A Study on the State of Journalism in the Backdrop of Attacks Against Journalists

INTRUSION INTO THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION: A STUDY ON THE STATE OF JOURNALISM IN THE BACKDROP OF ATTACKS AGAINST JOURNALISTS

ARJUN P Registered Number: 1424003

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies

CHRIST UNIVERSITY Bengaluru 2016

Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Department of Media Studies

CHRIST UNIVERSITY Department of Media Studies

This is to certify that I have examined this copy of a master’s thesis by

Arjun P Registered Number: 1424003

and have found that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made.

Committee Members:

[SHANTHARAJU S]

Date: ______

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I, Arjun P, confirm that this dissertation and the work presented in it are my own achievement. 1. Where I have consulted the published work of others this is always clearly attributed. 2. Where I have quoted from the work of others the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations this dissertation is entirely my own work. 3. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. 4. If my research follows on from previous work or is part of a larger collaborative research project I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. 5. I am aware and accept the penalties associated with plagiarism.

Date:

CHRIST UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

Intrusion into the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression: A Study on the State of Journalism in the Backdrop of Attacks against Journalists

Arjun P

Journalists have been under life threats due to the nature of work they undertake for quite some time now. As many as 60 journalists were killed in instances of intolerance by specific groups in 2014. 2015 witnessed a different form of crime against journalists, unlike the earlier singular instances of attacks on one or two journalists; the Charlie Hebdo shootout was an organized crime on the whole of a political satire magazine (AFP, "Paris attacks) Charlie Hebdo team struggles to heal after massacre. Such attacks are indeed an intrusion into a citizen’s right to free speech and expression and affects the profession of journalism on a higher level. These incidents have also altered the public and a journalist’s self perception of his work. These altered identities and also the state of free speech and expression leads to a new social order with the difference in working of a journalist. These aspects are studied to give an insight into what remains and what alters. Keywords: Free speech, Communication, Journalism, Charlie Hebdo

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks is such a little word no bigger than a minute, but it has a world of meaning and appreciation in it. At this juncture, I would like to first thank and extend sincere gratitude to my guide, Shantaraju S, who has been a constant motivation and source of guidance throughout the process. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Fr. Biju K Chacko, Course Coordinator, and Prof. Naresh Rao, Head of the Department for their support. I would also thank faculty of the department, Suparna Naresh, Aasita Bali, Amutha Manavalan, Rajesh A, Kannan S, Ivory Lyons and Chandrasekhar Vallath for their valuable feedback and assistance throughout. Last but definitely not the least, I would thank Prof. John Joseph Kennedy, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences and all my friends, family and relatives for the relentless assistance they have provided.

DEDICATION To my loving family and friends

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures………………………..………….….……………...………………..xiv Chapter 1 Introduction to the Study ...... 1 1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ...... 5 1.3 Purpose of the Study ...... 5 1.4 Significance of the Study ...... 6 1.5 Research Design ...... 6 1.6 Assumptions and Limitations ...... 6 1.7 Research Questions ...... 7 Chapter 2 Review of Literature ...... 8 2.1 Introduction ...... 8 2.2 Review of Literature...... 8 Chapter 3 Research Methodology ...... 28 3.1 Introduction ...... 28 3.2 Research Problem ...... 30 3.3 Objectives of Research ...... 30 3.4 Methodology ...... 31 Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis...... 37 4.1 Journalism in the Past ...... 37 4.2 History of Violence againstJournalists from across the World ...... 38 4.3 Insight into Statistics ...... 69 4.4 Perception of Journalists: ...... 70 4.5 Perception of Media Students: ...... 85 Chapter 5 Conclusion ...... 96 5.1 Introduction ...... 96 5.2 Summary of the Results ...... 96 5.3 Discussion of the Results ...... 97 5.4 Limitations ...... 101 5.5 Recommendations for Further Study ...... 102 5.6 Epilogue ...... 102 Bibliography ...... 103 Appendices ...... 106

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Percentage Share of Countries With Maximum Occurrences of Violence on Journalists...... 39 Figure 4.2 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Beat...... 40 Figure 4.3 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Task at Work ...... 41 Figure 4.4 Percentage Share of Violence Caused by Different Groups According to Categories ...... 42 Figure 4.5 Percentage Share of Countries With Maximum Occurrences of Violence on Journalists...... 43 Figure 4.6 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Beat...... 44 Figure 4.7 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Task at Work ...... 45 Figure 4.8 Percentage Share Of Violence Caused by Different Groups According to Categories ...... 47 Figure 4.9 Percentage Share of Countries with Maximum Occurrences of Violence on Journalists...... 48 Figure 4.10 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Beat...... 49 Figure 4.11 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Task at Work ...... 50 Figure 4.12 Percentage Share of Violence Caused by Different Groups According to Categories ...... 51 Figure 4.13 Percentage Share of Countries with Maximum Occurrences of Violence on Journalists...... 53 Figure 4.14 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Beat...... 54 Figure 4.15 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Task at Work ...... 55 Figure 4.16 Percentage Share of Violence Caused by Different Groups According to Categories ...... 56 Figure 4.17 Percentage Share of Countries with Maximum Occurrences of Violence on Journalists...... 58 Figure 4.18 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Beat...... 59 Figure 4.19 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Task at Work ...... 60 Figure 4.20 Percentage Share of Violence Caused by Different Groups According to Categories ...... 61 Figure 4.21 Percentage Share of Countries With Maximum Occurrences of Violence on Journalists...... 64 Figure 4.22 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Beat...... 65

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Figure 4.23 Percentage Share Vulnerability of Journalists According to the Task at Work ...... 66 Figure 4.24 Percentage Share of Violence Caused by Different Groups According to Categories ...... 67 Figure 4.25 Percentage Share Student Perception of Safety in Journalism as a Career ...... 86 Figure 4.26 Percentage Share Student Perception of the Possibility of Charlie Hebdo like Shootout in India ...... 87 Figure 4.27 Showing the Percentage Share Student Perception about Journalist’s Role in Instances like Charlie Hebdo ...... 88 Figure 4.28 Percentage Share Student Perception of the Various Threats Affecting Journalist’s Freedom of Speech ...... 89 Figure 4.29 Percentage Share Student Perception of the Government’s Role in Protecting Journalism ...... 91 Figure 4.30 Percentage Share Student Perception Regarding Absolute Freedom of Speech and Expression in India...... 92 Figure 4.31 Percentage Share Student Perception Regarding Career Choices in the Field of Media ...... 93 Figure 4.32 Percentage Share Student Perception Regarding the Feature Lacking in Journalism as a Career Option ...... 94

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

Journalism in its broadest sense can be described as a profession and craft, precisely due to the intricate specializations and focus it demands during work. The central purpose of this profession is to provide citizens with news and information that is relevant for the survival and better living in a society. Journalism in all forms of governance and societies play key roles that shape and guide the formation of its virtues and values. The importance of journalism in democratic societies is all the more high due to the corrective function it performs. Journalism in a democracy acts as the fourth pillar and works hand in hand with the administrative, judiciary and legislature. In addition to supporting the system through the function of being the fourth pillar, journalism also acts as a watchdog thereby looking into all the problems and corruptions associated with the three other pillars. A typical newspaper organization has many people working to complete the daily goal of getting the print output at the end of the day. In a broadcast scenario, this situation and demand is much quicker as the output often happens live or within a short duration of time. Any media organization follows news on the basis of the attached value or weightage it has for the reader or viewer. News values are enhanced by elements like proximity, prominence, conflict and progress. With changing periods in history these news values also faced considerable amount of alteration. In today’s media scenario, any development on the social media carries a lot of weightage and there is maximum number of viewers for it. Journalism and the processes in it are guided and guarded heavily by the actions of it agent or the journalist. Journalist is also a generic term used for any individual working with a media organization for a variety of tasks including editing, reporting, anchoring and camera. A journalist in this sense becomes the most critical part of journalism as the power to manipulate and represent lies in the hand of the journalist. Journalists have been instrumental in most glorious victories attained by the free press including the achievement of independence in many countries including India. The state of functioning of a journalist is under threat now specifically due to the involvement of various groups and parties who tend to restrict the work of a journalist. These forces are also identified and analyzed for effective solutions through this study.

1.1.1 History of Journalism

Journalism as a medium of communicating facts and information evolved with the invention of movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the year 1456 and subsequently the development of printed material lead to the evolution of journalism. The first of newspapers evolved in Europe in the 17th century and the first printed periodical was Mercurius Gallobelgicus written in Latin and appeared in Germany. The first daily newspaper was the Daily Courant which appeared in 1702 and continued publication for more than thirty years. All these evolutions also featured immense changes in the social and cultural fabric of the region it belonged too. Newspapers and its evolution also talks a lot about the involvement of a colonial history as the mediums of communication were the first of institutions to be hunted down by the colonizers. Analyzing the early colonial newspapers of America, it is found that these papers have a large enough influence of the European counterparts due to the amount of colonial intrusion prevalent during that phase (Musser, 2007). Broadcast journalism was initiated with the evolution of frequency modulation radios in the year 1935 and since then the field has made immense contributions and progressed critically toward creating an empowered group of citizens. Television and its evolution happened in the early 1940’s and were under strict censorship due to the imminent wars during the period. Television news have helped preserve some of world’s most unforgettable moments in videotapes and thus made available for the rest of the public to watch and learn. The 1963 assassination of Kennedy, the 1979 capture of American citizens by Iranian militants and 1986 launch of NASA’s challenger were a few events of great importance preserved by broadcast content. Journalism since its inception has been a source of knowledge and inspiration for citizens across the world. With moments and news pieces frozen in time, journalism as a domain of liberal arts gained more significance in all structures of governance. With changing technological landscapes, evolutions like digital printing,

satellite television, twenty four hour news broadcast; live coverage and the latest of these developments include the application era. Applications of journalistic relevance like the newshunt or news in shorts gives out news and information to the user at the touch of a finger and thereby keeps the public informed without any delay in reception or coverage. Evolutions like social media have boosted and pulled back journalism at the same time and amidst all these the medium still triumphs the information scene in history.

1.1.2 Attacks against journalism

Journalism since its inception was a domain that faced harsh criticism and offences for the brave and uncompromising work it has done. At almost all times the domain spoke harshly of inequality and feudalism. The opposing groups were always powerful and they inflicted violent measures which were always avoided by the journalistic fraternity. The tasks undertaken by a journalist at work often attracted danger and anguish, but what has been protecting the journalist was the strictest presence of ethics and integrity at least on a personal level. Press freedom and a journalist’s safety while informing and guiding the society about the various aspects of events is a topic that have been debated for decades now. Though it is true that in a democracy like India, the press acts as the fourth estate and keeps a check on other dominant forces of governance, to what extent they are able to do it without interventions and safety intrusions is a question that needs serious attention. The attacks have always been organized against the journalist community but it always was different from the nature displayed by the attacks of today. One of the most dreaded and deadly feature of today’s attacks is the organized nature in crimes. The Charlie Hebdo shootout that took place 6 months ago is a clear indication as to how intolerant and unsafe the life and work of a journalist is. This could clearly be one of the reasons why a study described journalism as the worst career in two consecutive years; 2013 and 2014. The field still has a lot of talent and resources in terms of people who want to expose the wrong and build a better society. Through these attacks a wrong message is communicated to the young community of students who would want to pursue journalism as a career choice (Levs, Payne, & Pearson, 2015). According to the statistics released by the United States based nongovernmental organization, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), around 2000,

3 journalists have been killed in violent attacks during the last two decades. This situation calls for immediate attention due to the lack of safety our informers face in the period of work. The implications can be quite disturbing and especially affecting for a democracy like India which depends a great deal on its development oriented reporting for boosting the nation’s progress. The same is the scene in most developing countries and most of the attacks against journalism and journalist during his work happens in these developing regions which definitely cannot afford such hazards happening for the informers. When we talk about attacks against journalists, it is not just the physical attacks that matter or create an impact, the intrusions into a journalist’s working space in terms of legal proceedings or actions that control free speech and expression can also be disturbing to the cause. In fact such governmental intrusions occupy a major share of intrusions in the 21st century.

1.1.3 Indian Journalism

Indian journalism is a domain that has a very rich legacy in terms of various factors and periods in history that it has witnessed. India’s journalistic practices initiated itself during the colonial period and it has remained an active source of fire and light in the country’s progress. One of the first newspapers in India was James Augustus Hickey’s Bengal Gazette and was published during the colonial era in 1780. Since then India has witnessed evolution and progress through news reports and acts of journalistic excellence. Indian journalism enjoys absolute freedom of speech and expression subject to reasonable restrictions given out in article 19(2) of the Indian constitution. It does not have a special mention of provisions in the constitution but enjoy more privileges than a normal citizen does. India has also registered innumerous cases of attacks against journalists since decades. Hundreds of journalists have been killed in India since independence and the state has also imposed certain critical restrictions on the functioning of the Indian press. Eventhough there are chances that the impact of Charlie Hebdo has not been much of effect in India, there are certain signals it has send out to the world community of media. In that case the study looks into how these signals have been decided by the Indian journalist fraternity. In India, though there has not occurred any serious and violent strikes against journalists, the possibility of such an event is not

absolutely void. The study looks into how the Charlie Hebdo incident has influenced the journalists in India and whether it has created any serious fears in the mind of Indian journalists. This analysis is quite relevant as it sheds light on how modern systems of journalism cope with instances of dire attacks against its fraternity around the world and how it copes with such situations through measures that look into progress from the ashes.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

With organized groups pitching violence and anguish directly against journalists at work, the state of safety, security and freedom experienced by journalists have decreased in the recent past. As was evident from the analysis of attacks against journalists at work, the community now faces more overt criticisms that range from death threats to actual attacks. This scenario is widely being portrayed in various mass mediums including news mediums and entertainment mediums. This widespread publicity aggravates the crisis and enhances the impact of such incidents to a much larger level as journalism as a profession and key element of democracy faces threat due to these untoward incidents.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

Journalism as the fourth estate in any democratic form of governance holds more relevance and this situation is negatively affected by the above said intrusions. The study intends to understand the nature and various elements of threat as faced by journalists from around the world with specific inputs from Indian journalists. Through the study the researcher intends to analyze two key factors that affect journalism of today and that of future. In the first set, working journalists are taken as subjects to know and analyze their perception of the domain. This analysis would shed light on key aspects including their sense of security, amount of freedom exercised and the future of the field according to them. In addition, the perception study of journalism students would give insight into how valuable they consider the field which would in turn be determinant of whether it would face dearth of talent at a later stage.

1.4 Significance of the study

Journalism and related acts of communication is quite critical for free and fair functioning of any system of governance. Citizens or subjects have the right to know and decide for themselves what is right and wrong for their existence. News gatherers and journalists have been in the forefront of delivering this information to the common man since the evolution of print or before. As crimes and encroachments into a journalist’s freedom become common, the field gets affected as the amount of information and its fairness is compromised. Some method of checks and balances are critical for the world systems to function efficiently and without corruption. Journalism being this corrective force is given an amount of support and guidance through the study as opposing forces are being identified along with the practitioner’s sense of awareness about the field.

1.5 Research Design

Research design refers to the detailed description of how data collection and subsequent analysis of all the relevant information would take place. It consists of the manner of data collection and methods employed in analysis of data that is collected. In this study, the researcher has specifically used three methods in data collection, namely expert interviews, survey and secondary data analysis. The experts being interviewed were journalists actively involved in the profession and domain through activities of relevance. The journalists were selected on the basis of the region where they carry out their profession giving importance to the political and social notions in place. The research also depends on the survey being conducted amongst college going students specializing in the subject of journalism. The subject lot included both undergraduate and post graduate students with relevance given to their knowledge of the subject. The subjects were from various parts of the country like Delhi, Mumbai, Ernakulam, Bangalore and Chennai. This regional variety gives more scope of generalization and thus makes the study more credible and holistic.

1.6 Assumptions and Limitations

Journalists across the world are affected by issues of violence and denied freedom as they engage in the act of communicating what is true. There are certain generalizations about the crisis and Charlie Hebdo shootout has prominently affected

the community across the world. Cartoons and news content censorship has increased after the incident and it can be seen as one of the most massive attack against free speech. Journalism students in the modern era have drifted from conventional professions like reporting, editing and layout. Novel professions in media like public relations, advertising and video production are fascinations for more media students. The study focuses on both international journalism and Indian journalism on an equal amount of relevance, thus forcing the researcher to shift and attach attention to both at the same time. The mix of statistical data and qualitative opinions also poses challenge as the analysis should have a dual nature attached to it.

1.7 Research questions

The study depends on some critical questions that support and guides the process of the study through key inputs. The following research questions are formulated by the researcher to guide the study. 1. How safe is journalism as a profession considering the multiple instances of violence being inflicted? 2. Which sources negatively affect journalist’s in carrying out their profession? 3. What role does a government play in supporting the cause of journalist’s freedom? 4. How different are the situations in India upon comparison with a global condition? 5. Did Charlie Hebdo shootout create a terrorizing impact amongst media houses in India? 6. How bright is the future of journalism as a profession?

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction

The review of literature has provided the researcher with much needed inputs on how journalism as profession works all over the world. This secondary knowledge has been effectively used and applied in the study and several articles like the one written by Whitcomb has given direct links and guidance as to what topics to be focused on. The important aspects of free speech and intrusion into the rights of a journalist are being given more clarity through the review of literature.

2.2 Review of Literature Journalism is an article by George W. Ochs which talks about how journalism as a profession and domain differs from other arenas like academics or law. The major difference lies in the fact that journalism has evolved to become a chief factor in controlling and organizing world affairs. The press since its inception has contributed to enlightening and empowering the public in issues of governance and administration. The author terms journalism as a ‘complex vocation’ that demands practitioners to gain additional insight into everything under the sun. The article also speaks about management and mechanical aspects of journalism. The common people started becoming intolerant to journalism only after a specific line was crossed by the media houses and this has resulted in vested interest groups trying to encroach into the space of free speech to protect their own intentions. The relevance of this article lies in the fact that it traces out the history of the field thus making it easy to understand how the society depended on its activities and how it has responded to the same. These reactions present a counter argument to what is happening these days with intolerance rising to unimaginable levels. The perpetuation of any institution in a country and the subsequent development of the country are described to lie on the journalist’s shoulder. Elements of honesty and truthfulness are described as key elements that should guide the fourth estate

functioning in any region. The author takes a bold stand against sensationalism and yellow journalism as he describes the attention seeking disorder of media which had gone to the extent of calling the National Congress a den of thieves. The thin line between responsible journalism and the negative aspect has the potential to make the audience grow intolerant and react in a violent manner (Ochs, 1906). Is Free Speech a Right? Written by M. Whitcomb Hess debates the concept of free speech and the article constantly travels between free speech as a right and an incentive. The oral or written representation of one’s mental transactions is capable enough to create a stir in the society. The proof of this claim includes all the writers since time immemorial who have been able to influence the minds of people. Journalists in that aspect are people who make a living out of free speech on a daily basis, atleast in the ideal world as the real world has many corrupt aspects of journalistic representation. Under current situations like the Charlie Hebdo shootout, free speech has also evolved to be the element that can even kill. According to the author, tolerance can function in many ways depending upon the situation. It always comes with a purpose and can also include indifference which can thus be termed as a negative tolerance. Positive variants of free speech can be academic or faith based and these elements work on an intellectual level. The problem of today’s tolerance lies in the fact that it is almost always leading to an action and in most cases, a negative action. A negative action can be one which does not conform to the ideals of the society and can leads to a detrimental effect. Attacks on practitioners of free speech are thus clear reciprocations of high intolerance that is leading to negative repercussions. The central premise of a free speech argument is that all the opinions are important in one way or the other. This concept is devoid of whether the argument is true or valid or logical, it just is important because it was raised in a society that practices free speech (Hess, 1936). Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has published through their website various statistical data that is concerned with journalists and attacks inflicted upon them. CPJ is a nonprofit organization based in the United States of America. The organization makes effective interventions in the issues faced by journalists on a global scale. The group performed commendable actions in supporting and guiding the cause upheld by journalists. The most critical work they have initiated include the statistical analysis of journalism and its threats in various forms on a yearly basis, the

