May 16-31, 2021 - Vol 1, Issue 22
INDIA NEWS
SPECIAL FEATURE
COVID–19 second wave in India and devolution of news media into voyeurism Professor Divya Sharma
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he news about COVID–19 should be covered in as much detail and as critically as possible. The center & state governments, agencies, and individuals that failed to plan for and respond to the crisis should be held accountable. Given India’s healthcare system and the large population, the challenges during the second wave and beyond would be harsher. That’s a nobrainer and is incontrovertible. But can the media resist using a dead body for the dramatic effect or live-telecasting the dying? In 2020, during the first wave, New York in particular and the US, in general, was reeling under record-setting COVID–19 cases, hospitals were running out of beds and oxygen, dead bodies were being stored in trucks, mass graves on Hart Island became a pragmatic option to bury the piling bodies, funeral homes were overwhelmed, nursing homes deaths were ignored, doctors and nurses were begging for N95 masks and PPE kits on social media – similar tragedies were unfolding in Italy and England – yet largely, the news media did not start fear-mongering, invade funeral homes or shove recorders in the faces of grieving
families, pose in front of caskets as props, or generally sell human grief as a commodity for mass consumption. It reported on the grave situation while using the language of caution, compassion, dignity, and hope. It also amplified what average citizens could do to help. In contrast, as the second wave hit India much harder, the western media and the Indian media that sees India through a western lens (the term media/western media in this article include both these groups), couldn’t wait to get a piece of the tragedy. Within hours multiple pieces were published with images of burning pyres, corpses, and grieving families, and certainty of an impending apocalypse or an Armageddon. Yes, the situation on the ground is challenging, but treating Hindu and Sikh funerals as some bizarre or exotic entity for western consumption is repulsive. There's always a certain gloat and sadism in the western media about any deaths in India & since last year, it's well-nigh been craving for it! Top journos got the light right for the funeral wood behind them, framing the shots so the wailing kin could provide the background noise albeit not too close to risk drowning their
own, asking grieving family members ‘how they feel,’ etc. At the British-American media company’s Getty Images website, photos of cremations are priced at Rs. 23,000 (approx. $311). No, it’s not a case where a picture can change the course of history; it’s plain ghoulishness. Yes, there’s a market for everything – will the media next show/sell videos of beheadings by terrorist groups? Videos of rape victims? After the 9/11 attacks, the media voluntarily decided to refrain from showing images of people jumping off the twin towers; why is a man in India gasping for air not given the same dignity? Ceteris paribus, the poor are afforded the least privacy & sensitivity. While thousands in India and the Indian community abroad have stepped up to help, it is ignored as no stories of hope, compassion, and solidarity can ever be accorded to India even during a crisis. For the most part, the media is not even making any effort to squash misinformation about vaccines or inform the public about resources in the community. When called out for voyeurism, the typical response is to label it trolling by the right-wing/ nationalists. It’s the laziest
counter to any criticism and keeps folks endorsed in echo chambers. Such ignorance is second only to the comfort in that ignorance. Many journalists as ‘micro-celebrities,’ feel validated based on the numbers of ‘likes’ and ‘retweets.’ Call it misery-porn, pandemicporn, or anything else, banally, media will cash in on tragedies and then make a documentary about saving a girl child in some corner of South Asia or Africa and pat itself on the back. Even pre-COVID, umpteen western tourists routinely intrude on families performing last rites in Varanasi or toss coins up in the air for the poor to catch, and take pictures. It takes an unparalleled level of emotional vacuity and moral hypocrisy to treat death, grief, and misery as exotic entities as they happen in other cultures. If this is how folks feel better about themselves or gain some relevance, it’s tough to imagine what deep dark abyss defines their core. Indeed, there’s a long history of such unbridled social voyeurism and little emphasis on humanizing the harm especially about victims in ‘other’ settings and cultures. One could set guidelines to protect victims in India, but it won’t work as there’s
no lucrative reason for media to be civil and humane about life and death in India. On the COVID front, things are bad and may get worse, before they get better. I wish I could have the same confidence about the eventual improvement in news media when covering stories about India. For now, I don’t, because a typical journalist seems to have taken the place of the vulture in the infamous Kevin Carter photograph. Professor Divya Sharma is based at the Justice and Law Administration department in the Ancell School of Business, Western Connecticut State University
Why did Indians in Australia get offended? Dr. Yadu Singh
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hey had a much valid reason to do so, the cause of this issue is the inhumanitarian response to the Indian Covid Crisis by the Morrison led government. Allegations As per the Indian population in Australia, the Federal government has unfairly targeted them. Indians in Australia say that the government holds a moral obligation, a basic law of conduct towards them and they should protect their rights as they did for the Australians struck in India a few months ago. This surely is a racist attack and Indians are being targeted in the name of the Coronavirus’ The Medical Association of Australia in its response says Photo Courtesy: IANS
that such a harsh decision was taken after the majority of the Covid positive cases among the people quarantined turned out to be travellers from the Indian subcontinent.
Even if they were Indian, they are Australian citizens and they can not deny this, they should stand by their rights and not impose such cruel laws in testing times. Indians are reacting quite adversely to the centre’s decision because it has resulted in many Indian Australians becoming stranded in India; the figures being around eight thousand. 57% of the people coming from India have tested positive which poses a big threat to the Australian government but the government. should also think parallel about the people stranded
in India and how their welfare comes under the moral obligation of the government. Demands
People stranded in India should be given all the help they need from Australia because they are Australian citizens and they are in need of help. People in India should at least be vaccinated so that their risk of transmitting the virus reduces and both countries are safe; talks are being held for the same. Many other countries too have applied similar travel bans on the people coming from India but the Australian government went a little further by turning it into a criminal offense along with a hefty fine, which gives Indians a valid enough reason to feel offended. Not only are they suffering but also they have a valid reason to feel how they are feeling as the responsibility of its citizens lies in the hands of the government who in Australia's case has abandoned this significant segment of the population because of threats they could pose to the healthy population. Minister Greg Hunt takes this decision at a time when India and Indians both are already suffering so much under the Coronavirus
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outbreak. Indians have been denied entry into Australia from either part of the world. The language and the timings for such an announcement have together made the Indians in Australia offended. Australian Govt. is abandoning Indian citizens struck throughout the world. Australian Govt. should think of better alternatives and try to get their citizens to come back to Australia; maybe install new facilities for the travellers from India and make different places for them to quarantine which can help reduce the risk of contamination of the virus into the air so that nobody is infected.
Eight thousand people are facing problems because of a huge number of flights being cancelled and many even complained of not getting seats as there were no seats for Indians. People struck are constantly trying because they are not being allowed to enter Australia due to the ban imposed. 680 people have been identified as vulnerable and are at a higher risk of getting infected due to the prolonged and forceful stay in India, the health of the Indian Australian citizens, a community that holds a majority in the population is at risk and most importantly, efforts are not being
made to help the vulnerable ones . And if present conditions suggest that the govt. can not bring them back, they should at least be vaccinated on a priority basis. In fact, this should have already been Australian government’s plan of action. Indians in Australia are already suffering because of the news of the loss of their loved ones with the death toll rising every day in India. They being so far away from their families is another problem and many could not go to India even for the last rites and to pay homage to their family members. All these people are the government’s responsibility and a plan in action is what Indians are awaiting. Dr. Yadu Singh, President, Federation of Indian Associations NSW
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