Hindus Seek Redress for Tampa Tribune Article called "Voyages into Madness"*****

[Guest guest]

Hindus Seek Redress for Tampa Tribune Article

HPI

 

TAMPA, FLORIDA, June 19, 2003: Leaders of the Hindu Community here met

with the editors of the Tampa Tribune in a continuing effort to deal

with an article (see HPI, June 5, 2003) published in their newspaper

called "Voyages into Madness" which cast Hinduism in a very bad light.

HPI applauds the intelligent and controlled dealings of the community

leaders with the Tribune, as recounted in this letter which followed

their meeting of June 16. It sets an excellent standard for resolution

of incidents of unfair reporting through positive remedies and not

recriminations and threats.

 

June 17, 2003

 

Donna Reed, Managing Editor

Lawrence Fletcher, Deputy Managing Editor

c/o The Tampa Tribune

202 South Parker Street

Tampa, Florida 33606

 

Re: Meeting with Members of Tampa Bay Hindu Community

Re. Voyages into Madness, By George Coryell

 

Dear Ms. Reed and Mr. Fletcher:

 

On behalf of the Tampa Bay Hindu community, which includes over twenty

(20) diverse organizations, we want to thank you for the opportunity to

discuss frankly with you the sensationalized, error-filled article

titled Voyages into Madness, the significant adverse impact of this

specious article on the Hindu community of Tampa Bay, and the array of

options for rehabilitating and exemplifying our community's proud,

peaceful, nonviolent image.

 

As discussed, the adverse impact of Coryell's article on the Hindu

diaspora cannot be underestimated. Regionally, since the publication of

the article, law-abiding Hindus have faced harmful repercussions such

as offensive slurs shouted at them to hard boiled eggs and other

objects thrown at their property. Globally, militant, anti-Hindu

mediums such as the Pakistan Tribune have published this nonsensical

article, except under the libelous, incendiary headline Voyages into

Hindu Madness, thus painting all Hindus with the same blood-tainted

brush used to portray the extremist Aghori sect. These are but two

examples of the widespread damage caused by the article.

 

Your sincere acknowledgement at yesterday's meeting of the damage

inflicted upon our community by the article is certainly welcomed. Your

frank acknowledgement that the article was admittedly not organized

thoughtfully and was dubiously sourced, at best, is also accepted. That

said, as discussed, we in the Hindu community of Tampa Bay reasonably

expect more. We expect the Tampa Tribune to follow through on the

various options discussed at our meeting to address the Hindu

community's interests in seeking the advancement of the Hindu community

and its many nurturing, positive characteristics.

 

The options discussed include the following remedial and

relationship-building steps:

 

1. The Tampa Tribune will follow through on its commitment to

thoroughly investigate and evaluate again the content of the article

for factual inaccuracies. The Tampa Tribune will then publish a

correction on page 2A. The Tribune will allow us to first review the

draft correction prepared by you prior to publication.

 

2. The Tampa Tribune will make its best, good faith efforts to

publish at various times during the year as determined by the Tribune

certain positive articles on the local Hindu community and/or

celebrated local or global Hindu/Indian events.

3. The Tampa Tribune will welcome members of the Hindu community to

participate on its Diversity committee for the purposes of exposing

members of the Tribune's staff to the local Hindu community, its

positive characteristics and the issues involving or impacting Hindus.

 

4. To facilitate the above objectives, the local Hindu community, led

by Nainan Desai and the others signed below, will provide to you a list

of names, telephone numbers and addresses of individuals knowledgeable

about Hindu culture, history and related issues. The purpose of this

list is to establish a communications link between the Tampa Tribune

and the local, national and international Hindu community of scholars,

academics and community activists in order to increase the Tribune's

awareness of issues impacting our community as a whole.

 

5. The local Hindu community will also make available speakers for a

lunch time educational series for the staff journalists at the Tribune.

Lunch will be provided by the community.

 

6. The local Hindu community will also provide the Tribune with ideas

and topics for articles on upcoming Indian cultural events or other

human interest topics relating to Hinduism.

 

These identified steps are among the many that were discussed, but

reflect those steps that the parties agreed to proceed upon. Other

issues discussed that we would eventually like addressed by the Tribune

include:

 

1. Answers to the many questions posed, including questions about the

author of the article and his apparent lack of due diligence. These

questions were posed to the Tribune in Nainan Desai's emails to you,

including the email sent on June 16, 2003.

 

2. A good-faith effort to recruit candidates of Indian background for

journalist positions and other staff positions.

 

3. The scheduling of a follow up meeting within 30 to 60 days to

discuss the progress made on the steps outlined above.

 

In sum, we accept and appreciate your commitment to work with the

local Hindu community to build a harmonious relationship. By

implementing the steps discussed above and through the establishment of

a bilateral, mutually beneficial relationship, we hope the Tribune will

work studiously to present the Hindu community in a positive light

based on the legendary Hindu ethos of hard work, nonviolence, peace and

love for all living beings. By doing so, we believe the Tribune will at

the very least avert another published voyage into madness.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Nikhil N. Joshi (njoshi@tampabay.rr.com)

Nainan Desai (ndesai@tampabay.rr.com)

Shan Shikarpuri (shan@bconsultants.net)

Abhinav Dwivedi (ad1045@vsnl.com)

Yashwant Belsare (belsarey@hotmail.com)

 

 

and on behalf of the Coalition of Hindu and Indian Organizations of

Tampa Bay

 

cc: Coalition of Hindu and Indian Organizations of Tampa Bay

Indiacause.org

Ajay Shah, Hindu Anti-Defamation League

Mihir Meghani, Hindu-American Foundation

India Abroad

Hinduism Today

 

[gHari]

I've been a cannibal all these years, and NOW you say it's not kosher?!?!?! I wasn't offering it or anything. It certainly wasn't on any lists of don'ts that I ever saw from Prabhupada.

 

Gary Stevenson