MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • … or whatever else the powers-that-be and their faithful fans choose to call us, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Don’t frighten us presstitutes and newstraders…

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    It may be unfair to blame either Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former chief of Army staff and current minister in the Modi government, General VK Singh for this kind of behaviour. But, by calling journalists “newstraders” and presstitutes”, they opened the door as it were for their supporters to get even more vicious and abusive with individual members of the media than they were before, if that is possible.

     

    All journalists have to fend off, ignore or respond in some manner to a torrent of abuse which targets them on social media and in the comments sections on websites. Often, it is easy to laugh it off or fulminate to yourself. But there are times when abuse crosses not just lines of decency but also of legality.

     

    For supporters of the BJP, the larger Sangh Parivar and Narendra Modi (these categories overlap but are not necessarily the same), the Indian media is involved in a massive conspiracy against them. And the entire Indian media is on the payroll of the Congress Party and the descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru who are part of the Congress Party.

     

    On August 8, 2015, senior journalist Neeta Kolhatkar (disclaimer, she is a friend and we have worked together in a newspaper), wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek piece on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his new “fit” look. She also added her own political insight co-relating Rahul Gandhi’s appearance with the changes which the beleaguered Congress Party needs to make.

     

    One can agree or disagree with Neeta. And there are enough civilised ways of doing that. But what did the blogger who calls himself “Chaiwallah” and posts on the blog-site Dynasty Crooks do? He writes a long post headlined “Presstitute Neeta Kolhatkar is orgasming for real”. He refers to the Indian media as “Mameluk media”, referencing the Arabic word for slave so please do not miss the sly implication that this media is also pro-Muslim.

     

    The rest of the piece is full of sexual references and is too full of schoolboy prurience to be repeated here.

     

    But this is the sort of writing that Chaiwallah specialises in:

    Not surprisingly, he is inspired by MediaCrooks run by Ravinar, one of the most abusive gentlemen out there.

     

    Neeta is her normal sanguine self about this having been a journalist for a long time, but she has filed a complaint with the cyber cell about the blog. Which is just about all she can do. Freedom of expression and the way the internet runs mean that such abuse cannot be stopped. But it can be exposed and seen for what it is: An attempt to stop all dissent and suppress all disagreement to your political position by using cheap and frankly uncivilised means. Is it worth repeating once again that writers like this also claim to uphold the best of Indian tradition or will the irony fail them as it always does?

     

    And is it also worth repeating that there are enough articles by journalists and commentators, not just bloggers, out there telling us how great Prime Minister Modi was and will be? Many of those experts in fact promised the nation all kinds of goodies that the PM would bequeath upon us. Sadly, almost none of those promises have been made. It would be easy to assume that the lack of action on the ground by the Centre has made the government’s fans edgier and therefore angrier with the criticism. They were vicious and abusive before but the victory and comments by BJP leaders seem only to have emboldened them.

     

    Is it also worth repeated that women are especially targeted and usually with explicitly sexual references? This is what makes people assume that such bloggers are men. Whatever their gender though they are expressly and sadly without imagination, wit and even intelligence as they cannot move beyond basic insults to do with intercourse and body parts.

     

    This is Neeta’s response to the blog:

    “I am not shocked by the fact that there are such anonymous trolls on the prowl all the time. I am livid to say the least that these sorts have done no homework before making brazen allegations against me. Especially by insinuating I am paid in exchange for the focus of my writing. In my entire life, I have lived off nothing but only the salary paid to me, (which was Rs 700 at the beginning of my career). I am NOT bribeable and will not be in this entire lifetime. Worse still, they have called me names. It just shows the power that the pen has. My writing has irked them and made them stoop so low. But nothing can deter me. However, these hypocrites need to be exposed, they are only targeting women. It is disconcerting that the current socio-political environment is allowing such menacing behaviour against us citizens.”

     

    Could not have put it better myself.

     

  • If I stare into space like a zombie after 9 pm, my time would be better spent, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Anyone for news in the papers and on telly?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Is watching endless TV news an addiction? Until Ted Turner invented 24-hour news television with CNN, broadcast news was an evening bulletin or updates on the radio. And even CNN in its early days had many feature programmes like Elsa Klensch on style, which I still miss although I have not seen it for decades. The 1991 Gulf War gave CNN its defining moment. And whichever part of the world had satellite TV was glued to scuds and Patriot missiles zipping through the night sky. And Benjamin Netanyahu, as he was known then, acting as tourist guide to a young Christiane Amanpour. Many young or wannabe journalists then decided that they wanted to be Christiane Amanpour and become world famous on TV. Netanyahu decided he wanted to become prime minister of Israel.

     

    The editor of the magazine I worked for then even booked a room at a nearby hotel so that we the lowly staff could see this phenomenon for ourselves. But the essence of 24-hour news television has become in India a series of high-octane slanging matches, as we all know. And even as people fulminate against it, they watch it anyway. It’s like a compulsion, an addiction. And the more they complain, the more they watch.

