SAJAforum

MEDIA WATCH: Gay Rights and the Indian Press

On June 29, hundreds of people in Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta joined an ebullient rainbow of slogan-chanting marchers demanding more rights for gay people in India. (Jyoti Gupta, my colleague on SAJAforum, covered the coverage; flag graphic from here)

For several years, I have been trying to gauge attitudes in the Indian media towards gay issues and to draw some general conclusions. Although one often hears that Indian society as a whole is not welcoming towards gay people — whether it is conservatives or gay rights activists making the claim — the Indian media, and indeed the Western media reporting on India, are full of gay-themed stories. The question is not whether there is coverage of gay people and the issues that concern them, but rather how they are portrayed.

[Note that whenever I say “gay” in this piece, I mean Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), and whatever other sexual and gender identities people choose for themselves. I am not a fan of acronyms that try to be all-inclusive because they end up excluding people. The term "queer," a convenient catch-all, is often eschewed by journalists because although it is a word that has been reclaimed by the gay community as a positive label, in some contexts it retains its original derogatory sense.]

All the Indian newspapers whose coverage I regularly follow reported on the marches: The Times of India, the Hindustan Times, and Express India (before and after, actually) as well as NDTV, where it is a “most read” story. It received wide coverage in the West, and I read articles about it in The Guardian, AFP, the BBC, The Washington Post, and even in Gulf News (Dubai) and The Scotsman. Newsweek and Time also had pieces. Notably absent was The New York Times, but their correspondent seems to have been tied up with writing a hard-hitting piece on the stalled nuclear deal.

I found Western and Indian coverage of the event largely indistinguishable, which was surprising because there often is quite a difference. The articles said what happened--several hundred people gathered in Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta and marched--why it was important for the marchers (because homosexuality, or as the Indian Penal Code colorfully states it “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” is illegal in India and they want this changed) and who opposes it (among others, the BJP, which is the main party of the Hindu Right).

CONV: Conversations on Diversity: Recruiters say more needs to be done

The list of hires is impressive: So far in 2008, eight South Asian journalists have been named to a range of leadership positions, from managing editor to bureau chief.

 

Those who care about diversity in media find that heartening, but warn that more needs to be done.

 

Recruiters at the 2008 SAJA convention were both optimistic and cautious when asked about the state of diversity in the county's newsrooms.

 

"More than one third of the American population is made up of people of color, but nowhere near that level of diversity is represented in the newsroom," said Ernest Sottomayor, Assistant Dean of Career Services at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

 

"Media companies need to have basic understanding that diversity is as important as accuracy," he said. "Our communities are getting more and more diverse and they need to get their views into the paper."

 

Recruiters meet with job candidates at the SAJA convention.

CONV: Video of Robert Thomson's remarks and launch of SAJAtv

The 2008 SAJA Convention's opening keynote speech was delivered Robert Thomson, the new managing editor of the Wall Street Journal. It was one of his first public appearances since getting his new assignment last month. You can read full coverage of it here. Here are several short videos of major parts of his talk, from the just-launched SAJAtv channel on YouTube.

Robert Thomson on importance of international news:

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Robert Thomson on Rupert Murdoch:

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Watch more videos below.

CONV: Conversations on diversity: Strapped news budgets limit opportunities

When a tip came in about the opening of a large Hindu temple in Lilburn, Georgia, reporter Rahul Bali was the obvious choice in his radio station to cover the opening.

“They needed someone to bridge the gap,” he said. “I had to report, but also to educate.”      

His Indian background also played to his favor when he traveled through African-American neighborhoods in Atlanta.  Bali was seen as an unbiased observer since he wasn't identified as either a member of the black or white communities.

Although no longer in the South, Bali continues to be the only person of Indian origin at his current radio station, WTOP in the D.C. Metro area, where he is often assigned to topics with a multicultural element. After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, he helped to inform a curious public about the Islamic society in America.   

As was the case in Bali's radio stations, much of the journalism world does not reflect the growing diversity of the population. And cuts to newsroom budgets are making the situation worse.   

BUSINESS: Cross-border media purchases continue

In January 2008, we wrote about NBC buying a 26-percent stake in NDTV, a major Indian TV network, for $150 million. Here are more items about other stakes, bought and sold.

