How Indian media reported Adani group's US indictment - Alt News

How Indian media reported Adani group’s US indictment – Alt News

On November 20, billionaire Gautam Adani, along with seven other Adani group executives, was indicted by a United States court on charges of fraud and bribery.

The Adani group chairperson, once Asia’s richest businessman, was named alongside his nephew Sagar R Adani, the executive director of the group’s renewables arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) and Vneet S. Jaain, managing director and CEO of AGEL for wire and securities fraud and allegedly agreeing to pay bribes worth $250 million to Indian government officials to secure solar energy deals. American prosecutors stepped in because the ports-to-power conglomerate had tried to obtain financing from US investors for their renewable energy projects (including those for which bribes were paid) based on reportedly false and misleading statements about the firm’s anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts.

This is not the first time that the Adani group’s allegedly shady dealings have come to light. In January last year, US-based short seller Hindenburg Research had published a report accusing the group of accounting irregularities, round-tripping of funds and stock-price manipulation, wiping off over $150 billion in the group’s market value.

At that time, Alt News had done a deep dive into how the news was reported by major Indian news outlets and found a serious gap in publication and reportage on the issue. In this report, we attempt a similar analysis of how (and to what extent) several mainstream media outlets covered the news.

There are two reasons why such analyses are crucial. One, the Adani group is a massive enterprise with presence across most sectors including construction, ports, energy, airport infrastructure, FMCG, media and commodities. So, the reporting of such allegations can result in a major plunge in stock prices and lead to losses for investors and the company as it is an index heavyweight. For instance, the latest news sent stocks of Adani group’s flagship firm Adani Enterprises falling over 20% in two days. On November 21, shares of Adani Green opened nearly 20% down and by November 27 they had hit a 52-week low. Conversely, when such major incidents are underplayed or underreported by the media, the magnitude of losses can be checked. Two, Adani has majority stakes in three major news outlets, leaving one wondering about its role in shaping the country’s perception of major news events. Opposition leaders and several others have also questioned the alleged closeness between the business tycoon and the country’s Prime Minister, which they believe is the reason the group has been in the clear, from a regulatory and media scrutiny standpoint, despite many red flags.

How The News Unfolded In The Digital Sphere

The US Securities and Exchange Committee’s press release on the indictment was published on its website at around 2:18 hours IST on November 21. It is possible that the SEC statement and the ruling was issued to media houses slightly ahead of being made publicly available. The following morning, just around the time Indian markets began trading, the Adani group notified stock exchanges that it was cancelling a proposed bond offering considering the latest US ruling. Then by afternoon, it issued a statement denying the charges.

“The allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied. As stated by the US Department of Justice itself, ‘the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.’ All possible legal recourse will be sought,” the spokesperson’s statement read.

While the indictment and the following developments were likely too late for Indian print media to carry in their newspapers the following day, let’s look at how digital media fared in their reporting of the matter.

The earliest post on X (formerly Twitter) on the ruling was by Beijing-headquartered China Global Television Network (CGTN) Europe at 2:14 hours IST on November 21 (or 20:44 hours GMT, November 20). Most major international news outlets and agencies such as CNBC, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and Reuters caught up soon. Wires were issued, reports quickly written up and posts on X followed suit.

Bloomberg and Reuters had their reports and X updates published within the first half and hour of the breaking of the news.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Meanwhile, on X, there was hardly any mention of this by most major news outlets until morning. At 5:54 hours IST on November 21, X user Sanjay Dutt (@thesanjaydutt) posted about the Adani indictment, sharing a report by The Hindu on it.

On looking at the HTML code for the article, Alt News was able to determine that The Hindu had published the news by around 3:00 hours IST, roughly an hour after the SEC made it public.

Bengaluru-based news Deccan Herald’s report was up on its site at 2:29 am. Similarly, Telangana Today published its report at 4:26 hours IST. The daily’s editor Srinivas Reddy K shared it on X at 4:31 am. Subsequently, The Times of India published their report at 6:24 hours IST and Hindustan Times at 8:12 hours IST.