     

    In print, the criticism from readers is usually about too many advertisements and too much entertainment and glamour news. But sadly, these complaints usually do not reflect any research done by print journals. In most cases, readers love the glamour stuff and ignore the serious matter. It is as if readers are railing against their own weaknesses. Just for a moment, ask yourself that if the Economic and Political Weekly had the resources of Bennett Coleman, if it could top the Times of India in terms of circulation and readership without changing its content?

     

    Paddy Chayefsky’s brilliant story for Sidney Lumet’s brilliant 1976 film Network laid bare the sheer depravity that ratings-driven news television can descend to. However, in India, we seem to have taken our “discussions” to our own version of incredible lows. I am amazed that people keep watching them. The formula is so set (one this party, one that party, two agent provocateurs and the anchor – barring a couple – adding fuel to the fire he or she has lit) that it rivals those terrible Bollywood films of the late 1980s.

     

    And yet, people watch them.

     

    I have almost completely stopped watching news television however. I only watch when there is a news event. I read newspapers and I rely on the internet. It is safer, less stressful and frankly, even if I stare into space like a zombie after 9 pm, my time would be better spent.

     

    How many others like me are there? Am I part of a growing tribe or am I an anomaly? I am starting to wonder…

     

    **

     

    Living in smalltown India with iffy connectivity with big media centres, newspapers take a while to cue in. As far as the English print media goes however, the Times of India’s local coverage has improved drastically. Stories focus on the civic, environmental and government issues. Doon, Mussourie and Hardwar get ample coverage and stories from the Kumaon region are also increasing. National news is no longer two days late to reach the press. In fact sometimes it is on par with the later editions. Doon Times, the entertainment supplement however, is struggling. Local glamour is still in short supply and often we have to admire the different display portraits that local young people put up on their social media accounts. No, really.

     

    Unfortunately, the best local newspaper until now, the tabloid Garhwal Post, appears to be slipping as a result. Ads have dried up and with that, actual news content. Instead we get a selection of press release news. I do miss the days when we would be delighted by stories like: “Crowd gathers on Rajpur Road as man parks his car and goes away for four hours”. Now can I make something like that up?

     

    The best English Doon paper though is the Tribune. On point in every way. Remarkable.

     

  • Certainly people have long expected a more hands on approach from Reliance at Network 18 and looks like they are getting it, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Emphatically, the old order changeth at Network 18

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The old order changeth blah blah blah. And sometimes is it more than that? Is it Reliance establishing its firm imprint on Network 18? Rahul Joshi, editorial director of Economic Times, is set to take over as CEO of news and group editor-in-chief. Joshi has been editorial director of ET since 2006.

     

    Furthermore, after the recent fracas at firstpost.com when an article critical of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley by the website’s very popular columnist R Jagannathan, also editor-in-chief of firstpost.com and Forbes India, was taken down, there are some changes here too. Lakshmi Choudhry had resigned as executive editor after the Jaitley critique was removed from the website. Now BV Rao has been appointed editor and Ajay Singh as executive editor to “assist” Jagannathan, whatever that means. Rao has been working with Reliance as news and communications director.

     

    The wording is interesting here. Surely, any person junior to the editor would “assist” the editor by the very nature of hierarchy or position. Indeed, this applies to any organisation. So why specify it? Are more changes afoot? Certainly people have long expected a more hands on approach from Reliance at Network 18 and looks like they are getting it. Rahul Joshi however is a very welcome surprise, given his experience.

     

    Stories doing the rounds say that the editorial staff at firstpost is very worried – naturally – after the Jaitley comment was removed. Caravan reports that the website has been given a list of top three leaders who cannot be criticised. Anyway you spin that it means a death knell for free comment. It will be fascinating to see what changes if any Joshi will make in both editorial policy and management control.

     

    Business Standard has gone a step further, saying these moves represent Mukesh Ambani’s total takeover of Network 18. As everyone knew, Network 18 will create content for his Jio project. Also Jagannathan is expected to retire in a few months when he turns 60 and this will presumably allow Rao full control of firstpost and Forbes.

     

    Already, firstpost.com’s first mover advantage is under threat from the clutch of news and views websites which have been launched since. Scroll, The wire, DailyO, Huffpo, Quint, Quartz, Catch News and forgive me if I have left anyone out, all offer a variety of information and opinions, often superior to print journalism or to rival it anyway. Rediff.com, the true first mover, continues to have a presence. So if firstpost is going to become an open government or management or party mouthpiece, then it has its work cut out for it. Because of course, there is another whole universe already in operation there from Niti Central to Swarajya and many more.

     

    Interestingly though the news channels seem to continuing without that “star” (or wannabe star) presence that seems to be a must in Indian TV news. Perhaps those will be the next changes before us?

     

    This looks like fast-moving and fast-growing story with all the attendant drama of an Ambani takeover, even if it has arrived a bit later than many expected.

