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When we look back at the beginning of 2004, the most significant story may well be the thaw between India and Pakistan, which is receiving minimal coverage from the big beasts of media.
It’s less than two years since the two countries came worryingly close to another war (with the potential use of nuclear weapons on both sides). So the news is decidedly good for the entire world. Both political systems are so febrile, however, that there is no guarantee that the current rapprochement will last.
There’s more good news for India in the views of management sage Peter Drucker in Fortune magazine (via Talking Points Memo).
“India is becoming a powerhouse very fast. The medical school in New Delhi is now perhaps the best in the world. And the technical graduates of the Institute of Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world. Also, India has 150 million people for whom English is their main language. So India is indeed becoming a knowledge center.”
Drucker contrasts India’s progress with China, where there are only 1.5 million college students in a population of 1.3 billion. He also worries about China’s ability to absorb its enormous rural population into its urban areas, a process already well advanced in India. Interesting counter-common wisdom thinking.
Jay Rosen nails it once again: “Along with his named sources, Nagourney invents an interesting composite figure to pass along the wisdom of his worried insiders — wisdom he’s collected by calling around, doing his reporting. The source’s name is usually ‘Democrats’ or ‘some Democrats,’ placeholder terms for a political faction speaking through Nagourney, who in this case is their medium. Why this faction, at this time? It must have something to do with what the reporter thinks is going on.”
That’s why I prefer the better kind of British journalism. No pretence of objectivity; biases declared and visible for all to see.