This week on TV Newsance, our dear leader Modi and Donald Trump are back to being besties. US president Trump recently announced a trade deal that lowers tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from 50 percent. 

But there's a catch. We have to ditch Russian oil and open the floodgates for American goods, according to Trump. Obviously, our news anchors did not read the fine print – mostly because it doesn't exist yet. Regardless, they were too busy launching themselves into full cheerleader mode, celebrating “Dhurandhar Modi” for brokering the “Daddy of All Deals” with Trump. 

While primetime anchors were busy celebrating because India got a 1 percent ‘discount’ over Pakistan, they missed the bigger picture. Instead of some basic journalism, we got the same script, the same questionable numbers, and the exact same tweets. Welcome to ‘One Nation, One Tweet’.

This episode also sheds light on what was lost in the noise of the Godi cheerleaders:

➜ How do Trump’s claims about the deal put India in a risky position?

➜ Why was the deal announced only on social media, and why does it lack clarity?

➜ Why did TV news celebrate the 18 percent tariff on India but ignore Trump’s claim of 0 percent tariffs for US goods?

➜ What are the negative implications of stopping oil imports from Russia?

Instead of clarifying the details of the trade deal, what was our commerce minister busy doing? Cursing Rahul Gandhi. 

TV anchors have swung between Modi-Trump ‘besties’, then enemies, then Xi-Modi ‘bromance’, Putin BFFs, and back again to Trump-Modi ‘besties’. Foreign policy analysis on TV looks more like a daily soap opera.

Amid all this Newsance, there is one piece of good news – Newslaundry is turning 14 today! Please continue supporting us by clicking this link to subscribe, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.