Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Prices and People


Chindu comes out strongly on the burning issue of inflation. The first article has a Congress leader complaining about inflation. The second one captures peoples' reactions to rising prices. Genuine concerns indeed.

When Manmohan asked political parties (read CPM) to avoid scaremongering, Chindu presented the CPM point of view and reported the Opposition's support to CPM. Later, when Congress edited BJP's advertisement on rising prices, the news item has not even been reported by Chindu. The Congress is acting in its autocratic ways to gag BJP but there is not outrage by Chindu and no sermons on freedom of speech.

Selective coverage and news distortion are all a part of Chindu's political agenda.

The Hindu : Front Page : Price rise hits Andamans household budgets
Sanjay Chaudhary, general secretary of the Congress party in the Andamans. “We are used to higher prices and our threshold of tolerance is pretty high, but now we are being pushed beyond limits,”
The Hindu : Front Page : PRICES & PEOPLE


Maria Selvam


Maria Selvam, housewife, Bamboo Flat: “All our earnings go
towards paying for food and provisions. Where is the question of paying
for our children’s education? Cauliflowers, when available, cost Rs.
60-Rs.80 a piece. Tomatoes and carrots cost more than Rs. 60 a kg. Even
fish, which was cheapest, is now selling at much higher prices.”



Change the TV campaign, EC asks BJP
The ad features leader Sushma Swaraj speaking in Kannada, blaming the Congress and the Central Government for rising prices.

The party says the EC has beeped out all references to the Congress and the centre in the ad. The ad has been released with the beeps on local Kannada channels.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The item about the EC censoring the BJP ad - an outrageous infringement of the freedom of speech - did in fact appear in the Breaking news section in the Hindu with Arun Jaitley being quoted as criticizing the order. However, the item appears to have not found a place in the final printed edition replaced instead by Brinda Karat's allegations against the EC for attempting to curb her party's campaign against the BJP. Given the strength of the CPM in Karnataka as compared to the BJP, which of the two items ought to have received greater publicity is obvious. The fact that the Hindu chose to do otherwise speaks volumes about its agenda.