More than two thirds of the journalists surveyed in India have alleged that media organisations in the world’s most populous country give positive coverage to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, raising concerns about news-impartiality, according to a study.
The study published on July 26 by the Lokniti and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies also points to the perception among journalists that news organisations may not be upholding their role as government watchdogs.
Media professionals expressed concern over the potential erosion of public trust in media while the study pointed to the need for more independent news outlets.
Journalists indicated that the quality of news-reporting has worsened both on TV and print with improvements noted only in reporting on digital outlets.
The study backed reports that India’s news media unfairly tends to target the Muslim community.
The study points to deeply rooted concerns over alleged news-bias towards the Modi government.
Entitled, "Indian Media: Trends and Patterns", the study found around 80 percent of 206 journalists surveyed online said the media favours Modi’s BJP..
Around 86 percent of freelance reporters said that the media coverage of the Modi administration was too favourable, while 81 percent of journalists who are employed at news organisations concurred.
When it comes to media reporting around opposition parties, 8 percent of journalists claimed it was too favourable while 61 percent said it was not fair coverage.
Sixteen percent of journalists said that they worked with organisations who had pushed them towards quitting over their political leanings.
Over half of the English language-based reporters pointed to alleged commonplace workplace discrimination over their political views.
The study found that digital reporters are most likely to experience harassment online, with 78 percent experiencing it in connection to online social media posts. However, the figure stands at 55 percent for TV journalists and 54 for print journalists.
Around two-thirds of those surveyed indicated that they had been harassed at least once which included either abuse, threats, bullying or trolling.
