Analyzing Media Coverage: Key Insights from the Kolkata Tragedy, Content Advisory

Trigger Warning: This content discusses sensitive topics including sexual assault and murder, which may be upsetting or triggering for some readers. If you have experienced trauma, please exercise caution and take care of yourself. 

For any issue related to Violence against Women. Please Call on Helpline: 7827-170-170

Learning a critical lesson on reporting assault against women 

As a cub reporter with the now-defunct Business India TV, a senior reporter and I were sent off to cover the Andhra Pradesh state elections. This was the winter of 1994, almost exactly 30 years ago. We were travelling in the People's War Group (a Naxalite group commonly called PWG) infested areas of Warangal, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar of what is now Telangana state. 

In one of the cities, we were interviewing a woman rape survivor. It was my first such assignment, I did not think much of the implications of a video interview beyond getting the all-important sound byte. 

I did the interview, wrote the script and was about to send the tapes off via post office to Delhi. My furious colleague, who later joined Aaj Tak, then told me, "How could you show the face of a rape survivor."

These were the days when it was very tough to blur the face once a video was recorded. The report was dropped and I learnt a very, very critical lesson about the legal and ethical boundaries for such reports. Later, I was on the city crime beat in Delhi for a few months and had to report on kidnappings, murders, hit-and-run cases and other crimes.  One of the few women on the crime beat (interestingly, globally, reporters on the crime beat often went on to cover politics!) I used to visit the famous Delhi Police Headquarters at ITO for stories.

In the early days of TV, another senior colleague on the crime beat, who later joined BBC News, taught me much about the rules of reporting on crime.

The present digital and electronic reportage is contrary to what we were taught in the very early days of TV journalism about how to approach stories on crime. And stories related to people living with HIV/AIDS and TB. 

 Today, in 2024, in the age of instant broadcasts sitting at home, let's recap the rules of reporting on such highly sensitive topics.  

Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd : Few newspapers carried Trigger Warnings or Helpline Information 

To find out how the print media has reported versus how digital journalists have reported on the case, we asked Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd., 3 questions: 

1) How many newspapers carried the sufferer's name? 

2) How many newspapers carried a trigger warning /content advisory for stories done on the Kolkata case? 

3) How many newspapers carried a helpline or other resources in their stories?

Impact reviewed a total of 485 print newspapers from Delhi and Kolkata over the 10 days after the tragic incident on August 9th. During this period, they found more than 3,000 articles on the Kolkata assault case:

• Out of these, only one print article mentioned the victim’s name. This article was published in a regional Kolkata newspaper.
• Only one print article carried a 'Trigger Warning', which was published in 'The Hindu' .

Durgesh Garg, VP - Operations, Impact Research & Measurement Pvt. Ltd. says, " It appears that the print media was generally cautious and refrained from revealing the victim’s name, except one article. In contrast, online and social media platforms did not exercise the same level of discretion. In their rush to report quickly and attract more views, they revealed the victim’s name. This lack of maturity led the Supreme Court to order the removal of the victim's name from all online and social platforms."

The CJI-led Supreme Court bench said last week, “This Court is constrained to issue an injunctive order since the social and electronic media have proceeded to publish the identity of the deceased and photographs of the dead body after the recovery of the body. We accordingly direct that all references to the name of the deceased in the above incident, photographs and video clips shall forthwith be removed from all social media platforms and electronic media in compliance of this order.”

Cannot reveal the identity of the Individual who experienced sexual assault and homicide

The law is, therefore, very clear.  It is illegal to identify a rape victim. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, (the successor to the Indian Penal Code), sees this as a criminal offence with fines and up to two years of imprisonment. Disclosure is only allowed with the express permission of the victim or their next of kin. That too only to authorized welfare organisations.

Paroma Roy Chowdhury, the advisor to the chairman of the board of trustees and the vice-chancellor, of Ashoka University, has also worked for leading brands such as Google, Softbank as well as The Economic Times. 

Roy Chowdhury says, "Online (digital) journalists and television have eroded the traditional boundaries of reporting. The dissemination of graphic details from autopsy reports, often without context, can prejudice public opinion and contribute to victim-blaming. As witnessed in the Arushi Talwar case, this practice has far-reaching consequences. Not only does it harm the specific individuals involved, but it also sets a dangerous precedent for future reporting. Media outlets must strive to balance the need for factual information with the ethical obligation to convey sensitive material in a way that respects the dignity of those affected."

For any issue related to Violence against Women. Please Call on Helpline: 7827-170-170

For detailed guidelines on reporting on sexual assault, please see this extensive list at The Hoot.