Loaded cartoon

IN Media Watch Briefs | 17/01/2015
Last week Headlines Today carried a Tom and Jerry-style cartoon mocking the rivalry between Nitish Kumar and chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. In this “politoon,” Manjhi was depicted as a rat who gets the better of the Nitish cat, who made him CM thinking it a safe thing to do. Some  responses on social media pointed out that Manjhi is a musahar, a poor caste often ridiculed for their rat-eating habits, and a cartoon like this further stereotypes the man and the community. Headlines Today, meanwhile, continues to telecast it, and surprise, surprise, there is little outcry over this casteist depiction.
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The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

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