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     Dhonifan Side Hero Username: Dhonifan Post Number: 3382 Registered: 12-2012 Posted From: 74.83.60.128 Rating: N/A |
Case Study 3: Ganging up against Rao This case study involves a Prime Minister. A year after P.V. Narasimha Rao died, one of his sons â I donât remember which one â visited a close friend of mine at his Greater Kailash office in New Delhi. This friend was a former colleague who had started his own publishing company. After Raoâs death, the Congress â or rather the Gandhi dynasty â had started to airbrush out Raoâs key role in Indiaâs economic reforms. It was Rao who had encouraged the unsure and wavering Manmohan Singh to go ahead with liberalisation. But as the first anniversary of Raoâs death approached, there was a complete blackout by the Congress. To borrow George Orwellâs term from the novel 1984, Rao was now an âunpersonâ. To set right the record, Raoâs son tried to buy a full page ad in a couple of leading New Delhi papers, to showcase the late PMâs contributions to the nation. But for some reason, his cash wasnât good enough and neither of the two newspapers would touch the ad. It was only after he was stonewalled by the media that Raoâs son came to my friend and sought his help in buying ad space. The point is not whether he succeeded in getting space. The point is the Indian media â in this case the owners â ganged up against a late prime minister. See how deep is the rot? Case Study 4: The television salesman This happened during my stint at India Today (1999-2001) where I was an assistant copy editor. Every year, the magazine had a Diwali special which had a feelgood cover story on the mega deals available for the middle class. When the nearly 3,000-word story landed in my inbox, it didnât take me long to edit as it was a well-written story by a senior writer. However, one paragraph struck me as rather odd as it mentioned the prices of two flat screen televisions being introduced by a leading company. Not only was the pesky para not germane to the story, it looked like a 200-word thumbs up to the stock market punters. It made the entire article look like a paid advertorial. I deleted the sentence and ran it past the writer who re-inserted it before sending me the approved copy. I yet again got rid of the para and sent it for production. When the layout proofs were sent to the writer, he called me up and asked me to add that sentence again. I said maybe he was just being helpful to the reader but some would look at it as a plug. He hung up and called my editor, demanding that he introduce the para. Finally a compromise was arrived at. The para was retained but with some of the more blatant plugs removed. I remember a senior colleague commenting: âEither a brand new TV or a large amount of cash has changed locations in Mumbai.â Presstitute spotting You get the picture. Arnab Goswami, Shobhaa De and Barkha Dutt can rail all they want, but they are no role models. Dutt was caught on tape scheming with Nira Radia on how she could help broker political deals. Shobhaa De is a soft •••• writer; to call her a journalist would be a crime. Goswami believes journalism is all about high decibel repetitive yelling. Rajdeep Sardesaiâs shameless provocation of a pro-Modi crowd should be a textbook study on how to get lynched on the sidewalks of New York. Now check out this list of eminent journalists â Dileep Padgaonkar, ex editor of Times of India; Harish Khare, the media adviser to the last prime minister; Ved Bhasin, editor, Kashmir Times; Harinder Baweja, former India Today writer; Praful Bidwai, experienced columnist with communist leanings. All of them were regular guests of Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was arrested in 2011 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US for acting as the front man of Pakistanâs Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The Pakistani spy was arrested in a suspected influence-peddling scheme to funnel millions of dollars from Pakistan to US lawmakers. According to the FBI, Fai âtook dictation from his mastersâ in Pakistan. He received at least $4 million to manipulate the Kashmir