It is heartening that readers engage with some of the difficult and often contentious issues surrounding journalism and media freedom. While I sincerely thank those who have endorsed my views in my last column, ‘Tilting at windmills’ (September 21), some others wrote saying they see bias not in opinion pieces but in news reports and headlines published in this newspaper.
Providing context
S. Balasubramanian, a reader from Bengaluru, saw a clear bias in the way The Hindu reported the Supreme Court proceedings of the bail plea of activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj. On September 25, The Hindu carried a report with the headline, ‘SC asks Sudha Bharadwaj to file bail plea on merits’. Mr. Balasubramanian compared it with the headline carried in some other news organisation: ‘Elgar case: SC junks Sudha Bharadwaj bail plea’. Mr. Balasubramanian said: “While the report in The…