to cops and other waste, they collect rotten ro, ram doughty, then sells it to buy more books a day on our own, on the circuit that the down people around our neighborhood that still don't care about how to dispose of their waste. and that our target and our target is not only have in the mall by library in one village, it is expanding now, and we hope that the people would be more aware of the environments and ingle. ah, i forgot chuck of the headlines here on al jazeera, the un security council has warned. the conflict in ethiopia tegra region could spiral into a civil war, calling for an end the fighting and urging dialogue. in a country over a 110000000 people over 90 different ethnic groups and 80 languages, no one can predict what continued fighting and insecurity will bring. but let me

be clear. what is certain is that the risk of ethiopia descending into a widening civil war is only to real. that would bring about a humanitarian catastrophe and consume the future of such an important country. poland is closing part of its border crossing with better roofs. after large groups of migrants tried to force their way through. poland accuses the bell or russian government of helping people to illegally cross. to get into that you, the usaa reopened its borders to all that night. to travelers for the 1st time and 20 months visitors from more than 30 countries, i've been banned since early 2020. when corona virus restrictions were imposed, land borders between mexico and canada have also reopened denmark as were imposing cobit 19 restrictions less than 2 months after scrapping them, it's in response to a sharp rise in infections. a health pos will be re introduced to help stop the spread. authorities are worried, the countries entering a 3rd wave on monday reported more than 2000 cases. 4 5th day the

committee investigating the storming of the u. s. capitalist calling 6 associates of former president donald trump to testify the panels finding out if trump and his team plotted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results on january the 6th from support. a storm congress to stop the certification of jo biden's election victory on a fire at a school in the jazz 2nd biggest city has killed at least 26 children that were age between 3 and 8. it's not clear what caused the fire city of mud adi. near the southern border with nigeria. 3 classrooms made of straw have been completely destroyed. temporary classrooms are often used to make room for students in overcrowded schools. well, those were the headlines. the news continues the on al jazeera, after context. ambia station, thanks for watching bye, for now, for tens of thousands of children were born in to lived under the iso regime in

iraq and syria. now, many are in camps, either office with mothers, rejected by their own communities kick you think people are going to welcome them after that, of course. and you documentary his, that chilling and traumatic stories for the children throw stones at me. iraq's last generation on al jazeera hello and welcome to context india. i'm fear desousa coming to you from the city of mom by and context india. our aim is to give you an in depth look into the world's most populous democracy. from the inside. we're taking a closer look at what has perhaps been the biggest crisis india has faced since independence, the co would pandemic in this our 3rd episode when examining the role of the indian media. how effective were they in producing journalism in public interest? counting disinformation and holding those in power to account. i will be speaking with to journalist who's outlets occupy very different spaces in the indian media

landscape. deductible, garage and founding editor of the online news publication go via an ard yoga. nothing editorial director for our gym in monte magazine and website at the close of this week's episode, we will be featuring an excerpt from a piece of music created through the cupboard months. this week. our artist is been gully. singer songwriter, a mercury ah . when covert hit india 1st in 2020, and then much worse, and the 2nd wave of 2021. it tested all of the countries institutions, exposing deep flaws in some sectors. few more flawed than the country's bossed media feel. and under houston, come our saw the bugle form it on, they put this look good on it on there, we got on barn magazine,

i had it i india has more than 400 news channels that broadcast in about 20 different languages. there are thousands of newspapers in news websites and then of course, that are the social media platforms as well. this is one of the most active and heavily populated media markets in the world. and in the past decade, it has grown more polarized and politicized than ever before. just how well equipped and willing are these numerous news outlets, especially the most prominent ones, to deal with the challenges of reporting uncovered in india. one thing that we definitely needed news reporting to focus on was demanding accountability from the government. we should have add more journalists question, our preparedness, we should have had the media really examined the state of health infrastructure on what we were being door by. governments was the reality on the ground. but if you look at the deli based national television use, janice, and the reason we're focusing on them is because they really do said the agenda.

and we have a mass following a majority of these channels with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 channels war primarily acting as cheerleaders of the government. political, i want to vis job on the mancha shorter here will be a movie. me polished up long but idea. those are jobs for a couple on bugger biscuit parcels. her biscuit bellanca plan. through the 1st year of the pandemic. some of the tv news coverage really exemplified the problems with india's mainstream media sensationalism. a lack of critical perspective. and especially in one case, that of the international muslim movement called the leakage ahmad, a tendency to 0 in on a group, and stigmatize them in march 2020. in the early days of the pandemic and well before the government announced the 1st nationwide lockdown, members of the leakage, ahmad gathered in the thousands for a conference at the groups headquarters in new delhi social distance in guidelines were not followed by the groups members. but they were not alone in that,

