By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: The Jamia Nagar residents’ anger over the biased reporting by some sections of the media, particularly electronic media, on incidents beginning from the Batla House encounter burst out today at a public meeting in Jamia Nagar when some locals had scuffle with some electronic media people.
According to some sources, in the scuffle, some reporters including Jawed of Star News, Afzal of Sahara News and Asif of Mahua channel and Dileep of India News have sustained injuries. The injured have been admitted to the Holy Family Hospital. The list of injured shows the locals were not communally selective while beating media persons.
This report was at the venue where some Samajwadi Party leaders including Amar Singh and Abu Asim Azmi were to address. They were three hours late. They were scheduled to arrive at 6 pm but couldn’t reach till 9 when this reporter left the venue. The three hour long time was consumed by local leaders. Many speakers were angry with media over the reporting of Muslim issues, particularly incidents related to the encounter.
According to our source, soon after Amar Singh, secretary general of Samajwadi Party, addressed the public meeting around 9:30 which was attended by hundreds of local Muslims near Okhla Head Bus Stand, meters away from the Jamia Nagar Police Station, some TV persons approached him for interviews. As there were thousands of people attending the programme, the movement of the TV persons resulted into a commotion. Meanwhile, some from public used hard language for the media. A scuffle ensued and some people were injured.
Attack on media persons is hard to be justified. In the past several parties have resorted to violence when something unpleasant about their leaders is published or telecast. This has happened several times in Maharashtra where Shiv Sena activists have been involved in such things. Some time back such ugly thing took place in Tamil Nadu also.
Since the Batla House encounter the anger against media had been brimming. For moments it has surfaced in several programmes, be it rally of Muslim leaders at Jantar Mantar on the encounter or Amar Singh’s last visit in Jamia Nagar area some days back.
Locals say, now several media personalities including Harish Khare of The Hindu are of the same view that the electronic media was out of line with the encounter coverage and the subsequent picking of some Muslim youths in Jamia Nagar. As one of the slain suspected terrorists and three others picked a day later from the area were students of Jamia Millia Islamia, some media sections described the university as nursery of terror. They tried to tarnish the image of the area and the university.
The latest episode of biased media reporting is the incident occurred on October 16. When it was a clear case of failed kidnapping (for encounter as public say) of an innocent youth in Shaheen Bagh area by the Noida Police, most of the media ignored it while some presented it as a case of personal enmity or snatching.
As politics is overshadowing every part of life, the most visible casualty of the development is truth. This fact is more reflected in the media than anywhere. It’s time we the media thought why our territory of love and popularity is fast shrinking.