The Indian Media - Up for Grabs??

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 04 Dec 2010 04:31

Deccan Chronicle has regular blogs by US Ambassador in Delhi. Do other papers have such regular features?

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 05 Dec 2010 21:15

For those who watch the channels in India regularly, are Barkha and Rajdeep regularly anchoring their own programmes as before?

sum · Post by **sum** » 05 Dec 2010 21:18

Yep,saw Barkha-didi's programme "Big fight" an hour back..not sure about Rajdeep though..

Can hardly expect the political journos to be any different from their paymasters, the netas who will shrug off any wrongdoing and continue as if nothing happened.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 07 Dec 2010 23:42

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters ... risis.html

Most Indian media owners need a new covenant with their journalists. For too long and far too often, they have been seen to hire journalists to do their dirty work - negotiating with politicians, businessmen, public relations executives and lobbyists. It is an open secret that many editors and senior journalists are part-time reporters - and full-time fixers for their owners.

Critics say that many owners have emasculated editors so much that they have become faceless and supine, only too willing to roll over for the powers that be and facilitate deals. With some 60,000 newspapers and 500 news channels, India has one of the world's most vibrant and competitive media environments. It is now time to take a reality check and ask whether all is well with it.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 09 Dec 2010 02:32

I was told that Deccan Chronicle owned by T. Reddy family is really owned by Gulf interests and current owners are a front.

Sudip · Post by **Sudip** » 09 Dec 2010 11:17

Has someone noticed Burkha's sister (she also looks like her so im 99.99999% sure its her sister) Bahar dutt is now a correspondent for CNN IBN. Talk about family jugaad in indian media

. Reminds me of those political families where father, son, mother daughter were each member of different major parties.

sum · Post by **sum** » 09 Dec 2010 13:03

Has someone noticed Burkha's sister (she also looks like her so im 99.99999% sure its her sister) Bahar dutt is now a correspondent for CNN IBN.

Yup, Bahar is indeed dear sis of Burkha madam..

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 15 Dec 2010 08:13

NDTV juggles funds, shares abroad, avoids tax

NDTV, through its foreign subsidiaries, is suspected to be indulging in gross violations of Indian tax and corporate laws. NDTV Network Plc, UK was set up in November 2006. Its balance sheets were not filed in India. This company has raised and invested huge sums of money in its subsidiaries, NDTV Imagine (now sold), NDTV Lifestyle, NDTV Labs, NDTV Convergence and NGEN Media Services. The main activity of the company seems to be that of buying shares, as detailed later. Even now, most of the deals being struck by NDTV are being transacted through this UK subsidiary, with no money seemingly coming to India by way of tax.

NDTV India group raised funds worth Rs 804.6 cr between April 2008 and September 2009 out of a total of about Rs 982.2 cr through foreign sources, primarily through its subsidiaries in UK and Netherlands.

NDTV Network Plc is registered in the UK, and its address — Seventh Floor, 90 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6XX — is an "accommodation address". The address also has Olswang Solicitors in the same premises. Olswang Cosec Ltd is Plc's company secretary and represents many other companies. CoSec stands for company secretary. Companies like Olswang Holdings, Olswang LLP and others operate from the same address. Plc does not have any employee.

But while the names of the directors of the UK subsidiary are available on UK's Companies House website and statements about its balance sheets, it is difficult to obtain information on the largest shareholder, NDTV BV as it is in Dutch. The only thing known about BV is that it is a subsidiary of NDTV India.

The accounts of these subsidiary companies were not attached with NDTV's balance sheet/annual report of 2006-07. It claimed exemption which was not available to it on the date of signing the annual report. This is required by Section 212(8) of the Companies Act 1956. The balance sheet was signed on 22 May 2007, and the company made an application to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 24 May 2007 for exemption in relation to nine subsidiaries, including overseas subsidiaries. So NDTV presumed it would get the exemption on the date of signing of accounts, at a time when it had not even applied to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The exemption was granted on 8 June 2007. The MCA overlooked the lapse. The Registrar of Companies too failed to penalise the NDTV for this offence.

To trace the financial jugglery involved in the whole process light must be shed on how these companies have been operating. In 2006-07, New Delhi Television Limited set up a legal entity in the Netherlands under the name NDTV BV, which in turn set up the NDTV Network Plc in the UK. The Indian company invested around Rs 57.45 lakh in the shares of NDTV Networks BV, thus making it its 100% subsidiary. NDTV BV, in turn, set up Plc as an indirect subsidiary.

NDTV Networks BV invested Rs 43.58 lakh in the shares of NDTV Network Plc UK, thereby making NDTV Network Plc UK a subsidiary of NDTV Networks BV, Netherlands, which, in turn, is wholly owned by the Indian company. Thus the Indian company is also the owner of the fellow subsidiary, i.e. the UK company through channel holding and NDTV admits NDTV Network Plc as an indirect subsidiary.

