NL Hafta

Hafta 423: Asianet controversy, Tamil Nadu disinformation, regional bias

By NL Team

March 11, 2023 at 11:19 AM

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are joined by Leena Gita Reghunath, the audience development editor at the Caravan.

The discussion begins with the ethical questions and controversy around an alleged attack on Asianet News in Kerala. Leena details the timeline, media coverage and protests over an allegedly staged interview of a minor – which was part of a feature on drug abuse and sexual assault of minors in the state. The Pinarayi Vijayan government has defended the police action against the channel saying that it can’t be seen as a freedom of press issue.

The conversation moves to fake news and sensationalism by the Hindi media that helped propagate the claim that north Indian migrants were under attack in Tamil Nadu. Jayashree points to such coverage across media and social media.

They also talk about how Tamilians and Biharis are ridiculed in north India, recalling experiences from past decades. They also point out how migrants from Bihar state continue to face verbal abuse despite a drastic change in the state’s image.

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Song: Jagte Raho

Timecodes

00:00:05 - Introduction

00:02:52- Headlines

00:09:35 - Kerala vs Asianet

00:20:48 - Tamil Nadu Migrant workers