Mukherjee criticises TV channels for Mumbai coverage

Thu, Dec 11 10:03 PM

New Delhi, Dec 11 (IANS) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday criticised TV channels for their 24x7 coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attack, which jeopardised the lives of hostages, and asked them to learn 'where to stop and where to pause' by putting national interests above commercial considerations.

'In our anxiety to beat the other channels in publicity, we were showing some crowds of people on screens. Instructions then came to the terrorists to throw a grenade at the crowds so that they would run away,' Mukherjee said in the Lok Sabha during a dicussion on the Nov 26 attack.

'Some lives were lost because of the anxiety to get publicity. If the camera was not focused there, if the crowd was not found there, perhaps these things would not have happened,' he said.

'So, we have to draw the lesson where to stop and where to pause,' he stressed.

'When they (security forces) were sacrificing their lives, at a safe distance, if somebody thinks that he will defeat his competitors by buying larger viewers by giving updated news, he may serve the interests of the company but surely he or she will not serve the interests to the nation,' Mukherjee said.

With the Mumbai attacks in the backdrop, the government Wednesday decided to set up a coordination committee with broadcasters to ensure a degree of self-regulation to ensure balanced coverage.

In a meeting with broadcasters, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and External Affairs Anand Sharma told them that their continued coverage was having a negative effect and also affecting tourism and civil aviation.

Sharma said that while the media in the country was free, it should exercise this independence with restraint and responsibility.  source

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

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