Ever since the brutal 2012 gangrape in New Delhi made headlines around the world, Indian newspapers have stepped up their coverage of crimes against women. So much so that now a number of other important issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) get overshadowed, according to new research findings.
Between January and March 2017, six of India’s top English and Hindi daily newspapers, including The Times of India and Dainik Jagran, published a total of 1,140 articles on SRHR topics, amounting to just around 2% of their overall coverage, according to a study by Love Matters India, an information platform focused on sex, relationships, and public health.
Of this, the overwhelming majority of articles was focused on sexual violence and harassment, including rape, molestation, and child abuse, which were also the only topics to make it to the front pages.
Among the many other SRHR topics largely sidelined were LGBT issues, which accounted for just 3% of the coverage and mostly focused on Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar’s sexuality.
The study was conducted using the Delhi editions of each newspaper.