9 statistic also shows data from the point of view of most elements in the issue. There are many web feeds or sites which provide information on issues and also professionally speaking this information requires some form of validation. The researcher has analyzed to understand that it is indeed caused due to the variety graphic and patterns utilized by the committee. Media Matters is an article written by Beena Sarwar that attempts to discuss the various identities associated with the media of India. These identities depend a lot on the practical work that takes place in the field and range from manufacturing of consent to being the blind watchdog. With media houses and competition amongst them rising in a never before scale, it has lead to a shortening of the attention span of people across the world. People want to hear more in less time and thus Figureical representations and quick colloquial presentations became common. Speed characterizes media and this has resulted in a lot of uncensored content landing up in the public sphere. This becomes a direct contradiction to the free speech and at the same time also poises the irresponsible content. The repercussions of an irresponsible content that was printed or broadcasted falls in the name of all journalists and the audience rarely distinct and mostly generalize. The author describes the changing landscape of handling information as a topic that demands attention. While media houses both traditional and modern focuses only on profit motive, what results is the audience becoming more and more against the content. Largely as the media considers itself mostly independent and absolutely free, the possibilities of the entire unit moving beyond ethics can be quite common. Speculation and sensation are the two terms that guides the newspaper and television organizations in their run for a better society. The article reveals as to how the media of today has shifted path to gain profit and therefore is a subsequent loss of ethics. One of the key points discussed in the article talks about how journalism as a domain is capable enough to initiate change in the society. This powerful medium can make and break people and institutions. It is only natural that great power and responsibility if not judiciously executed results in chaos (Sarwar, 2009). Calculating the Public Interest in Protecting Journalists' Confidential Sources by David Abramowicz speaks about a very relevant topic that becomes the core element of a journalist’s work. The right to protect and not reveal one’s confidential sources that are gathered and kept up during the process of newsgathering is contributing to a journalist’s freedom in two ways. The first aspect relies on how the

journalist is able to gather more sources and infact make the story rich and credible enough. This is hindered if any of the sources are faced with any form of threat as people will then be scared to give out the information. On a second level it also affects the journalist psychologically as he is not given the right to work freely and encroached by other parties. According to David, the flipside if at all a protection is granted in this manner is the possibility of journalists attempting to fabricate news stories and then completing them scot free as no one can ask them about the validity of information. There is also a chance that this source might have a direct link to the event or information at hand and if it becomes a legal dispute the law enforcing authorities might not be able to discover the case. Same is the situation that prevails in most elements of free speech that gets applicable to Journalism largely. The fact that media deals with subjective topics make it all the more difficult for any legal or executive body to decide on what can be right or wrong. The subjectivity of it makes certain groups favour and others oppose the media opinion which might lead to violence outbreaks like the Hebdo shootout. The article strongly argues in favour of an authority decision that largely upholds public interest more than interests of newsgathering or dissemination (Abramowicz, 2008). Free Speech-Hate Speech: The Taslima Nasreen Case is an article by Iqbal A Ansari and it talks about two constantly contesting values which are right to freedom of speech and right of faith communities to dignity. The article takes into account the controversial death call issued against Nasreen by fanatics and talks a great deal about the legal part of speech and expression. The reasonable restrictions in free speech are present in international human rights law as well and nowhere is the freedom of speech absolute. Defamation, blasphemy, public order and morality are some of the bases in which the restrictions can be applied. The work of communication should ideally be undertaken only after knowing these restrictions so that the legal framework is followed before any content is released (Ansari, 2008). Media: Bashed from Outside and Flawed from within written by Sumanta Banerjee presents how the Indian media faces threat from both outer and inner sources. The article discusses how the politicians and other vested interest groups influence and indulge media into wrongdoings for personal benefits. This situation is also aggravated by media outlets owned by political parties either directly or

11 indirectly. In addition the external threats are quite lethal and as recent as in May 2008, the members of an organization called as Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) attacked the office of leading Telugu daily Andhfra Jyoti in Hyderabad. In a similar way, insecurity, intolerance and intimidation is what overpowers todays media (Banerjee, Media: Bashed from Outside and Flawed from Within, 2008).

Ethics of Media Reportage is an article by Ashok Malik which talks about the general guidelines in handling certain political subjects. Keeping the Indian example it brings in Anna Hazare and Mahatma Gnadhi to draw out various instances on their lives. These aspects and their reportage is considered to give practical examples to the reader. It also contrasts the power sources during earlier and present days to give an insight into how much it depends on power politics (Malik, 2011). Media's Turbulent Year, an article written by M R Narayan Swamy becomes a case history of one of Indias most turbulent years in the history of media. The Bihar government’s Press Bill of 1982 which resulted in the brutal killing of a newsman and injuries for many others is a testimony to the tragic year. Orissa and Kanpur also have incidents of the fourth estate facing several tragedies during work in the previous year. Uttar Pradesh, Rajastahn and Tamil Nadu also falls under the list and have shown not much mercy to the journalists of their state. These instances shed light on the sense of insecurity and lack of freedom prevailing in the industry for decades together now (Swamy, 1983).

The Media Scene in India is an article written by Roda Mehta. It sheds light on the practical aspects of the media scenario in India. The article starts with a statistical data which tells the amount of growth the Indian media industry had way back in 1986 with a critical 17% increase in the market turnover. The growth of media also points to the increased autjority it is going to have over the society and the same can be a boon and bane for people. The positive and negative aspect of media development depends on the way things are understood and analyzed by specific communities in the society (Mehta, 1988). Media and terrorism by A G Noorani discusses how the work of media can hinder the security of the state as it interferes with the work of defense forces. On a larger note, it talks about how media as an institution becomes a hindrance to tackling terrorism as the newspapers often act as informants to the terrorists in hideout and other places with the reporting of war, attack and other stories of the same sort. The

government and the media have to win each other’s confidence to be successful and join hand in hand toward fighting global issues like terrorism (Noorani A. G., 1992). Politics, religion and violence in India by Jaytilak Guha Roy discusses an important global issue in the Indian context. The Indian democratic and political scenarios have always depended on two major religious domains, the Hindus and the Muslims. Communalism remains the single biggest internal challenge that India faces and the same issue have been continuously addressed by governments for decades now. Religious fundamentalism lies at the core of all religious violence and it is certain that these attacks cannot be based or fundamentals of a religion. With an immensely rich culture and a strong sense of a better life, Indian religious ideals are always based on peace and harmony which is often countered by these forces. The article extends the opinion by looking at communalism from two perspectives, one from a nationalist or Gandhian and other from a religious perspective. From both perspectives religious fundamentalism and communalism negates the religion and its values according to the author. The moral order of any religion is replaced with intolerance and resistance toward external forces. The concept of secularism in India and Western countries are entirely different and its formation itself was based on different grounds. In India, the situation has extended to a level where religious base was used to form political parties. Loyal bases were also created through this religious sentiment associated with the party. It has also happened that cultivating religious sentiment is the best way for those political parties to gain momentum. Vote banks and also the stand taken by non religious parties like the Marxist or Janata parties have created a sense of backing up for more power amongst the communally organized parties (Roy, 1991). The Constitution and Journalists’ sources by A G Noorani take into consideration the United States Free Flow of Information Bill for providing an ideal model for Indian media and government to work hand in hand and create information flow system that is flawless. People’s right to free flow of information is taken as the centre point as it stands at the helm of democracy and people in the system is ideally supposed to know and understand what is important for their existence. This ability to know is to be given paramount importance and in a way should be protected with constitutional right. The second half concerned with media arrives at this point which makes protecting the journalist’s source an aspect people’s right to free flow of information. Hence the journalists and media houses will be in a much better position

13 to collect interpret and analyze news as the sources will no longer be afraid to reveal truths owing it to the constitutional guarantee of safety that they acquired. It then gives the powers to the state as to how to punish the offenders or non abiders of the law to an effect such that attacks on media and its sources remain under control. In this way, any developing country can utilize a free and honest media system to find flaws in the system and create a fourth body to keep under control the various forces that work against the society’s development (Noorani A. G., 2006). The limits of justice: An Indian human rights story by Jordan Fletcher and Subhradipta Sarkar narrates a tale where the supposed protector becomes the offender himself. The issue is related to a special team of investigators that was formed for capturing the infamous bandit Veerappan. The team constituted of officers from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and was called Joint Special Task force (JSTF) with many illegitimate authorities associated to the team with the intend of no law coming in the way of their action. The task force during its decade long excavation into the forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka borders, plunged into the heart of villages and is blamed to kill rape and loot innocent villagers. The human rights violation was so brutal and violent that often generations were living in the fear of the policemen who could come and violate them. Protecting the rights and equalities of these villagers were widely ignored by both the governments and authorities. The biggest problem associated with the human rights struggle and the violence was not the ignorance from government’s side but from the media’s side. The media which is supposed to tell the tale of struggle and human rights violation and reveal it before the common public chose to remain silent as thousands of innocent villagers were killed in the disguise of hunting down Veerappan. Any death or casualty was associated with Veerappan and they were generally termed as members of his team. The article questions the concept of justice itself which is denied through an operation supposed to deliver the same. The biggest hypocrisy from the government’s side is the decision to grand monetary aid to a community which was violated by the law enforcers without any action and relief. The Medias kept telling glorious tales about the officers while remained silent about the sufferers (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2007). Waiting to be heard; Bringing Marginalized voices to the centre written by Ashish Sen talks about one of the most intriguing questions that have been troubling the Indian media scenario since its inception. The question at hand is whether the

development oriented efforts made by the Indian media houses would reach all corners of this diverse country. India as a country has a fair share of illiterates who can be possibly informed about the nation’s happenings through radio which gives them the ability to know their destiny and contributes toward the country’s development. While media boasts of developing and helping the Indian villages to attain self sustainability, it is equally present that many sections of society still remains unrepresented. Though we have come a long way since the age of the repressive acts of 1885, the various nuances still needs a lot of development in terms of clarity and provisions. With liberalization, privatization and globalization of the media and airwaves, private entities have come into the broadcast scenario which paved way for it to support extensive areas. But it is a sad fact that the institution created with the direct intention of support and development still remains in the nascent stages. Community radios as such were the biggest and best forms that could support and talk about niche local areas with its development in mind. It is equally true that various institutions have come up with community radios aimed at supporting the less privileged but it is also there that it has not achieved its desired rate of success. Legitimacy to community radios could make people less hostile and friendlier to news that supports them. In such a community, issues of religious intolerance could be avoided and reduced with more people coming in and supporting the media cause (Sen, 2003). Media Bashed from outside and flawed from Within written by Sumanta Banerjee reveals certain crisis situations that the Indian media has landed itself upon now. It is undoubtedly said that Indian media remains one of the most vibrant in the world with multiple languages and sources and avenues to address. When the author says bashed from outside, it talks about how the big names be it politicians, film actors and businessmen utilize either their own media house or their influence in any given media firm to manufacture content that mostly supports their endeavors in their own field. From publicity to profit motive, the media has been used. Flawed from within is when the owner himself tries to yield to innumerous commercial interests that come in the way of honest journalism and this as stated earlier is detrimental to the fourth estate. The impact arises from the fact that people are constantly watching this phenomenon and understanding basic facts about the same. This leads to tension

15 and intolerance amongst certain groups which results in violence (Banerjee, Media: Bashed from Outside and Flawed from Within, 2008).

Muslims and Mass Media by Yoginder Sikand talks about one of the most prominent issues that could be the base for intolerance on the basis of community allegiance. The article is about the perception or actuality that exists about the Muslim community in the media scenario of our country. The Muslims as a group perceives them to be marginalized and oppressed when it comes to owning and operating the media houses. Major shares or ownership in media and manufacturing consent is only perceived to lie in the hands of ‘other’ communities and in turn they are at a state of vulnerability. The element of vulnerability also reveals itself in the issue of portrayal as Muslims believe that most of the times they are portrayed as terrorists or anti social elements which is not true. This portrayal Is not just limited to fictional productions like films and serials but also television news which passes judgments about this community. This has put them in a state where they believe it should rest upon their hands, the task of holding up their unique communal culture and religious values. This can be one of the universal cases which lead to violence like the Charlie Hebdo (Sikand, 1994). Unnecessary Controversy written by Nireekshak is an attempt at discovering the positives of Indian media which has contributed to the nations’ independence and subsequent development. The article is based on a controversy stirred up during the 2000 BJP government’s term which called for reforms in press policy of the country. The then minister for information & Broadcasting Sushma Swaraj herself was in favor of implementing widespread changes in the media working which was later ignored. The problem associated with this change was that it advocated for a complete burial of all existing laws irrelevant of whether good or bad. This situation is absolutely not necessary and also ignores and forgets most of India’s brilliant media undertaking efforts. The author terms the Indian media as the best reflector for its development and in turn praises the efforts which have been largely useful in developing and uniting the country. The media undoubtedly has various differences in operation and lack of uniformity often results in extreme subjectivities coming out in the open. The issue is also associated with subjectivity as what is newsworthy for one might not be news

worthy for another. In a different manner, this has contributed to a diversity in the media output and the interests of multiple viewers remain satisfied (Nireekshak, 2000). Media and Kargil by Geeta Seshu is an article about the Indian media during the Kargil war in terms of its output and work behind. The article criticizes the Indian media first of all for not doing honest journalism and manufacturing stories according to minimal information available. The lack of integrity was evident as stories of war piled up even when open air strikes were widely common in the war region. The journalists were portrayed as being on the forefront with the soldiers while they were only creating stories in their bureau. The author analyses three major newspapers, namely Times of India, The Asian Age and the Indian Express as references to study about this issue. The author also goes to the extent of saying that newspapers covered these war games in the most biased fashion as possible. Though not direct opinions favoring hindutva agenda were featured rather the opinions of extremist hindutva movement leaders were covered which more or less created the same impact. In addition, Indian media gave more coverage to the cricket world cup which was happening during the same time and ignored most of the country’s most violent struggles in the recent past (Seshu, 1999). Black humour in time of war written by Sumanta Banerjee talks about how media houses quite intentionally packages and manufactures content in patterns that could create allegiance to a specific group. As war stricken times are often difficult conditions for a journalist’s work they tend to follow what some organization in the region has already put up. The context of the article is the anti Iraq war carried out by the United States forces with the support of various allies. The news pieces from across the world are carefully analyzed to see how the propaganda element works and the results are quite shocking. Absurdities, pronouncements, claims and counter claims ruled the media scenario to say the least and an ordinary global citizen watching all these news broadcasts gets to know the very weaknesses and flaws of the media across the world. Further, the deliberate attempts to sanctify one’s own interest region are quite evident and hence the people develop resentment with the media’s work and in turn it contributes to later problems of intolerance. This phenomenon also helps develop a negative image about the journalist and their work which reduces the credibility (Banerjee, Black Humour in Time of War, 2003).

Storytelling, Fake worlds and the Internet written by Elif Shafak is one of the recent articles that include most modern trends in the domain of media freedom and evolution of alternate forms of communication. The author states that a country where democracy has remained nothing but a dream for centuries together has a fundamental difference with a region enjoying democracy in the domain of communication. The communication efforts both fiction and news oriented in such countries are not mandatorily apolitical as they have the deepest desire for attaining freedom to rule themselves. Media freedom and diversity was on a shrinking phase in such countries and they could not find alternate methods of representing themselves and their ideologies. In this state developed the complex systems of information technology which was made simpler by it and thus developing a new method of communication which was beyond all norms of restrictions prevalent in the society. This gave people a new lease of life in terms of telling their heart to the world over and people in countries like Turkey have utilized it as the new order of things. This falls perfect as people in various communities facing issues of deprivation and alienation could come together as a unit to fight these in the vested interest media groups. Cartoons by Isabel Simeral Johnson lead the reader to the quintessential basics of cartoon as a medium of expression and art. Predominantly the purpose, origin and initial practice are what determined the trajectory of growth. The author describes cartooning as an outgrowth of caricature and in a different sense it is an outgrowth that eats into the bad effects or evils in the society. Holland is considered as the birth place of cartoons and now the medium has creators and audiences and all parts of the globe. Exaggerated drawings of an individual’s deformities were the initial cartoons and since then the satirical nature was omnipresent in their practice and patterns of existence. From that age the cartoons of today have upgraded to be more civilized in terms that no personal attack is being inflicted. The cartoons of today focus their sarcasm more on collective units that are bound to perform in a different way. Upon close observations, it becomes evident that the Charlie Hebdo attacks were an example of intolerance as done and displayed by a group that was intolerant to the ideas that were presented through the medium. The level of development to imbibe the criticism and develop or throw back the same in a constructive way is what lacked during the incident. (Johnson, 1937)

Class Confusions: American Media Discourse about Class jointly authored by Sherry Linkon and John Russo discusses the issue of class in the American society and in turn gives a world order which can be followed in terms of other media enterprises as well. With the processes of globalization and economic restructuring taking over the globe, there have evolved various new trends of the functioning society. The society all around the globe have taken a new shift towards highlighting and exposing class and caste in various regions of the world. During the post industrial revolution phase the entire focus was on productivity and other identities were suspended. But as the shift slowly altered from productivity to more of social interaction and social existence it took a different turn. The notion of classlessness has altered itself to create spaces where class and caste gets practiced and such objects started getting catered to the society. Americans earlier defined themselves as either working class or middle class which more or less meant the same thing. The difference now arises as multiple identities now come into the picture and it creates an atmosphere of confusion which makes it easier for vested interest groups to corrupt the minds of people (Linkon & Russo, 2001). How children understand sarcasm: The role of context and intonation written by Carol A Capelli, Noreen Nakagawa and Cary M Madden talks about the issue of one of the most vulnerable group of audiences we have in our society. The children are flooded with various content of different form and type which affects them both positively and negatively and create an alteration in their minds. Though it is safe to assume that children and impact of content put on them depends on the thinking capacity it can definitely be altered by the patterns and power of what is put on their shoulders. Since children are blessed with more imagination with less of socially imposed patterns of thought any free content supplied to them would then be analyzed in the mind with minimal social order in mind. The concept of irony and sarcasm take a long time of exposure to such content and people for children to recognize and understand them. In addition the child should also look into how much stress the speaker gives on to certain ideas and certain other words which might not be a skill that gets developed in an early age for the children. Irony is often used as a vehicle for sarcasm in our culture and this should also take a long time before the children can understand it (Capelli, Nakagawa, & Madden, 1990). Measuring Anti –Americanism in Editorial Cartoons by Mark Long, Rick L Bunch and Robert Earl Lloyd sheds light on the issue of quantifying anti-

Americanism in editorial cartoons. The article provides extensive statistics for the study into how anything against a specific ideology, belief or practice gets manufactured in editorial cartoons. The quantification of it would lead to insights into how editorial cartoons would propagate ideas and ideals according to its pattern of content. The author describes anti- Americanism as a practice that developed as a response to the hegemonic world view that got support after the fall of the Soviet Union. Editorial cartoons in a different sense were also affecting largely the sentiments and practices of international politics as they mostly direct targeted worldly affairs that were under the purview of multiple nations. The study revealed that the nature of the cartoons largely decided upon the effect it had and it also had little less to do in terms of the audience who received the content (Lloyd, Long, & Bunch, 2009). Copyright and emerging knowledge economy in India written by Pradip N Thomas though does not directly relate to the topic of violence on media it certainly develops a point that stands strong as the pillar of freedom. Intellectual property rights and copyright have remained one of the most contested and discussed ideas in the recent past. On a first look it generates immense possibilities and scope of development as it gives one the ability to own his thought. Further, the amounts of new patterns the person can develop with the existing knowledge of whatever is a very vast topic of research. But the drawback of this feature lies in the fact that global corporations with immense capital and vast amount of material resources to back are working towards manipulating and owning all possible intellectual properties of the time. This trend restricts the common man’s freedom to think, let alone read, write or speak. This situation leads to lot of intolerances and differences thereby also creating unsatisfied people. This unsatisfied bunch of people is capable enough of creating widespread agitation and expression of intolerance which results indirectly in incidents like the Charlie Hebdo (Thomas, 2001). The Cartoon of a Bengali Lady Clerk: A repertoire of sociological data authored by Dalia Chakrabarti attempts to draw comparisons between cartoons and sociology by analyzing the cartoon of a Bengali lady clerk and its sociological significance. The cartoon was by Benoy Bosu and is considered a masterpiece which holds within multitude of eyes, each one relating to various viewpoints of the society. The Bengali lay clerk cartoon according to the author successfully portrays what can be described as the perfect eye of the contemporary dominant male point of view. The

educated, working, smart and liberated women are viewed upon by the male with hate and disgust. A moral condemnation of women’s liberation and representation of working women as ridiculous are two social practices that are ridiculed by the author. The reaction between text ad written images is one among the many contested ideas presented through the article. The article clearly describes how a visual with a message can be much powerful and impactful in terms of conveying an idea or message (Chakrabarti, 2004). Drawing (cartoons) from artistic traditions by Martha H Kennedy talks about how formats and linear orchestrations of large shapes and small details can lead to a higher meaning being conveyed. Artistic traditions or prototypes determine the way in which an art or its form function and it will also determine the pattern through which it gets disseminated to followers and audiences. American political cartoonists for example have drawn from fine arts as a tradition and practice. Subtle differences and variations in propagation make differences in the ways they approach the reader. It is to be noted that this aspect also determines how it gets impacted upon the viewer who derives inspiration and meaning from the art form. Genres, artistic modes and prototypes are also utilized during this endeavor to create enhanced or additional meaning. The subtle differences between visual effects also separate what can be described as various categories of exercising the cartoon medium (Kennedy, 2008). More than a laughing matter: Cartoons and Jews is an article by George M Goodwin which discusses the involvement and interaction as exhibited by Jews and cartoons. From centuries before, Jews have become participants of ridicule and hatred, thus various artists from across the world have placed the end of their ridicule in cartoons upon the Jews. It is actually ironic that towards the alter parts of the worlds history Jews have created much acclaimed cartoonists who were revered for their ideas and clarity of thought. The fact that cartooning required less artistic or academic preparations and the less amount of licensing it had can be considered a reason for its wide success. With unlimited access to historical places like museums, art galleries and monuments they have received references and study materials through the art of observation. These factors coupled with their no fear of losing and courage to speak up the art was all theirs to practice (Goodwin, 2001). Sarcasm and Interactional politics written by Lori J Ducharme talks about how sarcasm can be utilized effectively in interactional politics to gain better control over the communication process. The author states that striking a perfect harmony is

