Soumya Viswanathan TV Reporter Killed in Delhi

She was from Kuttipuram in Malappuram, Kerala


NEW DELHI: She was young, vivacious, liked by all and good at her job. Now, she is dead. Mystery shrouds the murder of a 25-year-old producer, from an English news channel early on Tuesday morning at Vasant Kunj in south-west Delhi. Soumya was found dead in her white Zen car with a bullet in her head around 3.40am, about half-a-kilometre from the Vasant Kunj police station on Nelson Mandela Road. She was headed home to C-9 block in Vasant Kunj.  more 

Media Coverage a Passionate appeal by B. S. Raghavan

Media Coverage: "Wanted a balanced Approach" by B. S. Raghavan 

Originally published by Rediff news

Media is Unfair to Azamgarh, a place known for Hindu-Muslim unity

For God’s sake, please stop this madness



Azamgarh is shocked, even angry, at the way the police and the media have labelled it a “nursery for terrorists” ever since the Jamia Nagar encounter in which the police gunned down two boys hailing from this district. In Sanjarpur village, which was raided by the Delhi ATS and UP Police, every journalist is eyed with suspicion.
“A news channel is frequently referring to Azamgarh as ‘aatank-garh’ (haven for terrorists). This is ridiculous. For God’s sake, please stop this madness,” frets a visibly upset Zahid, elder brother of Sajid, one of the two boys gunned down in Jamia Nagar.

What upsets them most is that this “historical place known for its Hindu-Muslim unity is getting a bad name just because of some misguided youngsters. Is it justified?” They ask this to every journalist visiting Azamgarh.

 “Because of its name, most people even think Azamgarh is Muslim-dominated, when actually Muslims form only 15 per cent of the population,”  said Islahi who was president of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Student Union in the mid-60s.

In fact, Azamgarh, founded around 1665, is named after prince Azam, who was the son of a Rajput ruler.  Vikramajit, a descendant of the Gautam Rajputs, had embraced Islam, and Azam was one of the two sons he had from a Muslim wife. A large section of Muslims here were originally Thakurs or Rajputs who embraced Islam.

“The media and outside world are being unfair,” laments Chunnan Rai, a social worker and poet. “Even the forefathers of Allama Shibli Nomani (secular theologist) were Rajputs who converted to Islam,” he says. He also reminisces of Pandit Nehru’s visit to Azamgarh. “He stayed at the Shibli College guest house.” Shibli College principal Md Iftikhar Ahmed says half the 14,000 students there are Hindus. “Azamgarh has never witnessed any communal violence or major crime. Suddenly it is seen as a terror haven,” he says.

“Azamgarh was peaceful even during the post-Independence communal riots,” says former MP Santosh Singh. 

