Biased media coverage on Rs 2 crore bribery allegations against Kejriwal

 
This blog is about media coverage on allegations made by former Delhi cabinet minister Kapil Mishra against Arvind Kejriwal and subsequent clean-chit given to the AAP's founder.

May 6, 2017: Arvind Kejriwal expelled Kapil Mishra from Delhi cabinet after receiving bad reviews from fellow ministers.

May 7, 2017: Kapil Mishra conducted a press conference and alleged that he witnessed Arvind Kejriwal accepting Rs 2 crores bribe from health minister Satyendar Jain on May 5th.

July 30, 2018: Following the allegations, bribery case was referred to Lokayukta and CBI was asked to gather proofs against Kejriwal to begin a proper probe. After more than a year, CBI failed to gather any proof in support of Kapil Mishra allegations. As a result, Lokayukta gave a clean-chit to Arvind Kejriwal on July 30, 2018 and dismissed the allegations.

Let's see how this entire bribery episode was reported by the media houses

When Rs 2 crores bribery allegation was made against Arvind Kejriwal..

there was significant electronic and print media coverage on the charges by Kapil Mishra. A quick Google search on "arvind kejriwal alleged of taking 2 crore bribe" gives following search results (top 3 pages, video search results are omitted). [Google search query was made on Aug 2, 2018 around 4pm AST] 

News articles covering allegations made by Kapil Mishra 

Apart from the above search results, Google displayed 9 video results (reports and debates) covering the story. Following is the list of videos and their duration.

1. inKhabar (44 min, 5 sec): Jan Gan Man: CM Kejriwal accept bribe of Rs 2 crore from Satyendra Jain, says Kapil Mishra 
2. NewsX (11 min, 19 sec): Delhi cops to probe Arvind Kejriwal 2 crore bribe; why is Delhi CM still silent? 
3. ABP News (7 min, 56 sec): I witnessed Arvind Kejriwal taking Rs 2 crore in cash from Satyendra Jain: Kapil Mishra 
4. Modi Kumar (9 min, 59 sec): Kapil Mishra Catches Arvind Kejriwal in Bribing 2 crore rs from Satender Jain | Arvind Kejriwal (non media channel taken video footage from one of the media source) 
5. Zee News (35 min, 39 sec): Kapil Mishra exposes big scam in AAP, says Arvind Kejriwal took Rs 2 crore bribe 
6. Zee News (16 min, 57 sec): Exclusive talk with Kapil Mishra over Kejriwal's bribe allegations | Part II 
7. Times of India (1 min, 13 sec): Arvind Kejriwal took a bribe, alleges sacked AAP minister Kapil Mishra 
8. Times Now News (29 min, 51 sec): Arvind Kejriwal took Rs 2 crore from Satyendra Jain, says Kapil Mishra
9. Zee News (15 min, 21 sec): FAST FACT | Kapil Mishra exposes big scam in AAP, says Arvind Kejriwal took Rs 2 crore bribe 

These videos totalled to a 172 min and 20 sec (2 hour 52 mins) prime time coverage. Videos from other media houses can be seen on YouTube and other social media platforms. 

When Lokayukta and CBI gave clean-chit to Arvind Kejriwal.. 

When typed "lokayukta and CBI give clean chit to Arvind kejriwal" on Google, following results are displayed. Video results listed on page 1 of the search results are omitted in the picture below. Search results from Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Medium and other off-stream news websites appeared on page 2 and 3. Tamil news also appeared on page 3. [Google search query was made on Aug 2, 2018 around 4pm AST] 

News articles covering clean-chit given to Arvind Kejriwal 

Out of the 7 video search results, neither were uploaded by mainstream media channels nor were they related to the relevant story. Only the videos of AAP press conference from its official YouTube channel were addressing the issue. The 7 Google search videos can be grouped as follows:

• 4 AAP press conference 
• 2 Arvind Kejriwal speeches, one from 2012 and other from 2017 
• 1 press conference of DDCA panel chief  

When allegations were made by Kapil Mishra, news portals were populated with news articles and TV studios were filled with anti-corruption experts. But the news of Arvind Kejriwal getting a clean-chit couldn't make it to media platforms and TV studios. 

Will journalists question Kapil Mishra and debate in TV studios the false allegations he made against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal?

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