Monday, February 9, 2009

Why Media Ombudsmen?

A Page3 Culture newspaper has been carrying out a slander campaign against the sentiments of Mangaloreans...Quotes statements made by criminal minded people and attributes it to those in power...

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The statement taken out of Manjeswar MLA Kunjanbus mouth, has created furore...such words were never uttered by the Home Minister of Karnataka...

But the Page3 newspapers blow this out of proportion, without even verifying with the HM of Karnataka...obviously sponsored by some anti social elements! (original version of the statement: Acharya, also here to attend the party's national executive and national council meetings, said he is studying the unfolding situation. "Kunjambu rang me on Friday night and said his daughter was safe and had reached home," Acharya added.)

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Here is the detail of action taken in this event:

“We have arrested five persons so far. While four are from Kerala, one is from Mangalore. It appears the crew of the bus belongs to the CPM. The girl was not abducted. She was asked to get off the bus by some persons who thought she may be in trouble.
“This seems to have been done in good faith. She was neither beaten nor threatened. The investigation is on, and the truth will come out soon.”

other report from Peace Keeping meeting

Bangalore: IN THE light of media reporting on moral vigilantism by the right-wing groups in Mangalore, the state BJP Government proposes to appoint a media ombudsman to screen reports lacking in objectivity.
Home Minister V S Acharya, echoing the views of a sizable section in Mangalore who say media coverage of the January 24 assault on women at a pub has caused great damage to the reputation of Mangalore, at a peace meeting in Mangalore on Sunday said his Government would consider a policy to keep media “within a Lakshman Rekha”.
“An ombudsman will screen media reports for objectivity and entertain complaints of the public. The media must not go overboard in projecting incidents,” Acharya said.
District-in-charge Minister Krishna Palemar said, “Mangalore has been projected in a poor light across the world by the media.”

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. Maybe the media is wrong. Or maybe you guys are.

As a home minister please work on getting the law and order situation assessed. There seems to be a clear issue there. Beating up women!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for clarifying, but please don't waste time on these page 3 rags.

Perhaps no state govt in India has undergone as many challenges in such a short duration as current Karnataka govt (except perhaps Gujarat during earlier rule of Modi). Look what happenned later during elections.

Despite one year sustained campaign by English visual media and likes of Times of India they could not do anything to prevent Modiji from coming back to power.

So ignore these English media campaign like Modi ji.

Anonymous said...

Let these Page-3 rags continue bash you till elections. They are doing campaigning for you.

These English rags are surviving on alcohol advertisements so they will of course support careless wining and dining.

Anonymous said...

Dear Sir - was Kunjambu illterate? Or which language did you speak with him - Kannada? English? Malayalam? Tulu?

Kunjambu the MLA looks like a typical Kerala politician who can only talk big in daily road protests/bandhs.

Since all the Bangalore blast accused are from Kerala it is more likely that Kerala LDF govt schemed this whole thing to steal the thunder from your govt's achievement in nabbing blast suspects.

When Central and Maharastra govt are dilly dallying on investigating Mumbai attacks, your govt has shown the way by scientifically dissecting the blast probe. Kudos to you and Karnataka Police.

We wish we have a non-partian police force like Karnataka here in Kerala.

Anonymous said...

sure, also like modi, perpetuate a genocide of sorts in karnataka. suresh patel, you are so full of bullshit.
meanwhile, sir, pls we don't want clarifications or justifications or defenses for/against the actions of your government. as a woman, i was optimistic & gung-ho when your party came into power. but now i am having serious doubts over your govt's commitment to protect women or minorities. pls, it's time you all took some SERIOUS action. otherwise i can promise you that the youth and women of this state will rise up. and i don't need to remind you or anyone "hell hath no fury like a woman spurned." and we are being spurned from our human rights & individual freedom.

Prog Power said...

Good to get to read about both sides of a story. I agree that the media has not exactly been angelic all over India, recently.

All the same, it is sad to see my beloved city turning into another Bihar. As many people have been mentioning, if it is not illegal, it is RIGHT. Rogue elements such as KRV, Ram Sene, etc have no right to impose culture or any opinion on other citizens of Bengaluru.

At the moment, it is all going wrong. There is no respect for the law, policemen command no authority and are forced to sway according to directives of political motives.

Fair criticism has become an alien concept. Everybody whines, but does nothing to help each other. People should realize that it is partly their responsibility to ensure that they empower the govt. by being fair in praise and criticism.

Peace, liberty, freedom and the lives of all Bangaloreans, kannadigas or not, are larger than saffron or green agendas.

Unfortunately, Dr., law and order is not very stable in our state. Officially, you are responsible for it as well.

I have faith in this government, and Dr. Acharya- NOT because I voted for them, but simply because this is government that the majority has chosen, and it is our duty as citizens not to hamper progress by causing additional roadblocks to it.

At the same time, I'm going to be critical wherever required, because this city is my home, and I live here. I'm empowered by means of my freedom of speech, which is what I'm doing RIGHT NOW.

Support your govt., and the govt. WILL support you.
Secularism for life!

P.S: "Support" is a big word, take a moment and try to recognize how and in what ways you can do your little bit to help the govt. do it's job.

Dr.Nischal.Rao said...

Dear Dr.Acharya,

If the media are carrying out news stories which are not acceptable to your ears all you have to do is to ignore them.The media omudsman needs to be extremely careful in not curtailing the freedom of press.Every time the media has been supressed there are always other ways of spreading the same news.Every major revolution around the world has always been successful thanks to a active underground movement including underground press.The need of the hour is to ensure that the vigilantes are sternly dealt with and the goonda act applied.If the goonda act has not been applied on these goons yet.why not?They have caused enough damage to the hindutva concept already.