The kind of stuff that makes you choke over your breakfast. This from the world’s most read English Language Newspaper.
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Mar 312010
Mar 242010
And, finally that day has arrived …. the day we were all waiting for with bated breath. The day entertainment and news jointly mutated to become a completely different entity … newtertainment, perhaps ? As the name suggest Newtertainment , a term i just coined out of sheer boredom, to describe the heady mix of sensationalist headlines, fluffy features, and celebrity mutterings that are shown on most 24 hour news channels – that ends to end up neutering the senses and possibly the brain !
Star News is conducting a national hunt for news anchors .
From their FB page
STAR Anchor Hunt is first ever talent hunt on news platform. Star News will choose best talent of the country to anchor news shows on STAR channels through STAR Anchor Hunt
The eminent judges are:
Deepak Chaurasia – from Star News :
“one of the smartest political minds in Indian television who would often offer the most provocative take on the day’s news from the campaign trail and beyond.”
Tisca Chopra.
Kushwant Singh’s niece, is an actress who has worked in theater, television and movies.Tisca Chopra topped Hindu College, University of Delhi in English Literature.
Chetan Bhagat
the author of four blockbuster novels, Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of life (2008) and 2 states-the story of my marriage (2009).
(all the descriptors are from the Star Site )
I guess if the world’s largest selling English Language daily can have a car shaped hole through its masthead, a news channel can hunt for anchors !
I am hoping that April 1st has come early, but i fear that it is not the case !
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Mar 012010
Madh Island, Mumbai, is dotted with bungalows that are often used for shoots. They are called shoot bungalows – as compared to the private or company bungalows that dot the landscape.
We were shooting for a show called Golden Age, hosted by Kitu Gidwani – that goes on Samay Mumbai from next week. The show is aimed at an audience above 50 – and seeks to ‘empower’ them through a combination of information, case studies and representation .
(Kitu Gidwani – Golden Age, Samay Mumbai)
More on the show closer to launch date……
Being in Madh, gives you access to the beach – and with that a whole different ecosystem At one end you have shoot crews bustling and shouting out instructions …
And, at the other – across the wall- you have a much quieter mode of life – where conversations seem to be much more muted. and, people seem to have the non verbal communication of those who work hours together and are in perfect synch
A shoot – in addition to talent, equipment and crew – is also props – that give the sorroundings a different kind of ambience
Something like this simply adds a dash of colour to a frame. All those little splashes or little touches that one sees in a frame (or more likely doesn’t see) takes time to achieve.
Often, I run out of patience when propping is being done _ and I usually try one of three things a) spend time with the talent – trying to get the best out of the content. Usually the best way is through conversation on the topic – this allows for an exchange of ideas and usually a better take for camera. b) meditate – staying calm is absolutely necessary on the shoot floor. I personally have issues with loud decibels or rudeness. I push aside those tendencies with just finding a corner and meditating. c) click – another way of relaxing. I tend to shoot in interesting places, and I like documenting those places & people – and there is always enough downtime – unless I am also directing – to click
And, of course, if i am lucky – i truly get a great Arabian Sea sunset ….
Jan 142010
Once again my eye chances upon something that induces your my jaw to hit the floor and come back up in very, very slow motion. The world’s largest selling English language daily in association with the owner of an IPL team bring you this :
as my biz partner SR would point out “paidayashi aise the, ki halaat ne aapko aise banaya”.
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Jan 052010
From the ToI – sometime last year
When Sonia Gandhi hid her tears and despair behind those famous dark glasses and sat still like a nun at prayer, the embalmed body of her husband Rajiv Gandhi on a hot May afternoon of 1991, few would have imagined she would one day become one of the most powerful people on earth
am I mistaken or wasn’t Rajiv Gandhi blown to bits by a suicide bomber – and there was very little left to embalm
I wonder if a nice turn of phrase – which belongs more in a medieval romance than a national newspaper :
“hid her tears and despair behind those famous dark glasses and sat still like a nun at prayer”
justifies distorting reality !