Today, the Deccan Chronicle, a newspaper in south India, said the New York Times was planning to buy a stake in one of its units:

India's Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. said The New York Times Co., owners of newspaper International Herald Tribune, has proposed to buy a 5 percent stake in its 100 percent owned Sieger Solutions Ltd.

Sieger Solutions is engaged in the business of selling advertisement space in Deccan Chronicle and internet advertising.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Anyone know if the NYT has commented on/confirmed this?

On June 1, Times of India's parent company, Bennett, Coleman & Co, bought UK's Virgin Radio Holdings (minus the name) for $105 million. From the NYT story by Heather Timmons:

An Indian media conglomerate that owns The Times of India, the world’s largest-circulation English newspaper, has agreed to buy Virgin Radio Holdings for £53.2 million ($105 million) in its first foreign acquisition.

While the price tag for the deal, by the firm Bennett, Coleman & Company, is not huge in merger terms, it might be a sign of things to come from India and other emerging markets.

Traditional media companies in the United States, Western Europe and Japan have been struggling with falling advertising rates, a gloomy economic environment and competition from the Internet. But newspaper, television and radio companies in emerging markets, flush with cash as their audiences grow, are eager to expand.

“The opportunity to acquire a valuable radio asset couldn’t have come at a better time,” said A. P. Parigi, chief executive of a Bennett, Coleman unit, Times Infotainment Media, which made the deal, signed on Friday. Times Infotainment, which handles experimental marketing, film and radio rights, is developing a “powerful and exciting new brand,” he said in a statement.

Post your comments below.

SAJAforum coverage of the Indian media scene:

• More on the business press
• A look at new business dailies
• James Mutti essay on India, democracy & the press
• Questions for Sevanti Ninan on monitoring South Asia's press
• NBC buys stake in NDTV for $150 million
• Courting Dalits as readers
• Can journalism keep up with India's media explosion?
• One problem with Indian media
• News investors, turn to India (and ditch America)
• India's hot media market

SIKHS: Golf Digest apologizes for depiction of Guru Arjun Dev Ji

According to SALDEF--the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund--the editor-in-chief and chairman of Golf Digest magazine, Jerry Tarde, has issued an apology to the Sikh community for using the image of Guru Arjun Dev Ji in its May 2008 edition. The item showed him as a "golfing guru," holding a golf club and offering advice. From a SALDEF press release:

In a written communication sent to SALDEF, Mr. Tarde stated, "Our editors regret this mistake and have learned an important lesson. Thank you for accepting our apology." Golf Digest has assented to issue a public apology to the Sikh community in the August issue of the magazine which will come out in July as asked by hundreds of community members. In addition, Golf Digest agreed to SALDEF's demand to stop the use of the image in their magazine or web site in the future.

The printed apology in the August 2008 edition of Golf Digest will read as follows:

"It has been brought to our attention that an illustration in the May issue of Golf Digest inadvertently depicted a golfing character resembling an image  of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who is a revered religious figure in Sikhism. This was not our intent. We apologize for the use and for any offense to the Sikh community."

The issue was brought to SALDEF's attention by a Sikh blogger based in Washington DC, who did a detailed analysis of the imagery and scanned the image we used above. You can also see the entire pages in Golf Digest where the item ran. Earlier, SALDEF had organized a petition (now closed), calling for people to express their "displeasure" about the image:

INDIA MEDIA: More on business press

In April, we wrote about the boom in business dailies in India - with EIGHT business dailies there. This week, Knowledge@Wharton, the web-based journal of business news and analysis based at the Wharton School that's edited by SAJAer Mukul Pandya, looks at the phenomenon (and also looks at biz mags).

A business daily is apparently good business in India. Though The Economic Times is the clear leader, India's rapid economic growth has encouraged a sixth national contender. The emergence of small-town and rural India has similarly encouraged Hindi and other-language ventures. And what is happening in newspapers is being repeated in magazines.
<snip>
What's happening in newspapers is being repeated in magazines. Three magazines -- Business India, Businessworld and Business Today -- have been around for a few decades. According to the latest Indian Readership Survey, Business Today had readership of 416,000. Business India followed with 291,000 and Businessworld had 224,000. A newcomer, Outlook Business, launched in April 2006, had readership of 226,000.

