Ethiquette:Media Meet 2019 Newsletter

Media Meet - Annual Media Conference Published by the Department of Media Studies, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) | 29 August - 31 August, 2019 | Private Circulation A Lesson in Ethics: Photo Courtesy: Rufus Barigala What Not to Say years down the line” ered it in such a way that it said Dhanya, on the remained on the headlines Dhanya Rajendran address an auditorium importance of build- so that the mother and the daughter filled with aspiring media professionals got justice. She went to the length of reading out the medical report Rohan Pradhan ing oneself in the field. on national media, with the inten- III MAMCS Another aspect she tion of helping mentioned in her talk justice prevail. The Decennial Edition of Media was the presence of It was later that Meet brought home Ms. Dhanya bias in people and she realised what Rajendran, the Editor-in-Chief and in newsrooms. “Em- she did and that, Co-Founder of The News Minute, brace your bias, but what she did was a premiere digital news organisa- it is all about how wrong. This was tion catering to the news audienc- accurate you can her lesson in eth- es of the southern region of India. be with the bias” ics. A lesson on said Dhanya, which what not to say. Dhanya engaged her audience got her a round of She left the audi- right from the commencement booming applause in ence with a mind of her talk with a question “Why the auditorium. Bias full of thought does one want to be a journalist?”. exists in different provoking contemplations. The She continued, “It is to question layers and cannot be Decennial Edition of Media Meet everything around that does not segregated from the journalist and 2019 came to a close with a room go right and bring out a stories and therefore, she again stressed on filled with young media aspirants for that you will have to ardently the fact of being an ardent listener reinvigorated to take on the world. listen”. In her talk, she shed light to pursue the accuracy in a story. on the things that would confront a future journalist in the coming She narrated a story which she con- years. “When you start your career, sidered a turning point. It was the think of the story that you want to story of a girl who was raped by her do. You can look at ethics 3 to 4 biological father and she had cov-

Plenary sessions Dr. Sunil Puliyakot Dr. Thomas Yesudasan R Prasannan Dominic D’Souza Srinivas S V A S Panneerselvan Rajeev Ravindranathan Indian Newsrooms And Their Ethical Dilemmas A talk on paid news, regulations, English elitism and audience perception by the Ombudsman himself Anisha Das nal Pande. Be it the Jindal III MAMCS reverse-sting operation on Zee News or the Ashok When the Readers’ Editor of The Chavan controversy of ad- Hindu took the stage, the K.E. Au- vertisements masked as ditorium of CHRIST (Deemed to news articles - the Readers’ be University) fell silent. Everyone Editor ripped apart the paid waited for the famous ombuds- news phenomenon with man to shed light on the theme of ample rhetorical questions. Media Meet 2019 - Media Ethics. A.S. Panneerselvan, the man who Next, Mr. Panneerselvan Photo Coutesy: Aman Choudhary also heads Panos South Asia (a grasped the topic of playing network that supports ethical jour- the number game of circula- Next, Mr. Panneerselvan took up nalism), captured the audiences’ tion and he left the audience an issue that journalists shy away attention for the next hour with a gasping with data. “The from. “The newsroom is not really talk about media ethics. He first Business Line has more diverse. Empathy is not an answer clarified his role in The Hindu. readership in Manipur than in for representation,” his voice rang He spoke about being a Readers’ Bangalore,” he said referring loud. The presence of minorities in Editor and then commented on to the circulation data. To that, he the mass communication institutes, how The Hindu follows the Eu- added, “The Hindu does not have a their absence in actual newsrooms ropean model of Readers’ Editor. Manipur edition while we do have and the lack of diversity in the pro- a Bangalore edition.” He quot- fession itself were the uncomfort- “Indian media is an ironic entity,” ed Pranay Roy while referring to able topics the audiences were not he said while referring to how it the corrupt practices of measuring prepared for. He also spoke about has failed to come up with a viable TRP. The game is knowing which ‘carrier versus content’ while re- revenue stream despite the prolif- sets have the people’s meters and ferring to algorithm-driven news eration of news channels. Mr. Pan- then instructing viewers accord- content being preferred by read- neerselvan put his opinions forward ingly. “Market determines content ers versus actual news content with a pinch of data which made the but if the market is a fibbed one, gathered by news organizations. audience understand the position on what basis is the content deter- of English language newspapers, mined?” he asked. “Newspapers Mr. Panneerselvan’s talk on jour- regional coverage of news and the are reconfiguring themselves; edi- nalistic ethics thus breathed hope reason Indian print media is failing tors are being told to follow mar- into the room filled with hun- to go beyond an advertising model keting policies. A critical distance dreds of aspiring journalists. of revenue. The audience listened from the government is needed. to the origins of paid news in awe, Why did we not understand the im- as Mr. Panneerselvan took up var- pact of demonetization? Because ious case studies. He gave famous journalists are getting de-skilled.” stories handled by journalists like Mr. Panneerselvan touched upon P.Sainath, Sucheta Dalal and Mri- how the profession of journalism has become a mere ‘job profile’.