     

    http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/why-firstpost-being-asked-refrain-criticising-three-top-leaders-bjp

     

    http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/mukesh-ambani-moves-to-integrate-newsrooms-with-jio-115082000282_1.html

     

  • There could be six running scrolls, five pop-ups, white and light blue colour schemes with several talking heads and info moving vertically and horizontally on our business channels, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Gobbledygook on our business news channels

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    If ever you want to treat yourself to some fine gobbledygook then you must tune into business news channels when some stock market event happens. Of course, I call them business news channels but what I mean is “stockmarket channels”. This is their forte. (I think.) So when the Sensex and the NIFTY plunged on Monday and the rupee took another beating against the dollar (every other day), these channels were in their element.

     

    Or rather, some looked as if the world had ended.

     

    Fortunately for them, the world has ended many times and recovered and ended once again thanks to human greed and stupidity. For those of us who understand nothing of this, we crave the excitement of crowing about extreme human fallibility. Like the fun money explosions of the past – tulips, North Sea bubbles and such.

     

    There are the tragic ones of the past. Although wit played its role there too. So who was it who said after the 1929 Wall Street crash that it’s time to get out of the market when the shoeshine boy starts giving you stock advice? Here in India, those of us alive and adult at the time were all taken in by the Giant Harshad Mehta Good Times Game. And almost everyone lost money in the end.

     

    To get back to our business channels, you have to get past their remarkable screens before you can even concentrate on what the voices are saying. There are more things happening in a second than happen on regular news TV screens on election days. There could be six running scrolls, five pop-up boxes, some channels have colour schemes like white and light blue, others experiment with every shade in the Pantone Color Guide, often there are several talking heads and information moving both vertically and horizontally…

     

    After you get past that, you try and zone in on the voices. Or in my case, you get stuck.

     

    I listened to an important mutual fund manager talk in a constant monotone for 10 minutes but my fickle mind kept thinking about why I ate that popcorn yesterday and whether it was going to rain. Then the anchor thanked him and translated what he said: buy when prices are down. Yeah, I thought that was basic stuff but as has been established, what do I know?

     

    Like what does “being overweight on PSU banks mean”? I am overweight all the time, as it happens. It is fabulous metaphors like this that make this jargon fascinating. Like getting a haircut is a bad thing although many people I know spend vast amounts of money to get their hair cut properly.

     

    I was happy to see one growth manager on Bloomberg say that no one had a clue as to what was going on. This was remarkable honesty when you consider how much people were talking and explaining on the other channels. I needed no more. If even experts admit no one has a clue what’s going on, why watch any more?

     

    **

     

    Twitter was far more fun since it was full of jokes co-relating crashing markets with rising onion prices and promises of better days.

     

  • Let us also not forget that Peter Mukerjea, the current husband of the murder accused Indrani Mukerjea, was once the head of Star India. When they started 9X together, it was a massive media event. The subsequent collapse of 9X was equally controversial and caused tremors through the media. All the more reason for the media to focus on the case

    Ranjona Banerji: The facts of the Sheena Bora case are incredible enough to justify focused media coverage

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Not surprisingly, the news has been filled with the Sheena Bora murder case. The accusations, allegations and investigation details as they have emerged have been weird, bizarre, unbelievable and diabolical. They also involve influential people and that gives the story extra oomph.

     

    But it is in cases like this that the media often gets the most flak. The Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj murder case was a watershed moment for the media. While there were congratulations for the re-focus on the Jessica Lal murder, the media went to town with implied motives in the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder, encouraged by police and later CBI speculation about sexual orgies, incest and several other sexual relationships. The sanctity of forensic evidence also went for a toss as TV cameras showed the whole world and its uncle clambering over the crime scene.

     

    Have we learnt anything since then? Apparently, yes. The police for one thing have been more circumspect about releasing both information and crackpot theories. Rakesh Maria, Mumbai’s media-savvy and well-seasoned police commissioner is personally handling the case. And most of the wacky unbelievable stuff being has been coming from the family itself.

     

    Let us also not forget that Peter Mukerjea, the current husband of the murder accused Indrani Mukerjea, was once the head of Star India and perceived to be very close to Rupert Murdoch. He was at the time one of the most powerful men in India. He and Indrani were also very high profile. When they started 9X together, it was a massive media event. Pradeep Guha, ex-Bennett Coleman, ex-Zee, was also going to be part of it. The news channel NewsX was to be headed by a star team led by Vir Sanghvi. The subsequent collapse of 9X was equally controversial and caused tremors through the media. All the more reason for the media to focus on the case.

     

    But the facts alone are enough. So far we have a woman accused of murdering a sister who is actually her daughter. Her current husband denies all knowledge of everything. The couple’s driver said his boss and one of her former husbands (not the father of the victim) were co-conspirators in Sheena’s murder. The “lady accused”, as Maria calls her, also had a son who she presented to the world as a brother. He makes all manner of accusations against his mother including that they were abandoned by her. The victim and her stepfather/brother-in-law’s son from an earlier marriage were in a relationship. Her sister/mother disapproved. This caused all manner of friction. The father of the abandoned brother and sister has not yet spoken out. This one paragraph ought to be enough to explain just how compelling and incredible the story is.

