By Najiya O
The Kerala chapter of the Network of Women in Media, India, organised an online panel discussion on the topic ‘Seeking Justice for Workplace Abuse: Lessons from the Hema Committee Report’ on September 7, 2024.
Moderator Saraswathy Nagarajan
Vinod K Jose mentioned that his observations as a citizen and a journalist was that it was “a very decisive moment in history, not only for feminism movement in India but all over the world”. He highlighted the witnessing of a serious, rights-oriented conversation with scope for solidarity between movements. He referred to his own role in investigative journalism since 2015 with The Caravan, when he had to navigate existing rules and create a new paradigm in the field of publishing.
Chinmayi Sripada began by sharing her own experience from 2018 onwards, when she spoke out against Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu and the repercussions that followed, including getting banned from the dubbing association and undergoing character assassination even in court. She also mentioned the difficulty of going through the legal process, and the need for a support system and change, when ‘somebody from 20 years ago and somebody from six years ago were going through the same experience’.
Padmapriya Janakiraman traced the formation of the WCC following the assault of an actor in 2017. She hinted at the culture of silence that prevents any injustice from being revealed. The realisation that the injustice extends to a large section of women in the industry led to the demand for the Hema Committee. The cultural silence affects men in the industry as well, hence the tagline of the WCC is ‘Equal spaces and equal opportunities’. She reiterated that denial in the industry will not lead to solutions, and acknowledgme
Dhanya Rajendran explained the need for solidarity in the feminist movement, evident in the support extended by women journalists to WCC. It was difficult to cover the Me Too movement when it came up in 2018 as it was a totally new situation for journalism, when a lot of anonymous accounts came up to share their stories. Along with the WCC and the Me Too movement, journalistic practices in the industry also evolved, she said. While the Hema Committee report also focuses on labour violations in the industry, the media has largely focused on the sexual harassment that has been revealed in the report.
Nileena Atholi referred to some news articles that were helpful in creating awareness on manipulated consent and trauma bonding. She also said that one must be aware of the new tricks that perpetrators may use to discredit the movement, now that the public conscience is supportive of the survivors, after the release of the Hema Committee report. She also talked about the need to focus on the serious labour issues mentioned in the Hema Committee report.
In the Q&A session, several matters were brought up, including the need and resilience to keep the sources’ confidentiality; the necessity of a template for investigative journalism, with fact-checking of anonymous sources and protecting them when the need arises; sensationalisation of news to increase TRP rates by TV; the evolution of a new kind of support and solidarity among journalists; the ripple effects the Hema Committee report has had all over the country; the matter of downplaying the seriousness of the gender beat and the vicious cyber attacks on survivors, women journalists etc.
Dhanya Rajendran concluded by stating that we must not get distracted but focus on the outcome, while Vinod Jose reiterated on the need to keep pushing for rights and staying in the long game. Nileena Atholi questioned the narrative of the “market value” of female actors demanding equitable remunerations. Saraswathy Nagarajan concluded the discussions urging the need for civil society and media to pressurise the government into taking appropriate action to address all the concerns put forward in the Hema Committee report.
Edited by Saraswathy Nagarajan
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