Complicated And Confused ‘Self’ Unravelled The Facets Of Ethics Rajeev Ravindranathan recollects how he faced ethics even before he knew how to spell it Shireen Honmode III MAMCS On the second day of Media Meet which got him addicted to the stage. something new for him and hoped to reach Bollywood sometime. 2019, Rajeev Ravindranathan en- Just like that, he got an offer to be lightened the brightest of the lot He brought out a hint of ethics when the third Idiot in Rajkumar Hirani’s popular film, Three Idiots. For two with an interesting take on Me- he recollects the time when he was months, he was the third Idiot, and then one fine day, he lost the role to dia Ethics. Being an alumnus of cast as Prithviraj Chauhan for an- R. Madhavan. He said, “Producers asked, ‘Ye kaun hai?’Aamir Khan to our very own Christ University, other play. There was a scene where peeche hi padjayega” That’s when he realized that it is difficult for newbie he had some wonderful memories he had to hold the princesses’ hand to make their space in the industry. to share. He believes that nothing and during those years, holding a “Sorry, Rajeev you’re out of the film”. It pinched his soul, but the better than the example of ‘Him- girl’s hand was considered ‘a dis- show must go on. He also talked about how he as a person has over- self’ can explain the concept of ease’. Had he held this girl’s hand looked ethics to make space form himself in the industry. There were ethics better. He is versatile when it would have made others question times when he chose movies to spend time in foreign, presented himself it comes to his professional life. his morals and values. This is exact- as an actor better than he is for cer- tain parts. “Sometimes I didn’t even Mr. Rajeev has previously worked ly where he first made contact with inform other people about the audi- tion so that I will be the only one in several films like 3 Idiots, En- ethics and morality, even before he giving the auditions.” He went on to address prominent issues of the glish-Vinglish, Waiting, Vettai and knew how to spell it. He was so ad- Bollywood industry like Nepotism and need to have contacts to get Ad films for HP printers and more. dicted to the stage that he went on to into the industry. Most films these days are remakes and that makes it play several roles, be it a minister or quite challenging to produce orig- inal content be it song or story. Mr. Ravindranathan broke the ice painting his face black and wearing On that note, Mr Rajeev conclud- by narrating an incident from his a palm tree leaf skirt and dancing ed the plenary session by drawing focus on the quintessential weap- childhood. “A small chubby little on stage, it went beyond the con- on of the digital era. “The current generation has the most powerful mallu boy.” His stage career took cepts of racism, ethics and moral- weapon of information dissem- ination- Smartphone. One must off with a small role in a play where ity. Typically, because back in the make the most of it by using it to broadcast ideas to the mass.” he performed the role of the father good old days of school, concepts of the bride. His ‘talent’ was rec- like these did not exist. “We just ognized by his social studies teach- grabbed any opportunity that came er. “I thought I bagged the role for our way to be on the stage,” he said. my acting skills, but then I realized I was the biggest in my class, so When in Christ, Rajeev was prom- that’s how I got the role” He nos- inent on the stage for an array of talgically recollects the applauds, things and he got a lot of motivation and encour- agement from the profes- sionals who attended his events. Soon, he started penning down ‘himself’ as a character in the scripts and that helped him gain a very in-depth Photo Courtesy Anirudh Madhava Rao perspec- tive. It was

