According to TOI, murder is the next stop for beer-loving tribals

It is with reportage like this that the lack of diversity in newsrooms becomes glaring. First, the headline.

Also, the inside box.

The story in the Lucknow edition of The Times of India begins with informing readers that someone by the name of Vestiya shot an arrow at his friend for not being invited to a beer party. That one alleged incident – we’re using the word alleged because there’s absolutely no police official or eye-witnesses cited as source – is enough for TOI to go with the headline that suggests “tribals” in MP are “killing” for beer. The rest of the story only goes on to highlight the increase in beer consumption in tribal areas of Alirajpur and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh. There’s no mention of increase in crimes or brawls whatsoever. So, according to the reporter, adivasis’ changing preferences from taadi to beer must mean that murder is the next stop? Random generalisation alert.