Mumbai Massacre - Al Jazeera take on Indian Media

In The Listening Post, Al Jazeera, 5th December 2008 this week, the massacre in Mumbai and the difference in coverage by the Pakistani and Indian media. Plus, Turkmenistan and the poor state of its media.

If you are not able to view this video or finding an incomplete frame and want to see the full frame visit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmXBuzcN4EQ A note of warning: The video may not be viewable from a corporate network.

In the few hours that I have watched Al Jazeera English last week, I am convinced that Al Jazeera( too early to declare it is entirely impartial) more professional than the Indian electronic media. No, it is not the official mouthpiece of Al Qaeda. Al Jazeera English is the English language News Channel of is run by the Emir of Qatar and Al Jazeera English is the window to the Middle East for the English speaking world.

Previous Posts by this blogger on Indian media are here and here.

Proud of Security Forces, Ashamed of the Media

In all the tragedy unfolding over the last <> 48 hours and 3 mins, there is this inescapable, extremely irritating Indian TV NEws Channel which if it had not been dangerous could have been dubbed as farce.

The 24x7 media and all its actors have no sense of proportion, perspective or even shame. If the terror attack on Wednesday exposed India, for the first time (?) since 13/12 vulnerability to identified, unrestrained attacks, it exposed -once again -the hollowness and the frivolity of the Indian news electronic media.

The 24x7 media believes we, the viewers want to know the number of bullets shot, as it is being shot (Wrong ,we dont) that we the viewers, would rather hold our breath when the correspondent thinks up of something to say in between his "aa", " you see", "actually" and "absolutely"s ( Wrong, we would much rather have you read prepared text than ad lib, Thank you) , that we the viewers are fools ( Please, all of us are not fools all the time) and we the viewers will brook no criticism of the media themselves.(Wrong, again)

Sample this:
Ashok Mehta, visibily a retired Army officer, is a guest on Arnab Goswami's TIMES-NOW. Mr. Mehta, ".. This is probably the first commando operation, anywhere in the world, of this magnitude which has been telecast live for 48 hours..."
Arnab ( attempting to interrupt), Umm... er..

Mr. Mehta, "...the Fidayeen squad could not have asked for more. Their purpose was to get the message across and this is exactly what a prolonged televised attack did..."
Arnab, ( attempting to interrupt), " er...Absolutely.. now" ( Notice how 'absolutely' is a useful word for interruptions or time fillers)
Mr. Mehta, "...For the Fidayeen ..Lashkar-e-Taiba or anyone else this project is a grand success"
Arnab (defensive, looking for solace turns to the other panellist), " Surely, we must have a sense of persperctive. Mr so-n-so, what are your comments".
Mr. So-n-so, "For the terrorist, is essential to get their message across"
Now Arnab gets defensive, interrupts " Now is not the time to shoot the messenger, Now is the time to show respect to armed forces. Lets us go across to - (that hapless chap)--Rahul Shivshankar who is with Maj Gen So-n-So speaking exclusively to Times Now." The reality - MajGen was neither speaking nor was it exclusive. He had been accosted on his way out and forced to utter a few words.
Switch to NDTV, the Big Daddy of 24 hours new ,Prannoy Roy ( Big Dhadi, as my grandpa would say) calls"over to Mumbai". Barkha Dutt is on the phone line with a person whose wife is missing for 48 hours. Barkha, ( with such an empathetic voice and face that would put a theatre artist to shame), Mr Saikia, " Your wife is missing for the last 48 hours, It was only 24 hours ago that you had been mentioning that she is missing for 24 hours. How do you feel about it. Is she still missing ?" (bah! Please,Ms Dutt, you would have displayed genuine senstitivity but letting the man alone).

Next, Barkha Dutt (a congenital victim of hyperbole and hand-synchronised animation has a rather unusual guest to interview - Harsha Bhogle. She begins," Harsha, One of the worst attacks, Mumbai is resilent to overcome, is it not"
Harsha -" I am tired of Mumbai being referred as resilient. Why should we be resilient. We do not have to be. Why should innocent lives be lost."
Barkha ( not expecting this reply), "Absolutely. Prannoy, I know you are waiting to ask a question to Harsha. Go Ahead"
Prannoy, (not at all waiting to ask a question rambles) " Harsha is a good friend, we go back a long way. He is so widely travelled. Harsha, Being so widely travelled ( now he has thought up of a question- extempore), what do you think is the significance of this attack on India? " Bah !

