Somewhere between the mushroom kebabs and the millet pulao, Indian coverage of the 18th BRICS summit developed a parallel track. On one, there were several heads of government and a 45-page declaration. On the other, there was a tote bag and a menu card.
The Ministry of External Affairs had curated media kits for visiting delegates as part of telling the “India Story”, and a certain amount of unboxing footage duly appeared. Then came the counter-argument from journalists: reporters are at a summit to cover it with objectivity and depth, and the only thing a press kit needs is “a programme schedule and relevant text”.
