant can be challenged, whereas an accusation that is not an accusation cannot be challenged.
I re-read Eco’s essay, Censorship and Silence in the backdrop of what I keep reading repeatedly in the media these days. The pro-Modi media rely on people like Mukut Bihari Verma (who was reported as saying that Ram temple will be built as ‘SC is ours.’) and in Kerala, use the likes of P.C.George to divert the attention of the people from the Centre.
In case you don't want to cover-up or skip a news story you can misrepresent the headline. For instance, when a delegation of MPs from Kerala was denied appointment by the PMO to discuss flood-related issues and instead the PM chose to meet actor Mohanlal, a report went with the headline, `Kerala MPs envious over Modi-Mohanlal meeting.’
This is merely a tip of the iceberg!
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