How did the media cover Business Standard’s report on NSSO #unemployment numbers?

Yesterday, Business Standard published an explosive piece on how an NSSO survey revealed that India’s unemployment rate in 2017-18 was at a 45-year high—and that the survey had been “withheld” by the government. Reactions ranged from Congress President Rahul Gandhi referring to Narendra Modi as “The Fuhrer” who had promised 2 crore jobs, to the BJP retaliating by saying Gandhi had “inherited Mussolini’s shortsightedness”.  A press conference was held which included Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar where it was said the data on jobs was “not finalised”.

But how did Indian media cover the story?

The Economic Times had the story as its second lede with the government’s response brushing off the report, and full coverage of the press conference It also chose to carry a story right under this one headlined “Revised Numbers for FY17, FY18 Show Economy Grew Much Faster” despite GST and demonetisation. The lead paragraph said: “The government brushed aside a leaked report that said India’s unemployment rate had surged to a four-decade record, saying that the data hadn’t been finalised and verified as it sought to quell speculation that the information had been suppressed ahead of general elections.

Mint‘s Delhi edition did not seem to have the story in the pages of its print newspaper but had covered it online yesterday. It also covered the press conference but offered additional information by quoting an economist/professor who said “authorities were mixing up quarterly data with annual data”, and that jobless growth was being witnessed. The Hindu covered the job survey on its front page with the government’s response, but without new information.

The Times of India had the same story on its front page but added a quote from the former chief statistician who said the Cabinet had “never approved NSSO data”.

Financial Express had the story on its second page where it reported on the press conference with no additional information.

The Indian Express used the story as its second lede. The Express spoke to PC Mohanan, the acting NSC chairman who had resigned this week, and quoted him as saying the NSSO report was “final”, not a draft.

Hindustan Times led with the news of the report, calling it an “acrimonious war of words” on the eve of Budget 2019.

Over on television, NDTV‘s Nidhi Razdan had a primetime debate on the job row at 9 pm, as did India Today‘s Rajdeep Sardesai, who also did a comparison between the Narendra Modi and Manmohan Singh years. Times Now‘s Rahul Shivshankar had a primetime debate at 8 pm as well. Meanwhile on Republic, Arnab Goswami steered clear of discussing the jobs survey, choosing instead to talk about #CongressAttacksHindus, #ModiDragsBackDalals and #BudgetDebate.