21 most important for achieving the above said. A perfect harmony between sarcasm and humor is what can be used to effectively convey content and ideas. The structure of sarcasm and humor are mostly the same with both of it relying on relatively similar methods of utilizing the ideas related to interaction. It is also possible that sarcasm on one hand can be humorous and enhance personal relationships and interactions; on the other hand it can also lead to alienation in front of a group or people of relevance. It is also possible that this might lead to a different pattern of experiencing and understanding the people around oneself. The chances are that one can perform a trial and error in terms of identifying and analyzing people and humor associated with them in addition to the ways in which they handle humorous content (Ducharme, 1994). Foreign print media incarnating as Indian fourth estate? authored by V R Krishna Iyer sheds light on one of the major causes of alienation felt by the third world countries when it comes to media. The foreign print media according to the author forces into India with their high tech might and propagandist power to manipulate and portray itself as the fourth estate guiding and enhancing Indian democracy. This attempt according to the author is an effective and planned step towards supporting the West’s cultural conquest that has been in existence for many centuries now. The article reveals itself upon a time when the Indian government under the charge of Union minister Manmohan Singh took the brave step of opening up its barriers through the Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization measures of 1991. The author expresses his concerns over how a foreign borne institution with western ideals, patterns of functioning, existence and evolution support and contribute to this country with an entirely different way of life. The news media indeed has power to manipulate minds and manufacture thought which could affect the way Indian society functions. The final effect of this problem lies in the fact that Indians start thinking like the Westerners and this counter culture will be opposed by fundamentalists inside which could lead to a violent clash that could wipe out the community and its ideas which has supported it since inception. It is also to be understood that these ideals were once utilized against a colonial west to put up our cause and develop our stand in front of the world (Iyer, 1994). Assaults on Journalists and Powers of Magistrates by A G Noorani describe an incident where four journalists out on duty were assaulted and kidnapped by a unit

of the Punjab police. It draws information from the article written by Seema Mustafa in ‘The TeleFigure’ and extensively speaks about how the offenders remain free after a fortnight then of the incident. The four journalists filed an FIR stating the issue and their grievances the same day itself but to avail no positive response or action from the side of the police department. The author also comments upon how ineffective the law and order enforcing machinery without proper guidelines and directions even for the magistrates to follow. Further the article extends its reach to the issue of journalist attack where they are left with no opportunity to respond. This severely cripples the freedom of the fourth estate and its practitioners in honestly reporting what is needed for the progress of the society. It is also to be understood that one should be able to get justice no matter what his social status or situation is. The article also sheds light on how the administrative machineries join hands to create a league of injustice to the common man. Government Media & Punjab by Pritam Singh talks about how the Congress government manipulated the government media, All India Radio and Doordarshan content broadcasted on the Sikh riots. The manipulation was done to favour the sentiments of the Hindu community in Punjab and subsequently earn the vote, states Pritam in the article. He further goes on to say that the acts of manipulation were done with the hidden agenda of highlighting their electoral strategy. Manipulation with a communal base also damages the democratic system and communal harmony existing in the region and in any situation a government sponsored authority or body in power engaging in adjusting of information supply according to him is not healthy. Anti Sikh communal sentiments were aroused with specific sentiments in mind and in turn the two assassins were continually addressed with their communal affiliation to register the same in the minds of the audience. Government owning of media is ideally supposed to cater the most honest content based on development and welfare of the people but in this case it has lead to crippling of the journalists freedom to satisfy mere electoral needs of the ruling party according to the author. The fourth estate as a force of democracy experienced an epic fail through the incident and often the entire nation’ media get a bad name out of such incidents. It also permits, provokes and leads the journalists into trying the same pattern of coverage with most vital stories that they are supposed to deliver.

Media Freedom and Political Debate in the Digital Era written by Jacob Rowbottom discusses the alteration in media consumption and dissemination patterns according to the development of modern technology in the field of communication> The digital era is marked by an individual aspect in the field of media and political debate. The sensitivities and sensibilities depend a lot upon how the individual as a single unit perceives the story. Interests of the individual speaker are quite important when it comes to the internet sphere and the situation trivializes as some individual speakers command more attention than the rest. The conflict here lies in the idea that these individual speakers themselves act as media houses with the magnitude of audience they have. Then they should also follow the same rules and guidelines as followed by the mass media houses and the same rules devised out in the mass media era has to be applicable for them . These individual speakers also have no identity essentially and these are free from most of physical intrusions and thus have more freedom than a mass media journalist. For example if the Charlie hebdo cartoons came in the virtual space with no specific identity attached then the fundamentalists would have found it difficult to identify a target to release their frustration. This new media scenario has created altering paradigms of media existence and thus is truly relevant when it comes to press exercise and freedom (Rowbottom, 2006). Media Freedom, Political Knowledge and Participation is an article by Peter T Leeson that talks about the relation between the two main domains of government and media in influencing people’s political knowledge and participation. According to the author the previous knowledge that says that only a newspaper can release the same thought for about thousand or more readers at the same time. This holds true for the evolved media firms like television, radio etc. This power and affirmation is something that most governments across the world like to utilize and hence intervening into media’s power spaces is quite common across the world. These acts range from monopolizing the flow of information to censoring the content that goes across the media to people. These actions of terrible intervention and crippling freedom have been repeatedly used across the world and have had positive and negative consequences. The article looks into how it affects people’s perception and understanding of the economy, politics and social system of the world. This knowledge or understanding is quite crucial in building a harmonious world and which is totally diminishing as incidents like the Hebdo reveals. This knowledge is

boosted with the presence of a free media system and the voters in such democratic countries enjoy much more informed consent as voters (Leeson, 2008). Media: far from freedom by Mrinal Pande discusses the state of media in India through the state of its evolution. The article written in 1987 mainly highlights aspects that were prominent during those days and it become clear that these are the struggles that the Indian media face even today. The article states that Indian media have always been under the control of the government and private players. During the days of the article, the print industry in India was mostly dominated by private players and the broadcast scenario by government monopoly, even the radio media was a monopoly of the government. The situation then was that any news information would be treated with prior vested interest by governmental policies and states in the broadcast media through doordarshan and All India Radio while at the same time print media by private players with specific business interests which ahs detrimentally affected the Indian media. Taking things into perspective with today’s media scene, both the broadcast and print medium is controlled by private and government interests while most of internet remains the common man’s last resort for information. The problem with internet media in this scene is the lack of credibility that the entire information faces as the faceless communicator has no responsibility of what is said over the free media. The author calls it the dark and inescapable realities of the Indian media and raises concern about the state (Pande, 1987). The construction of Islam as a public issue in Western European countries through the prism of the Muhammed Cartoons controversy: A comparison between France and Germany is an article by Frauke Miera and Valerie Sala pala analyzes the way in which the Muhammed cartoons controversy was constructed as a public issue in France and Germany. The article brings together and converges opinions of media, politicians, intellectuals and Muslim organizations to generate a holistic understanding about the issue. The work of cartoons has created an impression as to classifying the community as the Muslim other who are different from the rest of the communities. The article talks about how an international issue, the antagonism between Muslim community and rest of the social units in the world scenario from a neutral perspective. National identity, community belongingness and individual identity gets debated to strike a balance to the ideas presented in the issue from debating and conflicting opposition sides (MIERA & PALA, 2009).

A Cartoonist’s Metamorphosis is an interview with Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani by Persis Karim sheds light on multiple nuances of how cartoons act as a social reformation tool. The power of the medium is discussed and the way it satirically projects on to the ultimate egos of vested interest groups are studied. The answer to the very first question in the interview only raises Mana’s concern over the restrictions on producing cartoons in theme and subject. She states that the editorial cartoons are facing lot of problems and thus its capacity to talk about the society and its free functioning is not present. Working with literary and political magazines also were limiting in multiple ways for there were certain interests to take care and keep under check. The situation was much better in the past according to Mana and cartoonists could freely represent their thoughts in the form of cartoons with not any censorship and much commotion in the society. (Neyestani, 2015). Secularism and Freedom of Conscience written by Jocelyn Maclure and Charles Taylor and translated by Jane Marie Todd discusses the most common challenge faced by societies across the world, managing moral and religious diversity. With globalization and cross cultural integration, no society or community exists in isolation these days. Every individual across the globe has multiple identities attached to his/her name and the same has various vested points and interests in him. These cultural and religious identities are quite sensible and any minor confronting of the same will not be taken lightly. Promotion of secular identities is what can be the solution to the burning situation present today. The Charlie Hebdo attack can be considered as a typical example of how intolerant individuals and communities across the world are towards criticism against religion or community. People should have the freedom or conscience to identify and realize what is wrong and what might go beyond the realms of social order. The article says that religion or such sensitive identities should be contained within the individual and when it is brought out under the community it becomes a social evil (Maclure & Taylor, 2011). Jokes and their relation to social reality written by Anton C Zijderveld sheds light on one of the most important but ignored social phenomenon of all times; joke. The article begins with the author’s note which tells that sociology has not paid much attention to jokes as capable enough for initiating a social change. The sociological neglect of this anthropological phenomenon and its reasons are laid out by the author. One of the reasons the author finds is the lack of a partner that is much essential for

experiencing a joke to the fullest potential. The need for echo in jokes makes it highly subjective and different for a sociological analysis which needs standardized systems. Jokes can also be the most effective way to express social realities in a satirical manner and it always reaches the right point of affect as was revealed in many incidents of intolerance triggered by cartoons. The upper hand it enjoys over text or written news is that jokes and cartoons do not need much of a context and it can easily be universalized to reach more audience and achieve more impact (Zijderveld, 1968). Cartoon Violence and Freedom of Expression by David Keane talks about how a cartoon are taken way too seriously and attacks on cartoonists and media houses have become common due to this intolerance. According to the author, cartoons are an ideal way to depict social reality which text cannot portray. In this way cartoons enhance the power of the message and better convey them to the audience. Since cartoons are a very subjective medium with maximum room for interpretation with minimal explanation the multitude diversity of ways in which people analyze the same cartoon is way too high. Through humor one of the most sensitive indicators of social attitudes, cartoon shave much more impact than text. Cartoons and satires on religion and communities have been in existence since medieval days. Biblical parody has remained an important aspect of cartoons since the medieval days and religious satires were much common than today. Not just vested interest groups or communities even governments across the world have shown frustration and intolerance toward cartoons when their respective rulers, administration or system of governance were questioned through cartoons (Keane, 2008).

Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Research can be defined as the system inquiry and study of materials at hand in order to establish new conclusions and results that positively contribute to the society and world at large. It involves gathering of information from multiple sources and drawing conclusions through specifically designed patterns of analysis. The study gets initiated with the identification of topics and gets finalized only as the desired conclusion is drawn from it. Research orientation is one of the key factors of higher education at all levels around the world and it helps expanding the academic base in any given topic. Research as an academic activity is classified on the basis of the domain in which it operates and this classification is into 5 different areas namely, arts, science, philosophy, history and humanities. Each of this academic discipline follows a distinct pattern of research design and practice of research. The humanities discipline includes studies from the media studies and social sciences which involves a mixture of practice and theory. Researches can be classified into two main categories, namely basic or applied and quantitative or qualitative. Basic research also known as pure research is the stream of study that is undertaken to enhance the knowledge about a particular topic. This form of research is mostly undertaken in the field of academics and theory. Devoid of a physical output the yield of pure research is mostly an intellectual property and does not involve any invention or creation. Applied research on the other hand is undertaken to generate solutions to rectify problems that are arising in today’s society. The product or final output of applied research is capable of solving an issue at hand and therefore the name. Such researches are initiated as and when the need arises and involves a problem oriented approach in most cases. In addition, two other classifications include correlation studies and experimental studies which involve

patterns of similarity and relationship between two variables and practical trials utilized to arrive at conclusions. The two major domains of research in the social sciences discipline as mentioned above are qualitative and quantitative methods of research. These methods of research mostly occupy the major crust of researches and are involved in one way or the other in most researches. To put down the concept in very simple terms, qualitative research is one that is concerned with the ‘why’ of a question and quantitative is one that is associated with the ‘what’ of a question. While qualitative looks at the inner developments and motivations of any issue at hand quantitative presents a numerical and factual presentation of the same. Qualitative research generally involves a smaller sample than quantitative research as each of the response and output needs detailed analysis with the help of certain parameters. Since the responses from each subject would be different in one way or the other due to the subjectivity in responses it is time consuming and effortful to analyze each response. Quantitative study on the other hand deals with more complex numbers but has simple formulas to get the output. The sample size would generally be larger and will have a uniform set of questions wherein the responses would be more or less the same and quantifiable through equations. Unstructured or semi structured techniques will be utilized for data collection as in contrary to quantitative which utilizes structured methods. In fact the same method can be utilized in different pattern for both qualitative and quantitative as is done in the case of interviews wherein they can be structured and unstructured, formal or informal on the basis of the researcher’s demand. Quantitative and qualitative researches vary in terms of output as well, while qualitative produces a solution that generally is described through the social scenario and patterns of development, quantitative brings an end to the question through its finalized solution or answer as in itself it does not provide much scope for additional research. The practical application of differences between qualitative and quantitative gets worked as research work is initiated. To a large extend the techniques involved in research vary and the method of execution also has major differences in qualitative and quantitative. As mentioned above, one of the common methods involved in both qualitative and quantitative research is interview and it is of types on the basis of how it is carried out.

1. Structured interview 2. Unstructured interview

Another classification of the same comes from how the entire proceeding is maintained throughout and this includes, 1. Formal interview 2. Informal interview

It is also so that these two are combined to form structured formal/informal and unstructured informal/ formal interviews.

3.2 Research Problem

Journalists since time immemorial have remained agents of vigilance and change in society’s world over. It is only as an acknowledgement to the glorious past held by the domain that it still receives great admiration and reverence from the general public. A journalist’s right to speech is something that is critical for his/her field of work and the recent trends show that journalists are curtailed of this freedom to express and enhance through violent measures. Fear like any other human being or living species affects journalists as well and due to the fear of life faced by the practitioners, journalism on the whole is getting affected. The study attempts to look into what are the major sources of this violence in a broader attempt to understand what efforts should be taken to control the effects. The research addresses both qualitative and quantitative questions related to the issue at hand. The operations of various media organizations and the history of attacks against journalists are studied to know the clear references to the issue. The study holds critical relevance in terms of countries like India where democracy is the system of governance and media becomes an important element thus being the fourth estate.

3.3 Objectives of Research

The research primarily aims to compare and contrast the differences of perception held by journalists and media students from various parts of India. The statistical insights into various elements related to the history of attacks against journalists are also studied. 1. Analyzing the impact of Charlie Hebdo and similar attacks on journalism in India

2. To shed light on the statistical analysis of journalists being killed and attacked during a specific period in history. 3. To analyze through the above statistic, the most deadly country, profession, task and source of violence for a journalist. 4. To know the role and responsibility taken by governments in protecting the journalists. 5. Through expert interview and survey, understand the various threats faced by Indian journalists in their work time. 6. To understand the perception of media students from across the country about journalism as a career option.

3.4 Methodology

As the research focuses on analyzing the aspects of freedom and rights, qualitative methods of research and enquiry are employed. The major reason for this is the fact that the study looks into the why of most issues associated with intrusion of speech rights and the same would require the researcher to do extensive analysis on this issue in the lines where he will have to demarcate between subjectivity and available facts. Various methods of qualitative enquiry mentioned above can be utilized for this purpose and would require an approach that needs focus and attention given to subtle aspects of the question and answer given. Qualitative methods can effectively be used to analyze the information collected through secondary data collection and therefore adds to the research in the lines of finding a solution to the issue at hand. In addition a quantitative content analysis is employed to understand the magnitude of the issue at hand. The study also emphasizes on gaining significance through analysis of facts and objective opinions regarding various issues thereby involving quantitative methods of study as well. Quantitative methods are employed in methods of survey of opinions from amongst journalists and students of media studies. Thus the study involves methods of triangulation which is the utilization of multiple methods in the work of research. The initial steps of research would focus on the secondary data collection method mentioned above so that a strong base o information is set on the number of issues can be ascertained. This also gives certain factual information on when, where and how the attack or intrusion happened with reference to violation of free speech. The content analysis method would draw sources ranging from people to newspapers

31 and online journals. Online news feeds of media houses can be utilized as an effective source of data as they can largely be trusted for credibility and also involvement in the issue. Secondary data collection becomes one of the initial methods of the process as it gives insight into what are the facts and incidents associated with the issue.

3.4.1 Secondary Data Collection

The data collection involved the researcher to study and tabulate all the available issues of intrusion and violence into free speech and expression by vested interest groups or any other parties. The analysis also gave insight into how these issues have developed over course of time and the fate of the issue gives a clear insight into how such atrocities are viewed by the government and authorities. Secondary data was collected and reviewed through the University library supported academic journals, research papers and information databases. In addition, news sources were studied to get references of issues available. The issues ranged from violence from political parties, attacks by vested interest groups and negative effects created due to defamation and communal issues. Specific attention is also given to the domain of communal issues as it is the most prominent factor that controls and violates the free speech movement in country. The root cause of this issue lies in the fact that India is a country that has innumerous communities and even stronger sentiments associated to it. These sentiments when hurt acts against a journalist or any one engaged in the act of communication thus leading to the violation of freedom in terms of speech. The secondary input on issues and incidents are also collected from industry professionals who have been in the field for many years now. Experienced journalists involved in the study have by themselves seen, read and wrote about several of these issues. Their references add more source base to the secondary data as it also includes an opinion and a point of view stand on how the issue was handled. Such sources also helped in understanding the socio-political situation of the region during the incident and its occurrence. This data would further be analyzed to form the content analysis through quantitative methods.

3.4.2 Interview

The study relies heavily on diverse perceptions collected from various journalists, public and other stake holders. Due to the nature of the study which

focuses on revealing upon more from the information received, the interviewer has to ask questions based on the response of the subject. The researcher therefore utilized qualitative unstructured interview for the research and except for an outline of the interview no questions were pre determined. The spontaneity of the process will maintain maximum credibility and encourage honest responses from the interviewee. The interviews were conducted within a specific duration of time and the researcher ensured that the respondents are exposed to more or less similar social situations. The interviews were of around thirty minutes and the time duration varied according to the amount of responses and the nature of responses made by the respondent. It is also crucial that added attention is given to elements that might diverge from the topic and such discussions if not relevant will be altered in the right direction. The participants of research interview included reporters and editors of print, broadcast and web mediums and will be chosen on the basis of a few parameters which includes experience at work, organization working for and the location. While experience is a critical parameter that decides on how many relevant issues he/she has seen and observed as the longer one is in office the more such stories pass through their discretion, the location tells a great deal about the physical condition that the subject faces at work. For example a journalist working in war hit zones would be more prone to assault and fatalities than one doing any other beat in a city. The organizational policies determine a great deal the working of a journalist on two levels; one is when the policy prevents a journalist from writing a story against a particular group, organization or individual. The second level is relevant after the publishing of a story and is concerned with the range of support that one’s organization provides while the story faces criticism, controversy or defamation. The above mentioned variables become relevant in this aspect and can guide the study. The study in Indian scenario is also dependant on restrictions that are imposed by law. Even though the study lays emphasis to mostly situations that are associated with violent intrusions, this aspect on restriction of freedom can also not be ignored. The reasonable restrictions provided in constitution have also been a case of debate for many years now. This topic is also associated with the questionnaire to understand and interpret the perspective on reasonable restrictions. The general public involved in the interview included students of media studies from various parts of the country and were be chosen on the basis of a convenience sampling provided they have enough awareness about the situation of

33 journalists and free speech in the country. This aspect was analyzed through a small subset of questions asked before the actual interview. This ensured that they have a critical understanding and fair enough knowledge of the situation at hand. The interview of public focused on getting their perceptions and opinions on the issue and thus with a considerable stable sample, the opinions can be generalized to earn maximum credibility to the study. The importance of involving public is prevalent in the fact that it is their preferences that mostly determines the content and packaging of media content. It is a known fact that no media organization can exist without viewership and like how the media influences public opinion; public opinion definitely can influence media activity as well.

