As the Chinese might say, the Indian media is living in strange times even before the advent of Narendra Modi. The Aam Aadmi Party accuses TV stations of being bought over by Modi. Sting operations reveal that opinion pollsters are willing to up their estimates of Modi for a price. News channels show unedited feeds…
Tag Archives: CNN-IBN
When a fine magazine shuts down, it is news
After 15 years of publication, Housecalls, the first-class bimonthly magazine published by the Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy‘s Laboratories, is shutting shop this year. In her editorial in the penultimate January-February issue, its editor pens a touching lament for the printed word—and the sanity that comes with it. *** By RATNA RAO SHEKAR Increasingly these days, we…
Network 18’s right-wing swing on Caravan cover
The December issue of Caravan magazine has a 16-page cover story on how the Raghav Bahl founded Network 18 has taken a turn towards right-wing politics after its takeover by Mukesh Ambani‘s Reliance Industries. Headlined ‘The Network Effect’ and written by Rahul Bhatia, who authored the Arnab Goswami profile last year, the article chronicles a…
Narendra Modi, Mukesh Ambani & Network 18
In the latest issue of Open magazine, former NDTV and Headlines Today journalist-turned-academic Sandeep Bhushan, throws light on how the television media is covering the BJP’s “prime ministerial candidate” Narendra Modi: “Several past and serving employees of the media behemoth Network 18 have told me that a heavy-duty ‘go-soft-on-Modi’ campaign is underway within the group.…
Indian Express, Shekhar Gupta & Gen V.K. Singh
For the second time in 18 months, the northern edition of Viveck Goenka‘s Indian Express (sold in the south as The National Standard) has been drawn into a blazing row between the Congress-led UPA government and the then (and now retired) chief of the Army staff, General V.K. Singh. *** In April 2012, the Express…
‘People know TV news is just entertainment’
Pratap Bhanu Mehta president of the Delhi-based thinktank, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), in an interview with Karan Thapar for CNN-IBN: Karan Thapar: How do you view the Indian media? Do you share justice Markandey Katju‘s concern, that by and large it is obsessive, it is narrow-minded, it focuses on middle class – urban concerns,…
Karan Thapar takes on Shekhar Gupta on credit
Even after a quarter-century or thereabouts of television interviewing, Karan Thapar‘s competitive edge has far from dimmed. In his weekly column in the Hindustan Times (whose failed TV venture Home TV he helped set up in the 1990s), Thapar takes offence at the Indian Express and Mail Today for not crediting him for an interview…
Do readers and viewers care for film reviews?
How much do newspaper and magazine readers, internet surfers and television viewers, care for movie reviews? Do reviews help make up their minds on whether to watch a film or not? Do reviews affect box-office returns? Does a lower rating prompt filmmakers (and filmgoers) to take a higher road? The weekend supplement of Business Standard…
Karan Thapar says ‘sorry’ to L.K. Advani (twice)
It isn’t often that journalists, especially the bold-faced names, descend from their ivory towers to admit they may have hurt a politician’s feelings. It’s even rarer to hear them say ‘sorry’ for having done so. But twice in the past week, the interviewer Karan Thapar has found the inner reserves to publicly do so, and…
‘Can the media find a middle ground on Modi?’
CNN-IBN editor in-chief Rajdeep Sardesai in his nationally syndicated column, in the Hindustan Times: “The mainstream media has always had a more uneven relationship with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. Modi’s acolytes would like to suggest that the mainstream media has always been anti-Modi and has hounded the BJP’s rising star with a ferocity that…
Now, NewsX says it is the ‘No.1 English channel’
If our TV stations cannot even put out numbers of their viewership which have a faint whiff of credibility, can they real put out news and views that news consumers can trust and believe? NewsX, the news channel which has already seen three sets of owners since its launch, is running crawlers on its screens…
Headlines Today claims it’s overtaken Times Now
In a non-stop season of scams, you would expect television watchers to switch on private TV stations to get the plain, unvarnished truth? Well, think again. Hindustan Times once again reports that the most-watched news shows between 8 pm and 10 pm are those on the state-owned Doordarshan News. The paper reports that the 8…
India’s most-watched TV news show at 9 pm is…
India’s most-watched TV news show at 9 pm is, pinch yourself, DD News! Hindustan Times reports in its gossip columns that News Night: “the primetime news show [on DD News] between 9 pm and 10 pm topped the TAM ratings last week with 66% market share, four times the channel which comes next.” Interesting, if…
Poems on anchors: this week, Sagarika Ghose
In Open magazine, Madhavankutty Pillai continues his occassional poems on news anchors. This week, his ode is directed at Sagarika Ghose, the host of Face the Nation on CNN-IBN: Salutations, mistress of the echo Blest with the force Of eyes widening until they greet the other Of eyebrows leaping like trampoline artists together Reveal to…
Arvind Kejriwal taunts Ambani on TV ‘sue’ threat
SHARANYA KANVILKAR writes from Bombay: Last month, India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and its most powerful business house, Reliance Industries, shot off a seven-page legal notice to several TV news channels for airing anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal‘s allegations against them in October and November last year. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, neither Kejriwal nor his advocate-partner,…
Poems on News Anchors: this week, Karan Thapar
In the latest issue of Open magazine, Madhavankutty Pillai continues his series of poems on news anchors. This time, the TV anchor Karan Thapar gets his attention: O, obstreperous weasel Unregenerate blight Cowering from the shock Of my hair’s white Prise your eyes From my neon necktie Prepare your deceits Get ready to fight …
Mukesh Ambani ‘sues’ TV channels on Kejriwal
SHARANYA KANVILKAR writes from Bombay: India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and India’s most powerful business house, Reliance Industries, are believed to have served a legal notice on several TV news channels for airing anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal‘s allegations against them in October and November last year. However, it is not known if Kejriwal, a former…
The many faces of Aakar Patel (as per Google)
Google now has a search facility by which you can look up images of people by putting in an image in the search window. This is what turns up when you look for Aakar Patel, at various times the executive editor of Mid-Day, columnist for Mint Lounge, Hindustan Times, Express Tribune, First Post and Open,…
The curious case of Karan Thapar and a flyover
One of India’s top voices, Lata Mangeshkar, earned a fair bit of negative publicity for opposing the construction of a flyover on busy Peddar road in Bombay because it threatened to disturb her peace of mind. Now, one of India’s top TV faces is threatening to follow in her footsteps in Delhi. On July 29,…
Another (woman) journalist bites the stardust*
Is it just our eyes—or are more women journalists catching the fancy of bold-faced names with a far higher hit-rate than their bearded, bespectacled counterparts? Prarthna Gahilote, a senior special correspondent with Outlook* magazine (and formerly with CNN-IBN), has tied the knot with the Bollywood singer Mohit Chauhan. Images: courtesy Hindustan Times, Mail Today *…
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