MxMIndia

Category: MxM JOURNALISM REVIEW

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

    Time to rethink on Katju?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So which was bigger – the slap that Bollywood mega star apparently gave small-time director Shirish Kunder or the attack on The Times of India Mumbai offices by supporters of a Shiv Sena politician?

     

    This is from Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju’s letter to the chief minister of Maharashtra: “Please, therefore, let me know at the earliest what action have you taken against the hooligans who committed this outrage. In particular, please inform me whether the delinquents have been arrested and any criminal proceedings launched against them.

     

    I may mention that this is not the first time that such an incident has happened in Maharashtra. I had written to you earlier also about such assaults and harrassment (sic) of journalists. I, therefore, must tell you now that the Press Council may now have to take a serious view of the matter and take suitable action if such incidents are not curbed in your state.”

     

    It is heartening indeed for the press to get such support and perhaps we need to rethink our views on the honourable judge, his views on journalists notwithstanding? By the way, the misspelling of harassment is not mine; I have cut and pasted the extract from the letter. I make no comment here.

     

    At any rate, with the famous Khan-Kunder slap, Katju’s deepest fears about the media were fully realised. This made headline and front page news. But I think there is room for debate here. After all, Shah Rukh Khan is one of India’s biggest stars. If he gets caught in a late night fisticuffs at a fancy night club, then it is certainly news. The problem for me is that enough juice about this fight was not provided. I must confess I had no idea who this Kunder chap was when I first read about the fight on Twitter. It was later I realised that he is husband of Farah Khan, choreographer-turned-director. Most of the stories which appeared were written by insiders for insiders so outsiders like me, who had no idea of the stories within the stories, were left confused. I would say that this is a problem which journalists have to address – make everything clear to your readers. Do not assume that they know as much as you do about a particular subject which you have specialised in.

     

    As far as the attack on The Times of India is concerned, this is one more in a long list of intimidation tactics used on the media by political parties. And as long as nothing is done to those who instigate or participate in such attacks, they will continue. Hooliganism has almost become an accepted way of life and neither our government nor the police seem to be bothered.

     

    * * *

     

    What does one make of the excitement over baby Falak, the infant abandoned at AIIMS, Delhi on Republic Day? Instead of minute by minute updates on the condition of this unfortunate child, one would have expected newspapers at least to delve further into the status of abandoned and abused children in India. We expended much outrage over the actions of the Norwegian child services over the Bhattacharyas’ children but perhaps we need to examine whether we need such agencies ourselves. Right now what is happening with this baby is not concern; it is outright sensationalism.

     

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

    Media gets it wrong on Republic Day

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Republic Day is not about freedom from colonial rule, it’s about the Constitution and the way we rule ourselves. How did the media respond? After 63 years, maybe they feel that there’s little left to say, even though we have, in 2011, suffered a number of crises that examine or question our schedule of rights, responsibilities, freedoms and systems.

     

    Even the advertisers got it wrong. Bank of America, for instance, talked about some medieval version of the Panchatantra that they had helped restore. Wonderful news though that is, it has nothing whatsoever to do with India becoming a Republic. The Google doodle was some very cute cavorting elephants – but cute does not quite cover what Republic Day means.

     

    Anna Hazare used the opportunity to declare that “gram sabhas” are more important than the Lok Sabha. Luckily Mumbai is newspaper-free on January 27 or Hazare’s urban supporters would have been really confused. He was not, you see, talking about a sprouted moong salad or any other health food. What he means is that village assemblies are more important and should be more powerful than the elected representatives chosen by systems laid down in our very carefully constructed Constitution. As The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition put it, “Struggling to stay relevant amid signs of growing public indifference, Anna Hazare…” The Deccan Chronicle’s Hyderabad edition, it must be pointed out, did not bother to front-page Hazare archaic notions.

     

    But what the DC does have is an interesting story about how Nitin Gadkari, BJP party president, has changed his tune a bit about Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for prime minister. Now he says Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley are in the race too. Perhaps the BJP, which is so enamoured of the US presidential system, now wants to internally implement the US political party system for choosing presidential candidates. It will be great fun if they do it – Modi, Swaraj and Jaitley locked in public fights with each other for the privilege of running for prime minister. Can you imagine the amount of fodder for our TV anchors?

