Former Outlook* publisher, Maheshwar Peri, who now runs Pathfinder Media, the magazine company which publishes Careers 360, on his friend and former colleague Tarun J. Tejpal**. *** By MAHESH PERI The stupidity of our nation gets greatly exposed with the extreme reactions to Tarun J. Tejpal—the cult following of his journalism at one end, and…
Tag Archives: Aditya Sinha
Why Aditya Sinha suddenly exited from DNA
Aditya Sinha, the editor-in-chief of the Bombay newspaper DNA has resigned, within weeks of former Times of India response chief Bhaskar Das joining the Zee group, which now wholly owns the paper. (Sinha’s departure had been preceded by the exit of K.U Rao, the long-serving publisher of DNA.) Coming at a time when the Zee…
How Bombay is skewing the media worldview
On the day the world economy was in a tailspin and the rupee was tanking, much of the media led with a spat between Shah Rukh Khan and a security guard at the Wankhede stadium in Bombay. Much of the blame for this warped worldview rests with the Bombay media, says DNA editor-in-chief Aditya Sinha:…
Aditya Sinha tears into Indian Express ‘C’ report
Aditya Sinha, editor-in-chief of DNA, in his weekly column: “There was a telephone call from my father, who lives abroad, a few days ago. He wanted to know if it was true that the Army had planned to attack Delhi back in January, as reported in The Indian Express. Don’t worry, I said, no such…
It’s a mad, ad, mad, ad, mad world in Bombay
A full-page advertisement on the back page of the Bombay newspaper, DNA, hitting out at you-know-who: From luring the brands with incentives to no-escape clauses in their advertising contracts, the industry is stooping to newer lows for gaining advertising revenue. However, at DNA, we still hold a torch to some old-fashioned traditional values. Our principles…
Are journalism’s best practices in your DNA?
On the eve of the nation’s 63rd Republic Day, the Bombay newspaper DNA, from the Dainik Bhaskar and Zee groups, devotes its front page to publicising its code of ethics. Before laying out its key principles—responsibility, freedom, independence, truth and accuracy, impartiality, fair play—the code reads: “Our Constitution, protecting freedom of expression, guarantees to the…
Swamy and his media friends (and enemies)
In the latest issue of Tehelka magazine, Ashok Malik has a profile of the “irrepressible” Subramanian Swamy, the maverick economist-politician behind the 2G spectrum allocation scam. The profile is occasioned by Harvard University’s recent decision to not renew Swamy’s teaching contract for a venomous column in DNA in July on “How to wipe out Islamic…
Is UPA hitting back at ToI, India Today, DNA?
There has been plenty of buzz in recent days that the Congress-led UPA government has quietly begun hitting back at the media for the manner in which it has exposed the scams and scandals, and for the proactive manner in which it backed the middle-class led “Arnab Spring”. There have been rumours, for instance, of…
Does DNA terror column amount to ‘incitement’?
Janata Party maverick Dr Subramaniam Swamy‘s DNA article on “How to wipe out Islamic terror” after the 13 July Bombay blasts has stirred up the T-cup. Twitter has been abuzz, and the paper’s readers have reacted in droves calling the article “irresponsible and Islamophobic”. On the other hand, Swamy—whose Twitter profile reads “I give as…
J.DEY: “When eagles are silent, parrots jabber”
sans serif records with regret the demise of Jyotirmoy Dey, investigations editor of the tabloid Mid-Day, in a pointblank shootout in Bombay on Saturday, 11 June 2011. The killing in broad daylight brings into sharp focus India’s much-vaunted journalistic freedom, positing it directly against Pakistan’s, which has seen over a dozen journalists being bumped off…
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…
‘Good morning! Your paper is free of paid news!’
In this era of mercenary managers and predatory proprietors, brave is the editor who can actually stick his neck out—at least in public—and vouch for the virginity of his product. But Aditya Sinha, the new editor-in-chief of the Bombay daily Daily News & Analysis (DNA), clearly doesn’t mind taking the risk. At least, if nothing…
Time to drop the “A” from DNA’s masthead?
For two decades and more, Samir Jain and his managers have sought to dilute the editorial page of The Times of India, ostensibly under the belief that no one reads them but actually to show the ivory-tower editors their place. But even ToI realises the imperative for an opinion page offering exclusive views when news…
Aditya Sinha on the “worldview” of Delhi journos
Aditya Sinha, departing editor-in-chief of the Madras-based The New Indian Express and editor-designate of the Bombay-based DNA, in his farewell column in TNIE: “A friend asked if I would miss Chennai and I thought, what an absurd question. Over the last four years, Chennai has become a part of me. My three teenagers have become…
Should Prabhu Chawla edit New Indian Express?
Editors, anchors, columnists, correspondents… tens of media personnel have been badly mauled in the eyes of news consumers, in the Niira Radia scandal. But do the proprietors and managers really care? Vir Sanghvi has suspended his weekly column in the Hindustan Times while merrily writing on food. The buck still stops at Barkha Dutt‘s table…
Why we didn’t air Niira Radia tapes: 2 examples
The publication of the transcripts of the Niira Radia tapes—in which the fixer of the Tatas and Ambanis talks to journalists Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt (among others)—by Open magazine, Outlook* and Mail Today has sent the media world into a tizzy. Only a brave few have been able to avoid the temptation of…
Not just about the brothers, it’s the children too
Far from being cowed down by N. Ram‘s threat to sue for the “demonstrable falsehoods and defamatory assertions” in its report on “Ram’s role and actions in developments within the newspaper group and the company“, the Indian Express continues its coverage of the goings-on in the board room of the “Mount Road Mahavishnu” for the…
Indian Express vs The Hindu, N. Ram vs N. Ravi
*** The Indian Express, Delhi, has a front-page “exclusive” on the fracas in the family controlling The Hindu, Madras. The main points the Express story (also simultaneouly carried in its sister-business daily Financial Express) by media correspondent Archna Shukla makes are: a) disagreements over the “proposed retirement” of publisher and editor-in-chief N. Ram; b) the…
In the New Indian Express, old hands get the sack
PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: Every employee loves getting an award, especially if it is in recognition of outstanding work or meritorious contributions to the organisation. And if the award happens to be a “Chairman’s Award”, the importance of the recognition is worth its weight in gold. But in The New Indian Express, which…
IJR 