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Do not pounce upon Pak media,
counsels Indian editor
WSN Network
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An excerpt
from Shekhar Gupta's column
"(O)ne other
summer late night in Karachi, 1990, when it suddenly looked like
war was about to break out, Parveen Aunty, the most adorable
mother of Pakistani media tycoon Hamid Haroon, (sent) her driver
over to bring me "home". "God forbid that a war should break
out, but if it does, I want all my children in my home," she
said when I protested.
* * *
I was shocked...to see how Mushahid Hussain, on a brief visit to
India, was pounced upon and nearly pilloried on many talk shows
not by guests, but by anchors. Frankly, even where he was
treated well by the anchor, the audience targeted him as the
lone Pakistani, forgetting that he belongs to a party that
stands in opposition to both the ruling coalition and the main
opposition.
* * *
Over the past fortnight you have seen some of the most sensible,
modern and moderate Pakistani media people being pushed around
so brutally by utterly warlike Indian anchors that they even
stop accepting the role of non-state terrorists in 26/11 though
their own papers and channels may have done a brilliant job of
exposing them. |
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NEW DELHI:
In an impassioned criticism of the way the Indian news anchors and
electronic media scribes are pouncing upon Pakistan, Pakistani media
and anything Pakistani with an almost right-wing fervour, leading
Indian columnist and editor Shekhar Gupta has advised caution and
restrain.
"(S)enior media
people on both sides, particularly editors, need to intervene before
this great professional bond starts to fray. Journalists are of
course loyal to their countries, but are never to be held
accountable for their governments' policies. They can neither be
framing state policies, nor be their spokesmen, and certainly not be
waging wars," he wrote in his weekly column in the Indian Express.
Shekhar Gupta,
who has extensively reported from Pakistan during his many visits
there underlined how the Indian and Pakistani mediamen were almost
batting for official lines. In his column titled "The microphone
wars", Gupta, also the anchor of the much watched Walk The Talk show
on NDTV recounted many instances of Pakistani journalists'
hospitality for their Indian counterparts and talked of some
personal experiences too.
24 December
2008
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