Saga of another apology.. This time its to Rahul Gandhi!

For the unaware, this entire issue started with former Supreme Court judge Justice Iyer writing a sharply worded letter to Rahul Gandhi on April 9, criticizing him for the policies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre. Iyer said that Rahul Gandhi may become a good government later on in his life, but right now he is not a good leader.

“He has nothing to say new to this country. He is not a socialist by conviction. He has no ideology at all. Such a person when he goes in the villages, people out of curiosity to see this man come and see,”

As expected the retort to the letter was quick and swift.

On April 17th, most of Media houses carried news of Rahuls ‘sharply worded’ letter to Justice Iyer. In letter, he allegedly claimed

``like most right thinking Indian people'', he was working quietly on that problem as he had ``absolutely no interest'' in becoming a hero.

What most of Media Houses and Rahuls PR team did not anticipate was angry reaction to the PR spin that “Rahul is working quietly to solve the rot in the system”. ToI article I am working to improve a rotten system: Rahul Gandhi attracted 1928 comments and still counting. Almost all the comments were highly critical of Rahul Gandhi(refer Screenshot). Some of comments were

Is this a joke? Your party and family ruled the country for the past 50 years and you were part of govt in the past 6 years. Did you forget 2G happened under your nose. Hero? You should be in Jail.

I think TOI should take a copy of all these comments posted on this article and send that to Congress Party headquarters. If there is one single sensible person left in the party which has completely forgotten its responsibilities and has become the most immoral, unethical & corrupt party of the country, they should know the opinions of the countrymen about their party, their leaders and their policies. If a little sense of self-esteem still exists in them, they should immediately dissolve their party, vacate the PM chair and withdraw from the Indian politics...

Having failed in plan A, now it seems Media and Rahuls PR team has rolledout Plan B. Most of Media houses are now reporting that “Justice Iyer apologizes to Rahul Gandhi”

ToI in its article Justice Iyer apologizes to Rahul Gandhi writes

Former Supreme Court judge VR Krishna Iyer, who had launched a scathing attack on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, on Monday sent an apology letter to him.\

Almost identical news was carried by Rediff, Midday etc

All this Hype makes one wonder what was this apology. Following is the text of so called apology

"Forgive me if I have been bitter in my letter to you. I am too old (97) and critical of parties CPM and Congress for governmental delinquencies," 

PErhaps we are missing something., Media Watch even after best efforts cannot even a scent of apology in the above. BUt we can clearly see sarcasm. It is amazing how a sarcastic comment from Justice Iyer is twisted out of context and made to look like an apology!

This reminds us of the of the blackmoney issues in which  Media Passed off rebuke by LK Advani to Sonia as Apology

Statement of Niira Radia to CBI

ANI please get your facts right and stop insulting our Intelligence!

This entry into Media Hall of SHAME is about a shocking half baked and ill-informed report in Indian Express.

Indian Express in its report Kottyam locals bar women from temple seems to be arguing for “Temple rules should be same”!

The reports starts with

Kottayam Local oppose entry of entry of women into mahalakshi Temple. Expressing displeasure over permission granted to women in Maharashtra to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Sri Mahalakshmi temple, residents of Kerala's Kottayam town said such the practice is a violation of traditional customs.

Author is at wits end to understand why would a reporter of ANI travel all the way to Kottayam district of kerala to get a reaction on permission granted to women in Maharashtra to enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Sri Mahalakshmi temple! It seems that the reporter is talking about Sabarimala Temple in Kerala but it is located in Pathanamthitta district in Kerala.

Then the reporter asks the view of a person whom they described as “local”. According to the Suresh, the local who surprisingly speaks in Tamil!

'I think women should not be allowed inside the Sabarimala temple. I mean, from age 10 till 50, they should not be allowed. I am not saying that women should be completely prohibited in the temple. The temple has certain rules and regulations. One should follow that,' said Suresh, a local.

