Breaking into the media
Hammer and Tongs
ALOKE THAKORE
A census of journalists in New Delhi has revealed that the profession in the capital is dominated by upper castes, especially Brahmins. The OBCs and SC/STs are horribly unrepresented in that population. Christians seem to fare well in the English press and Muslims are marginally better represented in the Hindi media. I have not seen the detailed methodology of the survey and hence am not sure about its reliability or validity, but the basic thrust of the finding with which there can be no disagreement remains the preponderance of higher castes in journalism. While the survey does not suggest any greater meaning, the implication that such under-representation leads to biased coverage is not far to seek. Mr Siddharth Varadarajan’s piece in The Hindu (Caste matters in the Indian media, June 3, 2006) exemplifies such a position. Anyone familiar with Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav or Ms. Mayavati’s view of the upper-caste press would find this all too familiar.
I cannot in good faith criticize such a "solitarist approach" (the phrase is Mr. Amartya Sen’s) since I believe that even singular identities do matter, sometimes with great force, and there is an alarming lack of heterogeneity in our media. But I am concerned at any understanding of journalism as a manufacturing process that hopes that introducing some OBCs, SC/STs, or religious minorities would make for more informed coverage. Organizational imperatives that desire an image of the reader/viewer who is sold to the advertiser, media routines, professional orientation, expected linguistic competencies, notions of what makes on-air talent personable, and the bias of a medium are what constitutes the mix that fashions the re-presentation of news to the viewer or reader.
A more insightful and useful survey than the one showing a fractional representation of OBCs and SC/STs among journalists would be the caste composition of a newspaper’s readership or the channel’s viewership. If it is found that a significant percentage of the audience are OBCs, SC/STs, and religious minorities, and they have a disposable income that can be sold to the advertiser, let us make no mistake, no journalist despite his caste would be able to stand up to pressures that would insist that their work not diminish a readership that has bottom-line significance. One hopes for such a day. But that would require societal amelioration. This problem is even more acute for the language in which this piece is written. If the imagining of the reader is a high-caste, affluent reader, then it does not matter who populate the newsroom. There is no pressure to look beyond the comfort of accepted worldviews.
Media routines that station journalists around beats that are closely aligned to government departments and bureaucracy make it easy for journalists to gather information that comes from these sources. The number of journalists covering such beats who have access to sources of information beyond official functionaries are few in number, and with expectations of a story a day, it is unlikely that they have the time to explore other avenues for information. Further, the professional orientation that gives greater salience to events and incidents than processes, personalities rather than issues, manichean views that make for sharp differences rather than reasoned discussions that veering to the middle are likely to be dull, and the spectacular rather than the commonplace, means that caste and religion, which are both rather complex businesses in India, will not be adequately covered whatever be the identity of the journalist.
Add to this the linguistic competence that is required, the personable face that is needed, and the received pronunciation that is expected. English language journalism is likely to be the preserve of the higher caste and higher class till it becomes easy to learn the language for those among the other castes, and then be drawn to the profession. A survey of elite educational institutions from where English language journalists are drawn will highlight this problem. Add to that television’s preoccupation with personable faces that requires a certain deportment that is often a result of having elite institutions as finishing schools (there is a shameful sexist dimension to this recruitment process). But alas, all would be lost if the pronunciation, and this is particularly true of the English language channels, would be found to have traces of anything provincially Indian.
With such stringent barriers none but the highest classes, not castes though it may appear to be coterminous, can ever aspire to join the media. Indian language publications are trifle better and the survey mentioned does indeed suggest this. I wish there was a social and educational profile of the people in the media that was available. I would go so far as to suggest that anyone who had to go through these hoops would lose that which was distinctively their identity, which is precisely why one would want them in the newsroom to begin with. We could call it the making of the OBC into a high caste journalist. Difference demands diligence. It is one thing to get those who are nominally different, it is another to engage seriously, truthfully, and humbly with those whose experiences and understandings are remarkably different from ours.
Finally, there is the bias of the medium to contend with. What makes for good television is drama. If there is any drama at hand, it will be covered. If there is none, it will be engineered in the studio. Extremes will find a voice; the largely silent majority will be disenfranchised on air. Twenty-four hour news channels fighting for every daypart jump in the ratings will not shy of stooping to the most bizarre of dramas. The identity of the journalist does not matter, the ability to deliver these jumps does.
I can understand the anger of those who wish to see greater DIVersity in the newsroom. Angry even I am and have been since I listened to the word bhangi being bandied as an affectionate expletive in a television newsroom. But even as we set out to increase true DIVersity in the newsroom, let us not forget to pay some thought to the process of journalism, which is more amenable to small but significant changes.
Aloke Thakore is a media consultant, journalist, and teacher. He is completing a manuscript on newspaper coverage of ethnic violence.
Contact: hammerntongs@fastmail.in