This is becoming too predictable: A case of rape or molestation comes to light and some neta makes a misogynist ‘men-will-be-men’-type remark. What follows is a night of prime-time outrage, focusing on this male politician and his ‘sick’ mindset with no useful news discussion on women’s safety in India and the impediments to achieving it.

On January 2, Bangalore Mirror reported on the complete anarchy that took over the streets of the city on New Year’s Eve: groups of men pawed at and molested women in the presence of police personnel. So far, there has been no police case or first information report (FIR).

In comes Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, stating that women deserved to be mass-groped if they didn’t dress or behave according to what he perceives to be “Indian culture”. These remarks became the subject of prime-time debates yesterday across most English TV news channels. The fact that none of the women who were molested have registered a complaint and that close to 1,500 police persons present at the scene of crime have not been able to arrest a single person became irrelevant news points as Azmi and his sexism took centre stage. It’s worth pointing out that Azmi is a leader in Maharashtra and belongs to a party that has no presence to speak of in Karnataka. Why or how he suddenly became the lynchpin for the debate on Bengaluru’s law and order is mystifying.

CNN News18

Bhupendra Chaubey posed the big question: “Are Indian Men Unable To Handle New Age Indian Women?” The answer to which Chaubey graciously provided at about seven minutes, when he stated that Azmi’s daughter-in-law Ayesha Takia “happens to be a film star” and that he “should look at the kind of roles which would have been done by Ayesha Takia and decide…you know…the kind of clothes she may have worn”.

The slight fumble at the point at which Chaubey said “clothes” was perhaps testament to him realising that he had just scored a self goal. But the fact that he brought Takia, her roles and her clothes is significant – evidently there hasn’t been much learning for Chaubey after the disastrous Sunny Leone interview.

Besides the anchor’s casual sexism, there was little to take away from the show. Tickers and supers read “Abu Azmi, you are sick” and “sick men, sicker netas”, and it was only panellist Vikram Singh, former Director General Police, Uttar Pradesh, who raised pertinent questions on police inaction.

Times Now

Anchors Anand Narasimhan and Navika Kumar questioned if sexist netas should be sacked. True to former editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami’s legacy, both demanded an apology and Azmi’s resignation. But when their own panellist Rahul Easwar made equally regressive comments on the show, the two did precious little to stop him.

Times Now evidently considered his statements important enough to cull into a little segment: Rahul Easwar Put The Onus On Women. “Are girls unquestionable? If somebody is telling for girls to dress responsibly…is it such a big thing to say?…this is female chauvinism,” he thundered.

Times Now could do well to ask itself: Should sexist men be called on debates to discuss violence against women?

India Today

Rahul Kanwal of India Today had Azmi on his show, Newsroom, where the latter held forth on Western culture, the need for women to take precautions and so on. Kanwal’s master strategy to corner Azmi was to bring up Takia’s earlier statements that she was deeply embarrassed of her father-in-law’s comments on women. Only a notch more tactful than Chaubey, Kanwal asked: “Yeh aapki bahu raani bol rahi hai…is pe kya kehna hai (this is your daughter-in-law…what do you want to say)?”

The two men then went on to bicker with each other like sophomore kids.  

“Kanwal: Aap kaun hote hain dictate karne waale? (Who are you to dictate?)

Azmi: Main hota hun dictate karne waala…mujhe apne desh ki mahilaon ke samman ki bahut fikar hai (I am one to dictate…I am worried about the honour of my country’s women).

Kanwal: Aap mahilaon ki izzat ki fikar karne ki chinta na karen (Don’t worry about women’s honour).

Azmi: Aap mujhe samjhaane ki koshish mat kijiye (Don’t give me advice).

Kanwal: Agar humaare neta betuki baatein kahen…toh unko samjhana humara farz hai (If politicians talk nonsense, it is our right to advise them).

Azmi: Agar humaare anchor betuki baatein karen, toh humara farz hai unko rokna (If anchors talk nonsense, it is our right to stop them).”

And that was that.

Azmi is a repeat offender when it comes to sexist remarks, which suggests he’s keenly aware of the kind of attraction and publicity that he can get by making a spectacle of his misogyny. His mindset and patriarchy can only be a “shocker” for prime-time ticker makers.

How much space should TV news professional, then, accord to him?

This is not to say that statements made by Azmi and his ilk should not be called out by the media. However, should it come at the cost of eclipsing the real news event? What happened in Bengaluru was horrific, but thanks to the focus on Azmi, we lost sight of the real issue: molestation of women in public spaces, under the watch of police.

NDTV

In stark contrast to how her male colleagues conducted debates, NDTV’s Barkha Dutt kept the focus on what transpired in Bengaluru on New Year’s Eve, keeping Azmi’s statements as only a footnote. She brought out the horrors of the night through her interviews, questioned the inaction of police and passers-by, and stressed on the importance of registering a complaint. Dutt had two eyewitnesses detail how a mob descended on MG Road and attacked women. These were aspects that made the story prime-time worthy and yet received little play in other news channels.   

Last night’s prime-time gave us more reasons -– if we needed them — to root for a more gender representative newsroom. In a post-December 16 world, one would imagine that journalists, irrespective of gender, would be more alert and aware of the gender biases that influence the coverage of an issue. Unfortunately, it appears when it comes to crimes against women, some ‘domain knowledge’ goes a long way.