 ... full story  

M.F. Husain's Controversial Paintings

M.F. Husain's Controversial Paintings 

Media Today by B. R. Haran in News Today: Hindutva perspective

Media-people and ‘we’ the people

B. R. Haran

Letters@newstoda net.com

Monday, 22 September, 2008 , 03:30 PM      The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. - Thomas Jefferson In general, the 'Media Ethics' or 'Journalistic Codes'comprise the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, public accountability and limitation of harm. Of late in India, it has become hard to find even one newspaper or one TV channel, which abides by these principles. Patrika Dharmahas become a thing of the past in this great land ofSanatana Dharma. Here space is 'sold' and news is 'marketed'. Selling and marketing are a part of business and quite naturally 'profit' becomes the objective. Nothing wrong! It is not fair to expect a newspaper or a TV channel to work as a non-profit organisation. But at the same time it is certainly fair to expect them to stick to the fundamentals of Patrika Dharma attributed to the above said principles and it is imperative that the media lives up to that expectation. India is a great Hindu nation, which has seen the evolution of world's greatest and oldest Hindu civilization spanning to thousands of years. In the last one thousand years, it has been subjected to foreign invasions and persecutions leading to the establishment and further growth of Abrahamic religions resulting in deterioration of its cultural heritage and religious traditions. The religious onslaughts of the Islamic invaders and the 'divide & rule' policy adopted by the Christian invaders have played havoc on the unity of the society making it stand divided along caste lines. The imposition of new educational system and distortion of the glorious history of the nation have also played their part in upsetting the behavioral patterns of the society within itself.  Unfortunately post independence too, the damaging systems continued, thanks to the grand old political party, which has truly betrayed the nation, which genuinely trusted and looked upon it for evolution and empowerment. The intellectual space has been allowed, by the powers that be, to be filled in by Marxists, Minorities and Pseudo-secularists and the same happened in the field of journalism too. The influx of foreign mercenaries and their influencing the intellectual field with their money power and also their capturing the media space with the collusion of Marxists and the pseudo-secularists has led to the devaluation of nationalistic principles. Now, India is flooded with Print & Electronic media houses that allegedly owe their allegiance to foreign masters, who deal with pseudo-secular political parties with a sole aim of de-Hinduising this great Hindu nation. If India still stands as a 'Hindu Nation' without losing its core values of religious tradition and cultural heritage despite the devastation perpetrated by the Abrahamic religions for more than thousand years, it is purely because of its spiritual strength and the basic principles of Sanatana Dharma. As the two Abrahamic religions are not true religions per se, but purely politico-religious concepts, or rather political concepts in the garb of religions, they operate with the aim of capturing this nation. To accomplish this aim, de-Hinduisation of India becomes a necessity, which can be realised only by capturing or influencing the four pillars of democracy. On the one side, they have slowly and steadily infiltrated into the political, bureaucratic, educational and health care systems and to some extent in judiciary also. On the other side, they indulge in expanding their land holdings, educational and health care institutions and infrastructures, increasing their domination even in entertainment industry, preaching & propagating their faith and converting the gullible masses. Their political influence helps them to increase their covert activities through their missionaries and NGOs and the media power extends huge support by projecting those activities as genuine.    If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed.  If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed   - Author unknown   The present media industry in India is controlled by the unholy 'Marxist-Minority-Atheist' nexus showing scant regards to nationalistic principles. Extremely small section of the media works with patriotism, but sadly, it could not match the reach of the other side. The people are left with no other choice and they are unable to get to know the 'other side' of any story, which is projected in an identical way by all the newspapers and TV channels. In this kind of a scenario, the people easily get influenced by the distortion of facts and ultimately believe them as truth. This poisonous media operates with different strategies. While the main objective remains as de-Hinduisation of India, the strategies applied are, onslaught on religious tradition, attack on nationalistic principles, assault on cultural heritage and influencing the psyche.   Onslaught on religious tradition includes belittling Hindu Swamijis & Gurus, demeaning their institutions and ridiculing the customs, rituals & traditions. The media's attack on Sabarimala, Guruvayur, Amarnath, Kanchi Mutt, Puri Jagannath, etc, etc, are apt examples of this strategy. Assault on cultural heritage includes debating the goodness of Hindu festivals, concepts & traditional practices and destroying the Hindu cultural organisations by presenting concocted stories on them. Debating the festivals like Deepavali, Durga Puja & Janmashtami, etc, concepts like Kumbamela & Ramlila etc, practices like Ganesh Visarjanam & Aiyappa Makara Jyothi etc and activities of socio-cultural organisations like the RSS, etc and projecting them in bad light are best examples of this strategy.  Attack on nationalistic principles includes questioning the sanctity of the national song Vandemataram, encouraging the abuse of national flag& tricolour in the name of sports and games, supporting the habitual offender M F Hussain's nude depiction of Bharath Matha & other Hindu Deities in the name of creativity & freedom of art and insulting the Armed Forces & Police by presenting them in bad light for their strict actions against the terrorists and insurgents in the name of human rights. Consistently campaigning against the scrapping of Article 370, hanging of Afzal Guru, introduction of Common Civil Code and enacting of stringent anti-terror & anti-conversion laws is also a part of this strategy. Portrayal of perpetrators as ‘victims’ has been the worst strategy adopted by the media.  Influencing the psyche is a dangerous & venomous strategy, which is focused on the youth and student community. The so-called secularism, liberalism and freedom of expression are absolutely abused by the media for this purpose and it is indeed taking a heavy toll on the psyche of the generation next. Westernisation through vulgar pop music & dances, Fashion parades and Page-3 columns etc, 'liberal' columnists writing in support of pre-marital sex and homosexuality and TV channels promoting them through debates, presenting film personalities as 'cultural' icons, telecasting documentaries & serials denigrating Hindu culture and promoting western cultures, releasing supplements full of third rate movie masalas and shady pub-discothèque activities and carrying sleazy advertisements have horrifying influence in the minds of youngsters.   The one function that TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were - David Brinkley  Apart from this, almost all newspapers and TV channels are either owned by political parties or others who owe their allegiance to them and hence the people are fed with only biased and distorted news & reports. Also there is this squalid concept called 'sting operation', which is normally used to help their political & communal affiliation by victimising the opposite parties through fraudulent ways. If, in a rare show of conscience, the government attempts to control the media, it protests against such steps and talks of 'self regulating mechanisms', but only a small section adheres to such a practice.  Strong measures need to be taken to rectify and streamline the mainstream media. Political parties or personalities must not be allowed to own either a newspaper or a TV channel. Sting operations must be banned and the so-called investigative reports must be authenticated with evidences. The so-called reality shows must be banned and the mini & mega serials must be subjected to censorship and the duration of mega serials must be fixed. TV commercials and Press advertisements must be censored and certified. Communally sensitive reports must be balanced and any deviation or distortion must be punished. 'Adult' contents must not be allowed in mainstream media.     Reports, which degrade the Indian culture, must not be allowed. Any reporting that deviates from the law or specified code of ethics, and, any reporting that harms an individual or an organisation must be punished. Courage, conviction and will are needed to bring in the above said measures and as things stand at present, it is highly unlikely that any government will do it. So, the onus lies on the people to regulate themselves and stay away from this mendacious menace, so that, they do not get influenced and feel free, think clear, breath fresh and stay united.  If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.  - Malcolm