In 2007, NDTV promoted and set up as its subsidiaries five companies in India: NDTV Imagine, NDTV Lifestyle, NDTV Labs, NDTV Convergence and NGEN Media Services. Eventually these were made subsidiaries of the UK company. Of these five, NGEN is a 50:50 joint venture with Genpack.

NDTV also owns NDTV News Ltd, Value Labs and Astro All Asia Networks Plc, Malaysia.

In 2006-7, the Indian company also raised for working capital term loans to the tune of Rs 175 million. Stock options (ESOP) were also given to employees at concessional valuation when compared to the valuations made for raising capital overseas in the UK company from undisclosed sources. But, as mentioned earlier, NDTV's balance sheet/annual report of 2006-07 did not attach the accounts of these subsidiary companies. Was this done to avoid exposure in India of the financial jugglery in the accounts of the subsidiary companies, namely NDTV Network Plc UK and NDTV Networks BV, Netherlands?

According to the financial statements of the year ending 31 March 2008, "Shareholders agreement dated 23 May 2008 was entered into by NDTV, along with its subsidiaries NDTV BV, NDTV Networks BV, NDTV Networks International Holdings BV and NDTV Networks Plc with NBC Universal Inc and one of its affiliates Universal Studios International BV ('NBCU'), to divest to the NBCU affiliate a 26% effective indirect stake (on a fully diluted basis) in the Company through NDTV Networks International Holdings BV (a Netherlands based subsidiary of NDTV Networks BV) The said stake is divested at a price of US$ 150 million The agreement also contemplates that NBCU will be granted an option to acquire an additional effective indirect stake of upto 24% in the Company through NDTV Networks International Holdings BV in the third year of the joint venture at the then fair market value of the shares, subject to receipt of all necessary consents and approvals"

NDTV India further borrowed a substantial amount of money to fund its fixed assets in India.

The UK subsidiary also raised $100 million by issuing convertible bonds through private placements. NDTV's annual report of 2007-08, under the category of "contingent liabilities not provided in respect of" section, Page 67, says, "During the year, NDTV Network Plc (NNPLC) has raised funds by issuing $100 million convertible bonds due 2012. In connection with this, the company has given an undertaking to provide a corporate guarantee for and on behalf of NNPLC, as and when required. The estimated potential dilution on conversion will be between 20% to 30%." The entities to whom the private placement was made is not known.

In October 2009, NDTV announced a buyback of the 26% shares held by NBCU. In December 2009, New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) informed the BSE that the company had entered into a conditional agreement with Turner Asia Pacific Ventures, Inc. (TAPV) for the sale of most of its indirect stakes in NDTV Imagine Ltd (Imagine), which was held through its indirect subsidiary NDTV Networks Plc, UK. The total transaction size is $117 million and involves a sale of 76% of NDTV Imagine for a consideration of $67 million, together with the subscription of fresh shares in Imagine by TAPV for $50 million. Prior to the issuance of primary shares to TAPV, NDTV Networks Plc will retain a stake of 5% in Imagine. The transaction is subject to receipt of an approval from the board of Time Warner Inc (the parent of TAPV), and from regulatory authorities.

NDTV Network Plc, according to the annual report of the NDTV group for 2008-09, has invested a little over Rs 400 cr in its subsidiaries: Rs 383.43 cr in NDTV Imagine, Rs 14.64 cr in NDTV Convergence and Rs 29 cr in NDTV Lifestyle. The parties involved in these investments are not known. Moreover, on at least two occasions in 2009, the UK subsidiary, which holds a major stake in NDTV Imagine, bought shares of NDTV Imagine at astonishing valuations, as given below.

According to Form 2 filed by the company for Return on Allotment, on 7 July 2009, Plc bought 13,64,208 equity shares of NDTV Imagine at a price of Rs 776 per share (face value of Rs 10, premium of Rs 766) and raised Rs 105.98 cr. There is no information available in the public sphere on how these valuations were arrived at and whether a foreign agency was involved in valuing the shares of NDTV Imagine at such high prices. Interestingly, on the same day, the market value of NDTV shares was Rs 126 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange. This means that the shares were bought by the British subsidiary at more than six times the value of the parent company shares. Similarly, Form 2 filed for Return on Allotment on 3 December shows that the British subsidiary once again bought 920,632 shares of NDTV Imagine at Rs 788 a share, when the market value of NDTV shares were Rs 139. The total amount raised including premium was Rs 72.57 cr.

Mention must also be made of a November 2010 report that says US based Scripps Networks is acquiring 69% stakes in NDTV Lifestyle for $55 million. NDTV Lifestyle is held by NDTV Network Plc, UK. Take another November 2010 report, which says, shares of NDTV shot up by over 7% after the company announced that NDTV Networks Plc, has repurchased the $100 million coupon bonds due 2012.

Is wealth being created and retained abroad without any benefit to NDTV shareholders?

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 16 Dec 2010 03:03

http://theprudentindian.wordpress.com/2 ... 80%99-huh/

http://retributions.nationalinterest.in ... ee-speech/

Came across these while going through Outlook's user feedback site...

