-Down to Earth Infant deaths in West Bengal’s only super specialty hospital underscrore an urgent need to improve healthcare facilities in rural areas SUPER SPECIALTY B C Roy Children’s Hospital in Kolkata looks like a refugee camp. A sit-out for families inside the complex is roofed with plastic in bright shades of blue, red and green. The sheets protect families from the regular monsoon downpour. The not-so-lucky ones huddle under buildings when...

-Kafila.org In a speech delivered at the Reuters memorial lecture in November 2012 at Oxford University discussing the Indian news industry, Prannoy Roy candidly said that ”Indian news is currently in a race to the bottom”. He further added that upon comparing the average TV viewership in India (1 hour) to that in the US (5 hours), one is led to the utterly dismal conclusion that this race is far from...

-Outlook Broadcast Editors' Association (BEA) today decided to set up a three-member fact-finding committee to look into allegations of industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal against the Editor and other functionaries of Zee News channel. The committee, it said, will delve into the aspects of allegations pertaining to ethical lapses, if any and submit its report in two weeks. BAE, which called an emergency meeting of the executive committee, said that since it...

-Open the Magazine It was good, it was brief There is a type of talented Indian who lives in the United States with his austere wife to whom he lost his virginity, and has two children who are good at spelling. He walks with a mild slouch. He is still intimidated by White waiters, but not Black waiters. In an elevator, chiefly in an elevator, he suspects he is probably small. He...

News coverage of the Aarushi case, Sachin in Rajya Sabha, and the revelation of the Bofors whistleblower added little to the discussion Have you noticed that the hilarious news spoof, The Week That Wasn’t (CNN-IBN) bears an uncanny resemblance to every day’s TV news/ discussions? We’ll call it, the news that wasn’t. News. And it goes something like this: Monday, Nupur Talwar, denied bail, was jailed in Aarushi and Hemraj murder cases. All...