Busting Ethical Dilemmas Dr Thomas Jayaprakash Yesudasan identifies the ethical issues in a media sphere Priyadarshni Bishnoi III MAMCS Aplenary session marked Thomas while addressing the concept of deadlines in the first event of day two the media sphere. He fur- ther talked about the five of the annual Media Meet categories of obligation - Duty to ourselves, the duty organized by the Depart- to clients, the duty to the or- ganization, the duty to col- ment of Media Studies leagues, and duty to soci- ety. “Does the newsworthy of Christ (Deemed to be end justify the reportorial means?”, asked Dr. Thomas. University). Dr. Thomas He shed light on the Jayaprakash Yesudasan Leveson inquiry conduct- ed in the UK after The News of from the School of Me- the World’s phone-hacking scan- dal condemned the way journalists dia, Creative Arts, and function. “I would argue that even when consent is obtained, it is vital Social Inquiry of Curtin for journalists and media profes- sionals to consider their judgment University, Perth, Aus- informed by the ethical philosophies and frameworks, and your con- tralia addressed the talk sciousness,” expressed Dr. Thomas. on “Identifying the eth- Photo Courtesy: Aman Choudhury He concluded the talk by pointing out the MEAA Code of ethics for media ical issues and resolving professionals drawing a compari- son between the ethical standards ethical dilemmas”. Defining what “Ask yourself how to publish a story in Australia and India. However, he ethics are he expressed, “They are ethically,’’ says Dr. Thomas. Does stated that the law takes precedence questions of right and wrong (re- the end justify the means? Discuss- over ethics most of the times. The sponsible and irresponsible) course ing the seven criteria for pleasure law has a more powerful effect on of action.” Dr. Thomas talked about calculus, he stressed upon the dura- people than the code of conduct. the Australian codes of Ethics for tion of pain or pleasure experienced Journalism. Stressing upon the im- through a news story. MH370 be- The concluding remarks elaborated portance of honesty, fairness, and ing hijacked was taken up as one how the media professionals seem truth-telling he argues, “Truth-tell- of the case studies to establish the to follow the regulations and laws ing is an important attribute of jour- utility calculus to shed some light primarily but tend to ignore the eth- nalism. Truth can be constructed on ethical dilemmas. The balance ical principles while reporting news and it can be problematic at times.”. between the pain and pleasure was stories. Unfortunately, journalists tend to be loyal to a newspaper’s Ethics originated in old times. portrayed through the reportorial credibility or readership and fail to Seeking for a relationship between manner of the aforementioned story. safeguard and protect the suffering few, the victims and people who ethics and history, he mentioned As the Plenary session proceeded, are unable to defend themselves. Greek philosophy, Buddhist philos- Democracy came up to be a subject ophy and more. Dr. Thomas quot- of discussion. “You’ll have to look ed Kant, “the good person must at your consciousness, your culture, act correctly according to reason and your philosophies to establish no matter what the consequenc- yourself as a very virtuous and eth- es.”. The talk addressed the Potter ical journalist,” said Dr. Thomas. Box developed by Ralph Potter The public interest sits alongside the which is a model for social ethics. concept of a free press. Freedom of “The loyalty of a journalist can be expression is an individual right, but to the organization, to the citizens, there is a public interest in having a to the colleagues, and most impor- free press when talked about democ- tantly to the victims in the news racy public sphere, and freedom. story,’’ expressed Dr. Thomas. The “There is a constant pressure for credibility of a story is propor- journalists to perform well and tional to the amount of informa- compete with other channels of tion provided as long as the ethics communication”, expressed Dr. of news reporting are adhered to.

When Media Meet(s) Ethics Dominic D Souza’s multifaceted talk on Ethics Aiswarya N I MAMCS The plenary session held by Mr. life, he pointed out that what hap- for the content which is dissemi- Dominic D Souza, aroused ump- pens if both of them clash. Domi- nated?” He himself stated that the teen thought-provoking questions nic stressed that educators, teachers answers are blowing in the wind. in the minds of the audience. He and priests are there to nurture the Speaking of about the needs, commenced his session by bring- thoughts in each one of us. This Dominic stated that Corporate ing forth a hard-hitting question, will make families better and In- Governance is a stronger emerg- “If looking for the definition of eth- dia a better country. “Right speech, ing need. He said “It is not ‘just’ ics, we may get numerous defini- right conduct, right mental attitude Corporate Governance that is re- tions, but the real question is what is what you have to follow,” he said. quired for the media houses, but are its implications?” which initi- While citing ethics, he took an ex- a ‘good’ Corporate Governance.” ated the train of thought of the au- tract from the Eightfold Path of By pointing out the objectives for dience to the direction of his talk. Buddhism that tells us how to live achieving this, he explained the The session was conducted in Christ our life. Having talked about eth- ‘good’ Corporate Governance. (Deemed to be University) on media ics, he then presented the various The speech by Dominic, got the au- ethics, as a part of the Media Meet challenges that will be faced. By dience into thinking. He asked them 2019, organised by the Department showing how our privacy is not in to not reach any conclusions but to of Media Studies. Mr. Dominic D secured hands, and the biggest chal- still interpret. While talking about Souza, is presently employed as lenge is the OTT (Over the Top) General Entertainment Channels, he Vice President, Legal Regulatory platforms. He aroused thinking mentioned the need for avoiding ste- with the Hinduja Ventures. He has in the audience’s mind by asking reotyping, the obscenity challenge been part of the Indian Media En- questions like “Who is responsible and the big commercial challenge. tertainment for The major ques- over two de- tions that he put cades and has forth was those worked with concerning the ZeeTV, UTV, ethics. “What Balaji Telefilms kind of content and Shemaroo is being created? videos and also At what stage with Interna- ethics comes in? tional Media Who is deciding companies such ethics? If it is just as The Walt a moral princi- Disney and ple, then where Star India Pri- does it lead to?”. vate Limited. He ended with By comparing these questions and contrast- bombarded the ing the ethics ears of the audi- in professional Photo Courtesy: Anirudh Madhava Rao ence for further life and personal contemplation.

