Fwd: Letter to The Ombudsman of The Hindu

the ombudsman has turned into a bit of a joke. he hardly ever talks about the reader feedback. 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Friends of Tibet
Subject: Letter to The Ombudsman of The Hindu
To: readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

April 24, 2011

 

To,

The Reader's Editor,

The Hindu, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

 

Dear Sir,

Let us not reduce the ongoing-war of words between N Ram, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hindu and the rest of the management team members to a battle within the corporate boardroom of the firm. What is going on is in fact a battle between N Ram and the readers of The Hindu.

 

Ever since N Ram took charge of the newspaper in 2003, organisations like Friends of Tibet and a dozen Tamil organisations in Tamil Nadu are fighting the anti-Tibet, anti-Tamil and anti-India stand of N Ram and his team of carefully selected journalists who were misusing the powers in the name of courageous journalism. Friends of Tibet was forced to launch a campaign called 'Save The Hindu' (www.friendsoftibet.org/save/) to fight the N Ram regime, a campaign which enjoyed the support of majority of The Hindu journalists. At the peak of the campaign when journalists employed with the newspaper came forward to support the campaign openly, N Ram threatened Friends of Tibet with criminal and civil defamation. In the meanwhile, hundreds of Hindu readers had stopped reading and subscribing the newspaper as a matter of principle. The activists of Friends of Tibet, TSAM and Tamil organisations like May 17 Movement had organised protests in front of the Kasturi Buildings in Chennai several times. We had written to the Hindu Ombudsman regarding our concerns which were never answered. (More details about Save The Hindu campaign and a case-study, please visit: www.friendsoftibet.org/save/)

 

We are happy that N Ram and his left-hand in journalism Shri Siddharth Varadarajan are finally exposed by their own men - Shri N Ravi and the sacked members. Friends of Tibet thank N Ravi for his bold and courageous statement criticising the "pronounced pro-China tilt of The Hindu newspaper, blacking out or downplaying any news that is less than complimentary to the Chinese Communist regime." We thank them because no one in the past had ever shown the courage to criticise the heavyweights and the captains of paid-news culture in Indian journalism.

 

Saving the 131-year-old national newspaper from the wrong hands is the responsibility of each and every reader and employee of The Hindu. Act now!

 

Friends of Tibet

www.friendsoftibet.org

Friends of Tibet, PO Box: 16674, Bombay 400050, India.

Friends of Tibet is a people's movement to keep alive the issue of Tibet through direct action. Our activities are aimed at ending China's occupation of Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people. Friends of Tibet supports the continued struggle of the Tibetan people for independence. Friends of Tibet is also one of the principal organisers of World Tibet Day around the world. To know more, visit: www.friendsoftibet.org