PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: Six minutes and 20 seconds into his vote of thanks at the culmination of Anna Hazare‘s fast-unto-death last Sunday, the RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal heaped plaudits on the media for the support it had lent to the Jan Lok Pal bill agitation by “articulating the outrage of the nation”. Pointing at the…
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Should ‘media corruption’ come under Lokpal?
The more-than-just-a-neutral-observer position taken by sections of the media on the Anna Hazare agitation has clearly begun to rile politicians, and at least two of them cutting across party lines have argued in the last couple of days that the media too must be brought under the purview of the proposed anti-corruption legislation. Exhibit A: Union…
Coming soon: ‘Deccan Herald’ from New Delhi
Bangalore’s oldest English newspaper, Deccan Herald, is launching an edition in New Delhi, making it the first South Indian publication to reach out to readers and advertisers in the North with a decidedly South Indian title. There has been no formal announcement from the family-owned group yet, but the buzz is that the edition may…
Is the media manufacturing middle-class dissent?
PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from Delhi: The media coverage of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement, like the movement itself, is a story in two parts—and both show the perils of the watchdog becoming the lapdog in diametrically opposite ways. In Act I, Scene I enacted at Jantar Mantar in April, sections of the Delhi media unabashedly…
Rajiv Gandhi birthday: 108 ads across 48 pages
PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: There is yet another advertising blitzkrieg by Union ministries and Congress-led State governments and departments in today’s newspapers on the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi‘s birthday. And it beats the number of ads on Rajiv’s death anniversary hollow. While there were 69 ads amounting to 41 published pages in…
B’lore journos, papers in mining scam report
As the epicentre of illegal mining that has already claimed a chief minister’s scalp, it was just a matter of time before the media in Karnataka too got embroiled in the dirt and grime of slush money. And sure enough, Bangalore’s oldest English daily newspaper, Deccan Herald, carries a report today which swings the spotlight…
Ex-Star News, ToI journos behind ‘Arnab Spring’
In today’s Mail Today, Headlines Today executive editor Rahul Kanwal adds another name to the roster of journalists working with the Anna Hazare campaign against corruption: former Star News anchor Shazia Ilmi. He also throws light on the media strategy adopted by the team to craft India’s “Arnab Spring”: # Never start a press meet…
The ex-Zee journalist in the Anna Hazare show
The TV and newspaper coverage of the growing anti-corruption movement has been singularly personality-driven. In fact, it is almost as if there is just one man behind it all—the 74-year-old Anna Hazare—and the four five other civil society members giving him company on the Lokpal joint drafting committee: the lawyers Prashant and Shanti Bhushan, the…
CAG names HT, CNN-IBN, NDTV in CWG report
The Times of India made news last year when it was revealed that there was more than journalistic spunk behind its aggressive Commonwealth Games (CWG) coverage. Now, the Delhi tabloid Mail Today reveals the opposite: that the soft treatment of the CWG scam by many of ToI’s competitors may have had something to do with…
N. Murali: ‘Hindu’ is run like a ‘banana republic’
N. Murali, the managing director of The Hindu, has retired after a 40-year career in the Madras-based, family owned newspaper. Below is the full text of his farewell letter to employees of the paper, in which he minces no words in describing the current phase of the paper, under the current editor-in-chief N. Ram, as…
Santosh Desai: Letting readers decide is a cop-out
Notwithstanding all the kvetching among journalists about managerial interference, there can be little doubt that B-school types are doing a lot more thinking of what is happening to the profession—and the way forward. Santosh Desai, the managing director and CEO of Future brands—and a compelling Times of India columnist—showed just why in his presentation “The…
When cricket journos call Graeme Swann’s home
In June, we saw what happens when itinerant Indian cricket correspondents following Team India on the West Indies tour landed up at batting legend Brian Lara‘s house. On the current tour of England, two of them landed up at the offspinner Graeme Swann‘s. On top is the first paragraph of Sandeep Dwivedi‘s despatch, published in…
The saplings Usha Rai planted on our Fleet Street
Delhi is celebrating its centenary as the capital of India, and a number of newspapers led by the Hindustan Times have been using the opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane. The Hindu Business Line too is running a series, and the sports journalist Norris Pritam (left) turned his eyes on the Fleet Street of India—Bahadurshah…
Why Khushwant Singh fell out with Arun Shourie
Khushwant Singh, former editor of Hindustan Times and the now-defunct Illustrated Weekly of India, on why he is no longer friends with Arun Shourie, the Magsaysay Award-winning former editor of Indian Express, in the Hindustan Times: “There was a time when I was a frequent diner in the Shouries’ household in Delhi…. At one of the…
Why foreign media broke news of Sonia illness
Few things have exposed the state of political reporting in India than the news that Sonia Gandhi is unwell. Dozens of reporters, most of whom claim more “access” to 10, Janpath than all the rest, cover the Congress party. Yet, in a throwback to the Cold War days, none knew or none told the world what was…
A photographer’s delight strikes again (and again)
There is no other way to say this: the media will miss B.S. Yediyurappa. For three years and two months, the Karnataka chief minister was a photographer’s (and front page editor’s) dream come true, striking poses with his hands, legs, eyes, clothes and general demeanour. (Thankfully, he has reassured us that he will be back…
12 Indians in Columbia J-school’s Class of 2012
There are 96 students from 39 countries for Columbia University’s MA program in specialised journalism this year, and not surprisingly, the second most number of students come from India. Link via Sreenath Sreenivasan
How The Times of India entered Madurai
When it launched its Madras edition three years ago, the 173-year-old Times of India did what its chief competitor, the 132-year-old Hindu wouldn’t be caught dead doing. Which is, associate its masthead with a “mass” gaana song—Naaka mukka—from a Tamil movie. Now, to launch its Madurai edition, ToI goes one step (and several dappan kootu…
Now, you can lick an “Indian Legend” for Rs 5
No statue may be erected in memory of a critic, but a stamp can certainly be issued in memory of an editor. K.M. Mathew, the chief editor of what was once India’s largest selling newspaper, Malayala Manorama, who passed away a year ago, has been described by the prime minister as an “Indian legend“. And…
‘Sans Serif’ joins TOI in this sincere apology
The Times of India has this “clarification” on the sports pages today, on a football official who allegedly abused a referee. Sans Serif clarifies that any resemblance between the hit song and the clarification are accidental and entirely unintentional. Image: courtesy The Times of India Also read: The Times of India ‘apology’ on fixing report…
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