More magazines are in the works, and foreign publications are attracting the most attention. Local media house Network18 is working on an Indian edition of Forbes. The Economist has been looking for a partner. McGraw-Hill has explored publishing an Indian edition of BusinessWeek with Delhi-based Cyber Media. Calcutta-based ABP, which publishes Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika, English morning newspaper The Telegraph and Businessworld, has tied up with Fortune to bring out a local edition. "The rush to launch business newspapers and magazines in India can be explained by the economic growth India is experiencing now," says ABP chief executive officer Dipankar Das Purkayastha. "On the other hand, the U.S. is in the grip of a recession. And there is hardly any growth in Europe."

Other-language business publications also have been active. Business Standard and The Economic Times have launched Hindi editions in several cities. Writing in Business Standard on the occasion of the recent launch, editor T.N. Ninan explained: "Business Standard has launched itself today as a Hindi business newspaper ... in addition to the 33-year-old English one. We have started with the New Delhi and Mumbai editions; other editions will roll out in the coming days. And we know that we will have company. Rival Hindi business newspapers, too, will enter the market in the coming weeks and months, because every market in emerging India is going to be competitive."

Read the whole story here. Post your comments below.

SAJAforum coverage of the Indian media scene:

• A look at new business dailies
• James Mutti essay on India, democracy & the press
• Questions for Sevanti Ninan on monitoring South Asia's press
• Courting Dalits as readers
• Can journalism keep up with India's media explosion?
• One problem with Indian media
• News investors, turn to India (and ditch America)
• India's hot media market

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Chay Magazine, a new publication on Pakistani sexuality

Kyla Pasha, a Lahore-based blogger and educator who's contributed to SAJAforum (here and here), and Sarah Suhail have started Chay Magazine, an online publication meant to further discussion of sex and sexuality in Pakistani society. They're looking for writers from around the world who can help normalize topics that are otherwise considered off-limits. Here's their mission statement, which they recently sent out:

Having observed in Pakistani society, a disturbing tendency towards fear and shame around issues of sex and sexuality - that is to say, around a normal human interaction - the founders of Chay Magazine feel that sex and sexuality should enter the public discourse. The taboo and silence around sex and sexuality are oppressive on all of us, irrespective of gender, and lead, at the very least, to unhappiness in our daily lives and, more often, to violence, shame, depression, ill health and general social malaise. We at Chay Magazine endeavor to bring to the Pakistani reading public a place to converse about those things we are most shy of. Our hope is that, through this, we can become braver and stronger, more powerful, self-assured, and just and fair members of society.

Our focus is on Pakistani society and our themes emerge from this context. However, Pakistan is only our starting point. Chay Magazine aims to enter the fray of international feminist discourse and, as such, we invite writers of all nationalities, geographies, stripes to contribute. We are not so much interested in where you come from as in what you have to say.

By the way: Chay can't pay. But the editors are looking for 500-1000 word feature articles, poetry and fiction, and artwork. Here are some of their areas of interest:

Let’s Talk about Sex

• Talking about sex and sexuality – why do it, the taboos around it, the problems with it, the silences
• Sex/Gender, gender roles and gender identity
• Talking about sex and romance
• Standards of “moral” conduct relating to sex

PRESS: Indian Photographer killed in Kashmir

An Indian photographer who was covering the clashes between the security forces and militants in Kashmir was shot to death after reportedly "ignoring warnings" from the security forces yesterday.

Ashok Sodhi, 45, was covering a military operation intended to take out militants who had taken refuge in the town of Samba, some 45 kilometers south of Jammu. Sodhi has been working for the English language Daily Excelsior for almost 25 years.

From Reporters Without Borders:“I was always telling him to keep out of the way of exchanges of fire and this kind of clash”, his wife told news channel CNN-IBN. “However, he would often say that if he had to die in an encounter, he would.”

Here is more about Sodhi.

Meantime, fighting continues in Kashmir with some of the most clashes in the region.

What do you think? Please post your comments below.

MEDIA WATCH: How editors see the world

Here's something unusual. A couple of journalists have analyzed coverage by various publications and produced a series of maps that show the world differently:

The cartograms below show the world through the eyes of editors-in-chief, in 2007. Countries swell as they receive more media attention; others shrink as we forget them.

Click on the image to launch the files. Post your comments below. 

MEDIA: India, democracy and the press

[This is a SAJAforum article by James Mutti, a Fulbright scholar who spent time in India last year, studying the media and their relationship to the democratic process. He argues that the impressive growth of the media is largely taking place outside of the voting classes, ensuring that the media are not playing a significant public service role. Ultimately, Mutti suggests that a new media model is needed, one which balances its profit motive with coverage of issues relevant to the poorer, voting classes, and which could serve as a model for the developing world. SAJAforum asked some India experts to respond to the article - scroll down to the comments section to read what they have to say.]