debate in favour of Pakistan. These Indian liberals and media figures had been attending conclaves and meets organised by Fai, at the ISIâs instance, to oust India from Kashmir. You be the judge. What would you call them for acting against Indiaâs interest? Donât get me wrong. Most of us journalists are kosher and just want to do a good job, be acknowledged for our work, and hope that our work will make a difference to the country. Many of us routinely turn down bribes and wonât accept junkets or even a token gift. I know this senior editor at The Hindu who in my presence banged down the phone on Mulayam Singh Yadav because the UP chief minister had dared to invite him for a âcup of teaâ. (Unfortunately, he has become a communist apologist today.) There is a Rediff writer who prefers to live in a one-bedroom apartment because thatâs preferable to taking bribes from political parties. âCan you imagine how soundly I sleep,â he said with a wink. There is a close friend who doesnât mind that all he has to show after 30 years of journalism is a two-bedroom flat in a DDA enclave in Delhi. He refused to be part of his editorâs plan to blackmail political leaders by using his amazing investigative skills. In 2002, I turned down a Rs 50,000 bribe from a builder uncle who said, âAll you have to do is get a one column article published in HTâs business pages.â I kept my phone off the hook for a week. What I did was no big deal. Most of Indian media is honest and upright. However, there is a tiny co-opted minority of journalists who are in bed with politicians, foreign agents and corporates, and are a huge problem. When Gen V.K. Singh talks about presstitutes, heâs on the money. Further reading In need of a Leveson? Journalism in India in times of Paid News and âPrivate Treatiesâ? India Media Buries Paid News Report Paid News âGood morning! Your paper is free of paid news!â Note: Swarajya believes in freedom of speech, which lies at the very core of the concept of blogging. So we carry a diversity of opinion in our Blogs sections. This does not mean that the editorial or management teams of Swarajya necessarily agree with the opinions expressed by the authors 2495WORDS61980191.4k Related posts indian-muslims-poorest-505x269 The Warped Minority Debate Bhanwari_Devi_marriage_295x200 Badge of shame 3950711830_4b9aaf584d AFSPA and the debate in vacuum Why so didactic? Some popular myths revisited Current Issue Feb 2015 Cover Featured Writers Dhruvan Political economy of Corruption-A real TN case study Meera Ramanathan Meera Ramanathan Amma Express Rajaram Muthukrishnan Rajaram Muthukrishnan Dismantling the Empire â Brick by Brick? Rene Vark Personal Inviolability and Diplomatic Immunity in Respect of Serious Crimes Thousands of Swarajya readers receive the evening dispatch. Have you subscribed? Featured 1 swach bharat a Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Municipal Challenges 2 0d44ca3d59f86f9fade8a3187806fb66 Antony Gormley and his Chamber of Panchakosha 3 4410979169_7ce0741c2b_o Of Media Aristocrats and Broken Compasses 4 Mind Games Authors | ||
| Farmer Junior Artist Username: Farmer Post Number: 90 Registered: 04-2015 Posted From: 162.252.85.172 Rating: |
aaa vk singh ollu balisi kottukuntunnadu | ||
| Blundersucks Side Hero Username: Blundersucks Post Number: 2146 Registered: 02-2013 Posted From: 165.160.2.20 Rating: N/A |
money and ego talks.. ee desa charitra choosina emunnadi garva karanam, Nara jaathi charitra samstam , parapeedana parayanatvaM | ||
| Tilak Megastar Username: Tilak Post Number: 26426 Registered: 02-2012 Posted From: 49.207.190.100 Rating: N/A |
Well compiled. The rot is deeper. Ee scenario ki saraina tag line .. "viluvale aasthi" .. (pakkana pedithe/paduko pedithe) Narendra Modi, Pradhan Mantri, Bharata Ganarajya - www.pmindia.nic.in - www.narendramodi.in | ||
| Thikka_sankara Hero Username: Thikka_sankara Post Number: 18850 Registered: 02-2012 Posted From: 106.208.139.160 Rating: N/A |
Good one... keka link: fikileaks, | ||
| Awara1984 Side Hero Username: Awara1984 Post Number: 3624 Registered: 12-2010 Posted From: 125.16.29.3 Rating: N/A |
http://blogs.swarajyamag.com/2015/04/15/the-presstitute-file s/ |
