Wanted in India: Rupert Murdoch

NEW DELHI: Rupert Murdoch is a wanted man. New Delhi's chief magistrate issued a warrant for the media baron's arrest Tuesday, after he failed to appear to face charges of showing allegedly "obscene" movies on his Star TV channel. Indictments against Murdoch, which he routinely ignores, are nothing new in India's courts -- they're a sign of Hindu-nationalist opposition to the encroachment of Western culture. But the campaign against Murdoch may be simply a case of political hay-making, according to TIME correspondent Meenakshi Ganguly. "Rupert Murdoch is not shoving American culture down any unwilling throats," says Ganguly. "Hindu nationalists went berserk when Star TV first started broadcasting in India. But in order to attract a local audience, they were forced to Indianize the content. Today much of the content on Murdoch's five channels in India is actually local." So don't expect to see Rupert fleeing Indian gendarmes on Fox's "World's Scariest Police Chases" any time soon.