The newsroom is no place to take sides. Period

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The newsroom is no place to take sides. Period

Some news channels seem to have declared war between the neighbours.

By Vicky Kapur (From the Executive Editor's desk)

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Published: Wed 20 Feb 2019, 8:30 PM

The demographic profile of the UAE makes it a unique market for media organisations. With expats accounting for over 80 per cent of the country's population, it's not a stretch to assume that non-Emiratis make up a majority of the audience for most news outlets. Even as more UAE nationals, especially the younger ones, are now as proficient in English as they are in Arabic, expats remain the primary target audience of most of the country's English news platforms.
A further drill-down of the demographics reveals that expats from South Asia - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka (in that order) - comprise more than 50 per cent of the expat population, with India accounting for a lion's share of that statistics. 
Even as local news makes up the bulk of a news publication (especially newspapers), happenings from 'back home' are naturally more relevant here than they are in most other global expat destinations. News about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's latest indiscretion, the daily deteriorating gridlock that is Brexit, about Donald Trump's tantrums or about Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's eyebrow-raising poll victory margin gain incrementally more weight given the profile of the audience.

News from India and Pakistan - the expat heavyweights, so to say - therefore, assumes almost indispensable proportions. News about Congress president Rahul Gandhi hugging Indian PM Narendra Modi or Pakistan PM Imran Khan affectionately chauffeuring the Saudi crown prince become highlights of the day for local media here. Bilateral entertainment shows get wholesale attention from UAE media, and sporting rivalries - especially on the cricketing field - are par for the course.

It, however, gets knotty in the newsroom when the two nuclear-armed nations raise the ante of rhetoric and war of words. Following the dastardly attack in Pulwama in Indian Kashmir, emotions are charged on both sides of the border, and allegations and counter-allegations between governments are flying thick and fast. This exactly must have been the intention of the perpetrators of this despicable and cowardly act - to get the neighbours away from constructive dialogue. The media in the respective countries also seems to be going in a tizzy. Some news channels seem to have declared war between the neighbours.

Whatever the compulsions of the media outlets of those countries may be, the geographic distance affords the UAE media a vantage position from which to see that this charged atmosphere and, god forbid, a military escalation cannot be in either nation's favour. We at Khaleej Times take pride in the fact that we are a neutral newspaper in a neutral country. The KT newsroom, manned as it is by a mix of Indians, Pakistanis, Emiratis, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Brits, Americans, Egyptians, Syrians, Mexicans, Kiwis, Lebanese, Singaporeans, Sudanese and Ugandans, remains a passionate, dynamic, diversely opinionated, and a fertile ground for purposeful debate and deliberations. The arguments we have (oh, we do) are measured, seasoned and based on firmly held principles.  
We don't see the media's role as advocating foreign policy to governments or suggesting military options in "retaliation" to a terror attack. The governments are extremely well equipped to take a call on their own foreign policies. The media must obviously be a mirror of the public sentiment, however disturbing that may be at the moment. But media must not take it upon ourselves to drum up support for "revenge" or "retribution" or "payback"... just some of the words we've been hearing from newsrooms across the Arabian Sea. While respecting the patriotic fervour of journalists of both countries, the role of the media remains to steer clear of jingoistic clouds and be the voice of reason. Radicalism has no place in a newsroom, and a journalist's primary duty remains to report facts, objectively and impartially. Anything else is undermining the importance of our own journalism.


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