Spreading Wisdom to Resolve Ethical and Economic Conflicts Dr. Sunil balances ethical and economic considerations on grounds of individual perspective. Priyadarshni Bishnoi includes inadequate provision and was one of the negative externali- III MAMCS negative externalities of competi- ties of competitive market. “To reg- tive markets. “Prasar Bharati is one ulate media fake news, Press Coun- With the commencement of the sec- of the failed solutions to inadequate cil of India is a solution.” expressed ond part of the plenary session or- provisioning.” cited Dr. Sunil. Fur- Dr. Sunil. He further expressed that ganised by the Department of Media thermore, the talk moved ahead government provisioning is not a Studies of Christ (Deemed to be Uni- with a discussion on how paid news solution for inadequacies in pro- versity), Dr Sunil Puliyakot of Raj- agiri Business School put forward visioning. The plenary session his perspective on Balancing Ethi- maintained the balance between cal and Economic Considerations the expectations from media and and the role of personal ethics. the same from the market. Tak- “You can only have a personal ing a jibe at the functioning of perspective on balancing ethical the government, he exclaimed, and economic considerations.” “Even under the watchful eyes expressed Dr. Sunil. News is a of the government, a lot of fail- subset of information and there- ures have happened in the past.” fore, a public good. Public good is non excludable, non-rival. Peo- Photo Courtesy: Aman Choudhury Dr. Sunil kept the plenary ses- ple can use information without sion extremely crisp and to paying for it. “Putting out news the point concluding by dis- requires effort, which in turn re- cussing how self-awareness quires cost, which again requires can be the solution as the first capital, thus, making it business.” baby step followed by a con- said Dr. Sunil on the relation of sistent replicated behaviour. news and business. When there Stressing upon the takeaway is cost and capital involved, in from the scenario, he stated today’s political and economic how economic conflicts can system, solutions are available in be solved on a deeply individ- the market. “The media become ual level. “Charity begins at market oriented in a market - ori- home; solution is at your own ented economy,” added Dr. Sunil. level.” concluded Dr. Sunil. Market failure in Public goods QUICK PEEK

The New Age Elections and The Cinematic Indian Political Campaigns The modern political campaigns in India are to great extent relying on the big screens Sathya N I MAMCS yse the fact that there is some sort of fiction in the biopics as well which should not be the case. Another example was the biopic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many reviewers felt that the facts were distressed to a great extent in the movie. The biopic should be a kind of narrative which should be immediate and literal. He said, “It is not like life but it is Photo Courtesy: Rufus Barigala life”. It is also an inter- The first plenary talk was deliv- was based on the authorised biop- textual relay between the ered by Mr.Srinivasan S V from the ics which were released around the School of Arts and Science, Azim 2019 elections. Few films which he leader as a character and the reali- Premji University. The talk was on took for analysis were Thackeray, the topic “Indian Cinema in the Age Kathanayakudu, Mahanayakudu, ty. There is a lot of fabrication that of Alternative Facts”. He began his Yatra, Prime Minister Narendra speech emphasizing the fact that Modi. The 2019 election campaign goes on when political biopics are the media meet so far has covered was entirely different from that of almost all the topics related to eth- the past election campaigns in the concerned. He said, “The biopics ics. He briefed about the position nation where WhatsApp and other given to Indian cinema in the minds digital platforms played a key role. are both mindful and unmindful”. of the general mass. It is almost a The fact that social media has a near Universal access to devices great influence over politics cannot They are extremely mindful of the and media forms. The media con- be denied. According to the speaker, vergence is not possible by isolat- the biopics should have a utility for larger context of inter-media cir- ing one medium to another. He also its campaign resource like lionising stressed that there is a symbiotic re- the protagonist, caricaturing the op- culation. At the same time, they lationship between politics and me- ponents and so on. He proved this dia He took the Tamil Nadu model stance by screening a song from the are unmindful of the criticisms. It of media ownership as an example movie “Yatra” which was a political where many of the media houses biopic of the then Chief Minister of must be noted that the propagan- are owned by politically established Andhra Pradesh, Y.S. Rajashekara persons. He wanted the students to Reddy. The movie was screened in da related to elections are done understand how political communi- Andhra Pradesh free of cost as a part cation works in the present scenar- of the election campaign. He want- not only by social media but also io. His analysis for today’s session ed the students to think and anal- through the mainstream media as well. He proved this stance again by showing certain photographs published to fascinate the non-read- ing public as part of the 1983 An- dra Pradesh election campaign. He concluded with the empha- sis of the fact that the contro- versies are being used by me- dia as a tool to propagate their ideologies among the public.

