Media Ethics in 2011

8/2/2019 Media Ethics in 2011

1/7

Media ethics in 2011

Free speech reports dont upset anyone in the professionthey only

underscore the journalists sense of being brave, vulnerable andimportant to society. But how many annual reports on media ethicshave you come across

Free speech reports dont upset anyone in the professionthey only underscorethe journalists sense of being brave, vulnerable and important to society. But

how many annual reports on media ethics have you come across?

In addition to its annual free speech report the Hoot will present from this yearan annual report on Media Ethics in India which will flag issues which arose in

the course of the year. This is intended as a documentation to enablediscussion and debate and focuses on instances of media practice which violate

norms of privacy, and fairness, hurt reputations or mislead the publicwithout necessarily breaking laws. Add to this television news and fiction which

promotes misogyny. Paid news has been included as a category under ethics

because there is no clear law which governs the media houses indulging in thismisrepresentation, and because it represents dubious ethics on the part of themedia to pass off paid advertising as news.

ETHICS IN THE INDIAN MEDIA 2011 A HOOT REPORT

Media ethics remained a concern for the better part of 2011 with a number ofchallenges manifesting themselves. TheHoot.org has put together adocumentation on some major issues which emerged in a special report on

ethics in the Indian media.

TERROR REPORTING

Confirming the broadcasting excesses of 26/11/ 2008

On May 29, 2011, Mumbai attack plotter David Headley told a Chicago court onMay 25 that live TV broadcasts from India on 26/11 gave terrorist handlers in

Pakistan all the visuals they needed to instruct their gunmen on how to battleadvancing Indian commandos, recalibrate the attack on the ground and inflict

maximum damage. (firstpost.com)


2/7

No mea culpa

On November 16, 2011 seven Muslims arrested for the Malegaon 2006 blastswere released on bail. Media frenzy accompanied their release, with

photographers telling them to make the V sign. The same media had accepted

the Maharashtra ATSs claims that these Muslims had planted the bombs thatkilled 37 of their own community, giving hardly any space to claims made by

Malegaons Muslims that they were innocent. At the release, the lawyers of theaccused and community leaders from Malegaon were being hounded for

interviews; there was no sign of the ATS. Neither were they asked for anexplanation; nor did the media think it necessary to explain their own conduct.

Naming names, prematurely

The reportage of the bomb blast at the Delhi High Court in September this year

had much media speculation based on briefings by the National InvestigationAgency.Studentsuspects were named in the press before anything could beestablished, One of them, Sharique Bhatt was released when the police foundhe had been wrongly picked up. But he had already been named in newsreports. He is a class XIstudentof Islamia Faridia Higher Secondary School in

Kishtwar, and was painted as a terrorist by the media.

On November 1 theIndian Express reported NIA briefings in detail while raising

questions about the assertions made by the agency, in the same article. The

article had detailed information about the third accused and how he had been

plotting the attack. The paper picked holes in this information at the end of thearticle. But it name the accused even while disbelieving what the police saidabout him.

One December 20, the same paper, the Indian Express reported that Malik said

he had beentorturedin custody and had been framed. The letter he gave to aspecial court contradicted the facts put out by the NIA its briefing.

Father of an alleged suspect sends a legal notice

Tehelkareportedin a story posted on December 19 that The father of allegedIndian Mujahideen (IM) operative Yasin Bhatkal has sent a legal notice to the

tune of Rs 5 crore to the The Hindunewspapers Editor-in-chief N Ram andreporter Praveen Swami, for defamation. It said, Muhammed Zarar Sidibapa,resident of Bhatkal, Karnataka, has sent a legal notice to The Hindudemanding

an unconditional apology for a front-page story published on 1 December.According to the article, titled Breakthrough in 2010 attacks raises fears of
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/192742/kishtwar-student-conspirator-delhi-blast.htmlhttp://www.deccanherald.com/content/192742/kishtwar-student-conspirator-delhi-blast.htmlhttp://www.deccanherald.com/content/192742/kishtwar-student-conspirator-delhi-blast.htmlhttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/kishtwar-boy-released-ssp-tells-father-your-child-is-brilliant/851359/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kishtwar-boy-released-ssp-tells-father-your-child-is-brilliant/851359/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kishtwar-boy-released-ssp-tells-father-your-child-is-brilliant/851359/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-blast-nia-finishes-blast-jigsaw-except-for-the-bombers/868754/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-blast-nia-finishes-blast-jigsaw-except-for-the-bombers/868754/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-blast-nia-finishes-blast-jigsaw-except-for-the-bombers/868754/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-hc-blast-accused-alleges-torture/889707/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-hc-blast-accused-alleges-torture/889707/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-hc-blast-accused-alleges-torture/889707/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws191211KARNATAKA.asphttp://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws191211KARNATAKA.asphttp://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws191211KARNATAKA.asphttp://www.tehelka.com/story_main51.asp?filename=Ws191211KARNATAKA.asphttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-hc-blast-accused-alleges-torture/889707/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/delhi-blast-nia-finishes-blast-jigsaw-except-for-the-bombers/868754/0http://www.indianexpress.com/news/kishtwar-boy-released-ssp-tells-father-your-child-is-brilliant/851359/0http://www.deccanherald.com/content/192742/kishtwar-student-conspirator-delhi-blast.html


3/7

renewed jihadist campaign, Sidibapa is an IM commander who had

masterminded a series of bomb blasts in several cities since 2005 and wasabsconding. However, Sidibapa claims that he has been managing his business

in Dubai since the last three decades.

