MEDIA RELEASE: GroundReport.com, a global citizen journalism website committed to “democratising the media”, is looking for India correspondents. Original text news articles and photographs, especially firsthand accounts, are invited from international bloggers. All contributors will receive a share of the ad revenue, says Nathaniel Jones. GroundReport says it is fast emerging as an important news source for…
Monthly Archives: July 2008
CNN-IBN clarifies on role in cash for votes sting
Caught in the cross-fire in the cash-for-votes scandal that rocked the trust motion in Parliament on July 22, Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN, has issued a statement on the channel’s purported role. Below is the full text: “In the last week, there has been speculation over an alleged ‘sting’ operation conducted by CNN-IBN to expose allegations…
When the mighty pen starts helping the sword
Writer and lyricist Jayant Kaikini in Deccan Herald on the media coverage of the serial blasts in Bangalore that claimed one life and injured a couple of dozen: “I am angry at the way the electronic media is making use of the incident and hyping it with a view on TRPs. The TV anchors are so excited,…
Was CNN-IBN right not to air Amar Singh sting?
Tuesday’s disgraceful scenes in the Indian parliament—when lawmakers heaped currency notes of nearly $2 million to show that they were being bribed to abstain from a trust motion moved by the government—has a media angle to it. The buying and selling of legislators, it turns out, was captured on film by CNN-IBN which however declined to…
Past, present, future of civic/citizen journalism
NEWS RELEASE: What should the modern press do to reengage with its communities? How do principles and practices from the public journalism movement address that need? How could representative journalism work? What are some newer media formats being used by hyperlocal journalists? These are some of the questions that will be addressed at three 75-minute…
M.G. Moinuddin: A self-taught genius is dead
sans serif records with regret the passing away of M.G. Moinuddin, the compositor who rose to become one of India’s top newspaper designers, in Bombay on Monday, 21 July 2008. The Hyderabad-born Moinuddin was a self-taught man who counted a chance encounter with Aurobind Patel, the chief design consultant of India Today who went on…
‘There is hardly any good film criticism in India’
Adoor Gopalakrishnan, India’s most acclaimed film maker abroad after Satyajit Ray, took questions from the staff of The Indian Express as part of their Idea Exchange programme. Shubhra Gupta: How do you deal with professional criticism? Adoor Gopalakrishnan: There is hardly any good criticism. What happens is that the people who write reviews, who think…
‘At least tabloids connect with our little lives’
Dipankar Gupta, professor in sociology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, in Mail Today: “I would rather go for low-brow tabloids any day. At least they address matters that concern us and connect with our little lives…. “The popular press and the media, in general, are blamed for wallowing in sensationalism and pandering to gross readership and…
It ain’t so cute when hunters are hunted, is it?
“This is Sunidhi reporting! It’s Dr Prannoy Roy. He just got down from his Merc close to Khan Market. I can’t believe my luck. The aging ‘Father of Indian television’ is still so handsome! He has started walking towards Khan Market. Prannoy’s car is driving past the market. Wait! What do I see? A sweet little…
Thousands of words frozen in a few memories
The best of reportage work from Bangalore, done in the year gone by, will exhibited in a 3-day photo exhibition “Frozen Memories ’08” conducted by the Photojournalists’ Association of Bangalore from today. The venue is the Chitrakala Parishat on Kumara Kripa Road.
Give them what they want, even if it’s rubbish?
T.C.A. Srinivasa-Raghavan in Business Standard: “The media business is the only one where, in the standard demand function comprising price, quality and taste, the last-mentioned plays the dominent role (after price which is, of course, always important). “If consumer taste is predisposed towards rotten quality, should what constitutes good quality be re-examined? This, I think,…
‘Investors no longer care who the editor is’
The Washington Post has a new executive editor, former Wall Street Journal managing editor Marcus Brauchli. Newsweek asked John Morton, a newspaper industry analyst, on how Wall Street would view Brauchli’s ascension to the top job: “I don’t think Wall Street gives a crap about who the editor of anything is anymore. They’re not interested in…
Award for reporting on victims of armed violence
The Press Institute of India and the International Committee of the Red Cross have announced the creation of the PII-ICRC awards for reporting on the fate of victims in situations of armed violence. The article, or a series of articles on a single theme, should have been published in an Indian national or regional newspaper…
Believe him, this is ‘Experiential Journalism’
“Experiential journalism” is a word that trips off the tongues of many Indian newspaper managers. Don’t just tell the story, bring alive the event “experientially” by becoming “a protagonist rather than a mere reporter”, they write in their jargon-filled memos to editors. By this, the manager really means snap a few pictures of some havaldar…
‘If a journalist cannot write, then who else will?’
A two-judge vacation bench of the Supreme Court of India has restrained the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat from arresting sociologist Ashis Nandy, for an opinion piece titled ‘Blame the middle class’ he wrote in The Times of India in January this year. Justice Altamas Kabir: “There is no ground for harassing a journalist. Let…
IJR 