[Reader-list] MEDIAS (ir)RESPONSIBILITY

[Vedprakash Sharma]

first let me tell you that all life is precious. having said this, let us 
accept the fact that most of the media, as all other aspects of our social 
life, are governed by market forces. we like it or not, media highlights 
only those activities and events which they think, can attract the viewers 
or the audience. so if media did not highlight some certain news, howsoever 
important it might have been, it is not wholly the media's fault. somewhere, 
we, the viewers, are responsible too.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vedavati Jogi" <vrjogi at hotmail.com>
To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 9:29 AM
Subject: MEDIAS (ir)RESPONSIBILITY


>
> MEDIAS RESPONSIBILITY
> Where should it be?
>
>
> Date: Jan 12, 2007 11:39 PM
>
> By the time you guys read these news excerpts, the body of Major Manish
> Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, would have been cremated with 
> full
> military honors.
>
> On Tuesday, this news swept across all the news channels 'Sanjay Dutt
> relieved by court'. 'Sirf Munna not a bhai' '13 saal ka vanvaas khatam'
> 'although found guilty for possession of armory, Sanjay can breath sigh of
> relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn'. Then many
> personalities like Salman Khan said 'He is a good person. We knew he will
> come out clean'. Mr. Big B said, "Dutt's family and our family have
> relations for years he's a good kid. He is like elder brother to 
> Abhishek".
> His sister Priya Dutt said "we can sleep well tonight. It's a great 
> relief"
>
> In other news, Parliament was mad at Indian team for performing bad; Greg
> Chappell said something; Shah Rukh Khan replaces Amitabh in KBC and other
> such stuff. But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Dutt's "phoenix
> like" comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges. Surfing through the
> channels, one news item on BBC startled me. It read, "Hisbul Mujahidin's
> most wanted terrorist Sohel Faisal killed in Anantnag, India. Indian Major
> leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are 
> injured.
>
> It was past midnight, I started visiting the stupid Indian channels, but
> Sanjay Dutt was still ruling. They were telling how Sanjay pleaded to the
> court saying 'I'm the sole bread earner for my family', 'I have a daughter
> who is studying in US' and so on. Then they showed how Sanjay was not
> wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict and also how
> he went to every temple and prayed for the last few months. A suspect in
> Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under armory act...was being transformed 
> into
> a hero.
>
> Sure Sanjay Dutt has a daughter; sure he did not do any terrorist 
> activity.
> Possessing an AK47 is considered too elementary in terrorist community and
> also one who possesses an AK47 has a right to possess a pistol so that 
> again
> is not such a big crime; Sure Sanjay Dutt went to all the temples; sure he
> did a lot of Gandhigiri but then...........
>
> Major Manish H Pitambare got the information from his sources about the
> terrorists' whereabouts. Wasting no time he attacked the camp, killed 
> Hisbul
> Mujahidin's supremo and in the process lost his life to the bullets fired
> from an AK47. He is survived by a wife and daughter (just like Sanjay Dutt
> has) who's only 18 months old.
>
> Major Manish never said 'I have a daughter' before he took the decision to
> attack the terrorists in the darkest of nights. He never thought about
> having a family and he being the bread earner. No news channel covered 
> this
> since they were too busy hyping a former drug addict; a suspect who's 
> linked
> to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied
> the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in
> possession of armory had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents 
> in
> heaven must be happy and proud of him.
>
> Parents of Major Manish are still living and they have to live rest of 
> their
> lives without their beloved son. His daughter won't ever see her daddy
> again. Finally Major Manish, to my generation is a greater hero, someone 
> who
> laid his life in the name of this great nation.
>
> So guys, please forward this message around so that the media knows which
> news to give importance, as it is a shame for us since this Army Major's
> death news was given by a foreign TV channel!!!
>
> Yet the smallest of aberrations in a 1.5 million strong Army is hyped up 
> and
> pasted on the front-page news, without so much as a confirmation. Our 
> media
> men are defence analysts, strategists, lawmakers and judges  all rolled
> into one BUT are they patriots?
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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> http://content.msn.co.in/Sports/Default
>
>


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