For all their claims to be a bullhorn for the weak and excluded, Indian media aren’t doing very well. A recently released Oxfam study reveals that the reins to almost all the media houses — print and electronic — are in the hands of upper-caste Hindus.

The study, conducted in collaboration with Newslaundry, a media watchdog, revealed that of 121 newsroom leadership positions across newspapers, digital media, magazines and TV channels, 106 are occupied by journalists from the upper castes, and none by SC or ST journalists.

The study was conducted between October 2018 and March 2019, and surveyed the appearances of panelists on TV channels, anchors, and byline count for print and digital media, identifying their castes based on their surnames.

Since some surnames do not clearly indicate caste, the researchers also studied the results of Union Public Service Commission and Delhi University exams to map surnames to castes.

“Our study indicates that the Indian media is predominated by the upper castes, that is, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. Scheduled Tribes are almost entirely absent, whereas the Scheduled Castes are represented mostly by social activists and politicians rather than journalists. The OBCs are similarly underrepresented even though they are estimated to constitute over half of India’s population,” observed the report.

The study looked at seven English news channels — CNN-News 18, Indian Today, NDTV 24X7, Mirror Now, Republic TV, Rajya Sabha, and Times Now — and found that nearly 89 per cent of leadership positions were held by those coming from upper-caste Hindus families. The identity of the rest could not be traced to their caste.



