Sir,

Yesterday’s Abracadabra column in Star of Mysore by K.B. Ganapathy (KBG) was frank, fearless and threw new light on newspapers and democracy.

‘Democracy dies in darkness’ is the official slogan of The Washington Post printed in the cover page which many are not aware of. But the new Avatar of it may require that slogan to be erased after KBG’s description of The Washington Post. The Abracadabra is quite scholarly for people to understand, leave alone the present day practitioners of journalism!

Glad KBG’s last para of ethical editorial policy of Star of Mysore, which was laid down in 1978 when it started, still stands firmly. Congratulations.

I remember what that renowned photo-journalist T.S. Satyan had remarked to me: “Yenaiah, you think your SOM is Washington Post to give my photos to that paper?”

But later Satyan fell in love with SOM is another story.

— K. Vijaya Kumar, Former Joint Director of Information & Publicity, Mysuru, 1.3.2025