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Shailaja Bajpai

Shailaja Bajpai

Indian Express

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TV coverage of Delhi polls was about freebies, potholes & sewers. No Hindu-Muslim politics

A reporter on Mirror Now hit the spot when she said, "Delhi is the only place we report on problems—the open drains, sewage, garbage."

06.02.2025 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

12 hours after Maha Kumbh stampede, TV news back to ‘unshakeable faith, excellent arrangement’

Watching television on Wednesday morning you would have thought that nothing had happened just six hours earlier.

30.01.2025 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Inside ThePrint’s mailbox—readers bring us praise, critique, and everything in between

One minute, I am being questioned about the “Razakars and their oppressive rule”. Next, a reader demands an app for the website. Another reader...

29.01.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Trump’s return—US media scrambled for words, Indian TV news divided between fear & fascination

All the trumpeting of Trump 2.0 on Indian news channels was soon muted by Trump’s executive orders on illegal immigration and ending birthright...

23.01.2025 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news covered religion with no Hindu-Muslim angle this week

With the focus on ‘Rituals, Reverences, Rites,’ news channels barely have time for other stories. The Delhi Assembly election campaign...

16.01.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news showed a glimmer of balance in 2024—once. Then it went back to BJP-Modi bias

Midway through 2024, Hindi and English news channels found their sense of balance. Once Congress lost Haryana and Maharashtra, they went back to...

02.01.2025 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

ThePrint’s in-depth ground reports are now multimedia-interactive. 2025 vision board

In the last 18 months, ThePrint has continued to track events in Manipur by sending reporters and photojournalists. This is how things have changed...

28.12.2024 9

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news has an ‘Allu vs Revanth’ war on its hands—it’s hunting for conspiracy, ‘photo proofs’

For TV news this week, ‘Allu Arjun vs Revanth Reddy’ was a clash of the titans of Telangana politics and Tollywood—and they were not going to...

26.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

New temples, old Hindu-Muslim script. Sambhal is Hindi TV’s latest prime-time theatre

Since the communal disturbances last month, Sambhal and its temple trouble have remained in the news. Still, the non-stop coverage of the Hanuman...

19.12.2024 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

At first, Bangladeshi media denied attack on Hindus. Now, India’s TV news stands vindicated

The indignation became shriller as news channels replayed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s remarks last week on ‘Babur, Bangladesh...

12.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Adani again? Rahul Gandhi’s strategy is hurting INDIA bloc, and TV news can’t stop laughing

Today’s news headlines reflect a very different Rahul Gandhi, Congress, and INDIA compared to June, when his every step and word were closely...

05.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

There is hunger for ThePrint’s brand of journalism—Why we went live in Marathi, Tamil

You may well ask, what prompted ThePrint to offer its content in Indian languages? Because it’s the logical next step in our relationship with the...

30.11.2024 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Look how Australian media covered the Perth Test defeat to India

Give it to the Aussies, they take a defeat on the chin and are brutal on their own cricket team while praising opposition India.

28.11.2024 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

It’s time TV news covered Manipur like it did the Anna Hazare movement or 2012 rape-murder

The heartbreaking death of babies in the Jhansi hospital was major news—for one day. Manipur doesn’t even get a headline on most days. It's all...

21.11.2024 3

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news loves ‘Hindu-Muslim’; politicians are feeding the content this election season

The on-going election season is a war of slogans. And all of them seek to consolidate the Hindu or the Muslim, the caste, class or creed vote behind...

14.11.2024 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Guess who got US election results right? Thailand’s Moo Deng

We saw a CNN versus Fox News contest: While everyone at CNN, barring the Republican panelists, looked as if they had just lost the election, Fox...

07.11.2024 3

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Bigg Boss Season 18 is fit for nobody — not even a donkey

Bigg Boss house isn't a 'house'. It's more like a prehistoric cave from another planet.

31.10.2024 9

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

ThePrint opinion articles get a flood of readers feedback. Remember, ‘views are personal’

ThePrint readers want to write. Here's a tip—subscribers articles are published in 'Your Turn' section

30.10.2024 3

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Glass shards and white powder—TV news had two mysteries on air this week

Times Now ran footage of the 9/11 attack on New York in 2001. What possible connection could it have to a small hole-in-the-wall attack in Delhi?

24.10.2024 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Nothing would have prepared Justin Trudeau for the merciless attacks by Indian TV news channels

'How stupid is this Trudeau,' said Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami. 'Blundering, short-sighted' is what Shiv Aroor called the Canadian PM on India...

17.10.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

News anchors studiously avoided PM Modi’s name on Haryana counting day—until about 10 am

Many Congress leaders would regret their words. From Pawan ‘Jalebi’ Khera to Supriya Shrinate, who told News 24 she would change her name if BJP...

10.10.2024 2

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

The first batch of ThePrint’s J-school has graduated—what students want in the next

Senior journalists at ThePrint taught the students the fundamental principles of good journalism, interspersed with anecdotes and examples from...

28.09.2024 5

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

India has 2 women CMs now. Atishi and Mamata Banerjee are both victims of bad PR

Women look up to women in power as role models. But so far, Atishi’s public image is that of a woman-in-waiting rather than a woman-in-charge.

26.09.2024 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Modi is back. It took J&K, Haryana elections to make the PM break his self-imposed silence

Has the PM misplaced Modi magic or are we less enchanted? It will take many more Modi speeches to answer that but for now, there is something missing.

19.09.2024 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Dear readers, ThePrint has heard you — We now offer you a login-based, ad-lite experience

To see if the new system works, I logged in as a subscriber. I clicked on articles, randomly, and found that most of those annoying advertisements,...

31.08.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

If Kamala Harris can wear sneakers to work, why can’t Amitabh Bachchan in KBC?

We’ve grown accustomed to his face, craggy features, moist eyes, and strength in that commanding voice. We look forward to our elderly young man...

29.08.2024 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Indian TV news blame US, China, Pakistan for Bangladesh, call it ‘Islamist takeover’

The Modi government is taking the quiet diplomacy approach for Bangladesh. But “coup conspiracies” are flooding Indian television news channels.

08.08.2024 8

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Paris Olympics is all about Biles and Bhaker. And we’ve got a front-row seat, 24×7

This week, it was a pleasure to get away from the chakravyuh or labyrinth of politics and watch Rafael Nadal on the tennis court instead of JP...

01.08.2024 3

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

App demands, ad complaints, admiration — what’s really trending in ThePrint’s mailbox

I would urge all readers to be part of a conversation with ThePrint about its editorial content—we love feedback and learn from it.

31.07.2024 3

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Kursi Bachao’ stuck to Budget 2024. TV news to papers, all knew where to look

'It’s raining jobs, jobs, jobs,' said an elated Rahul Kanwal on India Today’s Budget Special. But Rajdeep Sardesai was dubious: 'right intent,...

25.07.2024 1

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai