Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
Media Ethics BBC Uses Students As Shield North Korea.
The LTTE has been accused of using women and children in its war against the Sri Lanka Government.
But to use them in peacetime and in a country where tensions are high, just for a Story?
A BBC crew has just done that in North Korea.
Investigative Journalism has its limits, Media Must realize.
Story:
The BBC risked the lives of students by using them as a ‘human shield’ for a controversial Panorama journalist and his film crew, it was claimed yesterday.
The undercover team travelled with ten students from the London School of Economics to North Korea last month. Had the journalists been discovered, the whole group would have faced arrest, interrogation and possible detention.
Parents and university officials claim the students – the youngest of whom was only 18 – were ‘deliberately misled’ by the BBC and have called on the broadcaster to apologise and drop the Panorama documentary, due to be aired tonight.
The students were invited on the trip via an LSE club, only to learn much later it had been organised by Panorama as a cover for its investigation.
Journalist John Sweeney insisted the students had all agreed to enter the rogue Communist state with him, but admitted he withheld some details of the trip on the advice of BBC risk assessors.
The LSE said its students were not given enough information to give their consent and accused the BBC of taking unacceptable risks at a time when sabre-rattling by North Korea had already raised tensions with the West.
Alex Peters-Day, general secretary of LSE Students’ Union said students and the university had been ‘manipulated’.
‘I think the trip was organised by the BBC as a ruse to get into North Korea and that’s disgraceful,’ she said. ‘They have used students essentially as a human shield in this situation.’
Three of the students have complained, the university says. One said they were not told about key details of the subterfuge until en route for Pyongyang.
Students have since received ‘threatening’ letters from North Korean authorities and one parent has complained in writing to new BBC director-general Lord Hall that their child was put in danger.
The parent wrote: ‘The methods adopted potentially endangered a number of students who believed they were participating in an organised student tour. I am outraged that in this case the BBC, without obtaining “informed consent”… deceived, used and endangered these students to obtain a story from North Korea.’
The row could prove embarrassing for Lord Hall, appointed after his predecessor George Entwistle quit in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal and the botched Newsnight report which led to Lord McAlpine being wrongly identified as a paedophile.
A producer for Panorama resigned earlier this month over claims the programme tried to bribe a security consultant to reveal information about a property developer.
The LSE said it was not given any warning about the BBC’s plans until last week, after the group returned. It said the deception had put the students in danger and had jeopardised the safety of its academics working in other high-risk countries.
The students volunteered for the trip through the Grimshaw Club, a student society linked to the LSE’s department of international relations. Sweeney’s wife Tomiko Newson, an LSE graduate, had organised a group tour of North Korea with the club in 2012 and students were told she was organising this year’s trip.
LSE
BBC says “It is justified”
A senior BBC executive said that it was worth risking students’ lives by sending an undercover reporter with them on a trip to North Korea for a controversial documentary.
Ceri Thomas, the corporation’s head of news planning, said the decision to go ahead with the airing of tonight’s programme went ‘right to the top’ as he rejected claims that students from the London School of Economics had been forced in to taking unacceptable risks during the investigation.
Yesterday it was claimed that the corporation used the students as a ‘human shield’ for a Panorama journalist and his film crew.
WikiLeaks Antony Jayalalithaa Where Are The Informers From
The recent WikiLeaks expose of US Embassy Cables have disclosed that AK Antony , Defense Minister of India was the one ,apart from Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Youth Congress Leader of the Emergency imposed Period in India,to oppose Sanjay Gandhi, the extra Constitutional Power Center at that time.
It is also credited with Jayalalithaa, the then Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu,India with flushing out the LTTE in the State.
These facts we know and why AK Antony is in a prime post in the dispensation of Sonia Gandhi-enemy of enemy is my friend!
The curious fact is not these facts themselves , but who revealed this information to US Embassy officials.
Architects of Emergency in India, 1975.
“The cable quoted a private assessment given by a Times of India correspondent who covered the session to his editors. The reporter noted, “that, unlike AICC sessions earlier this year in Chandigarh and Delhi where there was heavy rush by ministers and other politicians to pay respects to Sanjay, this time an attitude of sullenness prevailed and aside from handful of hangers-on, there were few “foot kissers”.
How come this information reached the US Embassy Officials?
Now on Jayalalithaa,
Rajiv Killed By LTTE.
“A bureaucrat, who held a key security portfolio at the time, told post (embassy officials) that Jayalalithaa ordered him to do ‘whatever it takes to finish off the LTTE’ in Tamil Nadu, even if it required extrajudicial killings of LTTE associates in the state,” said a dispatch sent by the then US consul general in Chennai, Andrew T Simkin. The cable further added that she is an “iron lady” and “even her fiercest critics acknowledge that Jayalalithaa’s aggressive approach went a long way towards pushing the LTTE out of Tamil Nadu”.
In this case the informer is a Senior Bureaucrat from the Government of Tamil Nadu who was handling the LTTE issue!
Media and Bureaucrats as Informers to Foreign Government?
