Media Watch

Syed Murtaza Alfarid Hussain ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Mass Communication Assam University, Silchar, IN

Abstract

The twentieth century has been characterised by violent conflicts all across the globe. From the two World Wars to conflicts in Africa, former Yugoslavia, the Middle- East and South Asia, the twentieth century has witnessed the death of more than 110 million people. Many advocates of conflict prevention are convinced that the media can play a critical role in defusing tensions and forging peace. Media's portrayal of a conflict has a bearing on the conflict itself. Therefore, the traditional paradigm of reporting has to be re-assessed and re-looked in the context of reporting conflicts where mere answering the classical 5Ws and 1H have been found to be inadequate, thereby subjecting media's 'fourth estate' role to extensive critique. Dealing with issues of objectivity and ethics, a journalist reporting conflict often finds himself at the crossroads in the face of increasing censorship, propaganda, questionable source credibility, his own ideological stance and finally the risk of physical harm. This paper attempts to identify the range of constraints-both organizational and ideological, which prevent the media from reporting conflict in a truly critical and independent way. This is underscored with the help of three case studies highlighting the role of media in the conflicts of Northern Ireland, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. This paper also investigates why the news media's pre-occupation with reporting conflict is limited to focusing attention on conflict-driven events rather than on the processes that lead to the conflict. The paper then goes on to examine what role can media play in preventing escalation of violence as well as in facilitating post-conflict peace-building and reconciliation.

Keywords

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Syed Murtaza Alfarid Hussain ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Mass Communication, Assam University, Silchar-788 011, Assam, IN

Abstract

The north-eastern state of Assam is today witnessing the contours of a new peasant movement spearheaded by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), a farmers' resistance protesting against the ongoing and proposed construction of mega dams in the north-east region. Led by RTI activist Akhil Gogoi, KMSS has today emerged as an influential pressure group in the state sparking a widespread public discourse on issues ranging from land rights of farmers and forest dwellers to environmental conservation, from the dam-development debate to the efficacy of an alternative developmental paradigm. Recognizing that the media are critical ingredients in any social movement and that the quality and nature of media coverage strongly influence how movements are perceived in the public eye, this paper analyses the media framing of the KMSS-led anti-big dam protests in Assam between December 2011 and March 2012 by two leading TV news channels of the state, 'Newslive' and 'DY 365'. The divergent frames employed by Newslive and DY 365 clearly reinforce the popular perception that different media organizations employ different interpretative frames to circulate certain selective ideas to their audiences.

Keywords

Assam, KMSS, Dam, Newslive,DY365, News Framing

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