In addition to the qualitative unstructured interview, a structured quantitative interview was also conducted to analyze the effect and impact of Charlie Hebdo and similar issues that have happened in the country. This interview shed light on how the journalists themselves perceived their amount of safety and freedom at work. In addition the study conducted on general public gave a third person social study on how the public observe journalism as a profession. The role of public in journalism is an increasing domain and with evolution of concepts like citizen journalism the prominence is on an ever high note. This aspect of the study can help a great deal in analyzing the impact and future of journalism as a career option. Safe and healthy work environment is one of the key elements that are considered before engaging oneself in any career option. Journalism on that note requires to be studied for the actual scenario in safety factor and coming from the journalist it gives a realistic picture of how relevant the work is. Focus group study or discussion as a method can be utilized for analyzing and developing semi structured data wherein a selected group of participants chosen on the basis of certain parameters discuss among themselves the topics at hand and generate an idea about the issue from their levels of understanding and practice. It is employed in the study to understand varying opinions from the three set of people involved in the study regarding the issue at hand. As they discuss on a level playing field it generates enough and more inputs regarding the study and becomes fruitful for the research and is final output.

3.4.3 Content Analysis

In accordance with the patterns of quantitative research, a content analysis of statistical data and media coverage of violent intrusions into journalists and press freedom is conducted. The content was generated from web archives of newspaper websites and e-magazines like The Statesman, Times of India and Frontline. The analysis of data involved parameters that ranged from content, length of the article, usage of pictures and infographic, magnitude of the story and the frequency of coverage. International news sources like The Guardian, Global Journalist and The Independent were taken as sources for collecting and analyzing of content. This study gives insight into the whereabouts of issues and fatalities concerned with the journalists and their security. This study is conducted keeping in mind following broad categories 1. Domain of work 2. Job undertaken 3. Causes attributed

These parameters largely determine the amount of significance associated with the issue. The study looks into the issue on the basis of time period. The content collected through secondary data collection is further studied to come up with topically relevant output. The above said information is also compiled and effectively analyzed in reference to other factors thereby giving more clarity and credibility to the study. The researcher has collected information on a yearly basis and the same is compiled to make phases of four years each. In this manner there arises more scope for analysis and the data in turn makes more sense to the research. It is also worth denoting that the study gains more significance as it incorporates several instances of real life intrusions and in turn gain momentum in discussing the basic issues associated with a journalist’s life and freedom of speech and expression in the existing social scenario.

3.4.4 Theoretical Framework

The researcher has utilized two sets of theories in the study to comprehend and analyze the results and also to impart theoretical backing to the same. The theories involved in research are the normative press theories and cultivation theory. While the normative press theories determine and discuss about the levels of press freedom and

35 functioning of the media in a country, cultivation theory talks about how media content can cultivate emotions and actions in the mind of the people. Normative press theories in the conventional sense and meaning are four namely, Authoritarian, Libertarian, Soviet Union and Social Responsibility. The function of these theories is to label and categorize the systems of media existence in any country and thus also becomes a guideline for the existence of media systems from within those countries. Social reality portrayed on television or media is inculcated and believed by the people due to prolonged and quality exposure is what is mentioned in the cultivation theory. This theory is also essentially relevant as the study probes into the causes of attacks against journalism. It is a most relevant and widely accepted fact that most of the attacks against journalists and journalism get initiated due to the content created. This content cultivates in the mind of the people various perceptions related to the said topic and it is due to these debatable perceptions that people misinterpret ideas and ideologies resulting in attacks against journalists. Cultivation to a large extend determines the level of intolerance prevalent in the minds of the people who in turn go on to attack and initiate violence against media and its practitioners.

Chapter 4

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Journalism in the past

Journalism and practices that involve communication of information have evolved centuries ago. There are proven records of ancient Roman Empire publishing their daily performance sheet in the name of ‘acta diurna’ (Silver). There were also other journalistic productions like bao, Weekely Newes and The Daily Courant. Since then journalism has never stopped gloriously carrying out its daily function of informing and making the public aware of what happens around and what is specifically relevant. The journalism of today is a fine profession which balances the world systems of governance by being the fourth pillar. The domain was first called the fourth estate by Edmund Burke, statesman from the lower house of the Great Britain parliament to attribute the importance it hold sin the society. Professionalism and business motives started evolving in journalism in the 20th century and can be associated four critical factors which include the increasing union of journalists, unique courses in academics that were concerned with journalism, enhanced documentation of the activities in a news bureau and an evolution of concepts of social ethics and responsibility among journalists (Brittanica). Journalism and practices related to production of news was instrumental in upholding and promoting free speech movements across the world. Parties or vested interest groups in power have almost always had adverse reactions to promoting freedom of speech on a worldwide basis. Observation of key restrictions like the emergency situations imposed during war and internal conflicts always encompass a compulsory and pioneering restriction on freedom of speech and expression. Various examples like the Indian internal emergency of 1975 reveal that administrative units, religious groups and governments fear media and free speech alike (Singh, I. B. (1980). Such restrictions can be considered as the earliest interventions into a journalist’s practice of free speech and expression. In a different manner, authorities have also shown reluctance to give more power to journalists while carrying out his duty of informing the public. This lack of authority can be considered as an obvious reason of the victimization of many journalists at work as was also suggested during the expert interview. An enquiry into history of attacks against journalists can be shocking and eye opening at the same time as these are the facts which largely go unrepresented as the journalists themselves are busy informing the public about what is more relevant to the society and not to themselves or their community of information agents.

4.2 History of violence against journalists from across the world

Journalists have been at the receiving end of violence and threats from external parties specifically due to the work of informing that they engage in for quite some time now. In innumerous collective and individual instances of attacks thousands of journalists have been killed in the last few decades. According to official statistics by the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ), 296 journalists have been killed during work from 2010- 2014. This number is on an ever high rise and 7 months down the line, 2015 has already witnessed 41 journalist deaths which also include statistics from the dreaded Charlie Hebdo attacks. Even though individual attacks on journalists have been occurring since the 1990’s, one evolving and unpleasant trend in the recent past is the occurrence of organized crimes. From Maguindanao massacre to the Charlie Hebdo, groups have been carrying out vengeance with clear cut goals and well defined plan of eliminating any counter opinion that obstructs their point of view (Cabrera, 2015). The documented instances of attack on journalists amounting to murder have been happening since 1992. Since then there have been varying patterns of occurrence of attacks that have affected the fraternity of journalists across the globe. These patterns have been studied by distributing the same into phases of occurrence. Each phase encompasses four years and hence the amount of data is valid and viable for a comprehensive study. Further the study also analyzes each phase and looks into countries or regions on top of the vulnerability zone, vulnerable beats or areas of work and also vulnerable sources in news coverage which can also shed light on several socio-political causes that must have lead to the disastrous issues. The issue of attack on journalists is continually occurring and situations have reached a point wherein the opposing groups are attacking journalists on live news coverage as happened in

Virginia in the month of August. The strength of violent groups has been increasing and the voices of journalists continue to get tied down by issues of restriction and lack of freedom. There have also been contradicting instances wherein the journalists themselves have engaged in malicious acts affecting the integrity of the work at hand. According to Anand Narasimhan, Journalist and Co- host of the News hour debate at Times Now, this issue is the largest cause of attacks on journalists. If journalists are strong enough on their ethical footing then things are difficult to mess with, he adds (Narasimhan, 2015).

4.2.1 Phase 1 (1992-1995)

In the years from 1992-1995, the world witnessed deadly attacks against 217 journalists across from different parts of the world. A critical feature that distinguishes these attacks from the ones of today is that it did not have an organized nature attached to it. India in the first phase continuously gains spot in the top 15 deadliest countries for journalists at work. These years were the period of several critical historical developments and have acted as the window to the development of technology.

8% 15% Turkey 8% Tajikistan Russia 14% 15% Algeria India Rwanda 5% 10% Somalia Colombia 25%

Figure 4.1 Percentage share of countries with maximum occurrences of violence on journalists

Algeria stands on top of the list being the deadliest country for journalists in phase 1 and is followed by Tajikistan and Turkey. One of the reasons that can be

39 attributed to Algeria’s infamous position is the civil war which rocked the country for close to a decade and lead to casualties ranging between fifty thousand and one lakh. (Mickolus & Simmons, 1997). In the year 1992, Turkey ranks on top with 9 instances of intrusion into journalists freedom amounting to murder. Twenty journalists have been killed in Turkey in the year alone with double the cases of missing and minor intrusions. Countries like Russia, gains stand in the chart towards the last years of 1994-95 and therefore can be seen as having more potential for becoming largely oppressive for journalists in terms of freedom and safe working environment. In the Indian scenario, the period saw the initial developments and first steps after its primal liberalization, privatization and globalization of the market. This step also had critical impact on the state of media as more private players came in marketing and the advertising sector started out to be very competitive. In addition, with the entrance of private broadcast channels in television, more jobs and attractive features got added into the scheme of journalism as a career option.

5% 13% Corruption 6% Crime 24% Culture 8% Human Rights Politics 12% War Business 32%

Figure 4.2 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the beat

The beat or area of work covered by the journalists who were prone to attacks includes politics, war, human rights and corruption in a descending order of magnitude. As depicted in the Figure, a compilation of news domains under threat gives an insight as to how a journalist and his work safety varied according to the news beat covered. This information clearly reveals that political reporting and coverage of events and information related to political developments in the world

around has resulted in journalists facing vengeance from interest groups. One of the examples from India was the abduction and murder of M L Manchanda, Director of the All India Radio station in Punjab by members of a militant organization, ‘Babbar Khalsa’. The journalist was kidnapped on the 18th of May and was beheaded after their demands of code of conduct for broadcast media and use of local language in broadcasts were rejected by the government. The situation here was quite clearly one of intolerance towards the functioning of a relatively new system that was creating an impact on the society. The fact of the matter lies at the policy level decision of the government and thus a mere practitioner of journalism with not much of a role in the same was killed as he was at the face of news. In addition it is clear that the terror group wanted to curb the growth of such new forms of media in the country.

Broadcast reporter

5% Camera Operator 7% 2% 16% Columnist / 6% Commentator Editor 6%

33% Photographer 18% Print reporter/writer 7% Producer

Figure 4.3 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the task at work

The data from the first phase also reveals that the category of journalists at maximum risk from intruding factors is the reporter or writer. This finding makes it absolutely clear that the person who is at the reality and heart of the story is the one who gets attacked and thus association of a story is made to that specific person. Another finding that goes along with the practices of journalism of those days was that, print journalists were the ones attacked to the maximum. There can be multiple reasons associated with the same and includes the fact that print was a medium that was prevalently available for common people to access. Broadcast mediums of radio and television were restricted to elite classes of the society. The probe into gender statistics at play reveals a very interesting trend in development. In the year 1992, the

41 percentage of female journalists attacked was 98% and with passing years the ratio increased to reach a level as in 1995, the percentage of women journalists attacked was 14%. This trend also shows the increase in number of female journalists coming into work during the phase. In addition, this also sheds light on the increasing popularity of the medium as an informer and a public aide to better society

5% 12% Criminal group 33% Government Officials Military Officials 21% Paramilitary Group Political Group Unknown 19% 10%

Figure 4.4 Percentage share of violence caused by different groups according to categories

The information on the sources of attack in all the four years of the first phase reveals a differing trend. While political interventions are the prime cause or point of origin of attacks in 1992. The same gets converted to military in 1993 which gives information that war reporting and crimes related to that can be a source of journalist deaths. The same in 1994 and 1995 are associated to unknown sources. The evolutions of unknown sources are a new trend which will be explained in the later phases. These unknown sources are largely groups with communal interests and vested interests. There are also huge business groups who bank on the ignorance of the people thus getting adversely affected by the opinion of media. In addition, such groups have evolved as a result of varying business and political interests of the media houses as well. It could well be puzzling to note that such issues often occur without much ideological base or framework and recur due to the financial and business interests lurking about behind. The shocking injustice that has prevailed in the situation of crimes against journalists is revealed by the fact that 95% of the cases have granted impunity for the offenders. This measure talks about how offenders in

criminal cases go scot free with a much larger impact on the general observation. An additional boost to several of the atrocities committed and also sheds light on the influence patterns displayed by the offenders. This situation then gave offenders an impression that journalists as a community can be attacked and then slipped off by utilizing the loopholes of legal proceedings.

4.2.2 Phase 2 (1996-1999)

The years under discussion in phase 2 were relatively safer for journalists across the globe as the death toll have come down to 112 from the 217 in phase 1. The reasons that can be attributed to this positive trend according to Adv. Aravind, lawyer at the High Court of Kerala are the influence of both United Nations and technology. With United Nations encouraging and advocating peace treaties and a subsequent reduction in war rates made the world a safer place In addition, the reduction in wars also helped governments focus more on civic issues thereby reducing the grievances of most citizens making societies perform much better in terms of satisfaction levels of the people. The second reason is critical to enhancing the state of affairs in media like any other field, and it is the technological advancements that have come up in the world. Technological advancements even though initially have supported the cause of free speech; later have lead to a crippling effect, thereby making the life of a journalist all the more difficult.

2% 3% Turkey 23% 18% Tajikistan Russia Algeria India 10% 12% Sierra Leone Yugoslavia 17% 15% Colombia

Figure 4.5 Percentage share of countries with maximum occurrences of violence on journalists

The observation of chart in the second phase of content analysis gives insight into several aspects that are quite path breaking in the scenario. Algeria in the first phase was the most deadly country for media persons with 25% share in the total number of journalist’s death and in the second phase it has gone down in those rates and been put to the fourth place with a percentage share of 12%. Even countries like Tajikistan and Turkey have displayed a tremendous reduction in the number of journalist casualties and attacks inflicted upon them. India and Colombia are the only two countries to show an increase in number of casualties while being on the list in phase 1 as well. India had 6 journalist deaths in phase one and this figure has increased to 9 in phase two, Colombia in a similar manner had 9 reported casualties of journalists at work in phase one and it has increased to 14 in phase 2. Some countries like Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone have come up in the list with relatively higher rates of casualties. The intensification of the Sierra Leone civil war during that period of time can be considered as a reason for the sharp rise in the number of journalists being attacked.

6% 1% Corruption 20% Crime 14% Culture Human Rights 14% Politics War 27% 8% Business Sports 10%

Figure 4.6 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the beat

The analysis of different news beats covered by journalists also shows a varying trend in the second phase as compared to the first phase. While politics still remain one of the most deadly domains for a journalist to work in, the share of it has come down from 32% to 27%. This 5% reduction is quite significant when compared

to the relative closeness in figures displayed by other domains. Another significant alteration in the pattern of proceedings includes the heavy reduction in numbers that has come about in the war reporting domain. War reporting had a humongous 24% share in the overall domain percentage in phase one and in phase two this has reduced to 14% thus showing a ten percentage reduction. This phenomenon is a clear indication of how the second phase had comparatively lesser number of wars and war related crimes as specified in the example mentioned above. As wars reduced, governments started functioning and this lead to the increase in corruption being a deadly domain for journalists. The shares held by corruption have increased from 13% to 20& in a few years time and this indicates as to how political interventions in one form has lead to crimes related to corruption. The phase also witnessed the introduction of a new domain namely the sports reporting division. The sports reporting beat was earlier considered unimportant and stakes were not involved on a higher rate in the previous years but as sports started gaining more significance in terms of business interests and political pressures, the field too saw the blood of 7 journalists in the years 1998 and 1999.

Broadcast reporter 3% 7% 15% Camera Operator 4% Columnist / 8% Commentator Editor 7% Photographer 38% 10% Print reporter/writer 8% Producer

Figure 4.7 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the task at work

A print reporter continues to be at the receiving end of severe violence and deadly attacks from all of the parties listed above. In fact those days were also a primitive period wherein the broadcast mediums were only picking up and social

45 media or alternative forms were not even heard of. Newspapers were the most widely utilized medium of information, facts and persuasion. The percentage share held by newspapers in the overall share has increased from 33% to 38% and this is relevant as we consider the lower occurrence rates of other jobs at work. Broadcast reporters faced one percentage lesser threats while on the other hand cameramen started facing more difficulties as is shown in the percentage increase from 6% to 8%. Columnists tend to have a lesser risk at work as is shown and this must be due to an increased chance of being virtually doing stories. The advanced technologies allowed reporters to be in their place at office or desk and still do stories without any change in content. This facility on the other hand was not available for Photographers or Videographers as they had to physically go and present themselves with the device to cover any story. This issue is clear from the example of the killing of 5 Eenadu Television journalists in the year 1997 in Hyderabad. The team was out to cover the shooting of a film at Rama Naidu Studios and was killed in a bomb blast which according to police sources was a planned car bomb which was aimed at fulfilling some instance of political rivalry. It is equally shocking to know that no Indian news report of the issue is available in the online archives of newspapers or television channels. During this period, as print continues to be the most attacked medium, television and radio also increases in percentage figures thus indicating a subsequent increase in popularity and acceptance of these newer methods. A similar trend is observed in the case of gender ratios in attacks as well. Unlike the first phase, more female percentage is studied to be attacked by the vested interest groups. .

14% 11% Criminal group

17% Government Officials Military Officials 26% Paramilitary Group Political Group Unknown 22% 10%

Figure 4.8 Percentage share of violence caused by different groups according to categories

The statistics of sources of violence in phase two shows a positive trend as the percentage share of journalist deaths with an unknown origin or source have come down to 14% from a huge 33% the advantage of this change is that more cases of attacks on journalists are now being given due attribution. This also sheds light on the fact internal and external influences have failed to create an impact on the investigations to a large extend. The major share of attacks have also been taken over by political groups which makes it easier for investigators to point hands at ruling and opposing political groups in a democratic setup. Military and paramilitary forces also continue to be on the top of the list in endangering journalists and subsequently the press freedom at large. Around 85% of the cases of attack against journalists in the specified period has granted impunity to the offenders and this trend even though is not healthy in itself but in comparison with the previous phase in which a higher percentage of the cases had the same fate. Journalists in this phase also had developed more sense of unity and have acquired an identity that is universal for the entire journalistic fraternity as is suggested from the expert interview. In addition, ruling authorities started attributing more responsibility as more and more people started trusting and following the words of the press. It was only due to the power of the mightier sword that these positive changes were occurring in the state and affairs of exercising press freedom and activities related to journalism.

4.2.3 Phase 3 (2000-2003)

The years from 2000-2003 were relatively path breaking for the entire media industry especially due to the arrival and settling of satellite news channels in the broadcast arena funded and operated by private players. This was also the period which saw the emergence of 24 hour news broadcasting channels in various parts of the world. In fact this phenomenon was slowly catching up from the countries of the West to those of East. The phase was relatively hazardous for journalists comparing to the previous phase as the death toll climbed up to 124 and there were more cases of attacks widely reported from various parts of the world. One significant and a very positive trend that can be observed during this phase is the reduction in the number of offenders gaining impunity from cases. This trend has been continually happening since the second phase and the reduction has now reached a state wherein 7 out of 10 offenders only gain impunity over the offences they have committed. The impunity levels in the first phase were almost cent percentage and 9.5 out of 10 people convicted in those days gained impunity over cases of offence. This can be associated to an effective mechanism of trial by media that the media houses themselves have evolved over time. The practice includes the media houses focusing and pinning on any story of interest until justice is attained. Even though there are opposing opinions against this self imposed trial it has indeed benefitted the journalist fraternity all around the world.

Iraq 25% 25% U.S.A Russia Philippines 4% 4% India 6% Sierra Leone Yugoslavia 7% 20% Colombia 9%

Figure 4.9 Percentage share of countries with maximum occurrences of violence on journalists

The third phase graphical representation of vulnerable regions from around the world again shows trends that are drastically different. Except for Colombia, all other nations have a lower death toll of journalists and in turn contribute to the overall lessening of violent attacks from phase 1. The situation in Colombia has been the same since 1964 as the continuous conflict between the government, paramilitary forces, crime syndicates and left wing guerilla groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army etc have been resulting in the death of thousands of civilians every year. The notable feature of this internal conflict is that the war in a softer way is still continuing and thus differs from other issues which often get solved in over a few decades. The Iraq disarmament timeline extends precisely to 2003 which is the last year in this phase and has critical impact on Iraq becoming a top vulnerable region. In fact it is to be noted that, Iraq has come up in the list only with a death toll in the final year of the phase. Other countries including Sierra Leone, India and Yugoslavia effectively depicts a positive trend which has a significant reduction in the number of journalist attacks and killings.

5% Corruption 25% 22% Crime Culture Human Rights

14% 18% Politics War 14% Business 2%

Figure 4.10 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the beat.

