International media watch group Reporters without Frontiers has found India’s authorities quelling freedom of press and putting more surveillance on media users and activists. Despite economic growth, India has fallen 17 places to 122nd in 2010.

Again in 2011, India has fallen 10 places to 131 and in 2012-2013 India is placed at 140 far below from Bhutan (82), Maldive (103), Nepal (118), Afghanistan (128), and Zimbawe (133). RSF observes that “India is at its lowest since 2002 because of increasing impunity for violence against journalists and because Internet censorship continues to grow.”

Many journalists from minority community have become easy target of security agencies. A Kashmiri journalist Iftikhar Gilani and Muhammad Ahmad Kazmi, (Delhi) Mutiurrahman (Banglore) and many other Muslim journalists were arrested, detained and harassed by police and were not strongly defended by media fraternity.

In 2012 a Malyalam weekly, reported that 268 e-mail accounts had been subjected to surveillance by the Kerala state intelligence, out of which 258 belongs to Muslims.

It is said that none among them had any previous criminal backgrounds and so there is no clarity as to why they were put under surveillance. The scoop done by Madhyamam’s Viju V Nair has prompted harsh condemnation of the government by Muslim organizations. The Kerala state is also ruled by Indian National Congress.

RSF also expresses its serious concerns on increased internet surveillance on users. A Canadian company Research in Motion has established a “surveillance centre” and Indian government takes its services to obtain decoded messages exchanged by “suspicious” users of the BlackBerry Messenger chat service, the RSF report says.

The “IT Rules 2011,” has been figured out with serious concerns because of its powers to supress internet freedom. Google Transparency has reported that Indian government and officials have asked multiple times (67 to be exact, between July and December 2010) to remove 282 content items (namely videos critical of politicians) from YouTube and several blogs. Google allegedly complied with 22% of the requests. Committee to protect Journalists ranks India one of the worst countries in the world at combating deadly anti-press violence.

पाकिस्तान में सरबजीत की मौत पर अब सियासत भी शुरू हो चुकी है.  लेकिन भारत की आम जनता में  काफी ग़म व गुस्सा है. आज का सारा अखबार सरबजीत के कारनामें व उसके जीवन व मौत की कहानियों से भरा पड़ा है. बाकी अखबारों की तरह उर्दू अखबारों में भी सरबजीत सिंह की मौत की खबर को काफी प्रमुखता से जगह दी गई है. सिर्फ खबर ही नहीं, बल्कि सारे उर्द अखबारों में इस पर संपाकदीय भी लिखे गए हैं.

जागरण ग्रुप का दैनिक उर्दू अखबार ‘इंक़लाब’ लिखता है कि “28 अगस्त, 1990 को पाकिस्तानी पुलिस ने सरहद के करीब के इलाके से सरबजीत सिंह को नशे की हालत में टहलते हुए गिरफ्तार किया. पहले तो पाकिस्तानी पुलिस ने इसे हिन्दुस्तानी जासूस क़रार दिया लेकिन बाद में इसको 1990 में इस्लामाबाद और लाहौर में होने वाले चार बम धमाकों से जोड़ दिया. हालांकि पाकिस्तानी पुलिस के पास कोई सबूत नहीं था, सिर्फ सरबजीत के खुद के इक़बालिया बयान को सबूत माना गया. हालांकि हमसब जानते हैं कि पुलिस वाले इक़बालिया बयान किस तरह से हासिल करते हैं.”

‘इंक़लाब’ आगे लिखता है कि “पाकिस्तान के इंतहा-पसंदों ने सरबजात के क़त्ल का प्रोग्राम उसी अंदाज़ में बनाया जिस तरह हिन्दुस्तान के कुछ इंतहा-पसंदों ने पुणे के यरवदा जेल में दहशतगर्दी के इल्ज़ाम में बंद कतील सिद्दिकी का क़त्ल किया था.  सरबजीत के मौत के बाद सभी पार्टियां हंगामा कर रही हैं, उनसे यही सवाल है कि अगर सरबजीत बेकसूर था तो उन्होंने अपने दौर-ए-हुकूमत में उसकी रिहाई के लिए क्या किया? ”आखिर में अखबार लिखता है कि “हमें सरबजीत के पूरे खानदान से हमदर्दी है और हम यही चाहते हैं कि आइन्दा कोई क़ैदी किसी जेल में इस तरह से क़त्ल न किया जाए जैसे सरबजीत सिंह व कतील सिद्दीकी किए गए.”

‘राष्ट्रीय सहारा उर्दू’ इस विषय पर अपने एक लेख “सरबजीत और क़तील : जान तो जान है” में असफर फरीदी एक स्थान पर लिखते हैं कि पिछले साल जेल में कैद कतील सिद्दीकी के क़त्ल के बाद अघर पूरा हिन्दुस्तान एक साथ मिलकर इसका विरोध किया जाता तो शायद पाकिस्तान में खतरनाक से खतरनाक मुजरिम को भी कातिलाना हमले करने को किसी की हिम्मत नहीं होती. हम अपने यहां जब अपने शहरियों के साथ इंसाफ नहीं कर पाते तो फिर दूसरे शहरियों से इंसाफ की उम्मीद कैसे की जा सकती है? जब तक हमारी अपनी रविश में तब्दीली नहीं आएगी तब तक न जाने कितने ही सरबजीत कातिलाना हमलों के शिकार होते रहेंगे.

‘हिन्दुस्तान एक्सप्रेस’ अपना संपाकदीय इसी सवाल से शुरू किया है कि “क्या सरबजीत सिंह की मौत हिन्द-पाक के दरम्यान नफ़रत की एक नई दिवार तो नहीं खड़ा कर देगी.?” आगे अखबार लिखता है कि “यह सिर्फ सरबजीत की मौत नहीं, बल्कि इंसानियत की मौत है.”

 ‘सहाफत’ अपने संपाकदीय में लिखता है कि “अपने भाई को रिहा कराने की जो कोशिश दलबीर कौर ने की वो ऐतिहासिक हैसियत की हामिल है. उन्होंने कोई ऐसी जगह न छोड़ी जहां उनको उम्मीद थी कि वो अपने भाई को छुड़ा सकेंगी. एक भाई के लिए एक बहन की यह अनथक जद्दोजहद सुनहरे अक्षरों में लिखे जाने के क़ाबिल है.”

जेल से रिहा होने के बाद मोहमम्द अहमद क़ाज़मी द्वारा शुर किया गया अखबार ‘क़ौमी सलामती’ भी अपने संपादकीय में लिखता है कि“….कहा जा रहा है कि सरबजीत ने दहशत गर्दाना हमले में शामिल होने का इक़बालिया बयान दिया था, इसलिए उसे सज़ा-ए-मौत मिली थी, लेकिन कौन नहीं जानता कि हिन्दुस्तान हो या पाकिस्तान यहां इक़बालिया बयान किस तरह से लिया जाता है. सरबजीत क्या वाक़ई गुनाहगार था या फिर वो दोनों देशों के उस जुनूनी तबके के नफ़रतों का भेंट चढ़ गया जो आपसी रिश्तों, दोस्ती और भाईचारे की राह में हमेशा हायल होते रहे हैं.” आगे अखबार लिखता है कि “… सरबजीत वापस आ रहा है, लेकिन मुल्क से रिहाई के बाद नहीं बल्कि ज़िन्दगी से रिहाई के बाद मौत को गले लगा कर अपनी मिट्टी में मिलने आ रहा है. दर्दमंदी, इंसानियत और अहसास अगर दोनों मुल्कों में परवान चढ़ जाए तो बहुत से बेगुनाह सियासत की भेंट चढ़ने से बच सकते हैं.”

