News and Non-News

News and Non-News Nireekshak WHAT is news to 'Hindustan Stan- ward' is not necessarily news to the 'Hindu', and what interests the 'National Herald' may not make the grade with 'Malayala Manorama'. Take, for example, the newspapers of September 12. The lead story in the 'National Herald' was the breach in Nanak Sagar Dam. 'Nanak Sagar Dam Breach Claims 1000 Lives: Worst National Calamity, Says Union Minister' went the treble- decker front page headline. No other paper seemed interested in the fact that the nation's worst calamity had taken 1,000 lives. The head count, of course, was not fully confirmed. Were exactly 1,000 lives lost? No one was sure. In India, lives of ordinary citizens do not count. The 'Herald' had some frightful pictures of the havoc caused when the dam burst. Its coverage of the calamity was extensive, as it should be.