Two Sides of the Same Coin?

In the past few months Australia and Australians have been painted as villains by the Indian media due to the "attacks" on Indian students. What has amazed me in these past few months is that the Indian media has obsessively clung on to this story and (mis?) represented the same story over and over again. I am convinced there are plenty of worthy issues to be discussed so I don't understand why the Indian media is obsessively picking on Australia? Also, it never ceases to amaze me that not one media outlet has attempted to think outside the box and represent a different angle to the story... an angle that possibly represents people like me who do not think Australia has victimized them and are quite happy being here?


The reason I bring this up is because of this article in the Sydney Morning Herald which speaks of Australia's commitment to provide better protection to international students; in particular Indian students. The article also discusses a survey by student placement organisation IDP Education. IDP surveyed over 6000 international students across Australia and Australia ranked number one as far as student safety is concerned. The survey also says these students ranked Sydney and Melbourne as the "most unfriendly and unsafe" Australian cities.


My first instinct was to find out a little more about what the Indian media had to say about this because I had a feeling it would be represented completely differently. And I was right. This article in the India Today is captioned 'Sydney, Melbourne voted 'most unsafe' cities'.


I have never been to Melbourne and Sydney so I am probably not completely qualified to comment on their "unsafe and unfriendly" reputation. But I'd just like to say, these are the two biggest cities in Australia so like any other big city anywhere in the world (including Delhi and Mumbai), the big city tag brings a degree of unfriendliness and danger with it... so I personally don't think it's that big a deal if Sydney and Melbourne are described as unsafe. I'm sure the same could be said of Delhi. Or London. Or New York.


I looked up the IDP Education website and couldn't find much of the original information related to this survey. I am assuming the survey was distributed to the Indian & Australian media via a press release and each then represented the story in the way they thought would make the "best" news. What I don't understand is, for all the positive things the survey says about Australia, why did the India Today pick on the one negative thing? I haven't checked on what other Indian newspapers or magazines are saying so I'm only discussing the India Today here.


There are thousands of Indians in Australia and at the moment Indians love to hate Australia (and it's not just for the cricket anymore).With the Indian media overdosing on its 'Australia-is-the-worst-place-to-be' rants, most Indians who don't know any better will obviously believe what the press has to say. Many of these people have children or other relatives in Australia and it doesn't help that the Indian media insists on telling them that their children are in an "unsafe" country. Instead of further fanning the flames, a responsible media organisation could take this opportunity to present a more realistic picture of what Australia really is like for an international student (Indians inclusive).


Instead of focussing on the "unsafe and unfriendly" aspect of the survey, a leading news magazine like the India Today could have used this opportunity to calm down the general hysterics of the Indian media.The survey clearly states Australia is the winner when it comes to student safety, so why is it that the India Today prefers to have a headline that sensationalises the apparently unsafe aspects, when it could just have easily chosen a headline which read something like "Survey Declares Australia Safest Country For International Students"?


I don't have the exact statistics but I know a magazine as popular as the India Today is definitely read by many millions across India so an article about the positives of studying in Australia would have been read by lots of people. A survey of 6000 international students found Australia to be the most safe for students... isn't that worth reporting in a country which is in panic mode over Australia? But, for a journalist to write such an article and for a magazine to publish it would mean being brave and going against the tide and I'm sure not many are willing to take that risk.


What I found incredible was that a survey that could have been used to alleviate some of the tension was instead used to create further melodrama in pure tabloid style by a news magazine. At the same time, the story in the SMH reports without opining, discussing not only the Foreign Minister's promise to provide better protection to international students but also the survey complete with details of Australia being safe and Melbourne and Sydney being declared unfriendly. Where the SMH succeeds and the India Today fails is in providing an unbiased, objective report leaving it to the readers to make decisions and form opinions. Must the Indian media so vehemently "defend" Indians that it sacrifices all journalistic integrity?