Till Narendra Modi took over as prime minister and put an end to the practice, it was normal practice for media organisations to accompany prime ministers and Presidents on their official visits abroad.

The practice that began with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the mid-1980s was continued by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but it was really put into effect in Dr Manmohan Singh's tenure.

Now, through the use of RTI and data available on the ministry of external affairs' website, jansatyagrah.in has put together a report on the media houses and journalists who were regulars on Air India One during Dr Singh's prime ministership.

The graphic here shows that out of 91 VIP visits abroad, Jagdish Chandra of ETV was on board for 27 trips, Siddharth Zarabi of CNN TV18 coming a distant second with 10 visits. For newspapers, Dainik Jagran's Prashant Mishra was on board for 21 visits.

Among TV networks, NDTV topped the list with 44 visits, CNN News 18 giving them a run for their money with 43 visits, while among newspapers it was The Hindu at the top with the Hindustan Times coming second.

There were other journalists, too, says jansatyagrah.in, who were part of the PM's media contingent during UPA rule, and uses this graphic.

Among the many names listed is Suhasini Haidar then of News 18 (now the Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu), a media star in her own right but who is also Dr Subramanian Swamy's younger daughter.

Given that connection, her mention led to tut-tuts on social media about media cronyism, all which Dr Swamy swatted away in typical style, tweeting: 'She is nobody's crony. I brought her up to be fearless...'

To that we can add that Suhashini -- a former colleague at Rediff -- is a very fine journalist, someone who has excelled in print, television and internet journalism.

Jansatyagrah.in also mentions Rediff in passing, saying: 'It is strange to know the only single digital media platform of Rediff.com whose editors got the opportunity to join the visits.'


Image: Sanjay Baru (in beige suit), former PM Manmohan Singh's media advisor, adjusts the mic during a press conference on board Air India One.