The world’s largest advertising carrier in today’s Chennai edition :

 

To copy editors at ToI, repeat slowly

IIT – Indian Institute of Technology – elite, academic institutes that

offer..bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, management and other disciplines. The IITs are also known for world-class research.

ITI – Industrial Training Institutes, are

training institutes which provide training in technical field and constituted under Ministry of Labour, Union Governament of India. Normally a person who has passed 10 standard (SSLC) is eligible for admission to ITI. The objective of opening of ITI is provide technical manpower to industries. These persons are trained in basic skills required to do jobs of say operator or a craftsman

and use common sense, there is no point giving free bus passes to IIT students – there are too few of them to make a difference electorally. On the other hand ITI’s are more numerous, have a lot more students who may look kindly on the State for ‘free’ bus travel !

As I have said earlier on this blog, the ToI seems to have got rid of most of its copy team, and replaced it with the edit function on a word processor or a DTP software !!

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Dictionary.com has around 76 known usages of the word cast.

I am reproducing 6 of those here, do check out the rest – they too are illuminating !

–verb (used with object)
1. to throw or hurl; fling: The gambler cast the dice.
2. to throw off or away: He cast the advertisement in the wastebasket.
3. to direct (the eye, a glance, etc.), esp. in a cursory manner: She cast her eyes down the page.
4. to cause to fall upon something or in a certain direction; send forth: to cast a soft light; to cast a spell; to cast doubts.
5. to draw (lots), as in telling fortunes.
6. Angling.
a. to throw out (a fishing line, net, bait, etc.): The fisherman cast his line.
b. to fish in (a stream, an area, etc.): He has often cast this brook.

It has 6 different uses of the word caste :

1. Sociology.
a. an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups.
b. any rigid system of social distinctions.
2. Hinduism. any of the social divisions into which Hindu society is traditionally divided, each caste having its own privileges and limitations, transferred by inheritance from one generation to the next; jati. Compare class (def. 13).
3. any class or group of society sharing common cultural features: low caste; high caste.
4. social position conferred upon one by a caste system: to lose caste.
5. Entomology. one of the distinct forms among polymorphous social insects, performing a specialized function in the colony, as a queen, worker or soldier.
–adjective
6. of, pertaining to, or characterized by caste: a caste society; a caste system; a caste structure.

Times of India – the world’s leading English Language newspaper – as a part of its austerity drive, has gotten rid of its dictionaries as raddi, and its copy editors have been deputed to make chai -as a part of their head count rationalisation measures. All very commendable, and possibly explains this story :

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@vijaysankaran tweeted on, well, twitter :)

@calamur give toi a break:-)..they think of cast all the time. Diol bole cast on set, wanted star cast, katrina cast with srk, ….:-)

I could say a 100 things or more – but i guess a picture speaks more than words :)

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The person i feel sorriest for in 24 hour news channels is the Sound Recordist. Having to hear our esteemed ‘news anchors’ screech their way through various issues – must deafen the strongest of ear drums.

Of all the news channels, there is none more screechy than CNN – IBN – i can hear it 2 rooms away – when my mother has it on in the hall. i keep wondering why they don’t use an audio limiter .

Over the weekend, they – like every other news channel – milked the SRK controversy for all it was worth, and the decibels were higher pitched than normal. Wall to wall discussions on a non-issue – with the view of boosting up their TRPS’. Nothing wrong in that – so long as we, the audience understand that they are in the business of making money -and take everything that they say with a bag of salt. They want higher TRPs because that means more money.

But, that is not the problem. The problem is hypocrisy. Look at todays’ blog by Sagarika Ghosh, No checks please, I’m a Bollywood star

Perhaps the wonderfully talented Shah Rukh Khan, beloved of millions, should limit his superb skills to doing what he does best: making great movies and enhancing the silver screen. His lectures on geo-politics, America’s role in the world, security procedures and international diplomacy are a little bit hilarious. So you endured a bit of questioning at Newark because your baggage hadn’t arrived on time, Shah Rukh? So what? As Meghnad Desai said on Face The Nation, what’s the big deal? Be like APJ Abdul Kalam and just get on with it.

I take it that “Face the Nation” is a programme on their channel. and they get Meghnad Desai on – he btw is an Academic, Historian, Economist & widely read – to comment on this ????

Now, given that she and her fraternity & sorority – across news channels – had blanked coverage on this- made SRK into some sort of a martyr, and vilified some poor immigration clerk – i find it kind of absurd that she is trying to take the moral high ground by attacking Shah Rukh Khan. So, they are using him for two days to rail at the American system. And, then they are using him to rail against the Indian system. Manufacturing News if not Consent !