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 18 Dec 2010 03:12

http://dalalmedia.posterous.com/36632972

CNN-IBN MEDIA MANIPULATION: CAUGHT RED HANDED WITH INCRIMENATING EVIDENCES

I was watching the programme ‘Should Lobbying be Legalised’ a debate chaired and moderated by Rajdeep Sardesai in CNN-IBN’s website. The Programme was aired on 16/12/2010 and was available in the CNN-IBN website. Customarily in such programmes they run Twitter comments to reflect from social media supposedly to show what the public believe and say. I was appalled to find that these comments were manipulated, i.e. ghost created and run by IBN’s own team, all those dubious comments seem to reflect the sentiments and to show and thrust the fact that people are for ‘LOBBYING’ and they support ‘LEGALISING LOBBYING’. Please see and read the comments yourself from screenshots of the programme. On suspicion, I crossed checked the twitter handles that were shown in the programme and none were authentic or existing.

How low can these people stoop... Crass manipulation by CNN-IBN of user input and when caught red handed - a sorry apology by them below.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/an-apology-f ... ml?from=tn

On its 'India at 9' programme last night (December 16, 2010) CNN-IBN had posted viewer feedback in course of its debate on whether lobbying should be legalised. This viewer feedback was wrongly attributed to Twitter accounts. We deeply regret the error and apologise for the same.
We will take all steps to ensure that this is not repeated. Other viewer comments on the same subject have been posted at our IBNLive.com website on this page.

jamwal · Post by **jamwal** » 18 Dec 2010 13:12

^^

Thanks for exposing the media lies. This shows the power of alternative media and how it can unearth the truth behind the mask of Mainstream Media. I started a campaign called #teachIBNalesson and @sardesaiRajdeep replied this as response: "@dibyabttb the comments were picked up from ibnlive.com. should have been attributed to the web, not to twitter." (link: http://twitter.com/#!/sardesairajdeep/s ... 0776761344) I checked the said IBNLIVE page and to my horror the contentious comments are not on the said page. (link: http://ibnlive.in.com/blaze/rajdeepsard ... 72744.html) Update these in the blog post. Further proof how a senior journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai can lie openly.

Raghavendra · Post by **Raghavendra** » 19 Dec 2010 18:50

Fake tweets aired on TV news show

http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/19/stories ... 861400.htm

NEW DELHI: A recent controversy about fake Twitter comments being run onscreen during a news show has raised questions about the reliability of instant viewer feedback. From live SMS polls to tweeted views to texted queries, many of the methods used to increase the “buzz” of viewer-interactivity in real-time can be misused unless adequate filters are put in place.

On his ‘India at 9' programme on December 16, CNN-IBN's Editor-in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai discussed the question ‘Should lobbying be legalised?'

IBN sources say the question of the day is usually posted on the channel's website around noon. On this particular day, however, the question was posted at 5.07 p.m., according to the time-stamp on the website. Since there were not enough responses posted, an IBN staffer quickly concocted his or her own comments and aired them on screen, attributing them to five different Twitter IDs, according to IBN sources.

A suspicious viewer checked out the IDs and discovered that while three accounts were non-existent, the others had posted no tweets at all. He indignantly posted about this at dalalmedia.posterous.com (which, incidentally, has just two blog-posts), from where it spread within the blogosphere and among twitterati.

It is clear that TV news editors are aware of the potential for misuse present in instant feedback. Several reputed channels have cut back on these gimmicks in recent years, despite the desire to display interactivity with their viewers. Times Now does not run SMS polls at all, according to Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of the channel.

+1 for Times Now

Raghavendra · Post by **Raghavendra** » 20 Dec 2010 12:10

Muppalla wrote:NDTV juggles funds, shares abroad, avoids tax

NDTV, through its foreign subsidiaries, is suspected to be indulging in gross violations of Indian tax and corporate laws. NDTV Network Plc, UK was set up in November 2006. Its balance sheets were not filed in India. This company has raised and invested huge sums of money in its subsidiaries, NDTV Imagine (now sold), NDTV Lifestyle, NDTV Labs, NDTV Convergence and NGEN Media Services. The main activity of the company seems to be that of buying shares, as detailed later. Even now, most of the deals being struck by NDTV are being transacted through this UK subsidiary, with no money seemingly coming to India by way of tax.

NDTV-ICICI loan chicanery saved Roys
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/a/1082

NDTV CEO gives reply, Guardian responds
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/a/1083

These reports show NDTV is urgently in need of hard cash to keep running and they are using telethon scam to raise money.