Media Watch think the reporter needs a crash course on India as to the best of Authors knowledge local language in Kottayam is Malayalam!

Then ANI interviews “another Local” who also speaks in Tamil

Shockingly, some locals maintained that permitting women to pray inside the shrines would make them 'impure'.
'When women come to the temple, the purity of the temple would be lost. So, to maintain the tradition of the temple, only women are not permitted inside it,' said Nirmal Kumar, a local.

If you watch the video carefully the person is not saying “permitting women to pray inside the shrines would make them 'impure'” he is very clearly indicating that when women during menstruation should not be allowed in temple. It is a well accepted and followed tradiution in Kerala that Women during menstruation donot enter temple or take part in any religious function.

Then Reporter goes on to make an outrageous claim that

several temples in India traditionally Ban or restrict women or lower caste people dalits. For years now several now several activists have been protesting against perceived gender bias practiced in many Hindu separate Hindu establishments across India stressing on urgent need of reforms to make religious sites more inclusive for devotees 

It is shocking that a National newspaper like Indian Express would carry a news article with such glaring mistakes (not sure if its intentional)

1. Sabarimala Temple is not in Kottayam but in Pathanamthitta district  of Kerala.

2. Majority of keralites speak Malayalam. One could have understood local speaking tamil in districts of Palakkad or Tiruvandapuram as it borders TamilNadu. But Kottayam is Kerala Heartland! One would hardly find a local there who can speak Tamil such fluently!

3. In the second interview it seems interviewer has deliberately misreported what interviewee was saying! One could not help reporting it as deliberate mischief!

4. Lastly, One can understand and appreciate Interviewesr zeal to have more “inclusive” temples. Perhaps it would come as a shock to her that there are temples and functions in Kerala where Men are not allowed. One such function is Attukal Pongala. More than three million women gather during this ceremony to offer pongala to Attukal Amma the Hindu goddess making it the largest gathering of women on earth and no men are allowed here!

5. Also, one would have appreciated if Reporter has not generalised by saying “several temples in India traditionally Ban or restrict women or lower caste people Dalits”. It is more of an exception than norm! 

 

 

Indian Express plays with headlines quotes Modi govt raped women!

This entry to Media Hall of Shame is shameful play with headlines by IE.

The main news on IE Webpage reads (see screenshots)

'Modi govt grabbed tribals' land in Narmada, raped women'

Any casual reader would be interpret headline as ‘Modi Govt raped women’

However, once you click on the link, the headline reads (see screenshots)

Modi govt committing excesses on tribals, alleges Medha

Which is totally different from the headlines in first page of IE Website.

The Mischief becomes more glaring when  you read thru what Medha had actually said about rape of tribals. She said

"Some displaced tribal women of SSP had been raped but there was no place where they can get their complaint registered in Gujarat,"

It is very clear that unlike what IE wants its readers to believe, she is not blaming Modi Government of rape. She is just stating a fact that some of displaced women were raped and there were no proper redressal mechanism.

How Editors are managed

By KEWAL VARMA
Editors can be broadly divided into two categories: those with substantial circulations spread over large areas of the country; and those with regional circulations. The latter, naturally, have smaller circulations, though there are exceptions (the best example being the Ananda Bazar Patrika). However, both kinds of editors have trouble with two sets of people: the Government and the managements. The views of Government and owners are not necessarily the same, but on one point most owners of publications seem to agree: that their editors should not take criticism of Government too far. And they agree on this because most owners are vulnerable: having business interests apart from news papers, they are aware that if Government wants to, it can create significant barriers between them and their profits from other factories.
No one would deny the owner of a newspaper group the right to choose his editors, but at what point does this begin to hurt the fundamental duty of the Press, and how does one prevent an owner from crossing this point? No one, equally, can deny the right of a management to remove an editor but is there any recourse for an editor if he is removed on unethical grounds? The editor’s job may look glamorous, and indeed it has its rewards, but it is also one of the least protected jobs in the publishing industry. (Would it be more honest if all owners simply became the editors of their publications too? These tensions often find their worst expression when an editor has to leave. The best and most enlightened of managements have often behaved atrociously with departing editors. We think that- this subject should be discussed frankly, without prejudice to anyone, with honesty. And for this reason we have decided to name names. We would welcome it if the managements named here would reply: we will publish their rep
lies equally prominently. We would be happy if SUNDAY became a vehicle for a public debate on this important, crucial, issue.

