Journalism, not ‘cheerleading’: An ombudsman’s paradigm repair in the JNU sedition case in India
Abstract
With increasing expectations to be accountable in the digital era, some newspapers have appointed ombudsmen. This study examines the process of ‘paradigm repair’ undertaken by the ombudsman of The Hindu, a leading English-language newspaper in India. The study qualitatively analyzes The Hindu’s coverage of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition controversy case, its ombudsman’s editorials pertaining to the case, and the readers’ responses to them. The study demonstrates that in transitional societies paradigm repair remains incomplete, and the strategies employed to undertake the paradigm repair extend beyond those used by newspapers in the Western context. The study, furthermore, argues that newspaper readers also contribute to paradigm repair in limited ways, and the ombudsman’s role, as shown in the JNU sedition case, is more of an ambassador for the newspaper than an advocate for the reader.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
References
Alag S (2009) Collective Intelligence in Action. Greenwich, CT: Manning.
Amar (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece (accessed 31 July 2016).
Barclay FP, Pichandy C, Venkat A (2014) Indian elections, 2014 political orientation of English newspapers. Asia Pacific Media Educator 24(1): 7–22.
Bennett WL, Gressett LA, Haltom W (1985) Repairing the news: A case study of the news paradigm. Journal of Communication 35(2): 50–68.
Berger G (2008) A paradigm in process: What the scapegoating of Vusi Mona signalled about South African journalism. Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research 34(1): 1–20.
Berkowitz D (2000) Doing double duty: Paradigm repair and the Princess Diana what-a-story. Journalism 1(2): 125–143.
Bhushan B, Arun TK, Parthasarathy M, et al. (2016) Stand with JNU-I: Journalists from JNU. Economic and Political Weekly. Available at: http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/8/letters/stand-jnu-i-journalists-jnu.html (accessed 31 July 2016).
Calamur K (2016) The angry debate over sedition in India. The Atlantic. Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/02/india-jnu-sedition/463131/ (accessed December 2016).
Cecil M (2002) Bad apples: Paradigm overhaul and the CNN/Time ‘Tailwind’ story. Journal of Communication Inquiry 26(1): 46–58.
Census of India ( 2011) Available at: http://censusindia.gov.in/ (accessed 31 July 2016).
Chadha K, Koliska M (2016) Re-Legitimatizing the institution of journalism. Journalism Studies 17(2): 199–215.
Craft S, Vos TP, Wolfgang JD (2015) Reader comments as press criticism. Journalism 17(6): 677–693.
Dalen A, Deuze M (2006) Readers’ advocates or newspapers’ ambassadors? Newspaper ombudsmen in the Netherlands. European Journal of Communication 21(4): 457–475.
Datta R (2016) The spring of 2016 and the idea of JNU. Economic and Political Weekly 51(9): 21–26.
Deshpande S, John ME (2016) Emptying the idea of India. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/emptying-the-idea-of-india/article8300779.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Desikan D (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/investigating-the-charges-of-bias/article8320892.ece (accessed 31 July 2016).
Fair JE (1996) The body politic, the bodies of women, and the politics of famine in U.S. television coverage of famine in the Horn of Africa. Journalism & Mass Communication Monographs 158: 1–41.
Gnat A (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece#comments (accessed 31 July 2016).
Gom R (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece#comments (accessed 31 July 2016).
Hall S (1975) Introduction. In: Smith ACH (ed.) Paper Voices: The Popular Press and Social Change, 1935–1965. London: Chatto & Windus, pp. 1–33.
Hassan Z (2016) Redefining Indian nationhood. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/jnu-row-redefining-indian-nationhood/article8272577.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Hayden ME (2012) In India, English-language newspapers are thriving. Advertising Age, October. Available at: http://adage.com/article/global-news/india-english-language-newspapers-thriving/237795/ (accessed 31 July 2016).
Hilligoss WB (2014) The diminishing role of the ombudsman in American journalism. Available at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=journalismdiss (accessed 31 July 2016).
Hindman EB (2003) The Princess and the paparazzi: Blame, responsibility, and the media’s role in the death of Diana. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 80(3): 666–688.
Hindman EB (2005) Jayson Blair, The New York Times, and paradigm repair. Journal of Communication 55(2): 225–241.
Jensma FE (1998) Ombudsman als verklede redacteur. De Journalist 11: 37–38.
Jigenius PA (1997) Media accountability in Sweden: The Swedish press ombudsman and press council. In: Sonnenberg U (ed.) Organising Media Accountability: Experiences in Europe. Maastricht: European Journalism Centre, pp. 33–36.
Kampf Z, Daskal E (2013) Too hostile, too deferential: Processes of media answerability in the wake of political interviews. Journalism 14(4): 522–540.
Khot CKC (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/investigating-the-charges-of-bias/article8320892.ece (accessed 31 July 2016).
