…. are always fun (except for the newspaper concerned), but they take a life of their own when the newspaper masks the fact that it has been made an idiot, by taking the moral high ground….. 

What am I talking about…. well, it is about the famous Maliaka Arora and Arbaaz Khan break up reported in all its glory in the Mumbai Mirror yesterday.

One of the sultriest women in India is said to be single again. Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora's 10-year-old marriage has gone kaput. Buzz is Arbaaz has found a new love. The disintegration of one of the strongest marriages in Bollywood has sent shock waves through the industry.  ……Our well-placed source in the entertainment industry also tells us that Arbaaz will not remain single for long. He has already decided to remarry and even has a girl in mind, who is, incidentally, not from the entertainment industry. When contacted, Malaika refused to comment.

Arbaaz, however, said, "I don't want to comment on my personal life or on Malaika." When we asked him whether he's planning to remarry, he said, "Why is the press so impatient? They will know whether I'm remarrying or not in due time. I will probably talk about it soon. At this moment I don't want to say anything further

 However, this morning was the retraction masked in outrage… 'we have been made a fool…but how could they, we trusted them"

 Yesterday, on the front page of this newspaper we carried a story about Malaika Arora splitting up with her husband Arbaaz Khan. We were told by none other than Malaika herself that her husband was "remarrying".

There were many reasons why we thought the story deserved front-page treatment: Malaika Arora is a huge pin-up star and Arbaaz is a celebrity in his own right, and comes from one of film industry's most-respected families. In an environment where celebrity unions crumble faster than cookies the two, who have been married for 10 years and are parents of a five-year-old boy, offered a great example of a happy family unit in the face of relentless public scrutiny.

John Updike defined celebrity as a mask that eats into your face. Apparently it also chews up your integrity. It turns out that our story was false. Not for want of journalistic rigour on our part–the reporter did what any journalist sould do on receiving a tip-off– he called up both Malaika and Arbaaz for their versions. Both, through commission and omission, lied brazenly to the reporter

Why would anyone do something like that ? The answer is simple …

Both husband and wife had been contracted by a cosmetics company to launch a skin-care product, and the campaign, unveiled on Thursday night, revolved around Arbaaz playing Adonis to his wife's Aphrodite. They used the myth to renew their vows on stage, thus the sham of remarriage.

I am not sure whether the outrage is because the journalist got played for a fool (as did the paper) or whether it is because Medianet got left out of the deal……

If you are going to publish publicity as news, then expect those who want publicity to use your paper to their own end…. 

If you are going to lie down with the dogs, expect to catch a few fleas…. 

 I haven't had such a good laugh in years….:)

Technorati Tags: Maliaka Arora, Arbaaz Khan, Mumbai Mirror

Tags: India, Indian Media, Media, Media Ethics, Media Integrity, Mumbai Mirror, News, Paid for Content, Tabloid Journalism

There are some stories that simply don’t make the news, while others more than make up for it in terms of volume……even though both may be in the same zone…..Let’s look at a few random examples:

• Amitabh Bachchan’s house getting flooded is news, 1.3 million people in Bihar and Orissa losing their homes due to floods is not news
• Prince Stuck at the bottom of a well is news, while a Dalit boy burnt alive for daring to pull water out of a well is not news
• Gay people protesting in Australia is news, Landles marching to Delhi - in the largest march since Independence is not news.
• The Sensex at 20,000 is news, companies laying off people due to the strengthening ruppee is not news.
• Discrimination against Shipa Shetty is news, Discrimination against Muslims & Dalits is not news
• Bobby Jindal is welcome news, Mayawati is not…..
• And SRK on a high protien diet to get his six pack is news……… but, millions not having any diet to speak about is not news…

And, as India together puts it:

"43.7 Million People break Guinness World Record." This is surely the stuff of which headlines are made. Nearly 44 million is a lot of people. And both Indians in general and the media here in particular usually love Guinness records. According to a recent Associated Press feature, The Hindustan Times has run over 50 stories this year about bids for Guinness records, and it is still not far ahead of the competition. The latest to join the ranks of record-seekers - or, at least, to be reported in the press as considering the possibility - is the family of Raj Kapoor. Yet the record broken by 43.7 million people did not quite make it.

Perhaps the nature of the event was the spoiler. The 43,716,440 people who together (reportedly) broke the record were participating in approximately 6540 events in about 127 countries, organised to enable people to "Stand Up and Speak Out" against poverty over 24 hours spanning 16 and 17 October. But then again here was a relatively "happy" story - that so many millions are willing to express their concern about this serious problem is surely good news. Even though the media today have a preference for upbeat stories, this one obviously didn’t have what it takes.

