The US media also makes sure to keep the people of US ignorant of any world events by  making sure that there is not a single program focused on international issues. If you would like any proof, just visit the ABC ‘World News’ site, you will usually not find any international news. If by any chance there is any international news it would be about US forces in Iraq. (Among the three news stories today on ABC World News, two of them were about President Elect of US and the Economic woes in US; the third story was about Blackwater contractor guards in Iraq).

It is in this light that I was quite surprised to see a special one time documentary for two hours on some past international events related to genocide in the recent past as reported by Christiana Amanpour. (The program is called Scream Bloody Murder).   The documentary is itself quite interesting and reminds people of a number of gory genocides such as the ones in Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur (ironically all of them happening because of apathy of the people of the ‘world’ towards international happenings).

The only reason this documentary is being being screened now is because apparently Christiana Amanpour is taking a break from international reporting to take care of her child. Now that she is also gone from the international scene, I think now there is no one person who is entirely concentrated on international reporting. When will people in US start caring about happenings around the world?

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By the way, the program also talks about the current genocide happening in Darfur (Sudan). These sites give a good view of what is happening in Darfur and what you can do to stop the genocide: www.savedarfur.org , www.sudanreeves.org

I am appalled, I am hurt, I am bleeding. Your wound brings attention to my wound, it is also very recent. I stand with the people of India. I stand with the leadership of India. I am sorry that you are going through this. I can see this on the TV. Today’s infotech brings all the pain to us in our bedrooms, in our homes.

* The common citizens of Pakistan are also fed up with terrorism and are in solidarity with Indians on the issue of terrorism. See this blog from Pakistan which I found on Global Voices:

I, too, am a Mumbaikar today.I wish I could reach out and for just one moment hold the hands of the woman in this AP photograph. Maybe shed some tears on her shoulder. But I do not know what I would say to her. I do not think she would want me to say much. The expression on her face matches the feeling I have at the pit of my stomach and in the depth of my heart. I think – I hope – that she would understand how I feel. I can only imagine what she is going through.

In another story, Indian express reported that Modi was unwelcome at Karkare family’s home:

A family source said, “The state protocol officer called up first and we informed that we did not wish to meet anyone. Two more calls from Modi’s office followed and we responded the same way. Modi then came on his own and unannounced.”

* Narendra Modi was appropriately snubbed by Karkare’s wife. Indian express reports:

The family of slain Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare has declined Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s offer of monetary help, sources said on Saturday.

* Narendra Modi also stoped by Oberoi hotel to exploit the situation and try some really cheap tricks. New York Times reports:

At midmorning on Friday, as Indian troops continued to comb through the devastated Oberoi hotel, an unexpected guest appeared on the sidewalk: Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and arguably India’s most incendiary politician.

* Narendra Modi’s double speak reported by Economic Times:

Parivar doublespeak: Villain in life, hero in death:

In fact, Mr Modi himself had attacked the ATS for the “biased” probe into the Malegaon blasts. So much so that the BJP and Sangh Parivar organisations had personally blamed Karkare for what they claimed “implicating the Hindu religious leaders and outfits” in the probe.

Fortunately for us, in this day and age, when every corner of the world easily accessible at the click of a mouse button, it is quite difficult to maintain a poker face and keep the truth away from anybody. This attack has been reported in almost real time by pretty much every news source in the world. People have also been getting their news from citizen journalists through twitter, flickr and blogs. The internet has become such an important means for transmitting news that the main stream media has also recognized it now. As soon as the attack happened, the first pictures came through flickr and CNN’s first photographs of the attack were the photos posted on flickr. In fact CNN itself acknowledged that it was getting much of the information at initial stages through the site Global Voices Online.

I feel that internet and web 2.0 will be an important role in highlighting people’s voice without any spin and keeping a check on media bias anywhere in the world.

Does the American media think that it is only their right to blame Pakistan for terrorist activities originating from Pakistan? Media bias is quite strong in US. I am pretty sure Americans would love to have an unbiassed media. It would really help them in the long run for both America and the entire world.

912 Hrs 28 Nov: MSNBC news host constantly tries to mock the idea that Lashkar could be involved in this incident even though MSNBC’s own news correspondents were trying to point out that Lashkar could be involved.

935 Hrs 28 Nov: MSNBC reports that Lashkar a Kashmiri terrorist group is probably involved (and then goes on to say that Kashmir has a muslim majority state within a Hindu majority counrty India). Does this mean that Kashmir is to be blamed? MSNBC can not skew this news any further. MSNBC does not mention anything about Lashkar being supported by ISI in the past (and probably present). Also the host asks the question about if Lashkar is linked to ISI and mentions that just because Lashkar is involved does not imply ISI being involved.   Nice spin MSNBC. Keep up the spin. Avoid all news reporting.

The biased reporters in MSNBC should have a look at this article on Lashkar E Toiba on wikipedia. It says:

Lashkar-e-Taiba (Urdu: لشكرِ طيبه laškar-ĕ ṯaiyyiba, literally Army of the Good (commonly translated as Army of the Righteous), also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba or Lashkar-i-Taiba) is one of the largest and most active Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed^[1] founded the organization in Kunar province, Afghanistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba is currently based near Lahore, Pakistan and operates several militant training camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.^[2] Lashkar-e-Taiba members have carried out major attacks against India and its primary objective is to end Indian rule in Kashmir.^[3] Some breakaway Lashkar members have also been accused for carrying out attacks in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi, to mark its opposition to the policies of Pervez Musharraf.^[4]The organization is banned as a terrorist organization by India, Pakistan, the United States,^[5] the United Kingdom,^[6] Russia^[7] and Australia.^[8] According to some sources, Laskar-e-Taiba renamed itself to Jama’at-ud-Da’wah (JUD) in January 2002 to escape the ban imposed by the Pakistani government.^[9]

I had to rely on websites from BBC and other indian sites to find out the latest videos and news stories. What do these channels acheive by keeping the American population ignorant of world news? American media: Shame on you.

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2227 Hrs Nov 27: The only news channel that is broadcasting any news about the Mumbai attacks right now is CNBC (which is a business news channel). Pathetic!

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=184111