You are here: 
The media added a communal colour to the October Assam clashes
Date: October 23, 2008 Author: Newswatch Desk
Research: Contentious
Research: Contentious
Early October came the news that ethnic clashes had broken out in Assam. The two groups in question were the indigenous Bodos and Bangladeshi migrants. Sectarian violence in Northeast does not always make it to the front page of newspapers. But this one did — coming as it was in the backdrop of the attacks on Christians by Hindu rightwing elements in Karnataka and Orissa, and a palpable sense of Islamophobia that seemed to be all-pervading in the aftermath of the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and New Delhi.
Newswatch decided to look at the news media coverage that the incident generated. The study was conducted over an eight-day period. The idea was to examine stories over a week’s timeframe, but since newspapers needed to be given a day’s grace the study looked at stories that were published between October 3 and October 10, 2008. It was meant to be a qualitative analysis, not a quantitative one. The idea was to look at the way the news media covered the issue, and not quantify the exact number of publications or news outlets that did a story, or did not. The prime objective of this study was to look at how the media uses descriptors and modifiers in ethnic conflict situations. The Newswatch study was concerned with what would be the findings in this context; all other findings of this project are purely circumstantial.
Very few stories, it was found, desisted from naming the two communities involved in the clashes. It would be wrong to say very few “publications” did so, since different news items emanating from the same outlet used varied descriptors for the two groups of people. In other words, there seemed to be a dearth of policy when it came to naming communities or ethnic groups involved in clashes. The study found 26 sets of descriptors and modifiers which were used to describe the Bodo tribals. In case of Bangladeshi migrants, the number was 27. Many terms, both correctly and wrongly, were used as synonyms.
ABOUT THE REPORT
Identities and descriptors: How the news media described the Assam clashes Edited and published by Subir Ghosh for Newswatch. © Newswatch 2008. Note: Even though efforts have been made to provide accurate information in this report, the publisher would appreciate if readers call his attention to errors by emailing newswatchindia@gmail.com. Suggestions for future study subjects can be sent to the same email address.
REPORT SPECIFICATIONS
Pages: 9
Format: PDF
Colour: All-colour
Price: Free
Size: 640 KB
[For download link, please scroll down.]
Format: PDF
Colour: All-colour
Price: Free
Size: 640 KB
[For download link, please scroll down.]
The study also looked at the use of the term “Muslim” both in the headlines as well as in the body of the copies. Seven news items (of six outlets) played up the Muslim card in the headlines.
As many as 66 stories used “Muslim” to denote Bangladeshi migrants either in the intro itself, or later in the copy (if this community was first introduced only in a latter part of the story concerned). Though the Bangladeshi migrants, by and large, are Muslims, the over-emphasis on the “Muslim” aspect of this particular community went a large way in adding a communal colour to a clash that was not essentially communal in nature.
It was rather surprising that the coverage of a clash which left over 50 dead and rendered about 100,000 homeless, saw only 21 Bodos/Assamese/Bengalis and 8 Bangladeshi migrants being quoted in 138 stories. This filtering of voices becomes all the more lopsided given that most of the stories analysed directly or through insinuation projected Bangladeshi migrants (even mostly mentioned just as Muslims) as being the victims of orchestrated violence against them.
The lopsidedness in the count of both sources and voices of the people may be gauged from the fact that almost half the stories (65) originated from Guwahati.
To download the report, click on the link below.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| supplement.pdf | 162.74 KB |
| assam.pdf | 477.39 KB |
RATE THIS ITEMTOOLS:
Mumbai terror attacks coverage was extensive but theatrical, DD News was least sensational
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.
Like tigers, good news coverage too these days is a rare sight
In early 2005, wildlife officials in the Sariska Tiger Reserve discovered that poachers had wiped out the entire tiger population in the protected area. Once the lid was blown off, the tiger remained in the media limelight. Through the constitution of the Tiger Task Force to the launching of its controversial report on the status of tigers in the country, the big cat kept making headlines.