इस बीच एक खबर यह भी है कि पाकिस्तान ने सरबजीत पर हमले की ज्यूडिशियल एन्क्वायरी के आदेश दे दिए हैं, ऐसे में कितना बेहतर होता है कि भारत सरकार भी कतील सिद्दीकी के मौत की ज्यूडिशियल एन्क्वायरी कराने का आदेश जारी करते….

As the General Elections approaching in the country, the issue of ‘paid news’ has been taken up with The Press Council of India (PCI) by RTI Activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal.

Mr. Agrawal sought information from PCI about paid news, private treaties between media groups and other parties, and complaints about both the subjects.

In its response, PCI noted that paid news “destroys the very essence of the democracy” and “undermines free and fair elections” in the country.

While stating its own limitations in dealing with these ill practices with iron fist, PCI proposed to term paid news practice an “electoral-malpractice” and make it a punishable offence.

PCI has closed complaints regarding ‘paid news’ because of ‘non-pursuance’, whereas some cases of misleading advertisements were closed after ‘settlement’.

However, Mr. Agrawal pointed out that the closure of cases due to ‘non-pursuance’ or ‘settlement’ can be result of still “dangerous practice of unethical blackmail-compromise” amid the complainant and the affected media house.

“Press Council must not close cases once filed with it because of non-pursuance or settlement. Blackmailers unnecessarily harassing media should be booked under some criminal offence in case their complaints are found baseless and frivolous,” stated Mr. Agrawal.

“While press Council Chairperson dragging himself into jobs not assigned to him like launching pardon-campaigns for selected individuals, RTI response reveals that Press Council has failed in its duty to take cognizance of dragging media in unnecessarily legal-tangle depriving TV-viewers from telecast of eye-opener true episode of ‘Teachers Recruitment Scam’ in Haryana during regime of Om Prakash Chautala as Chief Minister.”

]]> http://beyondheadlines.in/2013/04/paid-news-destroys-essence-of-democracy/feed/ 0 http://beyondheadlines.in/2013/04/awash-in-advertising/ http://beyondheadlines.in/2013/04/awash-in-advertising/#comments Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:42:12 +0000 admin http://beyondheadlines.in/?p=15714 A monitoring of advertisements appearing on news channels shows that adhering to the TRAI’s 12 minutes per hour limit will be tough for the Hindi news channels. A HOOT special report. Research by MANU MOUDGIL and MONAZIR ALAM

The television industry has reacted sharply to recent moves by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to curb what it perceives as runaway advertising on TV channels. TRAI notified on March 22 its latest regulation with regard to advertising on TV channels called the Standards of Quality of Service (Duration of Advertisements in Television Channels) (Amendment) Regulations, 2013. It specified that advertisements needed to be restricted to “twelve minutes in a clock hour,” and that includes two minutes of channel promotion.

Channel	March 14	March 15	March 16
ABP News 9.00-10.00 PM	Ad – 25 min 30 sec Channel Promo – 1 min 15 sec	Ad – 27 min 58 sec Channel promo -57 sec	Ad – 24 min 51 sec Channel Promo – 1 min 10 sec
Aaj Tak 9.00-10.00 PM	Ad- 22 min 39 sec Channel Promo - 35 sec India Today Conclave  Promo – 3 min 51 sec	Ad – 17 min 37 sec Channel promo - 11 sec	Live Telecast of  Mr. Narendre Modi Speech at India Today Conclave (No Ad - No Promo)
NDTV India 8.00-9.00 PM	Ad – 31 min 8 sec Channel Promo – 1 min 6 sec	Ad – 27 min 56 sec	Ad- 25 min 17 sec Channel Promo – 29 sec
DD News Hindi 8.00-9.00 PM	Ad – 12 min 13 sec Promo – 2 min 8 sec	Ad 9 min 18 sec	Ad – 12 min 58 sec Channel Promo – 2 min 23 sec
NDTV 24×7 9.00-10.00 PM	Ad – 10 min 15 sec Channel Promo – 46 sec	Ad – 12 min 3 sec	Ad – 13 min 38 sec Channel Promo – 1 min 8 sec
CNN-IBN 9.00-10.00 PM	Ad – 8 min 21 sec Channel Promo – 1 min 32 sec	Ad – 9 min 58 sec Channel promo – 1 min 6 sec	Ad – 21 min 55 sec Channel Promo – 1 min 1 sec
Times Now 8.30-9.30 PM	Ad – 12 min 35 sec Channel Promo 52 sec	Ad – 16 min 24 sec Channel promo –  51 sec	Ad – 28 min 26 sec Channel Promo – 21 sec
DD News English 9.00-10.00 PM	Ad – 9 min 55 sec Channel Promo – 44 sec	Ad - 6 min 31 sec	Ad – 12 min 37 sec Channel Promo – 3 min 3 sec

The English new channel Times Now shows more variation over the six days than other English news channels.  In the first half hour of recording, 8.30 to 9 pm it has all the advertising packed in, during the flagship show Newshour, there is almost none. On days when there is a special programme at 8.30 pm the advertising component goes down. (Courtesy: thehoot.org)

It’s been more than a month that Afzal Guru was hanged, but still Kashmir is burning. There are clashes taking place every day in different areas of Kashmir. These are either clashes between militants and security forces or People and security forces. In both the ways common people are suffering and political parties are busy with their own blame game as always.

From the day Afzal Guru was hanged till date Kashmir is suffering from curfews and strikes and in between this, people are suffering especially whose livelihood is based upon daily earnings and are totally dependent on their everyday work e.g. Daily Wage Laborers, Vegetable vendors etc.

But in all of this, it is very poignant in fact surprising to see national mainstream media eliminating this chapter from the camera. They have closed the chapter just after two days of hanging. It is just not a revolt against this particular issue but is a collection of thousand more assassinations that has been taking place in Kashmir under the trademark of terrorism.

Why our mainstream media cameras has chosen one angle to show the picture, what about the other angle which is people’s perspective. However what is happening in Kashmir at the moment has just become marginal for our media. It seems they have also decided to embargo issues of Kashmir very similar as the so called largest democratic state, India.

None of the media tried to investigate this issue or show the factual depiction of Kashmir rather than becoming the jury. Nobody tried to turn up to Kashmir and convey the voice of Kashmiris in front of India.

The Kashmir has been burning after the incident but all which was shown on camera were the statements of our incredibly patriotic politicians expressing their gladness on hanging up of Afzal Guru and suddenly within two days that news too vanished from mainstream media.

