MxMIndia

Category: BLOGS

  • That a journalist like Jigna Vora was arrested in the J Dey murder case brings us to a very sad pass, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Crime & Journalism

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The arrest of journalist Jigna Vora in the J Dey murder case is quite horrifying, anyway you look at it. That a journalist can be accused of instigating the underworld to kill another brings us to a very sad pass. While rumours of Vora’s involvement have been doing the rounds for a couple of months, the actual arrest itself is a shocker.

     

    It is pointless to speculate on guilt and innocence just yet and the media, which often takes arrests at face value initially and only asks questions later, has been very carefully following presumption of innocence route here. (If only it would do it at all times!)

     

    One thing is clear though: editors need to be more aware of what their crime reporters are up to and how far they push them to get a story. In 25 years in journalism and most of them in Mumbai, I cannot remember any crime story which invoked more than salacious reader interest. The best result might be the two very good movies made by director Ram Gopal Verma – Satya and Company. The close relationship between some journalists and the underworld is hardly an industry secret. Oswald Pereira’s novel, ‘Beyond the Newsroom’ should be a must-read for all young and budding crime reporters.

    The other problem here is the relationship between the police and reporters who often get carried away and see an arrest as surety of guilt – quite the opposite of the attitude in Vora’s case. It is another matter than so many accused get acquitted by the courts by lack of evidence. The media stands guilty on two counts here – one, for romanticising the underworld and two, for taking the police at face value.

    Young reporters are not to blame so much as their mentors are. The romantic idea of this all-powerful underworld which runs Mumbai is just that and it is far from the reality in today’s world. The days when Vardarajan Mudaliar, Haji Mastan, Karim Lala and later the Naiks, Dawood Ibrahim and so on ran Mumbai are long gone. Prohibition was lifted decades ago, smuggling was no longer as lucrative after liberalisation and after the slum rehab schemes started, land-grabbing was taken over by the state and the police. And as drug usage is (thankfully?) not as high in India as it could have been, we are still a conduit rather than a market profitable enough for the powerful South American cartels to get directly involved in. The famous underworld was reduced to normal criminal activities. There is no Al Capone like figure any more.

    But younger journalists, fed on the myths, get taken in. As editors themselves are getting younger, they get excited too. A little dip into history may not be a bad idea.

    As for the Vora and Dey case, it is curious and sad.

     

    **

     

    The slap received by Sharad Pawar led the media into some needless self-excoriation. Was it given too much importance? Did it blank out other important news? Should the media have followed the Katju directive and immediately focused on poverty and development issues instead? Blah blah blah.

    The fact is, the slap was news. And that is the job of the media: to give you the news. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves for being misunderstood, let us accept that we are the carriers of misery, sensation, death, depression and all the other strange, horrible and wonderful things that human beings do to each other and the world around us.

    Why get so defensive about it?

     

    **

    Talking of being defensive, Press Council chairman Markandey Katju’s piece trying to explain himself in today’s Times of India is quite amusing.

     

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  • As Vinod Mehta, the editor of Outlook mag says, in our profession we must always remain spectators, and never try to become players. However tempting it is to dive into the arena.

    Anil Thakraney: Always the spectator. Never the player

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Quite saddened to hear that a fellow journo may have abetted the murder of crime reporter J Dey. Mind you, the allegations against her have still to be proved in the court of law, so we will know the facts only after the legal process is done.

     

    However, here’s a concern and let me first illustrate this with a little example. I had once gone to interview the Maharashtra Power Minister, armed with some tough questions on the frequent power outages in the state. He was already surrounded by 20 fawning reporters from the state’s vernacular press. And the mantri insisted I do the interview with all of them seated in the background. He said he had to rush to Pune for a meeting, and would not have the time to meet me separately. Yes, I had taken a prior appointment but these silly things don’t matter to netas. With not much choice in the matter, I agreed. And after each serious question, the minister would loudly guffaw and make fun, looking to his audiences for support. And yes, the reporters behaved like his cheerleaders, and would also laugh as he laughed. Of course, this didn’t matter to me at all, and I went on firing. This is because when I do an interview, it’s like making love, my entire attention is on the subject, and as Metallica sang, nothing else matters. But it doesn’t need too much intelligence to figure that the reporters had either sold out or were desperate to sell out. Or at the very least badly wanted to bond with the powerful man.

