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

[Yogesh Girdhar]

Shivam
Thank you for letting us know about all these eye opening and unknown  
side of the current events.
-Yogesh

On May 27, 2006, at 2:10 AM, Shivam wrote:

> ( 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
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