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A look at how national media outlets have covered coronavirus (COVID-19) and how it raises the hypocrisies and biases intrinsic in India media.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronavirus disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered virus. While it is mild for most of the people it affects, it can prove fatal to older people and/or people with other underlying health or respiratory diseases. As a global pandemic due to its highly infectious nature, extensive media coverage is required, however, the coverage provided by Indian “journalists” such as Arnab Goswami or Sudhir Chaudhary is dubious at best.

The initial stages of coronavirus consist of foreign nationals or returning citizens entering India from high-risk countries, a stage where contact tracing is easy. At this point, Indian media had gone into a coronavirus reporting frenzy, in the initial stages, those who are affected are mostly those who can afford to travel abroad. It is crucial at this juncture to look at the coverage of the aftermath of the Delhi Riots, which in most media houses was non-existent. Stories of bodies being pulled out of drains or empty relief camps or mass detentions of Muslim youth by the Delhi Police evaded the public eye as we chose to focus on the coronavirus.

Now, that the coronavirus is nearing the third stage, which is the community or local transmission, we look at the fallacies of the fourth estate again. There isn’t a single article against the current central government for its low testing rates, Modi not laying down any concrete plans in his speech, the shoddy quarantine facilities, rising xenophobia against people from the North East, and the work done by the communist government is not to be found on the front pages of Zee News, Republic, Times of India, or the Aaj Tak website front page. The media houses mentioned above have been responsible for baying for the blood of peaceful protesters at any instance, however, people who have disobeyed quarantine instructions or hid their travel history and put thousands of people at risk get just a report. Kanika or Kanhaiya and Umar just go to show the difference a name makes in this country.

At the time of writing this article, the Janata Curfew is in place, with media houses focusing to report on PM Modi’s tweets on Janata Curfew, or pictures of empty streets during a curfew, what the Grade A level Journalism of these media houses mentioned above still have failed to report as of 12:01 pm on 22nd March 2020, was how during a government-mandated nationwide lock down and curfew, petrol bombs were hurled at peaceful protesters in Shaheen Bagh. Will the government, police or the people responsible be put under media scrutiny for this? Perhaps tonight we will get to see reports on how the 5 pm clapping ordered by Modi will create vibrations and how Modi is following astrology with his extremely wise and thought out decisions because of agar Modi ne bola hai, toh kuch soch samajh ke bola hoga.

 

Featured Image Credits: UN News

 

Prabhanu Kumar Das

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A thing that brings all the aspirants of the University of Delhi in this country to a sense of fascination is the University’s engagement with the performing arts. With a plethora of opportunities in fields like dance, music, dramatic, students are exposed to the discipline and the adventure of the arts that interest them. DU Beat brings to you the first of the six installations of its analysis of the top society in DU. The hard work was persistent, and the competition heartening. Let’s delve into who made the cut and how.

Methodology

The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions that could be won at various events. The society that secured the 1st position was awarded 3 points, the society that secured the 2nd position was awarded 2 points, and finally, the society securing the 3rd position was awarded 1 point.

34 college fests were considered in the making of the tally. The selection of these 34 colleges was based upon an analysis done by speaking with members of numerous college societies, and tracking the fests they considered most prestigious. The considered colleges are:

Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College
Aurobindo College (Morning)
Aryabhatta College
College of Vocational Studies
Dyal Singh College
Daulat Ram College
Delhi College of Arts and Commerce
Gargi College
Guru Gobind Singh College
Hansraj College
Hindu College
Indraprastha College for Women
Jesus and Mary College
Kamala Nehru College
Keshav Mahavidyalaya College
Kirori Mal College
Lady Irwin College
Lady Shri Ram College
Mata Sundri College
Maitreyi College
Miranda House
Moti Lal Nehru College (Morning)
PGDAV College (Morning)
Ramjas College
Ramanaujan College
Ram Lal Anand College
Satyawati College
Shaheed Bhagat Singh College
Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies
SGTB Khalsa College
SGND Khalsa College
Sri Venkateswara College
Shivaji College
Shri Ram College of Commerce

Top Three Positions

Alahyaa, the Indian music society of Daulat Ram College, bagged the first position with a robust lead of 39 points. Alaap (Sri Venkateswara College) followed at the second position with 17 points, while Miranda House and Hansraj College tied at the third position with 16 points.

