[Reader-list] Media losing its credibility: Delhi Union of Journalists

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

Media losing its credibility: Delhi Union of Journalists

October 3rd, 2008 - 9:38 pm ICT by IANS -
New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS)
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/media-losing-its-credibility-delhi-union-of-journalists_100103214.html


Taking a hard look at media reports on the Jamia Nagar episode over
the past few weeks, after two suspected terrorists and a Delhi Police
Inspector were killed in a police shootout Sep 19, the Delhi Union of
Journalists (DUJ) prepared an interim report which was released in the
capital Friday.Pointing out discrepancies in various media over
reporting of facts, S.K.Pande, president of DUJ said that in what can
be seen as a growing trend - albeit a dangerous one, verification of
facts is quite often overlooked by reporters these days.

"To state an example, the Times of India said that there were 25
firing rounds by the police and eight by the 'terrorists'. The Indian
Express, the Hindu, Dainik Hindustan, Punjab Kesari and Rashtriya
Sahara say that the police fired 22 rounds. They were all silent about
the rounds fired by the suspects," Pande said.

"Whether it's the time of the shootout, the duration, the number of
policemen present at that time or the number of bullets that hit
Police Inspector M.C. Sharma - different media have different
versions. At least in the initial reportage, the source of the
information was the same, the police. Then why the difference? " he
asked.

Agreeing with Pande, veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar said that because
of instances such as these the 'media is losing its credibility'.

The interim report, which will be followed by a more detailed one
later, was a result of intense discussion among 15 members of the DUJ
and its Ethics Council, scanning of the various media - both print and
electronic, and visits to the Jamia Nagar area by three members who
spoke to the residents of the area.

"The purpose of this report is not to pass a judgement on the
shootout, whether it was a fake one or not. The aim was to analyse the
role of the media in handling such serious issues. In the age of fast
news and 24/7 news channels, unfortunately we sometimes resort to
hyping of news," Pande said.

The report said: 'The Hindustan Times, for instance, Sep 20 ran a
story 'India's Bin Laden was a good boy in school' on alleged
terrorist Abdus Subhan Qureshi. The story did not warrant that
headline'.

'By and large, the press has forsaken the use of such prefixes like
alleged and suspected in front of names of those who have been
arrested and killed. Television reports have been even more blatant
with such words simply missing from the language used by reporters and
anchors'.

The report also had words of praise for certain media like the Veer
Arjun which on Sep 20 gave a detailed description of the operation
that is at variance with the versions in the other papers.

DUJ now plans to send the report to the National Commission of
Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), among others.

"There were four-five children, all between the age of 10-17 who were
picked up for questioning by the Police. One of the boys killed in the
shoot out was 17 and branded as a terrorist in most papers even before
any proof could be established against them. Are the NCPCR looking
into the matter? We are going to send this report to the NCPCR and see
what their reaction is," Pande said.