     

    The media from that perspective has no option but to follow this story. As usual some newspapers will be better and some will be worse than others. Some news channels will go into overdrive. But so far, most channels have had the same news. There has been some speculative reporting but how can there not be? However as usual, the panel discussions or debates or tamashas have been most questionable mainly because this is where gossip and uninformed judgment masquerade as profundity. The funniest of all was on Barkha Dutt’s show on NDTV when various high profile women and has-beens sat in judgment over Indrani Mukerjea with nary a thought of their own pasts. So be it. The story is juicy enough.

     

    On another “discussion”, a guest pointed out that the media had to cover the story because how else will people know? Indeed. A stellar thought that one wishes media critics would ponder on!

     

    There will be the usual carping about how the media did not carry this or that. However, it is also true that if the media did not cover this story there would as many counter allegations.

     

    As it happened, I also read about and saw on TV, in the same evil biased media, stories on the Patel rally in Gujarat, the subsequent violence, the army being called out. Also on the data of growth by religious community in India. Narendra Modi’s anodyne comments on violence. On the status of the One Rank One Pension protests. Rahul Gandhi wandering about here and there. The launch of the GSAT-6. Usain Bolt’s remarkable 200m dash to gold at the World Championships in Beijing. Should I bore you with any more news that has been available to us aside from the Sheena Bora murder?

     

    As usual, the same people who complain about what the media did not cover use links from media sources to prove their point.

     

    Please turn the page with an exasperated huff or change the channel if it annoys you that much. But I for one am going to keep watching this unbelievable murder case unfold: my vicarious self has beaten my self-righteous, sanctimonious, incessantly grumbling high moral horsie self in this case!

     

  • Because it was not just the primetime debates but also the all-day broadcasts which have anchors, reporters, random guests and members of the general public all attributing motive as well as diagnosing the prime accused, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: So how long news channels take to prove me wrong in my defence of their coverage of the Sheena Bora murder case?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So how long did it take for news channels to prove me wrong in my defence of their coverage of the Sheena Bora murder case? One day? Two days? I still vigorously defend the decision to cover the murder – surely one of the most intriguing and compelling in recent times – but the manner of coverage? O my sweet lord!

     

    I understand that many of us fancy ourselves as crime-solving detectives. And apparently a good number of us imagine ourselves to be psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists as well. Because it was not just the prime time debates but also the all-day broadcasts which have anchors, reporters, random guests and members of the general public all attributing motive as well as diagnosing the prime accused, Indrani Mukerjea.

     

    Television, sadly, is the worst culprit here. Again, it suffers because it puts its news-gathering process on camera. In a print or web journal, the reader does not know how you got your information and while this means that reporters do not become world famous in their neighbourhoods and their mummy-daddy’s friends, it also means that they do not become notorious. There were times, watching the coverage, when you felt you were in a movie about how bad the paparazzi and an intrusive media can be. This reporter from Times Now chasing after Sheena Bora’s boyfriend and or step-brother or step-nephew Rahul Mukerjea at Mumbai airport is the best example of how not to practise journalism. Or, at any rate, not to share it on air for viewers to be impressed with how low you can sink.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sinr35K4UJo

     

     

    Of course tabloid journalism exists and has a massive following. Let us not fool ourselves that the human race is only concerned with the philosophy of the Upanishads, Plato and Wittgenstein. Anyone who tells you that is a liar and not even a good one at that. The worst of human nature fascinates everyone. But speculation about why someone did what they did is not journalism. It’s drawing room conversation and water filer gossip. And it’s not good journalism, no matter how much it sells.

     

    However, thanks to the media we have found out more about the Mukerjeas, Boras, Khannas, Dases, Rais and their friends than we perhaps know about our own families. We have seen the lure of media fame entice friends, relatives, colleagues into sharing their tiny titbits of information and conjecture and for all we know, downright lies, about the Boras and Mukerjeas. Senior and not-so-senior journalists who worked with the Peter and Indrani Mukerjea have told us what they think of them and shared their experiences. We have also heard from every single person whom Sanjeev Khanna ever had a drink with at the CC&FC in Calcutta.

     

    I want to make it clear that there is no moral high ground here for any of us, especially the media which by its very nature trawls the garbage heaps of humankind. But there is a way of going about this which is not so downright foolish. Arnab Goswami’s nightly courts border on the hilarious, if only because they have become caricatures of themselves. NewsX has been rivalling Times Now with its judgmental hysterics. These so-called high society grande dames, with enough skeletons in their own closets to rattle a few medical college storerooms, sitting on judgment in TV studios is another farce. To me in fact it exposes journalism’s biggest downfall – to have insufficient background information on your sources or public faces. The psychiatrists and psychologists who are happy to come on TV to diagnose the accused, without ever having met them, is nothing but outright publicity-seeking. This includes former police officers, some of whom had terrible track records when in office. These high-powered members of the public showcase themselves as desperate publicity seekers – and not so different from those they seek to condemn.

     

    Newspapers meanwhile have moved on and the Sheena Bora case no longer dominates the front pages. My one beef here (if I am still allowed to use that word) is with the Times of India’s Dehradun edition which did not think the good people of North India needed anything but cursory information about the horrifying assassination of Kannada scholar and writer MM Kalburgi. That is criminal stereotyping of your readership, especially when the news of his death is all over news channels.

