NL Hafta

On this podcast of Reporters Without Orders, the panel is joined by Ishan Kukreti, a reporter from Down to Earth magazine, to discuss the Kathua rape case, Kashmir killings, Salman Khan’s conviction and more. Nidhi comments on how the mainstream media did not have any coverage on the lawyers’ protest in the Kathua case, "When the charge sheet was filed by the crime branch, the lawyers protested against the same. There was no front-page coverage in the mainstream media. Only Times of India reported it on the front page, everybody else carried it in the inside pages." She also puts forth the fact that 3 killings in the last 7 months in the Kashmir valley have gone under-reported. She finds it “bizarre” that they have only reported the incidents and there have been no follow-ups and investigations. Ishaan discusses the farmers protesting against the Cauvery issue outside an IPL match between CSK-KKR and media's doing "lazy reporting as it is giving attention to IPL through the Cauvery issue”. Cherry also adds on to the Kathua rape case and feels that it deserved more coverage. “Considering the coverage that Salman Khan got wherein at least 9 leading dailies put it on their front page, how does a girl's repeated rape for at least a week does not get a front-page coverage except one column in TOI?” she questions. Manisha states that the probable reason for less coverage could be the 8-year-old victim’s disadvantaged background. “I guess this is also to do with the fact that the girl is from the Bakarwal community. If it happens to a middle-class family and an upper-middle-class person, there is media outrage.” While Nidhi feels Salman Khan’s conviction was all over the media, Cherry discusses excessive coverage given to Congress’ 'chola bathura' breakfast. In the Salman Khan case, Nidhi points out that there was no Bishnoi community representative in the prime-time debate panels. To which Manisha adds, “ As per a news report, two Bishnoi members came to stop Salman and he pointed his gun at them. Even under so much pressure, the Bishnoi members haven’t changed their testimony in 20 years. There should have been news of their struggle to get justice and not just Bandra people saying Salman is so great.” In relation to the non-filing of FIR against the SC/ST Atrocities Act (2015 amendment), Ishaan talks about how smartly mass land encroachment is happening in areas such as Raigarh. The panel also discusses, I&B ministry's April 4 order to set up a panel to frame regulations for online media. "Even if I want to express my opinion in a Facebook post or on Twitter, there are chances that the government might crack its whip it,” Cherry tells the panel.