 

The Great Media Slide

This is a cut and paste from the blog by Dasu Krishnamoorty at sulekha . The original blog can be read here

There is not an area of public life that has not claimed front-page space in the national media for excellence in corruption. Doctors, engineers, judges, sportsmen, legislators, civil servants, lowly employees of the government, industrialists, businessmen, film makers, vice chancellors of universities, everyone of these categories is making its humble and devoted contribution to the corruption industry. We compete successfully with countries in Africa and our own neighbors, according to Transparency International's reports. It is entirely a different matter that there is corruption in this international certification also. But there is one sector of public interest that does not figure in this gallery of greats. That is, the media. In their modesty, they shun publicity.

Lets sanitize all the national symbol

It seems Anna’s movement for Jan Lok Pal has hit a rough patch. Several secular and liberal sections of the society has started to raise their voice against Annas movement. One of primary reasons often cited by Secular Civil Society is Annas usage of “Non Secular” Symbols.

Harsh Mander in his article Why I didn't go to Jantar Mantar writes

And yet why could I not actively join the demonstration at Jantar Mantar? First, the symbols and allies that the campaign chose disturbed me: the stage was decorated with a picture of Bharat Mata, almost identical to that propagated by the right-wing RSS

It seems that consistent pressure from secular civil society is getting its desired results. According to Deccan Herald, New symbol for Hazare’s movement

Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement will have a new symbol in the future with 'Tiranga' at the centre.

The tricolour will replace the Bharat Mata image that was in the background set-up of the stage erected at Jantar Mantar on which Hazare was lying on a fast-unto-death for the Jan Lokpal Bill.

In view of all the above, Media Watch calls upon Congress Party and PM Singh to constitute a commission consisting of secular civil society to sanitize all the national symbol and ensure that they are secular and has approval of the secular class. 

Our sources indicated that civil society is seriously considering to recommend chicken as India's national bird. The senior activists has taken strong exception to India continuing to use"Peacock" as national Symbol. The secular brigade is of the opinion that Peacock is too closely associated with Hindu Religion. Its considered vehicle of Lord Murugan and even Lord Krishna's Crown always has a peacock's feather. Due to this Peacock, donot comply to the strict standards adopted by the civil society on matters pertaining to secularism. Chicken is considered a far "secular" bird considering almost all the religions eat it without reservation. Some pockets of reservation from vegetarian  can be ignored as they are too few in Numbers afterall you cannot please all with such decisions. The senior activists are also of the opinion that National Symbols should be a reflection of national psyche and Peacock, the current national bird is considered too aggressive to symbolize India. India's official response to various issue's ranging from the 26/11 to uprising in in Tibet - can best be described as chicken hearted.

Another national symbol which is up for review is Bharath Mata  as current picture of Bharath Mata resembles the picture being used by RSS. Our sources indicate that Civil society is of the view that current Bharath Mata should be replaced by the one drawn by M. F Hussain. Civil society intents to kill two birds with one stone, This will further reinforce civil societies support for M F Hussain and it also be a blow to RSS who has always opposed M F Hussains depiction of Bharath Mata. There is also a suggestion to rename Bharath Mata as Indian Mom which is a more neutral language.

It is rumored that even national emblem will be reviewed because it has lotus in it!

Civil Society leaders has taken a strict stand on this issue .They have threatened to launch a indefinite candle light vigil if their demands are not accepted