Thread by @heyproto

In the middle of election madness, with news, "news", opinion, analysis and just plain shouting, let's stop and think about all the things that make up our identities in India, and how they affect the stories we tell: bit.ly/2ZdnXYA #HeyMediaIntersections

Have you read this moving piece from @ShaliniNair13 about minor Bachhada girls who are forced into caste-sanctioned prostitution? bit.ly/30kyp12

Come to Fridays@PROTO to hear @ShaliniNair13 talk about applying the gender lens to discussing development issues. You can register here: bit.ly/2ZdnXYA #HeyMediaIntersections

@ShaliniNair13 @AjoyAshirwad @nit_set @namitabhandare @RemaNagarajan If you've ever wondered about how our population is represented in the Lok Sabha, you should read @namitabhandare's piece for @IndiaSpend on the percentage of Lok Sabha MPs who are Muslim women. It's an eye-opener: bit.ly/2Jn7rRc #HeyMediaIntersections

@ShaliniNair13 @AjoyAshirwad @nit_set @namitabhandare @RemaNagarajan @IndiaSpend Come and listen to @namitabhandare talk about addressing the rural-urban divide in our Fridays@PROTO meetup on the 17th. More info here: bit.ly/2ZdnXYA #HeyMediaIntersections

The Meghalaya mine tragedy stands out as one of the great horrors of our time. Read @nit_set's sensitive piece that approaches the story from various angles: bit.ly/2JiVhIM.

You can come and hear @nit_set speak about enfranchising the marginalised in our coverage of the economy at our Fridays@PROTO meetup. More info here: bit.ly/2ZdnXYA #HeyMediaIntersections

The calm before the storm: we're waiting for our guests to arrive. Ready, set, go! #HeyMediaIntersections

Our speakers warming up! #HeyMediaIntersections

First up is @ShaliniNair13, who’s going to talk about how to apply the gender lens to our coverage of development issues #HeyMediaIntersections

@ShaliniNair13 "When we talk about the Women’s Reservation Bill, I’ve seen the main stream media has been extremely dismissive of Dalit and Bahujan voices. This is why we need gender and caste intersectionality.” #HeyMediaIntersections

@ShaliniNair13 There are problems with the way we approach identity in newsrooms. #HeyMediaIntersections

@ShaliniNair13 We are thoughtless in our choice of language. We say chairperson when it’s a woman, but still say chairman when it’s man. It’s ingrained. #HeyMediaIntersectionality

Now it's @namitabhandare, who's going to talk about gender and representations, especially in the context of #rapeculture. #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare “Through a longer lens, the Jyoti Singh effect reduced the entire conversation on gender to violence. Gender is not just about violence. It has to include women’s workforce participation, their unpaid labour, etc.” #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare Let us speak about the elephant in the room - our coverage of rape. #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare Which stories get attention?
They must take place in cities
The women must be middle class (Aspirational India sees on her their own unfulfilled middle class dreams)
They must include grotesque violence and depravity
#HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare Also, let's ask a very fundamental question.
#HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare Caste and class play a big role in how we cover rape. The rape of a Dalit women is routine and is rarely reported. The rapes of poor women are also rarely reported. #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare The media-led conversation around crime is backward looking. The subtext is: the world is a bad place, public areas are dangerous, public transport is dangerous, and rapists are bad men. #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare Women, stay at home. The result: an inordinate focus on protection, not prevention. #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare The media’s coverage of the Jyoti Singh case led to regressive thinking. Yes, we talk about rape more, but do we do it in a way that can trigger change, that can address the inequalities women deal with? #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare "I'm also uncomfortable being the gatekeeper. How do we decide what people should read about?" #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare We're wrapped in a deep discussion of how to report rape, how to filter, how to alter out focus so we aren't voyeuristic and can make sure we give space to people who are not in the focus right now. #HeyMediaIntersections

@namitabhandare .@AjoyAshirwad says: When you’re going to cover the story you have to think about what angles can be brought it, and it’s important to do this, but unfortunately some of us don’t have the space or time to do it. #HeyMediaIntersections

Up next: @AjoyAshirwad talks about how to place caste at the centre of our stories. #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad Whatever you do in India, you cannot escape caste. #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad Ajoy explains the fallout from the arrest and conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. No one in the media explored the space that his followers, the Deras, occupy in Punjab. Why are they supporting him so blindly? #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad Sikhism is understood to be a religion that doesn’t have caste discrimination, but Punjab has the highest percentage of Dalits in India. The fact of the matter is that the Deras gave these people dignity and a position. #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad The Dalit assertion against Jat Sikhs-dominated state politics is central to the story. #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad In large parts of the Doaba and Malwa regions of Punjab, caste atrocities
against Dalits are rampant. #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad Jat Sikh zamindars regularly boycott Dalits to deny them their fundamental rights. The anger among Dalits against the exploitative socioeconomic arrangement reflects in the violent defense of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
#HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad What we learn from this story, for Ajoy, is that reporters also need to think about their subjects. #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad A city reporter can also understand a farmer's issues, if he or she is trained and prepared to do so. It's also important to remember that they might not be wearing their farmer hat at that point, says @nasrhadi #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad @nasrhadi What practice would you institutionalise to ensure that those reporters get exposed to this approach again and again in a way that holds their interest and continues to have an effect? #HeyMediaIntersections

@AjoyAshirwad @nasrhadi How do you calibrate the sensitivity of reporters that they can do this, asks @jatingandhi. And should it be only reporters, asks @nasrhadi, or should editors also do it? #HeyMediaIntersections

The next session is @nit_set, who's asked to be completely off the record, so we won't be live tweeting. #HeyMediaIntersections

Wrapping up the evening is @RemaNagarajan who talks about how intersections come into play with health reporting. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Rema uses the example of the cleaning up the medical entrances. They managed to get their hands on all the data, and what they found out was epic.

#HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Pointing to the headline of her story (bit.ly/2Q9AoR9), “I was not sure we would get such a headline or frontpage because stories of caste are rarely encouraged.” #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Exam results provided all kinds of data, castes, marks, etc. When we looked at this, it was clear that marks had little to do with seats in medical colleges, but money did. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan “Unsurprisingly, the biggest beneficiaries of the management and NRI seats are students from the unreserved category, accounting for over 60% of these seats (10,373 out of 17,243)." #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan But everyone focuses only on reservations. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Even the comments on the story, shifted the blame to the SC/ST students, refusing to accept the data presented by us. In fact the result of this story was, none of the states started putting out this data. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Many seats go unfilled not because there aren't enough students. It's because many of them cannot afford the private college. And the private colleges must have their seats filled. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan “Tamil Nadu doesn’t have a shortage of doctors in rural areas, because 50% of the students that come from rural areas, who are far more open to serving in rural areas.” A system like NEET ruins this. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Despite the fact the state shows that 50% reservation works, other states refuse to adopt this argument. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan Take the case of the Social Justice ministry that cites patient safety as a grounds from discriminating against disabled medical aspirants despite studies showing that doctors with disabilities have been shown to be more empathetic. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan There is a skewed distribution of doctors and colleges, which is where the problem of the supposed shortage of doctors comes from. Some states have a glut of doctors--more than the WHO's 1:1000 guideline. #HeyMediaIntersections

@RemaNagarajan The larger point @RemaNagarajan is making is this: intersections of power come into play everywhere, even when we think we are fighting them. #HeyMediaIntersections

All the talking is done we thought...

And that's a wrap! Thanks for coming out! #HeyMediaIntersections

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