     

    * * *

     

    Talking of TV (as I ran through the channels on Republic Day), the terrible story of a battered baby at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences dominated the headlines, together with the Indian cricket teams continuing travails in Australia. Virat Kohli’s century in Adelaide got some accolades but it was mainly doom and gloom. The battered baby got front page lead in the Delhi edition of the Hindustan Times, so can I forecast a more “people-friendly” 2012 in the media?

     

    * * *

     

    For the first time in several years, the Republic Day awards did not cause media hysteria. If Sachin Tendulkar had got his 100th 100th, the fact that he did not get a Bharat Ratna may have been a matter of huge melodrama. As it happens, no one got a Bharat Ratna.

     

    My only observation here is possibly a very visible parochialism where newspapers were happiest about awards given to local people. Now not only do you have to be jingoistic about India as a media person, you also have to fall prey to all the foibles of regional identity politics. I hope that’s not a prediction!

     

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

    TV journos, please develop some sense

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    If you have ever felt that you wanted to get bored to the point of death, as a sort of scientific experiment, you would do worse than to try and make sense of daytime TV news. Having just listened to a 5 minute conversation between an anchor and reporter about the latest on the controversy about the army chief’s age, all I could fathom was that the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition. Meanwhile, the anchor and reporter repeated the same thing about five times, over and over again. Plenty of ‘of courses’ and ‘in facts’, in fact, of course, studded this conversation.

     

    * * *

     

    West Bengal’s hospitals have always had plenty of horror stories in and around them but now that TV has tasted blood there, one can see that there is unlikely to be an escape from the scanner right now. Mamata Banerjee had better watch out.

     

    * * *

     

    Mid-Day was first off the block to tell us about extraordinary behaviour of the captain of the capsized ship, Costa Concordia, as he apparently ran away from his ship – later he said he tripped and fell into a lifeboat. The transcript of the conversation between the Italian Coastguard and the captain was an eye-opener. The captain has been accused of trying some kind of stunt which led to the cruise liner running aground. Indian TV and newspapers have as usual only concentrated on the Indians affected by this accident which makes looking for the complete picture a tedious task. Is there no life – or death – outside our geographical borders?

     

    * * *

     

    Suresh Kalmadi gets bail and as usual, our TV channels behave as if he has been acquitted of corruption charges. There are few simple things for journalists to remember here: you are innocent until proven guilty in India, bail is a permissible legal option and I throw this in for good measure: it is okay to criticise the armed forces.
    This hysterical self-righteousness demonstrated by most of our TV reporters is not just annoying, it is potentially dangerous.

     

    * * *

     

    It might also help if our TV reporters and anchors develop a sense of humour instead of trying to save India’s sensitivities from the BBC programme Top Gear. Surely, we can work on the principle that we are a mature society and can take a few jokes? Or, perhaps Indian news channels should have special telecasts for Indians living abroad who get quite upset quite easily? Then those of us left behind in India can live our lives in peace.

     

    * * *

     

    Meanwhile, we still don’t know if writer Salman Rushdie is coming to the Jaipur Lit Fest or not. So much for investigative journalism or a well-constructed publicity stunt?

     

    * * *

     

    Veteran and respected journalist Harish Khare has quit as media adviser to the Prime Minister, says The Times of India because he is upset at the appointment of TV journalist Pankaj Pachauri as communications adviser. Is this something to watch out for?

     

    * * *

     

    The death of TOI’s film critic Nikhat Kazmi on Friday morning was a sad way to start the day.

     

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews the content on news television and the morning papers

    Much ado as Sen does a Katju

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Amartya Sen has done a Markandey Katju on the Indian media, but unlike the outspoken Press Council chief, the Nobel Prize winning economist has piled on some flattery first – free, fair, objective, pillar of democracy and so on.