It was very appalling to see that this media profession too has become picky in regard to locations. May be conflicts have become less saleable. It seems like the only place to protest in India is Jantar Mantar and if you protest anywhere else your place of protest will be sent under military siege especially if it is Kashmir. If you will protest at Jantar Mantar then your protest will get coverage, else who will work so hard to reach Kashmir, we have other saleable issues in Delhi.

We are living in a country where media is considered the most powerful weapon or let’s say voice of commoners, but the fact is turning out to be something else. Media has been so commercialized that they are more willing and committed to portray things which are more saleable.

There is this question that I keep asking myself that, Is this Kashmir issue too light to be taken like this? Or our mass media has chosen to represent things which are marketable? Or is it following the state to avoid issues which are perilous to intervene? Or the government is pushing media on back benches? I don’t know when I will get these answers but I will definitely keep wondering for it. Dear mainstream media please do something; People have started losing faith in you.

(Author is a social activist, working in Kashmir) 

By rudimentary definition media both print and TV, is supposed to inform, educate and empower people about political, social, economic and cultural developments in a fair, un-biased and non-partisan manner. Also it is expected that media will, displaying healthy scepticism, question, investigate and exercise due diligence before disseminating news. It does have apparently an adversarial role as far as governance is concerned but not that of a hostile antagonist.

The basic tenets of journalism are being flouted every day. Of course there are a few exceptions (like The Hindu/Indian Express in print) but none apparently in mainstream English News TV.  Apart from “paid news”, the subtle and subliminal attempts to pollute the profession have disconcertingly become every day occurrence. The venal and ideological interests of the editors/anchors and owners have gained such an ascendency that it is almost impossible to differentiate between news and their platitudinous proclamations and motivated spin. The anchors have no qualms in setting up Kangaroo Courts to try political class even when the matter is “sub-judice” but will not do so in case of Jindal-Zee scandal citing this very excuse. The fine of Rs. 1L imposed by NBSA on CNN/IBN for” biased, tendentious and factually incorrect” reporting in case of a land allotment by Haryana Government too did not find any traction with media (except TIMES OF INDIA (Goa) of 23.12.12). Mr. S. Vardarajan has put it aptly though a little crudely that “we (media) do not like pissing in the tent”.

Ours is admittedly a flawed democratic process, more so because of tremendous heterogeneity and inhuman economic disparities. The political class has failed to come up to the expected standards and the downside of democratic process – hankering for votes to gain power – has resulted in endemic corruption, division of polity and other ills. The media has taken full advantage of weak and divided political class and has succeeded in engendering a sense of disenchantment and even disgust with the political process largely through unprofessional, unethical, biased and irresponsible journalism. The anchors/editors have used extortionatory methods of 24/7 coverage of alleged wrongdoings of politicians and perverse use of right to free speech so that they may enjoy a disproportionate sense of power that too without any accountability. And have succeeded, it is obvious, but for how long?

On the other hand, media has had no compunction in churning out trivia, sleaze, muckraking and gossip in huge doses to cater to its main consumer, the burgeoning middle class, which has always been averse to rough and tumble of electoral process and is happy with divisive and subversive spin indulged in by anchors, at least, till now. The middle class has displayed, despite its liberal pretensions, a disturbing indifference to the deprived and discriminated. The same disturbing indifference prevails in News TV too, the fig leaves of programmes like “Positive India, Amazing Indians” notwithstanding, because anchors/editors too hail from the ruling class and work as an “exclusive” group.

The divided and enfeebled political class has failed to withstand media attacks, legitimate or motivated. The editors/anchors have become outlandishly arrogant and have become presumptuous enough to even lay down policy framework not only with regard to internal governance but foreign relations too. It has no mandate to do so. The political class, at least, has to go to the people to get a mandate, through universal suffrage, every five years but the editors/owners/anchors, drunk with the transient power they have managed to usurp, are even not beyond calling for war on drop of a hat. The TV anchors will, if they have their way, go to war with Pakistan and even China and Australia even simultaneously to avenge any  real or imaginary infringement of nation`s honour. Then there are media groups like Bennett Coleman (TIMES GROUP) which milk the controversies like the current Indo-Pak fracas from both ends, so to speak. Its one section promotes amity through campaigns like “Aman-Ki-Asha” and the other like Times Now and particularly its anchor, Goswami, is all for teaching Pakistan a lesson for its so called perfidy.

The latest example is the recent ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir. This incident and particularly the beheading of a soldier has been treated as “manna” by so called “non-partisan, liberal and educated anchors” like Goswami, Shivshankar, Kanwal, Sardesai and even Dutt of Times Now, Headlines Today, CNN/IBN (Karan Thapar anchoring “Last Word” being an exception on this issue) and NDTV respectively to derail the tenuous but effective peace which has prevailed on the LOC for the last ten years. Not much importance has been given to the people living alongside the border in J&K who have gained a sense of normality in their lives because of the ceasefire. While Times Now, Headlines Today  did everything to raise the emotional pitch about beheading,  NDTV (Dutt) has tried to ridicule the attempts to retrieve the situation by claiming that the State is sending  “mixed” messages  and maliciously insinuating that the Prime Minister is more worried about the legacy he wants to bequeath than “honour” of the country. The Government has, seemingly succumbing to the pressure, put the “peace process” on hold. Only temporarily it is hoped.

The means adopted for rabblerousing are equally subversive. The facts are distorted, the negative aspects are over emphasized and issues which can lend some reasonableness are either ignored or given perfunctory treatment. Even the case of beheading was not an uncommon incident it was made out to be. The Army Chief himself, in his interview, admitted that even in 2011 two such beheadings had taken place and the matter was sorted out at the level already agreed to by the two countries. Also, Najam Sethi, a senior journalist and a senior diplomat Hilaly, both of Pakistan, claimed (on “Last Word” anchored by Karan Thapar of CNN/IBN and on “Centre Stage” by Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today respectively) that Indian Army too had beheaded Pakistani soldiers during Kargil war. This was also stated by our own Ex Naval Chief Admiral L. Ramdas in the “Kangaroo Court” conducted (on NDTV) by no less than Barkha Dutt herself. Sethi and Hilaly had also claimed that they learnt about this from a piece written by Dutt for a Nepalese journal Himal. None of the anchors/editors of other channels considered this as an editorial imperative to confirm the veracity of these claims nor has Dutt so far admitted or contradicted claims of Pakistani Gentlemen.

Further, inquisition or the Kangaroo Courts conducted by the anchors in the studios raise some legitimate questions. The panelists are carefully chosen so that the line pre-determined by the anchor gets confirmed. In this case also, most of the Army Brass consisting of retired Colonels, Brigadiers and Generals were competing with each other in sabre rattling. No one asked if these worthies have any direct/indirect connections with an Arms Manufacturer or a Supplier or a think-tank espousing a particular ideological stance. The viewers should be informed about such links for the sake of transparency, if nothing else. Was it only a co-incidence that those retired Army Officers who had espoused the cause of retired Army Chief V.K.Singh were more vociferous than others in condemning the Government for compromising national interests? In fact, there was a brazen attempt to sow discord between political arm of State and Army. The anchors have been a willing accomplice in this nefarious attempt.

