Is Indian Media Biased?

Indian Newspapers

With more than 70,000 newspapers and over 500 satellite channels in several languages, Indians are getting news rammed through their throats with a diversity of biases. Such robust growth, many believe, may have come at the cost of accuracy, journalistic ethics and probity. The media has taken some flak in recent months for being shallow, inaccurate and sometimes damagingly fictitious.

Who owns who?

To understand the media biases, we need to understand the ownership of Indian media and the alignment of these owners with respective political parties.

1. The Times Group with its flagship company Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL) is India’s largest media conglomerate in India. The company remains a family-owned business as the descendants of Sahu Jain own a majority stake. Its media control extends from Times of India, Economic Times, Navbharat Times, Times Now, Munbai Mirror, Filmfare, Femina, and Radio Mirchi. Political affiliation: BJP (Previously aligned with Indira Gandhi Govt. in 1980-90s)
2. The Hindustan Times is a daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement (Founded in 1924 by Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali movement in Punjab. The Delhi-based English daily Hindustan Times is now part of the KK Birla group and managed by Shobhana Bhartia, Rajya Sabha member of Congress party and daughter of the industrialist KK Birla and granddaughter of Ghanshyam Das Birla. Political affiliation: Congress
3. The Indian Express is an English-language Indian daily newspaper. In 1931, the Indian Express was started by an Ayurvedic doctor, P. Varadarajulu Naidu, at Chennai. It was later sold to industrialist RN Goenka. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split between the family members. The southern editions taking the name The New Indian Express, while the northern editions, based in Mumbai. Political Affiliation: Independent (Leaning towards Communist Party of India)
4. New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV) is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988 by husband and wife Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy. NDTV has been criticized for biased reporting against BJP in India. In 2014 a purported tweet against Narendra Modi attributed to BJP leader Sushma Swaraj resulted in the party boycotting NDTV. Political Affiliation: Congress and Trimanul Congress
5. Zee TV is an Indian cable and satellite television channel owned and operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Its owner Subhash Chandra Goel was a small businessman from Haryana who launched Zee Television, in collaboration with Li Ka Shing and first online lottery, and Dish TV in India. Political affiliation: BJP
6. Tribune India is an Indian English and Punjabi language daily newspaper published from Chandigarh. It was founded in 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan), by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a Sikh philanthropist. Its  is run by a trust comprising five persons as trustees. Political affiliation: BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal
7. PTV Punjabi is a punjabi TV owned by the Badal family and their supporters. The station provided news, music, and films in Punjabi in USA, Canada, UK, and India. Political affiliation: Shiromani Akali dal

Political, Regional, Religious Biases

There are claims of media bias from all opposing camps regarding several issues. The BJP supporters accuse some newspapers of anti-Narendra Modi bias while the Congress supporters accuse the others of being the mouthpieces of BJP and RSS. Often the news articles are paid advertisements by the political parties.

Regional bias (between states) is another major issue. More often than not, Indian media is usually biased in their reporting of dealings with some states. e.g. water sharing disputes or inter-state disputes. Punjab has been at the receiving end of this issue as its grievances are never represented on national media.

Indian Polce beating unarmed Sikh teenager

Anti-Sikh Bias of Indian Media

The anti-Sikh bias was most evident during the 1980's Punjab movement. The Indian media became mouthpieces for state propaganda and a tool for the oppression of Sikhs. Here are some of the examples of the anti-Sikh bias of Indian media:

• The Akali movement for the rights of the state and Sikhs was branded as "Khalistan" movement ignoring the justifiable demands of the people of the state.
• The Anandpur Sahib resolution never asks for speration from India but the Indian newspapers failed to decipher it and describe it as a separatist document to the Indian public.
• The Sikh militants were branded as "Extremists" and "Terrorists" in the national newspaper. Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale never asked for Khalistan but the Indian media still refers to him as Khalistani Terrorist.
• Police oppression of population in Punjab was never published and the newspapers became a tool for the state terrorism with daily publishing the news of "fake" encounters staged by the Indian Police.
• The factual information on Operation Bluestar was never shared with the Indian public and the Indian newspapers along with the state-owned Doordarshan TV became a tool for anti-Sikh propaganda by the state.
• Indian media suppressed the facts about the genocide of Sikhs in delhi and the rest of India for a long time until the Vajpayee government.
• Sikh sportsmen fail to make highlights despite their success in sports. Indian media is first to dump the Sikh players on the first instance of failure while they publish articles to prop up Indian players despite their repeated failiures - Yuvraj Singh vs, Sureah Raina or Harbhajan Singh vs. R. Asswin

Sikh widow asking for justice

Continuing anti-Sikh Bias

The times have changed and the social media has left the printed media behind and the streaming channels on internet now reach the public globally than the state owned TV. 

But he Indian media continues its anti-Sikh biases in the same manner. here I would like to share two examples of shady media coverage by the reputed Indian media.

• Example 1: Islamic Terrorist Attack in Gurdaspur, PunjabIslamic terrorists sneaked into Gurdaspur, Punjab a border district connected by land with Pakistan and Kashmir. The terrorists came from Pakistan and were neutralized by the Punjab Police but the Indian media raised the bogey of "Khalistani Terrorism" without investigating the facts. The picture below shows an article in India Today jumped to conclusion speculating that the Gurdaspur attack could be an attempt to revive Khalistan movement. Really?
• Example 2: ISIS Plot to Strike in India
  Last week some of the Indian media published a potential ISIS plot to attack India and target Narendra Modi. The Zee TV and India Today in their figment of imagination concocted a story that the attacker would be a Sikh woman from Canada. Really? 

Fake news defaming Sikhs on terrorism

Here are some more examples of the continuing media bias against the Sikhs in India:

• Indian media has failed to highlight the conviction of 47 Indian Police officers in the UP state for pulling 11 Sikh pilgrims from a bus and then killing them in fake encounter.
• Mass graves of Sikhs found in Rewari district of Haryana has gone unnoticed in public eye\
• Attack on Sikh Gurwara in Saharanpur by Muslim mobs in 2015
• Justice to the victims of 1984 genocide in Delhi and punishment for Congress leaders like Jagdish Tytler and sajjan Kumar
• Plight of Sikh prisoners who have long completed their sentences and still languishing in Indian jails
• Hunger strike by Bapu Surat Singh for over 13 months demanding the release of Sikh prisoners has no mention in Indian media compared to the publicity given to hunger strike for a few days by Anna Hazare for Lokpal bill
• Attack on Punjabi travelers in Haryana during the Jat caste based protests
• Numerous philanthropic work done by the Sikh community is never mentioned in Indian media - Langar for earthquake victims in Bhuj, Gujarat, Flash floods in Uttrakhand and Kashmir, Khalsa Aid work across the globe 

So why does India media exhibit this bias and hatred for Sikhs? Only they can describe ...

References

1. Media- bias against Sikhs - Is it real?
2. BBC: News Bias in India
3. Huffington Post: Media wants riots?
4. Wikipedia: Media bias in South Asia
5. India Today: Canadian Sikh woman could carry out terror strikes in Delhi
6. India Today: Gurdaspur terror attack to revive Khalistan movement
7. Wikipedia: Hondh Chillar Massacre