The virus and an enemy within: Construction of an invidious news discourse by the mainstream press in India

Human rights organizations and media watchdogs have expressed concerns about COVID-19 news coverage in the Global South, particularly by the Indian mainstream media, due to the Islamophobic discourse it generated. This study critically examines the first wave of COVID-19 coverage by four major Indian media outlets and argues that the press perpetuates an ideologically driven discriminatory discourse developed over a century. Drawing on past scholarship in Discourse Historical Analysis (DHA), the study finds that the media employs various discursive strategies – nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivization, mitigation, and intensification – to construct a malevolent identity for Indian Muslims. This represents them as the ‘enemy within the nation’, attributing blame for the virus’s spread in the country. Conforming to Hindutva, a dominant ideology that has been shaping Indian national politics for decades, these strategies collectively contribute to an invidious news discourse, contradicting the press’s purported fairness and neutrality.