Letter to the Hoot: comment censored?

BY Jairus Banaji| IN Opinion | 27/12/2008

Dear Editor,
 
I posted a comment on one of Barkha Dutt¿s columns on NDTV.com (called ¿Antulay must resign¿). That was over 24 hours ago. I find that several other comments have been posted there since I despatched mine, suggesting that they do not propose to publish it. All the other comments on her article are strongly in favour of what she¿s written, mine is critical and questioning. The url to her piece is
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/showcolumns.aspx?id=COLEN20080077216

This is what I posted:

"One¿s first reaction to reading this is, why would any journalist want less transparency rather than more transparency? Surely, following the ghastly events of 26-29 November, all of us should be interested in the truth, and it does no one any good, least of all journalists, to make subjects as recent as the killing of Hemant Karkare and his colleagues taboo subjects, impervious to further investigation or discussion. Most conspiracy theories may well be "loony", as Barkha Dutt implies, but she herself knows that not all of them are – indeed, the most famous assassination in post-war American history still remains unsolved, and for that event the only plausible explanation, surely, is a conspiracy, as the reconstruction in Oliver Stone¿s film JFK shows at length.  Here are some questions for Dutt to contemplate: how can any agency wrap up a case quite so rapidly as, it is claimed, this one has been?  Is there an official version of what happened to Hemant Karkare, one which is backed by solid evidence, transparent in its structure, and internally consistent? If so, where is that to be found?  Where can citizens such as myself find it?  Has it been circulated to the public as yet?  Is Dutt completely unaware of the hundreds of questions that citizens from all over India, but especially Bombay, have posted on a Rediff.com link called "Unanswered Questions"? Has she actually bothered to look through any of those questions?  Is it so implausible to imagine that for certain right-wing parties that were gunning for Karkare in the few weeks before his death, denouncing him as a "traitor" no less (!), that tragic event comes as a happy coincidence? Is it not the height of naivety for a journalist to completely discount that background and believe in coincidences? And even supposing that what we are up against is a coincidence (a fortunate one for the networks that were being exposed by the ATS Chief), then shouldn¿t a proper investigation be pursued in order to establish that much at least? What was Mr Antulay asking for if not a thorough probe? What is so criminal and outlandish in asking for that?  Doesn¿t Dutt want more transparency? Doesn¿t the truth interest her at all or is it her claim that we know all we need to know?  Is she simply in the business of wrapping things up as fast as possible because she has a deep desire to conform, to swim with the tide, and lacks the kind of spine that makes for good journalism."

I¿m dismayed to see how many of the comments posted on various news web sites represent extreme right-wing views; not only are they badly written, but they are mostly political garbage. When someone does raise substantial issues, the comment is simply blanked out! This is a shocking state of affairs.


Jairus Banaji

December 24, 2008