Page 104 - Conflict, Terrorism, and the Media In Asia

Gujarat 2002 and the Indian news media 93
Express: ‘Darshan, you are blacklisted’ (Desai 2004: 228). Journalists of the
English-language press were dubbed as members of the ‘secular Taliban’.
Faced with the concerted campaign of criticism, Sardesai, one of the key
targets of Hindutva forces for his coverage of Gujarat 2002, admitted: ‘The sheer
viciousness of the campaign has pushed the media on the defensive...The
messenger has been shot again’ (2002a).

Objectivity and bias in the press
The graphic coverage by television channels hit the headlines, but the nature of
the press coverage also made news. The team of the Editors Guild of India met
several editors, journalists, Chief Minister Modi and others and concluded that
the English-language national press and sections of the Gujarati media, barring
notable offenders, played an exemplary role. The charge of the BJP and its allies
that graphic coverage by the news media was a major aggravating factor in the
situation, the team concluded, was ‘specious, self-serving and must be dismissed’
(Patel et al. 2002). The team observed:
(Our) finding is that the prompt and extensive portrayal by sections of the
local press and national media of the untold horrors visited on innocent peo-
ple in the wake of the Godhra carnage was a saving grace. The exposure of
the supine if not complicit attitude of the State and manifest outpourings of
communal hatred, stirred the conscience of the nation, compelled remedial
action, howsoever defensively and belatedly...However, the role of sections
of the Gujarati media, especially the Gujarat Samachar and more notably
Sandesh, was provocative, irresponsible and blatantly violative of all accepted
norms of media ethics. This cannot be lightly passed over.
(Patel et al. 2002)
Being the largest selling dailies in the state, coverage by the Gujarat Samachar
(‘Gujarat News’; circulation: 810,000) and Sandesh (‘Message’; circulation:
705,000) had considerable impact. The editors’team found several instances of dis-
torted and false reporting in the two dailies, but the team also found that because of
Sandesh’s pro-Hindutva stand, its circulation rose by 150,000 copies. A study of the
Sandesh coverage found that when Muslims were at fault, names were mentioned
and perpetrators clearly identified. But when Muslims were the victims of murder-
ers, arsonists, looters etc., the attackers remained unnamed. The study concluded:

No sources were quoted for headlines, even when they were simply lifted from
speeches by VHP leaders. Headlines were also misleading, and often followed
up by reports that did not substantiate, and even negated the headlines
completely...The anti-minority stand was obvious in the slant in news reporting.
(PUCL 2002)

Sandesh used headlines to ‘provoke, communalize and terrorise people’ (PUCL
2002). On 28 February, the main headline read: ‘70 Hindus Burnt Alive in Godhra’.
Another report on the front page said: ‘Avenge Blood with Blood’, which was