Reporting anywhere in the world has never been safe. It has always been a risk filled job. And if you’re a journalist in New Delhi right now, you’re on a suicide mission. But journalists say attacks on the media during last week’s deadly communal violence in New Delhi show the situation is deteriorating.
Have there been any specific incidents?
A reporter was shot and survived, another had his teeth knocked out, and many more said Hindu mobs demanded proof of religion and tried to keep them from documenting vandalism and violence that included people attacking one another with axes, swords, metal pipes and guns.
A photographer for the Times of India newspaper Anindya Chattopadhyay said that as he reached the scene of the riots Tuesday, a man approached him, offering to put a tilak, a mark indicating a person is Hindu, on his forehead. The man said it would make his work easier. It is perhaps evident that the riots and chaos are held on the basis of religious discrimination. And as a journalist, you are forced to declare the side you’re on, and you best wish that it is the side of the majority. To read more from ProperGaanda: Face masks showcased at Paris Fashion Week