The jury for the Kangaroo Courts is chosen with great deliberation and it includes retired diplomats/bureaucrats, political analysts, intellectuals and people from “intelligence” world. Here again, it is futile to look for any transparency. There is no knowing what baggage a panelist has brought to the discussion. The anchors never reveal the links or connections these people have with think-tanks, whether indigenous or foreign. The narrative is influenced by the ideologies of different hues some of them subscribe to. Many a bureaucrat and a diplomat try to get even with government of the day for not providing a sinecure after retirement or on some other personal grouse. The anchors, instead of asking the panelists to be transparent mislead the viewers. The political commentators like Swapan Das Gupta, Ashok Malik or Pranjoy GuhaThakurta are introduced as independent analysts whereas their ideological colours of “saffron” or “red” are discernible and evident in every word they speak or write.

It is very easy to rabble rouse the people by stoking raw emotions by portraying everything starkly black. However, the situations and issues have grey areas too and a rational and nuanced approach to matters concerning national honour is called for. Media has the power to shape the mind of the people. We have, no doubt, lived and still live with an uneasy situation on our border and have fought three wars too. Yet to keep on harping on this and to overplay the fact of militancy, jihad and infiltration from across the border and to under play the – “peace dividend of ceasefire resulting in reduced deaths of civilians and Jawans and relative peaceful life for people living on the border” –  on again off again attempts to reduce the tension is tantamount to distortion of the actual position. Opposition political parties will do what suits them and even ask for “head-hunting” as demanded by Sushma Swaraj of BJP. But will it end there?  Pakistan is having problems of its own and there is an apprehension that it may end up as a “failed state”. Is it in our national interest then to ask for “Final Solution” or as Arnab Goswami has asked rhetorically and on behalf of the NATION “Can imploding Pakistan ever dare  needle India again”? Does he realize that a failed state will pose far greater danger than a state which is in need of a helping hand in its struggle to preserve democracy?

Anchors/editors must return to the task of editing and professional journalism. By raising the temperature through jingoistic rhetoric, hysterical pronouncements and by appealing to the lowliest of low instincts of people, the anchors not only betray but dis-honour their profession. Above all, it is imperative that the media tones down its belligerence (even if it is synthetic) and evaluates the situation in an impartial and a just perspective. Its task is not to promote enmity, distrust and discord but to work for conciliation, consensus, convergence and peace no matter how many pitfalls have to be endured in the process and no matter how long the process lasts.

(Pramod Kumar retired from Glaxo and now lives in Goa from where he keeps an eagle eye on Media and can be reached at kumar.pramod1939@rediffmail.com)

अयोध्या/ फैजाबाद का हिंदी प्रिंट मीडिया का एक बड़ा हिस्सा अपनी पेशागत नैतिकताओं के विरुद्ध निहायत गैरजिम्मेदाराना, पक्षपाती, शरारती, षडयंत्रकारी, सांप्रदायिक और जनविरोधी हो चला है. वह अपनी विरासतों/ नीतिगत मानदंडों का खुल्लमखुल्ला उलंघन करने पर उतारु है. जनपद में घटी हाल की घटनाओं पर रिपोर्टिंग से उसकी इसी नियत/ चरित्र का पता चलता है. इन अख़बारों ने विगत 23 जुलाई में मिर्ज़ापुर गांव की घटना, 21 सितंबर देवकाली मूर्ति चोरी प्रकरण, 13 अक्टूबर को मूर्ति बरामदगी आंदोलन में भाजपा सांसद योगी आदित्यनाथ के कूदने और 24 अक्टूबर को मूर्ति विसर्जन के दौरान हुए फसाद के आस-पास क्या क्या गुल नहीं खिलाए? जिसे देखकर आप माथा पीट लेंगे. भारतीय प्रेस परिषद द्वारा गठित शीतला सिंह कमीशन को तथ्य/ रिपोर्ट मुहैया करा देना इन अख़बारों को बहुत नागवार गुज़रा. अपनी करतूतों को देख बौखलाए ये सम्मानित अख़बार सांप्रदायिक खुन्नस निकालने लगे.

ताज़ा मामला काकोरी कांड के नायक अशफाकउल्ला खां और पंडित राम प्रसाद बिस्मिल के शहादत दिवस पर हुए तीन दिवसीय छठे अयोध्या फिल्म फेस्टिवल के समापन के बाद ऐसी साजिश देखने को मिली. 21 दिसंबर को फिल्म उत्सव का समापन हुआ. 22 दिसंबर को भारतीय जनता पार्टी के छात्र संगठन अखिल भारतीय विधार्थी परिषद ने फिल्म फेस्टिवल के खिलाफ हमला बोल दिया. अख़बार भी भय, भ्रम और दहशत फ़ैलाने में ABVP का प्रवक्ता बन बैठें.

23दिसम्बर राष्ट्रीय सहारा में दो कॉलम की खबर छापी ’विधार्थी परिषद ने किया महाविद्यालय में प्रदर्शन’*अयोध्या फिल्म फेस्टिवल का किया विरोध’.  दैनिक जागरण का शीर्षक था ’फिल्म फेस्टिवल में महापुरुषों का हुआ अपमान’. हिंदुस्तान ने फोटो के साथ दो कॉलम की खबर छापी ’फिल्म फेस्टिवल के खिलाफ प्रदर्शन’. अख़बारों ने खूब अफवाह फैलाई लेकिन इस मामले में फिल्म निर्माता आनंद पटवर्धन का बयान नहीं छापा, न ही लोकतंत्र और धर्मनिरपेक्षता की आवाज उठाने वालों की प्रतिक्रिया… 

10 जनवरी को राष्ट्रीय सहारा फोटो के साथ तीन कॉलम की ’फिल्म फेस्टिवल के विरोध में छात्रों का प्रदर्शन’. हिंदुस्तान भी फोटो के साथ तीन कॉलम ’अयोध्या फिल्म फेस्टिवल के विरोध में प्रदर्शन’ छापता है. अमर उजाला को भी पीछे हो जाना गवारा नहीं. 10 जनवरी को अख़बार लिखता है ’अयोध्या पर की गई थी आपत्तिजनक टिप्पणी’, ’फेस्टिवल में प्रदर्शित फिल्म के विरोध में छात्रों का प्रदर्शन’ ‘राम के नाम ’ फिल्म को लेकर शुरू हुआ विवाद’ फोटो के साथ दो कॉलम की खबर छापी. लेकिन 10 जनवरी को ही आनंद की प्रेस नोट इन अख़बारों को भेजी जाती है. बयान देखकर मना कर दिया जाता है. 14 जनवरी को जस्टिस सच्चर, पूर्व आईजी एस आर दारापुरी, मैग्सेसे पुरस्कार से सम्मानित डॉक्टर संदीप पांडे, लेखक डॉ प्रेम सिंह आदि की प्रतिक्रिया भी दबा दी गई.

अयोध्या/ फैजाबाद का माहौल पहले से ही संवेदनशील है. 22 साल पुरानी फिल्म ’राम के नाम’ जिसे सेंसर बोर्ड का सर्टिफिकेट मिला है. भारत सरकार ने इस फिल्म को राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार दिया है, इतना ही नहीं उच्च न्यायालय के आदेश पर इसे दूरदर्शन पर प्राइम टाइम में दिखाया जा चुका है. वैसे भी आनंद की फिल्मों को दुनिया की बेहतरीन फिल्मों में रखा जाता है.

