Cancun steals the show

Vernacular Views

India's stand at the WTO ministerial made top headlines in most vernacular papers

North: Thanks to the fact that World Trade Organisation (WTO) issues have dominated much of the past fortnight, Hindi heartland papers have so many English words, you sometimes forget you're reading Hindi papers.

So, there's the "WTO Agenda" written in Hindi, there's "marathon" baithak, and other such Hinglish phrases in most of Dainik Bhaskar's Cancun coverage.

As is the case with almost all English-language papers, though perhaps a bit more so, the coverage was jingoistic, with headlines like "India's shadow on WTO Agenda", or "Rich nations bend" in both Bhaskar as well as Dainik Jagran.

Bhaskar, in fact, ended its coverage with a curious "Cancun is dead, long live WTO" piece, but the strapline was similar to the one in most stories of each of the previous five days "" Jaitley is the hero of Cancun.

And it isn't just the language. Like their English-language counterparts, Hindi dailies also lose no excuse to print pictures of lovely-looking models/actresses, whether it's an obscure Ms Italy pageant or an Anna Kournikova in Taipei.

A big miss, in this context, was Bhaskar's handling of the CEO delegation from Pakistan "" it actually published a picture of Confederation of Indian Industry chief Anand Mahindra along with external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, instead of the photograph of all the glamorous wives of the Pakistani CEOs at the Wagah border, something which most other papers did!

Bhaskar atoned for this, though, in a different way. The same day, on the same page, it had a picture of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi with an AK 47 and the caption: "Who's he aiming at now?"

The same events have dominated the coverage in English and Hindi papers "" WTO, Kuka Parey's killing, the Supreme Court stopping of HPCL and BPCL sale, Sharon's visit and the defence deals signed. The prime minister's foreign jaunt, not surprisingly, is below the fold on the front page of both Jagran and Bhaskar.

East: The front pages of Bangla newspapers did not carry much on the deliberations at Cancun. The most prominent display of the meeting was the photograph of the Korean farmer who killed himself protesting against the developed countries' refusal to cut farm subsidies.

The news of the failure of the talks, though, was carried on the front pages of most newspapers.

Ananda Bazar Patrika was prompt with an editorial comment that argued that the failure of the Cancun meeting should not be a cause for celebration. The collapse of the talks should not be allowed to become an excuse for dismantling the multilateral trading system, which benefits the poor developing countries more than the developed world, it argued.

The shutdown of the Howrah railway station for more than a day to enable the authorities there to replace the relay locking system and carry out other repairs was the other big news during the last fortnight.

Front page pictures and detailed reportage on the inconvenience caused to millions of railway passengers, however, did not explain why the repairs and the replacement of the relay locking system could not be done without shutting down the Howrah station, the country's busiest railway station.

Ananda Bazar Patrika also carried an exclusive front-page eight-column flyer on how activists of a militant organisation were caught while replacing fishplates of a railway line hours before two Rajdhani trains were to cross that section.

The report suggested that if the authorities had not been alert, both the Rajdhani trains would have derailed as they were crossing that section in quick succession.

South: The past fortnight saw the vernacular media keenly following major issues on par with English dailies. On the international front, the WTO talks at Cancun ranked first, though Ariel Sharon's visit also got good coverage.

On the national front, the multi-state registration stamps scam grabbed spots on the front page throughout the fortnight. Also in focus was the move by Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Karnataka to settle their river-water dispute.

Stung by India's alienation in the Doha round and the Singapore draft later, the newspapers took it upon themselves to canvass for the Indian stand against the "vested" interests of developed countries. Anchor stories on the Indian stand on page one and inside abounded in the major Telugu dailies like Eenadu and Vaartha.

The proposed move by the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka governments to sort out the water-sharing row has been welcomed by the vernacular media.

The dailies widely reported that Karnataka would strike a deal with AP for power in exchange of water release. A meeting between the two chief ministers is being hinted at.