Media walks a fine line in reporting on sexual crimes
Journalists have often been called vultures for trying to get a story out of death, disaster, and situations that bring pain to those associated with it. It’s the same challenge while covering rape, perhaps more so, because the Press is legally bound not to disclose or compromise the identity of the survivor and yet must not lose focus, and let’s admit it, stay ahead of the competition.
“Once an incident of rape is reported, one of the most common requests that we get from journalists is for the survivor’s or her family’s contact. But the law says that we cannot disclose the identity of a sexual assault victim,” said Madhur Verma, deputy commissioner of police, PRO, Delhi Police. Verma says often the police have to keep a close watch at the hospital where the victim is being treated to ensure that details are not disclosed from the hospital records.
The “media hounding” doesn’t stop with this. Advocate Vrinda Grover, who has represented many victims of sexual assault, admits that once the case is filed, journalists reach her as well, requesting for interviews with her clients. “The requests come with the usual assurances of not disclosing the identity of the victim and being sensitive in the coverage. But I don’t entertain any such requests. My client’s right to privacy is of paramount importance to me,” she said.
IN FOCUS
Neither Grover, nor Verma, nor for that matter most activists fighting for the cause of women’s safety, blame the media for its relentless focus on incidents of sexual assault on women in the past few years. “At a time when police, bureaucracy and government failed us, the media has been the only platform through which we are able to highlight the lack of women’s safety,” said Ranjana Kumari, director , Centre For Social Research.
There is a common consensus that in the past few years, there has been an increase in the media coverage of rape. The peak, most people agree, came with the brutal gang rape on December 16, 2012. BBC journalist Joanna Jolly captured this trend in a research paper titled Rape Culture in India: The Role of the English-Language Press, conducted for the Shorenstein Centre at Harvard University. Jolly compared the number of times the word rape or gang rape appeared in India’s biggest English dailies between September 2009 and March 2016. While the words appeared only 332 times between November 15, 2012 to December 15, 2012, it shot up to 3,859 times between December 15, 2012 and January 15, 2012. Cut to 2017, and just in the past one month, there have been reports of rape in Bhopal, Raipur, Bihar’s Kaimur, Chandigarh, Jamshedpur, Pune and Hisar — to name a few. “Consistent media focus on sexual violence against women is good as it helps to show that the problem is widespread,” said Grover. Increased awareness created by the media has also resulted in more women reporting assault, feels Madhur Verma. But the problem, many feel, is that not all incidents of rape get the same media focus.
WHO’S THE VICTIM?
The crime reporter coming to news meetings with stories of rape is, unfortunately, a routine. Then starts the debate over space — brief, inside page, or page one. “It is the profile of the victim that decides the extent of coverage,” said Verma. “If the profile of the victim matches that of the readers, the coverage is more.”
Special commissioner of police (traffic) and chief spokesperson Delhi Police, Dependra Pathak, rightly points out that it also depends on what else is happening around the country at the time. If there is no other big news, the incident may continue to be in focus longer.
WATCH YOUR WORDS
“Often the language of reporting in local media is suggestive and adds to the patriarchal discourse by showing the extent of male control over female body,” Kumari said. “Gruesome details, as given to report the gang rape and murder of a child in Hisar (she was found with a stick inserted into her private parts), is not needed”. Grover meanwhile requested for reporters to be educated in the provisions of law.
Another problem according to many is the “media trial of the accused”.
“One common question journalists ask lawyers is how could you defend the accused. What they forget is that under law, every accused is entitled to be defended in court and the lawyer is honour-bound to fight the case in all sincerity,” said senior advocate Sanjay Hegde. The intense media focus and the demand for harsh punishment for the accused also creates a rush to judgment, he feels.
But the biggest problem, according to Verma, is when the media, in its attempt to focus on the need for increased safety for women, ends up making the reality darker than it is. “Look at the tag of ‘rape capital’ that’s been given to Delhi. It might create an unwanted fear in women,” Verma said.
As of today out of all rapes reported in Delhi, 96.5 per cent are perpetrated by people known to victims, said Pathak. But in 2001, rape by unknown was 13.12 per cent. In 2010 it was 3.94 per cent. So, instances of women being accosted by unknown assailants, has actually gone down, he said.
The very public outcry against the gang rape of December 16, 2012, has made sexual violence against women a subject of consistent coverage and discourse in the media. In doing so, the media may have gone overboard at times, or not managed to extend focus equally to all deserving cases of violence. Yet, it can be expected to find its balance in the years to come. Practice, as they say, makes things perfect.