Political illness

Indian journalists were at the receiving end when journalist and Director of BBC World Service Trust, India, Andrew Whitehead rebuked the media on the poor reporting of health and social issues. In an effort to establish the strength of media, Mr. Whitehead reveled that in a recent survey conducted by BBC in India has found that “altogether 82 percent of people heard about AIDS and 80 percent believe use of condoms to prevent the spread of disease because of the media. A majority of them said that they knew about the disease and preventive measures through media.” According to him, too much of political coverage had eroded the role of the press in the country. Mr. Whitehead was not off target when he made these remarks at a seminar  in Guwahati on “The Role of Journalists in Social Communication in North East India”. Indian newspapers indeed devote more space to political coverage than social issues. The care shown towards publishing political story is missing when it comes to reporting issues of social importance. And North-East is the worst suffer to this trend. For example, the region only hits the headlines for wrong reasons. The positive side of the region, its rich cultural heritage and tradition, never got adequate coverage in the national media. What is more disturbing that newspapers and periodicals published from the region are also following the footsteps of the national media blindly. North-Eastern achievers rarely find a place in NE media. The media houses can promptly supply the details of how many persons lost their lives due to insurgency and how many ambushes had taken place, but they will not be able to tell the figure that how many North-Easterners have sacrificed their lives during the Kargil conflict. Mr. Whitehead was right in pointing out that Indian media sidelined vital issues of health, lifestyles, environment and other social issues. How many newspapers in the region and as well as in the country had reported that a group of former militants have now taken up the job of saving wildlife from poachers in Manas? Has any newspaper published a detail study on changing weather pattern in Cherapunji? How many newspapers congratulated Janu Barua for selecting a bold subject for his first Hindi feature film? Mr. Whitehead said that ‘non-loaded terms’ should be avoided by journalists while making their stories on issues like HIV/AIDS and that reports should be clear in order to make common people understand the issue. He was again correct in his observations.

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