A few weeks back, I was listening to a speech by Robert Fisk where he was talking about a report on the Middle East in the L.A. Times. The theme of the report was "govt. officials said". I was reading HT business pages today with a column which very well illustrates the point.
Titled, "Agri will remain unaffected by water supply to industries", the column can be summarized in one phrase: "govt. officials said".
Here's what we find by going through the column:
"Orissa government on Saturday claimed..."
"...claim was based on the report of a four-member technical committee"
"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told..."
"He asked officials to ensure..."
"Official sources said..."
"The committee, the government claimed..."
I did have occasion to read something about Vedanta Aluminium Limited in Orissa, here. I've no idea whether it's true or not, but at least it doesn't fall into the category of "govt. officials said".
Apparently, the people are too insignificant for the HT to talk to.
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