Media and World Peace: The Indian Scenario

By Dr. Binod C. Agrawal

TALEEM Research Foundation City Plaza, Bopal Ahmedabad 380 058, India Phone : 91-79-3731003 Telefax: 91-79-3731486 e-mail : taleemad1@sancharnet.in

Paper presented in the Plenary Session of the International Conference on World Peace, December 29, 2003 January 2, 2004 held at Ahmedabad (India)

Media and World Peace: The Indian Scenario

By Binod C. Agrawal Introduction Peace is an idea, a state of human existence, and a goal to be achieved through existing just means. Media ideally are one of the modest technological means to achieve peace and reduce conflict and violence.

Violence in the media has been discussed ever since the advent of television, peace takes an added meaning in the present context with increasing capabilities of electronic media all over the world. With the kind of reach and access that it has, media has accelerated the harmful effects of violence on Indian citizens at large. Hardly any effort has been made by the media managers or political leaders to curb media violence. Non-violence on media must not be viewed as reporting on peace. Undoubtedly, media has an important role to play in promoting peace both in the national and international arena. If communication and media are seen as a sub-system of the society, then it has both social and moral responsibility to discuss issues related to peace, educate and inform the values of peace globally(UNESCO 1994). In an era of growing violence and conflict the world over, media must help persuade people for the cause of peace.

Since news forms the most prominent part of media, it is strongly felt that some of the aspects of news must be analysed to understand how media has the power to persuade and can help in the promotion of peace. A case of India having several centuries of religious and political conflict should be focused on and analysed while reporting news in order to understand the extent of violence and peace efforts on the Indian media scene. My intention

is to highlight how current media practices contributes little to achieving peace and harmony while it can actually be a vital force in achieving peace.

During U.N. International year of the Culture of Peace, the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) Singapore, discussed media and the culture of Peace in India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines Singapore and Sri Lanka. Among others, key questions asked were How can media be harnessed to promote a culture of peace? And What Should be the role of media in conflict resolution?

Based on the individual country specific research studies the group unanimously agreed that the media has a positive role to play in creating a culture of peace. It recommended the establishment of an Asian Peace Network (Peace Net Asia). They also recommended that the agenda for action should be initiated at individual, national and regional levels. Such agenda should include reporting on peace, training of journalists on peace related issues and research. In the presentation, the study made in India to gauge the media reporting on peace has been discussed.

Media Directions1 Some years ago Agrawal (1993:231) asserted the satellite-based broadcasting scarcely meets the needs of a large majority. Further, government controlled centralized broadcasting in the pluralistic culture and linguistic setting have increased the gulf between poor and rich, urban and rural, and media owners and non-ownersThis division has weakened the democracy in India. It has also become a danger for peace in the sub-continent. Enhanced media access in broadcast, print and telecommunications seems to have opened the floodgates of conflicts, strife and violence in India.
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Drawn from the AMIC report entitled Media and a Culture of Peace : An Indian Analysis by Binod C Agrawal and Durriya H Latif (2000).

In the wake of economic globalisation in India, it seems that the media has started getting inspiration from Euro-American news, views and editorials. The news of the Indian Prime Minister, government policies and political debates and discussions have been sidelined in favour of front page news on beauty contests and visits of multinational IT leaders and media barons. These shifts are a reflection of the changing focus of the media. It also reflects the change in the political agenda of India, which stressed on strengthening democracy, creating a just and equitable society, peace and religious tolerance and national integration. These have been somewhat relegated to a secondary position in favour of high consumerism, and increased indifference towards the disadvantaged and the minorities.

One of India's leading media entrepreneurs feels that today's media creates tension and earns money out of it. A leading communication scientist and philosopher argues that increasing media access and reception is a key factor in increasing terrorism, religious intolerance, growth of separatist movements and increased dependence of a majority of poor persons on a miniscule rich. Further, the entire media, especially the satellite broadcasting which just over a quarter of a century ago was thought to be a boon has turned into a belligerent bashing machine to enslave and perpetrate violence towards poor nations and communities. Telecommunication has, in no way lagged behind in the creation of culture of despondency. What emerges from the broad scenario is that the agenda of promoting a culture of peace through media has digressed further into oblivion and violence depiction has taken central stage.

