Opinion - News Analysis

Domains, policies and uniformity

K. Narayanan

October 10 was World Mental Health Day. Two reports the next day caught my eye. One, just a sentence in a Chennai report on the need to sensitise the media to the challenge of covering suicide. The second, a PTI report from Jaipur on Dr. U.C. Garg, President of the Central Zone of the Indian Psychiatric Society, asking the media to guard against making suicide stories sensational, so as not to trigger similar attempts by high-risk persons.

These made me recall a note I received on September 27 from Sathyanarayanan, a software engineer from Bangalore, "fresh out of college." Referring to two suicide reports that appeared prominently in the Bangalore edition that day, he recalled an earlier column of mine (June 12, 2006) where I had said that The Hindu's coverage of suicide was always sober and subdued, factual; what was needed was sensitive, appropriate writing. The reader asked: If editorial procedures were consistent with this, would these reports have got this play? Do editorial safeguard procedures exist for the Bangalore edition, or is it limited to Chennai, and your domain does not extend to Bangalore? How is uniform editorial policy exercised, and how do you try to ensure uniformity and good editorial policies for the "greater good for the young mind"?

Before tackling these fundamental questions, something about the two reports the young reader referred to. The first of these was a factual, four paragraph report. But it had, as the reader pointed out and objected to, a headline in "a font size as large as the top business headline of the day." Agreed, it is only prudent that suicide does not and should not get that display. But there is something as the pressures of layout and deadline, which only a harried deskperson knows. The headline size might not have been intentional; it must have been influenced by the demands of the layout.

The second report, though headlined "Missing girl committed suicide in Goa," had the suicide details only briefly. It was mainly a human interest story on a family's search for a missing daughter, who, it was found, had committed suicide in Goa. It was not a story that would instigate the suicide-prone.

Now to the basic issues raised by Sathyanarayanan. Under the Terms of Reference for the Readers' Editor, my "domain" is what is published in all editions of The Hindu, but my role is activated post-factum. Laying down guidelines and policies and erecting safeguards is the concern of the Editor-in-Chief and his team; deviations, when they are pointed out, get my attention. Editorial uniformity is seen in all the non-regional pages. In the regional pages, there may be variations in approach, but there are established practices and procedures that are followed. When there is a doubt, there are consultations with seniors in Chennai. As the Bangalore news editor pointed out, there are no instructions not to publish suicide reports, and generally they are brief.

I have always been of the view that most individual suicides — with exceptions — are personal tragedies for the immediate family and are of little interest to the general reader. The routine reports hardly deserve the space.

Is The Hindu unable to practise its lofty ideals across all editions uniformly, Sathyanarayanan asked. No, it is able to, because the ethos of the paper is understood by all. But variations and deviations can increase and observance of the core values, for which the paper is known, affected by the diffusion of power and responsibilities. The Guardian and the

New York Times, for instance, have formulated guidelines for journalistic practices (some ask for written undertakings to follow these) and it is time The Hindu too drafted them (as mentioned last week in commenting on business coverage.)

Coverage of naturalist Steve Irwin's death ("Newscape" page, September 5 & 6, 2006) was flawed — it lacked balance, was not objective, according to Sindhu Maleickal of Chennai. It did not include comments of those opposed to his methods. BBC highlighted tributes, the reader pointed out, but also included fellow Australian Germaine Greer's comment: "The animal world has taken its revenge on Irwin." (She said much more.)

We could not provide anything more than the two long reports on successive days, the desk responded. But these contained nothing critical of Irwin. The omission was surprising, when a reader could spot the gaps. Germaine Greer's piece, which BBC quoted, was published by

The Guardian and this news source is fully scanned by The Hindu news desk. However, The Hindu wrote an editorial titled "Wildlife Warrior," which was published in the issue of September 8, 2006. The editorial acclaimed what Irwin had done for the animal kingdom but was also critical of his "daredevil exhibitionism," especially "the idiotic act of cradling his baby son in one hand while feeding a captive crocodile at dangerously close range in his zoo; and even making the baby toddle up quite close to the feeding crocodile."

Now about The Guardian's experience, as related by its Readers' Editor, Ian Mayes (Open Door, September 18, 2006). The Guardian's obituary on September 5, Mayes said, was neutral in tone, and recalled criticisms of Irwin's programmes. Germaine Greer's piece appeared on the same day in the second section as one of three pieces on Irwin, One was an account of how Australia responded to his death, the second a warm tribute by Australian broadcaster Jono Coleman. Germaine Greer's piece was generally unsympathetic.

The e-mail response, Mayes said, was partly from a direct reading of the pieces but mostly from Australian media coverage of these. "Many of the e-mails were not so much criticism as the crudest invective."

Mayes quotes The Guardian's features editor: "Some people thought he was an Australian hero, others felt uneasy about his use of animals — and his own baby — as entertainment. We wanted to reflect these contrary views ... I thought Greer made a valid point in a thoughtful and careful way."

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

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