Not 1 paise of this save the tiger will be used for tiger welfare and will be diverted save ndtv fund

Controversy mongering
http://www.dailypioneer.com/304961/Grapevine.html

When it comes to protests by green activists, even the Big B Amitabh Bachchan is not spared. The 12-hour recent telethon of “Save Tiger” campaign organised by a national channel [NDTV] and hosted by Bachchan, in Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh, has sparked off controversies amid certain environmentalists and NGO’s crying hoarse on violations of wildlife laws. In complaints made to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) and the State chief wildlife warden, they have pointed out that the show has committed gross violations of various sections of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 by-passing sound limits in the tiger reserve. The programme, however, raked in about `5 crore for tiger projects in the country besides improving the TRP’s of the channel.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 27 Dec 2010 05:11

CLB rejects March coup at The Hindu board

The Company Law Board (CLB) has set aside the decision in March this year of the board of directors of Kasturi & Sons, publishers of The Hindu, the leading English news daily here, to remove the powers of N Murali, the then managing director (MD), and to reallocate his powers to the other directors.

The order, passed yesterday by tribunal member Lizamma Augustine, stated this move of the Board(proposed by N Ram, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Hindu group of publications,) without notice and an opportunity to be heard, was an oppressive act, lacked probity and good faith, and was vindictive.

On the retirement and succession framework in the company, specifically the issue of retirement of N Ram as Editor-in-Chief when he had turned 65 on May 4 this year, the CLB has declined to go into what was said to be an informal agreement. However, it has directed the board of directors and the shareholders to decide on the issue of succession and corporate governance without much delay.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 31 Dec 2010 22:40

Insightful and well thought out and written... Wishing Manu Joseph and journalists like him all the best in 2011 the years ahead...

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/ ... s-here-too

When Open decided to run the story, we knew that we were breaking an unspoken code of Indian journalism, which is that we will protect our own. This is the last surviving code in the list of the unspoken rules of Indian journalism. The others have become obsolete. For instance, ‘never expose the sex lives of politicians’ was once the most sacred of the codes, but, as Narain Dutt Tiwari would affirm sorrowfully, the tenet is not so sacred anymore. We decided to break the last standing code because it did not make sense to us. We reached the decision to run the story not only through the infirmities of moral force but also, largely, through the clarity of artistic confidence—we wanted to do journalism our way. We knew there will be retribution, now or later. That, too, is journalistic process.

It is not surprising that both Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi have responded to the Open story by claiming that their conversations were part of a ‘journalistic process’. But then journalistic process must result in journalism—if not immediately, at some point. Dutt is speaking to a corporate PR person who very obviously wants A Raja as Telecom Minister. And in their conversations, Dutt is clearly promising to use her access to pass on information to the Congress and give them greater clarity on what was happening inside the DMK. Why this is not journalistic process is clearly explained in our Political Editor Hartosh Singh Bal’s piece, ‘This is not journalism as we know it’. As he points out, we have a situation where a corporate PR person, representing two companies with interests in telecom, is mediating between the Congress and its ally when a battle is on for the telecom portfolio. This is the kind of story any journalist would love to report. How could Dutt miss that? Dutt’s situation reminds me of a magic realism novel that a friend had written, in which a lowly journalist is in search of a great story. Every day, when he comes home defeated, he speaks to his talking lizard. I find this novel absurd because any journalist would know that a talking lizard is the greatest story ever in the history of journalism.

In the days following the publication of the Open story, most of Indian media pretended that such a story was never reported. It was expected. Apart from the simple fact that most editors do not want to embarrass Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt, there is also the more complex truth that almost all big media houses have something to hide. And the media does not want to be at war with itself. People who watch the media take on politicians every day feel deluded into believing that Indian journalism is fiercely free and independent. But the truth is that the media is able to take on the Government because the Government has become a minor advertiser. The new governments of our times are giant corporations and they very efficiently control all media. The most outrageous aspect of journalism is its very revenue model—advertisements.

In this whole media game, its consumers, we the people, are not fully excused. Journalism is expensive and if people really want good journalism, they should be willing to spend on content. Otherwise you get what you paid for.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 31 Dec 2010 23:02

...and kudos to Manu Joseph's colleague, Hartosh Singh Bal

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/ ... we-know-it

Everything that has been said about Barkha here applies in even greater force to Vir Sanghvi. The case against Barkha with regard to the Cabinet applies to Vir as well, but in his case the evidence goes further.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 04 Jan 2011 05:19

How dare ‘a little magazine’ accuse Forbes India of plagiarism!

Now see this image

The image to your left is of the cover of Pragati’s October 2010 issue published online on October 1st 2010. The image on your right is from Forbes India’s December 2010 special issue, published on December 17th. Clarke Kent has been changing to Superman for several decades now, but Forbes India’s use of the visual metaphor, in a similar context came two months after our October issue.

I—and this is my personal opinion—think that this is not a coincidence. To me it looks like Forbes India copied our cover, and I said so in a tweet on New Year’s eve.

At Pragati we believe we are selling ideas and not magazines. Every issue of our magazine is available under a Creative Commons license for non-commericial use. We also allow commercial publications to reprint our articles free of cost (but after getting our permission, which we generally give if the original author allows). Since our contributors write or draw for Pragati out of passion, I think we owe it to them to ensure that they get due recognition and credit for their work.