Journalists are Patriotic and Ethical Mr R Prasannan throws light on the relationship between Indian military and media. Priyadarshni Bishnoi III MAMCS Beginning Photo Courtesy: Rufus Barigala the last day of the Annual rather interesting counter question, media to stop, media understand Media Meet “The defence personnel and the of- and stop.” said Mr R Prasannan. with some ficials had the authority to tell me- great insights dia to back off but they didn’t. The Talking about the journalists, he on journalis- media had their full attention while proudly expressed how they do have tic ethics, the they voluntarily answered the ques- ethics, they are nationalists, they department of tions while the attack was going on. are patriotic. The floor was then Media Stud- “They were wallowing in the few opened to questions to which Mr R ies organised minutes of publicity. It was the au- Prasannan had intriguing answers. a plenary ses- thorities who failed not the media.” Discussion on the clamping of com- sion at the expressed Mr R Prasannan. He munication while the abrogation of main audito- took the talk further sharing a few article 370 happened took place. rium by Mr. incidents in his professional jour- Putting up his opinion on the same, R Prasannan ney where media stuck to ethics. he expressed, “The abrogation of who is the article 370 is not actually a threat to Chief of Bu- Citing examples of incredible ca- military but the clamping of com- reau for the maraderie and ethical balance be- munication hampers intelligence. Week. With tween the military and the media, The operations are being hampered an experience of 36 years in the he talked about the Kargil war. because of the lack of intelligence.” media industry working for de- “The TV reporters recorded the Mr R Prasannan held the crowd in fence and foreign affairs, he had landscape around the headquar- the palm of his hand. His charismat- considerably a lot to share about ters. The divisional commander ic demeanour and fun personality his ethical journey in the field. stopped them right away. The ene- made the talk all the more engaging “Media and ethics do not go togeth- my could locate through the silhou- in terms of the subject of discussion. er - this is the kind of impression that ettes. All of them stopped record- people usually have.” expressed Mr ing. When people in charge tell the Prasannan. “In reporting the Nation- al security matters, the questions of ethics arise often.” He talked about how the media reported 26/11. His subject of discussion hovered over the role of media in the same and whether the live broadcast was the right thing to do. “The allegation against the media that was raised was that they were broadcasting the scene live and the entire world was watching including Pakistan itself. Media played into the hands of the enemy, deliberately or may- be out of ignorance. That kind of reporting led to a loss of life.” Mr R Prasannan came up with a

Panel Discussions diving deep Bussiness and An Epilogue to into the realm Ethics: The ethics blurry lines of morality Anisha Das Anisha Das Priyadarshini bishnoi Diving Deep Into The Realm Of Morality The department of Media Studies marches ahead in a quest to establish media credibility. Priyadarshni Bishnoi Photo Courtesy: Ishan De As the discussion went III MAMCS ahead, Nikhil Kanekal point- “There is nothing to fear mation changes but the content and ed out the very need to sep- except the persistent re- commitment remain the same.” arate newsrooms from the fusal to find out the truth.” advertising department. This - Dorothy Thompson Co-Founder of online news plat- was further agreed upon by form Citizen Matters, Ms. Meera K Mr. Gopal Sathe who works As the annual Media Meet took the discussion ahead by point- with Huffington Post. As a organized by the Depart- ing out a few ethical challenges technology editor, he shared ment of Media Studies along the lines of fairness, accuracy, his experience writing for of Christ (Deemed to be independence, and balance in the a digital media platform. University) commenced, dissemination of news. “Nobody Touching upon errors and the first day saw an over- asks the hard questions,” expresses rectification, Mr. Panneer- whelming response to Ms. Meera talking about local news selvan asked, “Deadline driv- media ethics and laws. and how decentralization of media en processes are prone to mistakes. Ending the first day with is not really happening. She added, How do we ideally rectify them?”. some extremely insightful opin- “It is extremely disappointing to ions on the aforementioned sub- see how local news falls low in the The panelists advocated frankness ject, a panel discussion moderated hierarchy of news importance and and admittance in order to estab- by The Hindu’s Readers’ editor Citizen Matters works on bridging lish credibility. Gone are the times Mr. A.S. Panneerselvan took place. the gap between the varying lev- when rectification was just for els of news coverage. The organi- the sake of it. Nikhil Kanekal ex- “What do you think is an ethical zation believes in self-critiquing pressed, “The proportionality of challenge as an independent jour- and setting up codes of conduct to rectification in terms of the news nalist?”, asked Mr. Panneerselvan ensure ethical and effective news coverage should be ideal. The ad- to Ms. Asha Krishnaswamy on the coverage on the grassroots level”. mittance should be just as big as panel. There are endless codes of the dissemination of the news.” conduct, and various statements made by media outlining the prin- Media has grown from small to ciples and values of journalism. industrial in recent times. The fu- Talking about the same, Ms. Asha ture of journalism and its compat- expressed, “I need to listen to my ibility with the evolution of media consciousness and be true to my- lies on the shoulders of informants. self in any aspect of life”. Talking Only as long as we stick to the truth about her experience working in and take the moral high ground, print media and then eventually we are going in the right direction. shifting to the digital media, she exclaimed, “Social media poses a challenge to traditional news me- dia. The presentation of the infor-

