‘A Dog With a Bone in Its Mouth Can’t Bark’: Arun Shourie on Mainstream Media
New Delhi: Speaking at The Wire Dialogues on September 2, Arun Shourie came down hard on mainstream media. “It is the fourth estate of democracy. It is the institution designed to hold the government to account. But, sadly we have not seen that happen,” he said.
Shourie elaborated on how the media – barring a few publications – has not followed up on important stories. “In the story about Jay Shah, The Wire only documented what is on the department of company affairs website. And you say that nobody should talk about it,” Shourie said. “The media is not following up. Its duty would be, if there is a stay order against The Wire then everybody else should print it.”
Shourie cited the example of the Pentagon papers where the The New York Times was served a restraining order barring the newspaper from publishing further after it had broken the story. As the Times could no longer publish, The Washington Post, a competitor, followed up on the story and published several articles. Both the Post and the Times were taken to court by the government, where the newspapers eventually won in a landmark decision for press freedom.
“In any country with a free press, if one paper publishes one aspect of a story, twenty others will start digging and publish other things. Here the twenty ran away. Only The Caravan followed up on The Wire’s story,” Shourie said highlighting The Caravan’s investigation into the business fortunes of Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah.
Karan Thapar, the interviewer, asked Shourie if he thought that the media was deliberately not following up. Shourie responded by recalling a Zulu proverb, “A dog with a bone in its mouth can’t bark.”
Shourie explained that he did not believe that the media is not speaking truth to power out of fear. “I feel they are not following up out of greed. The accounts of fear are an excuse that the media is using.”
Responding to Thapar’s question on whether he was disappointed or disgusted with the media, Shourie said, “I have sort of passed all that. There is such a great change in the media, you are wasting your emotions being either disgusted or disappointed.”
The former minister in Atal Bihar Vajpayee’s government, however, stated fear and intimidation also played a role in muzzling the media. “There is no doubt that there is also an attempt to intimidate the media. ABP news sacked some of its journalists. You [Karan Thapar] are not on the main channels as you should be. NDTV is also facing pressures. The strategy is to kill the chickens to frighten the monkeys. You don’t have to do it to everybody,” Shourie said.
Shourie also had a few words of advice for readers. “My advice to readers is that you should support The Wire. There are only a few publications like Scroll, Altnews, The Wire and one newspaper, The Indian Express, which are telling the truth.”
“Mahatma Gandhi used to say that the hands of copyists are our printing machines. Today you have the internet. If some story is blocked by a court order, let us all circulate it. A hundred thousand people circulate it and it will reach all across India,” Shourie said.
courtesy : thewire.in
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Fact Check: Burn body fat by drinking water made from boiling garlic, cumin seeds? Let’s find out
Claim: An Instagram video suggests drinking a concoction prepared by boiling garlic and cumin seeds with lemon extract to burn fat.
Fact: The claim is misleading. The recipe alone cannot burn fat. A balanced diet and good exercise are essential.
An Instagram video about an ‘ancient method’ to burn body fat has gone viral. The video advises boiling two cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of cumin seeds mixed with lemon juice in two cups of water and drinking it on an empty stomach to burn fat.
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Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading.
Dr Raghavendra Cherukku, an interventional cardiologist, explained if the method is useful for burning fat: “There is no single strategy to reduce fat. This strategy has to be supplemented with an intake of healthy food and regular exercise. The antilipidemic property of garlic can help reduce LDL and increase HDL but has no impact on triglycerides.”
Garlic has antioxidant and antibiotic properties, which can aid in other health benefits.
“Some studies done on rats and humans have proved the antilipidemic properties of garlic can help burn fat. However, taking the concoction on an empty stomach can be detrimental for those with gastric issues. Hence it can be taken after eating food,” Dr Raghavendra said.
A balanced diet with high protein and fibre, and low oil and low carbohydrates is essential to reduce triglycerides. Food containing carbohydrates, like maida, gets converted into triglycerides, which cannot be reduced by taking the concoction.
“Most South Indian diets use a lot of oil, around 10-15 tablespoons per day, against the maximum requirement of 2-3 tablespoons per day. Physical exercise for 150 minutes per week and a balanced diet are essential to reduce triglycerides and bad cholesterol,” Dr Raghavendra added.
(This story was originally published by newsmeter.in, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