Maybe, Mr.Shah Rukh Khan – or any other celeb- ought to take the Paris Hilton route with news channels. You have used my image, and my name to make money – pay me ! Seriously.

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I was telling someone the other day is that the saddest conclusion that i have reached is that the most honorable institution of them all is the Government.

Ultimately, no matter how venal, power mad, inept, or corrupt the are – sooner or later they are accountable and answerable to the people. They lose their jobs, retract their statements, are forced to back off from trampling our Constitutional rights. All we have to do is scream a bit … and they usually end up listening, especially if it is close to elections.

Amongst the insitutions that has rapidly lost my trust, espeically in the last two years, is the broadcast news media. Between the Prince episode, the Arushi Murder Case, running recorded footage with live bugs, with the 26/11 coverage – i have stopped watching TV news. I read magazines, i read newspapers and I read blogs.  I do these because i have far more faith in the credibility of those who write – than the credibility of those who produce and package news on TV.

When you begin to sell TRP’s instead of credible, reliable, non sensationalized content (remember words like journalism, ethics, reportage), then you are selling a product, and rules that apply to the rest of the world apply to you.  This includes getting product attributes criticized.

As a consumer if i tell you that i don’t like your product because  a part of it is screechy, emotional, inaccurate,  irresponsible and all over the place then maybe your job is to improve your offering instead of threatening to sue the customer for defamation.

The Ambanis didn’t sue the customer for laughing at Reliance Mobile 6 years ago, they fixed the service. Tata’s didn’t sue the customer for pillorying the Indica when it first launched. They made a better car (btw  i own an Indica Marina). Maybe, NDTV needs to introspect and figure why so many of its natural target audience found its reportage appalling. And, maybe they need to fix it.

And to those who took the call to threaten the individual with legal action:

Imagine  – if the Government behaved with you the way you are behaving over Chyetanya Kunte .Imagine your outrage, your self righteousness and your defence of the “Freedom of Expression. And then remember that media organizations enjoy the same ‘freedom of expression’ as individuals. There are no other separate provisions. And understand, that  in attacking our Rights you are destroying yours.

I feel sad that the journalistic  insitution built up by Prannoy Roy has come to this. Really, really sad.

Also read

Desi Pundit – the are running the story & reactions here

Blogbharati are running the story and reactions here

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Like most others in blogosphere, I too read Barkha Dutt’s passionate defense of reportage on News Channels. My first response was to Fisk it. Wikipedia quotes Eric S. Raymond from the the Jargon File:

A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form.

As i began scanning through the justification, i mentally made notes. It was going to be a line by line rebuttal. the post began taking shape. I began typing it out. And then I stopped. What am I becoming ? Does Fisking really serve any purpose but to polarize opinions even more?

It is not about absolutes. It is about a continuum in which we all want to coexist, live, play, work and be happy. It is not about digging yourself into a hole or painting yourself into a corner. It is about meeting people and ideas half way. It is not about shouting someone down. It is about conversation, dialogue. The aim is not sarcasm, or wittiness or getting into a ‘tu tu mein mein‘ zone. It is not personal. It is not aimed at one person and their reportage, but a system that is failing us, as much as the politicians are.

The News media are the fourth estate. They are the watchdogs on behalf of civil society. They are supposed to keep a look out for when the state or the system messes up, and they are supposed to make us aware of lapses. they are supposed to be unbiased, neutral and a means for the audience to get timely reliable information.

Their role is not to pally up or be part of inner circles – they can’t by definition. Their role is not to gloss over the truth, because their patrons will get offended; and their role is not to cover the peccadilloes of the rich and famous to the exclusion of everything else. Their role is not to scream about the stable door after the horse has bolted, but before. The reason i am bringing up something that most bachelor level students of the media will know and appreciate is because the News Media in general and TV News media in particular has forgotten it.

So Let’s start with basics. Unedited footage, with a spur of the moment commentary, in situations like this, is dangerous. This is not a cricket match. This is National Security .

The basic defense is that mistakes were being made because it was a 60 hour coverage under tense, dangerous and emotive conditions. I appreciate the difficulties of 60 hour coverage. But, I don’t think that anyone asked the media to cover the issue live non stop. There were other stories breaking. A cylcone in Chennai that left 75+ dead (I could be cynical and say that slum people drowning is not news) , a dangerous situation in Thailand, where many Indians travel , elections in parts of India. As, Anjali Deshpande and S.K. Pande of the Delhi Union of Journalists point out:

The media behaved as if the country was so terrified it came to a standstill. As if Madhya Pradesh did not go to polls, as if Delhi did not vote, as if a former Prime Minister, V P Singh, did not pass away

Was there other news? Of course. But, the desire to keep viewership up by upping the pitch, and trying to vie with each other to get more gruesome and gory, won the day.

NDTV English continued showing the operation. It also took us to the scene outside the Trident. There Barkha Dutt spoke to the Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil asking him for details. She asked him whether there were any Indians among the hostages. RR Patil said he could not disclose information for it could affect the security of the people held hostage. Patil also pointed out that firing from outside could give away the direction from, which security forces were approaching the building. Despite that the channel showed where the commandos were hiding behind pillars! …..Whatever happened to the earlier decision to not telecast live in the interest of the ongoing operation?

There is something terribly scary about unedited footage going out with unedited scripts. And, when i talk about editors here, I don’t mean the function on a word processor or a the video editing system that you use to assemble a story. I mean the human who is competent and qualified to add ‘reason’ to a report. For reference of good reportage in emotional situaions, please look at Michael Buerk’s coverage of the Ethiopian famine, or Kate Adie’s coverage of Tiananmen Square, or even the US Network Coverage of 9/11. Let’s face facts, editorially 26/11 coverage was a disaster. You had live footage going on, with commentators trying to describe the events – almost like a ball to ball coverage, without the knowledge & insight that a cricket commentator has on the game.

Bring in systems that prevents this. News, has to go through an editorial filter. Having your editor on the ground sending out unfiltered thoughts and images is really a cop out !

At the second level you have the role of watchdog. It is all very well to bay about the fact that the NSG has only one plane tucked away in Chandigarh. now, that the delay has happened and the deed is done, let me ask the media – our watchdog- a question – Were you sleeping for all these years? Where is your reportage on things that impact us and our security? Where is your reportage on corruption? Where is your reportage on why Delhi houses aren’t really earthquake resistant – and what will happen there if there is an earthquake tomorrow ? How much petrol goes walkies from the army everyday ? Why is it that you aren’t asking why people are dying in floods 60 years after independence in a Capital city ? What can be done to prevent it? Where are your North Eastern Reports? Where are your features on Naxal activity? Where are your exposes on human right violations ? Where are you on people who make a difference, beyond the Page 3 crowd ? Is Saif Ali Khan’s tattoo really more important than this country and its people?

The sacrifice of news in the altar of ratings is again something that needs to be addressed at a policy level. Maybe a different metric needs to be evolved for news media, that is apart from the metric used to measure entertainment. Maybe news channels need to sit with agencies and clients to evolve this. There has to be a political will within the system to do that. I hope that they find it before it is too late.

The next is the issue of Responsibility and Common Sense. ‘The Government did not tell us to stand away’ is like one fifth standard play ground excuse. The analogy I will give you is with drinking and driving. Many of us didn’t drink and drive, even before it was an offense. If the Government had cracked down on media coverage, the response would have been ‘ they can’t catch the terrorists, but they cracked down on us’. What would you have the security forces do ? Get the situation in hand, or babysit a bunch of people who should have known better.

And what about its irresponsibility in inflaming passions. Whose idea was it to put Simi Garewal’s statement on ‘flags in slums’? She should not have made the statement. But, the broadcasters definitely should not have carried it. What are you trying to do? Start a riot – would that mean more TRP’s. Again, my question is, where is the editor ? Where is editorial ? Does it still have a role to play in news media ? This is the same kind of irresponsible behavior that had got us all inflamed during the Arushi case.

I hope that all of us are aware that News has become a platform for polar opposite Views. Not views that will come to a consensus, but views that will try and drown each other out with their decibels. They find nutcases on both sides of the spectrum and it is a free for all orgy of bad behavior! Because, when people behave badly, audiences watch. The same is the case with entertainment channels? But, at least they are more honest. They don’t occupy the moral high ground like news channels or journalists. They know that they are selling TRP’s and they fine tune their content accordingly. What is your excuse?

At the next level is this entire thing about Nation – India, Bharat. Why is there such media bias towardsMumbai and Delhi. Is it because your friends live here? Why are 60,000 people dying in Naxal attacks not news ? Why is 30% of our districts under Naxal control not an attack on India. Is it because they don’t drink at the Taj or Trident ? You need to answer the question whether you are metro news channels or National News Channels. And, maybe only National News channels have exclusive access to certain kinds of news !

And, finally sensitivity. Put your self in the shoes of Mrs. Karkare, Mrs.Kamte and Mrs.Salaskar – and ask your selves one question – how did they find out that their husband died ?