Link

Kuwait to block YouTube

Kuwait plans to block YouTube over Islam content

Mon Sep 22, 2008 5:47am EDT

 

)

[-] Text [+]

KUWAIT, Sept 22 (Reuters ) - Kuwait has ordered local Internet service providers to block online video-sharing website YouTube over clips that could offend Muslims.

"Since the website displays the Koran in the form of songs sung with the oud (stringed instrument) ... and displays disrespectful pictures of the Prophet Mohammad ... please proceed with immediate effect in blocking the website www.youtube.com," read a copy of a memo obtained by Reuters.

The Ministry of Communications was not immediately available for a comment. The website could still be accessed in Kuwait on Monday.

Islamist and tribal groups managed to increase their grip on parliament in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state's May elections with some deputies demanding Kuwaiti broadcasters show more religious content.

YouTube is a unit of Internet search engine Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote,Profile, Research, Stock Buzz

Link 

Sir Tim Berners-Lee Founder of WWW, inaugurates a new World Wide Web Foundation

Internet is fostering disinformation, says web's creator By Jon Swaine The Telegraph.co.uk Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/09/2008 Berners-Lee warns that culture of web is fostering disinformation Have your say: Do you believe everything you read on the web? False internet rumours: recent highlights The internet risks becoming a platform for cults, rumour and disinformation, according to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with creating the web. He said that a new system needed to be put in place that would differentiate between reliable websites that use trusted sources and those that do not. "On the web, the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a formula which is very believable," he told the BBC. "A sort of conspiracy theory of sorts and which you can imagine spreading to thousands of people and being deeply damaging." He said that he was especially concerned by the way the web had been used to stoke fears that the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider would destroy the earth, and to spread rumours that the combined MMR vaccine was causing harm to children. Sir Tim Berners-Lee is backing a new project, the World Wide Web Foundation, which aims to accelerate the progress of the internet and make it more easily available and accessible in developing nations. "The web is a tremendous platform for innovation, but we face a number of challenges to making it more useful, in particular to people in underserved communities," said Sir Tim Berners-Lee. "Through this new initiative, we hope to develop an international ecosystem that will help shape the future web. A more inclusive web will benefit us all." He said that the foundation's three main objectives were to advance "one web" that is free and open, expand the capability and robustness of the internet, and extend its benefits to all people on the planet. In a speech to mark the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation, Sir Tim observed that just 20 per cent of the world's population had access to the internet. "When you think about how the web is today and dream about how it might be, you must, as always, consider both technology and people," he said. "The web has been largely designed by the developed world for the developed world. But it must be much more inclusive in order to be of greater value to us all." Sir Tim singled out mobile phones as one area in which the web community needed to pull together to create a truly mobile internet, accessible to all. "The role of mobile technology in the poorest regions of the world merits particular attention. Numerous stories illustrate how mobile technology can help people meet their most basic health, nutrition, and education needs," he said. "Mobile banking and SMS used to communicate news of weather or crop prices or weddings are just a few examples of how empowered communities have begun to use information technology to overcome the lack of institutions (such as banks) or other infrastructure (such as roads). "We must listen to these stories. Grassroots innovation is what makes the web great." Link