Kuhn TS (1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kumar S (2016) Mumbai collective | Shashi Kumar: Indian media at a defining moment. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHLztz9GG-g
Lakshmi R (2016) Protests spread across India against student’s arrest for alleged sedition. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/protests-spread-across-india-against-students-arrest-for-sedition/2016/02/18/296a5861-ae47-4209-b7cf-3956bc62fc16_story.html?utm_term=.80f0c2091a60 (accessed 3 May 2017).
Lindlof TR, Taylor BC (2011) Qualitative Communication Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Livio O (2006) Maintaining the journalistic paradigm through media discourse in Israel. Presented at the annual meeting of the international communication association, Sheraton, New York, 5 October.
Meyers C (2000) Creating an effective newspaper ombudsman position. Journal of Mass Media Ethics 15: 248–256.
Nayar K (2012) Every big paper should have an ombudsman. The Indian Express. Available at: http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/every-big-paper-should-have-an-ombudsman-nayar/973291/ (accessed 31 July 2016).
Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO) (2016) Organization of News Ombudsmen. Available at: http://newsombudsmen.org/about-ono (accessed 31 July 2016).
Pai N (2016) Patriotism without nationalism. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/jnu-row-patriotism-without-nationalism/article8268143.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Panneerselvan AS (2016a) Charges of Bias: How the UPA regimes were covered. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/charges-of-bias-how-the-upa-regimes-were-covered/article8377808.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Panneerselvan AS (2016b) Investigating the charges of bias. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/investigating-the-charges-of-bias/article8320892.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Panneerselvan AS (2016c) News has to remain a public good. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/News-has-to-remain-a-public-good/article14242384.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Panneerselvan AS (2016d) Of doctored content and vile comments. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Panneerselvan AS (2016e) Charges of Bias: the baby and the bathwater. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/charges-of-bias-the-baby-and-the-bathwater/article8402374.ece?utm_source=MostPopular&utm_medium=Opinion&utm_campaign=WidgetPromo (accessed 3 May 2017).
Patnaik P (2016) What it means to be a ‘national’. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/What-it-means-to-be-%E2%80%98national%E2%80%99/article14101978.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Paul S (2017) ‘When India was Indira’: Indian Express’s coverage of the Emergency (1975–77). Journalism History 42(4): 201–211.
PTI (2016) JNU orders probe into Afzal Guru event. The Tribune. Available at: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/jnu-orders-probe-into-event-on-afzal-guru/194807.html (accessed 3 May 2017).
Raghu R (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece#comments (accessed 31 July 2016).
Rajagopal A (2011) The emergency as prehistory of the new Indian middle class. Modern Asian Studies 45(5): 1003–1049.
Ram N (2016) Holding the newspaper to account. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/nram-on-holding-the-newspaper-to-account/article8292583.ece (accessed 31 July 2016).
Ramesh GRG (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/charges-of-bias-how-the-upa-regimes-were-covered/article8377808.ece (accessed 31 July 2016).
Robinson S (2010) Traditionalists vs. convergers: Textual privilege, boundary work, and the journalist. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 16(1): 125–143.
Sampath G (2016) Who is an anti-national? The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/Who-is-an-anti-national/article14082785.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (2016) Society of Professional Journalists. Available at: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp (accessed 31 July 2016).
Steiner L, McCaffrey R, Guo J, et al. (2013) The wire and repair of the journalistic paradigm. Journalism 14(6): 703–720.
Subramanyam (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece#comments (accessed 31 July 2016).
The Economist (2011) Bulletins from the future. The Economist. Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/18904136 (accessed 3 May 2017).
The Hindu (2012) Living our values: Code of editorial values. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/living-our-values-code-of-editorial-values/article1715043.ece (accessed 7 December 2016).
The Hindu (2016) State overreach on the campus. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/State-overreach-on-the-campus/article14079041.ece (accessed 3 May 2017).
Tuchman G (1978) Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. New York: Free Press.
Venkatasubramani (2016) Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/of-doctored-content-and-vile-comments/article8265313.ece#comments (accessed 31 July 2016).
Wazir B (2016) Why India’s student protests keep growing. Al Jazeera. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/02/india-student-protests-growing-160218093802834.html (accessed 3 May 2017).
Yumnam R (2016) Indian media needs an ombudsman. Available at: http://www.e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=news_section.opinions.Whistleblower.Indian_Media_needs_an_Ombudsman (accessed 31 July 2016).
Zelizer B (2004) Taking Journalism Seriously: News and the Academy. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Biographies
Subin Paul is a doctoral candidate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. He is interested in journalism history, digital media, and international communication with a focus on South Asia. His articles have appeared or are forthcoming in Journalism History, Newspaper Research Journal, and Contemporary South Asia. He is currently working on a biographical project on the career of an Indian war correspondent, T.G. Narayanan.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: May 15, 2017
Issue published: March 2020
Keywords
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Article usage*
Total views and downloads: 349
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 3 view articles Opens in new tab
Crossref: 3
-
Primetime narratives on Russia–Ukraine conflict on India's Republic TV
-
Primetime Nationalism: Analysing Monologues on India’s Republic TV and...
-
The End of Ombudsmen? 21st-Century Journalism and Reader Representativ...
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
