Exaggerated reports about attacks on Indians in Kenya

Some news channels and papers have published exaggerated account of the violence in Kenya. The Indians, mostly Gujaratis, who live in Kenya are as much at risk as others.

It is true that local residents in Kenya don't like Indians much because the Gujaratis own businesses and are often seen as 'outsiders who have exploited their country'. But such was the exaggeration that false reports creating panic were aired on TV channels.

Dainik Jagran, a Hindi newspaper, with a massive circulation, gave the kind of headline like 'Ek lakh Bharatiya khatre mein' (One lakh Indians at risk). The paper is notorious though and has a bad track record for triggering violence and reporting sensitive issues.

Other channels also gave the impression that many Indians were killed. The 'flashes' would show that 'Indians targeted' followed by '300 killed' as if the figure was on Indians and didn't clarify that it was overall figure and there was not one Indian, who died.

Just the fact that expatriate Indians are involved and there was an Indian connection, the section of media including respectable English channels, showed utter irresponsibility and went overboard while reporting a mob violence which began after elections in that country.