Van Dijk observes "research in several countries especially TV and the quality press are not explicitly and blatantly racist, few media play a positive role in the active promotion of a just and peaceful multicultural society (2000:8). In many countries, the influential media,

particularly TV and the leading print media, while not showing overt prejudices, do little to promote a harmonious peaceful and positive atmosphere. Reports on discrimination against minorities and the underprivileged is often lacking in the media. Indian language press often resort to blatant provocation and instigation during times of religious and political tension. Examples can be cited from the Gujarati Newspaper reporting during 2002 Gujarat riots.

In the wake of rapid privatisation of communications, it seems that news and reports related to peace, non-violence and the underprivileged are getting filtered and sidelined. Portrayal of the minorities during times of religious tensions reflects the widespread beliefs and the underlying ideology of violence of the media owners, who influence both the message and the content. These in turn influence and create public opinion at large (Mertens 2000).

Need to Monitor Media2 Thus, a strong need is felt for media monitoring, with a view to create and help in the formation of an equitable, humane, secular and multilingual society in India. It is therefore imperative that communicators themselves realise the need for change in their attitudes and beliefs and make a conscious effort to achieve this vision of society.

In a recent book Hargreaves (2003) raised two interesting issues about journalism. is journalism the first draft of history or dumbing-down of our culture and glorification of the trivial and intrusive? In the context of philosophy of television news Snow (1997:1)

emphasized the dramatic changes that have taken place in television news in the U.K and elsewhere. The changes in the context and presentation of television news have been widely perceived as a downgrading of quality of services. Young (1999:4) believed that the presentation of news on television is a major site of dumbing-down.
Drawn from the recent paper entitled Reporting News or Creating News :The Every Day Dilemma by Binod C Agrawal (2003)
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Bidwai (2000:1) in the context of India writes over the past few years there has been conscious dumbing-down of media, deliberate attempt to play down what is relevant and serious and play up what is trivial, but tackily fashionable. There are several such references and concerns expressed both in popular writing and communication research writing on the issue of news. The first causality has been peace related news.

Communication Ethics and News Communication ethics in the context of India and elsewhere broadly means creative freedom of the professional communicator for justice, freedom and compassion. However, an average media person in India especially in news is preoccupied with censorship, sometimes without decoding the underlying values of the self (Sondhi 1985). Another aspect of communication ethics relates to the question of autonomy of mass media emanating from the notion of freedom of media in a democratic country like India.

Commercial considerations, in most cases, become the deciding factor for the exclusion or inclusion of a story in a news bulletin. Since most of the media channels are in the hands of private entrepreneurs, their personal agenda colour the content of news reporting. In such a situation, the communication ethics emerges as a mixed bag of values and ethics of JudoChristian tradition and liberal thoughts of the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution. There seems to be paradigm shift in communication ethics. News, it seems, has contempt for relevant and serious social, economic, political and peace issues.

Competition for Breaking News Breaking News is considered essential for building brand image and identify. Even the smallest bit of sensational revelation becomes important news, which is then followed over a

long period of time at the cost of more important news. It has been observed that TV news channels are continuously looking for an opportunity to break news. Every accident, human tragedy, war or event is being turned into an opportunity for newscasters today. Since TV channels are running 24-hour news, the hunger for fresh news is an unending quest for them. It has lead to repeats of the same news bulletins, several times, leading to

continuous exposure of violence, accident, and war scenes in every TV owning houses.

Social Responsibility of News The social responsibility of a broadcaster is ill defined in the changing context of what constitute news of peace. Incendiary coverage of the Gujarat riots and Mumbai Blast, showing gruesome charred bodies in a time of crisis are all cases in point for Indian news. By contrast the other democratic countries show some degree of moderation in covering natural and human calamities. Today, the familiar point being raised is, why should not there be lighter stories in news bulletins or news? The news channels must cater to the interest and likes of the viewers.