अख़बार ABVP के हवाले से अपने पाठकों को बताता है ’राम के नाम’ काल्पनिक फिल्म है, अयोध्या का नाम इस्लामपुरी है जिसे बाबर ने बसाया है, हिन्दू देवी – देवताओं, धर्मग्रंथों, हिन्दुओं का अपमान किया गया है, प्रभु राम का अस्तिस्त्व नहीं है, रामचरित मानस मनगढ़ंत है, भारतीय महापुरुषों पर अभद्र टिप्पणी की गई है, भारतीय संस्कृति के खिलाफ हमला किया गया है, सनातन सभ्यता के खिलाफ षडयंत्र किया गया है, फेस्टिवल के दौरान सांप्रदायिकता भड़काने का प्रयास किया गया है…. (न्यायधीश की भूमिका में बैठे इन अख़बारों को मालूम है कि 6 सालों से अयोध्या फिल्म फेस्टिवल ’अवाम का सिनेमा’ अशफाक/ बिस्मिल शहादत दिवस पर हर साल होता है इनके पास फिल्म उत्सव की छपी विवरणिका दो बार भेजी जाती है. आरोप पत्र तय करने से पहले इसे पढ़ लेना चाहिए था.)

‘अवाम का सिनेमा’ 7 सालों से देश के कई हिस्सों में उत्सव बगैर किसी स्पोंसर के हमख्याल दोस्तों के बल पर करता है. आज के दौर में जब मीडिया जनसरोकारों से विमुख हो गया है. बेलगाम पूंजी कॉरपोरेट मीडिया और सिनेमा में उढ़ेल कर नियंत्रित की जा चुकी हो. अब वो दौर  लद चुका, आम आदमी की उनके दफ्तर में घुसने की मनाही हो चुकी है तब ऐसे आयोजन ज़रुरी लगते हैं.

आपको बताते चले कि यह विरोध हास्यास्पद है क्योंकि फिल्म 22 वर्ष पहल बाबरी मस्जिद के गिराए जाने से पहले बन चुकी थी. इसे सेंसर बोर्ड की स्वीकृति मिली हुई है. 1992 में राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार तथा फिल्मफेयर का पुरस्कार भी मिल चुका है और 1996 में यह दूरदर्शन पर भी दिखाई जा चुकी है. इस फिल्म में अयोध्या और फैजाबाद के आम नागरिकों (हिन्दू व मुसलमानों, जो सदियों से मिल-जुल कर रहते आए हैं) से बातचीत दिखाई गई है. राम जन्मभूमि के मुख्य पुजारी लालदास से भी बातचीत दिखाई गई है, जिन्होंने धर्म के नाम पर राजनीति करने वालों की आलोचना की और साम्प्रदायिक सद्भावना के पक्ष में भूमिका ली. उन्होंने राम मंदिर निर्माण के लिए एकत्र किए जाने वाले ईंट अभियान में भ्रष्टाचार की भी चर्चा की. बाबरी मस्जिद ध्वंस के बाद पुजारी लालदास की हत्या हो गई.

फिल्म में एक महंथ का बयान भी है जिसने 1949 में मंदिर में मूर्ति रखने का दावा कर मूर्ति के प्रकट होने की बात से तमाम साधारण धर्मपरायण हिन्दुओं को गुमराह करने के प्रयास कर भण्डाफोड़ किया है.

फिल्म साम्प्रदायिक राजनीति का पर्दाफाश करती है और भारतीय संविधान की धर्मनिरपेक्षता के प्रति प्रतिबद्धता को ही मजबूत करती है और इसीलिए न्यायालय ने इसे दूरदर्शन पर दिखाए जाने कर आदेश दिया. यह फिल्म सहिष्णु और समावेशी हिन्दू धर्म की अवधारणा को संकुचित करने वाले हिन्दुत्वादी संगठनों की अपने राजनीतिक निहित स्वार्थों के लिए साम्प्रदायिक जहर फैलाने का खुलासा करती है और इसलिए साम्प्रदायिक राजनीति करने वाले इससे चिढ़ते हैं. यदि फिल्म का विरोध करने वाले फिल्म पर रोक लगाना ही चाहते हैं तो उन्हें या तो न्यायालय की शरण में जाना चाहिए या फिर सेंसर बोर्ड की.

]]> http://beyondheadlines.in/2013/01/ayodhya-print-media/feed/ 0 http://beyondheadlines.in/2013/01/women-popular-culture-and-violence-joining-the-dots/ http://beyondheadlines.in/2013/01/women-popular-culture-and-violence-joining-the-dots/#comments Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:18:37 +0000 admin http://beyondheadlines.in/?p=14682 Music videos have become one of the most insidious offenders, shaping sexist attitudes towards women. NUPUR BASU explores popular culture’s role in commodifying women.

The adult content in this article has been retained advisedly. Please forward with caution.

2012 has ended on a tragic note for Indian women and Indian society.

As we grapple with the brutality of the events in recent weeks, piecing together the messaging that is going on in popular culture and its direct linkages with violence against women, can be an eye-opener.

Even as I write this piece, an FIR has been registered in Lucknow against a rapper for one of the most controversial and offensive music videos circulating on Facebook. It is  by Yo Yo Honey Singh and has garnered  27 lakh ‘Likes’. Otherwise known as the “Rape Rapper” for his song ‘Chooth’ (which now has two versions), the song is still on social network sites. Critics have dubbed the lyrics and video downright lewd, offensive and abusive to women. The lyrics and translation are given below in all their starkness.

“Aaaja teri choot maroon- Come let me fuck you

Tere sar se chudney ka bhoot utaron- exorcise you of the ghost of your virginity

Choodney key baat tujhe jutey maroon- I will hit you with my shoes

 Tere mooh main apna lora dey key mooth maroon- I will put my penis in your mouth

Kar doon teri fuddi kharab- I will ruin your vagina

 Mere jaisa koi nahin mere bhudi kharab- There is no one madder than me

 Terey bad terey post- after you i am done

Bas yahin kam kaaj mera- this is my work

Kar doonga khoosh tujhe- i will make you very happy

 Luraa ley keu naach mera- dance with my penis

 “Choot”-  Vagina!

This music video plays in a country where the world now knows a woman is raped every 22 minutes. In India’s capital city, Delhi, a woman or child is raped  every 18 hours. To add insult to injury, 83 per cent of sexual assault cases are pending in court. Only a quarter of them (27 per cent) end in conviction.

In another video titled SATAN: Yo Yo Singh wields a whip lash and is trying to seduce a woman with this song.

“Re monsoon ka mausam.. monsoon is here

tan man me romance hain chaya.. my mind and body is longing for romance

ab to has ke bol re chodi tere liye ek cheez hoon laya- laugh woman now because I am going to give you

dekh ke jisko jhoom paregi.. something that will make you drunk

sar pet ere khoob chadegi.. and you will beg me for it..

hath jor ke bas tu baby.. you will plead for it

mujh se bas yahin kahegi..you will keep asking for it

Woman’s voice singing and dancing: veed peelade sajnaya..veed peelade sajnaya: feed me your seed my darling …feed me your seed my darling.

