'द हूट' वेबसाइट ने मीडिया में दलित पत्रकारों पर एक लंबी स्टोरी प्रकाशित की है. इस स्टोरी में कई दलित पत्रकारों के उनके मीडिया के अनुभवों को सविस्तार प्रकाशित किया गया है. 'दलितमत' डाट काम वेबसाइट के संचालक और 'दलित दस्तक' मैग्जीन के प्रकाशक व संपादक अशोक दास की भी कहानी इसमें है.
अशोक दास कभी भड़ास4मीडिया के लिए काम करते थे और उसके पहले अमर उजाला, अलीगढ़ में रिपोर्टर थे. अशोक ने अपने अनुभव को 'द हूट' से शेयर करते हुए यह भी जिक्र किया कि उन्हें 'दलित मत डाट काम' वेबसाइट शुरू करने की सलाह भड़ास के प्रमोटर यशवंत सिंह ने दी. अशोक दास के बारे में जो कुछ प्रकाशित किया गया है, वह इस प्रकार है…
Obviously, not all upper caste journalists are tormentors of the downtrodden, not all Dalits relinquish their dream of working in the media. Conscionable, socially aware upper caste men and his own adventurous spirit define the experiences of Dalit Dastak’s editor Ashok Das, who has been in journalism for around seven years. He was among the 10 journalists chosen for the Aligarh bureau of a national newspaper which was to publish its edition there.
Of these 10 men, Ashok Kumar, who hadn’t then started to use the surname of Das, was the only Dalit; eight were Brahmin, as was obvious from their surnames. In the initial days of the gang of 10 landing in Aligarh, the office had them living and eating together, rightly assuming it would take them a while to arrange for accommodation. One evening, as they sat for dinner, a Brahmin asked Ashok Kumar what his full name was. He did not squirm. “Dalit,” he shot back, his tone turning them defensive. They said they didn’t believe in the caste system.
The reality, however, was different. In his absence, Ashok became a topic of discussion among his colleagues, particularly as the ten began to choose their partners to share rented accommodation to cut down cost. Nobody wanted to pair up with Ashok until Sri Narain Mishra stepped forward to take 
him in. It was he who told him about the passionate debate his Dalit identity had sparked off among the others.
Ashok was assigned the Aligarh Muslim University beat, arguably the most prestigious assignment to handle in Aligarh. His work, he said, began to earn him respect. But then came the time of promotion. Three of the ten were given a leg-up, of which two were Brahmin and one Bhumihar, the caste to which the editor too belonged. Ashok thought it was grave injustice as the Bhumihar would take an hour or so to turn even a press release into a story. Livid, he wrote a letter of complaint to the newspaper’s national editor.
His disenchantment saw him organise, along with five local college boys, signatures to a petition against the Shiv Sainik attacks on the Hindi heartland migrants in Mumbai. Their campaign took them to Allahabad, Benaras, Patna, Meerut, and JNU. Twenty days later, in a procession, they marched from New Delhi Railway Station to submit the petition to the President and the Chief Election Commission. Ashok never returned to Aligarh and began to work for the popular media website, Bhadas4media.com, whose promoter, Yashwant Singh, subsequently suggested he should begin Dalitmat.com. On June 23, 2012, from Delhi, he launched Dalit Dastak, a monthly, among its promoters being JNU’s Prof Vivek Kumar.
'द हूट' में जाति को लेकर प्रकाशित तीन कड़ियों की पूरी कहानी पढ़ने के लिए इन लिंक पर क्लिक करें…
The untold story of Dalit journalists (1)
