Trilok Gurtu, Panjabi MC nominated for BBC awards

More Accolades for Panjabi MC, and Poor Journalism

This story from rediff.com indicates that Panjabi MC, along with Trilok Gurtu (others nominated are Cesaria Evora, Cheb Khaled, and Bob Brozman) have been nominated for 2004 BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. In this story, written by "Blind Melon," it is stated that PMC's Mundian to Bach Ke was ignored by mainstream radio in the UK, and that it only surged to popularity after a New York hip-hop label reissued it early in 2003.

Well, that is completely wrong. Mundian to Bach Ke charted at number 5 on the mainstream British Charts, and actually, the song's success in London and the rest of Europe led to its re-release five years later in 2003. Had it not been so popular in Europe, Jay-Z would have never heard the track, and the New York record label (Sequence Records) would never have agreed to distribute it.

This brings me to another issue, and this is something that has been blogged about in many desi blogs recently, the subject of accuracy in the South Asian Media.

When Indian-American activist Narayan Keshavan passed away ten days ago after appearing on the Lou Dobbs show, some Indian media rushed, and wrongly stated in their obituaries of him that Keshavan had won a Pulitzer. Most would think details like this would be fact checked by an editor of some sort.

Additionally, if rediff.com is trying to be a news source of repute, why allow columnists and other contributors to write under the name of Blind Melon, or other pen names? I think it subtracts from your credibility as much as when the byline reads "By Our Correspondent."

I use to think very highly of the Indian media, and for the most part know there are quite good papers/magazines in the sub-continent. I think that a few of these media outlets are giving a bad reputation to a group that is on the whole quite decent. I hope that is the case anyway.

posted by sajit @ 12:12 PM