Please stop this jingoism

BY HASAN SUROOR| IN Opinion | 11/08/2013

I can't imagine the BBC or any British news channel being so unabashedly propagandist as the NDTV, CNN-IBN and Times Now have been on this issue.

A Letter to the Hoot from HASAN SUROOR

I have been closely following the so-called debate over the latest India-Pak row on Indian television channels--and,believe me, I have had to pinch myself more than once to make sure that I am watching professionally independent journalism and not crude propaganda dressed up as debate.

The tone of reporting is so partisan and the anchors--frothing at the mouth with self-righteous anger and shouting at their pakistani guests--so jingoistic that it makes one cringe with embarrassment.

I have huge problems with the British media over how it approaches certain issues but even at its worst it retains a semblance of perspective and even-handedness in the name of professional balance. I can't imagine the BBC or any British news channel being so unabashedly propagandist as the NDTV, CNN-IBN and Times Now have been on this issue.

What has been happening on some of India's supposedly most posh channels is a travesty of professionalism. Please stop it.

Hasan Suroor
London

August 10, 2013

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