The dilemma of “balanced” reporting

I agonized for a long time before deciding to go ahead with posting the story on destruction and vandalism at temples in South India, “Was this a cover-up or blind omission?”.

Why?

Largely because I wanted to be sure to hear the “other side” of the story and if possible, present it side-by-side to this report so that readers were able to make an informed judgement about the circumstances and what actually happened in those few weeks late last year..

Although that would have been ideal, the reality was that I did not have the socio-cultural context to the events (or the immediate history of what happened) and little idea of where to begin looking..

In the end, and after a lot of thought, I decided to go ahead and publish the post with the intention of revisiting it – this time from the other point of view – so that all of us are better able to understand the context and the narrative of these unfortunate events..

So, this is a call for help…If any of you know the context or history of these events – or in any way can shed some light on what happened, please email me or put your comments here…

Also, if you know someone else who may be able to help or “explain” these incidents, I would be grateful if you could ask them to email me or write their comments on this blog..

I promise to publish (and even compile and edit) everything that comes my way which will help towards a better understanding of what happened – as long as it is not abusive or illogical/incoherent arguments.

Why am I doing this?

Because like you, I firmly believe that truth can only come through discussion, debate and an open and honest exchange of ideas – not by pretending that there is no “other side” to the coin.

Dhanyawaad and Jai Hind.