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Francois' open letter: On biased western reporting on India

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>French journalist's open letter against foreign media's anti-India

>bias > > >To >Ed Lane > >Correspondent Dow Jones > >From > >Francois Gautier,

Correspondent, Ouest-France > > >Dear Ed, > >Apropos your letter which you have

circulated to all the members of >the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South

Asia, in which you >wrote: "I think it's important the FCC puts out a statement

on recent >moves by the Government to go after journalists it apparently doesn't

>like." > >I wonder if you would send such a haughty message if you were in

>China, for instance, where you would risk being immediately kicked >out, or

even spend a few weeks in jail. You go on to >declare: "Firstly, there's the

Kashmir Times reporter Iftekhar >Geelani who is in jail; the harassment of Alex

Perry by the FRRO for >writing an article unfavourable to the Government; and

now a raid on >Tehelka. As a pattern, it's bad news and I think we should

strongly >say that such actions are inimical to a free and fair Press." > >

>Ed, pardon me for saying so, but when you speak openly in such a >manner, it

is as if you think that you are in a conquered country, or >that India is still

under White colonial rule: "Who is this arrogant >Indian Government to tell us,

mighty Western journalists, what to >write or not to write!" But any Government

in the world clamps down >on who it considers anti-national elements within its

territorial >boundaries. > > >The US itself goes to the extent of invading

Panama, when it >considers its interests threatened there, to bomb Yugoslavia,

because >it did not like its President, or to take over Afghanistan, where it

>is definitely going to burn its fingers. And why should not the >Indian

Government take action against a man suspected of channelling >funds used

against India's national interests? > > >You are claiming freedom of the press,

but in this country, we, >Western journalists, have always been free to

criticise, belittle, >slander even, without any fear of reprisal. And God knows

how much we >have come down hard on the BJP, RSS, or VHP in these last few

years, >using adjectives totally out of place, which do not honour our sense

>of equity, such as "fundamentalists,fanatical,Right- >wing,"

"nationalists," even "Nazis." Did the BJP, the VHP, or the RSS >(a harmless

group if there ever was one), kill six million Jews like >Hitler? On the

contrary, Hindus have been - and are still in Kashmir - > the target of an

ethnic cleansing without parallel in the history of >this sad world. Do you

think that in France, or in the US, an >exclusive club of only Indian

journalists, Hindus even, would be >allowed to function like a kingdom within a

kingdom, with the freedom >to criticise and support movements which are inimical

to French or US >national interests? Do you believe that these Indians could

castigate >the French or American President, as Time magazine did recently? I

>don't think so. > > >In fact, I remember when French President Pompidour was

dying of >cancer while still in office - and it was an open secret - the Press

>kept quiet about it as a matter of decency. And how your own media >was kind

to Ronald Reagan, a man not particularly known for his >intelligence, and who

kept making one fumbling mistake after another >when it came to foreign policy.

How is it that we Western >correspondents are so tolerant with our own faults,

but come down so >hard on this Government, which has to deal with problems

which are >several times more complicated than in our own countries? And why is

>it that we Westerners do so much business with Communist China, a >Government

which has so much blood on its hand, and that includes one >million Tibetans

killed in the last 50 years? Three million of the >Chinese people were

liquidated by Mao. > > >The history of Western coverage of India has been one

of biased and >unfair reporting. Look at Kashmir, for instance. We have been

writing >and broadcasting relentlessly in the last 13 years that "India

>accuses Pakistan of training, arming, financing and sheltering Indian

>Kashmiri separatists, a fact which Islamabad denies," implying that >the

Indian Government is lying, knowing fully well after all these >years that

logically it had to be true. > > >But no, in the name of the so-called

"impartial reporting," the BBC, >CNN, AFP, Reuters and others, who have an old

colonial account to >settle with India, kept on mouthing these untruths. > >

>Now General Musharraf has publicly acknowledged the fact under >American

pressure. But has any one of us apologised to the Indian >Government for having

slandered it for 15 years? No way: We are too >arrogant and conceited to

recognise our own mistakes. Why don't we >say the truth: That our editors in

Paris, Washington or Bonn always >expect the same stories from us, stories that

show India in >derogatory light, a Third World, corrupt, fundamentalist country,

>because they think that it is the only way to sell India to their >readers? > >

>Indeed, isn't it a fact for many of us that the harder we hit India, >the more

we are successful with our foreign editors? > > >I know India is not an easy

country for a westerner and now and then >I am as frustrated as you, dear Ed.

The heat, the slowness of >everything, the bureaucratic hassles, the

intellectual servility of >Hindus sometimes, who must blame themselves for most

of their ills, >including the lack of respect they get from us, Western

>correspondents. > >But it is also my living experience in 33 years here that

India is >pro-West, a bastion of freedom in an Asia represented by Muslim

>fundamentalism and Chinese hegemonic tendencies. Why don't we say >this also?

Talking of journalistic objectivity, it is also our duty >to highlight the

greatness that India represents with its spiritual >resonance. We need not be

blind to India's shortcomings, particularly >when we have enough reasons to

express the hope that India represents >for mankind. > >Yours > >Francois

Gautier > >http://www.dailypioneer.com/secon3.asp?cat=\story8&d=FRONT_PAGE > >

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