TV channels call for Chinese products' boycott, get trolled for doublespeak

Prized catch

While most of India is cursing the lockdown for its financial woes, one bunch of people seem particularly happy. Fishermen in West Bengal are hopeful of a bumper hilsa harvest this season, given the dip in economic activities in the seas over the past three months due to the coronavirus-led lockdown. Monsoon has also arrived and many of them have already ventured out with their trawlers to lay hands on the prized catch. Of course the state government has advised fishermen to wear masks and use sanitisers, especially when they venture out to sell their catch.

Waiting for tourists

The tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh have recorded very low footfall in the first few days after reopening their doors. The reserve forests were closed for almost three months. Only 21 tourists visited the famous Pench tiger reserve after it opened doors earlier this week; Bandhavgarh got 68 and Kanha tiger reserve had only 76 visitors. The reserve forests have been following the Covid-19 guidelines but visitors remain elusive. Vehicles are being sanitised at intervals and guards have been trained to check temperature of incoming tourists.

China out or in?

Some TV channels are known to take a hawkish stance vis-à-vis neighbouring countries on most issues. Unsurprising then that the prime-time debates on these channels on Tuesday — after 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the People’s Liberation Army personnel in Ladakh — included vociferous demands for teaching China a lesson both militarily and economically, the latter being a campaign that some sections of the media have been extremely vocal about recently. However, fact checkers were quick to point out what they called doublespeak by sharing the TV screenshot of one such debate, China Get Out, that displayed a Chinese mobile brand as a sponsor. Another network also had an embarrassing moment when it first tweeted about Chinese products Indian masses could potentially boycott and hours later, posted another tweet about the new smartphones a Chinese company was launching on Wednesday. Social media users were quick to school the channels.