Indian Media for Tougher Terror Laws BBC News

BBC September 15, 2008
South Asia Page last updated at 05:35 GMT, Monday, 15 September 2008 06:35 UK

India media for tough terror laws

More than 400 people have died since late 2005 in bombings in Indian cities The Indian media has called for tougher laws and strategies to combat attacks by militant groups in the country. This comes after serial blasts over the weekend killed at least 20 people in the capital, Delhi. About 90 people were injured when five explosions went off in busy shopping areas within minutes of each other. A Muslim militant group claimed responsibility in an e-mail to the media. Over 400 people have died since late 2005 in bombings in Indian cities. The Hindustan Times newspaper said that it was time that "firmer anti-terror laws are put in place - never mind where the suggestions come from". "Going by the way we conduct our post-attack investigations and put into place barriers against future attacks, one would be forgiven for thinking we are new to terrorism," the newspaper said. The Times of India also hinted at the need to impose tougher anti-terror laws. "At this time of crisis, some of the liberties that we take for granted might have to be curbed to ensure that terrorists, who follow no norms and rules, are effectively restrained," the paper said.  This is not an ideology as much as a "dare" - daring the state, daring ordinary citizens, daring democracy  Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Analyst "Such measures must be debated -if needed, in a special session of Parliament- by the major political parties and implemented as quickly as possible." The Indian Express criticised the federal government for not doing enough to prevent such attacks. "... they have simply not done enough to bring closure to any of the terrorist incidents of the past four years, to follow leads thoroughly, to crack the organisations behind the incidents and, consequently, their ability to surprise at another time, another place," the newspaper wrote. The Hindu said the spree of attacks "demonstrates that India's police and intelligence services simply do not have the resources they need to confront an urban terror offensive, unprecedented in its scale and significance". The blasts scattered debris across a large area The newspaper said that "no state affected by the bombings had upgraded its police forensics facilities, or hired counter-terrorism experts or created specially trained investigators". Mail Today said the authorities "must resist the temptation to blame the Muslim community" while carrying out their investigations. "We do not need to point out that among those dead and injured [in the Delhi blasts] are Muslims." Analyst Pratap Bhanu Mehta, writing in The Indian Express, said: "No state has more experience of handling terrorism than India, yet there seems to have no institutional learning, reorganisation or innovation in dealing with it." Mr Mehta said it was unclear what groups behind these attacks were wanting or looking for. "If this is a battle on behalf of Muslims, what sort of battle is this? For if nothing else, these acts make life more, not less, difficult for Indian Muslims. "It is as if the terrorist is besotted more with the cult of violence than genuine care for Muslims whom he uses as a pretext." Mr Mehta said the "silver lining" is that these attacks had failed to provoke the backlash and trigger off religious rioting between Hindus and Muslims. "Insofar as this polarisation does not become visible, at least something of a resistance to terrorists is being offered."  Link to BBC

Annie Philip on Media War in Indan Express blogs

The Indian Express Blogs

War and Peace

Annie Philip
15-09-2006

It's an all out war. Or so we think…The Newspaper Vs Television Vs Internet. After the battle and the bloodshed, will one medium emerge The Winner? Laugh at the death of the other mediums?

