ANOTHER CASE OF INCOMPLETE/DISTORTED REPORTING-

From: subhash kapoor [mailto:sckaps@yahoo.co.in]
Sent: 24 October 2010 22:11
To: mytimesmyvoice@timesgroup.com
Cc: IESM MILITARY VETERANS GROUPS
Subject: ANOTHER CASE OF INCOMPLETE/DISTORTED REPORTING--LETTER TO THE EDITOR THE TIMES OF INDIA

WANTED: INFORMATIVE IMPARTIAL INTERACTIVE INDIAN MEDIA (W:IIIIM)


A LETTER TO THE EDITOR THE TIMES OF INDIA*

To:

The Editor
The Times of India
New Delhi

Sir:

Even as thanking you for the one-column news "Defence Secy must spend 10 days in high altitude" (The Times of India, October 19, p. 13) on the anguish expressed by the Supreme Court regarding the apathy on the part of the Government towards the sufferings undergone and injustices heaped on the Armed Forces personnel, one cannot help pointing out that you have not only played down the news by the type of the heading and the space provided but also omitted, inter alia, the following very significant observations made by the Supreme Court Bench:

(1) "... Your bureaucrats are not bothered ... people in the army are returning medals in thousands and some have even burnt their artificial limbs in protest. They get a feeling now that these bureaucrats do not hear them ... ."

(2) "If this was a proposal for the bureaucrats, it would soon be implemented. We do don't expect the bureaucrats to support this proposal ... We need to deal with them (armed forces) separately as a distinct class."

This of course is just one instance among an unending list of acts of omission and commission on the part of The Times of India (TOI) under your stewardship with regard to the material carried in the newspaper on matters of national/Armed Forces importance.

Yet, there is no dearth of news on wags and windbags, wannabes and wasps, wimps and wenches. How impressive! What an array of achievements on the part of a "national" paper!

Why do you do such things, Dear Mr. Editor? What indeed is the compulsion to repeatedly ignore/twist/garble news and events pertaining to the Armed Forces of India? Surely not the space.

Please pull up your socks, Sir--and do it fast. Before you manage to make your newspaper too famous for your comfort!!

(To be continued ... )

TAILPIECE: With reference to the write-up "Kashmir bargain--Should India trade the Valley for a permanent UN Security Council seat?" by one Mr. Jug Suraiya (TOI, October 20), a friend here has asked: "Should TOI trade Jug Suraiya for someone who is more sensitive and responsive to the interests and aspirations of this country and its people?" I do not really know.

Warm regards. And, please do have a nice productive working week ahead, Sir, in the discharge of the job you have set your heart on.

Sincerely,

SC Kapoor
Wing Commander (retd)
E-145, Sector 21
Noida-201 301
Mob: 9810515424