United against terror

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Unlike on various occasions in the past when the regional press played up events in their backyard and downplayed what appeared to be national news (at least, if you went by the English-language press!), the serial bomb blasts in Delhi got equal prominence in most regional newspapers.

In the north, both Dainik Bhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika even had the same headline on the day of the blasts "" Dhamakon se dehli dilli (Bomb blasts make Delhi tremble). Bhaskar went one step ahead in its editorial, and said that what was most important about the blast was its timing "" the Army's relief work after the Kashmir earthquake had won a lot of hearts, the Red Fort verdict was about to be delivered, and so all this was making the terrorists jittery and they needed to make a demonstration of their prowess.

In Hyderabad, the serial blasts were splashed on the front pages of all the Telugu dailies in their Sunday editions along with the news of the worst-ever train accident that occurred in Nalgonda district due to heavy rains that lashed the state. The dailies covered the Delhi blasts news on the front pages, while giving turns to the inside pages. Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi covered it on page two with photographs of the blast site while Vaartha carried it on page three with a photograph of the police commissioner inspecting the Sarojini Nagar blast site. Vaartha carried a lead article on Delhi's security on page 10 the next day along with a photograph.

In Chennai, for three days running, Tamil daily Dinamalar carried news items and photographs on the issue. But on November 1, the rains that hit Andhra coast relegated the bomb blasts case to the inside pages. "Delhi rocked" was the first day's headline, "The Hunt" was the second day's headline, saying that the hunt for terrorists had begun "" both the op-edit page and page 16 were entirely devoted to the news items concerning Delhi bomb blasts. There were nine colour photographs published on page 18.

All major newspapers in Mumbai covered the Delhi bomb blast news prominently. Marathi newspaper Sakal, published from Mumbai, had an eight-column banner headline display for the bomb blast story along with a photograph of the blast site. English language newspapers scored over Marathi newspapers in exploring different angles to the blast story. The Marathi newspapers, in contrast, were largely dependent on agency reports. Indeed, their Delhi correspondents filed news reports but those filings were mostly based on briefings by government officials and ministers. All newspapers had editorials in their Monday editions condemning the ghastly and cowardly attack on civilians. Except for Shiv Sena mouthpiece Samna, no newspaper got involved in rabble-rousing against Pakistan and "Islamic Terrorism". Samna went on to question the logic behind giving aid to the quake victims in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) when India is attacked by the terrorist organisations which operate from the POK.

Bangla newspapers gave eight-column displays to the blasts with detailed coverage on how they had a telling impact on pre-Diwali shopping and festivities.