Information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari‘s proposal for a “common examination” for journalism students, with a “licence” to practice journalism at the end, gets the full treatment (a pocket cartoon and an editorial) from the Indian Express: “There are enough closed societies where Tewari’s suggestion would appear commonplace, where governments are unconcerned by the dilemmas…
Tag Archives: Suvarna News
Asianet journos, editors must declare assets
On the day the Indian Express in New Delhi has exposed how the “paid news” rot runs deep in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, Rajeev Chandrasekhar‘s Asianet News Network (ANN) has announced steps “to restore confidence in media” and urged all other media companies to follow suit: *** PRESS RELEASE: In the current backdrop of some cases and…
South media baron among top political donors
Mobile phone turned media baron and member of Parliament, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, continues to be a prominent donor to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, according to a list compiled by the asociation for democratic reforms (ADR). Chandrasekhar, an independent member of the Rajya Sabha elected with BJP support, who owns the Malayalam news channel…
How to launch a TV channel at half the cost
On the New York Times site India Ink, Raksha Kumar writes on how the Kannada news channel Public TV got launched: “I got these lights for just 40 rupees each (76 U.S. cents) when Wipro closed one of its branches in Bangalore,” said H.R. Ranganath, chairman and managing director, pointing at the ceiling. “These cubicles,…
Journalists vs journalist in Bangalore free-for-all
PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: A veritable dogfight has broken out in Bangalore between a 24×7 Kannada news channel owned by the MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and the owner-editor of a weekly Kannada newspaper. On the surface, the dispute is over credits for a recently released Kannada film. But, deep down, the spat has served…
How Kannada TV channels hit back at lawyers
After the free-for-all in the Bangalore courts on Friday, in which lawyers took the law into their own hands, clobbering reporters, stoning OB vans, etc, all the 24×7 Kannada news channels—TV9, Suvarna News, Udaya News, Janashri, Samaya, Public TV, News 24—blacked out their screens for two minutes at 8 pm and ran a uniform message…
Editor declares assets, liabilities on live TV
Even as a question mark hangs over the heads of many editors and journalists, H.R. Ranganath, the chairman and managing director of the newly launched Kannada news channel, Public TV, has declared his assets and liabilities on live television, with his tax consultant sitting alongside him and reading out the list. Ranganath—former editor of the…
This is the chief minister, and here’s the news
Karnataka chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda inaugurates the Kannada news channel, Public TV, in Bangalore on Sunday by reading a news item from a laptop computer. The channel is headed by H.R. Ranganath, the son of a southern railway employee in Mysore, who rose to be editor of Kannada Prabha and Suvarna News. Photograph: Karnataka Photo News Also read: Is there space for another…
Porngate: How BJP MLA blacked out TV, papers
A battle royale has broken out between the two leading Kannada news channels over who broke the porn video scandal, involving ministers in the BJP’s “gateway to the south”, Karnataka. Market leader TV9 ran a news item on its 9 pm primetime news show on Wednesday, complete with a visual of its head honcho, Mahendra…
Media baron donates most to parties after Birlas
The Economic Times has run a list of companies who made legal donations to political parties in 2009-10 based on a list compiled by the association for democratic reforms (ADR). At no.2—ahead of even the Tatas and ITC—with a total donation of Rs 12.5 crore (Rs 10 crore for the BJP and Rs 2.5 crore…
Rajeev Chandrasekhar picking up Eenadu TV?
For a paper which turns its nose at news about the rest of the media, The Times of India has a strange item on its business page, news of the mobile phone entrepreneur turned member of Parliament, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, evincing some interest in Ramoji Rao‘s Eenadu television chain in Andhra Pradesh. The ToI report comes…
Nothing romantic about a candle-light newscast
Loadshedding, power cuts, outages, 2-phase supply etc are near-permanent words in the lexicons of news organisations in a country where electricity shortage is an everyday occurence. So how can the media bring some life to such a routine news story? In Karnataka, where scheduled loadshedding will be in force from today, Suvarna News, the 24×7…
Guess what I bought my girlfriend on Feb 14?
Ordinary mortals buy roses for their beau on Valentine’s Day. Sons of the soil buy TV news channels. Well, that’s what Bangalore Mirror, the tabloid from The Times of India stable is reporting. Former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, son of the former prime minister and “humble farmer” H.D. Deve Gowda, already runs a general…
Rajeev Chandrasekhar buying a Malayalam daily?
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the mobile phone baron turned media entrepreneur, is spreading his news media presence wings some more in the South. After buying Asianet News in Kerala and launching Suvarna News in Karnataka, the Rajya Sabha member is about to obtain controlling stake in Kannada Prabha, the Kannada daily owned by the New Indian Express…
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…
Bangalore journos named in site allotment scam
It’s raining scams across the country—and the media is increasingly getting caught in the downpour with its pants down. In just the last few weeks, newspapers, magazines and TV stations have stood accused of conflict of interest, outright plagiarism, questionable business practices, and equally questionable journalistic practices. In the backdrop of the Adarsh scam in…
Everybody loves (to claim credit for) an expose
Indian television news channels, whose fortunes rise and fall each week, routinely advertise their ratings “victory” after each major event: the Union budget, the general elections, the Obama visit, etc. It looks like newspapers are quickly following in the footsteps of television in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, and this even as the Supreme Court…
Tomorrow’s news today: spot the difference
PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: The first clear indications of the shape of things to come at Kannada Prabha, the struggling Kannada daily of Manoj Kumar Sonthalia‘s New Indian Express group, have appeared on its imprintline today. What, till yesterday, used to be an “Express Publications (Madurai) Ltd” publication (left) has overnight become a…
Rajeev Chandrasekhar eyeing ‘Kannada Prabha’?
PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: Bangalore’s media circles are abuzz with rumours that Kannada Prabha, the struggling Kannada newspaper owned by the New Indian Express group, is being eyed by the Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who also owns the 24×7 Kannada news channel Suvarna News. Obviously, there are no confirmations or denials of…
From the scriptures into your drawing room
24×7 news television took another small leap at the cremation of the Kannada movie star Vishnuvardhan in Bangalore on Wednesday, 30 December 2009. Priests conducting the final rites of the devout star chanted vedic hymns into the microphones of the Kannada news channels which were broadcasting the ceremony live. Video grab: courtesy TV9
IJR 