Business and Ethics: The Blurry Lines A fruitful morning with panellists from the marketing field was eye-opening for CHRIST students Anisha Das III MAMCS It was a great plea- sure for the audience to witness an invigo- rating panel discus- sion by the leading professionals in the advertising-public relations industry. The session kicked thousand people. Now, I’ve got Photo Courtesy: Rufus Barigala off with the spon- the five thousand data points per taneous Dominic person!” she exclaimed. Ms. Lall or political parties, etc. But then D’Souza inviting also spoke about how B2B orga- you also have to admit that every- the first speaker, nizations face fewer challenges in body has a right to representation.” Surendra Unni, to terms of ethical practices. “Media speak about how he is one of the most dynamic indus- Rajeev Ravindranathan had an in- manages his ethics tries ever; it is the most wonderful teresting take on the entire ethical for his clients. Unni industry but it is also the most un- dilemma of marketing agencies. put forward four eth- forgiving one industry,” she said. “The reason we are in business ical points that advertising profes- is because somebody has to be in sionals should keep in mind: not S. Roy Kandpal faced yet another business,” he said. Ravindranathan overtaking the competition via un- question from the moderator re- commented on how advertisements ethical means, organisations’ duty garding ethics in the Public Rela- identify a latent need in consumers to inform their consumers, differ- tions field. “Ethics has two frames to exploit or cater to. That is how entiating advertising from the ed- of reference. One as a job and one media compulsion works in a con- itorial in a news organisation and as an industry,” he said. Mr. Roy sumer’s mind. The panellist also how Public Relations should speak commented on the ‘image’ that PR spoke about issues in the digital me- only the truth. “Never run down deals with on a day-to-day basis. dia sector, in regards to privacy. The your competition. Your advantage The negative image of PR - how panellist focused on how privacy in cannot be at the cost of some oth- people feel it is a ‘dirty’ word and the digital era was a vanishing con- er brand,” said Unni. He used the how people relate white-collar cept. “Privacy is no longer a curren- case study of the Lux brand and crimes to the PR industry was dis- cy we can deal with,” he commented. the Bollywood craze in getting fea- cussed at length. Moderator Domi- tured in them. He also mentioned nic D Souza asked Roy, “Are there The entire panel discussion about ads masquerading as news certain internal practices that you lasting for an hour and a half pieces and how a consumer has the follow?” to which Mr.Roy instantly was truly, eye-opening for right to know how they are read- replied, “See we do not work for al- the students of media studies. ing promotional material instead cohol brands, religious institutions of actual news. “How many lay- men know what is an advertorial?” Nidhi Lall kicked off her speech with an interesting observation on Media Meet. She spoke about the impact of Data. “Advertising has always based everything on con- sumer behaviour. However, that data came from research of five

