PCI censures Kannada newspaper for article blaming Muslims for COVID spread
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New Delhi: The Bengaluru-based Kannada newspaper, Vijay Karnataka, has been censured by the Press Council of India (PCI) for publishing an article containing hate speech against the Muslim community. The PCI censure means that the publication will not receive any government advertisements for a certain period.
The PCI action came in response to the Campaign Against Hate Speech (CAHS), a group that promotes media accountability that flagged an article titled "All those who have died from corona are from the same community – why do they still come together in the name of prayers?” published in the newspaper on March 28, 2020.
Citing the article which had portrayed Muslims as carriers of COVID-19 and attempted to blame the Muslim community for the spread of the virus, the CAHS said in its complaint that Vijay Karnataka had violated PCI's Norms of Journalistic Conduct.
The article alleged that while Hindus and Christians were obeying the curfew rules, the Muslim community would converge for Namas. CAHS argued that the newspaper failed to remain neutral and that the article was provocative, creating communal disharmony, and amounted to several offences under the Indian Penal Code.
An inquiry committee under the PCI found that the article was targeting Muslims, despite Vijay Karnataka’s assertion that the article had not mentioned any particular community. +
Besides, the newspaper argued that whatever was found in the article was based on facts available in the public domain. The Inquiry Committee held that the article had spread misinformation during the pandemic and had targeted the Muslim community, thereby violating the PCI's Norms to disseminate only verified news.
Earlier, the Committee had suggested that Vijay Karnataka should apologize and publish it in the newspaper, but the newspaper refused to do so. The Committee emphasized that newspapers should avoid writing editorials that could create discord among people and fuel communalism.
Subsequently, the Committee advised the PCI to strongly censure Vijay Karnataka. After reviewing the case records and the Committee's report, the PCI accepted its findings and decided to censure Vijay Karnataka, as stated in the PCI's statement: 'The Press Council, on considering the records of the case and the Inquiry Committee's report, accepts its findings and adopts the report to censure Vijay Karnataka newspaper with the aforementioned direction.