Ok a quickie on where one scores over the other…
Breaking News: While enough has been said, heard and written about how pretty much everything qualifies as 'breaking' in TV news, it has to be admitted that Television is indeed king of breaking news. To illustrate, the horror of 9/11 was brought home because of the visuals aired worldwide.
That said, what if there is 'real breaking news' and no visual available immediately? For how long will the newsreader repeat the details of whatever happened?
Step in-The Internet. Or more specifically, the news website. With no pressure of providing visuals, all the details of the news event are there for the netizen to see. And with broadband and streaming videos, news sites can have live visuals, not to forget pictures to go with the story. And for those behind the scenes, no 'chopping off' your article, in other words, no issues with word limit. In many ways, the Internet has the twin advantage of word and visual.
A little confused with the overcrowding details of TV news? Didn't quite catch HOW or WHY something happened? And forget hi-speed broadband, not even a computer in sight?
Trust the newspaper to lay out the WHO, the WHAT, the WHEN, the WHERE, the WHY and quite often the SO WHAT? And all the 'non breaking' but news that matters to you…in the word format. The newspaper, the grand daddy of Indian media. At least in terms of age. Also the lightest medium, in weight that is. And leisure reading. Lazy Sunday reading is newspaper territory.
And if you thought three is a crowd, there is more. Radio and Mobile. Though nothing is on paper yet, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has given the green signal to airing news on private stations, with which, radio will provide news on the go, like it did during the Mumbai floods. And it holds the distinct advantage of being the most 'non intrusive' media as my professor once put it. Great news for the multi-taskers. And with SMS, MMS, mobile news is the new kid on the block.
So while the newspaper and the Internet can weave magic with words, radio and television gets a wider reach since it doesn't require one to be literate.
So then the point? Peaceful coexistence. Underlying the war of the mediums is who grabs the advertisements? All of them actually. Advertising has developed enough to cater to each specific medium.
Illustration again. 'A' reads the newspaper in the morning, tunes into the radio on the way to work, catches up on news at work on the net, receives an SMS on the way back home and listens to the evening TV news.
Ok agreed. Not EVERYONE is going to access all these mediums EVERYDAY. Nor does everyone want to be bombarded with so much news. But almost everyone can be reached through these mediums at some point in the 24 hours of a day.
The future thus should ideally belong to 'peaceful coexistence' (pun intended). Where one fails, the other fills in. Peace, people, not war.


  Link

Malasian Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin Silenced

Blogger's detention sparks fears

By Robin Brant  BBC News, Kuala Lumpur Raja Petra's website was temporarily closed before his arrest Late on Tuesday night, I spoke to Raja Petra Kamarudin. We were supposed to meet face-to-face earlier in the day, but Malaysia's most vociferous anti-government campaigner could not make it. He was in hiding. Three days later, he was detained. The ostensible reason for the blogger's arrest was that he published a blasphemous article about Islam on his website, Malaysia Today. In the predominantly Muslim country, such an offence can carry a jail sentence. But several weeks ago, the campaigner had also made allegations against one of Malaysia's most powerful men, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak. Mr Petra suggested the minister may have been involved in the 2007 murder of a Mongolian model. Mr Najib denied any involvement. Shortly afterwards, the government ordered internet service providers to block access to Malaysia Today. The ban was lifted the day before Mr Petra was arrested.  More from BBC

Fascism Exposed

Treachery must be punished

A Surya Prakash A bunch of US and Europe-based India-baiters, many of whom are possibly our fellow citizens, have done signal disservice to our Constitution, secular order and territorial integrity by putting their weight behind the arguments of Kashmiri separatists and shooting off a petition full of factual inaccuracies and patent lies to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The signatories to this petition, mostly academics in leading US universities, have called for UN intervention to deal with what they claim is a "humanitarian crisis" in Jammu & Kashmir. ........... Many of the signatories to this petition have Indian surnames like Chatterji, Seshadri, Mathur, Bose, Basu, Khan and Nagarajan. If any of them are citizens of India and if the Government stands committed to protecting India's unity and integrity, then the following course of action may be considered: Impounding the passports of all these worthies at the port of entry whenever they return to India; arrest on arrival; and framing of charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Section 2(1)(o) of the Act describes 'unlawful activity' as any action taken by an individual or an association (whether by committing an act or by words, either spoken or written...) : (i) which is intended, or supports any claim, to bring about, on any ground whatsoever, the cession of a part of the territory of India or the secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union, or which incites any individual or group of individuals to bring about such cession or secession; or (ii) which disclaims, questions, disrupts or is intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India; or (iii) which causes or is intended to cause disaffection against India. Section 2(1)(i) of the Act further explains that "cessation of a part of the territory of India from the Union includes the assertion of any claim to determine whether such part will remain a part of the territory of India". Read more