I have been watching news on Sun TV these last couple of days (thanks to my parents who are visiting)…. and it is full of crap about how the Tamilnadu government has failed to provide adequate support to those in distress in the areas affected by the tsunami. Now I am all for the role of the media as a watchdog and conscience-keeper and all that, but this is nothing but a concerted attack against the ruling government by a bitter opposition party (which owns the Sun network)….
and surely enough, when we switched to Jaya TV (owned by guesswho), there was madam in all her cloaked glory issuing a statement about the extent of relief work provided by her government. with a stern warning not to pay heed to the speech of trouble mongers….
It is so sad that even in such a time, politics is the all-consuming root of discourse in local media. a time when local political parties should ideally forget their petty differences and work together to hasten the relief operations… And privately owned media is being used only to settle personal / political scores – agenda setting at its worst for political followers and general viewers…
In all this, the only glimmer of sanity came from Mr. Manmohan Singh, the greatest non-politician in politics in recent times – who cancelled his visit to the affected areas since that would only hamper relief work. Kudos Mr. Singh, that is a wise and brave decision (albeit politically suicidal)… What do politicians achieve by visiting these areas except gaining mileage through media coverage…
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