That’s not what she said

IN Media Watch Briefs | 28/10/2015
A report in The Hindu on Romila Thapar's talk: on "Indian Society and the Secular'' in Mumbai Oct 26, was headlined: "Secularism begins with Uniform Civil Code''. But she did not say that. She spoke of the need to curtail the power of religion over the state's functioning, and to have universal and uniform civil laws which guarantee basic needs to all citizens. The term "uniform civil code'' was in fact not used by her even once in the 40-minute lecture. Why then was the term with all its baggage used in the headline and opening paras in the newspaper?
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The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

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