Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 18 June 2021
Considering our sample size as fair Nicobar Times published a news on 17th June 2021 titled “Residents of Campbell Bay Advocate Against Immediate Scheduling of Passenger Vessel”. The news received overwhelming negative response from the general public of Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar.
While Nicobar Times stands by the news published earlier on 17th June 2021, but the judgement of sample size may have been wrong.
Considering the views of the general public of Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar which stood firm on the demand of immediately scheduling a ship for Great Nicobar, we at Nicobar Times are publishing this rebuttal.
Hundreds of residents of Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar are stranded in South Andaman District who are in need of dire help. One way to help them is to send them home. It is also important to ensure the safety of the thousands who reside in Great Nicobar.
While publishing the original news story Nicobar Times contacted local leaders of all active political parties of Great Nicobar. It was a common view that the ship for Campbell Bay should be delayed and hence political parties made it clear to Nicobar Times that they will not press for their demands for a ship to Great Nicobar anymore.
The recent detection of a number of COVID-19 cases have also created a sense of fear in the general public of Campbell Bay and when Nicobar Times questioned them, most of them were of the view that the sailing of ships for Campbell Bay should be delayed.
But the popular view seems to be against the news published on Nicobar Times.
Some of the stranded residents also called up Nicobar Times and one among them was a lady who was tested positive earlier during the regular RT-PCR Tests conducted for travelling to Campbell Bay. She was desperate to travel to Campbell Bay and she suggested that the stranded residents are even ready to undergo quarantine at Port Blair as well as Campbell Bay.
The desperation of the stranded people calls for this rebuttal.
Media should act as a mirror and reflect the true picture of the community and in our bid to be fair to all those who called on us after the original news was published, we request A & N Administration to schedule a ship immediately for the stranded residents to travel to Great Nicobar.
We further notify that the larger public view seems to be contrary to the news published earlier.
The safety of the general public of Great Nicobar should also be ensured and hence institutional quarantine should be considered for the stranded residents after they reach Campbell Bay. This idea of institutionally quarantining people has come out of the hours of debate on popular groups of Campbell Bay on the instant messaging app.
The intention of Nicobar Times was always in larger public interest, but it is now clear that the popular view of the general public is different.
I.T. (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), Rules, 2021 is applicable on Nicobar Times and one can file grievance against any news published on our platform. Visit the Grievance section of Nicobar Times for further information.