Sathya Sai devotees who are media reporters should not temporarily become non-devotees to do reporting work on Sathya Sai related matters

Last updated on 22nd May 2022

Note that this is just my viewpoint and readers are free to disagree with my view.

Media organizations naturally focus on large readership/viewership for which, I believe, neutral coverage of multiple viewpoints is typically encouraged, in most reports and articles (excluding opinion articles). The larger the readership/viewership, the better is the revenue earned typically, and so naturally the former becomes a main objective for media organizations. In the context of Indian English language mainstream media reporting about Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, one could say that it is their main agenda, within some boundaries like not saying something which is known to be false, simply to sensationalize the report.

I mean, sharing the truth on some matters like miraculous powers of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba may not be so attractive to typical Indian English language media organizations, if that does not help to have a large readership/viewership, and especially if it may reduce readership/viewership of the media channel.

I think media reporters who are devotees of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and supporters of Prasanthi Nilayam ashram, should avoid assignments that involve neutral coverage of Bhagavan, Prasanthi Nilayam ashram, some splinter group attracting/trying to attract Prasanthi Nilayam (PN) ashram devotees & donors etc. They should tell their management that as they are devotees and supporters of PN ashram, they cannot temporarily become a non-devotee (wear a non-devotee hat, so to speak) to write a neutral article covering Bhagavan and Prashanti Nilayam ashram (especially in context of splinter groups). Such work can be done by other journalists who are not devotees of Bhagavan.

In particular, Sathya Sai devotees who are media reporters should avoid quoting the word, miracles, and avoid using words like 'conjuring vibhuti' in the context of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, even if that is the language preferred by mainstream media. The quoting of the word, miracles, implies that they are not really miracles! As somebody who has contributed to Google Search on the net for search terms like 'scientific investigation of Sathya Sai Baba miracles' showing up Prof. Erlendur Haraldsson's work (through my review, https://www.amazon.com/review/R1GN6LQYATB2HJ , of his associated book, appearing usually in top ten results) where he concludes that Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's miracles have to be viewed as genuine, I view any media article using quoted word miracles ("miracles") and words like 'conjuring vibhuti' in context of Bhagavan, as promoting criticism of Bhagavan's miracles. Why should a Sathya Sai devotee who is a media reporter get involved with such media articles! The best thing is to recuse oneself from such assignments saying that one is a devotee and so cannot use such words in the context of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.