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With Election 2008 almost upon us, it’s time to take a look at how South Asian journalists are covering this year’s historic, and seemingly-never-ending-but-nearly-over presidential race. We're also including opinion pieces and broadcast work, on-air and off. Here's a sample of what they've been covering recently.
Aman Batheja has been covering local elections, blogging and writing stories including "In the first five days of early voting, 149,234 cast ballots in Tarrant County" for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. On Tuesday, he’ll be on the ground looking out for equipment malfunctions and long lines while keeping readers up to dated on all the latest election news at the Star-Telegram's Politex blog. Among Aman's finds for the blog is this McCain/Obama pumpkin carving.
Seema Mehta has been tracking VP hopeful Sarah Palin for The Los Angeles Times. In this article Mehta reports from Ocala, Florida, and other locales, where "the crowds adore Palin, who bounds onto the stage in heels to songs such as 'Redneck Woman' by Gretchen Wilson and '9 to 5' by Dolly Parton."
Manu Raju, a reporter for The Hill, which covers all things Beltway, has been intensely following an Election sideshow: the trial of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Stevens is 84-year-old Republican and was convicted by a jury for not reporting $250,000 in gifts. His re-election efforts are central to the question of whether Democrats can claim a filibuster-proof Senate tomorrow. In this article, Raju suggests that Stevens has a bleak future, even if he does get re-elected.
Rajen Anand and Joydeb Roy wrote an op-ed, calling upon voters to support Obama, in India-West. The same issue has a pro-McCain piece by Dipka Bhambhani, in which she compares Obama's appeal with that of Hitler ("Several scholars have made the comparison between the mania pre-WWII and the Obama worshipping.") Download page_08.doc
Ro Khanna, a San Francisco-area lawyer who ran for U.S. Congress in 2004, showed his support for Sen. Barack Obama through "The strengh of Our ideals," an op-ed for India Currents.
Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu has featured on SAJAforum before, most recently in a Q&A Anil Kalhan did with her, after she and the rest of her editorial board interviewed John McCain. In this column, she calls for a pro-science president (notice that it's been reprinted in a Tucson paper).
Chicago TV anchor Ravi Baichwal works for the local ABC affiliate, channel 7. Here he reports on the Obama campaign's plans for a massive bash at Grant Park, should it win the election.
DC-based researcher Dhruva Jaishankar landed an interview with John McCain that resulted in "There are real differences between me and Obama on issues that matter greatly to India" for The Indian Express.
In "Smearing Rashid Khalidi" for www.counterpunch.org, Vijay Prashad, a professor at Trinity College in Connecticut, took a critical look at how Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has worked to link Barak Obama to controversial figures Bill Ayers and to Columbia University profressor Rashid Khalidi. On a different note, Prashad wrote "The Collapse" for Frontline, an Indian magazine from the publishers of The Hindu took a look at the U.S. lawmakers $700 billion plan to stabilize the financial sector.
Subrata De, producer for NBC's Brian Williams has been involved in all his political coverage, including his recent interviews with Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin.
Anusha Anburajan reports on Indian-Americans gain political clout for "Marketplace," the public radio program.
Imtiyaz Delawala, a producer for "Weekend Good Morning America" for ABC News, who has been traveling with Gov. Palin since she was nominated, and has been reporting for all the various ABC platforms.
SAJA board member Kiran Khalid, a producer for ABC's "Good Morning America" has been covering various aspects of the election for months now.
Over at Forbes.com, South Asian bylines include:
- Reihan Salam, contributing writer for The Atlantic and author of "Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class" asks "What if McCain Wins?"
- Freelance writer Sadanand Dhume declares: "My Middle Name is Not Hussein"
- Opinions editor Tunku Varadarajan says these are "The Bush Elections" (earlier, he wrote what he calls "a (mostly) playful primer" entitled "Obama, From A to Z")
See our earlier Byline Roundups, including our most recent one, the Financial Meltdown Edition.
Did we miss anything? Post links to them below.
