1. "Media has eroded its credibility" says M.J. Akbar
2. "Mohan's Idols" by Ishwar Sharan
3. Letter to the Editor: Nudity in Indian Art
4. "Indian Media's War on Hinduism" by Swami Jyotirmayananda
5. Who Controls the Mainstream Media in India?
6. "Usurpation of Control of Indian Media done by the Americans" by Gautam Sen

PTI photo published in the Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, on 28 July 2008. Photos of Hindu subjects and celebrations which appear in this pro-Catholic newspaper edited by R. Mohan and published by O. Thomas in Chennai, are regularly captioned with the intent to abuse, insult, and trivialize Hindu celebrations and images a la M.F. Husain. At the same time, Mohan will treat Christian and Muslim subjects with deference and sympathy. Both newspaper chairman Reddy and his editor are secularist poseurs, totally alienated from the Indian ethos they were born into and write about, and they do not recognize the Lakshman rekha that is not to be crossed by the popular press in a civilized, tolerant, and pluralist Indian society.

PTI photo published in the Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, 3 August 2008. This dressed and decorated image of a black stone Virgin Mary is respectfully described as a "replica" by editor Mohan, while the unclothed and touched-up festival image of Durga in the top photo is disparaged with the derogatory Christian term 'idol'. The newspaper's editor and publisher, being the upholders of Portuguese civilization in India, are expressing their utter contempt for Hindu sense and sensibilities with this series of pictures. For them and their patron Reddy, Hindus are "idol worshippers" having no "matters of faith". Such is the vainglorious, presumptuous, and perverse mind of our "secular" public intellectuals and playboy businessmen.

Deccan Chronicle Holdings chairman T. Venkattaram Reddy. The Deccan Chronicle is South India's leading Christian newspaper.

By Akbar's own correspondent

Editor-in-chief of the Deccan Chronicle M.J. Akbar said that "seven deadly sins" routinely committed by the media has eroded its credibility. Delivering the keynote address at the national round table on "Lakshman Rekha for the News Media", Mr. Akbar said that media owners and journalists, who become willing players in the game of business and politics, were committing a major sin.

He said the second sin was bias, which came in various guises.

The third was pomposity which led journalists to think that they were more important than the reader, he added.

Detailing the other two "sins", he said that in the name of seriousness, many newspapers were generating boredom among the readers.

On the other side was the triumph of the trivia.

"A newspaper is like a thali where you have the main course along with pickles," he said. "The thali remains incomplete without pickles, but it is suicidal to confuse it with rice."

Another "deadly sin" was the idea of "news for sale". The sacredness of news space has been compromised in this process, he added.

Mr. Akbar quipped that the seventh sin was ignorance, which was strongly prevalent among the new generation of journalists.

Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice J.N. Ray said that the media has not only shied away from constituting a regulatory authority, but has also opposed any move by the government to form one.

He added that self-regulation was the best strategy.

The owner of Eenadu Group of newspapers, Mr. Ramoji Rao, said there was need for a "Lakshman Rekha" for the media since all democratic institutions had one.

There was rampant insensitivity and trivialisation of issues, which signalled the need for a "Lakshman Rekha", said TV personality Rajdeep Sardesai.

Social activists, including Swamy Agnivesh, Ms. Shanta Sinha, Mr. K.G. Kannabiran, PCC president K. Kesav Rao, and senior journalist K. Srinivas Reddy also spoke on the occasion.

Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle 2 June 2005

By Ishwar Sharan

The Deccan Chronicle is a popular anti-Brahmin(1) pro-Catholic newspaper and the newest proponent of the St. Thomas fable as Indian history in Chennai (following The Hindu and The New Indian Express). It hides its pro-St. Thomas agenda behind a correspondent's byline and the provocative statement of the Santhome Cathedral priest: "The existence of the Santhome Church is a proof by itself that Christianity in India is more than 2000 years old" (DC, Chennai, 8 April 2007).

For sucking up to the Catholic clergy, the Deccan Chronicle is the leader among Indian newspapers. Its current resident editor in Chennai, R. Mohan, being another self-righteous secularist of the Nehruvian school, assiduously follows the Christian practice of treating Hindu history as mythology and Christian mythology as history. In true Indian secularist fashion, he does not tolerate dissent, and letters to the editor concerning the touched-up naked Durga photo reproduced here, are not published. Every effort is made by Mohan and his in-house minions to provoke and insult Hindu readers and letter writers. This is called "freedom of the press" in our secular socialist adharmic India that is Bharat.