     

    The reason I share this incident is because, as Vinod Mehta, the editor of Outlook mag says, in our profession we must always remain spectators, and never try to become players. However tempting it is to dive into the arena. As Radiagate showed us, close proximity to power and pelf is seductive. It is very tempting to go heady and jump over to the other side. And delude yourself into believing you can do it too. Those who have fallen for this attraction have almost always burnt their fingers. It’s always a fatal attraction.

     

    No, we can’t bat like Sachin. We can’t act like Amitabh. We can’t be politicians. We can’t be underworld dons. We must remain who we are: Spectators. Whose only job is to observe, report, analyse, have a beer and go home.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Shekhar Gupta is a below-average interviewer on TV. His show on NDTV is a downer. But this one I watched shell shocked. Dear Ekta, plunging necklines DON’T work on all women. In your case, it literally makes for a dirty picture. Avoid.

     

    http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/walk-the-talk/walk-the-talk-with-ekta-kapoor/217039?hp

  • The contrast is endearing – that of a desire to look beautiful. And a real life that's full of stress. Good show!

    Debrief: High on Mia empathy

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Interesting TV campaign from Tanishq for their new sub-brand called Mia. Mia is a jewellery brand targetted at working women. I suppose it’s meant for lady execs who usually wear imitation jewellery at work. And yes, I do think there’s a separate market for this segment. Jewellery pitched for use during momentous occasions like marriages, etc, can’t be adorned for daily wear. Good marketing strategy.

     

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 4. Sound strategy backed by relevant creative.

    And what’s even better is that the creative work shines. There are three commercials on air. The idea is this: A female executive feels really happy when she wears her jewellery. Even if she’s stuck in a boring workshop. Or can’t find a parking place at the office building. Or gets a poor increment. The format of each commercial is that in the beginning you see the woman delighted at wearing her jewellery. And later arrives the twist of an ‘unhappy’ work situation.

     

    I like this campaign. For two reasons. One, because of the sharp understanding of the working woman by the advertiser. Which is that whatever be the work pressures, however sadela her job might be, a woman would want to look pretty at workplace. Two, the execution is steeped in reality. Yes, highly boring workshops and car park mess are realities we all totally identify with. The contrast is quite endearing. That of a desire to look beautiful. And a real life that’s full of stress. Good show!

  • India is a vast, complicated, multi-layered nation. There is room for every kind of business out here. Co-existence is indeed the soul of this nation.

    Hard Knocks: The retail FDI tamasha

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Total bullshit is going on over the subject of FDI in the multi-brand retail market. India is a vast, complicated, multi-layered nation. There are all sorts of market segments out here, based on all sorts of classifications… social, economic, regional, etc… each with its own needs and behavioural patterns. There is room for every kind of business out here. Co-existence is indeed the soul of this nation.

     

    Take a drive down Bandra in Mumbai. At a traffic signal, affectionately parked next to each other, you will notice a Benz, a Nano, a Luna and a bicycle. Ditto in a Punjab village. A loaded farmer would flaunt his latest Rolex. While one of his minders is eyeing that brand new 20 inch colour TV. Similarly, there is a market for Tesco. And a market for Nilgiris super market. And a market for the guy who runs the local kirana shop. Because there are various market segments they cater to. And even within each segment, a consumer would have different needs at different times. A housewife will want to indulge in a super store. But back home in the evening she will call her kirana guy for six eggs and pickle.

     

    And if at all there is increased competition, isn’t that a good thing for the consumers? Retailers will have to improve their offerings and service. The grocer in my building complex is a smart chappie, he’s already seen the future. Not only does he promptly send me maida and bread, he also helps with paying my electricity bill and offers to get appliances repaired, for a small fee.

     

    So basically, the whole tamasha is about the opposition parties trying to show the Congress-led UPA in a poor light. By scuttling their ideas. And the only thing they’ve managed to achieve is to get the anti-corruption bill off the agenda, as the parliament fights over retail chains.

