In forum.mayyam.com, in the Miscellaneous Topics, there is a thread called "Picked from the papers today". Usually somebody picks up from the newspapers some item that he or she finds interesting and sometimes there is a discussion or somebody posts another news item. On 20th December, somebody gave several URLs:
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2226/stories/20051230003103300.htm
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20051226&fname=Pakistan+%28F%29&sid=1
http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/16rajeev.htm
http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/15ram.htmBack to top
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/mazdak.htm
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/20051203.htm
The second article from OUTLOOK ia about a Hindu MP in Pakistan slapping a Muslim MP in the parliment. The last one is about abduction and conversion of some Hindu girls in Pakistan. The two seem present different pictures of Hindus in Pakistan. Similarly some of the other items paint contradictory views on other issues. I think that this juxtaposition of news items is deliberate just to show how we can pick and choose from so much information coming in.
There were a couple of artcles in the New York Review of Books:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18516
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18555
about the difficulties of getting reliable news, more in terms of pressures on journalists, publishers profit concerns and omissions. Blogs do not seem to fare well either. There seem to be nexus between various blogs, radio and TV stations, particularly among the right wing.
So, the question is where is reliable news and how do we find it?
Probably, the two items about Pakistan can be reconciled by saying that anyway the rich and powerful get away with lots of things. How about other tems like terrorism ( there is British documentary saying that initially there was no Al Dueda and it was a myth created by the Americans) or economic matters. Perhaps we have to get numbers from 'reliable' sources and analyze them ober a period. it seems a difficult proposition. Perhaps this is what many political leaders bank on. just keep lying and by the time people have an inkling of what happenned, they are on to the next crisis.
Pl. let me know if you have any ideas about reliable news in these days of large scale disinformation.
Swarup
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The links you suggested are very interesting and informative. However, the links to news that I posted are just that - links to news. I only intended them to be read by a wide audience to increase public awareness on issues of importance (and yes, according to me religion is important too). The fate of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh is heart-rendering; it hurts and pains me to have to be a passive spectator of this cruel show. At the very least, I am trying to make a beginning to help expose and eliminate such atrocities in my own country.
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