     

    (http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2781128.ece?homepage=true)

     

    But his basic grouses are lack of grievance redressal protocols and a somewhat ambivalent approach towards accuracy. Do these problems sound a bit like from someone who has been at the receiving end? Well, yes. He explains his personal problems in great detail anyway, mainly to do with being misquoted.

     

    The other issue is one of having some sort of ombudsman (person?). Not too many newspapers bother and I am not sure of what happens in the world of TV.

     

    But what was intriguing was the whining and moaning by journalists on social media sites. No one ever talks about consumers, said one (the implication being that readers are to blame for the rubbish that goes into papers and on TV) or that Sen was just saying the same old thing. The comments under the article, of course, praised it wholesale – media bashing is such fun!

     

    Like Katju, Sen also pointed out that the media largely ignores the concerns of Unfortunate India, while concentrating on celebs, moneybags, film stars and the middle class.

     

    Still, one would imagine that journalists, being so used to dishing it out, should also learn to suck it up. Sen is not the Press Council chairman telling us what to do with a toothless threat hanging over our heads nor does he harp on about our inability to quote Ghalib couplets at the drop of a hat. It’s just a point of view.

     

    * * *

     

    Katju has come to the defence of Bigg Boss occupant (I think the latest edition is over) and porn actress Sunny Leone, saying that she’s not done any of those not-yet-respectable things in India so no one should target her. It’s an interesting way of getting round our moral policing hounds. Will it work for Salman Rushdie too, do you think?

     

    * * *

     

    Arnab Goswami tried to hold a discussion on the Deoband request to deny a visa to writer Salman Rushdie. However the guests were such that it would never have made for a fair or even constructive debate – Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, All India Majlis-e-Ittihad al-Muslimin; Alka Raghuvanshi, curator, India Habitat Centre; Sheebha Aslam Fehmi, Islamic feminist writer  and journalist and Zafaryab Jilani, Convener, Babri Masjid Action Committee. Jilani looked tired (been there, done that), Raghuvanshi hardly managed to say anything, Fehmi put up a lone defence for the liberal voice and Owaise shouted louder than everything else. Goswami pointed out that he could not single-handedly solve the problems of the nation, on being baited by Owaisi.

     

    * * *

     

    Now that Tuesday morning’s papers have told us that some prospective medical students were caught cheating in an entrance exam, there is hysteria in TV land over the fact that merit is being murdered. Please.

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

    Journos should learn a lesson from Mumbai’s voter turnout

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So, as cynical journalists had assumed, a quarter of the way into Anna Hazare’s movement last year, this great upsurge of feeling for the country by young India was something of a hoax. When it came down to it – exercising your franchise, the biggest right and responsibility in a democracy – Mumbai has been found wanting. Hindustan Times’ headline puts it most succinctly: “Typical. Apathetic. Mumbai”.

     

    Newspapers also concentrated on rich and young Mumbai, both of which failed to show up. The Indian Express didn’t hold back taking about Mumbai sticking to its normal habit, “with voter disinterest in a handful of plush areas dragging down overall voter percentages”.

     

    As The Times of India points out, “The tony neighbourhoods of Colaba, Churchgate and Cuffe Parade repeated their past record with a measly turnout of 34 per cent, the lowest in the city.”

     

    The various reasons given for this voter apathy have been the chance for a long vacation, confusion over voter lists and general disorganisation. One woman is quoted about complaining that it took hour half an hour to vote – obviously too big a price to pay.

     

    As Mid-Day says in its editorial, “It is all very well to tweet about how this city is going to the dogs, create a Facebook page on how the roads are pathetic or organise candlelight marches to protest against terror attacks. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating. On that count, Mumbai is starving itself.”

     

    The Hindustan Times also went straight for the jugular – young people who are all aware and concerned in cyberspace but cannot translate that fervour into real life. (Aside to Election Commission: how about online voting for our youth who can’t be bothered to walk to a polling booth?)