     

    Who would have thought Walmart could trump Anna Hazare. Happens only in India.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Quite liked this ad from Chrysler. Talking tough, talking steel, talking business. Detroit’s fighting back, and how! Also, aggro, spirited singer Eminem is the perfect guy to represent them. Good one.

  • Earlier, nothing you wrote could find its way into print without passing through several filters. Much of this still exists but there is an obvious slackening of rigour, says Kalpana Sharma.

    Newswatch: Kalpana Sharma on the falling standards in newspapers

    By Kalpana Sharma

     

    When the new chair of the Press Council of India, Justice Markandey Katju held forth on the competence, or rather incompetence and lack of learning of journalists, we were outraged. How dare a person from outside the media cast aspersions on our competence? Has he any idea how difficult it is to produce readable newspapers and magazines and watchable TV shows?

     

    Yet what was considered inexcusable only a few decades ago now passes without anyone being hauled over the coals. By this I mean the bloomers one can find almost every day, particularly in print. On TV we now know that there probably are as many mistakes as in print. It took the former chair of the Press Council, Justice PB Sawant to catch one such “inadvertent” mistake and to ensure that it was never forgotten. But in print, the errors jump out at you every day – wrong photographs, captions, erroneous headlines, inaccurate data. Are all these inadvertent or do they reflect a lowering of standards in the media – where the rush to print has introduced carelessness that can sometimes prove costly?

     

    Earlier, nothing you wrote could find its way into print without passing through several filters, including people who were clued in on the law. Headline writers generally read the whole story before giving a headline. Even these would be checked before the page was passed. Much of this still exists but there is an obvious slackening of rigour. If there is a ‘post-mortem’ the next morning, and many media organisations have dispensed with this altogether, heads probably don’t roll if there is a mistake unless it provokes a legal notice.

     

    Take just one day in the life of newspapers in Mumbai. On November 28, three newspapers that I read carried stories on the efforts of two NGOs to have a car-free day in South Mumbai. The divergence in the numbers quoted in the reports tells its own story.

     

    On page 5, The Times of India had the following headline: “8,000 ditch vehicles to celebrate car-free SoBo”. (For the uninformed, SoBo is the fashionable name for south Mumbai.) But while the headline was unambiguous about 8,000 people participating, the first paragraph of the report read:

     

    “An initiative to reclaim south Mumbai for pedestrians and cyclists got off to a great start on Sunday morning, with around 800 Mumbaikars ditching their vehicles to participate in a walkathon and a bike-a-thon.”

     

    So who is right? The headline writer or the reporter?

     

    If you thought reading another paper might yield more accurate information, you would be mistaken. Hindustan Times, on the same day, had a six column headline on page 5 stating, “SoBo’s Car Free Day fails to gather steam” and below that: “Poor response: Only 150 people turn up for event, participants complain of poor arrangements.”

     

    How did HT spot only 150 people when TOI counted 800? Or 8,000?

     

    In frustration, I then turned to Express Newsline of Indian Express. It echoed HT’s headline: “Lukewarm turnout, but walkers and cycling enthusiasts have free run”. But unlike the 150 number of HT, Express quoted an organiser claiming that 150 cyclists and 200 pedestrians had participated. So that adds up to 350. So in the end were there 8,000, 800, 350 or 150?

     

    For those outside the media, this might sound like nitpicking. What does it matter? In any case, people only read one newspaper – that is if they read anything except the entertainment supplement.

     

    Yet, the fact that a simple report like this could show such variance actually points to a very basic problem in journalism today. The golden rule about statistics and numbers is: if in doubt, leave out. The structure of newspapers is supposed to provide the checks so that inaccuracies are caught. Journalists are supposed to be trained to be especially careful with numbers. And to double- check everything, even the most trivial detail. When something so basic begins to break down, then you are laying the ground for the kind of mistakes that bring in lawsuits.

     

    So even if Justice Katju’s remarks were sweeping generalisations, I would suggest that they were not entirely off the mark.

     

    Kalpana Sharma is an independent journalist and columnist.

