IBN Live - The repository of pigs. Review on Ibnlive

This is more of an experience sharing rather than a Review - per se. Usually I tune into a few news channel like NDTV 24x7, Headlines Today, IBN & Aaj Tak AND I omit certain others

like Sahara Samay, Star News, etc. The main idea behind tuning into a select few was their ’Quality’. Pranoy Roy is a person who I’ve always kept in a respected position in my mind.

All that was shattered when I read a ’So called Personal Opinion’.

Not liking a movie, terming it as rubbish (or even excreme

Ibnlive.com

nt - a synonym of the word Crap), badmouthing an actor or director or the cast or the story line - All that is fine by me. Does any one in MS think its even remotely fair to term a group of movie-goers as pigs? If this is how a set of people are being referred to in a person’s personal webpage or blog site, I would still live with it - but if this is how one of the ’so-called’ National News Channel’s Website describes a group of people (and later puts in a word that its the author’s personal opinion) is it legal? Is this ethical, professional and/or even decent to do so?

I have read reviews of bad movies, I have read bad reviews of movies, but I can not seem to understand the logic behind naming a set of movie-goers as a herd of pigs? If there are any journalists in MS or anyone even remotely connected to IBN Live, please help me understand the ethics of your industry? Is it justifiable to call someone a pig - and then try to cover that up by stating that its a personal opinion?

I could digest the following facts,

MF Hussain’s nude painting of Indian Goddesses (Artistic freedom)

Danish cartoon’s of Mohammed (Artistic freedom)

Mira Nairs ’FIRE’ showing Brahmin women in a lesbian relationship (Creative freedom)

Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses (Freedom of thought)

US’s attack on Iraq under the pretext of WMD (Protecting one’s country against terrorist attacks)

I could accept all of these because - at the end of it, the coolie on the street, the poor & needy, the auto walas, weren’t badmouthed. All these sure hurt sentiments (the last one also hurt physically) but they did not go around terming any one as pigs - at least not as blatantly as the personal opinion expressed by the author of the news channel.

Is this what News Industry calls "Freedom of Speech"? Is this the reason why India is termed a Democracy - so that one person who’s got a position at a respected news channel is able to air her personal view that a bunch of movie-goers as pigs? To me, Anuradha "THE PIG" Sen Gupta has abused her position; thrown her responsibility to the wind and has involved in gutter-level tactics to garner popularity. In a way, she has effectively done between Tamilians & Rest of Indians, what the British did between Muslims & Hindus.

Jammu & Kashmir is filled with terrorists from Pak, East India is facing ULFA, SIMI, Andhra is facing naxalites, Western India is plagued by Hindu-based fanatics, Central India is facing the likes of Mulayam Singh & Mayawati & Lalu Yadav, Karnataka is facing farmer suicides and Tamil Nadu is living with the effects of LTTE in Sri Lanka still lingering in people’s minds - why is the author trying to further divide India and create unrest amongst the people in the North and Tamilians?

I respect her rights under Article 19 of the constitution of India; however is this legal to term a group of people as Pigs? I raise this question to all those people out there - irrespective of their region, religion, etc - as a human being - do you think its justifiable for a News Channel’s website to host a blog that terms a group of people as Pigs?