across india, people was slow to follow mandates on distancing and masking the media pylon on the deleted your mom was one of the ugly. a moment in the coverage of the pandemic of the top. it's probably not a lot of i could tell me or not mati bunker for the hysteria over that. the big, huge amount was one instance of misinformation being amplified during the pandemic . it was not the only one misinformation has been a significant problem. i mean, everyone was trying to come to grips with what it was and didn't understand it. the other thing i would say, which became a problem is definitely the point at which we started believing that the writers was gone. so there was no time to pick evidence of that statement and many of started believing it. so it's actually became misinformation. and that's what led to, in some ways, the 2nd wave coming back to us in a very, very powerful way. when the 2nd eve of core would hit us in april 2021,

it became too difficult, even for prob avenue. that gets to ignore the situation. read on many, many new men and women are very prominent for government plea and go to in fact savannah from the weekend and that's often the life of the media. if someone talks about lucas, you thought about it a little fancy. but even in this situation, when the lack of policy and preparation were for evidence, there seemed to be a tactical shifting the blame from prime minister more d and the central government of the regional governments or state governments. this is the fact that media shifting the blame for all being well all the time itself is still the state is media is jane doesn't we should do when we are not. this is the straightforward should go best and gone with brenda. it was a really bad media is reporting the media is the last year

when you look at newspapers ad, see many national newspapers did a fairly decent job of record keeping. but among these newspapers only very few newspapers really rank big, with prominent families, headlines, or aggressive demands for accountability. one exception to this was in the newspaper. then in pasco, there reporting had been fairly blank for the lack of a better word in the 1st week. but there seemed to have been a clear and it wouldn't shift. and the 2nd with, for instance, they were sending reporters to crematory. i had to count the number of funeral buyers. this was to compare the official numbers that were being put out by governments will says, what was actually happening on the ground. those images of crematorium full to capacity and working round the clock didn't just make the front features of indian newspapers. they were all over the international news coverage to those days, post rich or you know what? one look and the read yes. a nation which was made by some of the lobby

that because of the government infrastructure, the government practices see what is happening. the order did was in been on site, so what was the order? as long as they do it, by the peak of the 2nd wave in may 2021. the silence from new delhi had become deafening. since he came into office in 2014, the prime minister and the reins from audi has not given any press conferences in which he has taken questions from. the media is one on one interview already made up some of the base. i've been out of my mind to make up for ask about, however, as a 2nd wave rampaged through the country with case numbers and debt to sorting, the prime minister finally appeared on television. melons local.

i'm going to be number 100. i don't get but he's not going to be san phone. i've got about mr. pandemic panic. not only will people who desperately trying to solve oxygen and space and hospitals, they would also scrambling for medication. now more than ever, medical misinformation was a significant issue. one of the most notable examples involved a man named bob bob, but i'm davies, essentially a practitioner of yoga who's done an entrepreneur. success will entrepreneur that and also has utilized the power of television and not just multiplied his audience across the country, but also created a connect with his brandon creating annually. and with the brand,

i think the problem specifically was that, but under the launch something called coronel, which was clearly not a cure part. cobra, 1900. but it was position as a cure for over 19 the matter also got a little aggravated because it seemed to have got the blessings of the ministry. there was a long ceremony and the minister was standing right there. but everyone backtracked quite furiously after that because it was a public outcry when bob around they read it further into controversy. calling modern medicine, a stupid science doctor hush for the health minister at the time that the c minister who was present at the launch cotton and hovel tablets had to publicly demand in apology from, from the india health care was funding the government coverage was not just a huge public health crisis. it was a public relations prices as well. this made reporting on failures of governance, or even just calling them out, particularly fucked, to the pandemic reporters. and this case is filed against the predominant he

b govern states for legitimate news reporting. as the 2nd wave was approaching its p, at the end of april 2021, indian government ordered facebook instagram and twitter take down post particular movie. these included tweets was a parliament. there was a campaign by the prime minister's media team in may 2021. the backfired somewhat. indians were urged to ship positive stories for the prime minister to it during his monthly read. your monolog monkey bought in a thought, the online outreach lead to the tweet being deleted in a country with such a vocal media. how was it that through the pandemic? so many news outlets, but the seemingly point just to be that either distracted this informed or delayed meaningful, impactful discussion. i'm thinking with to senior journalists are other nothing editorial director of what roger magazine and website that says it represents

liberal right to send to discourse and india. we also have that for the raj and founding editor of the via an online publication with a reputation for adversarial and challenging journalism. everyone, thank you so much for joining us on context india. my 1st question is to the both of you, how do you think the indian media, especially prominent, doubtless fit during the pandemic? mr. jonathan, you 1st. if you did media as a collect you, i would say they do the job well, it, especially in the question, well ah, do you do it right to give out no medical opinion and wanting people or what not to do that kind of stuff. in the 2nd, i think because of the porosity of the view, i think a living room for boss, largely because nobody expected him to be so bad. but i think that happened put a shot there that journalists were professional and amateur and impromptu julius. but i would say take it as a collective, i think it was done reasonably with job, but there are a lot of people who went bonkers the lot of damage that also is that,