  • Gouri Dange on how the Dilliwallahs far outshine the Mumbaiwallahs in talkshow lung power

    Gouri Dange:The Tower of Babel-Babble

    By Gouri Dange

     

    It’s not my mandate to talk about the news channels (that is ably done elsewhere on the MxMIndia site), but I couldn’t help snorting my coffee, at the alacrity with which one of the channels tried to cleverly throw in a new coinage, when The Slap incident happened.

     

    Speaking urgently into the camera (you can see the glee on their faces – after all, they’ve got some easily spreading news, lurid angles, lots of scope to whip up opinion polls and to repeat the incident frame-to-frame, this-and-that angle through the day), one newsperson (oh please, let me just use newswoman) used the word ‘Slapgate’ to label the incident. I mean comeon, “Slapgate”? Grow up, and grow away from the pretend-American phrases, please. Even the Americans don’t us the something-gate label for scandals or shocker incidents anymore.

     

    Some freshly-minted words and phrases after such an incident, do catch on. For instance, it was the easiest thing to caption the whole Slapping Incident ‘Why this kolaveri, kolaveri, kolaveri di?’ (kolaveri, for those who aren’t caught up by this gone-viral-on-internet song, means ‘murderous rage’ in Tamil). From A list channels to chota-mota papers, anchors and sub-editors instantly thought of asking cheekily (albeit unoriginally, as it turned out): Why this kolaveri…

     

    But some slapped-together phrases simply don’t make the cut. Chiefly because they don’t roll off the tongue well, though the newswoman concerned did a valiant job of spitting out all the awkward consonants of the word ‘Slapgate’as effortlessly as possible as many times as possible. The Hindi channels lovingly tossed the word ‘thappad’ around all day and well into the night. I didn’t watch MTV, but surely it was a landmark day for them, when their original One-Tight-Slap had suddenly become an official form of protest. The word ‘Slapgate’ didn’t hold, however many times the lady tried to use it with her expert guests also because the incident was dying down in spite of best efforts by mostly the electronic media and the usual suspects in Mumbai to keep it alive. Even TV channels faithfully moving the incident to other geographical locations, with various grassroots heroes putting their foots into their mouths while being asked for their reactions, didn’t quite help to keep the fizz and the buzz going.

     

    Never mind the various body parts – faces, palms, feet, and mouths. I am so through with watching that other body part – the Talking Head – on TV. And on Indian television, the heads rarely do much talking; they are only ever shouting heads. Some of them in fact seem to be trained and threatened by their handlers (their party, or their social organization) to keep saying whatever they want to say as if speaking into a dictaphone machine. No amount of attempts at interruptions, even by anchor people known to have PhDs in the Art of Interruption, can dam the flow of some of these shouters. It comes from the sad fact that they know how it is on Indian television. That if they pause for breath, some other geezer/geyser will instantly begin spouting, so they must say their say, without any of the natural rules of dialogue or debate being used.

     

    And in this, I think the Dilliwallahs far outshine the Mumbaiwallahs. In sheer lung power and in the tenacity, to go on talking over anything else being said. The Mumbaiwallah expert-panelist tries, but makes the fatal mistake of stuttering or trying to take an eloquent pause after making a point, only to be completely drowned out by shouting voices, who are not responding to him, so much as upchucking the words that are left in their stomachs, before the anchor begins screaming for a chance again.

     

    The important thing seems to be to not stop talking. So remember, Mumbai people, if you’re on one of these programmes, ‘Jo darr gaya, samjho marr gaya’, is the rule on Indian TV debates. Learn better breath control, never stop to clear your throat, and don’t make the fatal mistake of pausing to bleat some rhetorical question to the audience like ‘Don’t you agree?’ You’ll just give away your time to more able shouters.

     

    When we were very little, we played this game that one kid recites Jack and Jill on top of her voice while the other hollers Mary had a Little Lamb. The effort was to make your opponent forget her track and begin to inadvertently recite yours. I find the ‘discussions’ on prime-time Indian TV much like that game. At the risk of being stamped phoren-lover, I would much rather watch something being discussed on western television even if I have no particular interest in the subject, than watch and listen to the Babel-babble, even on relevant subjects, on Indian TV.

