A survey conducted by Insight UK has revealed that many Indians are facing prejudice due to misrepresentation of India, Hindus and Hinduism in the British media. The survey, involving 2,061 respondents, was recently published in the ‘British Media and Perception Report ‘prepared by Insight UK, an organisation that aims to address the concerns of the British Hindu and British Indian (BHI) communities.
The survey was conducted among British Indians and British Hindus living in the United Kingdom (UK) regarding their portrayal by the news media in the UK.
A majority (59%) of the participants said that they had witnessed or experienced prejudice as a result of the negative media reporting on Hindus and Hinduism in the British media. A total of 70% respondents felt that the biased media reporting on India and Indians in British media resulted in a negative perception being created about Indians.
The survey highlighted a particular distrust of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) with more than 90% of the respondents perceiving it and ‘The Guardian’ as the two most unreliable sources of information concerning Hinduism and India.
The highest number of complaints raised by the British Hindus and the British Indians (BHI) living in the UK were against the BBC, followed by ‘The Guardian’. Ninety-eight per cent of the complainants were dissatisfied with the responses received from the media outlets in question.
The survey results showed that the complainants were dissatisfied even when the complaints were escalated to Ofcom. A resounding 91% participants expressed their preference to be identified by the media as either “British Indian” or “British Hindu” or simply “Indian”. In contrast, less than 5% favoured the use of the term “Asian” as a personal identifier. There are about 1.86 million Indians in England and Wales alone, as per the 2021 census. Of this, over 1 million are Hindus. As part of the project methodology, the Insight UK also analysed articles with regards to the usage of language and narrative, and even specific news pieces that covered topics relating to the BHI community, the report said.