Tidbits of the region's media   February 2011

Sketch: Sworup Nhasiju

Chhetria Patrakar is much impressed by the Bangladesh government’s ingenuity – or ingenuosness. A private TV station, Banglavision, produces a three-part series on the country’s most famous murder convict. This is a man who was serving a sentence for murder, when the government appointed him to be the state hangman, sanctioning two months off his sentence for every person he executed. He then went on to conduct nine hangings ordered by the state.

Sketch: Sworup Nhasiju

The Sri Lankan government sure knows the alphabet of oppression: first Tamils, now billboards, and coming up next – miniskirts. President Mahinda Rajapakse recently ordered the removal of billboards featuring, what else, ‘scantily clad women’. Yet what wrong could these billboards possibly have done to engender such a response. If the conservatives on the street (and on the presidential throne) are so aroused (oops, offended) by these images, they must have seriously misunderstood the function of billboards in the first place. There they are, standing tall and glinting like the president’s moustache – up there to publicise, advertise and educate, sweethearts. CP suggests that the president simply order those who have taken offence to concentrate on the path forward – an ability we all need anyway in these trying, arousing times. 

Sketch: Sworup Nhasiju

Festivals can get rather routine and ho-hum, so naturally it was initially amusing to recently see the way that the Kathmandu Post ushered in Christmas: with a picture of two cute children in Santa hats, one yawning and the other pouting, and a caption below that read: ‘Oh, oh, here I go again…’ After the initial laugh, though, CP frowned, wondering what possessed the Post to reserve its humour for the main festival of one the country’s religious minorities – and one that has faced a degree of hostility from some sections over the years. Maybe no malice was intended – ‘all in good spirit’ kinda thing – but would the Post carry a similar picture on the occasion of Dasain or Tihar, the main Hindu festivals in Nepal? CP ain’t saying that the Post should not feel free to make jokes about religions. Jape all you want, as much as you want, but no discrimination, eh? 

Sketch: Sworup Nhasiju

Once again comes the never-ending debate about how private a public figure’s life is – in this case, the life of President Pratibha Patil. Three press photographers were recently questioned by police after the pictures they took of the president sunning herself on a Goa beach was published in local newspapers. After a bit of googling and oogling at the picture, CP nearly laughed out loud. First of all, what exactly were these photographers after? A picture of the president suitable for Page 3? Or were they hoping to catch her sniffing drugs and swinging through the Goan nightlife? And the policemen, or whoever ordered them to summon the three journalists (most likely from the president’s office, given that reports have President Patil being not very amused by the photos) – what were they thinking? 

Sketch: Sworup Nhasiju

CP mourns the loss of 13 Pakistani journalists who, according to the South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) report, were among the casualties of attacks on public gatherings and suicide bombings last year. There is someone who might not be moved to hear this: Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder. When Assange learned that a thousand journalists had been killed since 1944, he remarked to Stephen Moss of The Guardian that it was an international disgrace that so few Western journalists had been killed in the course of duty. It’s unclear exactly how Assange feels about Eastern journalists, but regardless a journalist is a journalist. CP dreads what Assange might say about the SAMC report – ‘Only 13?’ Dear Mr Assange, your effort to disseminate raw information is admirable, but in doing so, will you please not equate death with serious journalism?