Released on: March 30, 2008, 11:31 am

Press Release Author: Dr BR Natarajan

Industry: Human Resources

Press Release Summary: With potential to make the right wrong and wrong the right,
media is the most powerful entity on earth as they control the minds of the masses.
But media should not forget that there is an age old saying that Sun, Moon and Truth
are the three things that cannot be hidden for too long.

Press Release Body: One among the top ranking universities in India today, BITS
Pilani (Birla Institute of Technology and Science) is located in Vidya Vihar Nagar
Palika which is one of the 13 Nagar Palikas in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan.
Sizeable population in Vidya Vihar Nagar Palika is made of students who come from
the length and breadth of the country to study in BITS and other educational
institutions including various schools at Pilani.

As per 2001 census, total population of Vidya Vihar Pilani is 14366 out of which
11727 are literates working out to a literacy rate of 81.63 percent as compared to
national average of 65.38. The total number of children in the 0-6 age group is 1310
out of which 700 are males and 610 are females working out to a Child Sex ratio
(CSR) 871:1000 as compared to the national average of 927. CSR is number of female
children in the age group of 0-6 years per 1,000 male children.

Dated 16 March 2008, in one of India's National Newspaper with circulation in
millions, a news item The Hindu : Magazine / Columns : Grim Realities it is stated
that Pilani the town which is home to the Birla Institute of Technology and Science
(BITS) has a literacy rate of 97 percent and a child sex ratio of 327:1000! and
draws a conclusion that the more educated and well off you are, the more you are
likely to subscribe to foeticide. The exclamation mark seems to be intentionally put
in the referred news to depict the gravity of the situation to ensure that crude
sensationalism took precedence over responsible journalism.

Emails to the Central Government Ministry of Women and Child Development at Delhi as
well as Rajasthan State Government officials at Jaipur regarding the CSR value of
317 as reported in the media for Pilani brought no response.

If it was written by some fly by night journalist in a stay in shelf newspaper no
one would have cared. The article has been written in a column titled Media Matters
in a newspaper of esteem by none other than a lady journalist and author of repute
as well as respect Sevanti Ninan who also happens to be the Honorary Secretary for
the media watch website, The Hoot which is an Internet forum to discuss media
practice and media ethics. In the referred news, she had quoted one Mr Rajan
Choudhary who heads the NGO Shikshit Rojgar Kendra Parbandhak (SRKPS) at Jhunjhunu
which is forty kms from Pilani.

A telecon with Mr Rajan Choudhary revealed that since he had never visited Vidya
Vihar, he was not aware that several wards in Vidya Vihar Nagar Palika included
hostels for the students.

Today in journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and
getting it right. In this age where old news is cold news, priority is to get it
first from anywhere to everywhere and from anyone to everyone rather than get it
right. No wonder Peter Mcwilliams said that the news media are, for the most part,
the bringers of bad news and it\'s not entirely the media\'s fault as bad news gets
higher ratings and sells more papers than good news. The current state of news media
must take the blame for public's general lack of information which is vital for
responsible citizenship in a democracy.

The media fancies in the news if it makes a good story, without much regard for the
factual accuracy and ensures that truth is lost in semantics and theatrics. Today's
jaundiced journalism finds fertile ground in would-be journalists whose motives have
little to do with social conscience, disclosure of injustice, uncovering wrongdoing
or giving voice to the voiceless.

Despite repeated attempts, Sevanti Ninan has not found the time to clarify which
only reinforces the quote of Graham Greene that Media is a word which has come to
mean bad journalism.

After all today journalism largely consists of saying that Dean Nattu is dead to
people who never knew that Dean Nattu was alive.

About BITS Pilani: Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Rajasthan
which has set the industry university collaboration bench mark in India today is one
among the top ranking universities offering degrees in various disciplines presently
at Pilani, Dubai, Goa campuses and in the short future at Hyderabad campus apart
from an array of work integrated learning programmes for HRD of a vast spectrum of
Indian corporates. The alumni of the Institute are spread across the globe from
Australia to America.

Web Site: http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in

Contact Details: Dr BR Natarajan Professor & Dean
Vice President BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA)
Pilani (Rajasthan) 333031 India
www.bits-pilani.ac.in
Email:brnt@bits-pilani.ac.in
Phone 91-1596-242210
Fax 91-1596-244183