The Press Council of India (PCI) on 25th February, issued a bailable warrant of arrest for a sum of Rs.5000 against Vijaya Karnataka. The order follows a complaint filed by the Campaign Against Hate Speech for a hateful article published by Vijaya Karnataka in March 2020.
Vijaya Karnataka had published a hateful article titled “ಸತ್ತವರೆಲ್ಲ ಒಂದೇ ಸಮುದಾಯದವರು – ಈಗಲೂ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆ ಹೆಸರಲ್ಲಿ ಗುಂಪು ಸೇರುವುದೇಕೆ?” (“All those who have died from Corona are from the same community – why do they still come together in the name of prayers?”). This article had directly attacked the Muslim community and baselessly blamed them for the cause and spread of the virus. At the height of the pandemic, such articles, which were without any basis, were responsible for creating an environment of hate against the minority community; this hate translated into real-life violence against members of the community.
PCI’s order mandates the attendance of the Editor of Vijaya Karnataka. It has also directed the Commissioner of Bangalore City Police to ensure compliance of the order. Summons had been issued to the newspaper twice, and yet no representative has appeared in the last two hearings conducted by the PCI.
Campaign Against Hate Speech had approached the PCI on 11/05/2020 seeking action against the newspaper. “We approached the PCI on the grounds that the article violated the Norms of Journalistic Conduct, 2019 by this communalization of the pandemic. We have asked that the PCI censure the newspaper for the article and also direct the newspaper to issue a public apology,” they said in a statement.
“Vijaya Karnataka’s refusal to respond to repeated summons issued by the PCI shows its callous disregard for the authority of the body, which is unacceptable. It also indicates the lack of accountability that such a widely read newspaper has towards its readers. Without any further delay, Vijaya Karnataka must appear before the PCI for the next hearing,” they urged.
A report titled ‘Wages of Hate: Journalism in Dark Times‘, found that individuals were defamed, speculations were published without evidence, and mob justice was encouraged over due process in the reportage on the Tablighi Jamaat related coronavirus cluster by the Kannada media this year.