Insensitive visuals

After the Mumbai blasts on July 13 which killed 18 people and injured 131,

television voyeurs entered hospitals, stomped around emergency wards andobstructed the work of doctors.Headlines Todaytelecast scenes from the

hospitals where people were being taken for treatment. No effort was made tomask the individuals face or his naked body as doctors and nurses were shown

treating the person.

After the second Delhi High Court blasts in SeptemberTimes Nowshowed the

visuals of the injured which is against the broadcasting norms of televisionincluding those set by the News Broadcasters Associations Self Regulatory

Authority. The channel beaming raw mobile footage on the Delhi High Courtblast with a warning slug on top :"Viewer discretion advised" . On show were

dismembered limbs, burning bodies.

Publishing terror related hate speech

An inflammatoryarticleby Subramaniam Swamy was published in DNA (the

content has since been removed from the site), written the day after the July13th Mumbai blasts. It incited Hindus to act against Islamic terrorists.
http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5395&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5395&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5395&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5491&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5491&bg=1http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/07/dr-subramaniam-swamy-how-to-wipe-out-islamic-terror.htmlhttp://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/07/dr-subramaniam-swamy-how-to-wipe-out-islamic-terror.htmlhttp://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/07/dr-subramaniam-swamy-how-to-wipe-out-islamic-terror.htmlhttp://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5491&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5395&bg=1


4/7

PAID NEWS

The Year 2011 saw the first action ever against a politician for 'paid news', theElection Commission on October 20disqualifieda woman MLA from Uttar

Pradesh for three years for incorrect statement of election expenditure incurredon 'news items' in two Hindi dailies. The MLA, Umlesh Yadav belonging to

Rashtriya Parivartan Dal. The losing candidate, in his complaint before the PressCouncil, named the dailiesAmar Ujala andDainik Jagran as having carried paid

news in this case.

On February 20, 2011 the London newspaperSunday Times, carried a

story Indias media demand cash to run favourable newson the paid news

carried by the Times of India. A Sunday Times reporter contacted Medianet, acompany suspected of offering "paid news" deals. It was created by Bennett,

Coleman and Co, which publishes many titles includingThe Times of India. The

reporter telephoned Medianet, posing as the PR agent of a company wantingcoverage for a party at an exclusive shopping mall in Delhi. The Medianet

executive said space could be bought in the Delhi Times supplement.

In September, the Times of India re-ran a three-year-old story onBtCottonwithout any updates as paid news to neutralise a bad press on the

biotech company Mahyco Monsanto Biotech on August 28th. The newspaper re-ran the news under the sectionConsumer Connect Initiativein September. In

2008 the TOI, Nagpur edition published the original story, and similar news

reports had appeared in The Economic Times and news feeds of UNI and PTI.

In November theGoa newspaper,OHeraldowas in the headlines for paid news.A journalist, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar conducted a sting operation after finding

that the newspaper has been publishing news based on the articles thatarepaidfor. He posed as Bernard Costa, a would-be candidate in the State's

Assembly polls to be held early next year. The sting operation has transcriptsthat show that the OHeraldo accepted an amount of Rs. 86,400 to publish a

scripted political interview. The findings were published on web portals and

Goa specific websites, such as Goa Chronicle, GoaNet, TargetGoa andNizGoenka,MxMIndia. The newspaper manager concerned has sent Nagvenkar

a notice for defamation.

SENSATIONALISM

When Rayalaseema faction warlord Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias

Maddelachervu Suri, the prime accused in the murder of TDP leader Paritala
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/election-commission-disqualifies-up-mla-for-paid-news/20111020.htmhttp://www.rediff.com/news/report/election-commission-disqualifies-up-mla-for-paid-news/20111020.htmhttp://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5135&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5135&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5135&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5490&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5490&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5490&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5490&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592365.ecehttp://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592365.ecehttp://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592365.ecehttp://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592365.ecehttp://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5562&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5490&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5490&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5135&bg=1http://www.rediff.com/news/report/election-commission-disqualifies-up-mla-for-paid-news/20111020.htm


5/7

Ravi, was shot dead in Hyderabad by his close aide on January 3, 2011, the

media indulged in voyeurism of the worst kind. Gory images of the dead bodywas shown in close up on almost all the major Telugu news channels. (Tv9,

Studio N, NTV, I News, Gemini News, Raj News, ETV and HMTV). The channelscarried interviews of the wife of Maddelachervu and some of the visuals from

the film Raktha Charitra which was based on the life of slain legislator ParitalaRavi. Channels ran visuals and interviews and asked questions that portrayed

the killer as a hero.

The News Broadcasters Self-Regulatory Authority issued a strong censure to

TV9 news channel for its sensationalized depiction of the gay culture alleged tobe prevalent in Hyderabad. This was telecast on February 22, 2011.