     

    Gouri Dange is a Pune-based counsellor, novelist and columnist. Naming No Names appears every Wednesday

  • Ranjona Banerji analyses news on primetime TV, the morning papers, social networks, Twitter… everywhere!

    Of course journos suffer for their mistakes!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    In case Press Council chairman Markandey Katju believes that journalists don’t suffer enough for their mistakes, he can perhaps get some satisfaction from the arrest of senior journalist Gurbir Singh in Mumbai on Tuesday night. Singh was arrested for ignoring a court summons in a “rasta roko” (street protest?) case which dates back 11 years. As a result, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.

     

    Without commenting on this particular case, several journalists have cases like this against them and litigants sometimes file them all over India mainly as a form of harassment. The Indian legal system being what it is, the cases drag over years and when the journalist concerned will most likely have a changed a few jobs by then, the annoyance increases. The upshot for Shri Katju: The legal system has its own ways of torturing people.

     

    **

     

    I was quite unpleasantly surprised to see a half page feature in the Mumbai edition of The Times of India dedicated to the wonders of probiotics. I looked carefully to see if the page was sponsored but could find no such legend. There was a signed piece by a doctor about how probiotics were essential for a number of reasons and a corroborating article. There was not one single word about contraindications – and there is no substance on earth which does not have side effects. Since probiotics can be dangerous for diabetics – of which India has a substantial number – one would have expected a soupcon of caution from both the doctor and the newspaper.

     

    **

     

    Not surprisingly, FDI in retail has been the big subject in the news (even I succumbed, I admit, in my column for Mid-Day), but while newspapers gave us multiple opinions and pros and cons, one yearns for an intelligent discussion on television which does not descend into shouting, blaming and general hysterics.

     

    Contrast this to the discussions on the just-held elections in Egypt – surely an emotive subject – on Al Jazeera where guests had their say, disagreed or agreed and left un-bloodied.

     

    **

     

    One of Indian television’s most popular guests is Suhel Seth. He is known for his emphatic opinions on just about every subject and is as a result a love-him-or-hate-him chap. Seth has just written a sort of self-help book on how to get ahead in life. Those who both love and hate him must read a biting, caustic and very intelligent review of the book by Mihir Sharma for Caravan magazine.

     

    The Twitter world is full of the review, reactions to it and Seth’s own reactions. Highly entertaining.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a Mumbai-based journalist and former editor. She is Contributing Editor, MxMIndia

  • Instead of unleashing boring stories of healthy electrons and neutrons inside the cooking oil, Fortune has gone all out to win the housewife's heart.

    Debrief: Cooking emotions

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Here’s another tear-jerker. And if you are an emotional fool (like me), you will rush to your nearest grocer to pick up cartons of Fortune cooking oil. And when the emotion involves a mother/son situation, an advertiser can be pretty sure it’s a safe bet.

     

    Fortune’s new commercial features an elderly mom who whips up delicious food for her merchant navy officer son. Since the officer won’t get a holiday to visit home, she lands up on the ship to celebrate his budday. And then, of course, it’s the predictable re-union.

     

    Smart move. Instead of unleashing boring stories of healthy electrons and neutrons inside the cooking oil, Fortune has gone all out to win the housewife’s heart. And the cleverest thing about the ad is the soundtrack. It’s the classic song from SD Burman: ‘Meri duniya hai maa’. It’s the sort of song that will move a heartless, emotional geek, leave alone an already teary mother.

     

    However, I must add that I didn’t get the same emotional high that I did from the recent Cadbury ‘Lonely maa’ ad. Here, the emotion seems to be a bit contrived and forced, and I suspect the person to blame for that is the ad filmmaker. Somehow the tears get diluted in the translation of the storyboard. Tells you how important it is to cast the right director.

     

    Rating: (On a scale of 1 to 5): 3. Most of those marks go to Burmanda.

  • The so-called old-world creative directors, who have been weaned on TV commercials, will continue to thrive because TV isn't about to die in a hurry in this country. But when it comes to using the digital media for their clients, these TV heroes are zeroes.

    Anil Thakraney: Adland blues – where the ‘uncles’ don’t understand digital & ‘dudes’ don’t know Real India

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    One subject that keeps popping up when I meet senior creative directors from the ad world is the challenge posed by new media. And it’s a bit of a worry for everyone because India, unlike developed nations, is placed on a very interesting media matrix.