Activists demanded a ban on the Punjabi rapper’s New Year’s Eve performance in a five star hotel in Gurgaon. And the programme was called off. But the songs continue to be on the internet.

Even as the country is reeling from shock of losing the Delhi girl and the loss of those dozens of women and minor girls who have been raped in recent times, the fact that such music videos are still playing and the singers performing in the capital city, is utterly noxious and indicative of the present malaise.

The Delhi girl’s tragic plight is only the tip of the iceberg of India’s Son- Worshipping and Hate-and-Abuse-Women philosophy.

Music videos have become one of the most insidious offenders against women influencing young men across the country and shaping their sexist attitudes towards women. Take for example Kolaveri D – the song that took the country by storm last year. It had references to a girl with a ‘dark heart’ and the official video version with millions of hits had appalling visuals of the male protagonist (played by singer Dhanush) literally manhandling and blatantly harassing passing women on the beach as well as white women tourists. And all this passes in the name of high TRP entertainment.

Bollywood has also become a major offender .Hindi cinema which even in the sixties showed women’s fight for an equality, has taken several steps back and has got more status quoist than ever before.  In the big banner Rs 100 crore films ,ubiquitously termed ‘item’ numbers have become the order of the day. The pre-releases on television shows of these films showcase these item numbers to seduce the audience into the theatres when the films release. What began with songs like Choli key peeche kya hain has got bolder and more stark. In the last few years the item numbers have got more raunchy with Munni badnaam huin, Sheila ki jawaani, jalebi bai, halkat jawani etc. Today no Bollywood film is complete without an item number. And Bollywood heroines like Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif and others line up for producers to enact these songs for a huge sum. In fact it is appalling that they are not challenged under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 .

Even a director like Prakash Jha making a film on the naxalite uprising in India in ‘Chakravyuha’ has an item number. The distributor had joked to journalists at the London Film Festival in October this year,where the film premiered, that he had put pressure on Jha to include it. The eyeballs are important even if it means that the aesthetics of the film is damaged by such a decision. If a good director like Jha can succumb, then others have lost the battle even before they have gone past the screen-play.

“There is no doubt that the item songs impact on the minds of men who watch them and result in commodification of women.. It used to happen before too..Raj Kapoor’s women singing near waterfalls were also for titillation of the masses ..but there were no strong views then that were articulated on this. Popular culture is the biggest indicator of change. The whole revenue model is based on commodification. These images do not go unnoticed” said Shobha De on a programme on NDTV this week

On the same programme, however, Sharmila Tagore surprised everyone by defendingitem numbers. “Film and TV are a hyper visible medium. I don’t think there is scholarly evidence of crime after watching these item numbers… I don’t think they would see this and go and rape..Is it sexist? Why is it sexist?  I always hear of commodification, objectification ..why not Govinda when he’s selling underwear? Why only women?” Sharmila Tagore asked. The czarina of Indian soaps Ekta Kapoor tweeted in defence: ‘If people are imitating films, then all would be rapists.”!

Both Tagore and Kapoor may not have read about the impact of item numbers not only in India but also in the entire region. The shocking news item a few months back of a police station in Pakistan, where local cops rounded up some sex workers and made them dance all night in the police station to ‘munni badnam huin’ resulting in the death of one of the women, shows the influence of these dangerous trends across the sub continent.

Says Akhila Sivadas of Centre For Advocacy and Research (CFAR) : “ We may not have the clinching evidence to show the linkage between commodification of women and violence against women but there is enough evidence to reveal the deep-seated misogyny in our society and culture including popular culture . Given this evidence we could safely infer that commodification of women will only further the degradation of women as sexual subjects (and prevent their assertion as sexual beings) and lead to the kind of brutal violence that we are witnessing day in and day out.”

There is a also a difference between sensuality and crass sexuality. Although Sharmila Tagore wearing a bikini in Evening in Paris was critiqued by certain quarters at that time, there was no crassness in that. Nor was there any crassness in her sensual picturisation in the song ‘roop tera mastana, pyaar mera deewana’ in the filmAradhana with Rajesh Khanna. A country that celebrated erotica in the right spirit with ‘Kamasutra’ ,has today let sensuality and erotica degenerate into a violent and aggressive crime against old, young and minor children.

“We portray both Ram and Ravan…If they want to follow Ravan and not Ram, why blame us?” asked Bollywood’s bad boy Salmaan Khan whose latest film “Dabbang 2” predictably has another item number “Fevicol se” by Kareena Kapoor .

Arnab Goswami did some very good and hardhitting Newshours on Times Now and put the government ,the police and Indian politicians in the dock. But the malaise of the media is apparent in its own contradictions. Soon after Arnab’s programme on one of the evenings, the channel moved to its Entertainment segment with Kareena Kapoor’s ’fevicol se’ gyrations in ‘Dabbang 2’ and Sunny Leone’s future plans!  Leone who acts and produces adult films in the US, got a lot of attention in Bollywood in ‘Jism 2’..and the reams of space that the media devoted to her was indicative of how much they relished portraying the women as commodities.

Following close on Leone’s fan following is the following for Poonam Pandey , the woman who offered to strip if ‘India won the World Cup’. Pandey has made a profession of making self promoting videos scantily clad and floating stories about how she is going to be Shahrukh Khan’s next leading lady.

Experts point out that this is an age old ploy to sexualise the media and keep them from questioning the real issues that confront this country. Technology has helped further accentuate it.

The government is complicit in not only turning a blind eye to all this but in letting bodies under its control such as the Board of Control for Cricket in India  perpetuate these trends. Take for example the cheerleaders in the IPL matches when scantily clad women are paid to do a little dance every time the cricketers hit a four or a six. The commodification of women in this manner viewed by millions of eyeballs during these IPL matches send out all the wrong signals about women. A lawsuit was filed in Chennai by a lawyer against one of these and the Chennai High Court had issued a show cause notice to the organisers. But in most of these cases,they carry on as if nothing has happened.

This large scale legitimacy given to treating women as a sex object then has a pervasive impact on society. Young parents are taking their little girls, as little as four or five years old, to coach and learn item numbers from Bollywood films . They are then made to perform at family wedding ‘sangeet’ functions or drag them to innumerable tacky studio talent shows that run on different TV channels. Top Bollywood producers, actors and choreographers endorse these programmes which show girls as young as six or seven gyrating to filmi item songs.

A society that allows the objectification of young girls as sex symbols cannot express shock when minors are abused virtually on a daily basis. It is a real wonder that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, a statutory body set up in 2005, remains silent on these programmes on television despite the crime graph against children in the country climbing by 24 per cent from 2010 to 2011 . In 2011 over 7112 cases of child rape were reported across the country, up from 5484 in 2010.

The fight is going to be a long haul. “There seems to be a way in which young lumpenised men in our country feel that if a woman is out with another man, they have an equal right over her… they want to subject all of womanhood to the karva chuath culture ” Uma Chakravarty, feminist historian ,pointed out.

