Media slammed for misreporting on Kandhamal

Church people in Orissa slammed local media for playing a "devastating role" during the 2008 mayhem against Christians in Kandhamal

In a letter to the Chairman of Press Council of India, the Association of Victims of Kandhamal Communal Violence accused the print and electronic media for donning an "anti-minority role" and portraying "victims as villains".

"Media failed in its duty as the true watchdog of society and went on circulating misinformation, inciting stories against minorities and biased view points," stated the Jan. 13 letter. "The genuine concerns of well-meaning citizens and sufferings poor adivasis and dalits have been ignored and had got no place or a wrong place in media."

The letter pleaded to "review the role of media in Kandhamal incident and take necessary steps to censure the defaulters and bring back them to play the role of a fourth pillar of Indian democracy."

To support its views, the association formed of pastors, priests, community leaders and activists, cited an analysis of Orissa-based writer and journalist Kedar Mishra.

Mishra in his critique, said, "If one looks at the reports of all the three TV channels from Orissa. i.e. ETV, OTV and Doordarshan and Oriya dailies it will be clear that the true causes of the riot have not been deeply analyzed. "

The reason, he points could be the religious meanness and elite mindset. Mostly, he says, the statements of Swami Laxmananda and the leaders of Sangh Parivar occupied prominent position in the news reports.

"The statements of the affected Christians have been deliberately ignored. No importance was attached to the opinion of the minority community. On the contrary, the statements of the fundamentalist Hindus and their organisations were dealt with in a great detail," he observed.

He says the intellectuals and experts in the field were never asked about their opinions on the riot. "Whatever articles by the eminent persons that came out in the newspapers were by the retired IAS or IPS officers."

Mishra also denounced reports linking the riots with Naxals. "There is no proof of the Naxal's involvement in the religious or communal conflicts. The media unnecessarily tried to show the involvement of Naxals in the Kandhamal riot. In that ignoble effort they also tried to rope in some voluntary organizations and secular intellectuals," he said.

Instead of following the journalistic norms most of the reports were driven by political compulsions, he noted.

"It seems every newspaper reflected a particular party's stand or an ism. In this case the tendency was more towards achieving political benefits rather maintaining high standard of humanitarianism. It has only left a stigma on the morality of the local media," he concluded.