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Fwd: indialist: Indo-Swedish media vigilante reports
21st June 1999 Harpreet Singh Giani @agni.org
Dear everybody! Some of you might think that this is written by someone who has nothing better to do with his time, but I want to share this experience with you: This morning I surfed out on the web to read the news in the largest evening paper in Sweden; Aftonbladet. (www.aftonbladet.se) When browsing through the foreign news section, I was very annoyed to see the following header: "India refuses to obey G8 demands". Through the years, swedish journalists have consistently referred to India in a patronizing tone (words like "punish India, India must obey, EU has awarded/conceded xxx to India"), while for example reports on China are filled with "EU/USA respects Chinese expectations, Chinese interests, Chinese power, Chinese ambition etc etc". I wrote a polite but straightforward e-mail to the editor of Aftonbladet. She replied that she agreed with my argument and changed the text to: "India does not agree with G8 demands" The whole exercise took me 5 minutes. If we all react to this kind of thoughtless media treatment we can slowly influence the way Swedish media reports on Indians and India. /Cheers from the God of Small Things