     

     

  • The Sheena Bora murder case has exposed in no uncertain terms television's obsession with primetime discussions, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: What’s left to discuss on primetime news TV on the Sheena Bora murder case except psychobabble?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Sheena Bora murder case has exposed in no uncertain terms television’s obsession with primetime discussions. No matter what else is happening in the “nation that wants to know”, the human instinct is to focus on this one murder. And certainly, not just is it the sort of sleazy scandal that excites, there are also daily twists and turns to keep the issue alive.

     

    However, what is there to discuss? The police are still investigating the case. Confessions are not enough to convict anyone. The charge-sheet has yet to be filed. The legal process is long and complicated. And yet, everyone and his mother and brother are ready to sit in judgment. Yes, the case is fascinating. But any discussion, such as it is, is nothing more than a gossip amongst friends. Since Siddhartha Das declared himself as the father of Sheena Bora and Mikhail Bora, he has been the latest exhibit on TV, his handkerchief-covered face notwithstanding. Out of curiosity, I travelled to the Bengali news channels to see how they dealt with this new Calcutta connection to the case. I was not disappointed. They were far more aggressive in their line of questioning than the English news channels and Das was not allowed to make any excuses for his negligence of his children and his sudden desire to claim them. The advent of Das only meant we were spared an endless parade of all the people who had ever had a drink with murder suspect number three, Sanjeev Khanna, at one or the other club in Calcutta.

     

    The question however remained: what is there to discuss? The case is news but… The same moral questions, the same outrage or amazement or disgust that a mother could murder a child (although it is still an accusation so far), the same psycho-babble about modern times and social climbing, the same pat responses about why people behave the way they do. In fact, you might as well have been watching various combinations of Phil Donahue, Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer instead of news channels.

     

    Comments in newspapers have been more interesting than the sameness of these nightly discussions and I must confess that I myself have succumbed to writing about it. Without I hope any psycho-babble. Of course, some channels have tried to move away from this case. The continuing agitation of our retired armed forces personnel for the implementation of the One Rank One Pension promise, the assassination of Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi, the 1965 war with Pakistan, the renaming of Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi, the fiddling with the Nehru museum so it moves beyond Nehru, Central ministers making presentations to the RSS, trouble in Manipur… some of these have been discussed, some have been reported.

     

    But having ventured so far, perhaps it is also time to question why news channels have not delved into the jungle of questioning the achievements of this government quite the way newspapers have. Columnist after columnist, many of whom applauded Narendra Modi’s coronation as prime minister, appear to have changed their tune or made some adjustments along the way. Some like Pratap Bhanu Mehta have asked relevant, tough questions. Other like Sadanand Dhume wonder what’s happening. Tavleen Singh and Meghnad Desai continue to offer advice although no one seems to be listening to them…

     

    Journalists who were once happy to be openly associated with the BJP are now shying away and trying for neutrality. Although in the popular discourse, all journalists are actually paid agents of the Congress party or Motilal Nehru’s grandfather, the reality, as everyone within the fraternity knows, is a bit different. Even the internet trolls, who reacted viciously to any slight adverse mention of Narendra Modi and the BJP appear to have lost their sting, as Shivam Vij analysed in a comment for newslaundry.com: http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/09/01/why-modi-bhakts-on-twitter-have-lost-their-sting/

     

    The rest of the media business seems to be business as usual: Managements coming down hard on newsrooms and editors for mentioning industrialists and their wives without approval and consent and more start-ups trying to grab the internet space.

     

  • It's reached a stage with TV news where channels are overjoyed that they managed to type out a sentence of "breaking news" two seconds before they others. Now if only they were as happy when they manage to do that without spelling or grammatical errors, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: You have to commend Times Now on their audacity, pretending they have cracked the Sheena Bora murder case

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I have criticised The Week That Wasn’t, the news parody show headlined by Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijaykar, several times in these columns. My main grouses were that their jokes were getting tired and they seemed to be swinging to the right – cutting back that is on criticism of Narendra Modi as both prime ministerial hopeful and now prime minister.
    But I have to concede that their take-off on Arnab Goswami’s primetime debates is superb. Last week, we dealt of course with the Sheena Bora murder case with Broacha as Goswami yelling at his own panellists, waving papers and solving the case. My best bit however was the attention to detail: the Times Now “Burning Question” and the computer-generated flames that run across the screen in case viewers are too stupid to understand what “Burning Question” means. The Week That Wasn’t was spot on here. And yes, they did make a little gentle fun of the prime minister too…

     

    **

     

    While on Times Now, you have to commend their audacity. On and on they go, pretending that they are the chief investigators in the Sheena Bora murder case. More like the chief instigators. On Tuesday morning, the screen scrolls proudly declared that Times Now was “the only channel to confront key players”. Really? Is that their job? If they are inside the investigation rooms, then they might as well broadcast that live as well. Wouldn’t we like to see Arnab Goswami competing with Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria on who can ask the best questions? Why let down your loyal viewership like this? The Nation Wants to Know!