I believe in freedom of expression. I believe in a free and independent media as a cornerstone of a Democratic Republic. I believe in plurality of voices, opinions and thoughts. And, I believe that the news media, as it exists currently, is a threat to these . Because of their consistent bad behavior, their lapses as a watchdog, their irresponsibility and their insensitivity they are going to curb all of our freedoms. I wish that sense will prevail. I hope that they agree to bring in a code of conduct, i hope that they build a consensus for marketing and selling news differently, and i request the best among them to go and train the next generation.

Others on the role of the media, 26/11
1) Three days of Mumbai terror reporting - The Hoot

2) When Nationalism Triumphs responsible Reporting – The Hoot

3) Media and the Elite - The Statesman

4) We, the People- The Mumbai tragedy and the English language news media - Hindustan Times The Telegraph
5) The Channel box Carnage – Indian Express

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The last post gathered a flurry of comments on both this blog and on FB where i reposted it. There hasn’t been a single comment supporting the media.

Kishore Ajwani wrote in :

This is Kishore Ajwani. I apologise to all of you who think that I demeaned the profession I belong to. This was not about me, or MICA, or Mumbai, or my news channel. It was about India and I take full responsibility for all the things that I am being blamed for. I can only submit that I would try to ensure that such conduct is not repeated if I happen to be in any such situation ever again. I know nothing that I do or say can assuage the feelings that I would have hurt. I am sorry.

Thank you Mr.Ajwani. It is nice to see decency in journalists. After seeing the coverage on TV i feared for your profession. thank you for restoring some of that faith.

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Sometimes Media Bias can come through in something as simple as a the difference between the headline and body copy.

This from CNN IBN

The Headline reads – “Cong Not in Favour of PM-BJP Unity : Khursheed
And the content of the article
(refer to the part that has been highlighted)

Rajdeep Sardesai: You can’t make this battle, Narendra Modi vs Congress.

Salman Khurshid: No, it is not a battle between Narendra Modi and the rest of the country. It is simply a battle of being transparent, open and accountable. I have to be accountable and Narendra Modi has to be accountable. But I think what is important is that everytime there is an incident like that, if Salman Khurshid picked up his phone and rang Arun Jaitley and Arun Jaitley rang me, things would be different. But we don’t do that. Our parties dont allow us to do that.

Rajdeep Sardesai: That’s interesting. You are saying that your parties wont allow you to build consensus? Right be honest.

Salman Khurshid: I know. I’m telling you our parties don’t allow us to build consensus.

Rajdeep Sardesai: I am glad that you have been as honest as that. Arun Jaitley would you be equally honest and say that? A Barack Obama and John McCain can stand on the same platform at least on terror.

Arun Jaitley: I think it’s about time that all of us spoke on terror in the same voice. It’s ultimately a campaign to save the country, otherwise the way you are headed is not a great path. With almost 170 distrcits under the grip of Naxalites, you have regions all over where terrorists can strike at will. This is not the time to show differences on the issue. The issue is not Gujarat. You denied that law to Rajasthan. You have a problem with Gujarat. What about Rajasthan, what about Madhya Pradesh? The fact is that India today needs an anti-terror law. Since you talk of consensus, Home Minister Shivraj Patil has been saying he needs a federal investigative agency. We are willing to look at that demand provided the federal agency has substantive powers.

as usual the option is that the person who put up the story headline, doesn’t know their job !

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Stuff that made me – in no particular order – think, chortle, smirk, snigger , slurp, nod my head wisely, with sorrow, and in a wtf mode. I shan’t identify which is what …coz it will be fun a year later to figure:

a) The Gender Divide exists in the work place in the US – not only in terms of salaries, but also in terms of power & decision making. There are surveys and action to back it up there, here it just happens. I was once told by a former (female) boss that a less experienced colleague was getting paid more than me – because he is the breadwinner. and because he had a family. I am female & single :( seriously).

b) The Great Fat Indian Wedding – at the BBC. They don’t quite know what to make of the former colony gone successful and rich. I sometimes think that they preferred it when we were poor & broke. That discomfort is definitely still there. Kind of the upper caste liberal discomfort when they have to share a table with the lower caste upwardly mobile. If it wasn’t so embarrassing to watch … it would be funny.

c) Would you pull the switch ? – a look back on the Stanley Milgram’s experiment’s

In a series of about 20 experiments, hundreds of decent, well-intentioned people agreed to deliver what appeared to be increasingly painful electric shocks to another person, as part of what they thought was a learning experiment. The “learner” was in fact an actor, usually seated out of sight in an adjacent room, pretending to be zapped.

and its link to violation of prisoners’ human rights.

d) News ‘wet’ dreams – Kay from Noose Media looks at the transference of political opinion in news reports.

e) Jabberwock’s review of Mahabharat is as entertaining as the series. I must admit that despite the kitsch i’m hooked by the series :)

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