Analysis Special Articles

Media Bias: How Various Media Reported The Rioting And Violence In Nuh, Haryana

August 2, 2023
The Commune

Nuh district of Haryana is in the news due to the rioting and violence that was started by a Muslim mob when a Viswa Hindu Parishad-led Shobha yatra on Shravan Somwar was taking place in Nuh, Haryana on 31 July 2023.

The violence which is allegedly premeditated as reported here indicates the extent of planning done before the event. It is very clear from the videos that emerged from the scene as to who was behind the attack. However, media channels from all around the world chose to report it differently. We try to explore the various headlines published in several major news media.

International Media

Maktoob Media called it “clashes that broke out during VHP rally”. In their news report, they clearly mention only the VHP and the procession and “reported” as if the violence broke out just like that. Maktoob Media was credited by BBC in a banned documentary which was perceived as a smear campaign against PM Modi.

CBS News reported the happenings by stating that “the violence started after right-wing Hindu groups, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, led a religious procession through a Muslim-majority part of Haryana’s Nuh district.”

This report appears to imply that the violence against the yatris was somehow justified simply because they entered a Muslim-majority area. The article has a photo of people clad in saffron burning an effigy and this is from an incident in June 2022.

Source: CBS News

The BBC reported this violence in a similar fashion. It only highlighted the news that “Mosque set on fire, cleric killed in Indian state” and the violence broke out during “a procession by hardline Hindu nationalist groups” going by the same playbook as its counterparts.

Reuters reported it as “clashes between Hindus and Muslims”. 

Source: Swati Goel Twitter/Reuters website

They again highlighted only the fact that the mosque was burned down and that a cleric was killed and completely whitewash the horror faced by the thousands of yatris, men women, and children who had to take refuge in a temple to escape the stone pelting and firing by the Islamist mob.

DW News also follows the same template as the others.

Source: Swati Goel Twitter/DW News

The drop head reads “Communal violence has again flared up in northern India after a Hindu group marched through a Muslim-majority area in the Nuh district.”

Indian News Websites

This Hindustan Times report makes it sound as if a nameless/faceless mob was responsible for all the violence that happened at Nuh when it was very clear who the perpetrators were. The details in this report only point to misdoings against the Muslim community.

Source: HT

 

In another report documenting how the violence unfolded, it sounds as if Monu Manesar’s intention to participate in the yatra was the reason, and that justified the planning of the violence.

Source: HT

The same goes for India Today’s report, the cow vigilante was the key factor for the violence thereby making it sound justified.

Source: India Today

The Quint chose to share a video in their report with the video headline reading “.. How a Religious Procession Turned Violent” implying that it was the procession was responsible for the whole episode of violence and rioting.

In another report, The Quint talks about “Purported visuals have emerged from Badshahpur, where a mob is seen vandalising and setting fire to shops in the area. The incident took place at around 2 pm on Tuesday.” 

As expected, The Wire toed the line of its peers and reported the violence as “clashes that broke out during rally by Hindutva outfits in Nuh”.

The deck also claims, “The Wire saw two videos where Hindutva activists provoked people of Nuh to “welcome” the rallyists as their Yatra will “make it a point” to pass through Muslim-majority Nuh.”

Source: The Wire

Indian Journalists On Their Social Media Handles

Here’s how prominent journalists in India narrated stories about this incident. Here we have Rajdeep Sardesai, consulting editor of India Today.

He selectively showcases a Muslim shop owner whose shop was burnt during the riots when the truth is that shops of both communities were burnt down by the rioters.

A Twitter user replied with screenshots of various victims of the riots.

Another journalist, Faye D’Souza, took to her Instagram to post about the violence in Nuh. She follows the same template as her peers and highlights only the fact that the procession was attacked by a “mob”.

Source: Faye DSouza Instagram

A Twitter user pointed out how the “mob” she was describing had no religion.

Another Twitter user pointed out how she highlighted the name of the organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad that she mentioned in her post that the nameless mob attacked.

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