South Asia Forum

Now that Anna Hazare has called off his fast and Indian Parliament has agreed in principle to accept his & his team's three main demands in principle by thumping of votes, was wondering about the role of media in this movement. Indian media was covering this event with greater fervor and passion than a Cricket World Cup match between India and Pakistan or the serials like Ramayan & Mahabharat but western TV media was conspicious by absence. None of the mainstream channels like ABC, CNN, Fox, NBC, CNBC covered this mass-movement which was peaceful but they all had time to cover the violent wars of Libya, Syria. Does it mean that current TV media is also like Hollywood flicks that blood &  sex sells but peaceful movements however impactful don't matter. Is it just TRP or eyeball or also to do with the bias that from a "sub-merging economies" perspective, South Asia or Latin America or Africa are primarily a source for stories of crime, poverty, pity or at best "exotica" but not for positive stories. What was most disheartening was the complement blind eye of even programs like 60 minutes or Global Public Square or even Ali Velshi. Were they not clued in or they just to ignore it. I am really at a loss and just wanted to seek opinions from this group of influencers and opinion makers that SAJA members are. It was a movement with Ground Zero in New Delhi and India but had support from Overseas Indians as well ranging from New York to SFO to Dallas to Chicago and even Singapore, Australia and Japan. My worry is that by not paying attention to a truly historic turn of events in South Asia which can change the direction of history, mainstream media in US ( mainly TV) has lost relevance and credibility. Major publications like TIME, CNN.com, WSJ, New York Times still cover the story at closing stage. Is that a reason why people are switching to "online" and "social media" as their primary and authentic source of "news and opinion".