As I grew up, like many of the kids in South India, I was taught that 'The Hindu' is one of the best newspapers in the land. Whatever it reports were supposed to be correct and I lived with the same opinion till a few years ago. I even used to revere it.
Till my final year in college, it never caught my mind that it was just passing news, just like a RSS feed aggregator. I was not able to see any series which were exploring socio-political, economic and other active issues in depth.I don't know why never did it occur to me that Hindu never concentrated on Active Issues of the society.
Apart from the Indo - US Nuclear deal covered in detail by Siddarth Varadarajan, I feel no other matter (One more which comes below) was pursued seriously as by it. There aresome good journalists like Sai Nath, V.R.Krishna Iyer, but I believe neither of them are bound to Hindu alone.
I lost my respect for Hindu after seeing the way it is covering the Tamil Eelam issue. It has always painted a rosy picture of the Sinhalese. One blatant example how partial Hindu is can be seen in the below article,
When the entire world is concerned about what is happening in the Concentration camps,
the way Ram has written is a violation of the basic principles of journalism.
There are lot of peoples who have been questioning the condition of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The autocracies of the Rajapakshe and his Government were blatantly bought into light after the assassination of Lasantha Wickramatunga, a person who was not afraid in expressing his views against the Government's action against the innocent people. Do read Lasantha's editorial, that throws light on the scheme of things in Sri Lanka, which was published after his demise. Lasantha knew that he would be murdered sooner or latter for his anti government stance, hence he wrote the editorial in advance and asked it to be published after his death.
I am proud and happy to see people like Lasantha, who are the embodiment of journalism. I don't know how people like N.Ram have the heart to do such false propaganda. To my knowledge Hindu has never published anything which says Tami people where killed or were hurt by the Sri Lankan Army. Is it not comical to say that in an operation of such a vast magnitude, an operation which was carried out mercilessly didn't hurt any Tamil?
I don't hesitate to call N.Ram a b*******. A interesting bit of News, Sri Lankan government awarded Ram, the Sri Lankan Ratna, the highest civilian in honor that is conferred by Sri Lanka in 2005.
11 comments:
now NDTV also partnered with The Hindu to spread the propaganda..
These days I have got even more pissed off with the Indian news channels and hence stopped watching them Bala. Think it's good that I continue with the same practice
Mayil na, I'm sorry for being skeptical about your article. But this is baseless. The only news that I could derive from the Times' article is
"Most of the deaths are the result of water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhoea, a senior relief worker said on condition of anonymity."
I think we must stop sensationalizing the situation and allow the Lankan government to carry on with what they are doing. I don't think our Government would have done any better given the situation and considering the funds available would be enormous in India. How would we know what their health condition was when they were at the woods? All said and done I think the Hindu has done a good job covering the situation. And 1400 deaths per week may/may not be true. Even if they were true, we must be aware/educated/advised enough to not blame the entire thing on the conditions at the camp. Please allow me to be strong enough on this topic. This article is not so very well written.We are not doing politics here.
Poonai.
Poonai, there is nothing wrong in feeling skeptical about the article. And certainly you have the right to be strong on your opinion.
The Times article talks about Red cross closing down offices in the Camp which Hindu has not mentioned. Why should Red Cross close down its office over there? It is because Red Cross workers are not allowed to work freely.
Why has not Hindu reported about any deaths occuring in the Camps due to the unhygienic conditions? Is the Government not accountable for the unhygienic conditions? Why the Government has not be criticised for the same so far?
Can you list down a single article from Hindu which says the Army operations caused by the army killed scores of Civilians?
The entire world, including UN condemned the Sri Lankan Government for the same, but Hindu didn't utter a word about it.
India might be able to support them monetarily, but why did it reject a motion which expressed concern about what is happening over there? Also never did India do anything substantial to stop the Genocide occurring over there.
You mentioned regarding the deaths that, "Even if they were true, we must be aware/educated/advised enough to not blame the entire thing on the conditions at the camp." Can you tell me what else can you blame on?