On a television set nearby a serial plays out on Zee TV. “Phir Suboh hogi” has a mentally ill woman pitted against another woman – both are wives of the same man – and they are fighting over a mangalsutra (the necklace worn by married women in Hindu society). Loud and dramatic music, so typical of these serials, is on in full blast as the mentally ill woman tries to playfully grab  the mangalsutra .The other woman turns on her husband and presents him with an ultimatum “Either she stays in this house or I stay…I am a woman cop and do I have to live in this house and bear this insult that your first wife is snatching my mangalsutra- I will leave”.The man pleads saying his first wife needs them as she is ill.But there is no rage worse than a jealous woman’s.

The plot is the same- two women fighting over one man. In this case one woman really does not know what she is doing as she is ill. Yet the other woman is depicted as petty and jealous.

This is a  country where the popular perception is that daughters are just passing entities that need to be packed off to another family with a customary dowry by the time they are 18-20 years old. Marriage is thus the be all and end all of their existence. These views are perpetrated day in and day out on television serials which command the maximum entertainment eyeballs. To what extent does popular culture impinge on and shape perceptions in society, media and government, has been a subject of study by several organisations but with little effect.

Meenu Anand in a paper titled “Women in Television: depictions and distortions’ discusses at length the Ekta Kapoor teleserials and their impact on popular culture. Slotting them under the category, ‘Vampish woman: a new genre’ Anand says that the “K” series by Ekta Kapoor gave “Indian television a new genre of women characters and the success of these characters calls for questioning our changing idols. Women if not shown portraying stereotyped, superhuman characters; are shown as schemers,manipulators, home-breakers or as vamps e.g. Kamolika in Kausati Zindagi Ki and Anu in Des Mein Nikala Hoga Chand, … and Kabhi Aye Naa Judaai. Kidnappings, killings, creating family dispute and marital disharmony are some of the role attributes that are essayed by such female characters in one episode after the other. Practically each of these negative characters exhibits revenge, greed, deceit and diabolical plots. These characters are often in contrast and pitted against the ideal ones.”

She also expresses concern over the “rising trend in extra marital relationships that are depicted on the small screen” which seems far divorced from the reality of the condition of most Indian women who are struggling to make ends meet.

Patriarchy, feudalism, manipulative weepy women and tough talking men who call the shots in the private and public spaces, people the different channels as serial after serial plays out to millions of viewers in the country, largely women. There are exceptions like the earlier ‘Udaan’ or the more recent ‘Radha ki betiya kar dikhayengi’and others. But they remain the exception rather than the norm.

In a country like India where roughly 10 million girls have been killed in the last 20 years through sex determination techniques , the frank display and celebration of patriarchy in popular culture can only set the clock back further for our women. Even in 2012 society still falls back on the shastras where only sons are entitled to take care of the parents and also do their last rites. Daughters, become unwanted and irrelevant , in this context.

Like tele-serials, advertising in the globalised media has also honed in firmly on women as their favourite low hanging fruit. While earlier the stereotyping would show women doing domestic chores to sell soaps and detergents, now it  has got more sophisticated. Top models and even screen divas of yesteryear  are now used to sell any and everything from chocolates (a recent ad shows actor Rekha ) – to cars, liquor, bathroom fittings. It is difficult to make out as models jell into products and products jell into models.

Financial agency and insurance advertising fall back on patriarchal notions ofkanyadaan: “Suman’s ki shaadi ke liye paise bachana hain”.Other well-heeled women are shown being wooed by diamonds by their husbands who have little time to spend with them in their busy corporate lives. What to talk of the demeaning proliferation of fairness creams which suggests that we are a nation that hate our very skin colour.

Bollywood actor Rani Mukherjee recently said in a TV interview when her film ‘Aiyya’released : “Indian mother in laws do not like dark skinned daughter in laws.” In the film ‘Aiyya’ Rani Mukherjee as the heroine falls in love with a dark skinned man. The point that Mukherjee was trying to make in the interview, would probably have been served better if the script that made the hero had fallen in love with a dusky woman.

But why are women low hanging fruit for the advertising companies to be used and stereotyped? Why have they preferred this sexist route rather than choosing to show them in more empowering roles which would appeal to intelligent urban women, who are increasingly the people who hold the purse strings and make decisions on family purchases?

The writing on the wall is clear. It is now acceptable, fashionable and legitimate to commercialise sexuality through popular culture. The result of that is for all to see. (Courtesy: http://thehoot.org)

(The author is a journalist and director of the documentary – ‘No Country for Young Girls’)

मीडिया का नैतिक कर्तव्य है कि समाज में फैली हुई कुरीतियों से समाज को सजग करे. देश और समाज के हित के लिए जनता को जागरूक करे. परन्तु ऐसा लगता है कि धन कमाने की अंधी दौड़ में लोकतंत्र का यह चौथा खंभा अपनी सभी मर्यादाओं को लांघ रहा है.

सभी समाचार पत्रों में संपादक प्रतिदिन बड़ी-बड़ी पांडित्यपूर्ण सम्पादकीय लिख कर जनमानस को अपनी लेखनी की शक्ति से अवगत कराते हैं, परन्तु व्यावहारिक रूप में ऐसा लगता है कि पैसा कमाने के लिए सभी कायदे कानूनों को ताक पर रख दिया गया है.

सभी समाचारपत्रों में अश्लील एवं अनैतिक विज्ञापनों की भरमार है, जिससे समाज के लोग गुमराह होते हैं. समाचारपत्र केवल एक लाइन लिखकर लाभान्वित हो जाता है. क्या कभी किसी समाचारपत्र ने ऐसे विज्ञापनों की सत्यता को जांचने की कोशिश की? क्या ऐसे अश्लील और अनैतिक विज्ञापनों को समाचारपत्रों में छपने भर से वह अपनी जिम्मेवारी से मुक्त हो सकता है?

ऐसे बहुत से विज्ञापन हैं जिनमें कोई पता नहीं होता, केवल मोबाईल नंबर दे दिया जाता है. क्योंकि लाख कोशिश करने के बाबजूद भी ऐसे विज्ञापनदाताओं ने अपना पता नहीं बताया. इस तरह की कई शिकायतें थाने में दर्ज भी कराई  गई हैं. परंतु उस पर कारवाई नहीं के बराबर होता है. ऐसे विज्ञापनदाता जनता से धन ऐंठकर चम्पत हो जाते हैं. क्या इनके दुराचार में मीडिया भी बराबर का भागीदार नहीं है?

संपादक को चरित्रवान एवं देश व समाज के प्रति जिम्मेदार होना चाहिए, तभी उनके सम्पादकीय की गरिमा का आभास जन मानस को हो सकेगा और उनके विद्वता का लाभ देश और समाज को मिल सकेगा.

आज सामाजिक पतन के लिए काफी हद तक मीडिया भी जिम्मेदार है. यदि इन्टरनेट की बात छोड़ दें तो, इस प्रकार के गुमराह करने वाले विज्ञापनों से की जाने वाली कमाई से देश में और खासकर महानगरों में बलात्कार जैसी घटनाएँ नहीं होंगी तो और क्या होगा?