In this case, our October 2010 cover is unique because it was entirely the work of Aditya Dipankar & Anuj Agarwal, a team of very talented designers. Usually I play a major role in designing the cover, but in this case, Aditya and Anuj pitched this concept to me, which I approved with some changes.

Peter Griffin wrote to me this evening. He apologised for his remarks but maintained that my accusation of plagiarism is “completely unjustified”. He has published a part of this in his blog. This is as courageous as it is correct and gracious.

On the charge of plagiarism, I have shared with him some information that caused me to suspect that there is more to this than mere coincidence. I am assured that he will look into the matter with the seriousness it deserves.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 04 Jan 2011 09:05

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/ ... near-farce

A little dated... but i just came across this retort by Manu Joseph.

Everything that Barkha Dutt says can be cut by 750 words. Last Tuesday, I thought the figure was higher as I sat among three other editors and listened to her answer questions from us. I was there because NDTV had invited me to join the festivity of Dutt defending herself against the allegations that followed Open’s X-Tapes story. They were good hosts but for minor issues like the fact that the back of my chair reclined 180 degrees, the volume of my microphone was low, and every time I spoke I always heard a familiar woman’s voice. In her filibuster, Dutt raised some questions I did not answer because I wanted her to first answer me in a way that was not farcical. (She even offered me a free lesson in political journalism, which I declined).

She kept asking whether it was good journalistic practice to carry ‘raw material’ like telephone transcripts. The answer is yes. Also, as a celebrated television journalist pointed out to me after the show, NDTV is very enthusiastically covering the Wikileaks story. So, why the pretence of moral outrage against the Radia tapes coverage?

Murugan · Post by **Murugan** » 04 Jan 2011 15:44

conversations were part of a ‘journalistic process’

Seems this journalistic process has costed both their columns in HT. for time being HT has stopped publishing articles by these people.

karma fruit ripened very fast in their case.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 10 Jan 2011 08:21

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/ ... g-us-along

But in Delhi, its powerful are in what mathematicians call ‘a non-zero-sum game’, where every player’s best strategy also takes into account the best strategies of all the players. This is the type of human network corporate lobbyist Niira Radia was a part of. This is the reason why the national media headquartered in Delhi could not tell the story of how Radia lobbied for A Raja. The media was a part of her system. In such a game, all the players are in a mutually beneficial balance. It is called Nash Equilibrium.

A section of Delhi’s media has said that the Radia story has misrepresented a common journalistic practice. Journalists do speak to sources, and sources need not be good persons. When Barkha Dutt, one of the journalists in conversation with Radia, was asked why she did not report what Radia was doing, she said that she “did not see the story”. Radia was a source, like any other important source, and it did not strike Dutt that the source was the real story.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 16 Jan 2011 22:30

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 298907.cms

Journalists, whose names have cropped up in the 2G scam tapes, will face the public accounts committee, PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi has said.

Joshi, in an interview to Aaj Tak, said, "Editors and senior journalists who have incriminated themselves in a way on the 2G scam tapes will be summoned by the PAC", Joshi said.

He added that the telecom scam had caused huge losses to the exchequer and that if the taped conversation points towards someone, the PAC would summon that individual.

The conversations between certain journalists and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia tapped by I-T officials and leaked to media have been severely criticised by people and political parties but this is the first time the PAC chief has clearly said that journalists whose names have emerged will be grilled.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 20 Jan 2011 05:52

Reader Kollery S. Dharan forwards two screengrabs, shot with his mobile phone, of the 10 pm shows of NDTV 24×7 and CNN-IBN on Thursday, 13 January 2011.

Both channels carry the “live” logo on the top right-hand corner. And “live” on both channels at the same time on the same day is the diplomat-turned-politician Mani Shankar Aiyar.

For Barkha Dutt‘s show The Buck Stops Here (left), Aiyar, in a grey coat, offers his wisdom on the dynastic democracy that the writer Patrick French says India has become.

For Sagarika Ghose‘s show Face the Nation (right), Aiyar, now in a beige/ light brown coat, holds forth on Pakistan’s identity crisis. The two pictures were captured at 10.22 pm and 10.23 pm.

So, which channel had Mani Shankar Aiyar “live” last night? Or has Aiyar broken the time-space continuum?

http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2011/01/ ... iyar-live/
vir sanghvi has written about it before the radia gate scandal.

Once you understand how the sim-sat works, many of TV’s mysteries will be cleared up. How, for instance, do the same people manage to turn up on different channels simultaneously? Why is it that even when panelists ask pointed questions of each other, some of them are never answered?

I pass no value judgements about the sim-sat phenomenon. As far as I know, every single television channel does it. It is part of the everyday routine of news television. In some cases, I am pretty sure that the anchors phrase their questions much more aggressively when they repeat them live to make themselves look good. That, too, is part for the course.
My experience of international TV is limited but I doubt if the BBC would do this. Nor do I think that sim-sats are common on American television.

