Ayesha* (name changed) is my friend’s friend. The job she loves has turned into a nightmare. Someone at work is targeting her with communal bullying and gaslighting - just because she is a Muslim. The harassment happens over texts and also in group settings. 

The sinister communal comments she hears are not new. In fact, they’re all too familiar. All of us have heard them whenever we have tuned in to primetime news debates, where some news anchors and seasoned panellists get a free pass to mouth the filthiest language against our country’s minorities. This unchecked hate speech on air is increasingly responsible for the daily targeting, bullying and harassment of the Muslim citizens of India and creating an environment of toxic hate between people and communities. Sign my petition to say no to hate on-air by anyone against any religion.

The phenomenon of communal slurs being passed off as “news” over the past few years is appalling. It pains me as a freelance independent journalist. I believe that as the media/free press is the fourth pillar of democracy, it has the inherent responsibility of holding truth to power. For me, news organisations that fail to condemn hate speech are as guilty as those that openly promote it. The lack of timely strict action by authorities is a huge part of the problem.

In 2020, when a systematic smear campaign was carried out to pin the spread of the COVID on the Muslim community and propagate hate against them, one news channel called Sudarshan TV was let off by the government with nothing more than a warning. Every other week since then we have hit a new low. A few days ago, the ruling BJP suspended its spokesperson, who had been making derogatory comments against Islam. Interestingly, the action came only after a number of countries in the Middle East/West Asia raised objections and our government rushed to defuse a diplomatic row.  Why did the sacking happen only after other countries protested? Do our voices as citizens of India count for nothing? 

As citizens, we expect elected representatives and members of government to uphold the Constitution which secures free speech and not hate speech. Recent instances of hate and vitriol in a few media channels against religions and religious figures have hurt many Indians across communities. Why have these media outlets been allowed to get away and not been held accountable for spreading hate?

Sign my petition asking the Information and Broadcasting Ministry of the Government of India and the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority, a self-regulation body comprising media channels themselves, to impose steep fines on news channels that air communal comments - be it by their own news anchors or the guests they invite to panel discussions, whether during live telecasts or in recorded shows, no matter which religion. If the channels don’t mute the hateful comments on Live TV, they should be fined steeply as a punishment.

Chapter V, 19 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act clearly empowers authorised officials to prohibit transmission of certain programmes in public interest, if it does not conform to the programme code  or is “likely to promote, on grounds of religion, race, language, caste or community, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, linguistic or regional groups or castes or communities or which is likely to disturb the public tranquility.” 

When hundreds of thousands of citizens support this petition demanding action, we will have a greater chance of being heard by the Ministry and the NBSA. Please sign and share it widely #NoMoreHateOnAir #MuteTheHate

(Image credit: National Herald)