Business publications, such as Moneycontrol—part of Reliance-owned Network18—and Mint published the news at 6:44 hours IST and 10:39 hours IST, respectively.

India Today, News18, and Zee News shared the latest developments on X around 8:30 hours IST on November 21, while Times Now and its Hindi counterpart Times Now Navbharat followed at 9:45 hours IST and 11:15 hours IST, respectively. Among news outlets Aaj Tak, Republic, ABP News and India TV, the issue was largely underplayed. The first post on X from Aaj Tak’s handle was on the dip in Adani stocks. An hour after this, it shared a post detailing Adani group’s cancellation of its upcoming bond issuance. Likewise, ABP News posted about Adani stocks plunging at 10:30 hours IST and got into the reasons for this plunge two hours later.

The first post from Republic’s official X account on the incident was at 14:25 hours IST, an hour after the business group issued a statement denying the charges.

Quiet since the news broke, news channel NDTV posted its first report on the matter only at 14:39 hours IST, citing the group’s official statement denying the claims. Meanwhile, the first X post from the channel’s business news arm, NDTV profit, was at 11:07 hours, IST but this too was centered around AGEL’s decision to cancel its bond issuance following the indictment. The report only briefly mentions the charges levelled against the group in the US.

It’s important to mention here that the Adani group wrested control of NDTV from Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy in December 2022. Since then, the channel has undergone several changes with many key faces including news presenters, editors and reporters quitting. This was the group’s second major acquisition after buying 49% stake in Quintillion Media, which operates the news outlet BQ Prime that was previously Bloomberg Quint, in May 2022.

Among Indian wire agencies Asian News International (ANI), Press Trust of India (PTI) and Indo-Asian News Service (IANS)—that many Indian news organisations subscribe to and are dependent on for news reports—we noticed an interesting pattern. While PTI’s wire went out around 4:30 am on November 21, their first post on X  was not until 9:11 hours IST even though its X handle was active from 7:16 hours IST that day. Posts from its account were mostly reshares of tweets posted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his visits to other countries and pollution in Delhi. Below are a few instances.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Similarly, news agency ANI posted its first tweet on this only at 9:48 hours IST, after stock markets opened, despite their website having the news report on the issue by 7:00 hours IST. ANI’s X handle was active when the news broke. Following are a screenshots of the some of the posts from ANI’s handle even as X was abuzz with the news of the indictment.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

ANI’s first X post on the issue was not the news of the indictment but instead the Adani group’s letter to Indian bourses notifying them about the cancellation of “proposed USD denominated bond offerings” in the view of the allegations levelled against the conglomerate. It did not even post its own report (available on its website) on X. On checking the website of the National Stock Exchange, we found that Adani’s clarification on the bond offerings was sent to the exchanges at 9:29 hours IST.

On November 21, eleven hours after the news broke, the Adani group released a statement on its official X page, labelling the allegations “baseless”.

The first report by IANS was the group’s denial of the charges. Note that the Adani group has a controlling stake in IANS too. It had acquired an over 50% stake in December 2023 and upped this in January through its subsidiary AMG Media Networks.

Coming to state-sponsored DD News. Its first post on X was at 5.41 hours IST, a few hours after the statement from the Adani group was released.

Apart from their own websites, news organisations do rely a fair bit on social media platforms, especially X, to amplify and disseminate important news updates quickly. On these platforms as well as their websites, publications compete over speed, accuracy and drawing more readers as a result of putting out information first. The contents and timing of their posts are thus crucial when the matter is of this nature, which is why such delays raise concerns.

Indian Prime Time Television

Most mainstream TV channels, including India Today and its Hindi counterpart Aaj Tak, featured the news of the Adani indictment in their prime-time segments (between 20:00 and 23:00 hours). But how some of these debates actually unfolded deserves a closer look.

