A good time to bury bad news…
Some of you may remember the scandal that rocked Tony Blair’s government in 2001 when one of his aides appeared to suggest that 9/11 offered a good opportunity to distract attention from “bad” news.
I was reminded of that when I chanced upon Ahmed Ali Shaik’s post on Satyam Scam – Politics, Media and Lies (Hat Tip: Vijay). In the post, Ahmed wrote:
It’s been more than a month since Satyam scam came to light…with elections round the corner, I feel that Satyam will get very little space in both television and print media in near future. But I suspect that ‘some people’ also planned this ‘loss of interest’ by media….
They wanted to hush up the country’s biggest corporate fraud and they knew the limitations of media. They were aware that every time media would look for new information or some ‘masala’.
…By April end, the elections would be almost over and the government’s ‘save Satyam’ initiative too may also come to an end. We should only pray that thousands of Satyam employees do not fall prey to this politics.
By this time, media will be too tired after covering general elections and will be busy speculating about the new government. Consequently, coverage of Satyam scam will also be buried unceremoniously and it may be placed in the category of some old and boring issues to be talked about.
We shall see how the Satyam drama unfolds…but like Ahmed, I too feel that this issue will soon be forgotten. Long live public memory.
By the way, the technique of “managing” news appears to be alive and kicking in UK.
Related Posts:
Mumbai Investigations, Media and A Conspiracy of SilenceÂ
BBC’s Objectivity Checklist Goes Right Through the Window (Courtesy, Hawkeye)
One more credit during the time of election. Congress is taking credit for oscar to “Slumdog Millionaire”.
I am shock, one can find pleasure in such movies without any shame on their part.
http://publication.samachar.com/pub_article.php?id=3713710
Above link is going to another link but one can find this news on side bar links. It says–
Trust politicians to claim credit, even for something they have not contributed to. And if it happens to be an election year, everything is game, including the Oscars. On Monday, the Congress claimed credit for some of the country’s recent achievements, including Slumdog Millionaire’s success. “All this has been possible because of the conducive environment and good governance of the UPA,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
Jai Hind!
There are countless stories like this which have been completely left out… I think the media should be blamed… all they want is “breaking news”… the term itself has lost significance as these days every second news is “breaking news”… and if you look at channels like Live India and India TV there is a near 24-hour ‘breaking news’… My only hope is our people don’t forget 26/11 with time and take stern action against all accused and with pakistan too…
@Indian
Taking from your quote “…conducive environment”…my answer would be: “that’s right the UPA has ensured that India thrives with slums which offer a picture post-card for any outsider and glorify the sorry state of affairs”… very conducive and good governance indeed.
Indian and Vinod: Thanks for sharing your thoughts…
Beyond a point, we cannot blame the media…for we read what they print!
The way to hit back at bad reporting is to stop reading it..These days I actively encourage everyone with a decent internet connection to dispense with the newspaper and go online for news and views.