[Reader-list] Mamma will give you a Kit Kat!

[Shivam]

( Apologies for cross posting this from
http://www.theotherindia.org/media/mamma-will-give-you-a-kit-kat.html
)


The mainstream media never told you that over 200 doctors protest in
favour of reservations at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences
every day between 1 to 2 pm. visited AIIMS today, unfortunately after
2 pm. The pro-reservation doctors have organised themselves into group
called "Medicos Forum for Equal Opportunity". They are not on strike
as they do not want to inconvenience patients. They have been
distributing pamphlets and sending press releases.

I went to the tent where the anti-reservation campaign is situated -
Ground Zero as it were. It will write longer reports and posts on this
(I am going again tomorrow with some friends) but I want to urgently
tell you about my interaction with journalists at Ground Zero. I asked
them why they weren't covering the Medicos for Equal Opportunities.

CNN-IBN's camera person: "I don't know of any pro-quota protests.
Where are they?"

CNN-IBN correspondent Neha Seth: "I have covered them but it is up to
our editors how much airtime they want to give them."

Two photojournalists replied together: "I know about them but our
bosses have said they want anti-quota pictures." One was from the
Press trust of India, the other from Sahara.

In short, if there's a gag on the media (
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/sms-claims-media-gag-on-quota-stir/10851-3.html
),  it's for the pro-quota protesters. And it's a self-imposed gag.

"Even by mistake they don't their cameras this side," said Dr Aroop
Saraya, one of the leaders of the 'Medicos for Equal Opportunities'.
He is upper caste, by the way, and so is the campaign's convener Dr
Vikas Bajpai. Just in case anyone presumes this campaign is from SC/ST
quota MBBS students - though some of them are a part of it too.

 The English media had patted its back for its coverage of the VHP's
pogrom in Gujarat in 2002, and rightly so, it was indeed their hour of
pride. But the biased reportage   (
http://www.hindu.com/mag/2006/05/21/stories/2006052100290300.htm ) of
"Mandal II", as they are calling it, is their hour of shame.

Then a lady with two kids walked in. One was 2 years old and the other
was three. The lady had in her had a fancy basket with flowers. The
kids were taken to the dais and someone announced that two little kids
had come to support the doctors on strike. The kids had a piece of
paper stuck on their shirts; "Say No to Reservations," it read. Then
came a man on the dais and announced their names and ages. They were
then given the microphone and asked to say, "Youth for Equality" (the
name of the anti-reservations campaign, as anyone who's been watching
any of India's dozens of news channels). The boy looked left and right
and gave up the mike. The girl wasn't interested either.

Then they went to another location where three cameras from different
news channels focused on the kids as they were made to give the
flowers to the doctors. They were then asked by the mother to say
"Youth for Equality!" before the cameras. One cameraperson took the
camera in both his palms and made it run left and right, following the
kids' tantrums. The movement of the camera in the hands was akin to a
snakecharmer's pipe. Just that in this case the subject was calling
the shots. Literally.

 "Loudly say 'Youth for Equality'! Loudly! Loudly! Come on, Mamma will
give you a Kit Kat!"

The kids were more fascinated by cameras than with the prospect of a
chocolate. The two-year-old girl looked deep into the lens and
laughed.

Best,
My liberal alter-ego