The work beat share Figure of phase three reveals that crimes and violence have been inflicted largely on journalists who undertake news stories that are related to corruption and issues of misuse in authority. This beat has took over the position

49 earlier held by politics and in this way it can be interpreted that the world started realizing that more authority can be attained by being in power and thus rather than politics being in power and then corrupting has become more prevalent. This conclusion is shared by Adv. Aravind in the expert interview and according to him it has also become unavoidable for journalists to turn a blind eye toward issues of such magnitude and relevance. Various instances of wars that have been mentioned in the previous paraFigures are indeed a causal point that war beat has regained the second position in the list of most dangerous beats in journalism from 2000-2003. Business & culture are two domains of reporting that has shrinked in the share and even the category of sports got wiped out in the development. Human rights and politics even though have a safer outlook, still remains dangerous as both of it contributes to 14% of journalist deaths. The phase and further analysis tends to show that the trend of readership is slowly shifting to viewership and audiences are gradually moving closer to mediums like television which gives them an audi-visual experience unlike newspapers.

Broadcast reporter 6% 2% Camera Operator 21% Columnist / Commentator 28% Editor 8% Photographer

11% Print reporter/writer 9% Producer 15% Publisher/Owner

Figure 4.11 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the task at work

The most significant trend that is prevalent in phase three is the gradual upcoming of broadcast as a prominent medium of violent attacks. Analysis of the chart reveals that the vulnerability of tasks in broadcast journalism have hiked from 15% to 21% and subsequently there is a reduction in the vulnerability rate shown by

print tasks from 38% to 28%. The broadcast journalist with viewers giving more emphasis to visuals are gaining significance in the society and are now at the helm of all events and occurrences thus making their jobs all the more unsafe and difficult. The editor similar to previous phases is at a considerable amount of risk from various sources which will be discussed in the next section. Technicians in this phase have not received any significant amount of threat and are hence removed from the list. Columnist’s category reveals a reducing trend of vulnerability from attacks and this can be largely due to the lesser attention attributed to the work and the chances of being unavailable to identification. Female journalists according to the study and statistics have largely been safe during this phase. It is evident that 95% of attack cases against journalists were not initiated at women. It is also important to notice that the number of freelancers attacked were much lesser compared to those from organized media houses. The statistic which explains the nativity status of the journalist shows a balanced and equal trend as the list has a mixed subset of attacks both on foreign as well as local journalists.

6% 16% Criminal group 20% Government Officials Military Officials 22% Paramilitary Group 12% Political Group Unknown

24%

Figure 4.12 Percentage share of violence caused by different groups according to categories

Upon probing the reasons for violence in phase three, it is quite evident that military officials and war related actions have caused more journalist fatalities than before and this also adds up to the reason why certain countries like Iraq and Colombia have featured in the list of most dangerous countries for a journalist to work

51 in. Even though there have not been much increase in the death toll caused by war crimes, the underlying significance lies in the fact that the role players by political groups have come down tremendously in this phase. From having 26% share in the previous phase, it has come down to 20% and on the other hand crimes that happen in connection with government officials and actions of the government have been on the rise. The percentage share held by unknown cases continue to display a receding trend and its share in fatalities have come down from 14% to 6%. On an overall analysis, even in the most modern days of the 21st century, war related activities are proving to be largely unaccounted and the journalist’s attempts to reveal the underlying elements are brought down by actions against them. The multiple aspects, from politics to physical violence and restrictions to censorship, in which war can affect the work of a journalist is an issue worth a lot of attention. The phase from 2000-2003 also marks significance as cyber journalists who work for internet mediums like, e-papers, blogs etc have been reported to be attacked. In the year 2000 alone, from the total attacks inflicted upon journalists around the world, 4% of it was against journalists who used the medium of internet. Even though the internet largely offers safety through a near to perfect security in identity, these instances show a negative trend and a black mark in the history of press freedom. Another critical aspect to look into is the number of deaths that have been caused by border disputes and war related actions. Taking the Indian example of Jammu & Kashmir, Pradeep Bhatia, photojournalist from The Hindustan Times was killed due to a bomb blast at Srinagar. These situations have been prevalent since the 1980’s as 9 journalists were killed in the same area and due to issues like the one discussed above.

4.2.4 Phase 4 (2004-2007)

Phase 4 marks as one of the most brutal and violent phases for journalists across the globe. The four years comprised in the phase witnessed maximum number of crimes per year and also displays many changes from the previous years. These changes have occurred in all forms, from medium to motive and from conflict to actions. Previously it was phase 1 with 217 journalist deaths which was considered most violent and fourth phase from 2004 to 2007 now replaces that figure with 237 deaths. The statistic is showing a negative growth as the two earlier phases displayed relatively controlled statistical trend in terms of journalist death. The phase also is the darkest and most detrimental to the free speech ideology and journalist fraternity as

the impunity levels in cases of attacks on journalists have the highest statistics. Upon analysis it is revealed that except for the year 2004 in which offenders had only 69% impunity in cases, rest of the three years display a trend wherein offenders are let free in 92% of the cases. This trend continued in the following years and it was so that the issues blew out of proportion and control to make the phase much deadlier than the previous ones. These aspects have multiple serious effects on the governing systems of any country. The higher levels of impunity at one level lead to a growing sense of fear among the journalists who will then easily succumb to pressures from various sides of the society and in addition thus get tied in their act of letting out the truth. Also the impunity levels lead to people of any region disbelieving the system of judiciary and punitive action thus law and courts will fail in its primary duty of correcting the wrongdoers through effective punishments and this situation should be avoided according to the opinion of R Sunil Kumar, Senior lawyer at the High Court of Kerala.

3% 6% Iraq 6% Bangladesh 5% Russia Philippines 9% Somalia 5% 63% Sri Lanka 3% Pakistan Colombia

Figure 4.13 Percentage share of countries with maximum occurrences of violence on journalists

The statistical data in phase 4 sheds light on a polarization of all violence on to one region and the reason was the continuously occurring wars and internal conflicts. Iraq during this phase witnessed several minor and major attacks thereby killing thousands of people which included 111 journalists thus making it the darkest year for journalists in Iraq and the Middle East at large. Iraq takes up a humongous share of 63% of journalist deaths for the period between 2004 and 2007 and the phase also has

53 many new regions coming in with fresh stories on attacks against the informer. The intense situation created in Iraq due to the declaration of election and subsequent reciprocations from terrorist groups drew international attention and United Nations held special notice upon the situation. Other countries emerged from the relatively near Indian subcontinent and these countries; Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have 6%, 6% and 3% shares in the global death toll of 237 journalists. Colombia on the other hand showed a depreciating and highly positive trend as the death share reduced from 25% to 3% which needs special mention specifically due to the relative gain it displayed. Philippines continued to show a constant trend and were put at the second position after Iraq according to the survey. The situations displayed in this statistic largely points fingers at the lack of safety measures initiated by the governments and international bodies like UNO in emergency and needy situations like that of Iraq according to Arathy Somashekhar, Correspondent at Reuters, Bengaluru.

4% 1% 13% Corruption Crime

28% 10% Culture Human Rights 7% Politics War 10% Business

27% Sports

Figure 4.14 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the beat

As can be predicted from the data discussed earlier, war and journalistic activities related to war amounts to the maximum number of deaths in this phase. It is to be noted that war had a subsequent increase of 6% from the previous phase statistics. In fact, phase four thus can also be called the period in history with maximum journalist deaths due to war. Phase one had a war fatality statistic that touched up to 24% and since then the trend had only been in a negative manner. The fourth phase largely due to the contributions by Iraq and their internal conflicts

boosted by powerful external parties made things absolutely tough for journalists. Other areas which have shown increase from the previous phases include culture and politics. Politics according to one perception can be effectively working in accordance with war or even corruption domains for that matter. The issue here is that, it is often overlapping that these domains are caused and even kept active by each other’s presence. Corruption and Crime domains show significant decrease in statistic and thereby reveal a positive trend. Business and issues related to the big and small players of the market also shows a negative development as the crime rates against journalists who handle these beats have doubled in this phase. Sports category which became irrelevant in the last phase also increased by a percentage share of 4%. These issues limit the journalist’s ideas and thus restrict in exercising freedom of speech.

Broadcast reporter 2% 3% 6% 24% Camera Operator

Columnist / 21% Commentator Editor 11%

7% Photographer 12% 14% Print reporter/writer

Figure 4.15 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the task at work

The phase analysis of tasks reveals a turning point in the history of journalism practices. For the first time ever, broadcast reporting enhanced the percentage share amongst the deadliest tasks in journalism thereby putting print reporting to the second position. The change is much important specifically because one can observe the overtaking of print by broadcast as the most preferred medium of communicating news. Also, the opposing groups who go to the extent of harming a journalist or one behind the task, has also now realized the power of visuals in reporting an issue of concern. The increase curve of broadcast over print shows a steady trend as the

55 difference kept on decreasing subsequently with every passing year. The conclusion which can be drawn from this makes the phase one which contributed to this era of change. The previous phase study revealed that print reporting had a total risk share of 28% while broadcast was lagging behind at 21%. On the other hand, the fourth phase has print reporting with 21% share and broadcast with 24% shares in the violence against journalists. The tasks done by a camera operator, technician and editor also has considerable amount of risk and it is worth noting that even the post of a technician is something that faces various occupational threats and hazards. According to the expert interview, this shift from print to broadcast marks a takeover, takeover of the regular print readers to a medium that contributes to both visual and auditory senses and it is inevitable that the newer format will not be approached much pleasantly by the wrongdoers.

9% 11% Criminal group Government Officials 16% Military Officials Paramilitary Group Political Group 51% 12% Unknown 1%

Figure 4.16 Percentage share of violence caused by different groups according to categories

The previous phase showed different trends in knowing the deadliest sources of violence from the historical representation of attacks against journalists. The political group gains maximum significance on this regard and in turn gains dominance of over half the crimes committed against journalists. Political groups with set motives and politically motivated convictions about the society are the deadliest group in phase 4. Government officials, the category which becomes much

synonymous with politics and power groups stand at the second position and followed by criminal groups with a percentage share of 11%. It was quite a relief for journalists as the unknown of category of murders against journalists have been reduced to 9%. This situation instills more confidence in a journalist and empowers him in the stride to inform and educate. The trend of political groups being hostile towards journalists is not acceptable as the systems are the ones who should work together in bringing and constructing a better future for the common society. It is only if the domains work so, that they will be able to enjoy much higher levels of autonomy. The phase on an overall note has negatives of the highest sort as the number of journalists to be killed during work was much higher than the previous phases. War and internal conflict crimes tend to be on the rise and so does the share of women involved in practicing journalism. The field is evolving to be more technical and additionally competitive with regard to the information supplied to the public. The influence of journalism and the newly evolving trends of broadcast is indeed affecting and contributing positively to the audience base at hand.

4.2.5 Phase 5 (2008-2011)

With the evolution and advent of newer technologies and most efficient levels of administration in all spheres, the phase marks a very positive period in history. These advancements include NASA launching the modern orbiter to probe the moon, Obama’s swearing in as American President, Sri Lanka’s victory over Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and so on. Amidst all these positive vibes, the journalist’s fraternity suffered serious setback as 287 of its members were killed during the period. The number then became highest till date and also marks the Maguindanao Massacre which was then described as the single deadliest event in the history of journalism by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). With that single incident, Philippines became the deadliest country for journalists from that phase. Maguindanao massacre is the single most deadly event against journalism in the history of the world and involved the killing of 33 journalists in a single event. The incident occurred on the 23rd of November 2009 in the town of Amaptuan in Maguindanao province of Philippines. The core of the issue was a political rivalry between the people in power and the new entrant who was on his way to submit the nomination. The new entrant, Esmael Mangudadatu was accompanied by a team of journalists, lawyers and family members. 64 people from the group were killed on the

57 spot by a group of 100 armed men. This event is also one of the first planned attacks on journalists and was done to eliminate any chance of a counter opinion to the ruler’s selection. One major aspect of the issue that evokes concern is that none of the convicts in the case have still been punished. In fact 100 out of the 197 convicts in the case have not even been identified and the court has dropped charges against all except two, Andal Sr. and Andal Jr. the rulers of the region. The case has gone through series of alterations and even after 6 long years of judgment and discussion, the issue still exists and nothing is being done to take care of the conflict of rights and freedom of the reporters. The authority’s support or sponsorship according to various sources is clearly visible in the occurrence and journalist community faced a tremor that was capable enough to shatter their morale and free spirit through the Maguindanao massacre. The team of journalists included members from five media houses of the country and six freelance journalists.

1% 9% Iraq 20% India 10% Russia 4% Philippines 5% Pakistan 20% Somalia Mexico 31% Colombia

Figure 4.17 Percentage share of countries with maximum occurrences of violence on journalists

As mentioned above, Philippines became the world’s most deadly country for journalism in the phase through a single incident that shattered the practitioners throughout the world. Philippines holds base for 31% of the total journalist deaths reported from various parts of the world. While Iraq which had around half share of the total deaths in the previous phase still holds almost the same statistic with 25 journalists being killed and having 20% of the death share. This situation is indeed not very bright considering the future of the fraternity as issues like mass attacks, kidnaps

and organizational pressures come in the way of a working journalist. Another new development that has happened during this phase is the evolution of Pakistan into the top list of countries. Even when Pakistan shares the same position with Iraq, it is worth noting that Pakistan has 26 journalist deaths and for a country without many occurrences of journalist attacks it is absolutely not a positive sign to have these many journalists being attacked. Another issue related with the arrival of Pakistan into the list is the more or less uniform nature of death rate displayed by the country. Pakistan marks the killing of approximately 7 journalists on each year of the phase, thereby revealing the strange and undesirable sequential nature it has. Somalia and Mexico display a reducing trend and their share of percentages are 10% and 9% respectively. India and Russia have a lesser rate of death in this phase but also creates threat sue to the consistently recurring pattern of deaths that these countries display especially during the period of the survey from 1992-2015.

1% 2% 13% Corruption 19% Crime

12% Culture Human Rights Politics 10% War Business 37% 6% Sports

Figure 4.18 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the beat

Phase 5 presents another alteration to the previously shown trend and has political issues coming up in the first position for being the most vulnerable beat for a journalist. Political coverage has lead to the death of 37% of all journalist deaths from the phase and is indeed an issue of concern. Politics is a system that was evolved to support and guide the common citizen’s endeavor to get a better way to organize and fight for their rights. The current observation leads to a clear assumption that the public informers as relevant as the judge, bureaucrat or politician is being brutally

59 hunted down to have individual opinions gaining significance. The Maguindanao massacre can be quoted as the single largest incident for making this change in the statistic but on the other hand these issues were also present in countries like Pakistan. This fact is one which cannot be easily forgotten and thereby also calls for stricter regulations and transparent legal proceedings without influence or bias. Even though politics has got the major share of brutality it is to be noted that, war and related intrusions against the journalist community have also been on the rise. Internal conflicts and violent communal clashes also claim the lives of many journalists who are forced to be out there without any protection to life. As seen in the other phases, crime reporting holds a more or less constant stand with 12% of the share and corruption related crimes remains stagnant at 13%.

Broadcast reporter 7% 6% 1% 24% Camera Operator

Columnist / Commentator 22% Editor 14% Photographer 8% 8% 10% Print reporter/writer

Figure 4.19 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the task at work

The statistical analysis into the various vulnerable jobs involved in journalism from the years 2008-2011 also shows an inclination towards the job of a broadcast reporter. This is undoubtedly due to the prominence of broadcast media over all other forms of media during the phase and since more and more people watch news from broadcast sources, there are more journalists employed for covering issues. Another aspect of this rising demand toward broadcast is the specific issue of competition between media houses showing broadcast content. Most often the channel which breaks the story or tells the story for the first time gains maximum television rating

points and therefore media houses try their maximum for attaining the same. In this mad rush for profits, almost always ethics of the job and comfortable working conditions for a journalist is taken for a toss. The job of a broadcast reporter had 24% share of the total deaths of journalists from all parts of the world. Print on the other hand is facing a receding trend as the medium is losing out in terms of readers and the number of people being involved by print is decreasing subsequently in most developed countries. The developing countries still have a fairly good amount of readers for print and the evolution have not been as fast as in the already developed countries. Another interesting evolution during this phase is the coming in of yet another powerful medium, the internet. With the evolution of social media and related web feeds news and information became very handy. The condition also created a scenario wherein any layman got the chance to do the role of a reporter. This has contributed to the value of news as a whole and enhanced the chances of receiving information much faster than any other source. Attacks against internet reporters got marked during this phase and accounts for 7% of total deaths. Considering the duration of settling in for the domain and the essential secrecy it provides the clutches of intrusion have gone fairly deep into this medium as well. While the jobs of news producer have gone entirely down in the risk factor associated with it, risks taken up by Photographers and camera people have increased.

15% 12% Criminal group Government Officials Military Officials 24% Mob Violence 31% Political Group Unknown 14% 4%

Figure 4.20 Percentage share of violence caused by different groups according to categories

The suspected sources for fatalities and attacks on journalists in this phase are evenly distributed as compared to the previous one. Political groups still maintain the first position by being held accountable for 31% of journalist deaths during the period from 2008-2011. The important feature of this statistic is that the Maguindanao massacre is not included in political violence rather it is calculated as violence from the part of government officials. The issue gets complex at this point as political intrusions then gain more magnitude in terms of a continuing streak of attacks ever since the statistic is studied. The category of government officials according to the study has expanded to be the cause for 24% of the deaths from 16% in the previous phase. This increase as mentioned above is fuelled by the Maguindanao massacre and also includes issues of intrusion reported from authoritarian countries. Fatalities caused due to military intrusions are kept under maximum control and has slightly varied from 14% to 16% in phase 5. A new addition into the list is the category of mob violence which has been identified to cause death for around 4% of journalists from the total death pattern. This number is quite alarming as public who have been receiving information and benefits related to the same from the work of journalists now started attacking them. It is often possible in the case of mob attacks that the offenders might easily slip off and never get convicted due to issues of identification and proofs to back the claim. The impunity statistics for this phase has shown negative trends as compared to the previous ones as the percentage share of offenders getting acquitted have increased to 90% and another 4% out of the remaining gained partial justice. This situation sheds light on the very way most authorities deal with cases of offence against journalists. As mentioned above even in the most dreaded case of Maguindanao massacre, most of the convicts have gone scot free thereby generating unwanted impressions about the legal proceedings of any region. The numbers of freelancers getting attacked have also increased to a great extend in this phase. The reason for this can be attributed to the evolution of internet and social media which gave a platform for many amateur and part time writers to give out strong messages on any issue. This new threat have been identified by opposing groups and the power of free transmission that comes with this medium is quite important as the message reaches more people and in fact maximum reach due to this feature thus making it very disturbing for an information intruder

4.2.6 Phase 6 (2012-2015)

The last phase that is being recorded in this study is quite relevant as the period marks the current phase of journalistic practice which has evolved multiple times as compared to the first period at study, 1992. This phase is also important as the motivating force for this study, the violent attacks on Charlie Hebdo occurred in January 2015. The phase till date marks 243 journalist deaths from all parts of the world and this rate is alarming as the year in progress has four more months to go and it can easily be predicted that this phase will surpass the previous phase in terms of number of journalist death cases registered. The phase also includes some incidents that are shocking and defeating the purpose of journalism. One instance has almost gone to the extent that a television reporter and a cameraman were shot dead while the live coverage was going on. These visuals were then watched over by millions of people from around the globe through social media thus raising concern and voice against this issue. The reports by Al Jazeera which compiled statistical data on killings and kidnappings reaches the conclusion that the instances have soared and reached new statistical heights due to various reasons. One of such reasons as identified by the broadcaster is governmental intrusion and it is alleged that national security, defense and international relations are terms and powers falsely utilized to cripple the wings of a journalist. The Middle East and Syria were described as most dangerous countries for a journalist to work in and others like China, Iran and Eritrea imprisoned many journalists to control the press. The level of impunity represented in the cases of offense against journalists has also risen to alarming new heights. In India, the state of Uttar Pradesh holds for 72% of the country’s total violence share against journalists in the year 2014 and not a single person is arrested for the same. The governments and people in authority in this manner is turning a blind eye towards the work of journalists .This attitude becomes a greater threat to freedom of speech and expression as the general responsibility in ensuring the well being of the state taken by journalists get compromised. It is also possible that the fraternity succumb to various pressures from local goons to wealthy businessmen. As the power of the offender increases, the tougher it will be for a journalist to control the pressure and work as the offender might have higher level connections with the owners or business heads of the medium and thus the journalist’s mouth get shut due to fear of loss of job. This situation is

63 prevalent in many media houses across the country adds Arathy Somashekhar from Reuters Bengaluru (Somashekhar, 2015). It is interesting to note that the parliamentary committee in Italy discovered that organized criminal intrusions into a journalist’s work have been increasing and during the period from 2006 to 2014, 2060 acts of hostility have been made as reported by the Guardian. The report further adds that it was only in very few incidents that the offenders were discovered, tried or convicted. The testimony by journalist, Milena Gabanelli reveals that most often opposing forces make use of the journalist’s economic instability to capitalize and control on stories being done and issues being discussed. Such reports have been coming from various parts of the world and calls for immediate action against perpetuators so that the issue itself is under control.