There is a wold that does not exist as far as journalists are concerned…. This level of blindness to a whole section of India is not just editorial mandate, it is also, at a certain very basic level, journalistic ineptitude. For a lot of young journalists who work in the metros - the villages are somewhere else, Independence happened somewhere else, and caste system does not exist. 

Maybe newspapers and news magazines ought to spend some of their money on training their personnel on the basics of India.

I would probably start a lesson by telling them that India is in South Asia and its London and New York are not its districts next to . Noida and Vashi

Tags: , India, Media Bias, Media Ethics, Media Hype

This from IndianTelevision.com

Live India, which ran into controversy after telecasting a sting operation that was subsequently declared as fake, has been issued a showcause notice by the information and broadcasting ministry. "A notice has been issued to the channel to show cause why its licence and permission to uplink should not be withdrawn for carrying out a fake sting and violating the Programme Code as well as the regulations under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995," confirms a senior ministry official, speaking to Indiantelevision.com.

This is close on the heels of the ‘editor’ of this ‘news’ channel doing a Pontius Pilot

The CEO and editor of the Live India television news channel that broadcast a fake sting operation that purported to show the alleged involvement of a teacher in a prostitution racket and set off a riot in the process said the reporter who carried out the investigation was a "criminal and breached the trust".

"The reporter kept me in dark and breached the trust. He is a criminal and a hazard for journalism," Live India editor Sudhir Chaudhary told IANS. "As the head of the channel, I owe responsibility but there is no reason why I should trust him (now). He cheated me, Uma Khurana and Rashmi Singh.

This is what happens when people who make Commander and other such thrillers, end up owning and running news channels.

Tags: India, Live India TV, Media, Media Bias, Media Ethics

this from the ToI

Delhi Police on Friday detained for questioning a TV channel reporter who conducted a sting operation on a government school teacher in an attempt to show that she was running a prostitution racket. "Prakash Singh, the television reporter of Live India, was asked to join investigation by the police but he refused. He was ultimately picked up for investigation on Friday," a senior police officer said. His detention comes a day after police arrested a girl who appeared in the TV sting operation posing as a student. She was arrested on charges of "criminal conspiracy, cheating and fabricating false evidence".

All very fine, but what about the owners and promoters of "Live India TV " - what is their punishment for having systems and processes that

a) allows for a story like this to go on, without verification. What were the editors and others doing , or is Live India TV - the bastion for unedited user generated content. b) allows an innocent person to be defamed, defaced, derided, and wrongly outed. b) through their irresponsibility and avarice, puts all our freedoms in peril.

Can we please see their broadcasting license withdrawn and heavy punitive damages for this action ? There is no point in just penalizing the guy on the ground ….. a system that allows and encourages this sort of damage ought to face the consequences. Sting Operations are needed to ensure that the system behaves itself.This kind of misuse ensures that instead of penalizing organizations misusing ’sting’ - we end up debating ’sting’ itself. And, it is time that we - instead of banning techniques, look at penalizing organisations who condone poor and faulty journalism . Misuse of journalistic powers and broadcasting licenses ought to be dealt with by the industry, the government without exceptions. And as far as the victim of this sting is concerned - - the poor teacher. stuff like this never goes away. Her name, her address, her looks are plastered all over the place. The arrest of this ‘journalist’ will not make it go away. It’s on Google — it is preserved for eternity. So how does the victim get justice — a) boil the ‘journalist’ b) withdraw the license of the channel c) deal with the owners and promoters the way the mob dealt with the ‘victim’ of the sting operation. SMS your choice to…..

Tags: India, Live India TV, Media, Media Bias, Media Ethics

the ToI - the world’s largest selling English paper - puts out a supplement where a South Indian - to be precise superstar Rajnikant - is referred to as a Southie. What next? a Muslim referred to as a Mossie, a North Indian as a bhaaiya, a Gujarati as a Gujju, a Mizo referred to as a Chinky, a bengali as a Bong, a Marwari a Maddu ? Tut, Tut.. ToI .. one really expected better from you. Maybe, it is time to let you on to a secrert. The editor is not a function on the word processor or DTP software. It is a person who knows and understands language and structure — and ensures that work put out by people like Subhash K Jha is cleaned up.

Tags: Discrimination, India, Media, Media Bias, Media Ethics

Anyone who participates in a show like Big Brother or Survivor knows that it is not a civilized tea party. It is visceral, viscious and violent (emotionally). The show is about being ‘ugly’ and letting it all hang out. Can you imagine how boring it would be if 13 people - whom you don’t know and couldn’t care a f*** about, spent 3 months being nice to each other?