     

    **

     

    The main competition to Times Now in the give-me-the-credit-for-everything game is India Today television where its chief anchors almost behaved as if they solved the One Rank One Pension standoff all by themselves. So dear boys, if you were actually at the negotiating table with the retired armed forces personnel and the government, why so coy? Come out and admit it and take all the credit. If you weren’t there, stop pretending that you are responsible, with your breaking news claims via Twitter.

     

    It’s reached a stage with TV news where channels are overjoyed that they managed to type out a sentence of “breaking news” two seconds before they others. Now if only they were as happy when they manage to do that without spelling or grammatical errors…

     

    **

     

    I always wonder though how the two cheerleaders for the government on India Today TV deal with their So Sorry cartoon series which continues to make biting fun of all politicians, the esteemed members of the government included. Must be so hard to swallow…

     

    **

     

    Delhi journalism circles are all abuzz with the news that the senior journalist behind the anonymous Twitter handle @LutyensInsider will soon be revealed. The handle was in trouble after journalist Swati Chaturvedi not only reported it for vicious, personal abuse but also filed a police case. The Delhi police commissioner confirmed on Monday that the person had been identified and “strictest action” would soon be taken.

     

    Chaturvedi was very brave because usually women just ignore troll attacks. But she felt this one went too far, accusing her of stalking a politician for sex. Not unexpectedly, the main support that @LutyensInsider got was from a rightwing blogger.

     

    Chaturvedi is wisely not taking the name and shame route but we will soon know who it is, as soon as the police act.

     

    **

     

    The big news of the last week was that The Hindu is launching a Mumbai edition at last. And the editor of this new paper will be a good friend and current editor of Mid-Day, Sachin Kalbag. Congratulations to both!

    http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/09/04/the-hindu-mumbai_n_8086948.html?1441349746

     

  • Since the beginning of the year the journalists of Khabar Lahariya have consistently and frighteningly been harassed on their mobile phones by a man who calls himself "Nishu". Neither the police nor the phone company, Vodafone, have been able to help. The reactions of the police are reprehensible. The horror is not just about journalists not being able to work. It is also about how you can be harassed to such an extent that you cannot work

    Ranjona Banerji: Journos of Khabar Lahariya need our support. Despicable harassment must stop

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    This is a horrifying story from the editor of Khabar Lahariya, an independent journalism effort from Uttar Pradesh, which has done commendable work. The reporters in Khabar Lahariya are all women. Since the beginning of the year they have consistently and frighteningly been harassed on their mobile phones by a man who calls himself “Nishu”. Neither the police nor the phone company, Vodafone, have been able to help. As the editor’s article shows, pasted below, the reactions of the police are reprehensible. The horror is not just about journalists not being able to work. It is also about how you can be harassed to such an extent that you cannot work.

     

    As journalists, this is one case where we need to put our collective heads together and pull out all the stops to help Khabar Lahariya. Sexual harassment is one part of this story but more than that, it is an effort to push you into utter helplessness. It must not be allowed to succeed.
    http://theladiesfinger.com/the-policeman-said-why-dont-you-tell-me-what-gaalis-he-whispers-in-your-ear/

    **

    Both these clips caused a lot of laughter on social media, but… to have panellists on televised debates slapping each other? You might argue that this was inevitable. News channels push for “debates” on controversial subjects and allow (encourage?) participants to get as vicious as possible with each other. Usually though this animosity is verbal.

     

    On a discussion on Radhe Maa, a Mumbai-based “guru” who has got into a little trouble for dowry collection and her predilection for dancing to Bollywood songs in miniskirts, two contestants – also “holy” types – decided that hitting each other was the only way out. IBN7, the channel on which this happened, has this stern, terse comment on its website, IBNLive: “We didn’t expect this kind of behaviour from our guests and we strictly condemn this.”
    One is sure they didn’t but you have to wonder about the direction which these “debates” are going in general.
    http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/discussion-on-radhe-maa-turns-violent-during-live-discussion-on-ibn7-1095504.html

     

    The second such incident was on a discussion on India News when an Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson was slapped by a former Aam Aadmi Party member. The anchor tried to be very strict and headmistress-ish but the guests were beyond taking a ticking off seriously. Violence went very quickly from verbal to physical.

     

    We go on and on about the greatness of Indian culture but clearly we have very different notions of what culture means. Where does hitting people during a televised debate fit in? I have only seen this before on the Jerry Springer type of show where it is actively encouraged of course. Perhaps news channels need to put some of their studio guests in cages so that they do not attack each other?

     

    **

    Why do we still have an Information and Broadcasting ministry? Is the Government of India so weak that it needs a whole ministry to protect it from the media exercising its rights? Surely trolls on social media are enough?

     

    But jokes aside, they’re all the same. The UPA went after cartoonists and people who criticised Sonia Gandhi. And the current government has been using show-cause notices to new channel either for someone to prove their loyalty or because someone genuinely believes that free speech is a hindrance.

