Media coverage of reservation stir biased: Journalists Group

Media coverage of reservation stir biased: Journalists Group

New Delhi, May 30 (UNI) Senior journalists, academicians and a senior doctor
from AIIMS have described the media coverage of the anti-reservation stir as
"one-sided and biased" with well-known psephologist Yogendra Yadav announcing
that his oganisation would survey the background of all mediapersons and judges
within two years and put their profiles on the website.

Participating in a seminar on "How Media Covered Reservation Stir" organised
by "Journalists for Democracy, Delhi" here on Saturday, Mr Yadav said the media
went off the mark in reporting the agitation but added that proponents of
reservation should also reconsider to what extent the caste-based OBC
reservation was an affirmative action in the Indian society. "Since the Mandal
Commission implementation in 1990s, things have undergone a sea change with
economic issues coming to the fore", he said.

Referring to his organisation - Centre for Study of Development Socieites
(CSDS) - plan to prepare a profile of working journalists and judges, Mr Yadav
said such an exercise had already been undertaken in the US and it was necessary
to know the conduct and performance of the persons concerned and their expected
contribution to the development of the society.

Dr Anoop Saraya, a Professor from AIIMS said the same venue - the park of the
premier hospital where employees and doctors were debarred by a court order from
staging a protest which is their legal right - now had been thrown open to the
anti-reservationists.

''These protesters have rather been facilitated by the hospital management and
egged upon by industrialists and a section of political class to raise their
bogey of protest with the print and electronic media hovering all around to
highlight them." On the other hand, the media had deliberately ignored the
pro-reservationists in the AIIMS from projecting their point of view, Dr Saraya
said adding that the media bias was more pronounced this time than that
witnessed during the anti-Mandal agitation during 1990s.

Well-known columnist Anil Chamdria supported Mr Yadav's views that a section
of electronic media deliberately projected the National Health and Family Survey
that the percentage of OBC population was only 29 per cent excluding OBC from
the Muslim community and not 52 per cent as given out by the Mandal Commission.

Mr Chamdria agreed with Mr Yadav's assertion that the Health and Family survey
had a limited purpose and could not be correct.

However, Mr Yadav maintained that the Mandal's figure of the OBC population
was disputed and according to his assessment, it could be around 42 per cent.

Most of the senior journalists including Mr G Chandrasekar from UNI, Mr Shambu
Nath Singh from Jagran and Mr Urmalesh from Hindi Hindustan argued that the
media 'sustained and projected the anti-reservation stir out of proportion and
completely blacked out the views and protests of the pro-reservation people who
constitute at least 80 per cent of the country's population.

Most of the speakers, including Mr S S Bechain, Professor of Journalism in a
Delhi University College and Mr Sidharath Verdhrajan, Delhi-based editor of 'The
Hindu,' said most of the working journalists covering the anti-reservation stir
"were ignorant about the recent 104th Constitutional Amendment in favour of 27
per cent reservation for OBC and which had been supported by all political
parties including the BJP".

Veteran journalist Masat Ram Kapoor said, ''the Indian media is dominated by
the upper caste people and none of the Dalits so far have become editor in any
mainstream media including the vernacular press....and the ongoing doctors'
agitation reflected the pride and self-centredness of the moneyed class with
middle calss trappings which does not want to lose any of its privileges."

However, Mr Parshotam Aggrawal, a professor from JNU wondered how media could
go to the extent of ignoring version of the other side while reporting an
incident.

The participants viewed that with economic liberalisation and with private
trade owning the electronic media, news was being projected as a 'saleable
commodity' meant to generate maximum advertisement revenue for the
establishment. "And, the reporters on the spot have ceased to exist in the game
of business and enhancing TRP rating," they added.