4% 11% 9% Bangladesh Pakistan 9% Syria 5% Iraq 5% India France 9% 48% Pakistan Somalia

Figure 4.21 Percentage share of countries with maximum occurrences of violence on journalists

The phase in presence and at the continuity phase has Syria on top of the list for violence against journalists. Syria in addition to accounting for 48% of the total violence against journalists for the entire phase also retained the deadly stand in the first three years of the phase. In the ongoing year, it stands second to France which faced the deadly Charlie Hebdo shootout and trends reveal that Syria will overtake France to be on top of the infamous list again. The causes for this plightful a situation

in Syria can be attributed to one and only one reason that is the Syrian internal war. The internal conflict started in the year 2011 after the Arab Spring and gained momentum as fighting groups found communal connections and also external support. With the active involvement of terrorist groups like Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) the violence in protest grew. The number of journalists killed in Syria during the phase is 85 and the statistic is only rising through 2015. With over two lakhs fifty thousand civilian deaths, the Syrian conflict is the biggest human rights threat of our times. In Somalia which stands second to Syria in the list, the major issue is an ongoing conflict between various groups from within the country. The situation in Somalia is critical with around five thousand deaths and 1.4 million human displacements. Other countries like Pakistan, Iraq and India continue to maintain their position in the list making the life of journalists quite miserable.

1% 7% Corruption 8% 23% Crime 9% Culture Human Rights Politics War 21% Business 31% Sports

Figure 4.22 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the beat

The most dangerous beats for a journalists to cover during this phase was politics followed by human rights and war. These three domains have come up in the list due to the unavoidable interconnectiosn exhibited by them. Conditions in Syria, Somalia and Iraq are the major determinants in the statistical data of this phase and it is to be noted that war creates all the above mentioned issues. Analysis reveals that a war is created by issues of political relevance like authority and supremacy and in turn

65 the war creates specific issues critical to human rights. Treatments of refugees from Syria and Iraq have remained one of the major headlines for the whole of the phase. The story of three year old Aylan Kurdi, washed upon a beach in Turkey on the way seeking refuge in Greece became the most discussed news of the season and similar stories have found its way into mainstream media and was listed under those of human importance and human rights (Tran, 2015). From among the list, politics claims the first spot with 31% share of total deaths due to the relevance the beat finds in relatively calm areas like India and Bangladesh. In the month of June 2015, Jagendra Singh, a journalist from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh was burnt alive and the police have registered cases against people of top political importance. The alleged offenders in the case include, Uttar Pradesh state minister for Dairy development, Ram Murti Verma and a few police officials. Such instances involving immense misappropriation of authority and powers vested by the democracy have been rampant. While corruption and criminal beats have reduced their overall percentage of death shares, culture remains relatively stable due to the linking of the same with Charlie Hebdo attacks in France.

Broadcast reporter 12% 3% 22% Camera Operator 3% Columnist / Commentator Editor 12% Photographer Print reporter/writer 20% Producer 14% Publisher/Owner 9% 5% Internet Reporter

Figure 4.23 Percentage share vulnerability of journalists according to the task at work

The phase’s statistics reveal a declining trend for print as a medium of communicating journalistic information as the print reporter’s risk role has come down to the third position only after broadcast reporter and cameraperson. The

broadcast reporter faced violence that amounts to 25% of total violence inflicted against journalists and broadcast camera person faced a risk statistic of 23%. The risk faced by camera operator in the previous phase was 14% and the hike in 9% reveals that the rising standards of broadcast as a medium demanded more live coverage and on the field reporting especially for the camera man. The phase also witnessed an enhanced emphasis being given by broadcast channels in uploading their feeds to social media for additional reach. Social media with its innate nature demanded for more content much faster as the medium did not allow or gave the chance of repeating the same story. The domain of internet reporting and the risks faced by e-journalists also reveal a positive trend owing to the enhanced audience reception to the medium. From a lower 7% in phase 5, internet reporting has reached the fourth position in risk along with print reporting in the sixth phase. This trend also reveals about the decline of print medium and its popularity across the globe. It is interesting to note that still photographers who are at the field faces more risk than print reporters and this situation can probably be due to the fact that photos are also supplied to online feeds and hence there exists an enhanced competition and the struggle for the best often leads to fatalities.

23% 12% Criminal group Government Officials Military Officials Local Residents 20% Political Group Unknown 34% 3%

Figure 4.24 Percentage share of violence caused by different groups according to categories

The statistical analysis into the suspected sources of violence for phase 6 reveals that political group and their interventions stand at position one in terms violence inflicted upon journalists. The attacks from political groups have repeatedly been continuing to be most deadly for journalists for the past few phases and it is also due to the political linkage even in other domains like wars or internal conflicts. Another trend alteration to look for is the prominence attained by anonymous sources of attack over military officials as the percentage share of unknown sources have increased from 14% to 23% in this phase over the 14% to 20% rise in military related crimes. The role played by government officials has come down from 24% to 14% and this is positive provided that this involves a lesser misuse of political authority. This trend is not entirely supported by facts and instances being reported from countries like India wherein the criminal acts against journalists have often been lead by those in government and political authority. The evolution of a new offensive group, the local residents display a very disappointing and disastrous trend as it leads to the point that common man has lost faith in the fourth estate. It is quite unfortunate that the people at least 13% from the global community of attacks do not have faith and mistrust the journalist. Historically too it is observed that even amidst heavy opposition from governments, political parties and interest groups, it was the general public who supported and gave journalism much power in constituting their self proclaimed authority. This alteration also points fingers at a much probable situation that is the involvement of journalists in misdeeds thereby misusing their share of authority and control over public opinion. According to Anand Narasimhan, Senior journalist at Times now, the inappropriate actions taken by journalists should be discontinued to enhance the reputation and state of journalism in India. The expert also strongly believes that in a situation where in the journalists are non corruptible, the risk of violence also reduces. The rates of impunity in this phase according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), does not show any improvement as the people who get acquittal rates way above conviction with a statistical variation of 90%. Most individuals committing crimes against journalists often getaway due to lengthy procedures in judiciary and systems of finalizing the above declared punitive action. The unfortunate aspect of the situation is that even amidst most modern technologies, the police and law enforcing departments are often incapable in finding the culprits.

The phase which ends this year on an overall analysis does not display any positive trend as the number of deaths in this year is all set to cross the mark created by the last phase. The 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack was one which revealed in front of the whole world, the vulnerability of a journalist in situation of attacks from vested interest groups. Charlie Hebdo, a weekly satire magazine from France was attacked by two armed individuals belonging to the terror group Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen. The shootout took the lives of 11 individuals including 8 journalists and 3 other staff members working for the weekly. The issue raised widespread concern and reportedly over two million people joined the rally which demanded fair justice for Charlie Hebdo victims. The attack was an aftermath of the magazine publishing a cartoon that mocked at the prophet. According to Jayamohan Sukumaran currently working as the chief news producer at Manorama Television, the issue created tremors all over the world including India as many journalist groups discussed the issue. It was also said that most of these groups probed about the possibility of occurrence of such an issue in India. The journalists there have also then decided that issues of communal sensitivity would be treated with much care thereafter according to the expert. The attack has also been widely discussed in international forums and has once again opened the dais for active discussions on the future of journalism in the world.

4.3 Insight into statistics

Statistics reveal that 1144 journalists have been killed from 1992 till date from around the globe. Politics, corruption and war have been the most deadly domains covered by journalists throughout this period. The presence of these three domains shed light on the fact that most often it is the authority or people in power who become a threat to journalists than external forces like business motives or threat groups. Even though external attacks are most widely reported, the intrusions by governmental bodies and also journalists killed during war related situation often do not get any representation or relief from the media fraternity or government. Identity is an important aspect of attributing crime and journalists who are at the forefront of a story especially the reporters from broadcast and print, cameramen and photographers face maximum risk of violence against them. It is also possible that any prior vengeance against the organization represented by the journalist might get avenged on that person. This often leads to the death of innocent journalists at work. Political

69 groups claim the first spot in an overall analysis of suspected sources of violence against journalists and this leads to a revelation that can be tied with the first finding related to the beat and crime rate. Political reporters get killed and attacked by political groups who have the authority, strength or backing and subsequently go scot free as they balance the crime through various other actions. War situations, government officials and crime groups also lead to large number of journalist deaths every year. Syria, Philippines, Iraq, Colombia and Algeria stand on top of the list for being most deadly for journalists. One common cause that could bind these countries is the presence of sever internal conflicts and wars wherein the political motives of the ruling party and the demands of the opposing groups collide. Journalists who remain objective eventually get caught up between both of these giant groups thus facing worst crisis. The suspension of governance and judicial structures during this conflict phase makes it easier for offenders to get away with the crimes. One important trend that evolved prominently during the later phases is the involvement of journalists in certain illegal acts like yellow journalism, paid news and misrepresentation of facts. These misdeeds are rampant in today’s journalism and are the sole reason for people losing faith in whatever comes in print or on air according to the expert. The evolution of business interests in the field also restricts a journalist in perfectly legal ways as the owner’s interests and opinions gain a major stake in the coverage of stories. Individual journalists become quite powerless and inefficient in front of these giant power structures that dictate and control the journalists work. This trend and evolution has also contributed to many young and bright students moving away from the field of serious journalism. The desirability of journalism as a profession amongst other media professions like public relations, advertising and events is receding. The role played by journalism in the democratic process of a state and the subsequent relevance it holds in the perfect running of the systems is often forgotten due to the present state.

4.4 Perception of journalists:

Journalists are individuals who are at the direct receiving end of any threat and subsequently they are also the face of the organization. It is indeed quite natural that opposing forces associate any act of a story in poor taste with the journalist. They also become the end point of aggression during their tasks at the field. Journalists in India

are no different and while analyzing the perceptions, it is unavoidable that any research should look into the matter from the horse’s mouth. Journalists from broadcast and print mediums are interviewed to shed lighter on their perceptions about journalism as a discipline. In addition, the opinions of two lawyers are also taken to understand the legal substantiation of whatever claims and opinions raised by the journalists.

4.4.1 Safety

Journalism has been going through various sessions of immense twists and turns that it no longer is the profession it was. During the earlier days of journalism, it was given much more importance and due relevance with specific importance attached to the role it was playing in contributing to the development of a region. The researcher analyses the perceptions held by working journalists based in India to understand the level of value they attach to the profession. The study focuses specifically on India as the researcher intends to contribute through the study to the rich and immense heritage of journalism in the country. Indian journalism has been a source of great support and encouragement to India’s freedom struggle and its journey to independence. It was also instrumental in organizing the split linguistic and caste based communities together for a combined struggle. According to Gnani Sankaran, popular author and veteran journalist who have been in the field even during the days of independence, the profession has a lot of significance to the growth of the country and it is one of few careers which have grown with the country since its days of independence (Sankaran, 2015). From the Bengal Gazette, the first newspaper of the country published from Kolkata by James Augustus Hickey to many of the recent newspapers journalism have been instrumentally supporting the cause of free speech. Vernacular newspapers of the country too played its indigenous role in bringing up and developing what can be called a specific news culture according to Jerris Sunny, postgraduate student in Economics (Sunny, 2015). According to him the governments from time over have not given due relevance to the role played by newspapers and journalists in contributing to the country’s economy and independence. The American experience of journalism is much different when compared to the Indian scene as any journalist or media institution in the country is given due regards to the work that they are performing. This statement is underlined by two

71 critical factors which are the first amendment to the United States constitution and the shield law. The first amendment to the constitution guaranteed free speech to Americans with specific mentioning of the provision for journalists. India on the other hand restricted the free speech to general citizen and there is no specific mention about journalists or the special privileges they ought to enjoy. The shield law empowered any journalist working in the States with a right of choice to disclose or not the confidential sources held. This impunity immensely promotes free speech and journalistic ethics as the sources for a journalist need not fear about legal complications. In a similar manner, the journalist also can impart maximum trust to the people in terms of supporting their security when they are giving out confidential information for public output. Indian journalists also face threat due to the no mention policy followed by the constitution makers as often during legal proceedings offenders gain impunity over their mistakes. The Indian governments also through article 19(2), the reasonable restrictions of free speech on the basis of diverse categories like sovereignty of the state, international relations, contempt of court, defamation etc. have restricted the journalist’ application of free speech. Indian journalists perceive themselves as much safer in comparison with the condition of counterparts from other countries of the world. One major aspect that is stressed by most journalists who took part in the study is the amount of tolerance displayed by Indian political groups and governments throughout the years. Even though most of them agree to the fact that violence is expressed by groups which show communal allegiance most part or share of groups in public sphere are tolerant to acts of communication. India also displays a varying trend from other parts of the world due to its linguistic variety and the subsequent multitude of cultures it display. The situation faced by journalists varies from state to state and there are few drastic variations within a geographic mass of few thousand kilometers. The opinion raised by Jayamohan Sukumaran, Chief News Producer at Manorama television is quite relevant in this aspect (Sukumaran, 2015). According to him, the Kerala media scenario and any journalist working there is much safer specifically due to the organizational strength and literary backing displayed by the society. The journalists in Kerala have traditionally established trade unions and organizational support is provided through these structures. For example, any issue of attack on journalist or any intrusion into the working sphere by the government or authorities are handled with much care by these groups and protests are organized against which again

attracts media attention in addition to the actual occurrence of violence. This widespread media coverage helps garner support and create a negative image about the offender in public sphere. The society of readers in Kerala also has shown much higher standards in literary tradition and ability to perceive news and facts. The readers handle offensive content with much care and would maintain their perceptions according to the conclusions drawn from these reports. Jayamohan also identifies certain instances like the attack on journalists during the coverage of the ice cream parlor case as exceptions to the general trend. During this issue which happened in the year 2012, journalists who covered the issue were attacked by supporters of the prime accused. In addition, during mass strikes or protests and incidents involving heavy violent actions journalists get attacked. Even during times like this, Jayamohan credits the people and society for the support being provided. He also identifies feudal nature as the key cause of violence against journalists in general and free speech in specific as the tendency to control opposing conflicting opinions arises from this factor. In countries like Egypt, even internationally acclaimed and powerful media houses like Al Jazeera are not safe as the people and ruling structures both does not support in their actions. Speaking from a global perspective, he observes that the safety index of journalism have gone down tremendously over the past few decades. Countries like Syria and Iraq have been very deadly for journalists who are at the front to cover war and other internal conflicts of international relevance. The observation made by Jayamohan points toward the fact that it is a general nature or character of the society that determines the working nature of a journalist as it is absolutely important as to how the society responds on stories of relevance. In a situation wherein the people understand and recognize media as the fourth estate, any output from that source will have much credibility and accessibility in terms of reaching the public discussion. While Jayamohan considers journalism in India as a safe profession, opinions of other experts who have taken part in the study resonates the same tone. According to Pradeep Nair, Senior Journalist at the Hindu, Bengaluru, journalists in India are at risk under two circumstances that lead to specifically critical outcomes. The major aspect of it is the journalist’s involvement in issues that are concerned with certain ideologies and this situation further aggravates when the issue is emotive in nature. There are various issues that affect Indian sensibilities in heavy manner and a few of these include religion, culture and language. When a journalist is consciously

73 perceived as involving in an act that is against any of these dominant ideologies that is prevalent in the society, the journalist might get attacked. In the Indian scene, attack also works in two domains, one is a normal physical attack widely inflicted by opposing groups the world around and another one is much critical and affects the morale of a journalist. Courts and judicial structures can also be involved in this issue to curb legally the acts by a journalist. Anand Narasimhan, Senior Journalist at Times Now, Mumbai bureau also perceives journalism in India to be on safer lines as he describes it in a rather lighter, “as risky as any profession”. This points out the fact that Indian journalists in general experience much lighter threats and also consider themselves to be freer than the journalists from various other parts of the world. Anand contributes further to the query by citing two examples, one from Uttar Pradesh, India and another from Bangladesh. The murder of Jagendra Singh, a journalist from the Shahjahanpur district of U.P. was much controversial due to the involvement of a state minister and also the modus operandi employed by the offenders. Jagendra was burnt to death and such cases have been reported in the country in the past as well. Anand also considers the case of the killings of bloggers from Bangladesh who were writing on the blogosphere about the importance of free speech. According to him, these instances are often individualistic in nature and do not encompass a collective hatred or violence against journalists. Speaking from a legal perspective lawyers of the High Court of Kerala, Adv. Aravind and Adv. Sunil Kumar, situates the issues of violence against journalists at a fair place as they observe that journalists are given a non written upper hand over general public when it comes to handling and accessing data and documents (Aravind & Kumar, 2015 ). The court also gives respect to the noble task undertaken by the journalist community of the country and in turn supports them in issues of conflict. They also identify certain issues with the working of media especially in terms of controversial cases. Trial by media, or the excessive involvement and interest displayed by media houses to conduct individual investigations and subsequent judgments to come at conclusions are perceived as not acceptable. The media in this case should have restraints and should not come up with self based judgments that tend to influence and directs public opinion. These issues under the purview of courts should be handled with much care and if at all such mutual respect is displayed, the media will have more credibility. The media scene in this sense is much safer than those in most other countries in the perception of journalists who are working in India. They identify and consider

the citizens of this country much responsible and congruent toward the cause of journalism. Also the conclusion point raised by Gnani Snakaran is quite relevant at this point as he observed that, there are no terror groups who take offence, claim revenge and attack journalists in an organized manner like the Charlie Hebdo. Also the presence of working unions of journalists is considered much as a contributing boost to the fraternity. While the journalists in India, holds the passion and pride that they are working as the informers for a billion strength community, they observe the risk factor in a similar line with most other professions.

4.4.2 Threats to journalism

Journalism, according to the previously done secondary data analysis faces threat from various sources including, political influence, governmental actions and business interests. The Indian situation in this scenario too displays much different trends and the amount of threat exerted by different sources varies according to the sociopolitical implications and the regional base of the journalist. According to Gnani Sankaran, looking at the issues with a specific relevance to the historical times and also keeping in mind the very recent evolutions in the field media, three of the above mentioned forces exert and influence the media on an equal basis. Considering the synergy of the groups in attacking journalists, Gnani mentions that these groups often hound journalists by taking turns thus raising the issue half comically and with much more sense of clarity. In addition it is also relevant that three of these sources, are prominent and prevalent in the Indian scenario due to the multitude of cultures it exhibit. India being the world’s largest democracy holds public opinion at a high level of reverence. The media and press in general contribute a great amount to the formation of this public opinion which subsequently affects the government. As observed from the series it becomes much important for governments and political parties who spearhead them to create a good media image. This forces them to eliminate any counter point raised and thus also has a tendency to avoid allegations. This is precisely observable in the Uttar Pradesh murder case where the journalist was killed as he exposed the state leader’s alleged indulgence in corruption and crime. In a similar manner, vested interest groups act specifically for their own set goals and any element that affects their goals is eliminated from the scene.

Jayamohan considers the business and corporate ventures in the domain of media as the biggest threat to a journalist’s functioning. It is often possible that a corporate business entity will be undertaking and involving in many misdeeds that are generally harmful for the society’s interest. These corrupt actions were traditionally brought to light by the actions of brave journalists who risked their lives for the betterment of the story and the society. As corporate ventures started entering the ownership and management of media houses, these automatically became policy makers. Naturally, the business interest groups proposed and prevented any news item that harmed theirs or their ally’s interest. This factor immensely limits a journalist and controls him in his thrive to work for fair and balanced news. The editor would often be replaced or converted into a dummy with absolutely no powers whatsoever and the newspaper starts to be controlled. The biggest impact this has is on the journalist who would want to cover issues relevant to the society being represented, but would be restricted due to the ownership policy. In India, several of these instances have happened in the past with corporate houses and industrial groups. Representing the print media, Pradeep Nair finds a different source as threat to journalism. According to him the most determining change of the 21stcentury for journalism is the blurring of lines between professional journalism and amateur journalism. Professional journalism, according to Pradeep is represented by conventional organizations and broad mediums like print and broadcast and amateur is marked by blogs, youtube and other novel social media involvements. The fact that social media has garnered some amount of credibility is deterring to the cause of journalism due to two main reasons. The first and foremost one is the diminishing importance given to facts which since time immemorial acted as the pillar of journalism and the ethics it followed. With social media and conventional media battling oit out to break the story, journalists are often under pressure to come up with information as soon as possible. This limits the extend of verifiability that is possible for the story and creates chance for false or illegitimate news stories to go on air. This rush limits the journalist in terms of putting things in perspective. The second issue is described as the crisis of perception in the sense that there is a conflict between what is factually right and what is wrong. According to him due to a thousand shares on the social media, what is wrong is perceived as right and what is right is perceived as wrong. In addition, the forceful expression of individual opinion on social media is capable enough of

creating ripples that affects the profession in a negative manner. Through an individual, news made by a group of professionals might be considered unsuitable. The integrity and honesty displayed by a journalist to his profession is diminishing and this very issue becomes the biggest threat according to Anand Narasimhan. Journalists these days have degraded themselves to a level that monetary gains and other personal benefits are given much more importance than the task they are undertaking. In this scenario, all of the above mentioned sources of threat including, business, government and interest groups can either ally a journalist or make him an enemy. This happens as the journalist starts misrepresenting facts for personal benefits and thus makes the task illegal. In a country like India, there are many who would want to capitalize on corrupt journalists to build public opinion and gain benefits in the political, social or business spheres. Journalists in this sense should identify a code of conduct that can be universally or at least be applied to the whole of India. This code of conduct must include social, moral and ethical guidelines to control and manage a journalist’s work sphere. Anand adds on to say that corporate influence is much stronger in the field of media than other businesses precisely due to the power of opinions. At the end of the day, in most news organizations it is the journalist’s choice that makes the difference and creates a safe or unsafe working environment for him. Journalism in India is affected by various sources ranging from government to the journalist himself. One of the important aspects that determine the level of threat faced by a media organization is the amount of allegiance they show. It is often possible that a journalist is limited by business interests of the group which owns or controls the media house. Social media and its immense impact on the perceptions held by the society is equally a threat to journalism as it tends to rewrite people’s understanding of what is news and what needs to be told. On the other side, social media also keeps a watch on conventional media, thereby forcing them to do certain stories or issues out of public demand. This creates much of an issue as the corresponding value being attached to time and duration in a media house then gets determined or at least affected by opinions of social media publics. At the last level of hierarchy, journalists who have a corrupt attitude or choice themselves are also responsible for the issues and conflicts thus becoming a threat to the fraternity by making it easy for the corporate or interest group to dig in.