So, why do we do it in India? Is there no alternative? And shouldn’t there be a debate about the practice?

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 23 Jan 2011 04:27

Hindu terrorism- a journalist agenda

Many of these journalists are not interested in analysing this phenomenon and the investigation made so far. They are only interested in exploiting it to suit their own agenda.

This pernicious practice of agenda and motivated journalism, which came to the fore during the recent dissemination---one does not know even now by who and why--- of the tapped conversations of Niira Radia, the lobbyist, has acquired new dimensions in the wake of the leak of the confession made by the Swami.

I now sense a new wave of anger in sections of the Hindu community over what they perceive as attempts being made by the Congress (I) and some agenda journalists to exploit the confession of the Swami to divert attention from the serious threat of jihadi terrorism that we still face and to whitewash the horrendous crimes of the jihadi terrorists, including the July 2006 explosions in some suburban trains of Mumbai and even the 26/11 terrorist strikes.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 23 Jan 2011 05:24

India is finally seeing the birth of alternative journalism

Some journalists get confused and start believing that they make the news, rather than just reporting it. This, and journalistic groupthink, has led to a skewed discourse: India’s supposed ‘centrists’ would be considered ‘far Left’ elsewhere. Their conventional wisdom is curiously anti-national as well.
“All the news that is fit to print” simply isn’t printed in India; only that news is printed which supports a particular viewpoint. Besides, those who do not toe the line are blackballed: you cannot get published. Several people have told me their personal experience of being excluded for their views.
This perverted system engenders a persistent anti-India bias in international media, too. When in India, foreign correspondents interact primarily with Delhi’s insular, incestuous sling-bag-wallah-journalist nexus that sneers at middle India; their endemic prejudices infect the foreigners too.

Self-important scribes became concerned about their image on Twitter. When they were not given fawning adulation, they began abusing the Twitterati as cave-dwelling illiterates or “Internet Hindus”, showing their habitual scorn for the ‘little people’. One even threatened people with IPC 509, “insulting the modesty of a woman”, simply for questioning her dogmas.

who is this

One of the sock-puppets, some minor Bollywood type screeching #stopabuseontwitter, showed himself to be a hypocrite by making crude sexual suggestions to a woman online, and then running for cover when someone brought up IPC 509.

Will the emergent people’s media in India play a similar role? That would be poetic justice — he who corrupts the media falls to its new, web-enabled incarnation. The establishment, naturally, will fight this: a new push to monitor Internet usage may lead to a great firewall of India, stifling the new medium

hope the literacy levels improves along with socio economic conditions when people can access alternative mediums along with traditional media. will have fun then

Virupaksha · Post by **Virupaksha** » 23 Jan 2011 06:02

http://zoomindianmedia.wordpress.com/20 ... -die-hard/

Times now/Arnab do not lag behind in such "tweet manufacturing"

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 25 Jan 2011 10:50

Paid news used in Bihar Assembly elections recently.

‘Paid news' at work again

In what could be described as the disturbing trend of “news against cash” in some sections of the media, the Election Commission has found that several candidates in the recent Assembly election opted for “paid news” for their campaign. In response to notice, they admitted the charge and included such expenditure in their returns.

Though Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, who revealed this at an international conference on “best electoral practices” here on Monday, did not name the State, EC sources said the reference was to Bihar.

After the EC issued 86 notices, several candidates admitted the charge and included the expenditure on “paid news” in returns. “But this again is just the beginning of what looks to be an intriguing and long struggle.”

“Paid news” could best be addressed by “self-regulation” by the media and political parties but that was not happening. The EC was concerned at the undue influence “paid news” could exert on voters.

They are showing the same belief as the Toilet of India that there is nothing wrong in what they are doing.

Inder Sharma · Post by **Inder Sharma** » 25 Jan 2011 11:05

Self-important scribes became concerned about their image on Twitter. When they were not given fawning adulation, they began abusing the Twitterati as cave-dwelling illiterates or “Internet Hindus”, showing their habitual scorn for the ‘little people’. One even threatened people with IPC 509, “insulting the modesty of a woman”, simply for questioning her dogmas.

who is this

That would be Shogarika ghosh, also called aunty 509 for her capricious threats to sue anybody who questions her.

On a side note, please dont sue me aunty.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 01 Mar 2011 01:02

DNA is a joint venture between Zee news and Dainik Jagran.

DNA is showing the on its mast head that it is not paid news site.

will they survive the intense media competition.

Are they foolish or brave with lots of moolah to tide over it.
Anyway welcome change.
Hope always springs eternal.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 01 Mar 2011 02:03

http://www.edelman.com/trust/2011/
http://www.edelman.com/trust/2011/uploa ... 20Deck.pdf
http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2011/02/ ... ewspapers/

The 11th such survey conducted, the media is the biggest loser in India among the four sectors surveyed, other three sectors being business, government and NGOs.
Trust in Indian magazines is at 95% against 93% for newspapers, 90% for TV news, and 81% for radio. The barometer reported a 25% dip in trust in business magazines and TV news, and a 21% dip in trust in newspapers, in 2009, in the wake of paid news, private treaties, medianet and other infirmities.