     

    On the one hand, we have the so-called old-world creative directors (most of them also chairmen of agencies) who have been weaned on TV commercials. Their entire focus and creativity is concentrated on the tube, they can only think TV (not even print!). And they will continue to thrive for many more years because unlike in the western nations, TV isn’t about to die in a hurry in this country. However, these TV hero ‘uncles’ are zeroes when it comes to using the digital media for their clients, and that’s obviously a big weakness. Their understanding of the opportunities offered by the social media space, for example, is very poor. In fact, both Balki and Piyush haven’t even registered for either Twitter or Facebook, that should give you an idea of their disinterest.

     

    Which is why they rely on the ‘young geeks’ in their offices to figure out the use of the digital media for their clients. The twenty-somethings who live their lives purely in the virtual world. The problem with these nerds, on the other hand, is that they don’t understand the traditional media at all. In fact, drowned in their comps/pads/mobiles 24X7, these techno-wizards are disconnected from reality. Therefore incapable of coming up with ideas that are born out of the nation’s culture and beliefs.

     

    For a Kolaveri sort of viral magic to happen for brands, this twain shall have to meet. Either the senior CDs make sure they spend energies to understand and bond with the digital space. Or, they ensure the bachchas in their agencies spend at least half their waking hours getting to know Real India. There is no third way out.

     

    This chasm is no good for the health of the brands they handle.

     

    ***

     

    PS: A review of Suhel Seth’s book has got the author all worked up. And the feisty man has been busy dissing the article writer, calling him a ‘loser’, ‘unemployed economist’, ‘a lowdown’, etc. Apparently, Seth later deleted the sweet tweets. Here’s the link to the said review. Must-read stuff.

     

     

    http://www.caravanmagazine.in/Story.aspx?Storyid=1189&StoryStyle=FullStory

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji finds there's confusion everywhere… in the papers and the news channels

    Why need govts when u have anchors & editors?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    My cablewallah has decided that the only two English news channels I need to watch are Times Now and Headlines Today. I don’t know whether this is a political statement or an indication of what most people watch or general inefficiency. Of the two I (naturally?) chose Times Now. And I was treated to Arnab Goswami in full flow – he had to save the Indian nation on two counts, from China in the East and Pakistan in the West, so you can imagine the passion and intent. Remarkable, almost as good as watching Keeping up with the Kardashians and a darn sight better than Masterchef USA.

     

    The problem with China was of course that it had interfered in the running of a democratic secular nation (India) by warning the West Bengal governor and chief minister not to go anywhere near the Dalai Lama. This affront to Indian sovereignty was not to be countenanced and it is my overwhelming regret that there was no Chinese representative on the panel. Why do we need governments when we have TV news anchors and editors?

     

    (My personal view is that China forgot that there was no longer a tame CPM government in power in West Bengal!)

    Having blustered away at China – and some poor guest who had the misfortunate of having to explain China’s fears – we then turned our attention to Pakistan. Here, the role was of senior statesman, a negotiator if you will between Pakistan and the United States. The subject of course was the NATO attack which killed several Pakistani soldiers.

     

    It is a credit to our news industry that the larger picture of changing US-Pakistan relations was lost in lots of bombast and sharp positioning.

    In between all this, there was a short session between Rajiv Shukla of the Congress and Chandan Mitra of the BJP about FDI, Lokpal and whatever else is creating excitement in our political lives.

     

    Apparently, everyone is similarly confused because sometimes we like something and the next day we don’t and then again and so the circle of life goes on. Mitra was very emphatic that political parties have the right to change their minds, which is good to know.

     

    **

     

    The morning papers have been equally confusing as one day they tell us everyone is under the Lokpal and the next day they’re not and then everyone is for FDI, everyone is against FDI, partly for FDI, was for FDI once but now no more…

     

    The most interesting news then is that this so-called Bharat bandh by petty traders did not apparently amount to much.

    Team Anna meanwhile seems to be as confused as the rest of us and so has seemingly decided to call off its ritual hysterics for a while.

