Press Council of India vide its order dated November 15, 2022 censured a local evening newspaper of Mysuru called ‘Star of Mysore’ for publishing an editorial where it called the Muslim community in India, ‘bad apples’ that the country needs to get rid of.
In April 2020, Siddarth KJ of ‘Campaign Against Hate Speech’ had filed a complaint against ‘Star of Mysore’ for publishing provocative editorial titled ‘Bad apples in the basket’.
Advocating for action against the Muslim community, the editorial had stated ‘the ideal solution to the problem created by bad apples is to get rid of them’. In this regard, ‘Campaign Against Hate Speech’, issued a press release whereby it hailed the PCI order and said, “This order of the PCI, even though coming after nearly two and a half years of filing of the complaint, follows observations by various high courts of India that the Tablighi Jamaat had been unjustly condemned as responsible for the spread of the pandemic. The vile and hateful reportage by news media, particularly in Karnataka had vitiated the public sphere to such an extent that many Muslims had faced abuse and even violence during the first wave of the pandemic.”
The enquiry committee of PCI observed that the editorial targeted the Muslim community. “though the community is not being specifically named, the indications are found in certain sentences of the article,” the order reads. The committee further pointed out that the editorial states, “the nation is currently hosting an annoying 18 percent of its population self-identifying as rotten apples”. The editorial further reads, “An ideal solution to the problem created by bad apples is to get rid of them, as the former leader of Singapore did a few decades ago or as the leadership in Israel is currently doing”
The Committee opined that the editorial points towards a particular community and it was written in the context of the corona pandemic and that it is unfair to blame a particular community for the spread of the pandemic. “there were several lapses during the relevant period and we cannot identify people belonging to a certain community as being responsible for those lapses, the order reads”.
The committee refused to accept the contentions of the newspaper that the editorial had been published in ‘good faith’ and had been published in the context of the coronavirus pandemic to caution readers against those not following safety protocols.
The Press should not indulge in such divisive acts, the Committee stated. “it should desist from publishing inflammatory writing which will fan the flames of communalism,” the committee opined.
After perusing the apology published by the Editor, the Committee was of the opinion that the same was tendered because a mob surrounded the newspaper’s office and thus deemed it to be not genuine.
The PCI, after perusing the committee’s recommendations accepted the report along with the recommendations and adopted the same, thus censuring the newspaper.
The PCI order may be read here:
The Press Release of Campaign Against Hate Speech may be read here:
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