How dumb-witted can articles get?

After having spent a wonderful holiday, I was browsing through rediff and came across this news article titled, "Why IAF does NOT need either Eurofighter or Rafale?", written by Ajai Shukla. Apparently, he hasn't listed his credentials while writing this article. Here is what he says and also why that is wrong to a great extent.

He says, Eurofighter and Rafale are in trouble, because they don't have too many orders from their partner customers. The British RAF and German Luftwaffe have scaled down their orders for the Eurofighter. His inference: There's got to be some problem with the Eurofighter. But then, he conveniently forgets that Britain has just introduced massive cuts in its defence budgets and so has Germany done that. The reasons for this are best known to them, but then with budget cuts, one of the things they chopped off, amongst many others, were orders of new fighter aircraft. Same goes for the Rafale, he says, which hasn't a single customer other than the French air force, which too has reduced the number of aircraft ordered. So, to conclude, one reason India shouldn't buy the Eurofigther or Rafale is that they do not have enough customers!!

Next, he says, with China having test-flown the J-20, its first fifth generation aircraft, India would be left with outdated aircraft. And so, he claims that India is wasting money on the Gen-4+ aircraft. Operational clearance for the J-20 is almost 10 years away. Once it receives that, it would be another 5-6 years before squadrons of the J-20 are ready. In the meanwhile, India to is collaborating with Russia. The Sukhoi PAK FA, which is the basis for the Gen-5 fighter has already done three test flights. So, if this project proceeds smoothly, India too can have its won Gen-5 aircraft. In the meanwhile, we need to replace the aging MIG 21s.

Third, he says, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are investing in the F-35, which is a Gen-5 air craft manufactured by Lockheed Martin. He says that Lockheed Martin and the US government have signalled that clearances for selling the F-35 would be granted expeditiously. But then, how wise is it to depend on the US for our air craft? Particularly, when it is known that the US does not allow complete transfer of technology and also ends up keeping crucial technology information with itself. This would mean that we would be tied to the whims and fancies of the US, once the contracts have been signed. And if the US Congress or Senate passes a bill restricting the transfer of crucial technology to F-35 in the Indian Air Force, where are we supposed to go?

To draw conclusions, this gentleman says that India shouldn't be purchasing the Eurofighter or Rafale for the following reasons:

1. The Eurofighter and Rafale haven't attracted enough customers. Doesn't matter if the Eurofighter has 5 customers currently on its role. Rafale, unfortunately has only the French Air Force as its customer.
2. Since China has tested a FGFA, we shouldn't order Gen-4+ aircraft. Never mind that we have a FGFA programme going on with Russia, which should show some results by 2017. 
3. Since the US government has indicated that the F-35 sale to India would be expeditiously cleared, we should go for it. And since Japan, South Korea and Singapore are also investing in the F-35 we should buy it from the US. Never mind, the US habbit of keeping a tight leash on crucial technology and never committing to full technology transfer.

Could articles relating to crucial matters such as the country's defence have so shallow reasoning? And could they get dumber than this?

Bombay Blood Group: A rare and interesting one

Trust me, when I say that tabloid newspapers can throw up interesting pieces of news. Today, I came across this interesting piece of information in Mumbai Mirror.

The Bombay Blood Group is a rare blood group, called so because it was first discovered in Mumbai (then Bombay), by Dr. Y. M. Bhende and his co-workers around the year 1952. This study of theirs has been published in the medical journal Lancet. It is estimated that only 1 in 2,50,000 people are of this blood type. If regular blood testing methods are used, this group type gets classified as belonging to the O-type. That is because they are neutral to reactions related to both, anti-A and anti-B antibodies. This, typically ends up classifying the blood as O-type. However, this category of blood, does not contain or produce the antigen-H, which is found in O-type blood. The blood type gets detected only by cross-matching with other O-type bloods, where blood from the Bombay blood group will show incompatibility to the O-type blood group.

People with such blood can donate blood to anybody (all ABO type), but can receive blood only from their own type. Therefore, if you know anybody who belongs to the Bombay blood group type, ask him/her to contact the NGO, Think Foundation which tries to maintain a database of people of the Bombay blood group.

Shouldn't journalists be only reporting?

Before writing this post, I was just checking the definition of a journalist. Wikipedia says

A journalist collects and disseminates information about current events, people, trends, and issues.

This means that a journalist should convey the train of events in a manner that they have occurred. A journalist should not be colouring the report with his or her own opinions or political leanings. That, I guess would be the forte of a good journalist. And the job of colouring events with opinions should be left to analysts, is what I feel.

But now-a-days, journalists are trying to become analysts themselves. News channel reporters go over the top in making conclusions in less than 30 seconds. The Times of India is known for its pro-Congress stance. Being pro-Congress is fine, but it is anti-BJP. And hence, its reporters, and probably editors too, try to paint every reaction of a BJP leader in a way so as to prove that Congress is much better than the BJP. Just see this headline-

Congress did not initiate anti-Sikh riots in 1984: Gadkari

The headline meant to say that the BJP has exonerated the Congress from its role in the anti-Sikh riots. Subtly, it means that the BJP is withdrawing from its earlier stand, which maintained that the Congress party members actively supported the riots. And hence, trying to show that the BJP is a party which flip-flops on its stand.

But, read the interview carefully, and you will realise that Nitin Gadkari has never made such a statement. The statement Gadkari made, in reply to a question was

"Look, some people might be involved in those riots but it would not be entirely correct to say that the riots were initiated by the government."

This statement never ever has the same meaning as the headline. While the journalist writing this report may feel that the headline justifies the content, it is his/her opinion. And that is precisely what a journalist should not be doing. That is a columnist's job. Leave that to them, else they will have to find new avenues to work. But will our media, affected by the "breaking news" syndrome, ever improve? They do not have to go too far. Just read BBC's website and see how they write their headlines. No sensationlisation at all. And the same is true about BBC News. The reporters are one of the most objective ones, the news readers never take sides. But our media is trying to model itself along the Fox-News type of reporting. More sensation than content. And the print media too, is going along the same lines. The fourth estate of the democracy should not be influenced by political leanings, but should be objective in its work. Let people form their opinions. You need not force yours onto them.