Book Review in The Telegraph(Kolkata): The Sword and the Pen

Paperback Pickings
May 08, 2009( Friday)

Terrorism and the Indian Media: A comparative study of the approach of English, Hindi and Urdu newspapers towards terrorism (India Policy Foundation, Rs 80) by Rakesh Sinha is a “research project” that explores the impact of the spectre of terrorism on sections of the Indian media, and their fragmented response towards this burgeoning evil. Sinha and his team of researchers and co-writers have selected three recent incidents — the Batla House encounter in New Delhi, the Mumbai attack and the A.R. Antulay episode — to raise some significant questions: does the media’s coverage of such incidents provide terrorists with a certain degree of legitimacy? Do the media violate the ethics of journalism by sensationalizing episodes for commercial gain? Significantly, Sinha also focuses on the differences in the coverage of such events between mainstream English publications and their regional vernacular counterparts. For instance, while most English newspapers projected the Mumbai attack as a product of Islamic jihad, Urdu newspapers’ editorial line harped on a Jewish-American conspiracy. The excerpts of press reports of the Batla House encounter also expose the media’s unwillingness to contest the police version of the event.
The painstaking research provides a chronological presentation of the three events and highlights the differences in the media’s interpretations. Some of the “findings” listed in the final chapter are illuminating. They make it fairly evident that when the fourth estate starts speaking in many voices, truth is often the first casualty.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090508/jsp/opinion/story_10924231.jsp#