The Challenge Facing the Indian Media

In India, unlike in North America and much of Western Europe, newspaper readership is rising sharply.¹ More newspapers are sold daily in India than in any other country except China. However, despite the success of the media's business model, there are important questions about whether the media can serve the needs of Indian non-elites. Can the media report the issues that matter to a majority of India's citizens?

Newsstands in India overflow with newspapers and magazines in English and one or two local languages. They sprawl across sidewalks – dozens of publications neatly lined up or hanging from walls, pillars or trees – glossy color magazines, inky daily newspapers, local flyers and pamphlets of mediocre quality. Newsstands take up prime real estate on the busy and crowded sidewalks of downtown business districts and in small towns. In Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, at least 11 different daily Hindi newspapers are available, along with at least 3 Urdu papers, and more than half a dozen English papers. Dozens of magazines are available in these three languages. They cover all topics – news, fashion, medicine, weddings, movies, motorcycles, religion, travel, sports, yoga. There is an Indian version of Maxim. There are women’s magazines such as Femina, Marie Claire, Elle, Cosmo, and Saheli. There are magazines and comic books just for the kids. Nearly every shopkeeper in his small store can be seen reading Dainik Jagran, Jansatta or Rashtriya Sahara. The paper then sits on the counter for customers to pick up and peruse throughout the day. Dainik Jagran is one of Lucknow’s more expensive newspapers, going for three and a half rupees, about 9 cents. Others sell for as low as two rupees. There is so much available and yet what there is usually appeals only to the middle class.

Liberal Economic Growth vs. Deepening Democracy

In India today, the media is big business – relying on corporate advertising and the spending of the middle class – and it is hard to claim that it is a public good that reaches most citizens.

Contrary to what we might think, there is an inherent tension between India’s much-hyped economic growth and its deepening democracy. Economic success has enabled a middle class to emerge but middle class culture remains irrelevant to the many Indians left behind economically. Democracy has enabled historically marginalized sections of society to become politically powerful through sheer numbers and effective grassroots mobilization while the elite have tended to retreat from the political sphere. Economic growth has led to greater inequalities, while democratic growth has given a stronger voice to those who are suffering from those inequalities.

NEWSPAPERS: SND's "World's Best Designed Newspapers"

"Long Live Print!" - here's a video about the winners of the Society for News Design's annual contest (note the Guardian's citation for its Bhutto assassination coverage.

SND29: The 2007 World's Best-Designed Newspapers from Society for News Design on Vimeo.

Post your comments below.

NEWSPAPERS: Charting circulation declines at U.S. dailies

Editor & Publisher, the trade publication that covers the U.S. newspaper business has compiled a depressing (but not surprising) article about the state of the industry. Reporter Jennifer Saba, looking at four years of stats, tells us that the top papers have lost a collective 1.4 million in daily circulation.

While the industry has lost about 10% of circulation overall in the ps four years among the leading papers, some have bled much more than others during the same period, according to an E&P analysis of data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Read her story here. Below is the chart from the piece.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the numbers and, from those who know, any comparative numbers from the  top newspapers in South Asia, especially, the booming media climate in India. Post 'em in the comments section, please.

[I have been trying to track some of these numbers in an online resource, "Changing Media Landscape" for a while now, and am adding this to it.]

PAPER -- Daily (M-F) Sept. '07 - Copies, Gained/Lost Since Sept. 03-- % Change

USA Today -- 2,293,137 -- 46,141 -- 2.1%
The Wall Street Journal -- 2,011,882 -- (-79,180) -- (-3.8%)
The New York Times -- 1,037,828 -- (-80,737) -- (-7.2%)
Los Angeles Times*   -- 794,705 -- (-201,133) -- (-20.2%)
New York Daily News -- 681,415 -- (-47,709) -- (-6.5%)

New York Post -- 667,119 -- 14,693 -- 2.3%
The Washington Post -- 635,087 -- (-97,785) -- (-13.3%)
Chicago Tribune -- 559,404 -- (-54,105) -- (-8.8%)
Houston Chronicle* -- 502,631 -- (-50,387) -- (-9.1%)
Newsday -- 387,503 -- NA