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Oct 072009
…if people like ‘us’ (as in the elite – definitely not me ) commit a crime – even a heinous one, is it not a crime? Does coming from a certain ‘background’ absolve you of guilt ?
So why this outpouring of grief over Kobad Ghandy and Roman Polanski.
Mr.Ghandy is the member one of the leading lights of an organization that has been unleashing bloody terror in parts of India. While one accepts that conditions in these areas are terrible, and development has not trickled down and feudalism persists, the Naxals are adding to the misery of the local populations. They are virtually holding people in areas controlled by them hostage in their squalor, extorting, murdering and terrorizing local populations.
Mr.Polanski – how does one put this nicely ? – raped and sodomized a 13 year old after drugging her.
What has been strange in both cases has been the outpouring of sympathy. I wonder why we aren’t equally ‘sympathetic’ towards
Chhatradhar Mahato. or even towards Gary Glitter . Afterall, they are in the same space of activity.
I wonder whether leading publications will publish articles on the Mr Francis Induwar I knew ?
IT reminds of something my driver told me just after 26/11 – when all those candlelight marches were happening around the Taj – He aasked “VT mein candle nahin jala raha koi”?.
Sometimes I wonder if we are some other universes’ hell. Or at least their lunatic asylum .
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Oct 032009
Where there is friendship, can originship be far away ?
This from the DNA :
Am not sure if this is the DNA or PTI – but it seems as if all newspapers and news agencies have laid off the copy team.
p.s. – i don’t go looking for copy mistakes, they just rise out of the page and thump me !
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Oct 022009
rather boring three days. was at holy spirit for death by boredom and a zillion and one tests. caught up on reading and actually read the newspapers instead of getting a RSS feed. Almost died of a heart attack when i saw this :
i can’t make up stuff like this 
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Dec 102008
Two very different stories caught my attention today. Both are related to media coverage.
One was in the Indian Express by Rajat Sharma, of India TV, quoting a former Army Chief – who had come into the channel to advice producers & camerapersons on :
what precautions they should have taken while showing “live” action. My most important objective was to understand if news channels, in any way, endangered the lives of our commandos.
To my surprise, the former army chief was emphatic: “News channels did nothing wrong. Your coverage didn’t do any harm whatsoever to the commandos! I’ve handled action as a major, then as a full colonel, and finally as an army commander in anti-terrorist operations, and there’s nothing I could make out from the news channel about the strategy of our commandos.”
Frankly, I expected him to echo what some have been saying—how terrorists got valuable clues on the commando plan by watching our channels. But sample what he said: “Do you think that terrorists holed up in a hotel facing commando fire had time to watch TV?” A young reporter persisted. He reminded the general of the “widespread belief” that the terrorists were being briefed on their Blackberries by their bosses, watching our news channels. Promptly came the angry reply. “Anyone suggesting this must be mad. (Even) I could not get an idea about the action plan. Who has the time to look at TV and Blackberries when you are in the midst of gunfire?”
The second was in the International Herald Tribune, quoting Indian authorities :
And, perhaps most significantly, throughout the three-day siege at two luxury hotels and a Jewish center, the Pakistani-based handlers communicated with the attackers using Internet phones that complicate efforts to trace and intercept calls.
Those handlers, who were apparently watching the attacks unfold live on television, were able to inform the attackers of the movement of security forces from news accounts and provide the gunmen with instructions and encouragement, the authorities said.
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Dec 012008
The glee and irresponsibility with which the media handled 26/11 was watched by all. but, at what cost?
On the first night – there was CNN IBN giving a blow by blow account of the movement of the Rapid Action Force commando’s. I shouted, impotently at the TV screen, they get TV reception at the Taj. but the details increased. it is the point where i more or less muted the volume and moved to twitter.
And, then it progressively got worse. every idiot with an OB van parked themselves outside the Taj and the Trident and began not only broadcasting live from the scene – compromising the lives of the security forces & the hostages – but also began speculating and putting out rumours in the name of news.