but he got with you could take this about roger the same question to you, i think in phase one, it's highly the rest of a letter major section of the media. played an active role in shall i say, communal lising, the pandemic trying to paint the spread of pro virus in the initial phases in religious colors. and then also, of course, in the wider of ecosystem fueled by, by right wing political groups where there was a very clear and conscious attempt made to present muslims as the prime carriers of the novel corona virus. i think this was highly unforced, clipped, regrettable, even criminal. and to my mind the stands out as one of the signal failures of the new media in phase one. i think another failure, i would say is a, was the,

you know, there was a section that was reported by diligently, the impact of the unannounced and unplanned government locked down and the huge hardship this caused on literally millions and millions of workers. and there wasn't enough of, you know, sustained coverage of that exodus across all sections of media. there was also an attempt by the, by the section of the media to deflect attention to. we're from the government's very obvious feelings in planning for in preparing for, for the doctor. there was a lot of, you know, a lot of dog listing and blatant targeting of the slims. and this was also the reflected under section of the, in the press. and finally, the use of social media, bye bye. have you said motivated political activists then and showed that this message was carried across the country so that the, you know,

toxic messaging was delivered all the way to everybody. smartphone i think was the when the 2nd with the lead was definitely established by a handful of television channels. this is just another one. review off these channels could be that they did. in fact, target communities. they did in fact spec misinformation and they failed to on many occasions, fact check the government's more optimistic claims of how the problem was being handled. how would you rate that performance then? i think the point is if you do a short in the dark, so in fact i, if you really want to place this one's going to be out there, the bottom it be certainly another important it's in the 2nd year because there's happened both soon and, but weekly, but these guys are getting wild numbers like and me and debts and i 1000000 deaths without any bases. just extract the learning from blaine numbers, the responsibility of the western media. i would say it's a gate that us indian media into more that somewhere that is all this amount of

bias and this reporting, denver discount, what is it? so the damage was more done by the international media, which actually, well question and a 2nd realistic and a very negative view with no concession or what are being offered to the fact that the government may have been trying to do it fairly these noon. i mean, you're talking about immunization, we've been talking wilton, been talking about all kinds of things in india, which are the worst come in, the litigation. we will knock if people are talking about the room all the time as well. that was a little bit better. so i think a minimization has been happening right through on both sides. it's not a one sided miss of a 1000. do you want to respond to her? of the factors that are the community reporting. all's the call of i listen, says one was not the product or of popular prejudice or some misgivings among in these channels. we're getting the cue from, from the health ministry you know, so you have the irony of the w h o issuing guidelines. thing that in reporting

about the pandemic, we should not focus on the, you know, religious or other forms of identity of admissions. and you had the unity health ministry every day in the press conference or adding, you know, giving a new percentage for the total number of cases that could be attributed to be, to the public. and so was it had, i think there were several years publications in india and overseas that ran pictures of the crematorium that were overflowing, you wrote. and i, court speaking the truth to power does not mean speaking, insensitivity, or showing visuals that can traumatize and court. but there were several others who felt that the depth of the problem and the crisis needed strong wording and emotive photographs. where do you think the media should draw that line? see, i think if you see militia commission is an emotional peril your deal once and

the hindu commission is quite different from the question that you have braced jenny certainty. and it could be a bother. a lot of people had to you of that because people data forward and they do the last place you are showing what is money and one hundreds of them and you want to show how india was mismanaging it. and you're actually not thinking about the people was and the other ones will be ok. so this is what is wrong about the why does it the system of the world ok offer. does that all around box again, what are the charter play limit audio or orwell. and that's why many of them have to be committed to be open. so this was the issue. and instead of saying this is the problem, you sort of shore as those on the nation is. i don't think anybody in the us the show and i live in our coming down every now and then just as people do what we did . and unfortunately the media did the same thing because most of the other was an indian. i must, you know,

respect and respectfully disagree with what you're going up with a thing. i think that it was important for the scale of the tragedy to be conveyed. and i'm saying that the person who himself had the misfortune of going to accommodate him to conduct the last rites of my father in law and my last 20 friends in the pandemic. and i think that i did not find any of the visuals that look at it in the media of you know, body's been committed and make sure hannah, you know, disrespectful to the dead. yes, they were deeply embarrassing for the government. and so my visuals and reports of you know, bodies being disposed of along the ganges, the government didn't like this. and there was then a concerted campaign to bent this portrayal. aud depiction of the

