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June 11, 2006

Survey Says... India's 'National' Media Lacks Social Diversity

In an earlier paragraph I told the story about the media bias in India and how heavily it is influenced by the upper caste elite. No wonder that in the case of reservations/affirmative action for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Dalits there has been this major media bias. Pro-reservation rallies and gatherings have not been carried by the media. Audiences in the TV talk show rooms are heavily biased toward the upper castes and even when an interview is taken from Bihar or some interior part of India, the person interviewed more often than not is an upper caste representative.

I have maintained that the Indian reality has been interpreted to the West by the upper caste media and spokespersons. This is the reality the West knows and understands. The Indian reality according to the majority oppressed and downtrodden is not known in the West.

Now here is an important piece of actual research of the heavy upper caste domination of the media in New Delhi carried by some serious researchers. Read it for yourself and look at the tabulations and come to your own conclusions as to the reality of who holds power and influence in India. Is it wrong therefore for the majority to ask for proportional representation in all walks of Indian life?

India's 'national' media lacks social diversity, it does not reflect the country's social profile.

Survey designed and executed by Anil Chamadia, Feelance Journalist; Jitendra Kumar, Independent Researcher from Media Study Group; and Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, CSDS.

§ Hindu upper caste men dominate the media. They are about 8 % of India's population but among the key decision makers of the national media their share is as high as 71 %.

§ Gender bias rules: only 17 % of the key decision makers are women. Their representation is better in the English Electronic media (32 %).

§ Media's caste profile is equally unrepresentative. 'Twice born' Hindus (dwijas comprising Brahmins, Kayasthas, Rajputs, Vaishyas and Khatris) are about 16 % of India's population, but they are about 86 % among the key media decision makers in this survey. Brahmins (including Bhumihars and Tyagis) alone constitute 49% of the key media personnel.

§ Dalits and adivasis are conspicuous by their absence among the decision makers. Not even one of the 315 key decision makers belonged to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes.

§ The proportion of OBCs is abysmally low among the key decision makers in the national media: they are only 4 % compared to their population of around 43% in the country.

§ Muslims are severely under-represented in the national media: they are only 3 % among the key decision makers, compared to 13.4% in the country's population.

§ Christians are proportionately represented in the media (mainly in the English media): their share is about 4 per cent compared to their population share of 2.3 %

§ Social groups that suffer 'double disadvantage' are also nearly absent among the key decision makers: there are no women among the few OBC decision makers and negligible backwards among the Muslims and Christians.

§ These findings are based on a survey of the social background of 315 key decision makers from 37 'national' media organizations (up to 10 key decision makers from each organisation) based in Delhi. The survey was carried out by volunteers of Media Study Group between 30 May and 3 June 2006.

Posted by klajja at June 11, 2006 07:39 AM

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