“A genocide of sub and folk cultures is happening across the country on a day-to-day basis and journalists are responsible for it,” said noted journalist and film-maker Sashi Kumar.
In his introductory remarks at the release of Silent Screams , a book by journalist O.K. Johny, here on Tuesday, he said the book was a voice of voiceless people and that silence was a formidable presence in the book, pointing to the guilty.
Silent Screams had first come out in the form of a documentary to which Mr. Kumar had rendered English commentary. It was then published as a book in Malayalam by Olive Publications which later took the initiative to translate it into English by Anita Menon.
Chairman of Olive Publications and MLA M.K. Muneer said the book was about the news discarded as irrelevant. “A review of such news shows how biased are we in news selection,” Mr. Muneer said pointing out that news was becoming largely city-centric.
Mr. Kumar said the cultural diversity of India was being homogenised due to the ‘mainstreaming’ of news. “Those who don’t fit into the framework become irrelevant,” he added.
Honey trap
Mr. Kumar said the recent honey trap incident involving a media house and a minister was a challenge to the credibility of journalism. “There is nothing to celebrate. We shall share the shame together as we share journalistic victories,” he added.
Mr. Kumar handed over a copy of the book to scriptwriter Deedi Damodaran. The event was part of the Malabar Carnival.