A new report titled ‘British media and perception: A survey for British Hindus and British Indians’ has revealed that the Indian-origin community in the United Kingdom suffers from social bias due to various inaccuracies and imbalance in media reporting.
The highlight of the survey is that the error-riddled and unbalanced UK media reporting “is contributing to Hinduphobia and [a] focus on cows, curry and caste”.
The report has been released at the end of December 2023 by Insight UK, which describes itself as “a social movement dedicated to raising awareness, advocating and campaigning for the causes that concern and impact the British Hindu & Indian communities in the United Kingdom”.
In its Executive Summary, the report document says: “This report marks our inaugural nationwide survey, aimed at fostering a better understanding of how community members perceive media representations.”
The Summary adds: “Examining how the media portrays a particular community is essential to promote fairness, accuracy, and inclusivity. By challenging biases, stereotypes, and misinformation, we can contribute to a more informed and empathetic society that respects the diversity and dignity of all communities.”
Findings of the survey show that many British Hindus and British Indians (BHI) have complained against biased reporting, but have got no satisfactory resolution.
Several of them have escalated their complaints to Ofcom, the UK government’s regulatory body for a range of communication media, from newspapers to streaming services. Here, too, the overwhelming majority of the complainants got no satisfactory resolution.
Methodology of the UK survey
The report says: “From November 2022 to February 2023, a survey was conducted asking Hindus and Indians living in the United Kingdom about what they thought of the British media. We asked how they felt they were being represented and whether they felt they were being covered accurately and depicted fairly.
“The 2021 census recorded 1.03 million Hindus and 1.86 million Indians in England and Wales alone. To get a truly accurate reflection of this BHI population, the survey required a minimum of 385 participants to ensure a high level of confidence and a low margin of error. The response far exceeded expectations, with 2,061 respondents and strong representation across all regions of the United Kingdom.”
Questions in the survey reveal experience of prejudice
Questions asked to the UK survey respondents include the following:
● Why do you think media reporting creates negative perceptions of Hindus?
● Have you witnessed or experienced prejudice as a result of how the media reports on Hindus?
For the indicator ‘Perception on British Indians due to inaccurate reporting in media related to Hindus and Hinduism’, at least 78 per cent respondents pick the options ‘strongly negative’ or ‘somewhat negative’.
For the indicator ‘Victim or witnessed prejudice due to media report related to Hindus and Hinduism’, 59 per cent of the respondents pick the options ‘Yes – personally experienced prejudice’ or ‘Yes – witnessed prejudice’.
A follow-up question in this section is:
● Please give details of what prejudice you experienced.
Explaining the responses gathered from the sample population, the survey document says: “Various free text responses were given to this question, common responses included reporting is contributing to Hinduphobia and focus on cows, curry and caste.”
Questions in the survey related to reporting on India in the UK media reveal that “81 per cent felt media reports on India result in negative perceptions of Indians [and] 70 per cent of the respondents to our survey felt that media reporting of the BHI community has led to them being a victim of, or witness to, prejudice”.
For this part on bias arising from UK media reporting on India, the survey document says: “Various free text responses were given to this question, [and] common responses included witnessing hate on social media against Indians and being mistaken as Pakistani as a result of being branded as Asian.”
Key survey findings
● 89 per cent of the survey respondents feel that the British media lack impartiality when it comes to reporting on matters pertaining to the Hindu community.
● 91 per cent feel that UK media reporting on India is not balanced.
● 90 per cent or more respondents perceive the two pillars of the UK media — BBC and The Guardian, in that order — as being the most unreliable sources of information concerning Hinduism and India.
● 98 per cent of the British Hindu and British Indian (BHI) survey respondents are dissatisfied with the resolution of complaints they have raised against the BBC and The Guardian.
● 11 per cent of the BHI respondents have escalated their complaints to the UK government agency Ofcom, and 97 per cent of these respondents are dissatisfied with the response from Ofcom.