For once, it seems Dhoni and team might return to India without abuse for not winning the World Cup. All because Times Now’s post-match coverage was so harsh that their criticism actually turned the tide of sentiment in favour of the Men in Blue.
It all began when the news channel reacted to Team India’s exit with a #ShamedInSydney hashtag and a marathon panel discussion that was mostly critical of the players.
Some of the keywords that flashed on the screen during the broadcast were - ‘shamed’, ‘silly’, ‘disgraced’, ‘flop’.
Times Now’s ticker flashed lines such as ‘Team India Let Down Billion People’.
The Twitterati responded. With vengeance and disgust.
Instead of the channel’s hashtag, it was #ShameOnTimesNow that was the top trending hashtag. Over 2,02,650 tweets later (and still counting), it remains a top Twitter trend in India.
Public broadcaster Doordarshan was classier in its approach.
The impact was evident. Times Now visibly tempered their tone down.
The channel and its Editor-In-Chief Arnab Goswami have lately been under scrutiny for their editorial stance.
Social media scrutiny has made media organisations more accountable and reactive to public sentiments but the same platforms are also used to display misogynist views and rants, such as the ones blaming actress Anushka Sharma for her partner Virat Kohli’s bad performance in the semi-finals.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)