4.4.3 Charlie Hebdo and impact on Indian journalism

The Charlie Hebdo attacks which occurred on the 7th of January 2015 have had an impact on the news community worldwide. It has critical relevance as it can be called the first organized crime intended to inflict damage on journalists due to content. The earlier Maguindanao massacre was in fact bigger in magnitude and death count but will not be applicable in this scenario as it was intended on the presidential contender and the journalists happened to be caught in between. 8 journalists got killed in the shootout that claimed 11 lives for objectionable cartoon that was drawn against a religious community. The issue was condemned by world leaders and also became one of the worst disasters in the history of journalism. Charlie Hebdo shootout has not created much of an impact on the overall proceeding of Indian journalism as the issue is largely outside Indian sensibilities. The issue eventhough was discussed at length by the common man, the journalist fraternity remained relatively immune to the threat it poised. This is very evident from the statement made by Gnani Sankaran as he expressed relief and faith over the fact that India still does not have organized terror groups who work like the fundamentalists who acted in the Charlie Hebdo issue. As journalists remained immune to the issue, Adv. Aravind observed that this issue might affect and limit Indian journalists by instilling fear in their minds. This makes it evident that the opinion of other circles pointed on journalists being immensely affected by Charlie Hebdo while the journalists themselves found it to be a normal issue. According to Anand Narasimhan, Charlie Hebdo was indeed a talking point for Indian journalists both onscreen and off-screen. Onscreen, the discussions largely was due to the news value the story carried with and it can be considered that any shootout or attack of such magnitude would attract primetime cameras. Off screen on the other hand, these discussions largely focused on ethics of the issue. It circled around the points of extend or limitation to an expressed freedom. As explained by Gnani Sankaran, France is a truly secular country even while being Christian and not secular in the Indian sense as it does not allow anyone to wear any religious symbols apart from what uniform is prescribed. India on the other hand claims secular base and celebrates Dussehra and Ayudha Puja in government offices. Keeping in mind the space given to a media house in its freedom to express, the media houses should have a self identified authority over its content. Anand Narasimhan adds on to say that it

was not fair that the magazine pointed at someone’s religious identity to present a joke or satire. In good faith, one can present the same topic without using any gods and limiting the symbolism to other symbols which corresponds to less emotive factors. The emphasis here is laid to the self control and also a self assessment aspect that should be practiced by media houses. Charlie Hebdo, according to Jayamohan Sukumaran indeed became a talking point for journalists in India and as Anand suggested the same had variations internally and on the screen. There was a conscious decision from the journalist’s part to take care while publishing or creating such story ideas. The issue also got featured in the internal publications brought out by various press clubs and working journalist unions of the country. It was also brought into conscious notice the importance of having self regulation of the content manufactured and apart from that Jayamohan considers Charlie Hebdo of having no lasting impact on Indian journalism. Pradeep Nair too speaking from a print perspective says that Charlie Hebdo did not have any impact and based it on the fact that India had a long history of religious and communal issues. These issues have been prominent on the Indian social and political landscape for more than half a century and thus all the citizens including the journalists have grown immune to such clashes. Indian journalism, he adds have figured a way to understand and counter these issues much earlier than the world media. Indian journalists at large have not been affected by the threat posed by Charlie Hebdo attacks. This can be due to the heterogeneous nature Indian communities have displayed since time immemorial. Through this manner Indian journalists have identified and internalized ways through which they can handle situations like this with a much higher level of maturity. Due to the news value attached to the issue, it indeed became a talking point but did not claim any more mindspace of an Indian journalist than that. The internal publications have discussed the issue in solidarity with the affected cartoonists and also expressed opinions about self regulation and censorship to be taken and exerted when subjects like these are dealt with on popular media. As suggested by Jayamohan Sukumaran, it always depends on the culture of the society as to how issues are handled. This is applicable in two functions; one in receiving the controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoon and the other in citing responses to the attacks inflicted. In this manner, the Indian media have

79 given due attention to the issue from a theoretical point of view but have restrained itself from considering it even a practical possibility in the country.

4.4.4 Government’s role in protecting rights of journalists

India being a democracy is guided by the constitution in its day to day functioning. The constitution and the written law of land determine the provisions and restrictions in any job or professional setup. This is largely present in most democratic setups of the world. One question that has been thronging in the minds of the Indian journalist fraternity since inception was the question that pointed at the government’s role in protecting the rights and freedom of a journalist. As mentioned above, the Indian independence to a large extend was boosted and fuelled by the immense passion, courage and nationalism shown by the journalists of those days. It was also so that the Indian authorities did not have a special provision for journalists in the Right to freedom of speech and expression. But on the other hand it supported journalists and their cause by various other measures that joined as India progressed. The fraternity of journalists too stands at a much divided point of view about this issue. Some of the measures initiated by the Indian government to serve the rights of journalists post independence include largely the Press Council and various commissions. The first press commission was setup under the chairmanship of Justice J S Rajadhyaksha in the year 1952. These commissions were setup to look into corrections and updates in the basic functioning of press in the country. In addition to Press council, institution of press clubs and also a wage board to look into the salary allowances pattern of journalists have been initiated by the Indian government. One of the most recent of such actions is the establishment of a Centre for Investigative Journalism headquartered in New Delhi. While this centre is an independent, nonprofit organization, it is registered as a trust with the central government. These measures on an individual level contribute to the betterment of a journalist as a regular employee and satisfy the needs of most journalists in the country. On the other hand, there are a few others who demand betterment in terms of professional working of journalists. According to Jayamohan Sukumaran, who supports this aspect, Indian government should invest more in equipping the journalists for a better profession rather than managing their salary and other issues of only individual importance.

According to Jayamohan, journalism as a profession and a discipline controlling the effective functioning of democracy in any country would only do its purpose when it is constantly updated. The current situation is that many journalists even today are unaware about the social media revolution or the influence of it on society. He calls for an upgradation in the general awareness levels of journalists. This can be achieved through regular workshops and certificate courses which can be organized by the governments through press clubs and other institutions. The corporate nature in media field at least should be replaced with a more socialist model that also considers the nobility of the profession. While respecting the measures like the establishments of an Indian Journalists Act which guides and controls the appointment of journalists in the country, the lack of efficiency in such measures are to be corrected. One example quoted by Jayamohan in his interview was the fact that most of Indian journalists do not know how to fill a Right to Information form. Hence advanced education is what is required before implementing welfare measures. The amount of control exerted by Indian government on media is a mere 2% to 5% according to Anand Narasimhan and he exerts the point that it is absolutely mandatory to have atleast this amount of restriction. A journalist should learn to work within the system thereby contributing to the betterment of that particular system rather than going beyond and criticizing the system. Any individual with a valid license has the authority to drive a car on the road but that does not mean that person can drive when the red light is on. The same is the situation in journalism as anyone who is employed in a media house can be writing and reporting but not damaging the security of the state or harming interests of certain communities. In a democracy it is an absolute necessity that one learns to live by the rules set by the majority and a journalist in that sense should be able to cultivate a sense of responsibility. According to advocate Sunil Kumar, the government must be providing certain provisions for the journalists in order to support in the act of informing the public. It is absolutely mandatory that a journalist should have access to most sources of information and on the other hand it is also necessary that the media responsibly carries the information to the betterment of the public. On a comparative analysis with a few other countries, Indian establishment of a journalist’s freedom at work is limited to an extent. Considering the freedom enjoyed by journalists from the United States of America as declared in the first amendment would be a farfetched dream but professional improvements can be

81 attempted. Pakistan even though has a very limited literate population consistently have improvement workshops for journalists. India too should look at improving the professional aptitude of journalists through such methods.

4.4.5 Journalist’s role in corrupting journalism

Journalist in the act of communicating a story to the public handles the role of a messenger. Once the information is received and before disseminating it to the public, the mass of information is the sole property of the journalist and this gives scope for manipulation. It is quite natural that minor changes occur in the packaging of a story depending on the political inclinations, level of awareness and conscience of the journalist. The issue becomes critical when the journalist himself manipulates a news story to cater to the needs of a vested interest group. The amount of agenda setting possible through the involvement of media is to be well understood in this issue. The manipulation can be a threat to an individual, a society, a country or the world at large. According to the legal perspective, unlawful activities like paid news and yellow journalism are the biggest threats affecting the media scenario in the country as said by Adv. Aravind. According to Anand Narasimhan, many journalists these days involve in malpractices that are negatively affecting the honesty and integrity of the profession. The biggest impact this situation has is on the fact that people have now started mistrusting the opinion of a journalist whose voice was earlier considered even above the judiciary. This observation and analysis by the public have gone up more so in the resent past with the involvement of social media. Even if the media mistakenly or due to lack of time misses one story, the social media portrays it as a deliberate attempt for business interests. Journalist hold a duty to express and communicate to the public but the determining factor in this scenario is the integrity involved. There will not be any listeners for a news story if at all there is no honesty shown in reporting the same. The amount of subjectivity in news has gone up to alarming new heights and this is observed by the public. Eventhough not all journalists are going for corrupt methods, the profession and its image have been tarnished due to the work of these few. Pradeep Nair found the situation quite difficult to make a general statement. Rather he focused attention towards individual cases where it all depends on the decisions made by an individual journalist. This limits the amount of generalization

possible through the fact but it is undeniable that journalists are also responsible for the current scenario. Journalists these days follow a rather violent method of news coverage. This violent method came about with the evolution of twenty four hour news channels which contributed to a journalist’s competition while covering news stories. As it became more and more competent, issues started cropping up. Media now involves in various levels of human rights violation specifically in issues of rape, sexual assault or crime as said by Jayamohan Sukumaran. It is clearly specified in the codes of conduct mentioned that any public news broadcast should not ideally show dead bodies and in instances of mass deaths like earthquakes or landslide, in order to enhance viewership, the media violates all of these conduct measures. It is with these kinds of actions that the media have garnered the opposition of the society represented in social media. This aspect also has a great impact on the level of safety and security enjoyed by the journalist as the society gradually moves to be on the other side. Media with the inclusion of heavy business interests have been in a mad rush to collect better stories faster than the competitor. In this rush it is forgotten that this profession is way above monetary benefits. The journalists themselves display absolutely no commitment to the society and in turn the society cannot also be expected to show commitment. This lack of satisfaction often leads to violence as it builds on. In many instances journalists are also killed as an effect of failed deals in illegal activities. Journalists and media houses should analyze and come up with self regulation measures and social development plans to gain the reverence from the public.

4.4.6 The future of journalism

From Maguindanao to Charlie Hebdo and reasonable restrictions to unreasonable actions, the media have been highlighted for all the wrong reasons. There have been instances where the media was at fault and there have been others where the offenders were at fault. At the end of the day it is the journalist’s fraternity who face challenges and hardships due to these issues. All of the expert participants, well versed in the discipline were quite optimistic about the future of the fourth estate. Pradeep Nair highlighted the need for information in the public domain as the prime reason for journalism surviving and with a bright future.

According to him, availability of free and fair information in the public is quite critical for the functioning of any democracy. Journalism is the only profession that takes care of these needs and factors thus making it most relevant. Secondly, this public information is more accessible than ever before. This is made possible through an information revolution brought about by information technology and journalism together. While all the information for a better living in a democracy is available at the click of a finger who would want to back out asks Pradeep. Thirdly, according to him, the current world exists in a multimedia point of view and there are enough and more possibilities which make and keep citizens actively interested in the cause of news. Anand Narasimhan, considers the attributed role of a storyteller, most fascinating and as a part of the profession one gets to inform, educate and entertain. The field also has possibility of engaging immense creativity in the way a story is packages or the patterns of broadcasting. As long as information is being disseminated in the right manner, there will be readers, listeners and viewers. It is a known fact that these three elements also determine the quality and safety of a journalists work according to Anand. Jayamohan Sukumaran emphasizes on the up gradations in technology to talk about what lies in future for media. The form and format of disseminating news content is undergoing a large scale evolution and as this process goes on media also evolves. There is a mobile society waiting to receive news stories in an even more mobile fashion and this development will be attained by media to remain in the society as force worth watching and working for. The experts from the field of journalism were also asked if they would be willing to send their kith and kin to the industry if they wished for it and surprisingly enough all of the ten experts gave a positive response. The field demands a lot renovation and it is definitely not to come from the older generations who have seen and got accustomed to the earlier methods and practices of journalism. This widespread change can only be attained by an effort by a new wave of journalists who bring in freshness in ideas, reporting, editing and dissemination. Social media and upgraded tools must be used to support and contribute to journalism on a much higher rate than today. The field is also one that have been the support system for the underprivileged or disabled. When other systems took much more time in attracting attention towards the issue of the poor, journalism contributed to their well being by bringing what they deserve. Thus it became an entirely faster and more credible

source of information for the public who have been continually mocked at by the strangles of authoritative officials and controllers. Journalism is a discipline that has major role to play in the development of any country. It informs, educates and entertains all citizens to build and enhance the country to greatness. This role is essentially enhanced when the country of relevance is only developing. Thus India in all its sense needs the media to show responsibility and guide the country to a better future.

4.5 Perception of media students:

Students in general are the future of a society and more specifically they create a new path for the profession they embark on. Jayamohan Sukumaran, Chief News Producer at Manorama television has emphasized this aspect during his expert interview as he talked about the importance of fresh perspective and newer models in action for journalism. These perceptions are also proving of the current state of journalism as perceived by majority of the society. This fact is validated by the statement made by Rukma Singh, s second year undergraduate student at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi as she said that media is being closely observed by the students due to an unavoidable career aspect that all students are pursuing. Through this keen observation, students are also said to look for societal perception about any media job. This perception is what have come about by the experiences of the society and often journalists will remain immune to such remarks as the people who they interact and associate themselves with would have relatively similar opinions that support the cause of journalism. The researcher has conducted an opinion survey; both online and offline on media students from various parts of the country to analyze their perceptions about the possibility of journalism as a future career option. This study sheds light on aspects of safety and desirability of journalism and discipline and gives scope for the researcher to come up with judgments as to how bright the future of journalism is.

4.5.1 Safety

Government intervention 41% Profit motives of Organization 56% Familial Pressures

Figure 4.25 Percentage share student perception of safety in journalism as a career

The first interpreting question in the survey pointed at the perception of students about the safety aspect working the field of journalism. It is to be noted that all the journalists who responded for the expert interview considered their profession as safe as any other profession in the society. The student perception analysis gives out differing results as absolute majority of the people who participated in the survey described journalism as an unsafe profession though of varying degrees attached to it. It is a point to be noted that only two students from the entire group of 146 students who took the survey have considered journalism to be absolutely safe. The category entry given in this element was ‘very safe’ and this can be ruled out due to the negligibility in statistical measure. From the participant’s opinion, 56% of students have considered journalism to have moderate amount of risk factor attached to it. This majority actually can be considered as a support to the popular views raised by the journalists. Another interesting trend lies in the fact that, some of these students upon being probed about the risk associated with other media jobs like public relations or advertising, said that these professions were very safe. This remark can also be an indicator of the low safety levels associated by the students and in general the society for journalism as a profession. This general perception affects journalism in the manner that bright talent

from the country’s writing and broadcasting media students lot would move away from the field thus negatively affecting the human resource base held by journalism.

4.5.2 Charlie Hebdo and impact on Indian journalism as perceived by the students

Government intervention 41% Profit motives of Organization 56% Familial Pressures

Figure 4.26 Percentage share student perception of the possibility of Charlie Hebdo like shootout in India

Charlie Hebdo attack is quite critical to the subject of study primarily as it probed the interests of the researcher to take up the topic for research and secondarily as mentioned above it is one of the first instances of organized crime in modus operandi against the journalist community. The journalists in this aspect of the study too considered journalism in India absolutely safe and immune when compared to France or other countries. Apart from a few internal communications the issue of Charlie Hebdo as opinionated by them was not a point of discussion for Indian journalists. The most important aspect was that journalists completely ruled out the possibility of a Charlie Hebdo like instance in India. The analysis of student perceptions display a drastically different trend as 74% of the students who participated in the study considered Charlie Hebdo like shootout a very possible instance keeping in mind the country’s media scene. This perception was often supported by statements that pointed fingers at the communal strength displayed by many groups in India and ironically the same issue was stated a point of strength and expertise by Pradeep Nair from the Times of India. While 14% of the

87 student community had good faith over the Indian society and stated that this incident was not even a source of concern. Another 12% from the student community under analysis was not sure about the chances but considered it a possibility if certain practices like misinterpretation and media trials continued. This aspect of the study shows a clear cut insight into how different the perceptions about safety and immunity are held by the Indian journalist community and the society at large. This miscommunication or lack of clarity can be controlled by a more transparent approach of the things at work by media houses. The huge difference in perception is strong enough that even though the journalists were not affected the budding reporters, cameramen and news anchors were immensely affected by the issue.

21%

Journalism 47% Public Relations Advertising

32%

Figure 4.27 Percentage share student perception about journalist’s role in instances like Charlie Hebdo

The statistical analysis of the above question also sheds light on how only a minority of the student community expresses full faith over the field of journalism as 51% of the students participating in the study lay equal weightage of the blame regarding the issue on journalist’s as well as the offending groups. While 35% of the students consider journalists to be actually scot free in the issue, they also lay doubt on the content aspect as the editorial function should be effective in clearing any controversial content in print and display. It is also present that 14% of the entire student community considers journalists to be at blame for issues like Charlie Hebdo.

4.5.3 Threats to free speech & expression for a journalist as perceived by the students

3% 8% Government 2% intervention Profit motives of Organization Familial Pressures 50%

37% Terrorists and other vested interest parties Other

Figure 4.28 Percentage share student perception of the various threats affecting journalist’s freedom of speech

While journalism is considered to be a risky profession by the student community, analysis into the factors affecting the expression of free speech by a journalist as perceived by the students are quite different. Journalists, in fact represented by the experts studied have at large opinionated that government and its intrusion into freedom of speech and expression is minimal. The student community on the other hand believes in a different manner as 50% of the students who took the survey defined governmental intervention as the biggest threat to a journalist’s expression of free speech. In fact, many of their voices were pointed toward the no mention policy followed in the Indian constitution. According to Vishnu Anand, a journalism post graduate diploma student, India should also have clearly mentioned provisions in free speech for the journalist. In fact many students urge the Indian authority to look into the first amendment of the American constitution to determine the amount of importance laid to the field of journalism. The second in list comes the profit motives of the organization, for which 37% of the student community have pointed fingers for not allowing the journalist to do his work with a free mind. The student opinions go hand in hand with the ones made by Jayamohan Sukumaran and in fact the business interests and profit orientations are described as corrupting the entire domain of journalism. Many students in the opinion

89 column have gone to the extent of expressing their anguish over the issue of chains on a journalist’s freedom to cover and express stories of relevance to the public. Terrorism and vested interest group violations are considered a threat by 8% of the students who took part in the survey. These students also strongly foresee the occurrence of a Charlie Hebdo like incident in India. Familial pressures are considered a threat by 2% of the people involved and another 3% of students consider other sources namely religious fanaticism and personal choices of a journalist as negatively affecting journalism and free speech. The student community participating in the survey also considers and mentions various other issues like the ones made by political interest groups as exceptional cases. According to them these cases display an amalgamation of various forces at work. These forces range from political authority backed by political party leaders, governmental influence when the political authority is in power, administrative machinery like police when the authority has control over them and also business groups when the offenders are powerful and rich enough to control. In fact they also consider the ability of money and manpower in influencing the opinions and options made by journalist’s who cover the story and thereby the integrity and honesty of journalism will also be compromised. This calls for immediate action and corrective forces plying a crucial role in determining what can be described as an effective tool in initiating broad changes in the society’s outlook and perceptions regarding the work of a journalist. Through this change they also hope and express strong beliefs that the domain can be improved. The results shed light at a larger corrective measure that should be initiated by the government in the country. The society gains perception from those held by the group of students specializing in the domain. Media students who have a better understanding of what goes behind the work of journalism and also moves like the press commissions consider government as a big threat to journalism and free speech. This perception affects the morale of future journalists and forces them to have rather negative ideas about the profession. Keeping in mind the progressive and developmental roles to be played by a journalist in developing India as a global leader, this trend must be discontinued and corrected with effective steps from the government. The correction can start from imparting the right education to media students and having update classes for journalists as suggested by Jayamohan in the expert interview.

