On 14th June, prime-time TV news in India was blasting headlines such as ‘Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput found dead’, ‘Actor Sushant Singh Rajput dead by suicide’, along with the picture of the dead body. News that would have lasted two days lasted two months. The narrative took a 180 swing to murder and the headlines of tribute changed to a media trial boiling with hate- ‘Sushant’s ex Rhea Chakraborty a murder suspect’. A country that is second-worst in the world for Covid-19 and juggling a hard-hit economy was hell-bent on the vilification of first one actor, Rhea Chakraborty, and then all of Bollywood.
Sushant Singh Rajput was a young Bollywood actor who had a decent career from television to films. His death sent shock waves throughout the Indian subcontinent. It was not public information that he was suffering from mental health issues but his relationship with actor Rhea Chakraborty was. His death sparked the conversation of nepotism in Bollywood as one theory suggested that one of the causes for his mental health issues was that he was unable to secure leading roles in mainstream films as they were given to the children of famous actors. Indian media is dominated by right-wing news channels and debates on them are the main source of noise pollution in India. So, with the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and the debate on nepotism gaining heat, sensationalist right-wing media added more fuel to the pit.
Before the formal investigation came to a conclusion, the media had declared Chakraborty a murderer and all of Bollywood accomplices. Social media was littered with videos of Rhea Chakraborty being chased and mobbed by journalists everywhere from the police station to even the food delivery guy outside her house. The common response on Twitter encouraged and validated these reporters whereas the few who said to let the authorities do their work were labelled “anti-national and secular insects”.
As this media trial was raging through the country, Coronavirus was reaching new levels, some regions were facing vast devastation from severe flooding and the economy was dragging itself down the drain. In mid-July, there were about 40,000 new coronavirus cases per day and on 23rd July total Coronavirus related deaths reached about 1100.
“The Indian media essentially made India forget about Coronavirus.”
Instead of showcasing the urgency of how rapidly the virus was spreading, people were distracted by the media trial. The Indian media essentially made India forget about Coronavirus. This naturally led to fewer people wearing masks and taking fewer precautions resulting in a spike in infection rates. The humanitarian crises did not end there. Due to climate change causing extreme weather conditions all over the world, the monsoon season in India from June to August witnessed historic amounts of heavy rainfall this year. Over 11 states experienced flooding and 868 people were killed and thousands more affected. In newspapers, there were fewer articles about such stories and on TV, they were more scarce.
On the other hand, news about the dreaded state of the economy was zipped up. Pre-pandemic the economy that was struggling to increase its positive growth now hit a slump of -10%, as a migrant labour crisis broke out because the government failed to provide any relief for workers. Apart from these three, there were many more stories that were causing chaos in the country but the media was oblivious to them because the sensationalism of a media trial takes priority.
Sensationalist media has further polarized an already divided country. Indian media no longer acts as the public watchdog or the Fourth Estate holding authorities accountable but rather a cesspool of ratings-driven greed at the expense of the people.
“India’s media can’t speak truth to power, they are fragile puppets of the government.”
There are countless possible solutions to bring ethical journalism back to India, but it cannot start until the people or the media collectively take a stand. India’s media can’t speak truth to power, they are fragile puppets of the government. No news outlet can openly criticise the government without facing the threat of being eradicated from the face of the Earth. National media will never collectively take a stand but they will collectively support the government.
Society’s mind is frail, it can be easily influenced by the media but if the people take on the role of citizen journalists and dismiss sensationalist media, the chances of holding authorities accountable are higher and likewise the media will change too. Also, international attention from global news media will play a big role in bringing change to the country. However, these are hypothetical scenarios which seem impossible with the current state of Indian media, but we cannot lose hope.
Tanya Kaushal
Featured image courtesy of Rishabh Sharma on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes have been made to this image.