The channels put out the identity of those inside – risking their lives. “The Global CEO of Unilever is having a meeting with his top brass at the Taj” — they blared. Luckily those people got out.
Rajdeep Saredesai screeched, on Friday, that the CST was under attack again. Half an hour later he bleated out an apology.
Barkha Dutt, the other doyen of journalism, asked a relative waiting outside the Taj if they considered the possiblity of their dear one being dead. soon she began getting emotional sounding like a frog on LSD.
As the seige progressed Arnab Gowsami resembled a screeching banshee. he mangled the news, quivered with rage and kept attacking all and sundry like a rabid dog on heat.
and, these are considered the best of among journalists.
When the Nariman house battle was on, a Hindi channel journalist – you couldn’t see his face only hear his voice – asked the commander of the NSG ” dead bodies ki condition kya hai”. The look that the commander gave him was priceless.
There was Rajat Sharma’s India TV that spent half an hour or more on the fact that the terrorists were consuming alcohol. Maybe he knew the name of the whores supplied as well… maybe he was the supplier !
And there was Kishore Ajwani or Star News. Shirish and Rajni - who belong to the same alma mater (MICA) describe it better than i can, so i will quote their open letter in its entirety here :
We remember the congratulatory mails when Kishore Ajwani became a prominent news anchor. But yesterday when we were trying to get updates about the terror attack we were aghast to hear him…
Was this a serious news guy or a pimp, peddling his wares all dressed up in garish tones? The screaming voice sounded like gleeful auctioneer raising the bids higher and higher “aur yeh 1945 ka behterin…….” though in his case the script would have probably read “Aaj ki taaza khabar, pachaas TRPs ke liye pesh hai Star News exclusive, yeh aatank ka khaufnak khel.”
Yes all news anchors were hyper, but then there is a difference between a sense of urgency and the style of delivery that Mr Ajwani used. We all know the cut-throat race for TRPs, but did you, Mr. Ajwani even stop to think that this was also a human story, a tragedy involving real people. While Rajni & I were worried about which one of our friends could be at the hotels or the airport, there you were, milking the story for all its worth, even if it meant adopting a style more suited to women of negotiable affections.
Today the scenario continued with Mr. Ajwani plugging Star News in his reportage… We know we are watching Star News, we don’t need you tell us what a great job Star News is doing reporting the carnage. As a respected anchor, do you think that during this time of crisis such a blatant plug for your channel was called for?
You, Mr. Ajwani, as a MICAN ought to have known better. Because in some way, as a fellow MICAN, it puts you and me on the same level, and frankly that’s not a level I wanna fall to.
shirish raut (PGP 1999)
rajni menon (PGP 2000)
these are the same journalists who called for the heads of politicians. but, the politicians, however bad they are, will still bow to public pressure and resign. Whom are these peddlers of death responsible to ?
To all those of you who want to be involved – write to the channel owners, write to sponsors … threaten to stop buying sponsor products if they continue advertising on these channels if these people remain. Civic action does not end with politics and politicians. it applies to all sections of society.
There is a move to take out a PIL against news broadcasters. I am going to be a part of it. At some point of time in life i was told don’t take cudgels against the media on your blog, you won’t get work. So be it. i will survive. But, as a citizen i have to do something constructive, beyond lighting candles and putting up FB status messages.
And, finally – how many people died at CST station. Do they not matter because they are the ‘masses’ – are only the elite classes who sit at the Taj and the Oberoi worthy of coverage? Or is their media bias against people whom, the media don’t hang out with?
We talk about the western response to terrorism. I followed the 9/11 coverage. the journalists behaved with dignity as did politicians of all hues and shades. There was no finger pointing Our politicians and our journalists are just venal.
Broadcast Regulations anyone ? If news broadcasters are going to act as pimps then maybe we need to look at new laws that govern these pimps …..
Technorati Tags: 26/11, CNN IBN, twitter, Rajdeep Saredesai, Barkha Dutt, Arnab Gowsami, Nariman house, Rajat Sharma’s, media bias
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