The Arizona Republic*, Phoenix -- 385,214 -- (-47,070) -- (-10.9%)
The Dallas Morning News -- 373,586 -- NA
San Francisco Chronicle -- 365,234 -- (-147,406) -- (-28.8%)
The Boston Globe -- 360,695 -- (-89,843) -- (-19.9%)
The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. -- 353,003 -- (-55,669) -- (-13.6%)

The Philadelphia Inquirer -- 338,049 -- (-38,444) -- (-10.2%)
Star Tribune*, Minneapolis -- 341,645 -- (-38,709) -- (-10.2%)
The Plain Dealer*, Cleveland -- 332,894 -- (-32,394) -- (-8.9%)
Detroit Free Press -- 320,125 -- (-32,589) -- (-9.2%)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 318,350 -- (-64,071) -- (-16.8%)

* Daily average is Monday-Saturday.

RESOURCE: Explaining "off the record" to sources (and to journalists)

The recent resignation of Samantha Power, Barack Obama's foreign policy adviser, has touched a chord among non-journalists I have spoken to. Even setting aside their own preferences for Obama, Clinton or McCain, I realized - again - that the term "off the record" isn't properly understood. Journalists and sources use terms like "off the record," "not for attribution,"  "deep background" without knowing what it means exactly. So I thought I'd point to some places where sources - and journalists - can learn about this.

• Slate's always interesting feature, Explainer, has a good, well, explainer on just this topic. From the piece by Michelle Tsai:

How do you go off the record with a journalist?

Ask to go off the record, discuss what that means, and don't reveal any secrets until the journalist has agreed to the understanding. The same basic guidelines would apply with most reporters, but there are no rigid and universal rules; in the end, it always comes down to individual judgment. The New York Times style guide talks about the attribution of information and granting of anonymity—i.e., how to accurately present the information and sources you have—but doesn't issue specific advice for how to negotiate with a source by going off the record. Neither does the Scotsman have any written rules on the subject.

Both parties—reporters and their sources—should agree to going off (or back on) record in advance.

Read the rest of her piece here (thanks to Lizza for the alert).

• Steve Buttry of the American Press Institute (and a former SAJA convention speaker), has tips on developing and cultivating sources. Among them:

INDIA MEDIA: FT to end relationshionship with Business Standard

News about the Indian business newspaper business in Mint, the biz daily run by Raju Narisetti, formerly of the Wall Street Journal. From Archana Shukla's "Financial Times rewrites plan for India, to end Business Standard deal":

London’s Financial Times (FT) is on its way out of a 15-year relationship with the Indian financial newspaper, the Business Standard (BS), ending a landmark partnership that had, in recent times, become a source of frustration for the British newspaper’s parent, the Pearson group, which had high hopes of the booming Indian newspaper market.

While details of the complex separation deal were not fully clear, BS will retain the right to use the FT brand as well as content through at least 2008.

In the interim, FT is closing an online content deal with Network 18 Media and Investments Ltd, the diversified media conglomerate, which, through its TV18 India Ltd, runs CNBC TV18 as well as Moneycontrol.com financial news portal in India.
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NEW SITE: Interjunction.org - media meets academia

From: Chindu Sreedharan <CSreedharan[at]bournemouth.ac.uk>

Grateful if you could share with SAJA members this new publication we have launched:

Interjunction: Media meets academia
http://interjunction.org/

Interjunction is a platform for media academics and professionals to interact -- and it will present issues of relevance to both groups, from media ethics, to effects, to education.

We have launched with the Prince Harry incident, the many questions it raises. Two stories we carry tonight:

Whose war? Whose prince?
http://interjunction.org/article/whose-war-whose-prince-whose-media/

Harry Soldier and the Order of Pressmen
http://interjunction.org/article/harry-soldier-and-the-order-of-pressmen/

Rohit Chopra and I are the founders. And we edit the site.

Dr Rohit Chopra is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Babson College <http://www3.babson.edu//>, Massachusetts. A SAJA member, he writes in a journalistic capacity for Indian and American publications and runs the blog antihistory <http://www.antihistory.blogspot.com/> .

Chindu Sreedharan is a journalist, formerly associate editor to rediff.com and India Abroad. On a sabbatical now, writing up a PhD on media and the Kashmir conflict. Teaches news and online journalism at the Media School, Bournemouth University.

