Dummy editions of The Sunday Standard, the weekly newspaper from the Madras-based New Indian Express group, have begun doing the rounds. The eight-page dummy printed on standard newsprint seems to suggest that the 21st century weekend paper will have a conventional, 1990s design. Edited by former India Today editor Prabhu Chawla, the paper was originally…
Monthly Archives: March 2011
Has Indian media aided ban on Gandhi book?
VINUTHA MALLYA writes from Ahmedabad: The ban masters are back in business. And as usual, vibrant Gujarat leads the way, but this time the Centre is not too far behind. Narendra Damodardas Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat and renowned terminator of artistic freedom, has just announced the State’s “ban” on the book, Great Soul:…
ET’s ‘Mint-killer’ sneaks in quietly on Sunday
First, a redesign of the paper. Then, a code of ethics. Now, a new look for the Sunday edition in a tabloid format. It’s all happening at India’s biggest business paper, The Economic Times, from The Times of India stable, in its golden jubilee year. The 32-page, 10-rupee paper, internally touted as the “Mint-killer”—in other…
Home truths from the man behind Sachchi Baat
Former India Today editor Prabhu Chawla continues to enthrall with his answers on the website of The New Indian Express. Volume I. No II. *** Q: I haven’t got any news on the launch of Sunday Standard in Delhi. Have you shed your plans or postponed its launch? If so, when are you going to…
The Times of India ‘apology’ for fixing report
The Times of India has said mea culpa to a story published on its website, suggesting that there was more to the February 21World Cup match between Australia and Zimbabwe. In the match played at Ahmedabad, the Aussies scored 0-5 off their first two overs and were 0-28 after 11 overs. Australia eventually made 262…
What the media toilet at PMO says about India
The state of Indian newspapers and news channels (and magazines*) can be judged by the condition of their toilets. And so, it seems, can the state of the most important address in the country—that of the prime minister of the democratic, socialist, secular republic of India. A correspondent for an English news channel forwards a picture of…
Newspapers used to bribe voters in Tamil Nadu
The second tranche of American diplomatic cables published by The Hindu today in collaboration with Wikileaks, throws light on how newspapers—yes—have become a delivery vehicle for politicians and parties to deliver cash to voters at the time of elections. The paper quotes from a cable sent by Frederick J. Kaplan, acting principal officer of the…
In the sushi bowl, even a tsunami feels good
One of the biggest earthquakes ever, registering 8.9 on the Richter scale. A tsunami wave that has killed thousands, left hundreds homeless, and destroyed billions worth of assets. And a nuclear disaster that is just waiting to erupt. But guess how Bangaloreans are being reassured that all is well in the bubble they inhabit? That,…
How The Hindu got hold of Wikileaks’ India cables
The Hindu has a massive, six-million-word scoop today. The newspaper has gained access to the 5,100 US embassy cables with the State department, thanks to Wikileaks, and has begun publishing them in tranches. (So far, only 40 or so cables relating to India have seen the light of day.) The cables, in the words of…
Why an editor took two empty suitcases to Libya
There is little doubt, as the Niira Radia tapes showed, that journalistic integrity in India is at an all-time low—despite the manifold increase in salaries—especially since the liberalisation process began in 1991 and the notional capital of the media moved from Bombay to Delhi. Whispers of editors who own power plants and mines, of reporters…
Chameli Devi Award for hounded Tehelka journo
Shahina K.K., a former reporter for Tehelka magazine, has bagged the 2010 Chameli Devi Jain award for outstanding woman mediaperson. Shahina was in the news late last year after Karnataka police charged her with intimidating witnesses in the Bangalore blasts case. This followed her report in Tehelka questioning the incarceration of Abdul Nasar Madani in…
Asian College of Journalism PG diploma course
The Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) in Madras is inviting applications for its post-graduate diploma course for the 2011-2012.
Chaos, golmaal, jugaad… all in a day’s work
The television commercial for The Times of India‘s 2011 campaign theme, “A day in the life of India“. The contest, inviting readers to send in photos, videos, cartoons, and jokes and anecdotes, also saw ToI advertise on the pages of rival Hindustan Times. . The last date for entries is March 15. 2010: ToI, Jang,…
Shoma Chaudhury in ‘150 most powerful’ list
Shoma Chaudhury, managing editor and one of the promoters of the weekly magazine Tehelka, has been named among the “150 Women Who Shake the World” in the re-launch issue of the American newsweekly, Newsweek. “Champions women in India’s celebrated newsmagazine Tehelka,” is the seven-word caption for Chaudhury. Newsweek has been relaunched this week under Tina…
The Times, they are a-slowly changing in Bombay
*** After allowing itself to become the favourite whipping “old lady” of all and sundry, The Times of India group seems to have embarked on a drive to get honest. First, a code of ethics for The Economic Times and ET Now. Now, an upfront disclosure on the pages of its City supplements—Bombay Times, Delhi…
It’s never too late to get yourself a code of ethics
India’s biggest business paper, The Economic Times, has gifted its print and television staffers a golden jubilee gift: a short and succinct 447-word code of ethics. It clearly defines, among other things, the “Chinese Wall” between “church and state”: “Our reporting and analysis is entirely independent of our advertising and investment departments (Response / Sales…
LGBTs want a public apology from TV9 chief
TV9, one of India’s most watched news networks—miles ahead of all its English majors—with a presence in Telugu, Kannada, Marthi, Gujarati and Malayalam, is in trouble once again. The channel’s racy, often breathless, coverage of news often borders on the scurrilous. Now LGBTs—lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transexuals—have hit back on a recent TV9 “sting” operation…
Why a ‘serious’ Reuters journo reads a tabloid
Although India’s print media market is booming, be it in English or the languages, the truth is that it is still the broadsheets that get bowels moving in the morning. Despite the best efforts of managers, there is a palpable resistance to smaller sized newspapers, regardless of whether they want to call it a tabloid,…
Power plans of DB Corp, Daink Bhaskar & DNA
Conflict of interest is a barely discussed topic in the Indian media, more so in the languages, where media houses operate on the unwritten agreement that if you don’t touch me, I won’t touch you. Here, in this la-la land, owners, editors, reporters, photographers et al inhabit a strange world where politics, journalism and business…
Kannada Prabha uses reader-generated headlines
“Interactivity” has been the buzzword in the English media for over a decade now. Readers have always written letters to the editor in the past, but now they also do film reviews, shoot and caption pictures, draw cartoons, ask and answer questions from other readers, take part in citizen journalist shows, post realtime comments by…
IJR 