So, why the furore about perceived racism towards Shilpa Shetty. What do you expect on a show like that? I would think that the purpose of putting her in the house was to get that kind of a reaction. And, i am sure that, protests not withstanding, the ratings have picked up. Which I guess, is the rationaleof the show.

I am actually amused by a lot of the outrage that the show is generating in India. Let’s say that on a similar show in India, had a celebrity with a pronounced tamil accent (madrasi accent to be precise) - do you think that team mates will not make fun of the madrasi’s accent or call them madrasi. So why is there wall to wall coverage and acres of rainforest destroyed for someone calling Shilpa an Indian and making fun of her accent. Is there no other news in the country.

Today NDTV’s main story was about this issue. Suddenly the news anchor at the studio cut to Priyaranjan Das Munshi’s press conference. The I & B minister covered 3 points a) was the ‘banning’ of AXN b) was the Gandhian ‘forgivenss’ that was granted to CNN-IBN & Sahara News over the pole dancing video and c) was a ‘private citizen’ entered into contract with ‘private company’ and she should depose at the Indian High Commission at the earliest’ comment on the actor.

NDTV - which went hammer and tongs at the broadcast bill on the grounds that it curtailed freedom of expression, ignored the first two statements (the minister wants to ban a channel and a news channel does not even comment on it - what kind of idiots do they get in the editorial team) and jumped straight to the third.

Creating a controversy out of nothing may be a good tactic in attracting short term TVR’s or minor spikes in circulation. I am not sure that it is a good long term strategy. Utlimately in a world where most news is free, am I - the consumer - really going to pay money to buy news that is not really credible? Also read Great Bong’s piece on the same -I can actually visualize such a report on the channels.

Technorati Tags: Big Brother, Survivor, Shilpa Shetty

Tags: Discrimination, India, Media, Media Bias, Media Ethics

In a world where journalists are taught that ‘man bites dog’ is news, it is hardly surprising that they will look at a 5 page academic report by the Prime Minister, and pick out the only line that they possibly understood. This morning, on return from a lovely weekend in Lonavala, we saw the papers and saw the headlines blaring Muslims Must have first claim on Resources .

"We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources,"

Obviously with the Hindi and English channels blaring the same, including "do you feel that Muslims require special treatment" you had the hysteria factor being built back into the news. And it was shocking for me because I didn’t expect someone as educated and genteel as the Prime Minister to start creating communal vote banks. I can expect it possibly of almost anyone in politics, but he never struck me as someone who is callous about the country. So I went back and read the speech - it is dry and matter of fact as most of his speeches are. But, full of relevant information. Excerpts : On the approach paper "Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth" - a key for the 11th plan

We need faster growth because, at our level of incomes, there can be no doubt that we must expand the production base of the economy if we want to provide broad-based improvement in the material conditions of living of our population, and if we are to meet effectively the rising aspirations of our youth.

On monitoring change

To emphasise the multi-dimensional nature of our objectives, the Approach Paper specifies not only a growth target but also a number of quantifiable and monitorable socio-economic targets relating to employment generation, school drop out rates, infant mortality rates, maternal mortality rates and other important indicators.

On Agriculture:

Water is a critical input for agriculture and we need to reexamine all aspects of our water economy. We are not spending enough on irrigation and what we are is not being utilised efficiently. Projects take far too long to complete and resources are spread far too thinly The central government is in the process of establishing a National Rainfed Area Authority as a professional high powered body charged with the responsibility of ensuring technically efficient design of watershed development.

On employment

We do need to provide non-agricultural work opportunities for those moving out of agriculture, but we also need to create quality jobs in the organised sector of the economy. The Approach Paper proposes several policy initiatives that will achieve a faster growth in the manufacturing sector and, within manufacturing, encourage investment in labour intensive manufacturing and also encourage units to graduate from small to medium and from the unorganised to organised sector.

On fiscal prudence

We have all experienced the painful reality of coping with fiscal imprudence in the past, and we should resolve never to find ourselves in that situation ever again. Higher levels of public spending are needed in many areas but they should and they must be achieved through improvements in revenue mobilization and greater efficiency in expenditure.

