Media In India/elsewhere -2

[Guest]

Singur--missing the point
The Hoot's nicely exposed as to where the media's sympathies (and ignorance) lay asking the question:

<b>Had a Gandhian made the same point, rather than Ms Banerjee, would the matter have received different treatment? </b>


<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>The Hindu </i>said, quite rightly but almost in a whisper, that "A sensitive, data-based, and forward-looking land use policy is necessary to balance the needs of industrialisation with those of agricultural intensification and modernisation." But that was about it. While not actually pouring scorn on Ms Banerjee, it was clear where its sympathies lay.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I thought <i>The Telegraph </i>would be different. But alas that was not to be. It called Ms Banerjee's fast " utterly meaningless" and made the fatuous point that "there is only one victim... the hapless state of West Bengal." <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Then, just as <i>The Hindu </i>defended the chief minister, it attacked him. "Mr Bhattacharjee should always think about what is best for the state. He cannot allow his judgement to be clouded by petty political considerations. The dignity of the chair he occupies demands that he acts always in a manner befitting a chief minister, and not as a leader of the Communist party of India (Marxist)."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>The Indian Express </i>went off at a tangent in only the way it can. It talked about "off-market intrigues" by corporates in the context of Ratan Tata's interview to NDTV where he alleged that some competitors were behind Ms Banerjee's protest. To me at least, the edit made no sense at all.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><i>The Deccan Herald </i>also asked an inane question, namely, " why is the Manmohan Singh government not making serious efforts to secure an early end the Trinamool Congress leader's protest hunger strike when it had gone out of its way some months back to persuade Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar in a similar situation?"
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->