Chindu Sreedharan
CPCR, Media School
Bournemouth University
England, BH12 5BB
www.thejournalistatwork.blogspot.com
www.waronconflict.blogspot.com
www.indianinengland.blogspot.com
www.footknots.blogspot.com

Post your comments below.

THREE QUESTIONS: Sevanti Ninan, editor of The Hoot

These watchful owl eyes are the symbol of one of the most important media watchdog institutions in the world. The Hoot, at www.TheHoot.org, is a Delhi-based website that watches the media in the entire subcontinent. And what a task that is. With everything from government interference in several of the countries, to a celebrity and infotainment-obsessed culture in others, The Hoot has emerged as a one-stop shop for anyone interested in the media in South Asia.

Here's how the sites editors describe themselves:

We believe that the task of monitoring the media in a democratic polity is as important as the work of the news media themselves. We cannot have the watchdogs become either sleeping dogs or lapdogs.To sustain this site we require the support of organizations and individuals who believe that free and ethical news media form the cornerstone of democracy. In order to do this task we require resources, material and intellectual. We exhort you to help us in either way. Please write for us. Please send us information, alerts and tips. We promise to follow up. Write to editor@thehoot.org.We also look forward to your monetary support. No amount is too small for us and our task. We want to create a corpus that will sustain this media portal.
[More about the site and its parent organization, the Media Foundation, here.]

The site's left rail provides an archive of items about various aspects of the region's media, while the right side offers resources aimed at journalists, journalism students and even readers.

Here are a couple of recent items that show the breadth of what The Hoot covers.

• Restoring Freedom to the Media in Pakistan: A new Hoot study describes the dimensions of the problem, even as victorious leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz commit themselves to lifting restrictions on the press. SEVANTI NINAN outlines who the oppressors were over the last three years.
• Shoddy edits on the Budget: So many editors waste time being seen on TV instead of poring over the documents like the old timers used to. DARIUS NAKHOONWALA carps about the general devaluation of editorial comment.
• When India gets going…: The development of community radio in India is going to have an international effect when it really gets going. STEVE BUCKLEY, president of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, tells PIYA KOCHHAR.
• Why the US Elections are hot news in Kerala: Muslims, who constitute 50 per cent of all non-resident Keralites, take a keen interest in US politics and its implications for Muslim nations.  N P CHEKKUTTY  on Kerala’s appetite for global news.

I rely on The Hoot to keep up with what's going on in the region, so I decided to learn more about how the site works. I asked Sevanti Ninan, its tireless editor, to answer three quick questions. Her answers are below. Post your comments, please.

RELIGION: Caste oppression... in Yemen?

Usually on SAJAforum, I complain that articles in the Western media present a decontextualized, oversimplified picture of India, but today I was surprised to find an article that uses an example from India — correctly in my view — to explain a practice in another part of the world.

In Wednesday's New York Times, there is an article entitled "Languishing at the Bottom of Yemen's Ladder" by Robert F. Worth, which discusses the plight of Al Akhdam, an oppressed social class in Yemen. Although Yemeni society has in general lost its traditional stratification in the years after the country’s 1962 revolution, Al Akhdam — whose name means “the servants” — remain at the bottom of society, with virtually no chance of social mobility. The Akhdam have African features and so look different from most Yemenis.

In the second graf, the article refers to the Akhdam as “a kind of hereditary caste.” The article uses caste to help the reader understand professions based on heredity, which is a bit difficult for Western readers to grasp otherwise. That comparison is nothing new, but then the article explicitly contrasts the plight of Dalits in India with that of Al Akhdam:

FOLLOW UP: Community groups come to Arun Gandhi's defense

A couple weeks after Arun Gandhi was forced to resign from the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence for his comments on The Washington Post's On Faith website - see our earlier coverage, with loads of comments - he's finding support from a number of progressive/leftist academics, activists, filmmakers and others. A statement in his defense has been endorsed by over a hundred individuals and groups based in the U.S., India, Canada, the UK and other countries. It criticizes the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League for labeling "any and all criticism of Israel’s policies as anti-Semitic."