Further more, The Breaking news ticker on the newschannels were confusing rather than informing reading..
" Gunbattle ends" and "Fierce Battle On" alternatively.
"Taj Mahal under siege" ( Surely nothing is happening in Agra, is there?)
"More explosions"
"War Rages on" ( Er.. if war rages on, is that a 'breaking news')

And in spite of all this, they still cant get over Bollywood, and hence we have Rahul Bose, Sanjana Kapoor, Mukesh Bhat giving expert opinion on what the government must be doing.

All of the above is everyday affair can be tolerated and we, the viewers,do that, if it had not been for the fact that the live coverage provided by reporters "risking their lives" ( for the record, we the viewers did not ask them to do so) had actually risked the lives of the hostages and the armed forces - by compromising the positions, timings, and other details of the security forces.

Watch this- Al Jazeera English's Listening Post covers the Indian Media coverage of Mumbai Massacre

NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now Accused of abetting Mumbai Terror Attack

Whether the terrorists are foreigners are not, whether they received local assitance or not is yet to be answered, 24 hour News Channel like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now and Headlines Today are clearly assisting the terrorists.

This morning the news channels beamed live footage of NSG commandos being airdropped on the attacked building. Any terrorist inside the building had the enormous advantage of knowing how many commandos were entering and from which position. This was a very specific example. Right from announcing when NSG forces arrived to the number of security forces, the news channels are doing all, in utmost competitive vigour, that they can to keep updated the terrorists inside the attacked building and their accomplices in the outside world with whom the attackers might have possibly maintained contact telephonic contact. Earlier, they had telecast specific footage of crouching commandos up on the Gateway of India providing additional cover in case the fight spills over to balconies or terraces.

The sheer pressure for eye-balls and rivalry amongst news channels is sabotaging the already fragile national security scene. It took all of 40 hours since the first pictures for the Army to 'request' news channels to not beam live pictures. A more powerful government would have ordered the eviction of reporters out of camera range. Anyways that was request was not particulary followed

News Channels have their utility, during times of Emergency, of sending messages about the hurt, the missing and the stranded. If the government is botching up the operations, sure, the people deserve to know, but not like running commentary .

Even if the capture of the attackers is delayed by as much as a minute on account of the advantage that the news channels give them, the news channels are playing an anti-national, pro-terrorist role ( even during peace time, this writer is of the view that several news anchors play a divisive anti-national role)

Is the government so weak that they cannot control media in times like these ?

Hot Groundnut Vendor near M3, Wipro Office, Bangalore

First Image of vendor selling Hot Groundnuts near M3, Wipro Office

Second image is a close up so you can check out the material he uses to package the groundnuts in !!

Hint : you may have to read upside down :)

If there was no Orkut, would friends wish you on Birthdays

Wanna check how many people actually remember your Birthday ?

Do this mini-experiment. A week before your Birthday go to all the networking sites - Orkut, Hi-Fi etc that you are a member of and "switch off" the birthday indicator or mark it 'private'.

Wait for your birthday and check out how many actually wish you.

You will get Interesting (if disappointing) results.

Not that birthdays matter, just an index of how people rely on technology so much that they do not care for personal touch

Will Advani be a statesman ?

Television News Channels are predicting the doom of the Manmohan Singh led , nay, prime ministered UPA Government, in the wake of the Manmohan-Sonia's pro-nuclear deal stance vis-a-vis the defiant Left front.

All sorts of arithmetic are being worked out, by television channels, to see how, and if, the Manmohan Singh government. A lot of gyan on 'sacrificing power for national interest of nuclear deal' psephology versus inflation psephology verus other miscellaneous theories are floating around.

If Manmohan Singh, in all his 4 years as Prime Minister has stood by conviction on any issue, it is possibly the nuclear deal with US. Interestingly, the deal was mooted by the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government and the deal progressed until the elections intervened and Manmohan replaced Vajpayee.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not oppose the deal in the manner that the Left does. One means that the BJP has no 'matter of principle' objections to the deal. (yes, the swadeshi sentiments and nuclear deal are mutually exclusive) . THe BJP's opposition to the deal is the traditional 'opposition for Opposition's sake'

With elections due in the USA in the next 4 months, a possible change of guard may fade hopes of the nuclear deal irredeemably.

Lal Krishna Advani, has a golden chance to play naughty politics, topple the government and cause an elections. Hell, he does not even have to play politics. Internal fissions within the UPA may cause disintegration.

