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Media dramatised suicide by farmers, says Chandrashekar

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Nov. 25. The Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education, B.K. Chandrashekar, has said that the way the media in the State dramatised the suicides by farmers betrayed the naiveté on their part.

The Minister, who was inaugurating a seminar on "Media and suicides by farmers" organised by the Department of Communication of Bangalore University on Tuesday, decried the way some intellectuals dismissed the study report on the suicides done by a group of experts.

Dr. Chandrashekar said that in the hurry to break or flash news or meet deadlines, a few television channels "glorified" cases of alleged suicides by farmers. They did not verify the facts nor follow up on their news flashes. The newspapers, with the exception of some, followed suit with similar reports. Such reportage created the impression that the Government had neglected the problems of the farmers or was blind to their plight. The Minister said that it was not right to blame the Government for some of the farmers killing themselves. In fact, no Government could be anti-farmer. He acknowledged the various pressures on TV channels. He was glad that at least one national channel desisted from putting out instant stories on the suicides.

Dr. Chandrashekar regretted that some demanded that a report submitted by farm scientists and academics of the calibre of G.K. Veeresh and Bisalaiah should be confined to the dustbin. The committee of which they were the members had enlisted the assistance of the Institute for Social and Economic Change and interviewed a cross section of 5,000 people in rural Karnataka. Dr. Chandrashekar noted even the Akshara Dasoha programme of the Government came under attack, and the media reported on the lapses under that programme without proper verification of facts. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, M.S. Thimmappa, said television was both powerful and devastating, though its impact was thought to be momentary.

The former member of the Planning Commission, G. Thimmaiah, faulted the Veeresh Committee for attributing the suicides by farmers to alcoholism. The veteran journalist and nominated MLC, P. Ramiah, called for in-depth studies on the part of the media into the causes of suicide by farmers. Such reports would help policymakers.

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