     

    GSTV, run by the mammoth Gujarat newspaper Gujarat Samachar, has received a show-cause notice from the I&B ministry for a programme it carried on Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in which the motive behind an unnamed politician’s “Clean India” or Swachh Bharat initiative was questioned. The charge sounds ludicrous almost, but here we are. Of course, Gujarat Samachar has an intriguing relationship with the powers-that-be and this could be an old grouse coming to the fore.
    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/media/for-swipe-at-swachh-bharat-leader-gujarati-channel-gstv-gets-the-broomstick/articleshow/48963465.cms

     

  • This is a classic male, patriarchal response to successful women or women who appear to be successful. And NDTV is the particular target of a certain mindset. Although there are female editors, anchors and reporters in every television newsroom across all languages in India, NDTV bears the brunt of social media anger, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Time to stand together against despicable targeting of women journos

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There is a despicable Whatsapp forward doing the rounds about women journalists at NDTV, naming them and outlining how many times they have been married, how they have “trapped” men and how they are carrying on “illicit affairs”. The message ends with the “witticism”: Is this NDTV or Shaadi.com”, a reference to a popular marriage website.

     

    It does not matter whether the allegations or “facts” are correct or not. What is worrying is the snide venom that is behind this particular message and such messages in general. Women remain easy targets on social media and women in journalism even easier. The easiest way to attack is of course by sexual innuendo because then it reduces women to one aspect of their existence: their genitalia and/or their reproductive uses.

    This is a classic male, patriarchal response to successful women or women who appear to be successful. And NDTV is the particular target of a certain mindset. Although there are female editors, anchors and reporters in every television newsroom, across languages, in India, NDTV bears the brunt of social media anger.

    The most obvious reason is that the channel has long been perceived as pro-Congress Party. This apparently is reason enough for any amount of targeted viciousness. Interestingly, the men in the channel do not bear the brunt of this social media anger. In fact, NDTV founder Dr Prannoy Roy remains one of the most respected names in Indian television, as he well deserves to be. But the women he employs apparently all paid Congress agents and sexual predators. The anger against NDTV, especially amongst the Indian rightwing and supporters of the BJP-RSS, is so extreme that a few months ago Union finance minister Arun Jaitley was attacked just for being interviewed by Barkha Dutt. The irony of Jaitley being part of the BJP and a vital part of this government was completely lost on his attackers.

    But is Indian journalism’s worst sin the sexcapades of female journalists? Let’s see. We continue to deal with the problem of paid media, which specifically refers to media house managements selling editorial space to political parties with or without the knowledge of editors. Then we have the deals with businesses. Almost every newsroom has a list of industrialists who are untouchable. Media gossip says that Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria had to be transferred out because he was getting too close to the Mukerjea-9X money trail. Then there is the problem of political affiliations impinging on free reporting and analysis.

    One of the biggest unspoken problem in newsrooms, regardless of the sexual harassment case against Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal, is that of predatory male editors and junior staff, usually female. Most newsrooms have not followed the Supreme Court’s Vishakha guidelines or if they have implemented them, scant attention is paid to them. Innumerable horror stories continue to emerge. But do tell, how many Whatsapp messages have you seen about these incidents?

    Online trolling of women journalists, often by their male colleague or peers continues. Many of these trolls are well-known names hiding behind anonymous handles. Yet most women journalists would rather follow the law or are squeamish – which is why their names are not made public. Men, as we see everyday, have no such scruples.

    The torment that the women journalists of the Hindi newspaper Khabar Lahariya have suffered for most of 2015 by a persistent stalker and the apathy of the UP police was discussed in my last column. Apparently, some progress is being made in that case now that the problem has been made public.

    It is time for women and men in journalism to stand together. This sort of targeting of prominent women journalists needs outright condemnation. You do not have to be admirers of their journalistic skills. You just have to know that targeting them for being female is unacceptable.

  • Sucessive governments, including and in some cases especially those of the Congress, have in the past tried to muffle critical voices, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Defending journalists’ right to live

    By Ranjona Banerji:

     

    There is a point of view, understandably er, Hindutva rightwing, that journalists, liberals, intellectuals, academics and “secular” individuals are just making too much of a fuss about the sudden voice found by “fringe elements” of the Sangh Parivar, after the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre.

     

    After all, and this is true, successive government, including and in some cases especially those of the Congress, have in the past tried to muffle critical voices. The sedition charges brought against cartoonist Aseem Trivedi by the Maharashtra government during the India Against Corruption is a very good example of that. Also the banning of Javier Moro’s book on Sonia Gandhi. You can add to the list the fact that rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was killed in Pune during Congress rule and the police drew a blank there. And that writer and scholar MM Kalburgi was killed in Karnataka which is a Congress-ruled state.

     

    However, there is no justification in copying someone else’s daft behaviour, having criticised it while you were in opposition. Also, there is the question of who threatened the lives of Dabholkar and Kalburgi and who has been arrested for the murder of Communist leader Govind Pansare. And then there is nowhere to run for supporters of the Hindutva rightwing. The space for intelligent or even reasoned discussion becomes limited when murder enters the equation. The Hindutva rightwing is fond of attacking Islamic fundamentalism and Islamists and Muslims in general all day and all night on social media but clearly are unable (or unwilling) to acknowledge that murdering those against their tenets is as reprehensible. Once that happens, we are fed the justifications. The Islamist terrorists who killed the cartoonists and employees of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were wrong but killing Pansare, Dabholkar and Kalburgi is correct?