Sariska had been the tip of the proverbial iceberg; but the actual aggregate of tigers in the wild in India degenerated into being a guessing game for all and sundry. As mudslinging went on between the so-called wildlife elite and their neophyte critics, there were conservationists who waited with bated breath for the real numbers to come out.
This did eventually. On February 12, 2008, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) announced in New Delhi that just 1,411 adult tigers remained in the wild in India. It was official, it was big news. Or so it ought to have been.
The media added a communal colour to the October Assam clashes
Early October came the news that ethnic clashes had broken out in Assam. The two groups in question were the indigenous Bodos and Bangladeshi migrants. Sectarian violence in Northeast does not always make it to the front page of newspapers. But this one did — coming as it was in the backdrop of the attacks on Christians by Hindu rightwing elements in Karnataka and Orissa, and a palpable sense of Islamophobia that seemed to be all-pervading in the aftermath of the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and New Delhi.
Most media oulets threw ethics to the winds by naming the Orissa rape victim
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.
Media covers accused more than victims in high-profile cases, finds Newswatch study
The last few years have seen a number of high-profile cases in Indian courts wherein the rich and mighty have been held guilty and sentenced to prison. The news media, in many cases, has been accused of conducting its own shadow trials. The news media coverage these court cases have derived has been phenomenal. This year saw Delhi courts passing verdicts in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder and BMW hit-and-run cases.
i'm happy that newswatch did the study; just goes on to prove how news can be and is manipulated to serve political interests. awful! we need more people like newswatch. more power to you!
not only Muslim, the media said these were 'illegal Muslim immigrants' about a community that has been living there for three generations or even more, pretty much legal in all ways...I'm not saying illegal border infiltration doesn't happen but to categorize an entire people this way was absolutely unethical.
yea true nabina and that breeds resentment against muslims at large and a sense of hurt, insult and injury amongst muslims...crazy!
that is quite the trend now in Indian media unfortunately... Muslim infiltrators, marauders, bombers, terrorists or whatever, the media keeps adding to the list, as if in collusion with vested powers... forgetting that we have several unabted crises related to hunger-health-education-envirnment. I could go on with that alternative list...
couldn't agree with you more! sometimes i think its our own madness as a nation that we allow ourselves to be bogged down by those issues which are regressive. india's has such tremendous potential and that can be truly unleashed only when the health and education issues are addressed in sincerity.
you guys should visit Gurgaon..to see the extent of the illegal alien(read mulim bangladeshi ) problem..evey maid/rikshaw puller here talks sillhetti/or chatagon language..it is a huge issue..dont just bunk that.
rana - 1. the rickshawallahs and maids in gurgaon speak the same language my forefathers did 2. they've come to delhi for the same reasons we go to the u.s., economic (largely). so it's not an issue for me, i don't care if they're illegal immigrants (so are most nepali drivers/guards). i am concerned about the terror angle, but we needn't jump and yell terrorist every time we see an impoverished maidservant in gurgaon.
Well done Newswatch.
p.s. subir, this is brilliant. wish there were more newswatches.
Shubho, thanks, my sentiments too...
kudos kudos kudos!
I feel The Independent stand adopted by News Watch is to be Applauded and you have got yourself a staunch supporter in me.
NewsMedia nowadays need to color even the Mundane of matters Communal to sell the subject to the Public, what they dont realise is the long term Implication of such kind of Reckless reporting.
It Saddens me that each and every news channel I watch has a leaning, Political or Otherwise. I would love to see a Channel/News Paper which reports news for what it truly is and not what News Potential it has. I think such an Idea of mine is lofty and such a Channel/News Paper wont get the coverage of the existing Biased media. Kudos to you guys, You deserve it.
Subir, I hope to Equate you with Fisk one day, I really do and wish the day is not far. God Speed to you and your Endeavors
Subir, I am glad that you have brought forth this sectarian aspect of news reporting in the aftermath of the clashes in Assam, which were purely ethnic in nature. Kudos to you!
I strongly believe that NOT only should the religious affiliation of communities involved in the clashes (neither the perpetrators nor the victims) NOT be brought to the fore, but not even an iota of a hint about their ethnic composition should be publicised by media, whether print, electronic or net.