Online search engines like Google command 93% trust, indicating that most people prefer to search for the facts themselves and trust search engines to help them. Corporate communications such as press releases, reports, and emails show trust levels of 86%.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 21 Oct 2011 18:36

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15398431

India 'paid news' lawmaker disqualified

India's Election Commission has for the first time disqualified a legislator for not disclosing expenses spent on favourable media coverage during an election in 2007.

Umlesh Yadav has been barred from contesting polls for three years.

She is accused of not disclosing money spent on "advertisements masquerading as news" in two newspapers.

The controversial issue of politicians paying for favourable media coverage has come to be known as "paid news".

Correspondents say it has also dented the image of several large media houses.

A Press Council of India report cites several examples of politicians paying newspapers and television channels to buy positive coverage of their campaigns.

Mrs Yadav, wife of businessman and politician DP Yadav, is a politician in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

She was a candidate for her husband's party, the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal, and elected from Bisauli assembly constituency.

The Election Commission also found Mrs Yadav guilty of exceeding the limit of campaign expenses.

A candidate is not allowed to spend more than 1m rupees ($20,000; £12,600) on campaigning.

ritesh · Post by **ritesh** » 12 Nov 2011 12:07

If only people follow the precedent set by Lok Sabha TV.

Nice views set forth by Sunit Tandon.
http://thepracticebrew.wordpress.com/tag/paid-news/

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 11 Feb 2012 19:36

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?279884

It’s getting bigger by the day. If the sheer number of notices sent by the Election Commission to candidates and media houses is any indication, paid news is big news in the assembly elections in Punjab. By the time polling came to a close on January 30, the commission’s media monitoring committees (MMCs) in the districts had issued some 300 notices. More than 200 of those served notices have even admitted to paying or accepting payment, the candidates among them agreeing to show this spending in the Rs 16 lakh they are permitted to spend on canvassing.

It seems everyone does it, and most quite freely admit it too. Notices were issued to candidates after MMCs set up in each district tracked election-related coverage of candidates. The broad criteria adopted to identify paid news were: consistent coverage of a candidate in a particular newspaper; similar wording in the coverage of a candidate appearing in different newspapers; or the appearance of more than one news item about a candidate on a page. One committee at the state level scanned election coverage by TV news channels and clamped down on “suspect” programmes.

Many a media house based in Punjab has been rattled by the Election Commission’s first-time effort to curb paid news. Nevertheless, media watchers say what has been exposed is just the tip of the iceberg. “The flip side of the EC’s strictness in accounting for advertisements put out by candidates is that now there are very few candidates’ ads in newspapers or on TV channels,” says Kanwar Sandhu, managing editor of Day & Night News, a TV channel. “Instead, candidates either pay local correspondents or get paid news inserted.”

gunjur · Post by **gunjur** » 29 Feb 2012 20:54

Apologies if already posted.
Our Media Needs A Radical Change

Certain excerpts

Once one of my friend disclosed his disbelief on how I can spend hours together only watching News channels on TV; to which I replied – ‘I love whatever that is handmade’. The news that we see on TV now-a-days is more off an effort at fabricating a mole and build a mountain out of it.

Pioneer in selling themselves and their moral is a certain broadcaster named NDTV.

A fart of Rahul Gandhi is showcased as a decisive accomplishment towards the national growth and a game changer moment while successful implementation of Sarva Sikshya Aviyan in Karnataka is no big achievement.

Why our media always takes up the negative trait? Why there is a close nexus between outright foolishness and our media houses?

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 01 Mar 2012 20:01

krisna wrote: DNA is a joint venture between Zee news and Dainik Jagran.

DNA is showing the on its mast head that it is not paid news site.
will they survive the intense media competition.
Are they foolish or brave with lots of moolah to tide over it.
Anyway welcome change.
Hope always springs eternal.

Joke of the century that they are free of paid news

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 02 Mar 2012 01:52

http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?280111

H.S. Bawa, one of Punjab’s leading Punjabi journalists, becomes perhaps the first journalist in the country to resign from his job on the ground that he was being forced to get paid news by his newspaper management.

Media houses, candidates, the Election Commission and paid news made for a disturbing mix in the recently concluded assembly election in Punjab. Almost everyone agrees that the malaise of ‘paid news’ was more than ever before this time and that the monitoring agency, the EC in this case, could uncover just a small bit of it. (The Cost of Democracy) But just how big it really was became evident when the affliction took its first toll. HS Bawa, one of Punjab’s leading Punjabi journalists, quit as the bureau chief Jalandhar region for Rozana Spokesman (RS) on the ground that he was being forced to get paid news by the newspaper’s management. He could well be the country’s first journalist to do so.

