President of Patriots Forum, D.C. Nath was superannuated in January, 1995, as the Special Director, Intelligence Bureau, D.C. Nath (IPS-1960) was associated with the International Institute of Security and Safety Management (IISSM), headquartered in New Delhi, for over 14 years, first as the Executive President & CEO and then as the President & Director General, between February, 1997 and March, 2011. The author of a highly acclaimed book, Intelligence Imperatives for India, Mr. Nath earned high plaudits from all around for two of his very significant presentations on: “Revisiting the Future of India” (2005, London) and “Lessons from India for the War On Terrorism” (2007, USA). He is the only one in the field, combining the experiences of a police officer with specialization in intelligence and strategic analysis and an industrial security expert par excellence. More Bio on D. C. Nath…
OPINION>>>>
April 12, 2017
Dear Friends,
JAI Hind!
Subject: THE UNTHINKABILITY BIAS
Freedom of right in the Indian Constitution guarantees among other rights freedom of speech and as such it is most this abused fundamental right. There is no tax on free or thoughtless speaking.
This leads us to the social media that proved itself distrust in the recently concluded Stat election Uttar Pradesh (India). Media went, as it is very well known by now totally wrong.
The write up as in the title is on the edit page of the Statesman of April 3, 2017. The write up quite rightly has said “Indian political Journalism seems to be living in the post-truth world.” The social media gained popularity in India about the time major media exposure had taken place in 2010-2011.
In the past, the media was famously regarded as the ‘market place of Ideas’, where people engaged themselves with those, whose thoughts the people did not agree with. That is what it should be. The social media can indeed be deeply polarising and insular.
The write up continues, “the old- fashioned newspaper may have lost some currency in the wake of the popularity of the social media. But this is only because it has allowed itself to. There is simply no substitute for the credible, truthful and accountable media and we need it like never before to sift the truths from untruth and half-truths and the grain from the chaff.”
Well, Friends, although under the Indian Constitution, the media does not than enjoy any higher right of freedom of speech enjoyed by ordinary citizens, the courts have staunchly defended the rights of the media on the ground that the media was the trustee of the members of the public. Citizens may voice their views but it is responsibility of the media to collect facts and facts only.
The write up has, therefore, rightly concluded, “Amidst the clamour and cacophony of the social media and all the blur between news and fake news, we need the solid, credible media to reassert itself with independent and objective news gathering, shorn of its unthinkability bias. This is now a universal truth that needs to be acknowledged after Brexit, Trump and most recently, UP.”
With this, would you still believe what has been stated in the titled, “Unthinkability Bias”? We feel even if not biased, the social media had gone wrong in the past as in the case of the State election in UP. It has failed and it may fail again. That is why the initial comment on the write up is, “While social media must be credited with democratising free speech like never before, it is by no means a substitute to the mainstream or conventional media. Social media has shown its grave limitations-here news gets blurred with opinion, sources cannot be verified and there is no fine line between citizen and journalist. No one can be held to account. The other difficulty with social media is the absence of plurality of opinion and diversity of information, so essential in a democracy. Well, friends in what we have stated in this mail, social media is both educated and civilised. This is unlike the contents of the circulatory mail we have issued yesterday that you could be both educated and civilised.
Vandemataram,
Your sevak,
D.C. Nath
(President, Patriots’ Forum)
(Former Spl. Director, IB)
9811995693
Copy for information and action as thought apposite to:
· The Minister for HRD Ministry
(Shri Prakash Javadekar)
· The Secretary for HRD Ministry
(Dr. Subash Chandra Khuntia)
· Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment,
Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot
· Secretary to Social Justice & Empowerment
Ms. Anita Agnihotri
Copy for information to:
· Cabinet Secretary
(Shri Pradeep Kumar Sinha)
· The Prime Minister’s Office
(Shri P.K. Mishra)
· The Prime Minister’s Office II
· The Union Home Minister,
(Shri Rajnath Singh)
· The Union Home Secretary
(Shri Rajiv Mehrishi)
· The National Security Advisor,
(Shri A K Doval)
Vandemataram,
Yours sincerely,
D.C. Nath
(President, Patriots’ Forum)
(Former Spl. Director, IB)
9811995694
(011-26175790)
Source: Patriots Forum