The statement, titled "Why Did Gandhi Have to Resign?" was drafted by Sunaina Maira of the University of California-Davis, who authored "Desis in the House" and co-founded the desi activist event known as Youth Solidarity Summer. She singles out the Hindu American Foundation for "attempting to model themselves on the lines of the Israel lobby, while criticism of Israel's policies or support for justice in Palestine are increasingly less tolerated within the Indian community." (Read HAF's initial take on Arun Gandhi's remarks here)

From "Why Did Gandhi Have to Resign?":

"It was not enough for University of Rochester that he had been pressured to apologize. Gandhi’s resignation makes it clear that he was the latest casualty of the powerful and highly organized pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. that immediately deems any and all criticism of Israel’s policies as anti-Semitic. The irony is that in his post, Gandhi was actually noting the very phenomenon of a community overplaying its historic experience that was enacted in the vitriolic response of powerful and well-funded organizations created to silence and intimidate critics of Israel."

CURRENT AFFAIRS: Sharia law to destroy Britain?

In the cinematic release of Disney’s Aladdin, a Bedouin peddler sings that Arabia is “where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face/It's barbaric, but, hey, it's home." After many complaints, the lines were changed in the video release to something dull but at least not so offensive.

Last Thursday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, said in an interview on the BBC and at a lecture at the Royal Courts of Justice that some kind of official provision for Sharia law (traditional Islamic law) in the UK “seems unavoidable” (read an earlier SAJAforum post on the matter). Predictably, the interview provoked a glut of angry editorials and comments, and the debate was never about what the Archbishop said or meant but was instead a proxy war of words about the “Islamization of Britain.” There is fear in the land, as I argued in a previous SAJAforum post.

I am thinking about Aladdin because for many in the West, Sharia still seems to be nothing more than a justification for a kind of theater of barbarism that portrayals like the Disney film exaggerate and yet present with naive earnestness. (The Guardian addresses this question in an audio feature.) The fact that most Western legal principles are already contained in Sharia, that it is similar to Jewish law, that it is already widely applied by Muslims in finance and personal life, that under some interpretations it treats women and other oppressed groups very well—none of these things will matter in the firestorm of the debate.

Members of the three major political parties in Parliament immediately, reflexively condemned the Archbishop’s words. Newspapers clambered to write the most bombastic things. The Sun has a “Bash the Bishop” campaign, which claims that 15,000 readers have sent messages in favor of removing Dr. Williams. The Times (London) has on its website a photograph of a veiled Muslim woman in a column labeled "Islamic Law" next to a photograph of the Archbishop looking haggard. (It leads me to believe that newspapers file away unflattering photos of public figures to pull out at times like this.) The Daily Mail has a page of quotations from various public figures, including Dr. Williams’ predecessor Lord Carey (who advises a thinktank that I believe to be xenophobic), shivering at the thought of Islamic law in Britain. On the BBC’s website, a headline screamed “The End of One Law for All?” In contrast, The Guardian, whose coverage has avoided the temptation to scaremonger, has done a good job of cataloging the reactions, and their commentator Madeleine Bunting writes that the issue unleashed “a perfect media storm,” for which journalists should be ashamed.

PREZ RACE: Obama gets 'Little India' endorsement; editor gets 5 Questions

[See SAJAforum coverage, sources and resources about the 2008 elections]

An unusual message landed in my the other day. An endorsement of a presidential candidate from a South Asian publication. "Little India Endorses Barack Obama," said the subject line (see our earlier cover of the mag's list of the top Indian-American bundlers). Here's part of the endorsement (which you can see in full here):

Little India has decided to break from its tradition of staying out of the primary selections by endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic Party nomination for president. We take this unusual step as we have come to share his inspiring message and his call for the "fierce urgency of now."

We value the Clintons' long association with the Indian American community and with India, so the decision to endorse her opponent has not been easy. But there is something magical and transcendental in this moment about Sen. Obama both for the country and the Indian American community.

His life story is in so many ways ours. In his political pursuits, he has defied both traditional paths pursued by minority politicians: identity politics built on narrow affiliations, typical of most ethnic leaders, as well as that of right wing politicians (like our own Bobby Jindal in Louisiana) who run from their history and identity. Obama, by contrast, has transcended boundaries. The Obama phenomenon, even if it does not get him the ultimate prize, offers something unique and it is important that we embrace this moment, for, as the Nobel Prize writer Toni Morrison wrote in her endorsement of Obama, "this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril."

We reject the proposition that Sen. Hillary Clinton's experience trumps the promise that Obama has to offer. As Sen. Obama has retorted: "One of my opponents says a vote for me would be a gamble. But the real gamble would be to do the same old things with the same old people over and over again and hope that the next time the results will somehow be different."

