Press paints Naxals negatively

“One must know what one is writing about” may not seem to be a far-fetched idea for a journalist. Yet, there are many who do superficial reporting of events and follow them up with analyses that do not present a proper perspective of the issues involved.

This seems to hold true in the case of journalists who write about naxalites and issues that concern them, according to a study of the reports of four newspapers – two in
English, The Hindu and The New Indian Express (TNIE) and two in Telugu (Eenadu and Vaartha). Most of them lacked an in-depth study of the ideology of the movement.

The study covering eight years, from 1999 to 2006, was the basis of a book on “Newspapers and naxalite movement” written by Dr. J. Madhu Babu and published in 2010 by Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi.

The study comes up with some startling disclosures: that the press as a whole has projected a negative image of the naxalite movement by focusing on naxal violence such as blasts, burning of properties, attack on authorities, etc.; that the newspapers ignored tribal welfare questions, the agony of people and their reactions to activities of naxalites and the police.

With the press failing “to focus on the unresolved question of tribal welfare…the tribal uneducated or semi-educated youth are attracted towards the Naxalite movement.”

The press has not analysed the reasons for the failure of welfare programmes to reach the tribal population, it says. This theme received less coverage. The Hindu, for example, did not publish even a single news item on tribal welfare measures during the study period.

The comprehensive study, carried out with tested research methodologies, covered a total of 4,387 news items published, 2,330 photos, 31 edit articles, 74 editorials, 10 editorial cartoons, 55 pocket cartoons and 184 letters to the editor. These were evaluated against a wide range of factors such as category of news, sub categories, and whether they were favourable, unfavourable or neutral.

Eenadu published the highest number of news items (31.8 per cent), followed by Vaartha (31.5 p.c.), The Hindu (19.6) and The New Indian Express (17.1).

The highest number of photos (1,000) was by Eenadu, next Vaartha (892), The Hindu (233) and TNIE (205).

TH and TNIE each published only one cartoon on the issue.
In terms of editorials, Vaartha (74) led, followed by Eenadu (16), TNIE (14) and THE HINDU (8).

During the study period of eight years, there was not a single article on naxalites in The Hindu while TNIE wrote only two; Vaartha led with 20 and Eenadu followed with 9.

The Hindu accounted for the most number of letters to the editor (75) among the dailies.

It also gave more prominence in terms of political parties’ reactions and human rights issues involved. In coverage of peace talks, TNIE put out more stories. All the papers, including Vaartha, gave less coverage to people’s reactions against naxalites and police.

Journalists have become insensitive to the killings of naxalites and police repression. For example, headings of the encounter stories give only the figures. And only the police version is carried.

The Naxlite issue is seen more as a law and order problem and the violence as harmful to society.

In coverage of reactions of political parties to naxal activities, The Hindu gave prominence to the Congress, BJP, Communists and the TDP while The New Indian Express gave priority to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

The study rightly points out that the newspapers have the onerous task to represent the case of the poor and the voiceless in society. They also should play a positive role in resolving the conflict between the naxalites and the government.

The book also presents profiles of important naxal leaders and the chronological events in the movement, and the profiles of the newspapers covered, which are of research value.

Students and researchers in the field of journalism can benefit by reading the book, especially about the content analysis methods adopted.


K. Kirubanidhi
Sr. Asst. Editor
The Hindu
Email: journo1958@gmail.com