Some important news omitted

The big news in yesterday's papers (Oct 10) was North Korea's gatecrash act into the global nuclear club. Times and IE led with the story. IE's coverage was better than the ToI. Of course, ToI had to supplement its Korean coverage with a report of 'Dear Leader's' sexual preferences. The 'shock and awe' has spilled over to today's coverage as well. The (Indian) newspapers have been highlighting a possible Pakistani link in the tests. They have also reported India's 'statements of concern' about the tests. I think India is being hypocritical in that it exercised the option itself in 1998 and became an openly declared nuclear nation. In an unequal global order where countries with the most nuclear stockpiles aggressively follow a policy of 'pre-emptive strikes' can you blame countries that want nukes? Ideally, I want a world free of all nukes. But given that that won't be possible anytime soon, the current nuclear apartheid is clearly discriminatory.
One suprising ommission is Kanshi Ram's death. It got relatively little coverage in the print media. ToI had a small one column story tucked away in page 10 or so. However, IE's second lead was Kanshi Ram. IE's coverage was of this story was much better than ToI's. The third lead in IE was how Bihar's economic fortune is being revived by the sugar industry. Interesting. Two of IE's front page stories were about socio-political issues. Given that Kanshi Ram is the person who gave Dalit's a voice one would have though that his death would be fairly important news, though he was politically marginalised in his later years. However, the media skipping this story is not surprising, given the amount of space they dedicate to dalit/farmers/depressed/deprieved sections. I am looking forward to Frontline and Tehelka for more comprehensive coverage and analysis.
Today's (Oct 11) ToI is fairly bland in terms of interesting stories. A story about a legal case against google for an alleged anti-India community has made the front page. Ok, the story deals with issues of free speech, internet security etc., but is it front page news? Maybe science and tech page story but...
The lead in the city pages is the fight between the Sena siblings: Siv Sena and Maharashtra Navanirman Sena workers clash in Dadar. It has all the elements of a racy story: politics, violence, revenge, intrigue..who would not love a story about sainiks fighting sainiks?
ToI's edit and op-ed page have been compressed to one page. Where the op-ed page should be is the page 'Times Trends' and the 4 column lead is 'Why do we have SEX?' The anchor is 'Women on their fertility peak dress up to impress'. Has ToI crossed a red line by giving over op-ed to trends?
IE (Oct 11) has carried an NYT article on Daniel Pearl and his Kidnapper Omar Sheik. The article pits 'inquiring and understanding western civiliation'against a 'civilisation bent on annihalation'. The article's slant, I feel, creates an impression of a monolithic violent Islam pitted against an 'ill-equipped' west. This may or may not be true.