Fair reportage got lost in the” hate narrative” of “nationalistic” TV channels and the fake news spread on social media.
The role of the media in the clashes between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and those opposed to it spread over three days in Delhi in the last week of February needs to be examined independently in the incident themselves. On March 6, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry imposed a 48 hour-ban (upto 7:30p.m. on March 8) on transmission and retransmission by two Kerala based television channels, Asianet and Media One for “irresponsible reporting”. (The ban was however lifted in the early hours of March 7.) The channel, according to the government order, showed violence in a “manner which highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community” apart from being critical of the role of the Delhi Police and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The order stated: “Such telecast could incite violence and pose danger to the maintainence of law and order situation, particularly when the situation is already highly volatile and charged up and riots are taking place in the area with reports of killings and bloodbath…” Both channels we’re earlier issued show cause notices on why action should not be taken against them under the Cable Television Networks(Regulation) Act, 1995, and the guidelines of uplinking and downlinking. Dissatisfied with the replies given by the channel, the Ministry concluded that they had violated the rules prescribed under the programme code of the 1995 Act and the telecasting rules under it. We were informed that a reporter of one of the channels had actually helped people who were attacked by rioters and taken them toa hospital at great personal risks. There were reports that the rampaging mob attacked journalist as it did not want it’s action to be recorded. One journalist had the harrowing experience of being asked to take off his trouser to confirm his religious identity.
The government had not taken any action to date against the televised agitator remark made by a Union Minister and other Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) leaders but it was quick to act against the two TV channels, charging them with posing danger to law and order situation. Interestingly, the government had chosen to turn a blind eye to some “hyper nationalistic” channels, whose anchors were contributing significantly to the “hate narrative”. Demonizing members of the minority community has become the new normal for there channels. While the incidence of violence were covered by several ethical reporters on the spot at great risk to their own lives, the ” nationalistic” media consistently created a notion that the CAA protest was obstructionist and politically motivated, dead set on giving India a bad image, and that the riots were the handiwork of the minority community. This ideological bombardment had an effect on the already polarised sections of the majority community member. Videos of agitating speeches and violence were shared indiscriminately on social media. Some of the videos were helpful as they identified the perpetrators and exposed the ill-preparedness of the Delhi Police, there were others aimed at demonizing the minority community. In fact, the ongoing peaceful protest against the CAA, the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens across the country were portrayed as a” Muslim” issue. The print media balanced by and large, with the majority of them underlining the need to find a solution to the issue.