Points Tally: Indian Music

The Winning Society at a Glance

The winning society, Alahyaa, shared its joy with DU Beat-

“Alahyaa is a group of people who relish music and more than that, understand it together. In togetherness and in unity, is how our society has functioned all these years.
This year we wanted to try something really unique and decided to create an amalgamation of two raags: Shankara and Chandrakauns. We begin with a Bandish in Shankara set in Ektaal, Jhoolna Jhulao which includes vivd taans which brings out the valour which Raag Shankara portrays.
Further ahead we sing a Tarana again in Shankara and set to Teental. We then enter Raag Chandrakuns through a Taan which begins in Shankara and then blends into Chandrakuns using the Nishad used in both these ragas. In Chandrakuns we sang a Tarana in Adachautal representing the fierceness in this raag. Finally, we recite a Ganesh Paran, in teental as we end our composition with a Sitar and Vocal Jugalbandi coupled with every instrument coming in sync at the end.
The incredible teamwork by every member helped consolidate something as soulful as this piece.
Starting from the raw ideas, the scattered Taans, the putting together, learning like absolute newbies, introducing modifications every other day,  learning from scratch again,  exercising our throats early morning, pushing each other,  preparing rigorously, feeling electric onstage , winning and lunching together is what we basically live out. It’s kept us adaptive and resilient. Our love for this legacy we’ve had  is what brought us here. We would like to take this opportunity to thank every person who has directly or indirectly contributed to Alahyaa’s growth.”
Performing Members
Mareelina Tamang (President)
Vasudha Prakash (General Secretary)
Aanchal Singh
Navya Whig
Sonalisa
Shreya Sharma
Samiksha Srivastava
Rashim Anand
Jullee Akham
Vandana Rohilla
Ishita Sabharwal
Instrumentalists 
Sahitya (Co President) – Keyboards
Ashutosh Verma- Tabla
Antara Bhattacharya- Sitar

Winners Tally:

Out of the colleges included in the tally, Alahyaa secured victorious positions at the following college fests:

1st: Dyal Singh College, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Hansraj College, Miranda House, Ram Lal Anand College, SGTB Khalsa College

2nd: Sri Aurobindo College (Morning), Gargi College, Maitreyi College, Kirori Mal College, Hansraj College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Moti Lal Nehru College (Morning), Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

3rd: Kamala Nehru College, Lady Irwin College

Data Analysis and Compilation by:

Shivani Dadhwal

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Anushree Joshi

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Feature Image Designed by:

Palak Mittal for DU Beat

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On 3rd November, 2016, the government’s announcement that NDTV would be banned for a day hit the airwaves. And along with this news came a barrage of everything from mild criticism to vitriolic comments, pointed and shot straight at the I&B ministry. It was decided by the authorities, in turn, that not even a Twitter hashtag must be spared. #BringBackNDTV came under attack for garnering Pakistani support, with one media outlet going so far as to call the ban a ‘blow to Pakistan’ by Modi. Amidst this litany of comments came another stroke of genius. Minister Venkaiah Naidu himself came out to publicly condemn all “belated criticisms” against the ban (that is, the ones not made on the exact date of 3rd November, 2016) as being “politically inspired”.

Political farces always make a moot point. But let us have the sense and courage to acknowledge that while this may be a farce, Pathankot was not. That would be a crucial starting point. If it had to come to a ban anyhow, then why the ministry would delay its decision would be another beginning. And it is a beginning which only leads further into the maze. Leaving aside the question of whether NDTV is being ‘singled out’ amongst all the other channels to be made into an example, the ban also brings up a lot of questions left unanswered.

What you and me are relying upon in this debate are clearly a set of perspectives. They are the Achilles heel of this debate, the flip side of asserting that we are living under a surveillance state. By sheer assumption, then, NDTV may or may not be an anti-nationalistic channel just as the prime minister may or may not be a Hindu fundamentalist. Each perspective is guided by a set of assumptions. But what if the debate were above all these questions?

Even before the ban came up, NDTV had had its own set of supporters and non-supporters. The great debate will serve to increase its TRP manifolds this week. Also, the news of the ban has been showcased, firstly, by other media outlets. It was they who projected it as an impediment to freedom of speech. It was later that the decision to call it a violation of free speech became ‘ours’. It is only now that something akin to a threat is being perceived by the masses. And this is exactly the problem with authority identifying our problems for us.

So really, some would say that the most valid starting point lies in the most highly ignored questions. These are being ignored not only by the opposition, but also by the media. Why did no one raise a hue and cry when the actual reporting of the Pathankot incident was aired, and did NDTV, in fact, hurt the nation any worse than other news channels reporting the incident? There are channels which could be accused of being communal and therefore anti-nationalistic. Why are they not being accused at this very moment? There, too, political parties have divided the masses. In other words, they have decided upon a definition of “nationalism” for us and made this decision without consulting us.

The larger politics of what unknown agenda propels which news channel to do a “specific” type of reporting is the larger issue here, one in which NDTV finds itself today. And the last word in this regard does not come from the us, the real masses. The questions posed by the media against the authorities are made by the media too. We think that the restrictions of an “authoritarian” regime are truly the worst, not realizing that we have allowed our questions to go unanswered while someone else makes up “questions” for us. And in all reality, what could be worse than that.

Feature Image: Your Story

Deepannita Misra

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