An Epilogue to Ethics The final discussion served as a prolific ending note to the decennial edition of Media Meet 2019 Anisha Das III MAMCS Photo Courtesy: Rufus Barigala The decennial edition of Media “You have to understand why you tion from the internet,” said Anto Meet witnessed sessions of pro- are there. If the guest lecture is con- Phillip while discussing the youth ductive paper presentations and sumption for you and you are not and patterns that define relatability energetic lectures from profession- contributing anything back then it and shareability which ultimately als of journalism and marketing does not make sense. That is also becomes a privacy issue. “To be field. It needed a final concluding how you look at the internet and very honest, most of us know our- panel discussion that could give media space. In the veil of anonym- selves lesser than what social media closure to the three eventful days. ity, you can consume and do what- knows about us.” Phillip also drove ever you want without being sensi- the forum towards theories like user This came in the form of a very tive to the people around you. Thus, gratification while stating, “We are insightful panel discussion. All the consumption culture in the new the most reactive generation and not four panellists have experience media age is the issue,” he said. the responsive generation.” The dis- in the dynamic media industry. cussion further assessed copyright The Main Auditorium was packed Aswathi Balakrishnan’s take on and copyleft, ethics in classrooms with the audience when the four digital media’s ethics was majorly that use digital tools, coherent un- panellists took the stage to talk on identity theft and privacy. As a derstanding of negotiating with about ‘Ethics in Digital Media’. social media influencer, she shared technology, supporting creators in her own experience of being a vic- our own country versus the West. Anto Phillip was the first speaker. tim of identity theft. “I try keeping He spoke on how social media and control over my profile but there is The young audience connected the internet is not just a place of ex- a limit to how much you can pro- with the panellists and their en- pressing oneself but also a place of tect,” said Balakrishnan. The speak- ergetic speeches. Media Meet recent debates. “It’s an ideology of er also spoke on the sudden burst of 2019, with a ten-year run, could consumption,” said Benson Rajan, Indian bloggers. “Social media in- not have ended on a better note. while referring to the young stu- duces the same effects in your brain dents he has observed in his classes. as drugs; we keep seeking a valida-

Paper presentations Let Numbers Do The Talk Media Trial and Judiciary - Work- Pragyan Agrawal ing in Tandem! I MAMCS The effect of media is so great that Arunabh Das from the Department of Media and Communication the investigation and the justice are Studies of CHRIST (Deemed to be University) presented a statistical- ly loaded research paper on “Social Media, News and Youths”. In his improvised research paper, he reinforced the fact of how the mass audience has been hugely impacted due to the advent and rise of social media. He Sathya N spoke about the youth and millennials who are the most exposed to I MAMCS the digital age and what can be the repercussions of the same. He em- phasized upon the number of people using the various social network- Tijo K George, a Masters student of ing platforms like Facebook and Twitter, i.e., 171 billion active users Media Studies at Christ Deemed to be on Facebook out of which 142 million are Indians. Twitter, however, University presented his paper on the has a low population in India: 28.5 million users. This is a number topic “Trial by Media; Pre-trial Deci- enough to have a great influence on the audience in case of any kind sions in Justice Administration”. The of news circulation – positive, negative or fake.Fake news was the focus of his study was “the impact of next most important part of his research wherein he spoke about his media coverage on the person’s rep- data collection from the sample size of approximately 200 being the utation by manufacturing a kind of Bengaluru’s youth and millennials. The conclusion that this survey conscience in public”. According to led to was 3/4th of these respondents did not even bother to cross- the study, the media has a great influ- check facts they read on social media and consider them to be true. ence on the judicial system. The me- Arunabh reinstated the fact that it was important to check the account- dia trial affects the deliverance of jus- ability of news and information on social media otherwise the world tice. The study was a qualitative one will merely become a place of fallacy with every individual wanting where the researcher has undertaken to get on the internet with a piece of information whether true or faux. experts’ review as part of his litera- ture. The experts were from three do- An Essence of Family and Women mains- judiciary, executive and the in Popular Malayalam Sitcoms media. He has specifically done case studies on some of the sensation- Christina Tom Jose al cases- Arushi Talwar, Jessica Lal case and Priyadarshini Matoo case. I MAMCS The presentation concluded with the summing up of the positive and the Dr A Balu Vijayaraghavan from Amritha Vishwa Vidyapeeth pre- negative effects of media trial. Me- sented a paper on Home Space and Popular Media – Rendition of dia trial helps the public, interpret the Family and Women in Popular Malayalam Sitcoms. The paper was technical aspects of trial or investi- enlightening on the changing notions of women and family in the gation. It also aids the investigation popular Malayalam sitcoms. Taking the examples of three popular in finding the missing links. Consis- Malayalam sitcoms, Thatteem Mutteem, Uppum Mulakum and Ali- tent scrutiny done by the mainstream yan vs. Aliyan, the presenter discussed at length how gender roles media would enhance the efficiency and societal norms are both enforced and redefined through them. of the investigation or the entire ju- According to him, the changing roles of women in the socio-eco- dicial process. However, on the flip- nomic framework of Malayali society is reflected in their portrayal side, side the accused ends up being in these sitcoms. Two of the sitcoms chosen feature working mid- portrayed as an outcast. It would dle-class women who strive to achieve a balance between work and infringe the Right to Fair Trial and duties of the household. The presenter pointed out how if earlier, the Right to privacy of the accused. women were portrayed as restricted to the domestic sphere, they are now shown to be actively involved in matters of the public sphere. According to him, earlier, the home itself was a concept singularly restricted to women, only within which she was allowed to exercise her freedom. However, he states that there is now an active involve- ment of both men and women in the formerly women-centric domain of the home. The presenter was able to acutely highlight the chang- ing gender roles in popular media and the causes leading up to it.