     

    Their so-called crimes? Questioning the practice of idol worship, blind superstition and pushing forward a rationalist agenda. All of which are still legal in this nation.

     

    In the Pansare murder, the spotlight has fallen on the group Sanatan Sanstha. According to the police, the suspects had also threatened journalists Shyamsundar Sonnar and Nikhil Wagle. Sonnar for rationalist views and his interpretations of Sant Tukaram’s teachings and Wagle of course has long been a target for his refusal to be cowed down, in spite of all the vicious hatred he has been subjected to, with a lot of help it must sadly be said, from his colleagues. While Sonar has filed a police complaint and requested security, Wagle has refused anything that will hamper his journalistic activities.

     

    As media people, most will stand with both Sonnar and Wagle but there will always be some specimens, particularly within the Marathi journalism fraternity. There is a particular sort of venom here which I am unable to understand. You can disagree with someone’s values, with the way they practise their craft even. But secretly approving of harm and death seems a bit, well extreme. There are many journalists I myself don’t like much and some very prominent ones, but I will defend to the end their right to live!

     

    This article in Mumbai Mirror, by the way, explains the irrationality of the Hindutva supporter: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/We-had-requested-him-warned-him-but-he-didnt-stop/articleshow/49039957.cms

     

    **

     

    With sustained media, social media and public pressure the UP police managed to arrest the man who had been threatening the women journalists of Khabar Lahariya. Although this story from scroll.in says that the man is unrepentant, he is at least in jail by now. If only, though, police would take harassment charges more seriously. If this the way journalists, who have some influence, are treated, we all know how the common man or woman is dismissed by the police and government authorities…

    http://scroll.in/article/756664/man-who-harassed-up-women-journalists-for-months-is-finally-caught-and-hes-unrepentant

     

     

  • Although the media is quick to point fingers at every other industry or institution, it has been historically and criminally lax when it comes to transgressions within, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Change in gender mindset needed

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    A friend and former colleague Soumyadipta Banerjee and his wife TV reporter Sonika Tewari have been fighting a long wrongful termination battle against Zee News. They have gone from the Labour Court to the Industrial Court to the Bombay High Court. All three have upheld their case. And yet, Tewari’s former employer Zee News, has gone in appeal every time. The Bombay High Court has made it very clear that a female employee cannot be dismissed from service while she is pregnant, which is what happened here.

     

    The Maternity Benefit Act of 1961 is a welfare law says the high court and if it is not upheld, it would have terrible repercussions on all female employees and women in the workplace. The high court quoted the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961. The high court order also said, “Strict implementation of the Act, which ensures health and stress-free working environment for a working woman cannot be emphasized enough. Arbitrary termination of service during the maternity period, such as the present one, not only affects the concerned woman employee but creates a sense of despair and disillusionment amongst the working women in general.”

     

    Here the court has reached the essence of the matter: making working women feel that they are safe from termination because of arbitrary reasoning by the employer. Although the media is quick to point fingers at every other industry or institution, it has been historically and criminally lax when it comes to transgressions within. Until the Tehelka case created a public furore, sexual assault cases were not taken seriously, although there are ample instances of sexual harassment and assault within newsrooms. In some commonly known cases, employees who sided with the complainant were threatened with termination.

     

    In fact, some newsrooms maintain pockets of sexism even though ironically, the media is a far more just employer of women than many other organisations and industries. There are several women in senior and top positions in the Indian media. And yet, several prejudices remain. Pregnancy of course is an easy subject of dispute. Some managers use it as an excuse not to hire women at all, arguing that training and money on women is wasted when they run off to get pregnant. Interestingly, few of these managers, especially the men, have sworn to have child-free homes because of the inconvenience it causes. Underlying this prejudice is that old dictum: dealing with children is a woman’s job. The changes in this mindset are still slow, across the spectrum of human existence and workplaces.

     

    It can only be hoped that this case acts as a wake-up call for the media and employers in general. Three courts in this case have made it clear that the Maternity Benefit Act cannot be flouted. It is also evident that sometimes, somewhere employers who try to use brute force or metaphorical bulldozers to get their way, will be questioned. It can only be hoped that the managers at Zee News will understand this case for what it is and open the eyes of those in the media to the importance of the law.

     

    No one doubts that a media job is full of stress. But compassion and a pleasant work environment do not have to be inimical to a newsroom.

     

    **

     

    On this note, congratulations to Mid-Day Publications for appointing Tinaz Nooshian as executive editor of Mid-Day. She takes over from Sachin Kalbag, who moves to The Hindu’s new venture in Mumbai. She was deputy editor of the paper since last July and is editor of Sunday Mid-Day as well. It’s always good to see an in-house promotion and one more woman on top!

     

    All the best to her and Mid-Day, a newspaper that remains very close to my heart.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and columnist. She is Consulting Editor, MxMIndia.com. The views expressed here are her own.