… … the media silence on the Radia Tapes is deafening …<\/p>\n
For those of you watching and reading the Main Stream Media this week, life would be pretty much the same. 2 G scam, Karnataka, Some Asian Games Medals, some vague stuff about Bihar… there would have been some level of smugness about Raja’s resignation, and the gloating that everyone was number one in breaking the story, some outrage on Adarsh, but pretty much that is it … as far as big stories are concerned.<\/p>\n
The New Media, on the other hand has been bubbling over with another story – the story that has all the ingredients of a Sidney Sheldon novel, meets a Robert Ludlum conspiracy along with a Balaji Soap Opera … garnished in with a bunch of unnamed honest men & women — who work from within the system to break the scam and expose the scamsters …. all the ingrediants of a pucca<\/em> pot boiler. A story that shows how a Lobbyist managed to carry out corporate agenda by trading information and influence with journalists, industry bodies, politicians to fix political appointments, raise political outrage and fix the market vis-a-vis infrastructure.<\/p>\n But before that a synopis of the story so far:<\/p>\n Nira Radia is a lobbyist \/ PR person who has some fairly important\u00a0 clients. She also seems to be skirting the boundaries of legal behavior – vis-a-vis the third oldest crime in the world – Income Tax. The IT Department seeks Home Office permission to tap her phones. \u00a0the Tapped Tapes\/MP3’s – \u00a0got submitted in the Supreme Court on the 15th of November – putting it in the public domain. The voices in the tapes are allegedly hers and an A list of clients, contacts and confidants …..<\/p>\n The tapes are a fascinating hear. It shows how names are dropped, reputations made & ruined, deals fixed, gossip passed on and deals are made. Its’ star cast is the whose who of Indian politics, media and business.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n yet there is a more or less media black out on the story – except for a few media companies.<\/p>\n Open Magazine<\/a><\/strong> , in its on-line version, carried this story on the 18th of November – an action that promptly crashed the server. The Outlook<\/a><\/strong> carried a far more detailed version of the same story, with more audio clips attached. Zee News<\/a><\/strong> & DNA<\/a><\/strong> had some coverage, as has India Today<\/a><\/strong> … but the India Today coverage<\/a><\/strong> left out the of one of its head honchos<\/a><\/strong> – you can hear it here<\/a><\/strong>. . But otherwise, it is pretty much silence …..<\/p>\n Hearing the tapes is an education in itself … everyone seems to be helping sell someone else …<\/p>\n There are six components to the tapes :<\/p>\n __________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n The issue is not restricted to 2 journalists or 2 institutions. everyone<\/a><\/strong> is on those<\/a><\/strong> tapes. Bad mouthing powerful people, or dropping names, swapping information on affairs or asking for a 5 acre hand-out. ….<\/p>\n Despite this there is complete silence in the media – i wonder if it is,<\/p>\n There must be panic- \u00a0in the media houses. Their doyens seem to be either casting aspersions on the capability of business leaders or \u00a0trying to fix the Government. \u00a0Not very conducive to wielding power and influence is it … especially when you get caught ….<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Worth Reading :<\/p>\n Indian Papers <\/strong><\/p>\n When Radia killed the media star<\/a><\/strong>, G Sampath in the DNA<\/p>\n Merging Estates<\/a><\/strong>, in the Hoot<\/p>\n Anchored in mire<\/a><\/strong>, 1st Edit,\u00a0 Deccan Herald<\/p>\n The spectrum of corruption<\/a><\/strong> – Editorial, Indian Express<\/p>\n Indian Media Discredited<\/a><\/strong>, Binu Thomas, Countercurrents.org<\/p>\n Oh what a lovely blackout<\/a><\/strong> – Sevati Ninnan – the Hoot<\/p>\n The spotlight is on the media now <\/a><\/strong>– Priscilla Jebaraj – lead in the Hindu<\/p>\n Anant\u2019s blog: Open dares to be different <\/a><\/strong>– \u00a0Campaign India<\/p>\n Over the Thin Red Line <\/a><\/strong>– Salil Tripathi – \u00a0The Mint<\/p>\n 2G scam sideshow: Netizens lambast high-profile journalists <\/a><\/strong>– ToI<\/p>\n The Thunderous Silence<\/a><\/strong> – Amit Varma , Yahoo News India<\/p>\n The silence of the hacks<\/a><\/strong> – Santosh Desai, Times of India<\/p>\n Those living in Glass Houses <\/a><\/strong>– Rasheeda Bhagat – Hindu Business Line<\/p>\n Beware the single brush<\/a><\/strong> – Pratap Bhanu Mehta, in the Indian Express<\/p>\n Just Say Sorry<\/a><\/strong> – T N Ninan , Business Standard<\/p>\n The Radia Tapes debate–swallowing the bait<\/a><\/strong> – Vidya Subrahmanyam \u00a0in the Hoot<\/p>\n Radia Tapes: Media ethics at the crossroads<\/a><\/strong> – comment in the Hoot<\/p>\n Welcome to the Matrix of the Indian State<\/a><\/strong> – Siddarth Varadarajan, in the Hindu<\/p>\n Foreign Papers<\/strong><\/p>\n Media run for cover<\/a><\/strong> : BRP Bhaskar, in Gulf Today<\/p>\n Phone Taps Draw Media Into 2G Spotlight<\/a><\/strong> – \u00a0Tripti Lahiri in WSJ<\/p>\n Indian Media Where Art Thou on Media Scandal<\/a><\/strong> – Betwa Sharma in the Huffington Post<\/p>\n Indian journalists accused of secretly helping politicians, businesses<\/a><\/strong> – Washington Post<\/p>\n Corrupt Corporate Fascism in India<\/a><\/strong> – the Dawn<\/p>\n Oh Vir, What Can the Matter Be? <\/a><\/strong>– Paul Beckett in the WSJ<\/p>\n Indian media’s mighty stand exposed on wrong side of 2G spectrum scam<\/a><\/strong> – International Business & Law<\/p>\n The Media as Middle Man<\/a><\/strong> – Farzana Versey – in Counterpunch<\/p>\n Dragging Indian Media out of the Muck<\/a><\/strong> – Sadanand Dhume in the WSJ<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On TV<\/strong><\/p>\n Zee News<\/a> – <\/strong><\/p>\n Sagarika Ghosh on CNN-IBN<\/a><\/strong> – FTN – November 23rd 2010<\/p>\n Radia tapes: Probing the journalists<\/a><\/strong> – The Last Word with Karan Thapar<\/p>\n Shourie on Radia with Karan Thapar<\/a><\/strong> – on CNN-IBN<\/p>\n Ratan Tata with Shekhar Gupta <\/a><\/strong>on Walk the Talk<\/strong>, NDTV<\/p>\n _______________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Responses to the Radia Tapes<\/p>\n Barkha Dutt<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Vir Sanghvi<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Prabhu Chawla<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On the Radia Tapes:<\/strong><\/p>\n Medianama<\/a><\/strong> has a consolidated set of links – both audio, and text – here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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