Main-stream media reporting: Incompetency or malicious intent?

I was at the "Friends of BJP" event in Bengaluru on Saturday, 21st March. The event was a big success with the NMKRV auditorium fully occupied. It was heartening to see a large number of people turn up on their own without any incentives being offered and people being ferried. And, oh yes, there was a fair percentage of the upper middle class (who supposedly don't turn up to vote) that had arrived in their fancy Sonatas & Corollas.

The event went on quite well, with an invocation song by Pallavi Arun (Aye mere waton ke logo, soulfully rendered without any accompanying music) and a slick powerpoint presentation about why India needs strong leadership at the moment, before Arun Jaitley's speech provided a fitting finale to the Bengaluru event.

Today, the DH ran a report on the event and as I read it I was despaired. Here's why:

At the event, as I saw and heard it, Mr. Jaitley likened the PM to a "Night watchman" (as in cricket, in case you didn't know), who keeps the crease occupied until the conditions become better for the regular batsman to come in. And, precisely for those who didn't understand he quoted an incident from the last parliament session. It seems, he had made the same statement in Parliament, and expected a furuore to be caused by the Treasury benches. But to his suprise there was no response at all. It was only when, Veerappa Moily came to him the next day and asked him to apologise for calling the PM a "watchman" that he realised that the ruling party members hadn't really got the point.

In spite of the explanation, what does DH say? 

"Speaking at the NMKRV College at the launch of 'Friends of BJP' campaign in Bangalore, Jaitley attacked Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, saying he was like a watchman who had been sent to bat in an important cricket match." 

Simply pathetic.

Then it quotes Mr. Jaitley. "The Pakistan government denies having terrorists in its land, and the Indian government denies there is no economic crisis in the country". Now, what Mr. Jaitley indeed said was, "The Pakistan government denies terrorists crossing over to India from its borders...". Pakistan has never in the recent past denied having terrorists in its land. On the contrary, it has been claiming that it has been a "victim of terrorism" itself. While this is known to every Aam Aadmi,  does DH want its readers to believe that Mr. Jaitley doesn't know it?

In the last column it quotes Mr. Jaitley as saying, "the government never woke up even after 67 cities in India were blasted during its rule", in fact when he actually said "67 blasts in just the last year". Does DH want its readers to believe that Mr. Jaitley is making baseless allegations?

Lets say I'm am an undecided voter. If I were to read this news article as it is, without having attended the event, what would my thoughts about Mr. Jaitley and in turn his party be?

And one of the television channels (no point in naming it, they are all just the same), had bold headlines that read, "Jaitley admits differences exist, seniors should resolve it". When they showed the actual clipping later on, Mr. Jaitley had only said that there were no personal differences between him and Rajnath singh. There was nothing that even remotely seemed to suggest he was admitting anything. So, where did the channel get this bright idea, and what does it want its viewer, the undecided voter, to believe?

Is this just plain incompetence or subversion or truth with malicious intent? 

Update: As of last week, I have gone back to Indian Express. We used to subscribe to IE long before the TOI came in with a big splash. Since then, have explored The Hindu & Deccan Herald.

How I wish there's some news channel as well that offers unbiased news!!!