Oh! Brother!!
A region of your state is experiencing floods. Many in that region have lost their homes and livelyhoods. You are the editor and the publisher (not to mention a high profile columnist) of a widely read newspaper. The Deputy Chief Minister of your state talks to you about the floods. He tells you that he personally spoke with all the I.T. companies [in the city? State? Country?] about helping the flood victims and even offered to hand over them the couple of tens of thousands of rupees provided by the central government. He further tells you that the I.T. company officials told him that they would get back to him but later never did. If you are a serious, responsible journalist, what would you do?
How about asking the deputy chief minister why in the god's name he is planning to hand over the public money to a group of private companies? Why can't the government help the flood victims directly instead of channeling through a private group? Before making that proposal was that matter (handing over the public money) discussed in the legislature? Doesn't the government need the consent of the legislature in handling of public funds? How much did the central government really provide for assisting flood victims to rebuild their homes? Why wasn't that sufficient? Did the state government demand more from the central government? How much money is really needed? How is the government planning to raise that kind of money? Since the floods and draughts seem to be happening on a regular basis, does the state government have a long term plan to alleviate the plight of the people? What is the plan? Coming back to the meeting with I.T. companies, how many were approached? What are their names?
If you are a real reporter you might even do a little bit of reporting by actually giving a call or two to the executives from those "I.T. companies" and seek their comments.
If you thought the above sounds right, then, we sadly have to inform you that you don't have the right mind to become one of the top notch celebrity journalists of Karnataka. The questions which seem so very natural to you, have no place in the minds and the brains of these journalists. They don't want answers to real questions; why bother with hard questions and real reporting when you can engage in easy sentimentalism and cheap populism?
And that's exactly what our celebrity journalist Ravi Belagere does here.
He writes a public letter to the wife of one of the I.T. company officials. Calls her "sister" and yet accuses her of "blackmail". Asks her whether she eats "dollars". And repeatedly questions her: "Why did you come here?", "Where did you come from?".
Oh! Brother!!
PS: Want to read (almost) the same in Kannada? You know what to do here.
How about asking the deputy chief minister why in the god's name he is planning to hand over the public money to a group of private companies? Why can't the government help the flood victims directly instead of channeling through a private group? Before making that proposal was that matter (handing over the public money) discussed in the legislature? Doesn't the government need the consent of the legislature in handling of public funds? How much did the central government really provide for assisting flood victims to rebuild their homes? Why wasn't that sufficient? Did the state government demand more from the central government? How much money is really needed? How is the government planning to raise that kind of money? Since the floods and draughts seem to be happening on a regular basis, does the state government have a long term plan to alleviate the plight of the people? What is the plan? Coming back to the meeting with I.T. companies, how many were approached? What are their names?
If you are a real reporter you might even do a little bit of reporting by actually giving a call or two to the executives from those "I.T. companies" and seek their comments.
If you thought the above sounds right, then, we sadly have to inform you that you don't have the right mind to become one of the top notch celebrity journalists of Karnataka. The questions which seem so very natural to you, have no place in the minds and the brains of these journalists. They don't want answers to real questions; why bother with hard questions and real reporting when you can engage in easy sentimentalism and cheap populism?
And that's exactly what our celebrity journalist Ravi Belagere does here.
He writes a public letter to the wife of one of the I.T. company officials. Calls her "sister" and yet accuses her of "blackmail". Asks her whether she eats "dollars". And repeatedly questions her: "Why did you come here?", "Where did you come from?".
Oh! Brother!!
PS: Want to read (almost) the same in Kannada? You know what to do here.
posted by v.v. | 10:26 AM
3 Comments:
ivattu thatskannada dalli publish aada nimma patra odide(same letter in kannaDa), chennagide.
neevu koTTa link gaLu bahu samajasa vaagide.
krishanraj blog na moolaka nimma blog address sikkitu. good write up!!
-Veena Shivanna
Yeah, I have read about the letter to Madam Sudha. I felt very sad about it. If it all he(ravi) has some symphathy, then why does he not contribute to the victims from his pocket as we do here in IT industry. He is running a very famous serial and must be getting very good amount of money. When he can donate some money to those victims, why is he not doing that.
Let us talk about contribution from IT industries. To the best of my knowledge, we all IT'ens are paying on avrg 20 % tax from our salary which leads to Rs. 20,000 on average from every individual. Where this money is going? Why the government is again asking money from the IT companies. It looks like ravi has understood very liitle about the state/nation. Ravi, before doing publicity, pls validate what you are going to pubilsh.
All the best to you to become a 'true journalist'.
Dear Prasanna,
Thanks for the feedback. I do hope instead of knee-jerk anti-IT mentality, some of our star journalists take some time and take an unbiased look at the IT field.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Regards,
Sanjaya
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