News18’s debates ‘Goonj’ and ‘Aar Paar’ hosted by Rubika Liyaqat or Amish Devgan did not carry the developments but in the segment ‘Desh Nahi Jhukne Denge‘ hosted by Aman Chopra, the case was mentioned as part of the news round-up for the day. The channel, however, chose to focus on how the allegations of bribery against Adani, which Congress and its leader Rahul Gandhi was trying to draw attention to would backfire against the Opposition. That’s because many of the states mentioned in the indictment where the bribery allegedly took place were governed by Congress or its allies. Chopra added that this was yet another attempt by Rahul Gandhi to tarnish Prime Minister Modi’s image before ending the section with tributes to Modi and his international presence.

In Republic’s ‘Debate With Arnab’ segment, host Arnab Goswami’s monologue at the beginning of the show  goes on about how the indictment by an American court is proof that the US is “very insecure” about India owing to the strength of “the Indian infrastructure machine“. He also brings up conspiracy theories by “Deep State” actors who are keen on disrupting the success of the Adani group. The debate was largely centered on the conspiracy.

India TV’s Rajat Sharma briefly covered the ruling in his prime-time segment ‘Aaj Ki Baat’. Questioning the timing of the indictment, he wondered aloud whether it was a coincidence or larger conspiracy as the Hindenburg report released in 2023 was just before a Parliament session and had similarly resulted in Adani stocks crashing. He says that Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to find a Modi factor in it has failed because the states mentioned in the indictment were governed by Congress and allies.

A similar argument on the rogue timing of the indictment also featured in DD News‘ debate ‘5 Ki Panchayat’. Show host Reema Parashar, in her opening presentation, says how each time just before the start of a Parliament session, an agenda arises or is deliberately introduced to cause disruptions in the House proceedings to show the government in poor light.

ABP News’ prime-time programme ‘Mahadangal’ hosted by Chitra Tripathi, discusses Gandhi wanting to bring a George Soros-type model to the Indian market and is likely targeting Gautam Adani for his role in the fast-growing infrastructure of India. George Soros, a Hungarian-American investor and founder of the Open Society Foundations, is involved in funding democracy and human rights initiatives, and has been accused of influencing global politics through these. Soros has also been a critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In February 2023, he also criticised Adani after the Hindenburg report was published. This combined with Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s jibes against the PM and his comments on the closeness between Modi and Adani has led the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government to link Gandhi with Soros. The BJP has also accused the Congress leader of attempting to destabilise the Indian government.

Rahul Gandhi was also the centre of debates on Times Now’s Nation Wants To Know and India Upfront. The channel’s Hindi counterpart, Times Now Navbharat, discussed the US ruling in its show Sawal Public Ka hosted by Navika Kumar. But the segment was titled “As the Parliament session approaches… has the ‘toolkit gang’ become active again?” Needless to say, the focus was on the leader than the gravity of the charges and what it could mean for the conglomerate. .

A Gap in Reportage?

Hours after the indictment news was made public, Kenyan President Willian Ruto announced the cancellation of deals with the Adani group. Kenya had agreed to hand over control of a key airport to the conglomerate for a 30-year lease in exchange for a new runway and upgrading the passenger terminal there. The country also has several energy deals with the Adani group.

Ruto said that the decision was made based on the new information provided by investigative agencies and partner nations. The news of Kenya cancelling the deals, worth over $2.5 billion, broke around 18:00 hours IST on November 21. However, this crucial information was not part of majority of the prime-time segments of TV news channels. Times Now Navbharat, Times Now, India TV, ABP and DD News did not mention the development at all in their prime-time debates while Republic showed a clip of the Kenyan President cancelling the Adani deals without any commentary.

India ranks 159 on the Press Freedom Index. Partisan coverage of many events has been a rising concern. With some of the largest businesses backing news outlets and their alleged closeness to the governing regime, honest and unbiased journalism and reportage face multiple threats. The media analysis of the Adani indictment is just one case in point.

Donate to Alt News!
Independent journalism that speaks truth to power and is free of corporate and political control is possible only when people start contributing towards the same. Please consider donating towards this endeavour to fight fake news and misinformation.

Donate Now



Source link

#Indian #media #reported #Adani #groups #indictment #Alt #News