For observers of television news media’s decline, it may no longer seem odd for Indian news anchors to sit inside the BJP headquarters to host shows airing the party’s propaganda. But what if they telecast bytes and lift videos from a publicity arm of the BJP?

Following the recent elections, the tone of shows on a large section of television news media had suggested that all the results were in the BJP’s favour – even though the party lost the Himachal Pradesh assembly poll and the municipal election in Delhi while registering a historic win in Gujarat. And as channels raced to heap praise on the BJP and prime minister Narendra Modi, two shows on Aaj Tak and India TV on December 11 took it a notch above, by lifting all their bytes from Modi Story – a Twitter handle and website associated with the BJP that had published them months ago.

For unsuspecting viewers, this might have come across as copyrighted content on Aaj Tak, whose Shweta Singh hosted Yun hi koi Modi nahi ban jaata, and India TV, which had reporter Pawan Nara anchoring Modi Story.

Singh, Nara and the editors of the two channels are yet to respond to Newslaundry’s requests for comment. This report will be updated if a response is received.

BJP IT cell and the Modi Story

The Modi Story website aims to share memories of people who have closely observed PM Modi. It was inaugurated on March 26 by Sumitra Gandhi Kulkarni, great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, and a video of the ceremony was posted by the BJP’s Twitter handle, calling the effort a volunteer-driven initiative.

Modi and several union ministers often promote and give interviews to the website. On Twitter, it is followed by a host of BJP ministers and leaders while the account follows only PM Modi.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a BJP IT cell staffer said, “Modi Story is a platform of the BJP IT cell. Its operation is monitored by an officer working in the PMO. The IT cell helps.”

Most of the videos on the Modi Story website are also featured on NarendraModi.in and the NaMo app, whose chief compliance officer and nodal and local grievance officer is BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya.

Asked if Aaj Tak and India TV took permission to use these bytes on their shows, Malviya said, “They don’t need to. We haven’t copyrighted our content and anyone is free to use it as long as they give credit. We in fact encourage people to visit our sites and digital platforms to see our content and use it as they deem fit.”

He continued, “The kind of interest in everything to do with prime minister Modi is massive and it shows in our traffic. It includes media, academics and researchers among others who use our content as input for political literature and multimedia content. We don’t and have never felt the need to ask anyone to use our content and/or do specific programmes…They do use our content, pictures and video footage all the time and we are fine with that. It is an open source for anyone to pick from…There is no need for any coercive action.”

Let’s take a look at the bytes that were used on the two shows.

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