Story:
Editor of Maharashtra Times told US diplomats that foreign minister Y B Chavan confided to him that he was hearing increasing murmurs of dissatisfaction from Congressmen at the treatment being accorded Sanjay and the disdain being displayed for traditional Congress politicians.
The cable said at one point in Youth Congress session in Guwahati, its president Ambika Sonicomplained that Congressmen sometimes “obstructed” Youth Congress work: “their fear is that if the Youth Congress workers forge ahead by dint of their work, their chairs will be threatened. We do not want their chairs.”
Soni was made the YC president after Sanjay ousted Das Munshi. The cable described Soni as “an attractive, well-educated, outspoken but intellectually weak personality who has been working in the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) bureaucracy since 1969.”
Meanwhile, in Kerala, the faction led by Antony and a large section of people were very critical of Sanjay’s growing importance. A cable from the US embassy said that their impression was that “Sanjay Gandhi is not very popular in that state”
“On the contrary, the US mission officials had written to their bosses in April 1990 that then chief minister M Karunanidhi was tilting towards the LTTE. The cable sent almost a year before his government was dismissed, said his pro-LTTE stand was generating widespread controversy and dismay in Tamil Nadu, particularly in the light of his strained relations with the Tigers in the past.
He was burning bridges with Delhi because of his hardliner pro-Tamil Eelam stand, the cable said and added that it may be at significant political cost. The US mission also raised suspicion as to whether Karunanidhi had put up with the LTTE activities in Tamil Nadu out of fear for the terrorist group.
One should not discount the role of the government of India in supporting the LTTE. It should not have permitted the LTTE to operate from Indian soil, said G Parthasarathy, former diplomat, who was in Rajiv Gandhi’s office from 1986 to 1989. “Karunanidhi was viciously critical of the LTTE in the past. But once he returned to power in 1989, he turned an LTTE supporter,” said Parthasarathy. His mistake was that he allowed the constitutional machinery to break down in Tamil Nadu as LTTE ran riot, he said. The 1991 electoral verdict was against the LTTE and terrorism and Jayalalithaa was just fulfilling her constitutional duty in flushing them out, Parthasarathy added.
Related articles
- ‘India Does Not Support Sri Lankan Tamils’, Foreign Minister (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
Does This Become of India Today? On Genocide Reaction
India Today published a story calling it a spoof on the ban of Sri Lankan Players entering Tamil Nadu.
When the Central Government is sublimely indifferent and callous in not condemning The Genocide and bringing the Killers to book, is this the way a Magazine to hurt people’s sentiments?
You need not be a Tamil, being a Human being is enough, not to be moved by the Human Tragedy!
Have the Editors watched the show on The War Museum in Sri Lanka and the Videos of their sister Publications Headlines Today on Sri Lanka Genocide ,including the Killing Fields??
India Today on Ban on Sri Lankan Players by Jayalalithaa
Viswaroopam,”Could Have Banned “Facts By Jayalalithaa
The release of the Tri-lingua(Tamil,Telugu and Hindi)l Film produced by Mr.Kamal Hassan was delayed t in Tamil Nadu by The State Government invoking Section 144 for the Cr.Pc.
This is how the events unfolded as described Ms.J.Jayalalithaa in a Press Conference on 31 January 2013
The Actor filed a case against the State Government in Chennai in the High Court and the ‘Ban’ was lifted .
However this order was revised, upholding the State Government’s Order on appeal.
In the mean while there were reports of Violence reported in Tamil Nadu on 31 January for a period till the ban was over turned by The Bench of The High Court.
There were also incidents of Violence, there smashing , throwing of petrol bombs by the Islamic Groups in Tamil Nadu, protesting against the objectionable content in The Film.
This died down once the order to keep in abeyance the ‘Ban’
There were also reports of violence in pockets of Kerala,Andhra and Karnataka after Film was screened.
Theater Attacked,Tamil Nadu Viswaroopam
However those who have seen the film assert that there is ground for banning the Film as there are no scenes in the Film that hurts the Minorities.
Kamal Hassan went to the Media on 30th, and declared that ‘thee was a Political Conspiracy at work”,Tamil Nadu Does Not want me .”I will settle down from Kerala to Kashmir where artist and Freedom Of Speech is respected” ‘Will settle aboard like M.F Husain”.
Meanwhile Karunanidhi jumped into the fray that the film was banned because Kamal Hassan did not sell the Film to Jaya TV controlled By Jayalalitaa, because Kamal ,in a Public Speech preferred that India/Tamil Nadu had a Dhoti clad Chief Minister/Prime Minister.
Jayalalithaa recounted the case .
While AGS Cinemas suffered the maximum damage, a few other cinema halls in north Chennai too, witnessed violence and vandalism on Wednesday — Photo: K. Pichumani
Scroll down for Video.
1.24 Muslim Organisations had submitted a memorandum to The Chief Secretary,Tamil Nadu that the Film Viswaroopam contained scenes that hurt the Muslims and they wanted the Government to intervene.
