The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Media has thrown ethics to the winds: Deve Gowda

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Friday, Jun 20, 2008
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Media has thrown ethics to the winds: Deve Gowda

Special Correspondent

H.D. Deve Gowda

BANGALORE: The former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, has asked the media to be “responsible and conscious” while reporting communal situation.

In a press release here, Mr. Deve Gowda has said that recent reports in the media named those arrested in connection with the bomb blast in cinemas indicating their religion.

“This will lead to increase in acrimony and animosity among the different communities and linguistic groups,” he said.

Mr. Deve Gowda said, “Such religious profiling of culprits, whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Sikh, only serves to divide society further and strengthen the hands of fanatic elements in all communities.”

He said, “Media ethics warrant that in the event of riots and other communally volatile matters, the names of the communities involved or the religious identity of the suspected persons not be revealed but in blind pursuit of TRP ratings and circulation figures, these time honoured ethics have been thrown to the winds by the media at the grave cost of our fragile fabric and the well being of our pluralistic society.”

‘Hasty’

Mr. Deve Gowda said it was most unfortunate that even as investigation was on, the media published views of people at the helm of affairs, including the Chief Minister, who had rushed in with their comments on the issue seeking to put the blame on a particular community.

“Terrorists and criminals do not belong to any particular religion or linguistic group. We have witnessed misguided youth belonging to Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Muslim communities adopting the extremist path, whether be it in Assam, Punjab or Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

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