     

    * * *

     

    On TV on Friday morning, the focus, for me, had to be on the Hindi and Marathi channels since the English channels were not unnaturally concerned with other news – Amitabh Bachchan’s operation, a fleeting glimpse of Aishwariya Rai carrying a baby bundle, the killing of two Indian fishermen by an Italian ship and something to do with Salma Hayek, which I didn’t bother to find out about.

     

    Sahara Mumbai, Sahara Samay and Star News suspended their precious stones and astrological forecast sections to provide trends, results and analysis of the elections in Maharashtra.

     

    * * *

     

    Perhaps in Mumbai’s voting pattern there is a lesson for journalists not to be too taken up with marketing hype about young India and to get carried away with what is said on social media. You have to keep track of everything but need not believe everything you hear and see on the Internet.

     

    Also, it is important to consider that India is not a society or a nation under threat or on the verge of civil war (whatever TV may tell you every night). We have no need for a social revolution like the Middle East for instance. Therefore, passion in cyberspace will not necessarily translate into anything at all in real life.

     

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

    Freaking News: It’s a dull year for TV

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The wonder that is TV news inIndiabecomes a total damp squib if there is nothing exciting happening. And this year has been particularly lacking news-wise. Or that is, news that suits TV land. Especially after the excitement of last year – not the least created by the anti-corruption movement – 2012 seems dull. The UP elections have not provided enough fodder and the best we have managed is the hullabaloo over Salman Rushdie and the Jaipur Literary Fest. The Supreme Court came down firmly on the age crisis faced by the army chief and that is now the end of that potential drama.

     

    It’s another matter that we have had sufficient news to keep us occupied. But when you run on a permanent cycle of “breaking news” which can be turned into hysterical studio debates, ordinary news does not suffice. Right now, the crisis within Kingfisher Airlines has the most potential.

     

    * * *

     

    Now that so many states have objected to the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, because it hurts our “federal structure”, it is perhaps time for newspapers to find commentators who can explain our “federal structure” in Constitutional terms. Are we really federal? Or is this just one more political ploy? In terms of law and order, the odd thing is that whenever something goes wrong in any state, people within and without the state clamour for a “CBI” probe. This, in spite of the fact that the CBI goes against our “federal structure” and at other times, is seen as a handmaiden of the ruling party at the Centre. It’s an odd but fascinating dichotomy of thought.

     

    * * *

     

    Yesterday’s newspapers told us that Anna Hazare is fit and raring to go. Today’s newspapers tell us that he and his team are due to meet. It would be interesting to see if television is still as accommodating to Hazare and his merry followers or whether they have fallen out of the news cycle. Newspapers, it must be admitted, have dismissed Hazare news to little single columns.

     

    * * *

     

    Having declared their “Aman Ki Asha” campaign for peace with Pakistan, the Times of India now looks east and introduces a “Bonding with Bangladesh” exercise. Since many Indians are even unaware that Bengal was partitioned (the general feeling appears to be that the only people affected were in north India), it will be interesting to see what kind of response they get. For now, it is sharing stories with the Bangladeshi paper Pratham Alo, to “deepen people-to-people” ties.

     

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

    The King in troubled waters

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Whoever picked the guests for the Kingfisher segment of the Newshour last night, obviously did not gauge TimesNow editor Arnab Goswami’s mood right. More than half the panel spoke out in favour of the besieged airline while Goswami was adamant that no one owed Kingfisher anything for its bad management practices. Even worse, the people of India had been inconvenienced (or at least the flying public) and that was unacceptable.

     

    Vijay Mallya on TimesNow was quite a departure from his normal braggart self as he petulantly explained that he was dying to pay everyone but couldn’t since the income tax department had frozen all Kingfisher accounts. He did acknowledge that he did have some tax dues but…

     

    From all the par-for-the-course studio histrionics, one thing was clear – some urgent analysis of the aviation industry is required.

     

    Obviously, television cannot provide it…

     

    The first edit in The Economic Times seems to feel that a government intervention or bailout is unacceptable and Kingfisher has to sort out its own problems. It even calls for a suspension of licence. This is in keeping with Goswami’s line but does not follow that of Kingfisher’s well-wishers within the travel and aviation industry who keep bringing Air India into the picture. As ET points out, “The state of the industry and the fate of Air India should not be allowed to cloud the issue.”

