The relationship between Gujarat chief minister Narendra Damodardas Modi and the media, especially “English maedia” as he puts it, has followed two distinct trends over the last ten years. The first trend was of unbridled distrust on either side. Modi had nothing but contempt for those who sought to buttonhole him on the ghastly incidents…
Monthly Archives: October 2013
”The Hindu’ situation had become irremediable’
The “professional” editor may have been eased out by redesignating him; the services of the “professional” CEO may have been summarily terminated; and the front page of the paper may have returned to its past. But The Hindu saga is not over yet. After six board members on the 11-member board of Kasturi & Sons…
‘Anchoring news is easier than acting in a movie’
A number of male news journalists (Sashi Kumar, Prakash Belawadi, Dibang, Ravi Belagere) have slapped on greasepaint for roles in front of the camera in recent times. At least one Telugu anchor (Udaya Bhanu) has starred in an item number. Now, Sheethal Shetty, the peppy newsreader and presenter on the Kannada news channel TV9, is…
Why do academics look down on journalists?
Renuka Narayanan makes a case for journalism in the Hindustan Times: “There is that palpable feeling that the profession of journalism is not always given its due by academics, administrators and those with professional degrees, as though their jobs are more foundational to the race. “Is it not correct however that many tenets and rules…
TOI impact? HT restores cryptic crossword!
When The Times of India took the long ladder down in the late 1990s, among the things its brand managers knocked out was the cryptic crossword with barely a squeak from readers, editors (and TOI receptionists!) who had grown up on it. No such luck with the Hindustan Times. The paper may have long buried…
‘Hindu family’ chucks out ‘professional’ redesign
Four days after The Hindu board summarily decided to pause its ongoing “professionalisation” process, the Mount Road Mahavishnu has reverted to its previous design, as promised by chairman N. Ram in a tweet (below). On the left (top) is the October 21 issue, the last with Varadarajan at the helm, and on the right is…
‘The Hindu’ issue more complex than you think’
Predictably, the “private” TV news channels do not have too much on the resignation of Siddharth Varadarajan as editor and removal of Arun Anant as CEO of The Hindu after the family-owned newspaper decided to restore status quo ante on Monday. Newspaper reports have been sketchy and superficial, and web interviews and Twitter feeds of…
In a family-owned paper, only furniture is fixed
Nothing is what it appears to be in the thicker-than-water but funnier-than-fill-your-metaphor-here world of family-owned newspapers. Siddharth Varadarajan, installed as editor of The Hindu in a G.Kasturi-N.Ram putsch in 2011, ostensibly to professionalise the paper but allegedly to prevent Malini Parthasarathy from ascending the throne, has resigned dramatically via a Twitter announcement. “With The Hindu‘s…
The ex-journo who cast ‘Shah Rukh’ in a film
Former print and TV journalist Janaki Vishwanathan, whose first Hindi film Bakrapur has a goat named Shah Rukh, in an interview to Tehelka magazine: What draws you to your topics — child labour and devdasis? My training as a journalist made me pick on something that has a basis in reality. Also, I ceased to…
Why Jug Suraiya doesn’t buy Hindustan Times
There are many reasons why people buy newspapers (and inshallah, newsmagazines). To be part of the shared conversation; to get an organised view of the world; to keep up with the Joneses; to get news and views and ads; to be educated and engaged and entertained. Jug Suraiya throws light on another reason in The…
HT, Mail Today, and Kumar Mangalam Birla
On the morning after the central bureau of investigation (CBI) named industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla in the coal allocation scam, the news is the page one, lead story, in The Times of India, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Financial Express, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, The Pioneer, Business Standard…. But not the Hindustan Times…
‘International Herald Tribune’ becomes INYT
The legendary International Herald Tribune (IHT) has published its last print issue today with its current mastead. From tomorrow, 15 October 2013, it will be sold under the name-plate “International New York Times” (INYT). IHT’s name-change isn’t the first. The New York Herald, launched in 1887 in Europe, became the New York Herald Tribune, which…
How a BVB journalism course shaped a writer
Shashi Deshpande, the Bangalore-based short story writer and novelist, on how journalism shaped her writing, in the Indian Express magazine on Sundays, Eye: Do you remember how your writing career began? And how you became a journalist? I was working as a trainee with the Onlooker when a colleague asked me, ‘Why don’t you write…
Is ‘Modi Media’ biased against Rahul Gandhi?
In a cash-strapped election season which has seen “corporate interest and media ownership” converge, it is arguable if Narendra Modi is getting a free run. Every whisper of the Gujarat chief minister and BJP “prime ministerial aspirant” is turned into a mighty roar, sans scrutiny, as the idiot box ends up being a soapbox of…
When a Delhi journo joins New Yorker, it’s news
India’s bankrupt politicians routinely detect a “foreign hand” behind every disaster that befalls the nation. The Indian media, on the other hand, has been somewhat blessed to benefit from foreign hands on the deck. Caravan the defunct-fortnightly from the Delhi Press group which was reborn as The Caravan of longform journalism three years ago was…
Look, who’s putting up a statue for press freedom
Of all the noxious fumes that emanated from the coal allocation scam that hit UPA-II in 2012, was the perils of political and business interests of media owners and groups, which extend beyond the media. For, among the impressive list of beneficiaries of “Coalgate” was the name of Vijay Darda, the Congress MP who runs…
Will The Telegraph, Calcutta, be around in 2024?
The news of former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav being sentenced to five years in jail for the fodder scam under his watch was reported in the same old way by most newspapers which think readers do not have access to radios, TVs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Not The Telegraph. The Calcutta newspaper,…
How to say ‘goodbye’ to a departing Editor
The following is the text of the internal email sent by Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief of the India Today group, to announce the exit of Business Today editor Chaitanya Kalbag. Like his 2010 letter announcing the exit of the group’s Bombay bulwark Mohini Bhullar, Purie’s letter is remarkable for its civility and graciousness in acknowledging the…
Why TV will never, ever, replace newspapers
A mannequin for a garment company clothed entirely in used newspapers, at Terminal 3 of Delhi international airport. Yes, “wearable” screens are on the way but pigs will fly before you can make a rose out of an LCD screen.
A ‘mile-high experience’ for the hack-pack
A picture tweeted by the prime minister’s office (PMO) of the media scrum accompanying Manmohan Singh, as he answers questions in mid-air on his way back home after a five-day visit to the United States. Among those identifiable, Raj Chengappa, editor-in-chief of The Tribune, Chandigarh (in suit, ahead of mikes); Jayanta Ghosal of Ananda Bazaar…
IJR 