I asked Achal Mehra, the editor the magazine (founded in 1991 and bills itself as the largest Asian circulation publication in the U.S.) five questions about the endorsement, the political race and the magazine business.

My questions:

• Why endorse so early in the process, without waiting for the two-person race?
• What issues should the SA community be the most concerned about going forward?
• What is the history of SA pubs endorsing politicians in the U.S.?
• How's Little India doing? I see you say it's the largest ASIAN publication in the U.S., not just Indian or South Asian. When did that happen? I missed that milestone.
• What advice do you have for SAs thinking of starting their own magazines/newspapers?

See his answers, sent from Little India headquarters in the Empire State Building, and post your comments below.

MEDIA WATCH: Using the term "Tsunami Tuesday"

[ SAJAforum sources & resources for covering the 2008 presidential race ]

While posting an item late last night about South Asian support for Clinton and Obama, I wrote an aside about the use of the term "Tsunami Tuesday," for next week's election extravaganza.

Some folks in the press are calling it "Tsunami Tuesday" in reference to the huge wave of major results about to come. Something in the back of my head makes me uneasy about that term, which has gained popularity only this presidential cycle, the first since the Asian/South Asian tsunami of 2004. It seems to be a term that's in bad taste, at the very least, considering almost 300,000 people perished in that tsunami. Am I being too PC?

Having had a chance to, literally, sleep on it, I think I am not being too PC about this (a little PC, yes, but not too PC). I awoke to several e-mail messages, all in support of my questioning this wording. I'll let my friend Paul Knox sum up those messages:

No, you aren't being too PC. The usage is incredibly insensitive. It has been upsetting me for a couple of weeks now, everytime I hear it. Would we call Giuliani's drop in the polls his "Ground Zero Plummet?" I could go on, but I won't.

[A friend at lunch pointed out we'd never say, "Rudy's campaign fell like the twin towers."]

I figure that this is yet another case of people who aren't close to the historical meaning of a particular word being comfortable using it - or at best, not being aware of why it's wrong to use. The case of Kelly Tilghman, the sports anchor who suggested that Tiger Woods's opponents might want to "lynch him in a back alley" is one such example. Another is how some Americans might use "Paki" as shorthand for "Pakistani" without knowing it's a racist term (see the SAJA Stylebook on the term, with examples from President Bush, the NY Post, et al).

Because the 2004 tsunami and its aftermath happened so far away in time and distance, and so few U.S. political reporters were touched by it, I am not surprised that the term "Tsunami Tuesday" has gained credence (showing up in headline after headline and repeatedly on newscasts and talk shows). But we know that for journalists, every word counts. Why should it be different for this one?

I know the folks who use the phrase mean no ill will, and I don't want to look back about the usage in recent days and months. But I think it's time we stopped using it. The term is unlikely to come up again for four more years, but will certainly be used a lot in the next four days, unless awareness is raised.

What do you think? Post your comments below, please. I'd love to hear from dissenters, too, of course.

In the comments below, Mayank Chhaya says, in part, that "this is a non-issue" and that "we tend to emotionalize words too much." Add your own thoughts, please.

ADVERTISING: In India, white models on the ascent

In The Washington Post, Rama Lakshmi examines the omnipresence of Caucasians in India's modeling world, beckoning from billboards to TV ads to storefronts. From "In India's Huge Marketplace, Advertisers Find Fair Skin Sells":

These days, the faces of white women and men, mostly from Eastern Europe, stare out from billboards, from the facades of glitzy, glass-fronted malls and from fashion magazines. At an international automobile show this month in New Delhi, most of the models were white.

The presence of Caucasian models in Indian advertisements has grown in the past three years, industry analysts say. The trend reflects deep cultural preferences for fair skin in this predominantly brown-skinned nation of more than 1 billion people.

This may seem the logical conclusion to Indians, who are all too familiar with skin-color description tags on bachelorettes ('wheatish', 'dusky'), fair-skinned Bollywood stars (men and women) and skin-lightening products like Fair and Lovely.

European models have been drawn to Mumbai, India’s cultural capital (even as more Indian models go abroad), and advertisers prefer them because they're often less inhibited than their Indian counterparts (and not as expensive as Western European models). There's also the belief that ‘fair’ and ‘beautiful’  go together and the perception that brands with international faces are of better quality and therefore reliable. One model interviewed, Tanya Bohinc, is Slovenian and newly arrived.