On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti this year, 2024, we interviewed some of India’s independent Dalit journalists who are using social media as a progressive tool to tell stories that matter to the community. Understanding their journalistic journeys, accomplishments, and challenges.
These journalists are using digital platforms like YouTube and Facebook as effective instruments to reach out to a wide audience, raise independent voice on issues that matter, and make a mark for themselves.
We spoke to Sumit Chauhan of The News Beak, Ashok Kumar of Dalit Dastak, and Dr. Mahesh Verma of Democratic Bharat, who are among the emerging Dalit YouTube Journalists: in this conversation we understand their journalistic journey, both the opportunities and challenges that digital platform offers them.
From facing caste discrimination in newsrooms to burying critical stories, and creating independent voices for themselves and finding satisfaction in the work they do, this is the story of Dalit journalists who have overcome challenges to establish a niche and a name.
Sumit Chauhan – The News Beak
Sumit is an Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) graduate, and runs his YouTube channel The News Beak, which has 9.25 lakh subscribers and has published around 3400 videos. For him journalism is a tool to change society, and his early disillusionment with corporate media houses as a first-generation learner led him to chart an independent path for himself.
Speaking to us at Sabrangindia over the call, he observed that whatever was taught in the classrooms about journalism was hardly followed on the ground. Sumit started his career with ABP News after completing his IIMC study in 2014, and later on worked with Zee News, India News, and News Nation, before quitting the latter in 2020 to work independently through his YouTube channel.
Speaking to us about his newsroom experiences, he flagged the caste-based discrimination was rampant in these media houses, and he personally faced a lot of difficulties and discrimination as a Dalit journalist. Apart from critical stories being supressed because they look “negative”, Sumit noted that these big media houses hardly have any Dalit representation, and are similar to club memberships, except that such memberships in this case is based on caste. This directly had effects on recommendation for jobs, promotion, and kind of stories that would be appreciated.
Frustrated due to professional and personal pressure for not being able to work on issues which mattered for him, he quit his media job in 2020 to work exclusive for his YouTube channel. Before this, he had already begun a YouTube channel in 2019 named, The Shudra, due to sheer discontent at work. He explained that when he launched the channel in 2019, he consciously named it The Shudra as he wanted to be caste assertive, but later changed the name to The News Beak as he realised the importance of the annihilation of caste. Interestingly, when he launched The Shudra, in order to avoid personal identification, he only used audio to tell the stories, but it nonetheless resonated with the audience. As the channel started to monetise, it encouraged him to quit his job and work as an independent journalist.
He explained that while there were lot of members from the community who had started reporting on YouTube and other digital platforms, he felt that the professional approach of the journalism was still missing there, which further encouraged him to take up his present role. Through his channel he aims to highlight Dalit history and the issues of the Dalit community, including critical stories affecting their lives, and as the channel and resources grow, he plans diversify the themes and issues he covers.
Ashok Kumar – Dalit Dastak
Ashok Das is also an IIMC graduate and started his journalistic career in 2006. His journey as a journalist has won him various recognition, and he has also been recipient of the Global Investigative Journalism Network Fellowship. He runs his YouTube channel Dalit Dastak, and maintains that his focus is to show positive side and achievements of the Dalit community, as he wants to go beyond depicting Dalits as an oppressed community. Emphasising the achievements of Dalits is important for him, as it shows that the members of the SC community are not mere hapless victims but people capable of obtaining best things in their lives. Furthermore, their success can help inspire others to follow their suit and encourage them not to get bogged down in the face of difficulties. His channel Dalit Dastak has 12.2 lakh subscribers and hosts over 4700 videos.
His career in journalism spans various news outlets, including Lokmat, Amar Ujala, Bhadas4Media and Deshonnati. In June 2012, he launched his magazine Dalit Dastak, which covered various Dalit issues, but which had to be stopped in 2022 due to increase in the cost of the printing. In 2015, he launched his publication house Das Publications and in 2017 he launched his YouTube channel Dalit Dastak, both of which are presently running.
Ashok observed in his conversation with us that YouTube helped him to expand the reach of his journalist content, even to the audience overseas, making his content global at the same the cost. Additionally, it also helped to interaction with his viewers as they readily kept sending him the feedback over for the content he produced. His primary purpose remains to highlight Dalit heroes and history, which remains marginalised by mainstream media, as they would have never studied or engaged with the history in which Dalits figures are prominent forces.
On the completion of 100 years of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s Mook Nayak, Dalit Dastak had also organised an event at India International Centre to celebrate his achievements. Recently, in 2020, he was invited for a panel discussion on Caste and Media by Harvard University. Apart from India, he has reported about caste discrimination in the US, Canada, and Dubai. Similarly, he published 25 stories about Dalit living in Canada. Ashok believes that his exposure of foreign countries has made him realise that freedom of speech for press is strongly respected in these countries, which we should learn from them. But at the same time, he notes that as the Indians have migrated overseas, they have also taken their caste identity with them across the globe, even if it is not as strong as it is in India.
Dr. Mahesh Verma
Dr. Mahesh’s experience in media spans across radio, print and electronic media, which began with his initial job at All India Radio in 2000. Then after, he was associated with Hindustan Times as a trainer in 2003, and with Vividh Bharti as Broadcaster during 2005-08 in Mumbai. Since then, he worked across the organisations, including ETV Rajasthan, Dainik Bhaskar, and Rajasthan Gaurav, the latter belonging to Vishwa Hindu Parishad, in which he faced casteist discrimination by the management. Later on, in 2019 he launched his own Youtube Channel, “Democratic Bharat”, which has been subscribed by over 20 thousand people. Dr. Mahesh noted that having his own channel allowed him to air independent voice, which would otherwise have been difficult. Even as he launched his channel in 2019 to focus on the issues of Dalit, Adivasi’s, and minorities, he personally suffers from various medical issues of bone and retina. But in spite of these personal, even offensive barriers that he has suffered since his time in Mumbai, he continues to actively pursue his journalistic goals un-intimidated.
Digital Discrimination
While online platforms have provided independent voice and audience to Dalit journalists, allowing them greater say in comparison to corporate media houses, the issue of censorship still looms large.
One of the journalists we spoke to alleged that if you use words like “Chamar”, “Bhangi”, or “Valmiki” in the news content –to showcase existing slurs and discrimination, even distinctions—the Platforms will not monetise your content, even though no such restriction applies when using words like “Kshtriya” or “Brahmin”! Even in monetising criteria I is clear that large social media platforms that are corporate giant’s caste discriminate!
Similarly, platforms like YouTube and Facebook use “Community Guidelines” to either demonetise the content or even remove content, putting inordinate pressure on journalist. In one such incident, the journalist alleged that when they uploaded content showing the victims hanging from the tree, Facebook demonetised their channel for 6 months, even though they had blurred the image as per the Guidelines.
Furthermore, copyright claims are also leading to contents of small producers being taken down the wall, which forces many journalists to then depend on content from secondary sources.
The new IT Rules have also added to burden of independent digital journalists, as those with small teams will find it difficult to comply with the rules which require appointment of grievance redressal officers by the digital media entities. Nonetheless, the digital space has opened up the arena for independent journalists, including Dalit journalists, to tell their stories fearlessly and uncompromisingly, which continues to inspire us.
Related:
Award Wapsi, Gujarat: Dalit journalist returns award
Untouchability and exclusion, absence of voice: Dalit situation 2023