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NewsTracker: the new conversation on the journalism of rape

We talk about rape. But do we talk enough about how rape is reported?

NewsTracker is a community of young bloggers who have come together to write about the representation of rape and sexual violence in the Indian news media.

We believe news journalists have a crucial role to play in combatting sexual violence. They can question stereotypes; influence attitudes, beliefs; help us rethink the way we read, we write, we think about rape and solutions for rape.

There are thousands of conversations about rape today. But not many on how rape is reported.

NewsTracker exists in this vacuum — as the start of a new conversation on the journalism of rape.

For us bloggers (and we hope our community will soon grow), it is a hands-on media literacy programme, an opportunity to immerse ourselves in news of an issue of utmost significance, to read it against the grain.

For our readers (media students, journalists, educators, those interested in issues of media representation), NewsTracker hopes to be a useful online resource of information, thoughts, questions.

I Think: The news is fine, but social media spreads lies

The news media follows ethics and does their job well. Print and TV journalists stick to the code of conduct that is taught to them. Howe...

Oct 12, 2020 / Read More

I Think: We should celebrate when scum are removed from society

I get my news mostly from my husband. He tells me about everything I should know about, including the rapes that are taking place. I can’...

Oct 06, 2020 / Read More

I Think: There’s no point in jailing rapists who are found guilty

I get most of my news from television and social media. The recent case in Hyderabad is all over the news right now. Cases are paid atten...

Aug 12, 2020 / Read More

Silences in journalism, rape threats after protests, MP ‘sex scandal’

“It is very important for journalists to unlearn a lot of what they have learnt,” says eminent feminist author Urvashi Butalia. In an in-...

Dec 31, 2019 / Read More

Gender budgeting and justice, death for Ranchi rapist, ‘Kiss of Love’

“There’s an inverse relationship between gender-budgeting and violence against women,” says noted economist Lekha Chakraborty. In an inte...

Dec 24, 2019 / Read More

The ‘safety’ paradox, Sengar convicted, ‘Rape in India’ controversy

“Safety, in my mind, has become a very oppressive category, and I don’t want anything to do with it,” says noted author and academic Madh...

Dec 17, 2019 / Read More

I Think: Men are not taught to see women as human beings

I get my news mostly from the media organisations I follow, like the Hindu, the Wire, Economic and Political Weekly, Vice — which I reali...

Dec 12, 2019 / Read More

பாலியல் + சம்பவம் ≠ rape

Pranati Narayan Visweswaran and Ankita Mathur

Dec 12, 2019 / Read More

I Think: The idea of protecting identity, no one seems to know what that is!

I am a news person, but not a newspaper person. I pretty much rely on inshorts and I have a couple of apps that I use for tracking news d...

Dec 12, 2019 / Read More

The media thrives on double standards, just like Indian society

I am a person who predominantly depends on social media to remain updated. And thanks to social media, along with the latest news, I also...

Dec 12, 2019 / Read More

Who runs NewsTracker?

NewsTracker is co-published by Bournemouth University (England) and Ashoka University (Sonepat), in collaboration with Amity School of Communication (Noida), Docfort Meducation (Bangalore), Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (Pune), the Department of Journalism and Communication at University of Madras (Chennai).

NewsTracker is coordinated by Dr Chindu Sreedharan, Dr Einar Thorsen (Bournemouth University) and Professor Vaiju Naravane (Ashoka University). At Ashoka University, the project is led by Anunaya Rajhans; at Amity School of Communication by Vidhanshu Kumar; at Docfort Meducation by Anna Thomas; at Symbiosis by Professor Anita Patankar; and at the University of Madras by Professor Gopalan Ravindran.

You can read more about our team by following this link. And if you like what we are doing, and want to join this conversation, please email us here.

Tell us more

NewsTracker forms part of a research and capacity building project titled Media Action Against Rape and Sexual Violence (MAAR, for short), led by Bournemouth University and UNESCO New Delhi.

MAAR is co-directed by Dr Einar Thorsen and Dr Chindu Sreedharan of Bournemouth University. It involves an ambitious 20-month study — the largest of this nature attempted in the Indian context — to profile news coverage and map the journalistic challenges of reporting rape and sexual violence across India.

We are still working on our project web site, so do check back soon. In the meantime, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @maarnews.

Contact

We would love to hear what you think of NewsTracker. Email us on newstracker@maar.in

Primary Sidebar

UNESCO MAAR Report Cover - Sexual Violence and the News Media - Sreedharan and Thorsen 2021

Published July 2021, free PDF available from: Unesco | Bournemouth University

Published November 2020, available from: Amazon Kindle (India) | Amazon Kindle (UK) | Amazon Paperback (UK) | Free PDF

Published November 2020, available from: Amazon Kindle  (India) | Amazon Paperback (UK) | Amazon Kindle  (UK) | Free PDF

Sign up for Note This!

Tracking news reports of rape and sexual violence across a country as vast and diverse as India, a nation with thousands of national and regional news publications, is a painstaking task.

Note This, our newsletter makes it a tiny bit easier. Curated from national and regional news sources, especially for those interested in the news reporting of rape and sexual violence, we bring you two updates every week — on Mondays and Thursdays. Sign up!

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