Delhi Gang-rape and Media Mania
Well, the gang-rape of a 23 year old girl, about
which I had written a while ago (Death
Penalty should be imposed for rapists or not ... ... ...) has apparently
been a particularly gruesome crime.
However, the way in which the
English "National" TV news channels have been covering it, makes me wonder?!?!?
Virtually, whenever I've tried watching one of these channels, they've been
discussing about this particular news item and all kinds of "linked" news. This
horrible crime certainly deserves mention (here I must emphasise the very same
statistics that these folks keep talking about: Over 24000 cases of rape in
India every year - almost three per hour). But should it be covered in a
"non-stop fashion" almost to the total exclusion of all other topics? I
certainly don't think so.
Look at a few other "newsworthy" items that have
"got lost in the din":
-
Shiv Sena has, apparently, quietly agreed to let go of their original demand to convert the Shivaji Park into a memorial for their deceased leader.
-
Fairly significant protests by DMK against the electricity shortage in Tamil Nadu
-
Review (and mauling) of our defeated cricket team - After all, cricket is religion in this country
-
Financial Troubles @ Kingfisher Airlines and linking it (irrelevently) to the personal donation of a huge quantum of Gold to Lord Balaji @ Tirupathi by Vijay Mallya
-
The huge fire at Hyderabad Airport and the usual debates on violation of safety norms at our airports
-
The re-naming of the erstwhile Deccan Chargers team (and its prospects in the forthcoming IPL)
-
Banking Amendment bill being passed in Parliament, its implications (and whether it was debated adequately in Parliament)
-
Pratibha Patil committing to return a whole lot of artefacts to Rashtrapathi Bhavan by June 2013
I must admit that a few of these news items might
have been "mentioned in passing" by a couple of channels. However, despite
checking with a few of my friends, I must reaffirm that none of us had managed
to see any meaningful discussion on any of the above news items.
Let me make one thing abundantly clear: I am not
trying to "underplay" the significance of either the Delhi gang rape or the
protests that followed.
My curious query: What happened to that old-school
term called "Perspective"?
Regards,
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