It is another matter as to what extent the broadcasters are sensitive or aware of the needs and interests of the audience. In the process, the fraternity of communicators and journalists are often ignoring their social responsibility, thereby largely ignoring news of peace. The question of social responsibility is a good pointer for self-retrospection and re-examination of some of the existing beliefs and practices of news broadcasters who, due to business and other considerations are willing to suppress news related to peace.

Lack of Professionals In just about a decade, India saw an unprecedented expansion of all media especially television. The entertainment television has film support for the production having a large

bank of talented artists and skilled technical human power. However, such resources do not exist in television news channels having only a few radio newsreaders and reporters. Initially a large number of print media professionals migrated to television news and reported more on accidents and political violence. In most cases, they seldom reported on peace. But that has not solved the problem. Including peace in broadcast journalism training is still very limited and to some extent lacking. The first causality of the overworked production staff has been quality and depth of peace news reporting.

Personal interviews of several chief reporters indicated that they are under pressure to file specified number of news soft or human interest stories and cultural, political and social events on regular basis. In order to meet the quota and deadlines, they work overtime and file the news stories with little in-depth, serious thinking and analysis.

News Analysis3 Television: The daily half hour primetime English news telecast on Indias public broadcasting channel Doordarshan, was recorded in November 2000 for the content analysis. Each of these bulletins had 15 to 18 news items which were classified under

politics, treaties/summits, protests, interethnic strife, violence, accidents/ natural disasters, scandals, religious, business, weather, sports and miscellaneous. These news items were further divided into national and international news. Among the national news were the charge sheet served upon the central government minister and the state government minister of Gujarat both from the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party for their role in the 1985 caste and religious riots in Ahmedabad and the protests (bandh) in the state of Assam.

Drawn from the AMIC report entitled Media and a Culture of Peace : An Indian Analysis by Binod C Agrawal and Durriya H Latif (2000).

On the international front, the Palestinian-Israeli clashes and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) summit's views on it and the extension of the state of emergency in Sri Lanka were mentioned. The celebration of 531st birth anniversary Guru Nanak (founder of the Sikh religion) got a mention along with the festival of maritime activities in the state of Orissa. No peace relevant news was reported in the telecast. The analysis is fairly

representative of most TV channels in India and elsewhere.

Radio: Two English national news bulletins of 15 minutes each broadcast on All India Radio

in the morning and night were recorded for the analysis. Each of these bulletins contained 11 to 14 news items and were dominated by news on the creation of the two new states: Uttaranchal and Jharkhand, as well as the Florida stalemate in the US presidential elections. Analysis shows that among the international news, the OIC summit amidst the Arab-Israeli conflict dominated. The arrest of the militants responsible for masterminding the attack on a holy shrine of Hindus in Kashmir and the killings in the state of Bihar by the extremists were the national news on the inter-ethnic strife during this period. The only peace news was on a scheme of rehabilitation of surrendered Naga militants by the Nagaland State government.

Newspaper: The newspapers taken into account for content analysis were The Times of India (English) and Hindustan (Hindi). Both newspapers' headlines were mainly dominated by the Florida stalemate in the US presidential elections. Besides, the formation of the new states of Uttaranchal and Jharkhand, the Congress party presidential elections were among a few other news items that hogged the front page. Among the news items, the killing of 16 people in Jammu and Kashmir and the massacre of five in the state of Bihar by the Peoples War Group (PWG) militants got front-page mention. While news on religious issues were confined to editorial pages, other important news items found place in the national and international news sections.

The Hindi newspaper more than the English newspaper covered the inter-ethnic strife which included the curfew in Nalabari District in Assam, besides the cross border tensions prevailing between India and Pakistan on the front page. The arrest of Yasin Malik and the danger of nuclear war between India and Pakistan were other highlights. The Hindi

newspaper also reported on various religious festivals, though on the third, fourth, fifth and eighth pages. Foreign news, especially the West Asia conflict appeared on the international news page and the editorial page. It seems that while the English news focuses on broad national and international news, the Hindi newspaper somewhat focused on cultural and regional issues. There is a broad similarity on the positioning of news and the importance given to the various categories of news in television, radio and newspapers. Both national and international political news remains most important headlines. The brief content analysis reflects lack of any meaningful peace efforts on the part of media.