scale of the tragedy, the gas, something that is supposed to be and be indian, anti hindu. ah, that's not the case at all. and i think it's highly unfair to call journalists who often put them so that risk by going out there, i'm covering these scenes of, of loss of, of commissions to golden budget. so i think that's very, very unfair. the fact is that what you've had is a detailed analysis of depth that goes biased at insertion another and nothing is gained by by under playing statistics. and we know that this happened on a systematic basis. so if the government was not so keen to hide, all was also inept and gathering data. you wouldn't have this mismatch, but there is a mismatch. and i think it's important for the media, whether the media being india or abroad to try to put their finger on what the

scale of the tragedy might really and why do want to ask both of you this question as well. india ranks to the 142 out of 180 countries in the world press freedom index as seen as your list. your says, do you see a deterioration in the manner in which government deals with you, mr. the? mr. jonathan, you 1st. i don't think so. i think the same noise didn't go many anytime this independence from narrowed down will be not one of them has actually a fixed in. and i think while it is in india, how, when, if only on an inability criticisms especially a dire and or give them they're unable to handle. so this is, this is the kind of politicians we haven't even get. so it's not unique to the government. so i do agree that it's always been this bad things are always going back, but i think that we have we are currently with the single qualitative escalation in

official attacks on, on press freedom. and the reason i say that is because the traditional form in which politicians made that displeasure known was the filing of criminal or civil defamation case. so when i was talking to jennifer, who was she for us to find lesson to criminal defamation case against me in response to new stories. now, you know that in the newspapers and media media from the quite used to handling defamation case because there's been 6 decades of the use of defamation as a tool of how to spend. what's been happening in the last 2 periods is the invoking of criminal charges on the section 123, which is promoting communal hatred, or 5 or 5 spreading rumors with a view to triggering an infection again, against the government. you have these charges being leveled against reporters against editors, against media platforms for new stories. this represents

a new and dangerous done. and i should say that our colleagues and me are particularly bad you targeted because you have several report of against f i r will filed under the address to the law for news reports, and journalists are regularly coming to the police station to render the council stories that they have to go of the state. so yes, there is. that is, you know, there is an added problem of which goes beyond the traditional quickly quickly nessa potter dish that we've seen over the past 6 seconds. my last question to the 2 of you is this media watch dogs and writes organization called the indian media increasingly polarized and partisan post pandemic, massive elections coming up. how can the indian media better fulfill its very important democratic rule? now going forward, this is going to i think the viewers in leaders get the media they deserve. and the

vision is not unique to india. if you see the us there, you see similar pull that information, the right is not willing to listen to the left left is not willing to the technology can be platform but isn't it. so the bottom of that, let me tell you that if you want, the truth must look at public issues. we probably disagree with one another and read them on the same issue. then you will come closer to some other other i think the media is right and the latest so that anybody can do about it. but i think what the least that we should demand of each other i think is that we stand strongly by meet the, the right to breastfeed them in this country. and wherever this right is a fact, no matter who the target is, no matter who's doing the targeting. i think john list and media platforms have

a responsibility and a duty to speak up. this too much of selectivity. if, if a, if a government goes after the job list that you don't like and be preferred to keep quiet . i think this is wrong and i just wish that the media as a whole would set aside on their own, you know, different perspectives and say, look, we need to see if barbie just need to. because if that goes, then we have nothing left to protect us gentlemen, thank you so much for speaking with us here on context india. and finally on the shore, we want to share our space with indian voices outside of government, academics, and mainstream media. there are a multitude of artists in india who've been creating work through the pandemic. we wanted to feature some of the varied languages, the work in the perspectives they bring. this week we're closing to the next up to the song in bengali titled, i mean up to me, which translates to me or hugh songwriter i'm or to re roche performed and firms this all during the 1st lockdown in india in 2020. i hope you enjoyed the music.

thank you for watching context india hill on. i'll just see that english. a . ah. a ah

. ah, 25 years ago, a new era television used in the middle east began o a 2 part documentary series marking the 25th anniversary of al jazeera, telling the story of the channels logged in. and now it became a recognized global brand. ah, the story of al jazeera, a unique path in the vietnam war, the u. s. army used to heidi toxic out of the side with catastrophic consequences. agent orange was the most destructive instance of chemical warfare a decade later. the same happened in the us state of oregon, these helicopters flying over the ridge braying something and they didn't even see the case. foot 2 women are still fighting for justice against some of the most

powerful forces in the world. the people versus agent orange on al jazeera ah, risking a civil war, the u. n. has a dire warning about the conflict and ethiopia, tig ridge. ah, hello, i'm down, jordan, this is al jazeera la you from dough are also coming up, sending more soldiers to the buddha. poland accuses bella, luce, of helping migrants, legally cross into the can you going.