I asked some of my friends, including some media students, what happened in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, on October 2, 2011. Most of them expressed ignorance, stretching their eyebrows. However, when asked about Ralegan Siddhi, prompt came the reply referring to Anna Hazare. This is media effect.
Rudrapur is a city in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. It comes under one of the most fertile areas of India. However, this time it hit the headlines for wrong reasons – communal violence which killed four people and left dozens injured. The deaths were caused by police firing on youths who were protesting the desecration of the Qur’ān. The whole incident managed little time and space in the mainstream media.
However, the alternative media did report the incident and maintained the tempo. Later, the state government, under much criticism for the police firing, removed top officials of the district including DIG, DM, and SSP.
Most of the mainstream daily newspapers either ignored the story completely or given a few inches of space on their inner pages. Incidents of loot and arson went unreported in these publications. Electronic media was no different.
The mainstream media also gave similar impression in covering the police firing in Forbesganj, Bihar (June 3, 2011), and in Bharatpur, Rajasthan (September 14, 2011).
What are the reasons behind these incidents not finding time and space in the mainstream media they deserve? The question is whether the incidents went unreported by chance or by choice? Is media insensitive to the issues of the largest minority as well as the marginalised and underprivileged? Was it because no big social activist raised the voice? No iconic figure was involved in this incident to attract the camera? Was there no representative of these media houses there? Or was there security threat for them? These questions raise doubts on the transparency and accountability of media.
Apart from the above mentioned issues, one strong reason of this biased reporting is the ownership of these media firms. Most of the media houses are owned by big businessmen and run solely for profit making purposes. They hardly take an issue which does not benefit them commercially.
The gate-keepers in these media houses are from a particular elite section of society. There is little representation of minorities and Dalits in the mainstream media houses. Hence, absence of such incidents from mainstream media now, do not seem weird.
Now there is nothing wrong in keeping up the tempo in mobilising people for a social cause by ensuring round-the-clock coverage which the media did in Anna Hazare movement, but failed rather miserably in covering the issues related to Muslims.
Media has a lot to be proud of but the increasing disenchantment due to biased reporting is really a matter of concern. It is this concern that Justice (Retd.) Markandey Katju expressed the last week. It is high time the media houses realised this lapse and mended their ways.
[The writer is a student of MA in Media Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia]