Assailed from all sides, does the UPA really hope to recover its ‘image’ by muzzling online dissent? Kapil Sibal ko gussa kyon aata hai? Butt of online jokes: Politicians in 'tweaked' cinematic avatars. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. The UPA government has made it something of a fine art. Hardly had the ruckus over the decision to open up the retail sector to FDI died down than...

‘There is no such thing as self-regulation, every institution is accountable to the people.' We publish here an edited excerpt from a clarification issued by Press Council chairman Markandey Katju. The full text of his clarification can be read at www.thehindu.com. ‘No doubt, the media should provide some entertainment also to the people. But if 90 per cent of their coverage is devoted to entertainment, and only 10 per cent...

-The Hindu   Justice Markandey Katju, Chairman, Press Council of India, has issued the following clarification on his critical observations of the Indian media.   I have expressed my views relating to the media in several T.V. interviews I gave as well as in my articles in some newspapers. However, many people, including many media people, wanted clarification and amplification of some of the issues I had raised. Many media people (including several T.V. channels)...

PALNAR/SAMELI (DANTEWADA): They sat watching cartoons on TV a day after their mother was arrested in faraway Delhi on charges of acting as a conduit/courier for Maoists.  While adivasi school teacher Soni Sori faces police interrogation in Chhattisgarh for her role in an alleged pay off by Essar group to Maoists, her children, Muskaan (12), Deependera (10) and Amrita (6) are at their uncle Ramdev's house in Palnar village for a...

Drawing a cartoon of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Madhya Pradesh, another Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled State, proved too costly for the cartoonist of leading Indore-based eveninger Prabhat Kiran. He landed behind bars for his “crime.” Harish Yadav (39) was arrested under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) for a cartoon...