For Chairman Reddy and his house boy Mohan, criticism of themselves or their "eminent" contributors is a manifestation of Hindu communalism and ignorance. Indeed, dissent can attract a very spiteful response from editor Mohan. Yet both men, whose decisions influence the opinions of half a million readers and more every day, will ignore facts and figures as extraneous irritants, except where the facts and figures can be employed in subtle Hindu-bashing exercises(2), or otherwise to whitewash the bigoted and violent history of Islam and Christianity in India and promote their pro-Catholic agenda in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore.

As for editor-in-chief M.J. Akbar, he was sacked from his job at the Deccan Chronicle by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Chairman T. Venkattram Reddy on 1 March 2008. According to Akbar in his Wikipedia article, this was done "due to straight government pressure". He was replaced in Chennai by Reddy's house boy R. Mohan who, with publisher O. Thomas, produced the offensive Durga photo that is reproduced here.

Chairman Reddy, are you proud of the naked Durga photo a la M.F. Husain edited and published by your boys Mohan and Thomas in Chennai?

Chairman Reddy, would you show this dirty touched-up photo of Mother Durga to your own old mother?

Contact Chairman Reddy at Fax (040) 27805256 and Telex 24256644 CQ.

Contact Editor Mohan at editor@deccanmail.com and info@deccanmail.com

NOTES

1. Anti-Brahminism and anti-Semitism are the same ethno-religious prejudice directed at an accomplished minority group who are perceived, wrongly, to be the cause of a nation's social and economic ills, or, otherwise, to be controlling a nation's cultural, political, or economic destiny from behind the scenes in their own interest. Koenraad Elst, in Indigenous Indians: Agastya to Ambedkar, writes, "In fact, apart from anti-Judaism, the anti-Brahmin campaign started by [Christian] missionaries is the biggest vilification campaign in world history."
2. An example of an anti-Hindu exercise is the use of the term "idol" for Hindu images. Technically correct, the word is loaded with negative connotations and is part of the abusive rhetoric of Christian missionaries in India. The same newspaper on another page uses the neutral term "statues" for Christian images. Clearly, there is editorial bias at work here. In the forty years that I have lived in India, I have never met a Hindu who worships idols. Hindus worship God, and even a simple village woman knows that God is spirit not matter.

See also:

• "Is the media above the law?" by G.P. Srinivasan
• Arun Shourie's Things to do about the Press

1. The Indian media: Its adverse role
2. The Indian media: Why it is partial
3. Christian sponsorship of Indian media: An example
4. Countering the propaganda unleashed by the Indian media

1. The Indian media: Its adverse role

There are many people in India who strongly feel that the so-called ‘secular’ print and electronic media, at least a dominant section among them, knowingly or unknowingly, is playing a very adverse and prejudiced role, when it comes to the reporting of the Hindu point of view. Suppressing or misrepresenting tactics are being liberally used along with admonitions and ridicules of the Hindus, ‘Hindutva’, and the Hindu Dharma. At the same time, this secular section appears to support the anti-Hindu forces in the country, which are active with their alien and subversive ideologies. In essence, it has come to mean that ‘secularism’ is nothing but opposition to Hindus, Hindustan, Hindutva and the Hindu Dharma. This is quite ridiculous in a country that is predominantly Hindu in its composition and character. This situation is agonizing to many and confusing to many more, since they would not get a true picture of what is going on in the country because of the prejudice of the media.

‘VivekaJyoti’, wants to do its bit to correct this situation. It has been trying and would also try in future, to throw light on those issues which get twisted or misrepresented by the ‘secular’ media. It is the considered view of ‘VivekaJyoti’ that in Bharat, a country with more than eighty percent of Hindu population and a hoary Hindu history, the true nationalism is undoubtedly ‘Hindutva’ and any neglect, denouncement or ridiculing of it is improper, unjust and ridiculous. The country would be truly free when ‘Hindutva’ gains its due respect, not ridicule as at present. Of course, this would be just a beginning of the country’s resurgence. Other larger issues are to be attended too. Various social injustices weakening the society, serious distortions in the field of socio-economic development, a chaotic situation in the political and administrative system and devitalized cultural and religious life—also are causes of concern, inviting correction. ‘VivekaJyoti’ would always try to focus the attention of its readers on these issues and goad them to do their bit in the service of the Motherland. It rededicates itself to that cause on the fourth year of its existence.

2. The Indian media: Why it is partial

The reasons for the selective propaganda by Indian media could be: a) Many leading journalists and media barons are Christians or Christian sympathizers; b) They are educated and indoctrinated in Christian run institutes; c) The media companies in India are completely under control of western companies through cross holdings; d) The media is advertising driven and almost all leading ad companies in India are foreign subsidiaries of global ad companies.

