[Assam] Reporters in Assam are now threatened with punishment

Chan Mahanta cmahanta at charter.net
Wed Jun 6 13:36:39 EDT 2007 

Hi Ram:

I called a bunch of ULFA sympathizers for quick late-night meeting to 
address your taunts :-). We are connected via satellite phones you 
know? They authorized the following response:

	*** While it is not a good idea, in fact it is 
counterproductive,  to threaten 'journalists' for
	reporting the news, and as ULFA itself declared that they do 
not, by policy, do not target
	JOURNALISTS, the news has to be judged on the merits of NEWS 
REPORTING   and the
	QUALITY of JOURNALISM  involved.

	In this particular instance, it is quite evident , that the 
ULFA's alleged threats were
                    USED by the purported targets for self-promotion.

	*** Are these 'journalists' reporting news? Or are they 
playing politics in the guise of
	journalists?

	*** If someone is in the payroll of the govt. ( or the ULFA) 
to serve as its propaganda
	 mercenary, is he or she qualified to be considered a 
journalist ? Is that a possibility?
	Those who are unsure, should look into the recent cases of 
the Bush Admin's. PAYMENTS
	to 'journalists' to plant stories favorable to the admin. and 
to promote its agenda in the
	 guise of independent analyses. When it became known, these 
'columnists' suddenly
	disappeared from the pages of reputable 'journals'.

	Take a guess why!

	Does GoI and RAW indulge in such activities? I don't know. 
But I am sure our enormously
	gifted Assam Netters may have a guess or two.

	*** I have not had the privilege of reading any journalism 
pieces authored by these folks
	named, except the occasional posts of one, announcing what 
the Guwahati Press Club
	is doing, or soliciting donations for a sick journalist or an 
occasional piece of propaganda like
	the one Ram posted the other day,  asking for netters' comments.

	Do such qualify as 'journalism'? Maybe they do. I don't know. 
I am not educated about the
	ethos of the profession of journalism. But I do know, like 
all thinking Netters ought to, that
	NOT all who don the garb or flaunt the halo of a 'journalist' 
are EQUAL and not ALL
	command or deserve the courtesies or deferential treatment 
contemporary civil societies
	extend to JOURNALISTS.

c-da


















At 6:06 AM -0600 6/6/07, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>Did you all notice - the ULFA sympathizers are staying far, far away 
>from this story?
>It seems like they just want this to go away as they have no way to 
>defend or spin it.
>
>--Ram
>
>
>
>
>On 6/5/07, umesh sharma 
><<mailto:jaipurschool at yahoo.com>jaipurschool at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>It seems ULFA is playing the punisher
>
>***
>05.06 - India : four journalists threatened by the separatist rebel 
>group United Liberation Front of Asom
>The separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) at the weekend 
>threatened to "punish" four journalists who were involved in the 
>organisation of a demonstration in Guwahati in the north-east on 31 
>May 2007. The four: D.N. Chakrabarty, Nava Thakuria, Ronen Goswami 
>and Rupam Baruah, have openly condemned an escalating campaign of 
>violence, particularly bomb attacks on markets, which have been 
>attributed to the rebel group. The ULFA has been fighting since 1979 
>to win independence from India for the north-eastern region.
>
>Umesh
>
>Dilip/Dil Deka <<mailto:dilipdeka at yahoo.com>dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>Go to the bottom of the attachment. Reporters in Assam are now 
>threatened with punishment -
>by whom? Could it be GOI? Or is it GOA?
>
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>anarchist groups that attacked another newspaper, Apoyevmatini, on 
>14 May.
>
>05.06 - India : four journalists threatened by the separatist rebel 
>group United Liberation Front of Asom
>The separatist United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) at the weekend 
>threatened to "punish" four journalists who were involved in the 
>organisation of a demonstration in Guwahati in the north-east on 31 
>May 2007. The four: D.N. Chakrabarty, Nava Thakuria, Ronen Goswami 
>and Rupam Baruah, have openly condemned an escalating campaign of 
>violence, particularly bomb attacks on markets, which have been 
>attributed to the rebel group. The ULFA has been fighting since 1979 
>to win independence from India for the north-eastern region.
>_______________________________________________
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>
>Umesh Sharma
>
>Washington D.C.
>
>1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
>
>Ed.M. - International Education Policy
>Harvard Graduate School of Education,
>Harvard University,
>Class of 2005
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