I have just returned from a wonderful five-week whirlwind trip volunteering, sightseeing, and trekking in India and Nepal, but came away angry at the evidential power and influence the Indian media have over the minds of their readers.

Many newspaper stories in India read more like opinion pieces, with strong bias and not enough objectivity. One story I read, about a husband who assaulted his wife, began along the lines of: “Could you imagine such a horrible monster mistreating his wife in such a disgusting way as this man did on Saturday. Thank goodness he was arrested.”

OK, I do not support violence of any kind, but this is clearly an opinion, not an unbiased report of what happened.

The TV stories are no better. While I was in India there was bomb blast in a German bakery in Pune, near Mumbai. When I flicked the TV on one night, I thought I was watching a dramatic horror movie, with Jaws-like music, and terrified commentary coming from a news reporter more worried about her theatrical career than her credibility as an accurate journalist. This was not a movie; it was just the nightly news.

And it is this type of reporting that delivers news of Indian attacks in Australia.

The Times of India, which is in my opinion the best Indian newspaper, published a story on February 10 with this introduction:

“The release of a research paper providing evidence that Indian students in Melbourne feel racially targeted was delayed by the Australian police.”

Tell me, do you feel this is in favour of, or slightly against, the Australian police?

I met some Australians who would tell Indians they came from New Zealand, South Africa, or England to avoid the arguments that would follow if they said they were Australian.

But I was bloody proud to put my hand up and say, ‘I am Australian, and what you are reading is biased information.’ I wanted to be a prime example of the majority of Australians who are accepting, tolerable, curious and respectful of cultures different from our own. For goodness sake, I was so curious about Indian culture I saved up for a plane ticket to head over there and check it out for myself.