     

    **

     

    The alleged rape of a woman in Kolkata gets curiouser and curiouser. The behaviour of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her minister Madan Mitra – blaming the victim and claiming a conspiracy to destablise the government – has been roundly criticised. Indeed, Mitra’s comments about the woman being out drinking deserve wider condemnation – he should surely be treated on par with the Andhra Pradesh police officer and Karnataka minister for making such sexist and dangerous remarks.

     

    **

     

    In The Indian Express, Abhijit V Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director Abdul Latif Jameel Povery Action Lab makes an impassioned plea for allowing the British government’s Department for International Development continues its “good work” in India and for India not to get carried away by nationalism. This is a subject which needs to be debated more stringently in India. Do we still need foreign aid, does aid work and should not India manage its own problems. My instinct is not to agree with Banerjee and to side with the nationalists…

     

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

    Of Un-Saif celebs & hysterical cricket journos

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The happiest two Indians in the world right now must be Mahender Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag. The alleged fracas between film star Saif Ali Khan and a South African businessman and his family has pushed the apparent rift in the Indian cricket team to second or may be even third priority in the breathless world of Indian news television. We started Wednesday debating every small eyebrow lift made by the Indian captain and examined every snort by Sehwag to try and determine whether it was derogatory or just plain bacterial.

     

    But by the middle of the day, there was some terribly plaintively hurt gentleman, Iqbal Sharma, telling us in self-righteously hurt tones how Saif and friends had beaten him and his father-in-law up at Wasabi, probably Mumbai’s most expensive and best restaurant. Sharma sported a band-aid on his nose and told us it was broken. His father-in-law said he was punched in the face with a glancing blow (or something that sounded like boxing terminology) but even my flat screen hi-definition did not catch any visible marks on his smooth cheeks. Whatever. The duo appeared on any number of TV channels (all exclusively) and repeated their story. Saif Ali Khan said nothing. But the rest of the day was spent in speculation about when he would arrive at Colaba police station, when he would be arrested, what it would mean and so on. Maybe someone even discussed what he would wear, but I missed that.

     

    This drama went on and on although meanwhile some CPM cadre were killed in West Bengal, presumably by Trinamool Congress workers and Kingfisher’s fortunes continued to dip.

     

    But nothing was as big as the imminent arrest of Saif Ali Khan. Every TV channel accepted the version given by Sharma and family. The objectivity of there being two sides to a story seemingly goes out of the window when a celebrity is involved. As for the celebrity – he or she is either the worst person in the world or the best. I’ll qualify that, if the journalist is an entertainment journalist, the celeb is the best person. If a general category journalist then the celeb is the worst. The price of fame, presumably.

     

    Sadly, when the arrest happened, it lasted only a few moments and the film star was then out on bail. This also caused outrage. But regardless of whether Saif Ali Khan is a film star or not, I would like our TV reporters to investigate the last time someone was not eligible for bail for having a little late-night fisticuffs in a restaurant. If everyone was given seven years rigorous imprisonment for this crime, we would have to build thousands of new jails.

     

    * * *

     

    Anyway, the big news of the day appears to be the resignation of Mumbai Congress chief, the controversial Kripa Shankar Singh. Not only did the Congress do miserably in the recent elections but Singh has also been charged with corruption on several counts. I thank the newspapers for this.

     

    * * *

     

    Meanwhile, Dhoni and Sehwag must still be holding their breath. Because the hysteria of sports journalists and TV commentators, when it comes to Indian cricket, knows no bounds. It is completely unrestrained by logic, rationale, practicality and other such mundane notions.

     

    * * *

     

    RIP Marie Colvin, veteran journalist, with the Sunday Times (London), killed in Syria.

     

  • The media has just 'sensationalised' the whole issue of Kingfisher's troubles, we are to glean from Mallya's letter.

    [MJR] Noosemakers: The life and letters of Dr Vijay Mallya

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    “The Indian media and the ‘paid’ media that even the Prime Minister referred to are unscrupulous and they will do whatever it takes, part fact or fiction, true or untrue to achieve their sensationalist objectives.”