    Here’s to an equally confusing weekend!

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and the morning papers

    Raking up Ramanujan

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    How intriguing that several weeks after other newspapers have debated the removal of AK Ramanujan’s essay on India’s many Ramayanas from the Delhi University history course, that The Times of India should not only pick up on it but give it front page treatment. Nothing new has happened on the issue this week and the article reads more like an overview rather than a news story. Many years ago when Mumbai was Bombay and TOI had very little competition in the city, the newspaper’s arrogance seemingly declared that something was not news till TOI carried it, sometimes a week after it happened.

     

    However, it is good that the Times has given so much coverage to the subject, which so far has been largely restricted to edit pages. Ramanujan’s essay upset the Hindutva brigade which pressured the university to drop it. The BVP also apparently targeted the prime minister’s daughter Upinder Singh since she was on the committee which picked the essay. Ramanujan’s academic credentials are impeccable and the essay has been there for four years. The politics of the protesters and those who gave in to them seems to have won the day and this is one more death knell for free thought in India. Now how about a TV discussion on this, with all our usual suspects?

     

    **

     

    NDTV’s Politically Incorrect between Mani Shankar Aiyar and Swapan Dasgupta had an interesting discussion on FDI in retail. In keeping with the programme’s format, Aiyar and Dasgupta batted for opposing sides. That is, Aiyar (Congress) was against FDI while Dasgupta (BJP) was for it. In some sense, that matches the positions which one would expect these two parties to take. It also demonstrates how difficult it is to maintain strict ideological positions in today’s politics – 20th century divisions are now passé and we need new definitions perhaps.

     

    **

     

    Meanwhile on Times Now, it is evident that even the great champion of Anna Hazare, Arnab Goswami, is getting a little tired of this anti-corruption movement’s obstinacy. As the discussion on the Lopkal bill went round and round, the viewer knows this much: Although Team Anna’s desire for an anti-corruption bill is commendable, this constant desire to go on hunger strikes when anyone disagrees with them is getting tiresome.

     

    Medha Patkar, an old hand at such movements, was actually quite honest when she admitted that stridency and supposed stubbornness is a well thought out strategy to keep the issue alive.

     

    **

     

    If you can catch the BBC documentary Secret Pakistan, please don’t miss it.

  • Are reality shows over-hyped in the desi entertainment channels? Are they worth all the effort and the expenditure? Is too much expectation being loaded on them?

    Thakraney: Sony after KBC. Reality shows must face the music

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    I really don’t know what Sony’s revenue model was for the recently concluded KBC. As in, did the channel actually make money on advertising and sponsorships after deducting the massive costs? Which include phenomenal sums going to the host Big B, not to speak of all the prize monies (Mr Sushil Kumar alone walked away with five crore rupees). Maybe they did make a little profit on the show, maybe they did not. But here’s what has happened immediately post the show: On the ratings chart, the channel slipped to No 3 from its position of No 2.

     

    Now, traditional programming logic suggests that expensive reality shows and blockbuster cinema films play the role of a magnet, of getting a channel some stickiness with the viewers. Having come onto the platform, viewers would taste the regular fare on the channel and hopefully stay on. Well, KBC doesn’t seem to have delivered on that promise. After enjoying the show, clearly many viewers defected to the other channels. This naturally raises a doubt in the mind: Are reality shows over-hyped in the desi entertainment channels? Are they worth all the effort and the expenditure? Is too much expectation being loaded on them?

     

    There are no easy answers to this one. But one thing is clear: You can tempt patrons into a restaurant by offering an outstanding dessert, but they will only return if the food is delicious. You can’t build loyalty through window dressing. The idea should be to first build a powerful back-end… which is to create super regular programming. And then run a huge reality show, so that viewers like what they taste when it comes to the ‘bread and butter’ shows.

     

    In this context, one has to wonder if Sony put the cart before the horse. Star Plus’s consistent No 1 position should provide a way forward for other channels: Which is to first do the basics rights. And then dial Mr Bachchan’s number.

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    PS: LOL! Watch this ad for Snickers. A good example of how to (literally) use research methods in advertising, AND make it work very nicely!