Photographers Antu Sony Allen Phillips Abijith R J Vinifer Pratyush Agrawal

Can Covering Time to Watch the Watchdog Suicide Be Done Sharanya N Eshwar Ethically? III MAMCS Tyra Colaso I MAMCS Tendral Rajagopal from Anna University, Chennai, presented a pa- per titled, “Time to watch the watch dog: Media’s role in manipu- Manya Venkatesh presented her pa- lating the justice mechanism”. The presenter’s objective was to find per “Ethics of Reporting Suicide: A out how media manipulates justice with its own verdict. The paper Critical Analysis of News Reporting was focused on Aarushi Talwar’s case and detailed study on how the In India.” for Media Meet 2019 at news had been misrepresented. The researcher started off by explain- Christ Deemed To be University. The ing the case. She focuses on media’s impact on audience and how session began with an introduction on it changes their perspective. She also mentions that media cannot how 2,30,000 people died of suicide be seen as a watchdog anymore but we as citizens have become the and 17% suicides out of the global watchdog of the society. Coming back to Aarushi’s case, she says, suicide rates rank from India. Manya “Media’s intention is mainly focused on sensationalism and spic- states that in 2017, suicides were con- ing up of news in order to increase the TRP of the channel”. The sidered as crime and not just a health researcher has opted qualitative analysis for the study. The theories issue. It needs nuanced understanding used to support the research are Propaganda model, The just world of suicide, it’s cause and the various hypothesis, Selective exposure theory, Information manipulation possible ways of dealing with it. The theory, expectancy violation theory and magic bullet theory. She ex- term suicide has been discussed at plained how these theories support her research. In conclusion, she various platforms including sociolo- said that media is just a propaganda and a commercial tool whose gy under which Eric Stangel breaks aim is to put out news for their own benefit, thus making the quality down the different types of suicide. news questionable. She also added that, “Media was just putting out According to the findings the highest news that helped them get monetary success, we’ve been trained in suicide reports found on newspaper a way that says that the world is a bad place because that’s what me- cover farmer suicide in the devel- dia portrays.” She concluded by saying that we must take precaution. oping world for which the reason is mostly associated with poverty in- Ethical concerns in Immersive stead of bringing up other reason journalism like caste, religion etc. The research brought to light the step taken by Christina Tom Jose World Health Organization In order to combat the issue of suicide I. E. a I MAMCS list of DOs and DON’Ts for reporters while reporting and writing on sui- Through her paper, ‘Ethics in motion – a review of ethical concerns cides. The research draws attention to in Immersive journalism,’ Sneha Gore Mehendale set the ball rolling the way one should not simply label on discussions on the idea of immersive journalism and its ethical the cause unless it has been estab- considerations. The paper extensively covered the length and breadth lished. When different suicides cases of the topic, throwing light on the application of journalistic ethics were studied, the researcher found the when it comes to the use of virtual reality in storytelling. Virtual that thought certain rules are consid- reality creates an immersive experience, either through 360-degree ered while reporting on suicides, it videos or through computer generated graphics. Renowned virtual might not be taken into consideration reality filmmaker Chris Milk has dubbed the technology as the ‘ulti- by all reporters and organizations mate empathy machine.’ The researcher went on to examine whether depending on the circumstances. creating empathy was indeed the goal of journalism, as opposed to presenting unbiased facts. She also pointed out how empathy cre- ation can also lead to distress in the audience. The paper covered the lack of a journalist’s control on the content, a ‘frame of reference’ through which, in her opinion, the audience should see the story. She also pointed out that the technology could be used to propagate fake news. “If immersive journalism makes a spectacle out of everything, after some time you stop feeling the pain, and the opposite effect of empathy generation happens – you actually start enjoying,” she said. The presenter took up the examples of popular VR films like Clouds over Sidra and Hunger in Los Angeles to illustrate her stance.



Editor’s note Rohan Pradhan “Per Aspera Ad Astra” It gives me immense pleasure to bring out “Ethiquette”, the newsletter for Media Meet 2019. This encapsulates a fraction of the hard work and sleepless nights of the dedicated members of the documentation team who are the real voices of this newsletter. Every word that finds its space in this newsletter is an ode to the evergrowing process of the dissemination of knowledge. The Team REPORTERS EDITOR - IN - CHIEF EDITORS Rohan Pradhan Sathya N Shireen Honmode Aiswarya N DESIGNER Anisha Das Tyra Colaso Christina Jose Sahana S Kashyap Gopika Krishnan Reshma Samuel Priyadarshni Bishnoi Serilda Coutinho Sharanya N Eshwar Pragyan Agrawal