In the latest issue of Open magazine, its political editor Hartosh Singh Bal writes on the re-appearance of former Hindustan Times editor Vir Sanghvi on the pages of the newspaper, to underline the the media’s janus-faced approach to the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 under Congress watch and the 2002 Gujarat riots under BJP rule: “Narendra…
Tag Archives: Neera Radia
Niira Radia, Mukesh Ambani, NDTV & Prannoy Roy
In conversation number #132 in the infamous Niira Radia tapes, the lobbyist whose name has become synonymous with the 2G scam, talks to M.K. Venu, then of The Economic Times, in July 2009: Venu: Is Manoj (Modi) is here (in Delhi) today also, no? Radia: Yeah, he is here, he is leaving in the afternoon,…
The “journalist” who offered a Rs 2 crore bribe?
Journalists and media houses are turning out to be key go-betweens and beneficiaries in the 2G spectrum allocation scam that has already seen a Union minister and several corporate honchos go behind bars. Several famous scribes have found themselves on the infamous Niira Radia tapes, at least one journalist’s house has been raided, and a…
What Niira Radia told PAC on Barkha Dutt chat
The 21-member public accounts committee (PAC), which probed the 2G spectrum allocation scam and finalised its draft report in a hurry, has gone into a tailspin with the draft report being rejected 11-10 and the Congress members charging the chairman, Murli Manohar Joshi, of leaking the report. Tehelka magazine has put up the PAC draft…
Scribe says tribe crossed line in Niira Radia tapes
Several print and television journalists found their voices on the Niira Radia tapes. Some expressed remorse at such a cosy relationship with the lobbyist; some like you-know-who brazened it out. Now, The Hindu reports that one senior unnamed scribe who was caught on tape lobbying has candidly admitted that what they did was “utterly unprofessional”.…
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…
Radia effect on PM’s invitees for TV pow-wow?
Prime minister Manmohan Singh‘s much ballyhooed pow-wow with “editors” of television channels to clear the air over the scams dogging his government, was, as was to be expected, a typically tepid, bureaucratic affair. Only the national English TV channels—Headlines Today (represented by Aroon Purie), CNN-IBN (Rajdeep Sardesai), NDTV 24×7 (Prannoy Roy), Times Now (Arnab Goswami)—were…
‘Indians trust magazines* more than newspapers’
Trust in the Indian media is down sharply by 15 percentage points over the last two years. One out of every two Indians distrusts what they read, see, and listen but—surprise, surprise, OK, no surprise, no surprise!—trust in magazines* is higher than for newspapers, TV news or radio. These, in short, are the major highlights…
One more claimant for the 2G spectrum scam
It is the year of the lord, 2011, but it is still not too late to claim credit for the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Nearly a week after the disgraced telecom minister A. Raja was arrested, marking the end of the beginning of the scam, today’s Indian Express carries a five-ad campaign saluting its sister…
‘Why Barkha Dutt needn’t return her Padma Sri’
Anurag Batra, editor-in-chief of the exchange4media group, in the industry journal, Impact: “Prabhu Chawla was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2003. What’s fascinating is that between 2006 and 2009, six journalists were awarded the Padma Sri: Sucheta Dalal, Mrinal Pande, Vinod Dua, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt and Abhay Chhajlani, and one Padma Bhushan, Shekhar Gupta…
Times Now. Times Now. Times Now. Times Now.
The reason more people eat hen’s eggs, rather than duck’s eggs which are arguably tastier, is that the poor, overworked hen not only lays the egg but also goes around proclaiming that it has laid one. Arnab Goswami has clearly read the old advertising principle. After the disgraced former telecom minister A. Raja was arrested…
Vir Sanghvi & Barkha Dutt: “We were targeted”
Society, the monthly lifestyle magazine of the Magna group owned by Nari Hira, has a cover story on Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt in its January 2011 issue. For the first time, the two journalists most affected by the Niira Radia tapes, appear on the same platform. In his 3-page interview, Sanghvi states: “I am…
Prabhu Chawla: A post-dated announcement
A front-page notice appearing in The New Sunday Express, the Sunday edition of the Madras-based The New Indian Express, on 23 January 2011, announcing the arrival of former India Today editor Prabhu Chawla as the editorial director of the paper. Chawla, who also hosted the Seedhi Baat show on the Aaj Tak channel, has launched…
Cash transfer scheme is already here for journos
A preferential allotment of a house or a house site to a journalist (or media house) can now be ferreted out by an RTI application. A car or a SUV is a moving advertisement. A harmless retainership for the lawyer-son can be cruelly outed by the Niira Radia tapes. A free ride in a Reliance…
Nakkheeran journo denies wife worked for Radia
When the central bureau of investigation (CBI) raided the offices and residences of disgraced telecom minister A. Raja‘s associates in mid-December, ostensibly to get to the bottom of the 2G spectrum allocation scam, Nakkheeran journalist A. Kamaraj found himself smack bang in the middle of a Tehelka story. The latest issue of the magazine carries…
Can Barkha pronounce Vazhaippazha Kudiarasu?
In DNA, Venkatesan Vembu lists his 10 over-the-top wishes for 2011. And coming in at No. 6 is Barkha Dutt quitting NDTV and joining…. Why? Here’s why: “Tired of being branded a Congress go-between for her professional “error of judgement” in her dealings with Niira Radia, Barkha Dutt quits NDTV, and is snapped up by…
It’s official: Prabhu Chawla out of India Today
Former India Today editor Prabhu Chawla‘s mysterious mass email to all contacts in his addressbook without announcing his next port of call: *** HI, This is to inform you that after 14 years in India Today, I am moving on. Next month, I will be joining an established multi-languages and multi-editions media organization. I will…
Journalist’s house raided in 2G spectrum scam
Journalistic tongues in Delhi have wagged unabashedly after finding the voices of Vir Sanghvi, Barkha Dutt and Prabhu Chawla in the Niira Radia tapes in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, but the first big piece of action seems to have come from Tamil Nadu in the deep south. The residence of A. Kamaraj, the associate…
Barkha Dutt tarred by pure malice: Khushwant
Battered by one and all but one, Barkha Dutt, the NDTV anchor caught on tape in l’affaire Niira Radia, gets some much-needed support, but from the dirty old man of Indian journalism, her Hindustan Times co-columnist Khushwant Singh. But unlike the editors guild president Rajdeep Sardesai who blamed it on “envy”, Singh attributes it to…
Why Ratan Tata hired Niira Radia’s services
In his open letter three days ago to Ratan Tata, the Rajya Sabha member with media interests, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, asked why a corporate house like the Tatas, “with its sterling character and reputation requires outside lobbyists to lobby on their behalf.” In his open letter to Chandrasekhar, Tata provides the answer on the woman whose…
IJR 