And it continues in the same vein. Rather like a chairman giving an AGM report to shareholders. Then at the end comes the paragraph on Centre State relationships and who does what. it is in this context that he says

I believe our collective priorities are clear. Agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programmes for the upliftment of SC/STs, other backward classes, minorities and women and children. The component plans for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will need to be revitalized. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources. The Centre has a myriad other responsibilities whose demands will have to be fitted within the over-all resource availability. The Planning Commission will of course undertake a thorough review of ongoing programmes to eliminate those which have outlived their original rationale, but we cannot escape from the fact that the Centre’s resources will be stretched in the immediate future and an increasing share of the responsibility will have to be shouldered by the states.

Given the findings of the Sachar Committee report, the Khairlanji massacres and the new figures on the gender imbalance in India - I am not surprised that the Government has asked the states to pay special heed to minorities. I am also glad that the PMO has decided to strike back on this issue. The speech is actually a fairly good one. If this was an enlightened democracy we would have 6 pages of op-ed on the Water policy. Gvien that we are a market place where business interests matter more than accuracy or fair reporting - we end up with half statements.

Technorati Tags: Sachar Committee, Khairlanji massacres, gender imbalance

Tags: Caste, Discrimination, India, Media, Media Bias, Media Ethics, Muslims

….. says the DNA - not in so many words, but that is more or less the take away. Some excerpts:

Come December 6, residents of Shivaji Park in Central Dadar press the panic button. Many alter their work and daily schedules, beef up security in buildings, inform schools that their children will remain absent, and literally barricade themselves inside their homes with heavy-duty locks.

Why. are the Dalits going to break in to the homes and do to the people in homes what is being done to them in their homes?

Post-Khairlanji and the subsequent riots throughout Maharashtra, this year’s gathering is expected to attract over 20 lakh Dalits from all over the country.

As the numbers swell, heart beats of Shivaji Park residents will also quicken in anticipation of the “gross” inconvenience caused during the following days.

what is gross? And why is it in quotes - is it gross because you think that the people have no right to gather or celebrate. or is it something else?

Unlike previous years, this time too a huge shamiana has been erected at the Shivaji Park grounds to house the teeming lakhs. Colleges and other places have been rented to accommodate the devotees, says Bhadant Sanghpal, in-charge of Chaityabhoomi.

Was the Shamiana erected in earlier years or is it just this year. Unlike other years what is different?

A majority of hotels and restaurants have decided to down shutters on December 6. According to a hotel manager, “The crowd is unruly. We expect more trouble this year as the situation is explosive. We will shut down the hotel that day.”

That also makes for complete business sense -20 lakh visitors land up in your neighbourhood - and you shut down operations. HOw many hotels is this - every single one in the Shivaji Park neighbourhood or only one.

Neeta Godbole, who lives close to the venue, is one of the “worst affected”. As proprietor of Neeta Godbole Classes, she decries the noise and air pollution. “There is loud music at night, people barge into buildings and dirty them, bathe in the open on the footpaths, throw food around and make life miserable for us. We cannot go out or take our cars out for fear of hitting someone. We are under house arrest all day.” According to Godbole, parents of her pupils hound her to suspend classes during this time. “We are really tired of the whole thing,” she says. “Why can’t they do something about it?”

You know the funny thing is that Mumbai is a city of celebrations & gatherings. Come December last week - the roads will be jammed with cars and people trying to get to parties. Come January it is wedding season - the roads will be jammed with people and cars trying to get to weddings. Then there is the Urs in Mahim, Ganpati, Navratri, Chatt Pooja and the big baap of all cluttered events - Holi. And, I am not even including political rallies, bandhs and other forms of spontaneous expression. I haven't really seen articles that are this patronising or one sided when it comes to their reportage. Yet, when it comes to Dalits congregating once a year to mark the anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar - they become the teeming masses that 'gross' out the neighbourhood.

I read the DNA regularly. I quite like it. But, this is a bad and biased piece of journalism - possibly influenced by the writer's own prejudices. Having said that, in this case it is not just an issue with one sided writing. I think that the editor or the sub have not really done their job in making sure that the piece is not so prejudicial.

Or does this kind of reportage reflect the values of the paper?

Technorati Tags: Dalits, Babasaheb Ambedkar

Tags: Caste, Dalit, Discrimination, India, Media, Media Bias, Media Ethics, Society

(warning: this post contains pictures that may offend the 'dignity', 'decency', and sensibility of some readers). Not Priyanka Vadera Gandhi, Not even Priyanka Chopra. But, Priyanka Bhotmange. Just a simple, ordinary girl called Priyanka who lived in a small little village called Khairlanji in the back of beyond in the state of Maharashtra. She studied in the 12th and hoped to make something of her life that would allow her to escape from the restrictions of caste, class and gender. Two months ago - on Sepetmber 29th - she was murdered. Now, she wasn't just murdered - she was gang raped by a drunken mob before that. As Shivam's harrowing post describes

four victims …..dragged away to the village chaupal, Priyanka strapped to a bullock cart. By now, men allegedly from the entire village of about 150 Powar and Kalar families had collected. Some shouted to the sarpanch to allow them to sexually assault the women.

