Reporters Without Orders Ep 36: #Section377 and the media, #HardikPatel, farmers’ march & more.

This week’s Reporters Without Orders features our host Cherry Agarwal, our guest, lawyer-turned-journalist Vakasha Sachdev from The Quint, along with Rohin Verma and Amit Bhardwaj. The discussion starts with media’s coverage of Supreme Court’s landmark verdict -- decriminalisation of Section 377. Amit talks about the way in which reporters covered the event, while Rohan weighs in about media’s need to recreate the situation and things that should have been avoided. Vakasha says that being inside the courtroom on the day of judgement, hearing the judges and their unique responses, was an amazing and emotional experience. The panel also talks about the need to strike a balance between privacy and the need for media personnel, especially TV news, to capture the moment.Cherry also asks Vakasha about the problems with courtroom-related reportage in the absence of legal expertise among those covering the beat. “It becomes challenging as it creates new pressure, creates new confusion over what’s going on,” Vakasha says.Pointing out what the media missed, Cherry says stories on intersectionality of sexuality, caste, disability, mental health, gender identity and queer movement beyond 377 were given a miss. Amit points out that Hardik Patel’s hunger strike was still being under-reported. The national media has not been doing justice to this news, he says. [Patel has now ended his hunger strike]. Amit and Vakasha also weigh in on media’s failure to cover the farmers’ march in New Delhi. Amit says, “These people have been failed by the government and nobody cares.” The panel also discusses the violence that broke out at Delhi University’s Zakir Husain College. This, and more. Listen up!

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