By Ranjona Banerji
The last week in media discussions has taken a break from the pandemic and its effects on us, including our rising inflation and tanking economy. Bad enough as Covid19 is, there are many traditional scourges which continue to plague us.
Patriarchy, choices, inter-faith marriages, religious strangleholds and the rights of the community to stamp out the individual. The story of a Sikh woman and a Muslim man who made the mistake of falling in love was recast on social media as a massive assault on “honour” and community, was deliberately skewed to present their adult choices as attacks on tradition. As a result, the man was jailed, and the woman forced to marry someone else.
As this article from Yahoo News explains:
https://in.news.yahoo.com/how-the-restoration-of-a-sikh-woman-reveals-the-voicelessness-of-women-032053672.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJrI0wjp6iU76jS8Nppwbzl0eYIS7P1eHsXHsKudT7BT-76QTuYHkYlHcf0p7fhzFv_GGdk2q1kJzdw0O9_fcUq3tNgV8SIIKRjXFK332Uk_GrY0vvDO9E1yB4ne_6MwbVVB_WWCpcKqSC0CuZELuq0HCPBLgi0LvAHUCa8at32K
And as this screenshot of a programme on Zee News shows, when it comes to creating faith-based hatred, no low is low enough.
This is not journalism. This is using a news platform to push sectarian hatred, to vilify the Muslim community and help the political formation that thrives on social division. The BJP has several propaganda channels. But is also has these, which pretend to be journalistic exercises but in fact are nothing but carriers of hatred.
Oddly though – odd for me that is, you might say – this is not what I wanted to write about. I wanted to write about those news outlets and journalists who do their jobs. Who do not become mouthpieces for those in power or for their “community”.
Like this video from Newslaundry and Manisha Pande, which exposes Zee News’s open bigotry against Muslims.
This report from Newslaundry also looks at how “conversion” anger is built up, this time with the alleged connivance of a News18 reporter:
https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/07/01/threatened-us-tried-to-extort-money-muslim-convert-accuses-media-of-misreporting-harassment
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These threads of hatred are strong in Indian society. Journalists have the choice to follow the Constitution or to give in to various internal and external pressures.
And sometimes, there are investigations like these. Which delve into facts and inform us on how the government of the day operates. And how it works to control citizens.
The Modi government’s new IT rules are controversial and need discussion. Because they affect not just news platforms but also anyone who is part of the increasing use of tech in everyday life, from social media to various government and private apps.
This report by Akshay Deshmane tells us how the Modi government went about thinking about a new law to regulate online content, how the closely the PMO and Modi himself got involved and how tinkering with existing laws is what has happened for now.
You get a sense of the inner workings of government, in both is intent and iniquity but also in the manipulations at work.
https://themorningcontext.com/chaos/did-pmo-get-its-way-on-indias-controversial-new-it-rules
What is evident in the examples I’ve given is the enormous desire that governments and social status quoists have to control people. This should be anathema in a democracy.
But not, sadly, in a democracy where the media cannot stand up for itself or the Constitution.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. Her views here are personal