This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor at The Hindu.

In this week’s episode, the discussion moves from PM Modi’s Europe tour, particularly his visit to Norway, to press freedom.

Suhasini Haidar, who was present at the venue in Oslo, describes how shocked Norwegian journalists were to learn that the Indian Prime Minister would not be taking questions at all.

She says, “We have so normalised in the Indian media this idea that the prime minister doesn’t take unscripted questions, that we didn’t even clock how big a deal it was for Europeans.”

Haidar criticises the way the focus shifts to attacking the reporter’s background, ideology, and even personal life, rather than engaging with the issue she raised.

“The focus became about that journalist — who she is, what her background is, where she goes on vacation. It’s not about the question anymore. It is about the fact that the prime minister does not take unscripted questions.”

Abhinandan Sekhri points out how deeply normalised this culture has become in India.

“It is so alien to journalists outside India. They are shocked at the kind of barrage and abuse that follows a simple question,” he remarks while discussing the online trolling and threats directed at the Norwegian journalist after the incident.

Manisha Pande argues that the government’s response to the controversy reveals how deeply political communication in India is driven by headline management rather than accountability.

She adds, “The focus is so much on controlling the headlines, which you've managed to do in India so well that that is all your focus, and you've been unable to do it with the world media, so you don't get it. Like, why are these guys asking us questions? But I think this basic understanding that the world is not going to bend in the way that the Indian media has to you, large parts of it, many are free, but a large part of the loud primetime segment has completely given in to you.”

All this and more.

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Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Ashish . Sound by Anil Kumar.

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