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Monday, November 16, 2009

Should he be referred to as Dean Headley or Dawood Gilani? At the very least "Mr. David Headley formerly known as Dawood Gilani".

There have been frequent question marks about the sense of responsibility displayed by the Indian news media, who wholeheartedly subscribe to preaching Gandhian-Non-violence, Nehruvian-Socialist-Central-Planning, Communist-Secularism-(Muslim Appeasement), each thing being a DF-ness in itself.

What takes the cake, in the present situation, is their constant reference to a recent accused as Mr. David Headley. I wonder how many of us know that this person changed his name from Dawood Gilani to Dean Headley. Notice how this fact has been mentioned in the media link in a cursory reference. In view of the fact that the perpetrators of 26/11 came from Pakistan; any responsible media-person must not just mention, but rather highlight the person not as Mr. Headley but as "Mr Headley formerly known as Mr. Dawood Gilani". Better still, "Dawood Gilani who changed his name to David Headley". This way of mentioning is not only factual and not merely more complete and accurate, but rather it also helps the reader (or viewer) to place the person in a more complete perspective. Mr. Headley is not an American who converted to Islam. He is a Muslim who has recently (in 2006) assumed a western-sounding name. Imagine how our media would report if a person with a title Sharma or Singh had forbidden from defacating in front of his own home, another person with a title Koda. From NDTV to AajTak, they would harangue the viewers by referring to the incident as an "Upper-caste atrocity on a Dalit". Of course, from the perspective of our news-media, what else is there in Hinduism other than horrible practices like casteism? By the way, a somewhat sober view on casteism is presented here. So a Sharma/Singh vs. a Koda is "atrocious casteism". Whereas in the case of Headley (Dawood Gilani), his former name is irrelevant! Talk of responsible jounalism? Phew!

All right thinking people must guard against such deceptions.

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