Ethnic media abroad should bring out true picture of India
By Vaibhav Gangan Indo-Asian News Service August 14, 2005 http://www.eians.com/stories/2005/08/14/14wc.shtml Recently, the National Business Review (NBR), New Zealand's largest and most respected business weekly, published a travel article by Chris Rennie titled "A Beggar of a Problem In India." Chris visited India, and recalling his experience with the beggars, wrote: "Why don't the damned Indians look after their own beggars?" Chris's article is published in NBR's travel section, but half the article is devoted to beggars in India, so much so that both the photographs with the article are of beggars. Did Chris not see anything worthwhile in a country noted as one of the "Top Five Travel Destinations 2004" by Lonely Planet? Did Chris say "beggar-free New Zealand streets" in his article? More than 80 homeless people are sleeping rough in central Auckland each night (New Zealand Herald, May 29). Let's compare apples with apples. If for a million population, Auckland houses 80 homeless, for a billion (India's population) Auckland will be boasting of 80,000 homeless. Would Chris then say: "These damned Kiwis can't look after their beggars"? There are 21 percent children below the poverty line; 43 percent children are in sole parent families below the poverty line; the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow, with income inequality increasing between 2001 and 2004. In addition to this abject poverty, we also have in New Zealand disguised poverty. Despite economic buoyancy, we have over 300,000 working-age adults on benefits - about 15 percent of the workforce! If we compare with India, New Zealand has an equivalent of 75 million people on benefit. India's poverty is visible, but New Zealand's poverty is hidden in houses, because of cold weather, and the outdated social welfare system. By enlisting New Zealand's social issues, I am not saying India's can be justified. I just want to say that the Western media is highly biased in reporting true picture of the eastern world. Even while reporting positive stories about India, Western journalists tend to be biased. Take Justin Huggler's story (Independent, April 15) on India's new rail link in Kashmir. Justin describes Kashmir as "being ruled by India for more than 50 years," not realising that India is world's largest democracy. I wrote to the editor of NBR as well as to Chris Rennie. The NBR published my article. I feel my goal was achieved when my letter was published by NBR. My aim was to create awareness among the white population that India is not all about poverty as Western media projects and New Zealand is not all about a developed state. There was a shower of e-mail messages, phone calls and text messages from a number of Indians from New Zealand, Australia and in some cases from India too. Some of New Zealand's ethnic politicians wrote in too but interestingly those MPs supposedly representing "Indian" community did not respond. There are many articles written day-in and day-out which don't reflect the true picture of India. Some are outright biased with a definite hint of ridicule; a few are "opinionated" on the periphery. Yes, it is fair to have a point of view, and Western media will definitely have "western" viewpoint and there's nothing wrong with that. What is frustrating is that either partial truth is presented, or figures are twisted to support a prejudiced opinion. The Western media's biased reporting is sometimes deliberate, while in few cases it is inadvertent. I feel we must create awareness about biased Western reporting and negative projection of eastern countries including India. Western and Eastern societies each have to take a step forward. The ethnic media will play a major role is bringing out the true picture of India. (The writer is the founder editor of The Global Indian, New Zealand's leading monthly for Indians abroad. He can be reached on [EMAIL PROTECTED] --Indo-Asian News Service ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h41n5u0/M=362335.6886444.7839734.2575449/D=groups/S=1705796846:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1124863232/A=2894362/R=0/SIG=138c78jl6/*http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/arts_culture/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=GRP&RTP=http://groups.yahoo.com/";>What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! 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