Indian media houses which were splurging cash as if there were no tomorrow a few months ago are suddenly running around as if ants are in their pants which is on fire. Suddenly all plans are off or on hold. The current mantra is downsizing, right sizing, cost-cutting, rationalising, streamlining, even scrapping. Suddenly, “visionary” managers…
Monthly Archives: December 2008
The best of the year that was. Or so I think.
Pradyuman Maheshwari, group chief editor of exchange4media, has compiled the best of the year gone by. It is a personal choice, not a jury verdict. And the winners are… Best English newspaper: The Times of India Best business newspaper: Mint Best Sunday newspaper: The Hindustan Times Best newsmagazine: India Today Best business magazine: Mint Best…
‘From Karachi, this is Chand Nawab, Indus News’
The piece to camera, or P2C, is a vital item on the curriculum vitae of television journalists. It is a correspondent’s signature on a news story, and like with all signatures, they range from the sublime to the ridiculous. K.R. BALASUBRAMANYAM forwards a Pakistani TV journalist’s hilarious bid to record a P2C before a train…
Happy birthday, Phillip George Knightley
Phillip Knightley, the legendary investigative journalist, is celebrating his 80th birthday in Goa today. Australia-born Knightley was a special correspondent for The Sunday Times for 20 years (1965-85) under Sir Harold Evans and a leading member of its Insight investigative team, which broke the Kim Philby and thalidomide scandals. In his memoirs A Hack’s Progress,…
Pseudonymous author spells finis to Mint editor?
PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: Journalists at Mint, the business daily launched by the Hindustan Times group as “an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian dream”, are in a state of shock after the dramatic weekend announcement of the resignation of its founding editor, Raju Narisetti (in picture), less than two years after…
Who will book the offender on the wrong side?
This news photograph of an zoo elephant on the run on the streets of Mysore, shot by NAGESH PANATHALE of the Mysore bureau of the Kannada daily Vijaya Karnataka, has bagged the second prize in the journalism category at the national photography salon 2008 organised by the Photographic Society of Madras as part of its…
How TV9 wrecked a superb medical program
ASHWINI A. writes from Bangalore: The role of television channels during the live coverage of the Bombay terror attack has been the subject of vociferous debate in the media with experts and news consumers accusing the channels of being voyeuristic, insensitive, irresponsible, etc. However, what the 24-hour Kannada news channel TV9 did by the act…
Happy birthday to a very young photojournalist
The acclaimed photojournalist T.S. Satyan, turns 85 years young today, 18 December 2008. sans serif joins the world in wishing him a very happy birthday, and many more. *** Tasveer, the art gallery, is marking the occasion with an exhibition entitled “A Long Exposure”, which feature a collection of Satyan’s photographs, from December 19 to…
‘TV coverage heightened public outrage’
The sociologist, Dipankar Gupta, in Mail Today: “Though there are many who would find fault with the way the electronic media covered the bloodshed in Bombay, it is also a fact that they heightened citizen anger against politicians of all hues. When the ordinary viewer saw the vulnerability of the unprotected citizen against the Z-level…
Photographers’ Collective to push child rights
PRESS RELEASE: The non-governmental organisation CRY (Child Relief and You) has formed a Photographers’ Collective to bring to light the issues of child rights and invites photojournalists to join in the endeavour. A panel of eminent photographers will select 25 applicants from Bombay, Poona and Goa to kickstart the proceedings. The objectives of the Photographers’…
‘A kiss from the widows & orphans killed in Iraq’
An Iraqi journalist threw a pair of shoes at US President George W. Bush at a media conference he was about to address with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. The Associated Press reports that “the president was not hurt in the incident”. “This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” the reporter, later identified as television…
In case you need to make a very quick speech
The orator’s briefcase public address system and 29 other must-have gifts for journalists, unveiled on http://www.10000words.net
‘Do terrorists sit around watching television?’
Did the non-stop television coverage of the terror attack on Bombay reveal operational details of the commando operations, endanger the lives of hostages, intrude into the personal lives of victims and relatives, etc? In today’s Indian Express, the founder of India TV, Rajat Sharma, claims he tried an interesting experiment last Saturday. He invited a…
Three words that cheered up Reuters journo
Sourav Mishra, the Reuters journalist who was reported dead in the shootout at Leopold Cafe in Bombay on November 26, has survived to tell the tale: “I heard what seemed like a blast and something hit me hard on my back. I panicked and ran out through the nearest door. Out on the road, I…
The power of a really great interview is musical
The British broadcaster, Michael Parkinson, who as a chat-show host for 36 years “met everyone” there’s to meet, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, London: “People talk about great moments, so you think of interviewing Muhammad Ali. But the really great moments for me have been musical ones. “To sit next to Luciano Pavarotti…
NDTV: ‘Navy chief’s comment defamatory’
New Delhi Television (NDTV) has issued a formal statement on the criticism of the channel for its coverage of the Novemebr 26 attack on Bombay, in particular the old charge dredged up by the chief of the navy staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, of the channel endangering lives in Kargil by asking a military officer to…
Bombay: The best and the most disappointing
Pradyuman Maheshwari, the group editor of exchange4media, has ranked the Indian media for coverage of the attack on Bombay. The winners: Best English television channels: Times Now, CNN-IBN Best Hindi channels: India TV, Aaj Tak Huge disappointment: NDTV 24×7 (English), Zee News (Hindi) Best newspaper coverage: DNA Bombay Most disappointing newspaper coverage: Hindustan Times Best…
How the Sakaal Times dream became a nightmare
PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: Nothing is bringing home the seriousness of the global economic downturn to Indian media practitioners better than the breakneck speed with which media plans are being revised or revoked. Just a few months ago, it all seemed hunky-dory—a 20 per cent growth for the media and entertainment industry in…
‘Who is to blame for media hysteria on terror?’
PRESS RELEASE: The Delhi-based Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP) has organised a panel discussion on “Who is to blame for media hysteria on terror? Journalists or viewers?— Lessons from the Bombay Siege” on Friday, December 12 at 3 pm at the Press Club of India on Raisina Road. Speakers include Vinod Mehta, Rajdeep Sardesai, Mahesh…
‘The media is not the message. Viewer is king’
The aftermath of the terror attack on Bombay has seen the tiresome game of shoot-the-messenger being played with great glee by news consumers who were lapping up the non-stop coverage only hours earlier. Questions have been raised over the media compromising the safety of commandos by getting too close to the action or giving out…
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