4.5.4 Governments and the role played to support journalism as perceived by the students

21%

Journalism 47% Public Relations Advertising

32%

Figure 4.29 Percentage share student perception of the government’s role in protecting journalism

The analysis of government’s role in protecting and enhancing the state of journalism is quite similar to the above discussed topic. This query becomes different in the fact that it talks about journalism as a profession rather than looking at it from the point of view of free speech. The elements discussed by the students who considered government as not doing much to enhance the domain of journalism did not point at lack of schemes. The opinions made by 54% majority of the student community under the survey focused on the lack of implementation. It was largely stated that governments are not ensuring right application of the wage board proposal and also does not look into the appointment of journalists. The students were also dissatisfied with the attitude shown by governments toward the increasing conflict and business interests in the field of media. A proportion share of 44% of the students opinionated that the governments have been doing absolutely nothing to protect the rights and interests of journalism and a meager proportion of 2% went along with the popular journalist view which considered governments as doing enough things to support and contribute to the betterment of the cause of journalism and provide it with support.. The differing trend shown in this study also should be an eye opener for the governments to come up with plans and ideas to promote journalism. One of the

91 prominent suggestions given by students who desired for a change hinted at employing more powers for the Press Council and liberalization of rules regarding contempt of courts. Many also desired for a change in the provisions stated in the reasonable restrictions owing it to the fact that the provisions were outdated and different from what was the need of the hour.

21%

Journalism 47% Public Relations Advertising

32%

Figure 4.30 Percentage share student perception regarding absolute freedom of speech and expression in India Another very specific query that comes in the line of government action in enhancing the state of journalism is regarding the claims of free speech. The survey question garnered mixed results and the specific opinions of students were also collected from those who chose the option ‘other’. While 45% of the students who took up the survey opted for India having absolute freedom of speech and expression, many of them raised the point of self regulation and self censorship as methods to control any probability of news in bad taste. Surprisingly, there have been a 37% of the student communities who have opted for no absolute freedom of speech and expression. This trend sheds light into a group of media students who consider media themselves as the key factor creating various issues through the freedom in enjoys. Interesting trends are revealed from the other category which has a share of 18% of the total survey takers who expressed varying opinions related to the same. While some of them stressed on the importance of reasonable restrictions, many others mentioned that this should not only be restricted to journalism but also for other domains like arts, literature and political writing.

4.5.5 Journalism as a career option as perceived by the students

Journalism and its associated elements are often seen with much passion by the students of media and according to many teachers of media it is an observed trend that as students gets aware about the detailed trends and provisions offered by the domain of media, they tend to drift off from hardcore journalism. The series of three questions toward the end of the survey aims at imploring into the student’s desirability of having journalism as a potential career option in their future endeavour. These questions are also relevant in giving a critical reflection about the future of journalism as the number and quality of young students entering into hardcore journalism would determine the amount of development the field would have. As suggested by many experts during the interview, it is only through quality student and freshmen initiatives that the domain can be rejuvenated to the past glory.

8% Journalism 23% Public Relations 21% Advertising Content Writing 15% Films 13% Event Management Other 10% 10%

Figure 4.31 Percentage share student perception regarding career choices in the field of media While it was often regarded that journalism was unsafe and requires tremendous amount of development and update, the student community still favors and holds journalism in high regard when it comes to its possibilities as a career option. Out of the very flashy and comfortable careers like public relations, advertising and film, majority share of 23% of the students opinionated that they consider journalism as their ideal career option. This share of students aims to be in the system and correct the flaws associated. An enquiry into the most attractive

93 features of journalism according to the perception of the students who said yes bagged answers which ranged from pride of being an informer to the immense amount of contacts one can have. Many also spoke about the possibility of being a link between the public and most of classified information sources. Other options like event management had a 21% share of the student choice followed by 13% choosing films. Two of the most discussed career options during the academic lectures in a media student’s life, advertising and public relations were pulled down to the last few spots.

0% 3% Monetary Gain 20% 26% Job Security

Safety

Relevance of job in society 28% 23% Flexibility

Figure 4.32 Percentage share student perception regarding the feature lacking in Journalism as a career option

The study further looked at finding the student idea as to which features of a universally ideal career is absent in journalism in order to also know what students look for in finding a career of their choice. Even though responses have clear cut answers, most of the students aimed at correcting these mistakes and looked forward at a positive development which upgrades the domain through effective participation from government and media houses. As discussed in the core premise of the study, major share of students consider job safety as lacking in the field of journalism. A percentage shares of 28% of students opinionated that journalism as a career option lacks the feature of job safety and security. Media houses and government should ideally shed attention into this factor thereby making it stricter for offenders to gain impunity over the offences committed. Another major opinion was related to the monetary gain associated in journalism as a career which was chosen by 26% of the students who took up the

survey. This lack or feature can be added to journalism by a government intervention which makes sure that all media organizations strictly follow the directions of the wage board while paying their staff. Other responses considered journalism to not have job security and the relevance of job in society marked by a statistical share of 23% and 20% respectively. The student perceptions of journalism and the various elements that underline the growth and fall of the domain at some points sharply coincide with the journalist’s perception and at some points break away. Eventhough a theoretically learned knowledge might actually be quite different from what is practically acquired; these perceptions carry a great amount of value as they come from a selected lot who are undoubtedly the future of the medium. It is quite understood that these perceptions and ideologies are the ones which would upgrade or degrade in turn affect positively or negatively the fate of the medium. In a varied outlook into the issue or proceedings it is actually the student ideas which have come about and evolved the domain since early ages. The importance of a student initiative in journalism is well understood and clearly appreciated by the working journalists of the country which is also a suggesting factor to the immense amount of help provided to this study. A journalist is the product of his society and the culture of people the individual interacts with. It is equally clear with this statement that journalism students have their identities and conscience about the subject formed from constant interactions with the society. It is indeed a fraction of the society that resides in the student and polishes the understanding of journalism and all practices related to the same. The study in this manner have done justice to the topic and also compiled multiple deciding voices on the same platform thereby creating a conducive environment to contribute toward developing the medium.

5 Chapter 5

CONCLUSION

5.1 Introduction

Journalism in any part of the world is attributed a critical amount of relevance due to the unavoidable functions it undertakes and ensure in the smooth functioning of the governing structures. The importance of this study lies in the fact that it analyzes and implores into the state of functioning of structures of journalism which is quite critical to the functioning of the government in any country. The first analysis conducted by the researcher looked into the statistical measure of journalists killed during a 23 year period from 1992. Through this study the researcher also analyzed how media systems get affected by various factors and also a job specific analysis to determine the change of trend in journalism over the period of two decades. The second aspect of the study looked into an India specific aspect of journalism thereby giving importance to the country’s needs and demands to improve the state of journalism. This analysis also tried to shed light on the various causative factors and governmental influence in the work of a journalist. The third aspect of the study looks into the perceptions of media students from across the country and this becomes critical as this determines the future of journalism in the country. It also gives a measure and peek into how bright or dull the future of journalism in the country is. Through these three measures the researcher pints insight into journalism and the violent history till date on a global scale, the Indian journalist’s perceptions about the state of functioning of the profession in the country and lastly the student’s point of view which gives insight into the aspirations and predictable future of journalism in the country.

5.2 Summary of the results

Journalists have been under threat by various forces acting and limiting in terms of the working of a journalist. Countries like Syria and Philippines have proved

to be the most unsafe places for journalists with 7.39% and 6.7% global death toll accounted to these two countries from 1992. Violence due to war and political clashes in addition to criminal offences acted as deadly agents for journalists mainly reporters and cameramen. As opined by experts included in the research, Indian journalism is perceived to be giving job satisfaction and comfort to journalists during and out of work. Charlie Hebdo apart from being a talking point did not have much of impact on Indian journalist fraternity. Journalists also consider the future of Indian journalism to be bright and shining. Indian media students on the other hand perceived journalism as a very unsafe profession with political and governmental restrictions affecting the work of a journalist. The future of journalism from this perspective as well remains better as most students still have faith and want to work as a hardcore journalist.

5.3 Discussion of the results

The observed and analyzed results are further studied to shed light on further details of the media scenario in India. The same strategy is applied to global statistics of attacks against journalists to come to final conclusions about cause and affecting factors.

5.3.1 Statistical insight into journalists under threat

The analysis of statistical measures shed light into several of key aspects that underlined the brutal attacks against journalists which happened over a time frame of two decades. The study reveals that the countries of Syria, Philippines, Iraq Colombia and Algeria stand on top of the list in violence against journalists. These countries have displayed a long history of wars and internal conflicts which put the journalists in danger due to the first person experience that the journalists had. These countries during the phases of heavy violence and war also have experienced stricter military rules which put bars on the amount of free speech and expression possible which again put the journalists in danger due to the nature of the work that they have done. Journalists who remained objective eventually got caught up between both of these giant groups thus facing worst crisis. The suspension of governance and judicial structures during this conflict phase made it easier for offenders to get away with the crimes. Upon analyzing the most dangerous task at work, it was proven that the work undertaken by reporters and cameramen were the most dangerous with a death toll

97 share of 27% and 17% respectively. This was due to the live exposure that they had with the incident of crime and they also often got caught up between the issues. The phase wise analysis revealed a differing trend through which it was understood that in the initial phases till the end of 1990’s, it was the print reporters who faced worst crisis and as the period moved on gradually the fire shifted to the broadcast journalist. The same shift can be seen in the case of photographers and videographers. This has happened due to the shift of reader and public attention from print to broadcast mediums and as the demand for broadcast content increased more channels evolved and therefore the shift in trend. With evolutions in technology, freedom of speech and expression also expanded to newer methods of expression including web and new media sources. The killings of Bangladeshi bloggers by extremists which has been happening since the year 2013, is an example of how intervention can curtail basic exercise of speech. In the most recent instance, widower of slain blogger Avijit Roy was killed thus revealing the hatred and it’s extend of action on to families of new age journalists. Fundamentalist groups are behind most of these instances of organized crimes and since a recent evolution this has not got the critical attention it deserves to get. Throughout the phases in history the most brutal of the beats covered by journalists were politics, war and crime with percentage shares of 46%, 38% and 15%. This is evident from the fact that more number of journalists in each phase got killed as they were handling these beats. It was often so that political violence was directed at these journalists who were covering issues that concerned the violations and corruptions made by the people at authority level. Sports and culture became two of the safest beats for journalists as this did not involve much of emotional aspects and had less number of criminal offences. Analysis into the suspected sources of violence reveals that journalists have been attacked and killed at large mostly by three major forces, political groups (31%), and military groups (18%) and criminal groups (17%). Out of this number a large number of deaths have been caused by the political groups and this group is most unsafe as compared to military specifically because of the number of crimes with intend. Most of the political attacks against journalists have occurred with a specific intention in mind or planned murders but often during war crimes journalists get caught in between two conflicting groups. Criminal groups also include groups that claim communal and religious affiliations and inflicting violence upon journalists. These groups have been a big source of threat towards the later

phases as people started taking cognizance over the issues reported by newspapers and television channels in this period. In addition people also started associating religious intent with most of content broadcasted by the media houses. This trend is also an after effect of the business interests that have evolved in the field of media which lead to an effective mistrust and discomfort over offensive content which got printed or broadcasted.

5.3.2 Perception of journalists in India

The Indian journalist fraternity had positive views on the issues related to freedom of speech and expression and the general state of journalism and communication in the country. The fraternity represented by journalists from various domains like broadcast and print considered the journalism in India as much safer than those of other countries. They have based this conclusion on various issues like those of the society’s culture and tradition. Indian societies have traditionally shown higher respects of social behaviour and also due to the number of varied cultures present in the country the media scene have only been treated with much tolerance and respect. The safety factor was also boosted by the importance given by Indian audience for the media that focused and was concerned about the issues that affected one’s livelihood. The British colonizer’s Vernacular Press Act (Gagging act) and related restrictive practices are key examples to this trend. While supplying this richness in content and quality for the subscriber the Indian media have also been attacked and restricted by various forces. According to the journalists, these forces have acted at different levels and functionalities. Combining the opinions and drawing conclusions, it is the lack of development in moral, ethical and professional terms is what limits journalism in India to large extends. It is widely accepted that the journalism in India has actually not been able to deliver to its full potential due to these constraints. These constraints according to journalists themselves can be overcome by imparting the right professional and perception training to the journalists of the country. While totally disregarding the impact of Charlie Hebdo in Indian journalism, journalists do accept and approve of the fact that it was a talking point behind the camera and beyond the pen. Even though journalists as opined in the interview and survey strongly believe that such an incident can never happen in India, they equally condemn the lack of maturity shown by the creators of the objectionable cartoon.

Amidst all these issues, one factor that is very positive and contributing to the state of journalism affairs in the country is the amount of positivity in the minds of Indian journalists. They still consider the field to have a bright future free of intrusions and violence outbreaks. It also is prevalent that the media houses consider the future of journalism safe in the hands of the young generations. The response to a common question which asked if the journalists would be sending their relatives to the profession garnered one single answer and that was an unobjectionable positive nod which alone is capable of guaranteeing a future for Indian journalism.

5.3.3 Perception of media students from India

Media students from across various parts of the country unfortunately do not share the same level of perception and understanding about the field. The general perception by the students shed light on the fact that they consider it as a very unsafe profession with maximum amount of risk involved. In fact other media professions like public relations or advertising is perceived as ones with least risk and with much higher monetary benefits. This perception of danger when coupled with lack of optimism would result in these students not willing to join journalism after their share of academics thus negatively affecting the knowledge and progress share that should have reached the domain. The analysis of Charlie Hebdo and the possibility of its occurrence in India also drew alternating responses from the student’s side. The validity of this statement lies in the multiple instances of proactive action and stand taken by the young community through mediums like internet. Whether it be cultural issues like Kiss of love or political and moral like beef ban, the young India have vibrantly shown distinct and definite opinions. This opinion varied from the perception held by the journalists and this shows a negative trend as the future and present of journalism does not congruent in opinions. According to the student’s perception, it is governmental influence and control that restricts journalism in the country on a larger scale. Legal and administrative restrictions often come in the way of free speech thereby negative affecting and degrading the value of a journalist in the society. The students also opinionated that the government actions at improving the situation of journalists have not reached anywhere and more efficiency is to be maintained while imparting the same. The students have clearly internalized the state of motives present in the field of media and

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thus do not reach a common conclusion when it comes to analyzing the need for absolute freedom of speech and expression. The conclusion which can be drawn from this query is a clear currents state with reasonable restrictions. Journalism in general still holds a very reputed stance in the perception of the students when it comes to its choice as a career option. Apart from the drawbacks like less safety and lower monetary gains the field is considered a job of respect and personal worth by the students. The domain is also seen and observed as having a very prominent future and according to this analysis the field will definitely prosper with the immense amount of incoming talent from future generations. Journalism on the global scenario is facing much higher threat than ever before specifically due to the presence of organized crimes occurring against the domain. The vengeance by special interest groups like business groups; political groups etc. make the life of a journalist vulnerable and difficult. In addition, universally the presence of various restrictions in terms of legal and administrative procedures also cripple the domain to unimaginable extends. The special attention of universal groups like United Nations is necessary for ensuring a safe and sound working environment for the global journalist. India on the other hand, still gives a lot of freedom and space for its journalists to work in. The same situation should be continued while simultaneously ensuring a better aspect of journalism for the students and young professionals. Journalism should grow above the page and beyond the screen to reach newer heights and subsequently take along the country to better and glorious stands in the world.

5.4 Limitations

The study included methods from both qualitative and quantitative streams of research thereby making analysis have dual parameters that analyzed distinct characters. In addition, the study also looked into perceptions held by individuals and these results are highly subjective and also prone to change due to mental setup. The vast data analyzed for the research was also done in a short amount of time and would have resulted in errors creeping up. The time constraints and sensitive issues covered in the study was also a limiting factor. However, the researcher was able to steer through these limitations and come up with facts and findings that could be beneficial for the society.

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5.5 Recommendations for further study

The study lays great emphasis on study of perceptions and this information can be utilized to come up with advanced research study aiming to probe into how journalism can be improved as a profession of quality. These facts and statistics can act as the secondary data to know the various issues that affect a journalist at work. The student perception can also be taken to the net level by including opinions from other demographic categories like region, gender and education.

5.6 Epilogue

Journalism on the global scenario is facing much higher threat than ever before specifically due to the presence of organized crimes occurring against the domain. The interventions by special interest groups like business groups; political groups etc. make the life of a journalist competitive and this has also made the founding pillar of all communication related jobs, hardcore news base responsive in the society often in negative light. The society, on the other hand is moving towards more intolerance as a response to any constructive criticism related to community, religion, culture and beliefs. In addition, universally the presence of various restrictions in terms of legal and administrative procedures also cripple the domain to unimaginable extends. The special attention of universally represented groups like United Nations is necessary for ensuring a safe working environment for the global journalist.

India on the other hand, still guarantees freedom and space for its journalists to work in due to two reasons. Democracy, the system of governance followed in the country is itself one of deliberation and discussion and this guarantees free speech as a right to all of its citizens which is in turn enjoyed by the journalists as well. The same situation should be continued while simultaneously ensuring a better aspect of journalism for the students and young professionals. Journalism should grow above the page and beyond the screen to reach newer heights of glory and subsequently take along the country and its citizens to better and glorious stands in the world.

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APPENDICES

Appendix A: Survey Questionnaire for working journalists

Rate on a scale of 5, Impact of Charlie Hebdo attacks on Indian Journalism?

1 corresponds to low impact & 5 corresponds to high impact

 1

 2

 3

 4

 5

Safety in journalism as a profession.

 1: Very Safe

 2: Moderate

 3: Very Risky

Are you satisfied with the working of the Press Council of India?

 Yes

 No

 Other:

Are there any instances of threat that you have faced during your experience as a journalist?

 Yes

 No

 Other:

Should India have absolute freedom of speech & expression?

 Yes

 No

 Other:

Organization

Can journalists be blamed for incidents like Charlie Hebdo?

 Yes

 No

 Maybe

 Other:

Would you advocate and recommend journalism as a career for you close relatives and friends?

 Yes

 No

 Other:

Name

Gender

 Male

 Female

 Other:

Age

Is the government doing enough to protect the rights and interests of journalists and free speech?

 Yes

 No

 Somewhat

 Other:

From the following, Which feature of a career suits journalism the best?

 Safety

 Relevance of the career in society

 Monetary Benefits

 Flexibility

 Job Culture

 Creative Freedom

 Other:

Biggest threat to freedom of speech & expression specifically for a journalist, in your opinion

 Government intervention

 Profit motives of Organization

 Familial Pressures

 Terrorists and other vested interest parties

 Other:

Appendix B: Survey Questionnaire for Journalism Students

Name

Age

Gender

 Male

 Female

 Other:

Educational Qualification

 Elementary

 Diploma

 Undergraduate

 Postgraduate

 Other:

Area of Study

 Literature

 Media

 Politics

 Science & Technology

 Commerce

 Other:

Safety in journalism as a profession.

 1: Very Safe

 2: Moderate

 3: Very Risky

Are you aware about Charlie Hebdo attacks?

 Yes

 No

Do you think such an attack can happen in a country like India?

 Yes

 No

 Other:

Biggest threat to freedom of speech & expression specifically for a journalist, in your opinion

 Government intervention

 Profit motives of Organization

 Familial Pressures

 Terrorists and other vested interest parties

 Other:

Is the government doing enough to protect the rights and interests of journalists and free speech?

 Yes

 No

 Somewhat

Should India have absolute freedom of speech & expression?

 Yes

 No

 Other:

Can journalists be blamed for incidents like Charlie Hebdo?

 Yes

 No

 Maybe

Which domain of media would you consider ideal for you?

 Journalism

 Public Relations

 Advertising

 Content Writing

 Films

 Event Management

 Other:

Which feature of an ideal career do you think is lacking in Journalism?

 Monetary Gain

 Job Security

 Safety

 Relevance of job in society

 Flexibility

 Other:

On a scale of 5, Rate the chances of Journalism as a career prospect in your life.

1 corresponds to least desirable & 5 corresponds to most desirable.

 1

 2

 3

 4

 5