Did you read the editorial by Lasantha? He states that,
"But to do so by violating the rights of Tamil citizens, bombing and shooting them mercilessly, is not only wrong but shames the Sinhalese, whose claim to be custodians of the dhamma is forever called into question by this savagery, much of which is unknown to the public because of censorship."
He was killed for saying this many times. Is it not more evident that the Government is on rampage against the Tamils?
Humans are at their best to generalize things. One event leads to total generalization. Every journal has its ups and downs. Some are biased and hardly none are biased. Even NY Times which i consider is the best Paper in the world is pro-american (of course it is US paper, but it has an international edition the `International Herald Tribune`)
I do agree to your point Sai. But I am not able to digest what is happening in Lanka. So many innocent people suffering makes me feel a lot, it has given me many a sleepless night.
1. "Red Cross close down its office over there? It is because Red Cross workers are not allowed to work freely." -- Baseless
2. "Hindu reported about any deaths occuring in the Camps due to the unhygienic conditions? Is the Government not accountable for the unhygienic conditions? Why the Government has not be criticised for the same so far?" -- I don't find any reason for not to take sides with Hindu. There is no reason for me to believe in Times' rather than Hindu's. The camps' are far more better than any camp would be. I don't entirely believe in camps causing deaths. Sorry. No.
3. I don't think The Hindu went there to report on what happened. I thought it was very clear that Hindu went there to report on what is happening. Again your are cribbing about the deaths. There is no use writing about that. The maximum I can do is appreciate your way of writing or the poetic essence. Nothing more.
4. "Can you tell me what else can you blame on?"
Again my point is
a. I cant believe the number reported in Times
b. There is only the helpless people who did not know what to do and supported LTTE is to blame.
Regarding the quote by Lasantha, I'm sorry I'm not much aware of the situation.
Overall, I think you are over-excited.
"Is it not more evident that the Government is on rampage against the Tamils?"
I think this is a very foolish statement to make considering you have no idea on what is going on, what his government policies are.
This is waste of cyber space. There is no single point being made here and no valid point being put across.
What do you say about these new soruces which cite the freed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052101144.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6324678.ece
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090527/RC_tamil_090527?hub=World
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8142550.stm
http://richarddix.livejournal.com/2028.html
http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=7222740&tid=5355986490761677146&start=1
Poonai, first read Lasantha's editorial and about him. That would give an idea of what is happening.
Poonai, you don't know about Ram and the Hindu propaganda. I was like you a few years back. Do remember we are living in a Orwellian world.
I believe you are not following what is happening over there.
If you analyze what is exactly happening over there instead of just skimming over you won't talk so naive.
When people are dying, you don't want me to crib about them? Isn't it stupid that only one magazine in the whole world says that nothing wrong is happening in Sri Lanka and you want me to accept that, just because it is presumed to be the best in India?
All the magazines from U.K. are anti LTTE, they have criticized some of the operating mechanisms. They themselves are coming out and blaming the Sri Lankan Government for its atrocities. Do read all the links I have posted.
A genocide is happening over there, maybe all of you will realize it once it is complete and history books carry it in the next generation.
I can't wait till that, I will shout about it all the way. I am emotional about it, you can't expect a person to see the death of his brothers and sisters in a happy way.
When you get time see this pictures also
http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=categories&Itemid=54
the whole situation is very obvious. the han angle is the missing part of the puzzle.hindu is hopelessly pro-communist and pro-chinese. chinese have taught srilankans what they do on a day-to-day basis in tibet and xinjiang. now china will also profit from the mass rebuilding of srilanka. they are doing a hitech port in rajapakse's constituency.
hindu will report what china wants them to. one more example of hindu's great work. see the 2 articles below and you will find hindu is more pro-china then even chinese national media
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2008/08/n-rams-acolyte-speaketh-chindus-child.html
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/03/tibet-is-paradise-xinhua-ram.html
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