Kanpur Violence: Editors Guild Of India Calls Out News Channel For Irresponsible Conduct, Instigating Disharmony

The Editors Guild of India (EGI) released a statement on Wednesday, June 8, expressing disappointment and calling out media channels' conduct 'irresponsible' while covering Kanpur communal violence.

EGI noted that various news houses tried to create friction between two communities for ulterior motives of increasing profit and their viewership.

Communal violence broke out on Friday, June 3, in Kanpur after Nupur Sharma, Ex BJP Spokesperson, made degrading remarks against Prophet Mohammad on a television news debate on May 27. Civilians and security personnel were injured due to the incident in the Beckanganj area in Kanpur, as reported by The Indian Express.

Adding Fuel To The Fire

The EGI remarked that it was 'disturbed' by the conduct of some national media houses which intentionally tried to instigate communalism between communities in Kanpur "by spewing hatred towards them and their beliefs."

Further, EGI demanded strict vigilance by journalistic bodies and broadcasting crews, considering that the coverage of the Kanpur clashes created unnecessary embarrassment to the nation. EGI claimed if media houses had committed themselves to preserve their ethics and adhered to the Press Council of India guidelines, they would have avoided this.

"Some of the channels prompted by the desire to increase viewership and profit were seemingly inspired by the values of Radio Rwanda, whose incendiary broadcast caused genocide in the African nation," stated EGI, as reported by The Print.

Neglecting Ethical Values & Indian Secularism

The media should be responsible and mindful of journalistic ethics, boundaries, and India's Constitution, which upholds secular values around religious issues. Following the guidelines and norms of journalism, they could have handled the case of communal tension in Kanpur better without pitting one community against another.

"The EGI demands that these channels pause and take a critical look at what they have done by giving legitimacy to divisive and toxic voices that have made the national discourse coarse and the gap between communities unbridgeable," the EGI voiced in the statement.

Media is one of the pillars of civil society, and it needs to work toward strengthening law and order while being answerable and sensitive to people's issues, not acting according to its profit.

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