पच्चीस वर्ष पहले भी जब पंजाब केसरी समाचारपत्र में विदेशी महिलाओं के अश्लील फोटो छपते थे तो कई सजग पाठकों ने इसका विरोध भी किया था परन्तु यह आज तक जारी है. खास बात यह है कि बहुत से लोग केवल इसी कारण  इस समाचारपत्र को पसंद करते हैं. अब तो प्रायः सभी अखबार यही कर रहे हैं.

खेद की बात है कि  हर आदमी धनवान बनना चाहता है, चाहे उसके लिए समाज और देश को कोई भी कीमत क्यों न चुकानी पड़े. जब हम निर्मल बाबा और दूसरे धर्म के ठेकेदारों, भ्रष्ट नेताओं को कोसते हैं, तो संपादक मंडल को भी अपने गिरेबान में झांकने की ज़रूरत है कि हम क्यों पेड न्यूज़ और भ्रामक विज्ञापन के द्वारा चंद लोगों के लाभ के लिए समाज के साथ खिलवाड़ कर रहे हैं?

समाज के कई भद्र कुलीन व्यक्ति इन धोखेबाज लोगों के शिकार होते हैं, परन्तु अपनी बदनामी से बचने के लिए आवाज़ नहीं उठाते. आवश्यकता है कि जनहित में छद्म ग्राहक बनकर इनकी गतिविधियाँ जानकर उसका भंडाफोड़ करने के लिए सजग लोग अग्रसर हों. क्या संपादक मंडल राष्ट्रहित में  लिंगवर्धन, मसाज पार्लर, महिलाओं से दोस्ती जैसे भ्रामक विज्ञापनों  पर रोक लगाने का भरसक प्रयास करेगे?

(लेखक गोपाल प्रसाद स्वतंत्र पत्रकार एवं आरटीआई एक्टिविस्ट हैं) 

]]> http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/12/role-of-media-in-rape/feed/ 0 http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/12/adding-to-the-victims-trauma/ http://beyondheadlines.in/2012/12/adding-to-the-victims-trauma/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2012 06:43:54 +0000 admin http://beyondheadlines.in/?p=14567 We have to question the media’s thirst for every detail about this woman’s condition, their invasion of privacy. Was it really necessary for the doctors to give out a daily health bulletin on live television, asks KALPANA SHARMA.

“It’s like the life we have never existed … every day now passes in a flash”.  This was the headline in the Indian Express on December 25, 2012.  And it is a quote from the younger brother of the 23-year-old survivor of the heinous gang rape that took place on a Delhi whiteline bus on December 16, 2012.

Since then there have been thousands of words spoken on television and written in the print media, scores of slogans shouted on the streets, especially in Delhi, by women and men, many of them young.  There is justifiable anger and anguish over what this one rape, among the daily occurrence of sexual assaults all over India, represents for the future of Indian women, not just their safety but also their lives as free individuals in a free country.

Yet in the middle of all the noise and slogans many people, including the media, appear to have forgotten that the story is also about an individual and her family, and their right to have some privacy.  The Indian Express story was an essential reality check, a reminder of how things could be, or should be, when such terrible things happen.

Put yourself in the shoes of the 19-year-old brother of this woman.  She is constantly described as a “victim”.  While she certainly was the victim of a horrendous crime, surely the more accurate description is to call her a “survivor”.  This might be just another term, but it places everything in a different perspective.

Amongst the many articles that have been written and circulated in the last 10 days, one that raised a pertinent point appeared in the American feminist journal “Off our backs”.  In the article “Male-pattern violence”, the author, Jennie Ruby asks why the media always reports that a woman has been raped but not that a man has raped a woman.  Terming it “gender dyslexia”, she writes:

“This reluctance to talk about men’s violence is widespread and seems to amount almost to a taboo. The news media report that “a woman was raped,” but never say “a man raped a woman.” Analyses of school violence talk about “kids killing kids,” ignoring the fact that it is almost exclusively boys committing the violence. Terms like “domestic violence” mask the fact that most of this violence is committed by men. Feminists and feminist organizations also fall into this pattern by using the term “violence against women.” This wording puts the focus on women as victims and hides who is perpetrating the violence. If we can’t even say who is doing most of the violence in the world, how can we hope to stop it?”

So even if nothing else changes, the media should at least have another look at the terminology it uses when reporting on such cases.

Secondly, we have to question the media’s thirst for every detail about this woman’s condition.  Was it really necessary for the panel of doctors to give out a daily health bulletin on live television?  How does this help?  Is this not feeding into voyeurism?  When a person is so critical, they waver between life and death.  There are days when there is an improvement; at other times it seems hopeless. Anyone who has had to care for a person in this condition knows how your emotions swing from hope to despair almost by the hour.  In such a situation, you do not need people constantly asking you “how is she/he?” or “what is her/his BP, pulse rate, red blood count etc etc”.  Why should anyone but the family be told all this?  Is this not a gross invasion of privacy?  What were the doctors at Safdarjung Hospital thinking when they agreed to the demand for a daily news bulletin? Surely the doctors could have told the media firmly that the girl’s privacy had to respected and that they would give information as and when the family agreed to this being made public.  Was the family even consulted before all this was done?

And fourth, let us look at why some newspapers and TV channels felt they had to give the woman a fictitious name, as if respecting her anonymity was too daunting a challenge for journalists to respect.  Hence, while Times of India has decided to call her Nirbhaya, and patted itself on the back for having picked what it deems is an appropriate name given her courage, other are variously calling her Damini, Amanat etc.  But her brother, who has to hear these names, told the Indian Express,  “It’s hard to digest that this is my sister they are talking about.”  He says the first time he saw one of these names flashing on TV, he thought the channel had got his sister’s name wrong.  He says he was furious but then someone explained to him that “it is a phenomenon known as personification.  I don’t like it, but they say she is the face of a movement.”

Unfortunately, the young man was misinformed about the meaning of “personification” and how it is commonly used.  Here’s the definition from Wikipedia:

“Anthropomorphism or personification is any attribution of human characteristics (or characteristics assumed to belong only to humans) to other animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities.”

Is it really that difficult to follow this story without dramatizing it further, giving the survivor a fictitious name – as if by doing that the horrific aspects of this story will become more believable.  It is astounding that responsible media persons can endorse such a decision from within these media organisations.

The survivor’s brother also told the Indian Express about the pressure put on his father to issue an appeal once violence broke out during the demonstrations at India Gate.  After this experience, his father does not want to speak to anyone in the media. “My father is scared that a wrong message has gone out.  It seems like we don’t want the protests. We are suffering so much, why should we be against the movement?  Now he has decided against speaking to the media.  There were more requests from the police, but we told them we don’t want to risk it again”, he told IE.

As I write this, the woman has been taken to Singapore for treatment and her life still hangs by a thread.  One hopes the daily health bulletins will stop and the family is allowed its right to choose what it wants to convey to the world outside.  She is their daughter/sister.  Her story might have galvanized people to come out on the street and demand changes in the law.  But that is a decision that people made; she did not and neither did her family.  The media must respect that even as the wider debate on rape, on women’s safety, on the criminal justice system and the law, and on the misogyny in Indian society continues.  (Courtesy: thehoot.org)