Exaggerated reports

Sir, - The Minorities Commission's findings reported in The Hindu on April 29 and 30 have established that the media had been exaggerating the isolated incidents in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere out of all proportion. As usual, the media rushed to conclusions and, perhaps, made the news colourful by giving it a communal colour.

There appears to be a `compulsive impulse' to criticise Hindu organisations. Maybe, there are three dimensions to this tendency: Blame Culture is entrenched, nurtured by media; biased, slanted and/or coloured way of writing is an addiction with some columnists; and, in an opposite direction, it is one way of helping the very organisations to grow by seemingly criticising them, as it happened in the case of corruption - millions of words were printed and tonnes of newsprint wasted with the adverse result of corruption growing manifold. `Secularism' in India, including parliamentary debate, is more rhetorical than rational.

R. P. Chockalingam,

Kochi (Kerala)

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