In the inimitable words of Sri V. Sundaram, IAS (Retd.), renowned columnist of Chennai, “all the mainline English Newspapers in India are deliberately Islam-embracing, Christianity-coveting, Hindu-hating and Hindu-baiting”. And, as revealed by Dr. Subramanian Swamy, “Academia, NGOs and mass media are the obvious instruments that are on the radar of anti-Hindu forces. Which and who are these forces that are shaping the anti-Hindu bias of the media? It is a coalition, not explicit but implicit, of Communist, Christian missionary, Islamic fanatics and other terrorist interests. Each of these interests has their own specific agenda. The anti-Hindu mentality of the English-dominated media in India is secured by the cozy nexus of media with academia and the English-speaking governing elite”.

“The Internet is full of anti-Hindu rubbish”, points out Swami Devananda Saraswati who is well known for his research on the ‘Myth of St. Thomas’. “It is impossible to tackle head on and piece by piece by individuals. That is why we have our own website (Hamsa.org) / blog (VivekaJyoti). We put our views and research out for public consumption with the hope that intelligent and honest readers chose us over the intellectual criminals. We must set up a legal association like the Jewish Defense League (DFL) in the United States, made up of Hindu lawyers. As soon as court cases start to be foisted on these missionaries, their conduct will change if not their attitude. But they have vast monetary resources behind them. Which Hindu moneybags would finance a Hindu legal team? Which Hindu lawyers (of which there are lakhs) would ever back a dedicated Hindu cause? At the root of our problem is the Hindu social and business elite class who could care less about their Dharma though they make huge donations to Balaji at Tirumala. We have to face this fact. We can do nothing until our own public intellectuals and rich socialites and industrialist class are behind us.”

3. Christian sponsorship of Indian media: An example

Here is a case study wherein the ‘Sify.com’, a major online Indian media outlet is working with ‘World Vision’, an evangelical body openly indulging in unabashed proselytisation with huge funds at their disposal for this purpose [Rs 256 crores this year according to Home Ministry records]. Details about Sify.com’s partnership with the ‘World Vision’, patently a missionary agency, are online at: http://sify.com/news/antichildlabourday/ On this page, they are blatantly fundraising for them without informing the Indian public that they are missionaries. ‘World Vision’ also regularly advertises on Sify. It should be noted that the ‘World Vision’ has been implicated in induced conversions in Orissa and in Sri Lanka during the Tsunami. Look at a quote from the World Vision's website regarding their “noble” mission: “Wherever we work, our prayer is that our efforts will be used by God to heal and strengthen people's relationships with Him and with one another. We do this by demonstrating God's unconditional love for all people through our service to the poor — which includes providing for daily needs, working to build peace and promote justice, and partnering with churches and individuals to encourage spiritual transformation.”

4. Countering the propaganda unleashed by the Indian media

The propaganda unleashed by the Indian media can be countered by supplementing the existing media channels and using internet as a tool to spread truth. Already in most western countries, TV and newspaper viewings are rapidly shrinking. Using Internet, ordinary individuals now have the same tools of potential exposure on a scale comparable to large media companies. Internet Media is the way to go. With this in mind ‘VivekaJyoti’ blog was conceived.

According to the recent reports, the total newspaper advertising revenues have declined at an almost continuously accelerating rate, and the advertising dollars are rapidly shifting from print media to online publications. While the online readership is steadily growing, the print publication readership is declining.

In view of the prevailing political bias in the mainstream Indian print media, the Hindu perspectives can be advocated much easier in an online medium than a print medium, because the online blogs have zero cost. Further, the online publications do not have to go through the mainstream and potentially, politically biased editors. The online publications are not only readable throughout India and throughout the world, they are interactive, and people can respond to posts via comments. Of course, there are also a few other challenges: There is a lack of non-English online blogs (example Hindi blogs). As more people who do not know English come online, this is a key area for content creation.

In this context, a reader of “VivekaJyoti’ has a thoughtful comment which is worth noting: “In view of the popularity and influence of the internet, I strongly feel that as yet the competition from print and visual media is overwhelming. In India, very few are connected to the net and out of them still fewer visit our sites or blogs. On the other hand millions read news papers and watch TV, both of which are controlled by unfriendly forces. Hence we may not expect too much about our influencing the public at large. At best they can inform the curious and educate the convinced (-- Ashok Joshi, Chennai).

In this context Dr. Subramanian Swami has a very useful and practicable suggestion: “While owning one’s own media is difficult economics because the cost curve depends on advertising revenue, pro-Hindu forces should help market existing friendly or persuadable media in a wide circle. This will gain for pro-Hindu forces substantial influence”.

Courtesy: Creation and Propogation of the VivekaJyoti Blog at www.documents.scribd.com/docs/1vh08lkkvg4isushflsb.pdf