Ban on Blogspot seems to be over

I think the Government ban on Blogspot blogs is over. I’am able to access all the Blogs on Blogspot.com except those on the Ban list which i did dutifully by using proxy servers and other underhand methods ;). I also left a comment here and here. Take that you Commies. Go back to your own Mother country China. India is a Free, Democratic country and will remain so.

No censorship here. Never, under no circumstances Whatsoever.

Hope u nuts understand English or shall i repeat it in Chinese and Russian.

Neglected/Sidelined News

Public memory is said to be short. But the attention span of the Media is even more so. This is not to imply that the Media is not doing its job or is being lackadaisical. There is only so much prime time on network news and only so many pages in the newspapers and magazines. They cannot give blanket coverage to everything. They need to sell their news to make their daily bread and in a very competitive environment need to be on their toes for the “next breaking story”. Invariably the not so important news gets shuttled into the backpages.

Bloggers on the other hand do not necessarily need to subscribe to the Breaking News syndrome.They can take a broader perspective and can shine the spotlight on news that have been relegated to the sidelines or have been neglected due to the immediate events of the moment.

The most immediate events that occurred during the last week was of course the Mumbai Bombings and its aftermath, The Israeli-Gaza/Lebanon crisis, the G8 summit and the Ban on the Blogs. These events received Blanket coverage and what got neglected in the melee was the Tsunami which struck Indonesia on Monday, July 18th 2006 and killed nearly 500 people.Sakshi had covered this tragedy at her blog immediately after it happened when everyone else’s attention was distracted by the other immediate events. Another related event that went unnoticed was that the The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System went online 18 months after the December 26th, 2004 tragedy.

What also got missed out was the safe return of the shuttle Discovery to Earth after a 13 day Mission. This was the second shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster in Feb 1 2003 which killed seven astronauts including the Indian-American Kalpana Chawla. The last Discovery mission in July-August 2005 had also generated a lot of Media frenzy especially when its launch was repeatedly postponed and its return to earth also delayed due to the same problem of foam tiles falling off the external tank and damaging the wing just like it had happened with Columbia.

On the Right Track for Once

The Indian Government is taking steps to evacuate Indian citizens stranded in Lebanon. According to the Indian Express. “With the situation in Lebanon becoming increasingly dangerous, about 100 Indians have been evacuated out of the country and over 1,000 others gathered on Wednesday at Beirut jetty to be moved out by four Indian warships which sailed into the harbour”.

The Indian Embassies have a horrendous reputation of being callous and careless about the plight of Indians who have gone abroad for various reasons ranging from travel, business, work etc… and are caught up with problems ranging from lost passport and luggage to abuse by employers. Plus they are famous for their tardy response during times of crisis.

This is a step in the right direction and hopefully is the first step in the much needed all round improvement.

Related posts here at Mutiny and the Acorn