Lal Krishna Advani, has a golden chance to play the statesman, and emerge a taller politician. He should place national considerations above short-term opportunistic views and endorse the deal.
If Advani will assure Manmohan that the BJP will vote in favour of Manmohan in case of a Lok Sabha vote (atlease abstain) it will further the nuclear deal, Advani will emerge taller and the BJP a party that keeps national interests foremost.

Why Manmohan is persisting with nuclear deal ?

Manmohan Singh is a good man.

The prime ministership was thrust upon him and he accepted it.

Manmohan Singh is an honest man. There have been cases of moral turpitude amongst his Cabinet colleagues but none dare raise a finger against him.

What is the use of a leader of intergrity if he cannot discipline his lieutenants ? Not much, except a stable government.

Manmohan has tolerated, withstood many a disgrace possibly because if he did resign the nation would be in a political turmoil.
HOwever, Mr. Singh does want to leave legacy, his footprints on the sands of Pokhran. He very badly wants to do the nuclear deal and if there is one cause he is willing to go the full length for, then this is it.

Inflation happens no matter what gymanstic he and his cohort perform, Manmohan singh will not be able to leave footprints on sands od time.

Has Devanahalli done It ?

That is the question. Has Devanhalli done it ? Has Devanahalli done what advisories could not ?

Devanahalli's Bengaluru International Airport has brought the elite to use public transport. The Junta who would turn up their nose and use a personal car or a taxi are now using BMTC buses and Taxipools. Of course, to be fair, new air-conditioned buses are being used by the BMTC. The routes operated cover the city in a broad-brush. The pick-up points are centrally located and have convenient feeder services. Families have stopped visiting airports to see-off or receive relatives.

Another realisation is that the connectivity to the airport is not as worse as it was made out to be (This writer has not visited BIA and this post is based on anecdotal evidence). After the airport was finally thrown open, Bangalore Mirror's (a Times of India publication) much touted Devana yelli ? campaign for better connectivity to the new airport fizzled out. Also, it might proves that if you let people expect the worst and perform better than worst, everyone is happy.

The BIA airport and BMTC together have helped the classes take to public transport. Can this be replicated for the rest of the city ? A mammoth task indeed but the benefits may be manifold.

Mumbai Indians ? duh !

The DLF IPL conception-to-execution seems to have happened faster than one could imagine. Literally.
This is apparent in the lack of creativity in the way the teams have been named, oops, branded.
There are 2 'royal's in the Royal Challengers and Rajasthan Royals. Two kings, in Chennai Super Kings and Kings Punjab. The Vijay Mallya owned Bangalore team's 'royal' name is understandable not the Rajasthan team's plagiarism.
However, Mumbai Indians, take the cake. What are the rest of us. Pakistanis ? And it is not as if this team has not hired expatriates.
But then What's in a name ?

The Rs 60,000 Crore Waiver

The Rs 60,000 Crore Waiver

As a common man I object to the large scale largesse to the agricultural community.
The measeure will not bring any relief to the marginal farmer in the clutches of the private moneylender, it also disincentivises the farmer who is repaying the loan.

While the government may goahead with the proposal, citizens seek to know who the biggest defaulters.

The entire list of defaulters in the descending order of loan outstanding should be published on a website.

Some of the reforms I suggest are-
All new loans should be granted only to PAN holding farmers.
All procurement should be made from PAN-holding farmers.
Farmers earning more than 10 lakhs pa should pay tax at peak personal Income tax rate for all income in excess of Rs 10 lakhs pa.

Why Bhajii is unlikey to have abused Symonds

Bhajji is unlikely to be guily to Racial abuse. That ICC's system of jurisprudence is unlikely to take cognizance of that is a different matter.

Why ?

Harbhajan is an Indian Sardar. In the abuse lexicon of Indians, certain zoological species are frequently used. Monkey, Donkey, Dog et al are some of them. We Indians value birth, parentage,lineage, caste, race and hence abusing one of these is considered a good insult.

Having said that, Bhajji is unlikely to have "racially' abused Symonds, because we Indians do not care what race a foreigner is. They are all 'mlechchas'. Had the abused been another Indian, one might have been tempted to assume "racial abuse". After all, we use abuse castes, don't we.

But Symonds is no Dalit and hence Bhajji could not have cared less whether Symonds was native aboriginal or Black. ( am not sure whether Bhajji can pronounce "aborigine")

And about the monkey business, come on, that was a fair comment !