Bawa had been headhunted by the RS from the popular Jalandhar based Ajit newspaper in June last year, at a fat pay packet. Eight months later on 31st January, just one day after polling, Bawa wrote a letter to the newspaper’s editor in chief, Joginder Singh detailing the reasons for leaving. “I have always been an independent and objective journalist and my reputation is well known in Punjab. My journalistic ethics did not permit me to either blackmail or coerce candidates to get paid news for the newspaper. I feel that by continuing in this organization which encourages journalists to sell news, I will be damaging my professional reputation built on many years of hard work.”

He told Outlook, “Ever since I joined I was under pressure to get advertisements which I did, because in the vernacular media houses where I have worked, it is common for journalists to get commissions on the advertisements they get for their publications. But once the election campaign started, they began asking me to sell ‘packages of paid news’. The newspaper’s managing director Ms Jagjit Kaur used to call me several times a day to tell me that they are disappointed with my poor output on packages. I was clearly told not to cover any candidate who had not bought a package of Rs 10 or Rs 15 lakh from us. Because of this, our election coverage of Doaba region which had dozens of prominent candidates was incomplete. But not once was I chastised for poor coverage. ”

The newspaper responded by telling him that as their highest paid journalist “you have not done anything noteworthy which justifies your high salary. You were reminded again and again that you have not got even 1/10th of your targeted business and most of your stories are biased and not up to the mark.” Joginder Singh editor in chief of the RS dismissed his reporter’s resignation saying, “This is the allegation of a journalist who was on the verge of being castigated for non performance. We were in the process of issuing him a written reprimand but he got wind of it and resigned before that.”

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 05 Mar 2012 08:27

Something very strange that i experienced about Times of India.
A kind of censorship which they are doing. You will not believe it. But try it yourself and you'll experience it. Such a shameful thing done by the Media.
I was reading an article
Low income deterrent for Muslims in higher education: Survey
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 140768.cms

Then in the comments section. People do have commented like

family_planning (india)
55 mins ago (07:15 AM)
There is a Muslim auto rickshaw driver in my locality. He has two wives, one in a neighboring city. Each of the two wives has 7 children each. And now if he cannot afford the college tuition of his children, then whose fault is it?

Saha (KL)
2 hrs ago (06:08 AM)
Plight of Hindus in Pak--------------------from tribune, a pak newspaper-----------"KARACHI: Dozens of Hindus took out a rally and staged demonstration outside the press club in Pannu Aqil on Sunday against the alleged kidnapping and forceful conversion of Rinkle Kumari who was named Faryal. Faryal and Naveed Ahmed Shah fell in love, eloped and went to Daharki to Mian Mohammad Aslam of Bharchoondi Sharif. However, nineteen-year-old Faryal’s father, Nand Lal, had told the Mirpur Mathelo police that she was kidnapped by Shah, who lived in Sufi Mohallah. Mian Mohammad Aslam, the son of Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Mian Abdul Haq had said that the couple had visited him on Friday and the girl had expressed her desire to convert to Islam and marry Shah. Aslam informed the girl’s father and asked him to meet his daughter to confirm her wishes. The couple was taken to the Dargah Aalia Qadria Bharchoondi Sharif where she had embraced Islam. Pir Mian Abdul Hayee alias Mian Shaman had solemnised the nikkah. Mirpur Mathelo DSP Syed Abbas Shah was informed about the marriage. Faryal’s uncle had admitted that the family was informed by Aslam about her wishes to convert to Islam but he remained adamant that she was under pressure to say so.
When you click on the Agree button, it will not count your vote.
You click again and it will reduce the vote of Agree by one.
But disagree works perfectly.

Can you imagine such things?
Such shame. And this is done by a respectable media house. A media house whom the people trust. The Times of India. What a shame. Spread the word guys. Let the world know the true color of Times of India. Ask people ot stop reading this Times of India. Tell them about these kinds of dirty things done by this Media.

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 09 Mar 2012 22:29

Not sure if this belongs here of psy-ops thread.
Articles in the Indian Media Category
A collection of links with biased reporting.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 25 Mar 2012 02:40

it may eventually reach the point where in America just a few large "news" networks have a monopoly on TV stations.

they broadcast propaganda for the powers that be like banking crooks to steer public opinion and keep the masses confused & ignorant.

kapilrdave · Post by **kapilrdave** » 23 Aug 2012 15:18

The business of news is at its peak in Gujarat due to coming Assembly elections. Local papers are full of kongi propaganda - to the extent that even the rural people with lesser education are able to differentiate between news and the twisted news. The news papers have turned into "(paid) opinion papers". It seems like con has decided to do ANYTHING to defeat Modi this time so that Rahul doesn't have to face him in 2014. For that they have resorted to their favorite commie tactics. Free house, free land... and what not.

member_23629 · Post by **member_23629** » 23 Aug 2012 15:40

^^^ Congress is like a giant squid wrapped around the face of India.