INVASION OF PRIVACY AND INSENSITIVE REPORTING

The competition among news channels to declare theson of cricketerAzharuddindead after an accident (16th September) is an example of grossly

insensitive reporting which took place last year. The vernacular news channels

ran live updates about the condition of the son of the former cricketer,prematurely declaring him dead.

SLANDER/ DEROGATORY NEWS:

On the occasion of the 2G chargesheet against her, Kanimozhi'srelationshipwith her husband was speculated upon by major newspaperslikeThe Times of India,Deccan Chronicle, andDNAin the month of May. The

stories focus mainly on her relationship with her husband Aravindam.

The News Broadcasters Association censured Times Now for a debate show in

May titled Will Kanimozhi turn approver on its prime time programme NewsHour. A complaint was filed which said that the entire debate, particularly the

stress by the anchor, on a particular point of view was unwarranted and did notamount to neutral and balanced reporting of any Court proceedings. The NBA

said it was violation of its self regulatory guidelines and issued acensure forthe breach committed by the channel.

Slander against the leading activists of the ongoinganti-nuclear movementin

Koodankulam S P Udayakumar, M Pushparayan and M P Jesuraj were

observed in a story published by Dinamalaron 24th November. A story titled Truth and Hype behind the Koodankulam row contained statements that the

project has been funded by US who did not want Tamil Nadu to
http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5497&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5497&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5497&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5497&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5287&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5287&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5287&bg=1http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-07/india/29519785_1_kanimozhi-carnatic-music-father-jegath-gaspar-rajhttp://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-07/india/29519785_1_kanimozhi-carnatic-music-father-jegath-gaspar-rajhttp://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-07/india/29519785_1_kanimozhi-carnatic-music-father-jegath-gaspar-rajhttp://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/chennai/hubby-returns-567http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/chennai/hubby-returns-567http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/chennai/hubby-returns-567http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_2g-scam-raja-whispers-kanimozhi-smiles_1540723http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_2g-scam-raja-whispers-kanimozhi-smiles_1540723http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_2g-scam-raja-whispers-kanimozhi-smiles_1540723http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5625&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5625&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5625&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5625&bg=1http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_2g-scam-raja-whispers-kanimozhi-smiles_1540723http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/chennai/hubby-returns-567http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-07/india/29519785_1_kanimozhi-carnatic-music-father-jegath-gaspar-rajhttp://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5287&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5287&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5497&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5497&bg=1


6/7

develop. Dinamalarpublished the personal details, phone numbers and emailaddresses of the three activists after which they reportedly receivedthreatcallsand messages.

FALSE INFORMATION

Misleading informationpublished by the Hindustan Times on June 26, 2011, was

brought to light for misinforming the readers. The article contained informationthat girls were being converted into boys through surgical procedures in the city

of Indore in Madhya Pradesh. HT generated comments from celebrities likeSonam Kapoor on sex change operations and gender discrimination to create

more interest. But it was in fact corrective surgery done on an infant and not

to be confused with sex-change. This was clarified by a doctor who is one of thevery few experts in the field of sex-change surgeries in India.

WILFUL MISREPRESENTATION

Another ethical violation was Sagarika Ghose'slook liveinterview on November

9 with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. It mislead viewers to believe that he had

participated in a panel discussion. In fact, he had been interviewed that

afternoon by a local correspondent, and his statements edited and spliced intothe discussion.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

India TV was admonished by the News Broadcasters Self-Regulatory

Authority for a programme on July 1 titled Operation Gang Rape. It showed

MMS footage of a gang-rape that was explicit and therefore grossly offensive. Aviewer complained that it was wholly inappropriate for such footage to be

broadcast on a national news channel that was viewed by families.

The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council(BCCC) found SONY TV guilty

of objectionable depiction of violence against women. in three episodes of aserial called Prayashchit Gunahon Ka, and in two episodes of Crime Patrol,telecast in September, October and November. The channel was told to refrain

from showing excessive/prolonged and graphic scenes of violence duringgeneral viewing hours.

The Council also found Zee Bangla guilty in October 2011 of what it called

totally repulsive portrayal of violence against women in a serial called Keya
http://www.dianuke.org/complaint-about-dinamalam-tamil-newspaper/http://www.dianuke.org/complaint-about-dinamalam-tamil-newspaper/http://www.dianuke.org/complaint-about-dinamalam-tamil-newspaper/http://www.dianuke.org/complaint-about-dinamalam-tamil-newspaper/http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5379&pg=1&mod=1&sectionId=5http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5379&pg=1&mod=1&sectionId=5http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5604&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5604&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5604&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=5604&bg=1http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5379&pg=1&mod=1&sectionId=5http://www.dianuke.org/complaint-about-dinamalam-tamil-newspaper/http://www.dianuke.org/complaint-about-dinamalam-tamil-newspaper/


7/7

Patar Nauko. The channel showed prolonged shots of the male character

beating a female member of the family.

Na Aana is desh me lado, a serial on Colours promotes honour killing and

showed a woman being burnt alive, the BCCC said. Episodes telecast in

September and June were cited.

Documents

Media Ethics in 2011