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Indian media ignored indigenous Dongria Kondhs, gave lopsided coverage to corporate giant Vedanta

Indian media ignored indigenous Dongria Kondhs, gave lopsided coverage to corporate giant Vedanta

Date published: August 31, 2010    Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Contentious   
The Indian media by and large ignored the indigenous tribals living in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa while according lopsided, voluminous coverage to Vedanta during recent developments over the corporate giant’s controversial mining and refinery projects in the eastern state, an independent study has found. Indian newspapers made passing or no mention of the Dongria Kondh tribals whose very existence would have been at stake had the ministry of environment and forests not rejected the forest clearance for the project. On the other hand, the coverage centered around the UK-based Vedanta Resources and its activities, charges against it, and its denials, found the study by Newswatch, an online monitor that looks at news and developments pertaining to press freedom, journalistic ethics, and the news media industry. Indian media ignored indigenous Dongria Kondhs, gave lopsided coverage to corporate giant Vedanta
Earlier Research Reports

Indian media ignored indigenous Dongria Kondhs, gave lopsided coverage to corporate giant Vedanta

Date published: August 31, 2010    Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Contentious   
The Indian media by and large ignored the indigenous tribals living in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa while according lopsided, voluminous coverage to Vedanta during recent developments over the corporate giant’s controversial mining and refinery projects in the eastern state, an independent study has found. Indian newspapers made passing or no mention of the Dongria Kondh tribals whose very existence would have been at stake had the ministry of environment and forests not rejected the forest clearance for the project. On the other hand, the coverage centered around the UK-based Vedanta Resources and its activities, charges against it, and its denials, found the study by Newswatch, an online monitor that looks at news and developments pertaining to press freedom, journalistic ethics, and the news media industry.
Indian media ignored indigenous Dongria Kondhs, gave lopsided coverage to corporate giant Vedanta

Written-off: How the Indian news media deals with its freelance journalists

Date published: January 13, 2009    Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Deadline   
In late February last year, we carried out an informal survey of freelance journalists in India. The questionnaire itself was ad hoc, but the trends that emerged were clear—most freelance journalists in this country are perceived to be the stepchildren of the Indian news media. Though some indications are there, we want to come up with concrete numbers. Hence, this—the first ever research study about the status of freelance journalists in India. We wanted to look at job (in)security, payment defaulters, general working conditions, legal frameworks, copyrights, arm-twisting tactics of news establishments, et al.
Written-off: How the Indian news media deals with its freelance journalists

Mumbai terror attacks coverage was extensive but theatrical, DD News was least sensational

Date published: December 15, 2008    Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Contentious   
Shortly after it dawned on all and sundry that what was initially thought of as only a gang war, was in fact a concerted attack by terrorists on the night of November 26, 2008, all eyes of the nation, and the world, were trained on Mumbai. The coverage of the attacks was to become a watershed in India’s television history. But hardly had the first night wore on, signs of criticism of the coverage began surfacing. Over Facebook status messages, through SMSs, and subsequently through blogs and other outlets. Even as National Security Guard (NSG) commandos fought a pitched battle with the terrorists, and television cameras and journalists kept viewers updated all through, coverage itself became news. For all the wrong reasons, one might argue.
Mumbai terror attacks coverage was extensive but theatrical, DD News was least sensational

Most media oulets threw ethics to the winds by naming the Orissa rape victim

Date published: November 7, 2008    Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Contentious   
After two months of silence, the nun who was raped and paraded naked by a frenetic mob of Hindu rightwingers in Kandhamal in Orissa, chose to speak about her horrifying experience at a press conference in New Delhi on October 24, 2008. She narrated her ordeal, and issued a signed statement. Many news outlets reported the heart-wrenching tale. But there were others who threw elementary media ethics to the winds and went overboard—they named the victim. Though two-thirds of the news stories that were tracked by Newswatch desisted from identifying the nun by name, a substantial one-thirds did. If this proportion was not alarming enough, when the researchers narrowed down the number of news items tracked for the study to distinct and original stories, it was found that slightly more than half of the news establishments which reported reported the press conference were guilty of naming the victim.
Most media oulets threw ethics to the winds by naming the Orissa rape victim

Media more concerned about rave party arrests than species extinction, finds Newswatch study

Date published: October 30, 2008    Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Contentious   
Every time the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announces its Red List of Threatened Species, the event is awaited with bated breath by wildlife conservationists worldwide. So it was even this year, given the fact that the situation seems to worsen with every passing year. The current species extinction rate, according to IUCN, is estimated to be anything between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural or ‘background’ rate.
Media more concerned about rave party arrests than species extinction, finds Newswatch study