Today there was a press conference of Anand Sharma, the minister of State for External Affairs and Information & Broadcasting. He was here for the Vodafone international marathon, which had its share of controversies. As expected, Sharma was asked several questions on media coverage of Mumbai terror attacks. Starting with a quite lengthy sermon on the achievements of United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi, he took on all the questions, But could not answer satisfactorily any of the questions. H made usual promises of setting up of a Standing Media Consultative Committee comprising representatives of the Editor's Guild, National Broadcasting Organization and the officials of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. It will be chaired by the Secretary, Information & Broadcasting. He also told of a move to conduct training programmes for print as well as electronic media persons on how to cover crisis events.
But the surprise item was next question. When somebody popped up the question of ‘hoax call’ to Pak president Asif Zardari, Sharma said he did not know anything on that issue. But in a statement later issued by Press & Information Bureau, he was quoted as, “The issue of hoax call to the President of Pakistan (is as) a gimmick which can not divert attention from the seriousness of the dastardly terror attacks. Government of India has signaled that India has nothing to do with the 'hoax call' business."
The Minister said that the world has in one voice condemned the Mumbai terror attacks and this is bound to put pressure on Pakistan to act and added that India on its part will take all steps that are required to stamp out terrorism. He reiterated that the nation should also come together and speak in one voice against terrorism.
Commenting about the role of media in covering Mumbai terror attacks, the Minister said that some television channels had gone overboard in reporting and as a result the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting had to issue notices.
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