2.The note was forwarded by The Chief Secretary to the Home Secretary who sent a letter to Kama Hassan to arrange for a show for the authorities and effect cuts of the scenes which offended the Muslims.
Mr. Kamal Hassan did not agree to the cuts nor was he prepared to meet with the leaders of the Muslim out fits.
3.The Film was scheduled to be released on the 25th of January 2013.
4.On 20 the when the officials went to Kamal Hassan’s residence to see the film ,as asked by Kamal Hassan , they were told that the Film release was being delayed and that he could not show them the Film.
5.In the meanwhile the Muslim announced a series of agitations of the film were to be released.
6. Then, Mr. Kamal Hassan requested for meeting with the CM .
7.As Mr. Kamal has already filed a case in the Court and as the matter was sub judice , CM did not meet him.
8.Immediately Kamal Hassan went to the media.
9.Later he agreed to effect changes as demanded by the Muslim outfits in a meet with the leaders of the Muslim outfits.
10.The Government had to resort to section 144 , as it apprehended a Law and order problem,one of organisations had more than7 Lakh members.
11.Had the Government wanted to ban the Film, it could have done so by invoking section 7 of Tamil Nadu Cinematograph Act,1955, as was done in the Film Dam 999. and he Court upheld the decision.
12.Notice of section 144 in force was for 15 Days and Mr.Kamal Hassan was asked to meet with the leaders and come to an amicable solution..
None of these were complied with by.Mr.Kamal Hassan.
I think she is 100 % correct and it does not be hove of Kamal Hasan to twist facst and act an inured martyr.
” Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa said on Thursday that Kamal Haasan’s movie Vishwaroopam was banned in the state due to fears of violent protests and not because she had a grudge against the actor.
Justifying the ban citing shortage of police to provide security at theatres, she said it was a purely law and order problem. “I do not have the police force to protect the 500-odd theatres in the state,” Jayalalithaa said.
“I have no personal grudge, no personal interest in banning the movie,” she told the media, while adding that her government decided to ban it for 15 days so that tempers could cool down and “both sides could have a discussion and come to an agreement”.
Pointing out that the movie had also been banned in neighbouring states as well as Qatar, the UAE, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, the chief minister asked, “Was I responsible for all that?
The Tamil Nadu chief minister said trouble over the movie’s release could have been avoided. “Had the film maker screened the movie for the Muslim leaders in the beginning itself, all this would not have happened,” she said.
“Haasan called the Muslim leaders for a viewing only after he was set for release. And finally, he did call some Muslim leaders for a screening at his house. But after seeing the film, the Muslim organisations met the chief secretary and announced a series of agitations across the state,” she added.
http://www.newsreporter.in/jayalalitha-defends-vishwaroopam-ban-to-sue-karunanidhi-93954
Tamil Nadu Cinemas Regaulation Act 1955.
http://www.lawsofindia.org/statelaw/5348/TheTamilNaduCinemasRegulationAct1955.html
“
Madras High Court sets aside single judge’s order lifting the ban on Kamal Haasan’s movie Vishwaroopam. The final verdict will be made on February 6, till then there will be no release in Tamil Nadu.
At the same time Kamal Haasan had a meeting with a few Muslim leaders at his house and agreed to cut few scenes and Quran verses from the film
Meanwhile petrol bombs were hurled this afternoon at two cinemas in Ramanathapuram in south Tamil Nadu which were scheduled to screenVishwaroopam.
Nobody was hurt, though glass windows were shattered at the theatres.
In Chennai city AGS multiplex in Vilivakkam where hoardings of Vishwaroopam were kept, the theatre was attacked though it had no intention of playing the film.
An effigy of Kamal Haasan was burned by some organisations in front of SSR Pankajam in Saligramam, where Vishwaroopam was about to start.
http://www.sify.com/movies/Theatres-in-Tamil-Nadu-attacked-news-tamil-nb4pSyjajbe.html
Related articles
- Kamal’s Viswaroopam Details of The Controversy (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
The Guardian Audio ,Listen
Posted for Novelty.
Or is it novel only to Me?
Audio Books
In this week’s edition:
• David Cameron‘s threat to block EU reforms has been branded ‘economic insanity’ by Peter Mandelson. Patrick Wintour reports.
• The Jimmy Savile scandal triggered public revulsion. But Jon Henley finds out that experts disagree about what causes pedophilia – and even how much it harms.
• Fix infrastructure, don’t fund flagship reports. Larry Elliott writes on the evidence that suggests it is better to repair than to construct.
• Tom Cox shares some surprising facts about hedgehogs.
• Kathryn Bigelow: the drama queen who captured Osama. Andrew Anthony interviews the Oscar-winning director who’s been accused of defending the use of torture in her latest release.
• Audiobook reviews of Germaine Greer and Natasha Walter.
The Guardian audio edition is supported by Audible.co.uk. To listen to the audiobooks reviewed in this week’s edition go to audible.co.uk/guardianaudio
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2013/jan/08/guardian-audio-edition-7-january-2013
