Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray during a press conference on various issues gripping the state, in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray during a press conference on various issues gripping the state, in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray addresses media, demanding resignation of State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, at Dadar in Mumbai.
MNS Chief Raj Thackeray comes out from court premises, after CBD Belapur Court granted him bail in the Toll Plaza vandalising case.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party chief Raj Thackeray arrives for a meeting at party office in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, accompanied by party leaders, submits a memorandum to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari seeking his intervention on the...
MNS Chief Raj Thackeray outside the Raj Bhavan after meeting Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari over various issues, in Mumbai.
Mumbai Dabbawala Association members meet MNS chief Raj Thackeray over various issues, at Dadar in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray (C) during the 14th Foundation Day celebration of MNS Party at Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium, at Vashi in Navi Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, addresses party workers in a rally demanding that illegal Immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh be evicted from India in Mu...
Maharasharashtra Navnirman Sena, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, center, joins party workers in a rally demanding that illegal Immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh be evicted from Indi...
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray along with workers participates in a march from Marine Drive to Azad Maidan, demanding eviction of illegal (Muslim) immigrants ...
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray during party convention at Nesco ground in Goregaon, Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray during party convention at Nesco ground in Goregaon, Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray during a function to launch party's new Flag and symbol at NESCO Center in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray during a function to launch party's new Flag and symbol at NESCO Center in Mumbai.
Leaders of various political parties stand for the national anthem during a swearing-in-ceremony of Shiv Sena party leader Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of Maharashtra state d...
MNS chief Raj Thackeray interacts with media after casting his vote during Maharashtra Assembly elections, in Mumbai.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray and his wife after casting their votes during Maharashtra Assembly elections, in Mumbai
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray addresses a public meeting during a rally for the upcoming Assembly elections, at Borivali in Mumbai
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L'affaire Mutalik brings us to the issue of how much coverage for incidents like this. Also, is the media willingly or unwittingly turning into a PR wing of such ragtag vigilante groups? Is media's over-enthusiasm proving totally counter-productive? The media, in all sincerity, should come up with a policy prescription for itself to ensure that its coverage does not achieve the exact opposite of what it intends to establish. After all, this year's Valentine's Day was the least colourful in recent times and strangely, the media ensured that it was so. Ironically, the media outdid Mutalik in this endeavour.
There is another deeper media issue involved in the Mangalore pub attack-coverage. Why was the media, the more sedate and supposedly more balanced print media included, utterly disinclined to inform the readers about Ram Sena's antecedents and its running battle with the Sangh Pariwar? Also, the media chose to ignore the fact that there were some local Congressmen among the Ramsena funders. Questions like whether Mutalik was deliberately being modelled into a Hindu Bhindranwale to embarras an unfriendly dispensation at Bengaluru, just as a similar exercise is on to establish Raj Thackeray as the real representative of Maharashtra pride, have never been probed by the media. Ram Sena's run-ins with RSS are only too well-known even to the general public in Mangalore. Why did the media fail to see the obvious? Is there a deeper and hidden agenda?
