Seriously, does rediff even remotely value it's readers' opinions? Time and again, the readers have expressed displeasure about the strong US flavour in it's news. And yet today, 2.5 days after the Virginia Tech shootings, we still have 4 out of the 8 articles under the news tab covering it.
This is not the international section. The url is http://in.rediff.com/ Don't we have any Indian news worth reporting? To be pragmatic, I concede that whether we like it or not, USA is the most dominant country in the world. However, that would carry it's weight on issues of Geo-politics, security, trade, etc. Why is a domestic incident given this much coverage in India?
But, alas we as a nation never got out of fascination for all things foreign. That's why we hailed Kalapana Chawla as an Indian achievement. [Never minding the fact that she has been an US citizen for 13 years when she made her journey into outer space.]
That's why the Tamil Nadu government sponsors flight tickets to the family of Prof. G V Loganathan's. No offence to him (May he rest in peace!) but the guy is, again, an US citizen and wanted his body to be buried in that country. Would the TN government expedite visa's and sponsor tickets for the family of any (God forbid!) Indian who may lose his life in Iraq/Sudan/Russia?
All of these points have been made multiple times in the comments, I would love to hear rediff's reply to these. Why the fascination for all things US?
Note: While there's cause for these questions, I do appreciate the fact that rediff does allow reader participation through these discussion boards.
RE:Does Rediff follow the 'Discussion Board'?
by Nihilist Anand on Apr 19, 2007 07:18 PM Permalink
Because there were Indians as well who got killed in this massacre.What do you want them to report a stupid wedding taking place in Mumbai!~
RE:Does Rediff follow the 'Discussion Board'?
by Dipanjan Ray on Apr 20, 2007 12:08 AM Permalink
Anand there are more people getting killed or dying in India everyday. There are people dying in villages for lack of food. Rediff never covers these news. I don't understand why rediff always prefers licking the feet of white people. Rediff should show more responsibility towards India rather than showing the same toward USA. Practically speaking, people in US never care what Rediff writes about incidents in their country, they have much better media to cover this.
RE:Does Rediff follow the 'Discussion Board'?
by Arunan Bushnam on Apr 20, 2007 04:48 AM Permalink
It's not that rediff should not cover it. The point made is 17 articles for a domestic incident in USA where 1 Indian (Minal) and an Indian born American (Prof. Loganathan) died, shows an US bias.
For example, when 3 Indian pilgrims were killed in the Iraq conflict on Sep 3, 2006: Rediff had a single news article (that too from PTI). Why did the VTech shooting receive more coverage than this?
And let's face it. Rediff and any other media company goes after the eyeballs. So rediff would cover the celebrity wedding, because thousands more more people are interested in that than any killings. The question is about the US bias. Whether Rediff thinks an Indian life lost in USA is deemed more worthy than an Indian life lost elsewhere?
My condolences to the families of Minal, Prof. Loganathan, Jaffer Mashadi, M Beigh and Mohammad Ahmad Ali. And my apologies for having used their deaths to make a point.
RE:Does Rediff follow the 'Discussion Board'?
by Ravi Kumar on Apr 19, 2007 09:41 PM Permalink
Anand, you are right about the Indian angle.
Having said that, a marriage, no matter who the people involved, is good news and a pleasing event rather than a killer on rampage. If only for that reason, it is more newsworthy than the gory, horrific events at Virginia, don't you think?