Surekha and Priyanka were stripped, paraded naked, beaten black and blue with bicycle chains, axes and bullock cart pokers. They were publicly gang raped until they died. Some raped them even after that, and finally, sticks and rods were shoved into their genitals.

In the meanwhile

Meanwhile, Priyanka’s brothers, 21-year-old Sudhir and 19-year-old Roshan, were murdered. After Priyanka and her mother were raped, they too were murdered.

This from Shivam

They raped the women and killed all four, even as their womenfolk looked on, mute spectators to a form of justice reserved for castes lower than theirs. One woman, Sudha Dhenge, reportedly did protest but was slapped into silence. She now says she was never there.

And finally

The first photographs of Priyanka's body, that were taken by a social organisation, showed rods sticking out from her genitals. But when her body was taken to the Mohadi hospital for the post-mortem, the sticks and rods had disappeared.

Priyanka's crime - her family was Dalit and worse than that - it was a family that dared to stand up for its rights. Yet at a certain level Priyanka and her mother Surekha were also punished for being women. And how dare a woman, and a DAlit woman at that have delusions of equality? Don't we all know that historically and culturally while being a Dalit is bad enough, being a woman is worse. And God help you if you are both. Last week - my students and I were carrying out an little exercise that we conduct fairly regularly. We look at the top of mind recall stories from all the media. The students identified around 17 stories. 12 of those were entertainment or celeb oriented- Ash, Abhishek, Cricket, Rahul Mahajan. 2 of them were business - tata corus. Two of them were national/international political. And one student said Solapur. I asked what solapur and she said that some Dalits are protesting. About what, i asked. Something, she said. And my students are bright, aware and at an age where they do care about the world and get outraged about injustices. Yet they had not read anything beyond Dalits protesting. And then i did something i have never done in class. I turned brutal. I just read out part of Shivam's piece from memory - the bit where the villagers were petitioning the sarpanch to be allowed to rape the women. And the manner of the murders. There was a shocked, stunned silence. This is the first time that i have really used graphic descriptions in a class. I used to resist graphic descriptions - and given the fact that i teach media and how media impacts society - i used to be careful about explaining stuff like decency and dignity and all those wonderful terms. But, somehow this time around i realised that trying to pussyfoot around the topic is not going to help. That my students, future journalists and media people have to know what is going on and how. and so does everyone else. Family of four killed in Nagpur or Solapur does not really describe the story or its implications. And it is with this in mind i have decided to link to the pictures of the victim. A girl called Priyanka is dead. She was murdered by men who demanded the right to rape her and then kill her. The permission was granted. And we want to be polite about it? A woman called Surekha is dead. She is also gang raped and murdered. Two young men called Sudhir & Roshan and beaten to death. And we use flowery terms like 'dignity in death'. What dignity? The dead are dead, and what we are trying to do is protect the dignity of the living. Our dignity. We don't want to see a raped and murdered woman's photograph because it offends us. Not the act but the picture. I have been following the Indian blogospheres' reactions on the incident. And, almost like in a black farce, beyond a lipservice to outrage at the act - it has focused mainly on whether a blogger should have published the picture or not. As someone pointed out on beaupeep's blog

Common man wants to learn and wants to learn the essence. He can very well picturise : a dead body or what a rape or mutilation can leave behind on a human body. Are you achieving any purpose beyond disturbing his mind one bright morning.

As I said - dignitiy and decency and all the polical correctness is for us. not the dead. i hate to use the analogy of Fox News - but the fact remains that those who have been screaming about the 'dignity of death' (pray tell me what is dignified about being gangraped, having rods and objects shoved into you, and necrophilia) have really taken a leaf out of the best propagandists in the world. When the issue is important scream out a different question. A few months ago when Priyadarshini Mattoo's family was finally given justice - i asked my students a question - if the woman was poor, dalit and from the back of beyond, would there have been so much outrage and outcry. I guess i have got my answer. Other reads Shivam Vij The Great Bong Atrocity News images courtsey: The life, thoughts and teachings of Beau Peep

Technorati Tags: Priyanka Bhotmange, Khairlanji, Maharashtra, Dalit

Tags: Caste, Dalit, Gender Issues, India, Media Bias, Media Ethics, Priyanka Bhotmange, Violence