The Role of Media in A Queer(friendly) India
Rōmal Lāisram is the Editor-in-Chief of the Provoke Lifestyle Magazine, South India’s premier lifestyle, and social magazine. In a recent e-gathering of various members of the queer community along with some allies, Rōmal beautifully expressed his views on the role of ethical journalism and media houses in the empowerment and equal recognition of the LGBTQIA+ community and its members. This article encompasses some takeaways from my conversation with Rōmal Lāisram.
It is upsetting that some major media houses and journalists fail at primary fact-checking, especially when it comes to the Queer Community. Besides, these writers usually ignore the same when called out. What do you think should be done when such incidents happen and how should one address it as a responsible citizen?
The role of media in India is rapidly changing and I have a mixed opinion about it. Earlier, it was a scary sphere where the content was controlled highly by the authorities, and bias of perspectives had to be ignored due to various issues. Gradually, the value of good journalists has fallen down. A highly paid ( and talented) journalist can easily be replaced with interns, not even journalism interns, just to save up on the expenses of the media houses. Although they bring in a lot of fresh content and ideas for the firm, they often suffer from what I like to call the “virginal syndrome” — the feeling of “ I want to be the first person to create this piece of content” — and this is dangerous. They avoid the fact-checking part of the journalism process while doing so.
However, when these media houses are called out for the same, they often say “what’s your problem if we’re supporting your community?” and they simply choose to blame it on the accuser as an act of filthy competition.
I’m afraid that there’s no solution to it. We need to, not as critics but as responsible citizens, take a firm stand against such malpractices and call out anyone who does so. Instead of commenting on the post or article, one should reach the editor via formal means and convey his concern. If this doesn’t work, one should contact more people in the industry who could pull the right strings to get the job done. After all, journalism runs on ethics.
At times, the Queer Community itself becomes a creator of community-cannibalistic content and starts trolling its own members. What do you have to say about this?
Some websites running politically inclined content. This is usually a loose news site and is often run by individuals. These individuals might be driven by personal agendas and might be highly biased about certain things and aspects which is completely fine. But, they can’t be allowed to be called “news websites” and are general story/opinion sites. To be called a news website, they need to be well-researched and should have authentic sources through a formal team assigned to do the same.
A proper queer-dedicated portal still doesn’t exist in the country in the way it should. There’s a huge void we need to fill when it comes to this. Formation of the same will lead to proper and legitimate education for the members as well as non-members of the community.
Media houses in India, as well as abroad, often face major funding problems to continue operations irrespective of the quality of the content. What do you have to say about the financial aspect of the same?
Agreeably, most media houses are going in worse phases because of the lack of funding, Not going with the wave of extensive advertising is a threat to survival among other media houses; if a media house decides to be honest and true, it always faces a threat from some or the other political or non-political party that has some or the other power to influence its funding and operations. But still, many media houses still stand out as ethical and deny to put their hands in the dirt.
As you mentioned earlier, there is a need for a Queer-focused platform that would help us to educate members and non-members of the community. Can you comment further on this?
A mere initiative and provision of availability of the community influencer and/or leaders is the key to any public platform. Luckily, members of the Queer community are now coming out as stronger voices for us and they definitely are available to anyone who seeks help. If there’s no platform for it, we create a platform with the opportunity we get. I make sure I add-in a “Queer touch” to every agenda I discuss with people.
Apart from just news websites, Queer Entertainment content is also playing a major role in changing public perception. Can you add on to this domain?
Initially, Pro-LGBTQ+ content was assumed to be less acceptable to society before it was even introduced. But a mere attempt to display queer-friendliness content on OTT platforms was observed to have an insane level of acceptance from the members of the community. Media gradually opened up and today we can see English and urban-Hindi media houses getting better at the portrayal of the queer community.
The tolerance and (over)sensitivity of the Queer community is often considered to be a confusing aspect. With social media trolls and heaps of jokes made on the community, how do you think the community should tackle this issue as a whole?
Tell me one thing, are we becoming too political or sensitive as a community where we don’t tolerate a single joke on it? It is a spectrum just like sexuality. We have to call out whatever is wrong in a decent and peaceful way but simultaneously a dialogue needs to be done with people in a humane and mature way. Some individuals might be really aggressive or hurt with the unintentional misgendering but the time to educate the opposite person should also be taken. We shouldn’t be offended with someone using the wrong pronouns for us all the time. For every problem that we have with mainstream generalization, we need a balance of conversation and sensitization to go a long way.
The new “normal” needs to be established and it is in process. The quantum of allies has been increasing at a desirable rate. The wall of queer-and-straight should be gradually be broken. A sudden hit would lead to abnormal emotions and the process should be gradual. As of now, it is going on in the way it should be.
More importantly, allies are taken more seriously than a member of the community itself and the impact is much larger.
Lastly, how easy it is to convey the Queer Message to Non-Queer members of the society? Homophobia always acts as a barrier between the acceptance and understanding of the perspectives and the message.
Reaching out to an audience that isn’t educated enough needs to be done in a systematic and proper way and journalists call it “a common shared human experience which everyone shares.” It involves leading the readers and getting them on the “hook” so they start relating and gradually immerse into the depth of the content. It is the art that a trained journalist has mastered and this is the essence of ethical journalism.
Without it, no journalist can succeed in doing their role irrespective of the social issue they’re addressing.
