India: Readers' Editor at The Hindu on Evolving norms for reporting communal violence

The Hindu, September 23, 2013
Evolving norms for reporting communal violence

A.S. Panneerselvan

The spectre of communal violence is both a tragedy and a challenge for good journalism. How to report the violence? How to bring out the sense of pain and loss of innocent men, women and children caught in a web of destructive forces aided and spiralling due to political reasons? How can the media provide both news as well as the healing touch?

In an election year, communal violence takes a diabolic overtone. Vested interests find fault with any reporting that exposes the beneficiaries of the violence. This newspaper’s reportage of the recent communal conflagration in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, warrants a studied analysis. While we have received many letters praising the newspaper, we also got some mails questioning the reporting.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/evolving-norms-for-reporting-communal-violence/article5157370.ece