One of the bloggers had earlier pointed out the number of syndicated articles in Opinion pages in chindu. Over the past few weeks, apart from the two editorials, atmost one or two articles in the Opinion page are relevant to India. In fact, articles which would have been filed under International section are now being paraded as Editorial/Opinion articles. To give an example from today's paper, take this article about a Bosnian American arrested in a terror charge.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/11/stories/2010011155290900.htm
This article is syndicated from The New York Times News Service.
It looks like chindu is seriously short of columnists.
Hasan Suroor writes about British politics and occasionally talks of Asian community in Britain.
S.Viswanathan has made himself irrelevant by talking about general media matters. When he remembers his role and the charter of the ombudsman, he picks up a few reader's letters in support of his argument on the media issue he is highlighting. Here are the latest 5 articles of his:
Looking for a new media culture and media freedom
Rathore case, public anger and media coverage
Let the benefits of the Act reach the oppressed
An act with teeth, but of no use in protecting the weak online and off line
Andhra Pradesh political crisis and the role of the media
Take any of these articles and you will see that they can be reproduced in some other newspaper without too many changes. So, what exactly is he doing as Reader's Editor? He is just another columnist who writes bi-weekly for chindu. All that stuff about the first Indian newspaper to appoint ombudsman is bunkum.
Then, there is Sidddarth Varadarajan. We all know him well, don't we.
I wonder why the rest of the contributors like Praveen Swami, P.Sainath et al are being ignored. Not that they would have made a much difference though.
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6 comments:
I even wrote to the Reader's Editor more than a couple of times mentioning that his articles are just like any other column and they really don't discuss any of the reader's concerns. I never got a reply (atleast the previous RE used to reply well to me!).
I then asked N.Ram on twitter the same thing, and he replied back to me saying that the terms of RE includes writing about educative topics of interest or some bull crap like that.
It is tiring to read Hasan Suroor's articles, really no new thing in them. So are the other syndicated articles..
- Sudhir
Sudhir,
The previous RE had great commitment. This Viswanathan is a joke.
Most of the syndicated columns can just be skimmed through in seconds. In fact, the traditional reader base would be disinterested in them. Which only goes to show that N.Ram is not intersted in catering to his audience.
yeah, the previous RE used to engage (whether we agree with him or not was a different issue, but atleast there was engagement and mention), but this guy is plain hopeless!
Also, btw, I have an observation about P. Sainath:) After he published his scathing article on paid news, he went silent for a month, and then came back on the day after editors guild met. And again silence for about 20 days now :).. is he silent, or is he being asked to remain silent?
- Sudhir
Dear Sir,
Some notorious and some noteworthy happenings happened in Tamilnadu recently.
1. The leader of AIADMK attended the Assembly and questioned the wisdom of the CM in pouring out freebies and promises without scant consideration for the economy of the State.
2. She questioned the expected source of revenue for continuing these freebies.
3. The reply was feeble and ineffective.
4. There is a calculated and concerted campaign on the part of the CM, his darling daughter Kanimozhi to denigrate a particular community, Carnatic music and Hindu religion in general.
5. The Classical Tamil conference is being used to underplay the glorious efforts of the scholars of Brahmin community by simply omitting their names.
6. The CM has not spoken about the spectatorial role played by two of his ministers (is it minions) when a cop who was in his death throes crying for help.
The Chindu has no space to take note of these happenings and offer its comments for the benefit of its readers.
All in the name of fair reporting.
A reader.
What has happened to the "Strategic Affairs Editor" who writes on almost everything except strategic issues.
Clearly, you wanted a job with the Hindu and haven't got one. Stop pissing all over the web. Get a job...
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