When our Prime Minister was busy promoting health benefits of Yoga this International Yoga Day, many malnourished children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur were losing their lives because of a curable disease—owing to the lack of healthcare facilities. While the entire media was busy blaming ‘lychee’ for the deaths, little attention was given to the underlying causes: Bihar government’s lax attitude towards the annual breakout of the brain fever Encephalitis, and malnutrition among most children in the region.
Muzaffarpur district in Bihar is a nightmare for children and fares poorer than most African countries when it comes to mother-child nutrition. According to the National Family Health Survey, India’s biggest survey on the state of health, Muzaffarpur district has abysmal records of child nutrition.
Nearly 48% of children under the age of five are stunted (short for their height), and 17.5% are wasted (too thin for their height) while 42% are underweight. These are glaring signs of chronic undernutrition. Muzaffarpur has the highest prevalence of stunting in India.
Without looking into the facts behind the deaths of children, the media kept on blaming the fruit lychee and one news anchor, Anjana Om Kashyap, even went as far as entering the ICU to interview a doctor and interrupting the ongoing treatment. Her shouting at the doctor who was already strained due to treating so many children, instead of blaming the government, shows the journalist’s arrogance and indifference towards factual correctness.
What does this say about the so-called fourth pillar of democracy? This journalist showed little respect for the ethics of journalism. Is this not a warning sign for the functioning of our democracy? How do we compensate for the pitfalls of such blatant misuse of one’s professional position?