India's mainstream media is an integral part of India's statecraft. India's ability of doing propaganda is second to may be only Israel and US. When it comes to important national issues and foreign policy the media acts as spokesmen India's security and intelligence apparatus and this has been the case since british times. Hindus have mastered the art of propaganda from their british masters.
Sigh ! How little you know & how little you want to know.
Hindus .. ? The head of IB is a Muslim, his inputs are critical. You guys do so much damage to yourselves by giving religious twists to everything.
Media is too important a tool to be left in hands of religion. Not because its bad but because when left exclusively in the domain of religion it loses its credibility. For instance the Pakistan Christian Post or Christian Science monitor would lack credibility just because a religion is pre fixed to it. This applies to Muslim news papers too.
If India has incorporated the media as a tool I think its great. All nations employ firms for lobbying in the US. Some details are below :
- In December 2007, Pakistan through its embassy in Washington, DC hired an American lobby firm, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, to improve Pakistan's image in the U.S. The contract runs initially for three months. Ogilvy's work is to do media training for members of the embassy, guidance, reporter outreach, and write press material. Ogilvy is to be paid US$45,000 per month.
- Pakistan has renewed its contract with Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc. lobby firm, initially signed in the summer of 2007. The fee runs $55,000 per month.
- In 2007, Pakistan had been getting criticism from the U.S. Congress and from the presidential candidates and in response has increased its lobbying and public relations activity in the U.S. The Hill reported:
Cassidy & Associates has inked a year-long $1.2 million contract with Pakistan’s embassy in Washington, according to records filed with the Justice Department. Cassidy’s work will involve an intense lobbying and public-relations campaign promoting Pakistan’s status as an “important strategic partner of the U.S.”
“We thought we had some challenging issues and we thought we should add another lobbying firm,” said Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, first secretary of political affairs at Pakistan’s Washington embassy.
Also consider the range of Indian companies that have spent millions of dollars in recent years to advance their interests, legitimately. Since 2003, NASSCOM, a trade group that represents Indian technology companies, has spent at least $2.95 million on U.S. lobbying. That includes lobbying this year on “international technology and immigration issues,” according to an Oct. 22 lobbying disclosure filing.
Since 2009, Reliance Industries Ltd. has spent $1.88 million on U.S. lobbying, while construction and engineering major Larsen & Toubro Ltd. spent $1.2 million between 2005 and 2008. Other Indian companies that have hired registered U.S. lobbyists include outsourcing specialists Patni Computer Systems and Tata Consultancy Services, drug-makers Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and even the country’s Carpet Export Promotion Council (which was lobbying on ‘international trade in hand-made carpets.’)
The Government of India itself has hired lobbyists in Washington for several years to advance its case on a variety of matters in Washington, especially the civil nuclear energy pact with the U.S.
The media is an extension of the same, so whats the fuss ?