Audience Views Followed by content analysis, a quick small survey conducted among media persons and media users to assess their perception about the role media play in promoting peace in India. The sample included professionals working in television, radio and newspapers. The media users included few religious and non-governmental organisation leaders and advocates of peace.

On the issue of news reporting, majority felt that both positive and negative news were reported. Further, it was thought news reported reality and the happenings of the Indian society. Opinion varied from extreme negative reporting leading to provocation for violence and conflicts to extreme positive reporting for promoting peace. While

newspapers in the Indian languages seemed to enjoy the reputation of negative reporting of conflicts and violence, the English language reporting remains moderate on these issues. But both some what lack in reporting peace. By and large, the explanation given was defensive in nature as to why sensational reporting was justified If every thing is alright it does not make news.

There was general agreement that the Indian media gave prominence to events such as conflicts between nations, wars, inter-ethnic strife and misunderstanding. In the context of India, where religious sentiments play a major role in socio-political discourses, tilt of media reporting towards powerful religions and social forces to a large extent one considered natural. At the same time, the same forces are credited for promoting peace, tolerance and inter-ethnic understanding in India.

There is a very strong concurrence that the political parties whether extreme right or extreme left have to work very closely to promote culture of peace within India and abroad. Such a desire emanated from the day-to-day experience of recurrent eruptions of social, religious and political conflicts, tensions, strife and violence. At another level, the strong sentiments was in favour of peace in the sub-continent.

How have media contributed to promoting peace in India? As a rule, name, of the religious groups, are avoided while reporting enter-ethnic conflicts, violence, and clashes. Suppression or lack of information is considered a means of avoiding further conflicts and to contains escalation of tension.

Has it helped in promoting peace in any way? The answer is NO, There is need for serious discussion and debate as to how media can become pro-peace rather non- violent in

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promoting peace. Both the political and personal will of the media managers and news creators are needed to promote peace and create peace movement both at home and abroad. The media code for reporting news must be redefined to explicitly include peace and related information. In doing so, at least peace will be given a better chance in the tomorrows world.

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References Cited Agrawal, Binod C 1993 Communication Technology and Democracies of South Asia: The Danger of Curbing Freedom in Communication And Democracy, eds. Salavko Splichal and Janet Wasko, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Reporting News or Creating News: The Every Day Dilemma. Invited presentation in the Seminar on Media as Vehicles of Change organized by Asian Media Information and Communication Centre of India (AMIC) India and Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune held at Residency Club, Pune on August 8-9, 2003. Media and a Culture of Peace: An Indian Analysis. Presentation to be made during the Symposium on Facilitating Asian Media in Promoting a Culture of Peace, organized by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre Ltd. (AMIC), Singapore held in Manila, Philippines, December 4-6, 2000. Rich Media Poor Public. In Biblio: A Review Books Volume V Nos. 7 and 8. Journalism : Truth or Dare ? Oxford.: Oxford University Press. Everyday Racism and the Importance of a Cultural Paradigm. Media Development, Vol. XLVII (2); pp 27-31. More Bad News. The Guardian 27th January 1997. Communication and Values. Bombay: Somaiya Publications Pvt. Ltd. Media, Racism and Monitoring. Media Development, Vol. XLVII (2); pp 7-10. Dumbing-Down ? Publishing The Media and the Internet Talk presented as Distinguished Visitor to the University of Manitoba Winnipeg, 13 January 1999. (robert@rmy1.demon.co.uk)

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Agrawal, Binod C and Durriya H. Latif 2000 Bidwai, Praful 2000 Hargreaves, Ian 2003 Mertens, Stefan 2000 Snow, J. 1997 Soudhi, Krishan 1985 van Dijk, Teun A. 2000 Young, Robert M. 1999

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