     

    These lines are from the opening paragraphs of Vijay Mallya’s letter to the employees of Kingfisher Airlines, promising them that he is making arrangements to pay their salaries. He also says that he intends to pay his taxes.

     

    It is heartening, however, to note that the media, paid and not paid (unpaid would refer to a Kingfisher staffer) have not been responsible for denying Kingfisher employees their salaries. Or indeed, that it is because of the media that Kingfisher could not pay so many taxes.

     

    The media has, therefore, just “sensationalised” the whole issue of Kingfisher’s troubles, we are to glean from Mallya’s letter and concentrated on one airline when the whole aviation sector is in trouble. (Again, thankfully, the media is not responsible here for the woes of civil aviation (at least I think not), just for talking about it.

     

    Except, he points out, the one airline which is not in trouble but even that could be true or untrue according to Mallya. I am not sure the media had any role to play here… does the media have the power to make just one airline in a sick industry successful?Indiawants to know.

     

    I don’t want to point fingers at anyone here, but I think Mallya should also blame passengers, especially his “guests” who paid but were then un-boarded and un-flown. These guests kept blabbing to the media about how they had been inconvenienced by Kingfisher Airlines. I think Mallya should have blamed them too.

     

    And all the pilots who upped and left to work for that one airline “that defies the odds and claims to be profitable, however unlikely that may be”. I’m guessing that they were paid rather than unpaid by that other airline with its bizarre claims.

     

    Many years ago, a person kept calling newspapers (there was not much TV those days, it was that long ago) and claimed to be Vijay Mallya’s PR person. She would talk about his latest horse or yacht or holiday destination. We could never determine if she was paid or unpaid, part fact or fiction, true or untrue. Somehow I feel that Mallya needs someone like her all over again. Might be better if he pays her this time and I know Niira Radia’s out of a job but maybe not her…?

     

    Here’s the text of the letter:

    http://www.ndtv.com/article/business/vijay-mallya-writes-to-kingfisher-employees-read-letter-180222

     

    Photograph: Fotocorp

  • The objective of MJR is not to take journalists to the cleaners. It’s more of a celebration of the profession, and in the process reporting on all the good and bad things in there.

    Introducing the MxM Journalism Review

    So what’s a media, marketing and advertising website doing with a Journalism Review? Isn’t journalism at the bottom of the value chain for some or just one of those things that don’t quite matter? ‘Cos who will advertise on a website/microsite that’s only got journos hooked?

     

    Monsanto, perhaps, given that it was the benefactor for a major award recently. Or the Jaypee group or various others wanting to curry favour with news media professionals.

     

    There’s a reason why the MxM Journalism Review (MJR, for short) has happened. For one, we have received an astounding response to our journalism section. And two, as a media and marketing site, we can’t not track what’s happening in this part of the media. While the pressure of running the rest of the operations has taken a toll over my doing Mediaah! regularly, senior journalist, until last year senior editor at DNA and former colleague Ranjona Banerji’s ‘Freaking News’ has been attracting many hits. Plus Gouri Dange’s column ‘Naming no Names’, Deepa Gahlot’s review of reviews, Newswatch by well-known journos, Anil Thakraney’s frequent ‘hard knocks’ on news and of course our regular fare of stories.

     

    The objective of MJR is not to take journalists to the cleaners. Yes, it’s a ‘review’ but we aren’t watchdogs who like to bark at everyone. It’s more of a celebration of the profession, and in the process reporting on all the good and bad things in there. We don’t think there’s anything wrong with innovative advertising in print. So a coffee-flavoured newspaper is fine and if a newspaper wants to have a full page ad on Page 1 on a big news day, then we guess its folks know how it impacts the brand. We’ll have our commentators do the talking, but we surely don’t believe most publishers are evil.

     

    Yes, we have a very strong view on paid content. Our standpoint on the issue was evident when we were perhaps the only publication which said RJ mentions constituted an incorrect practice… quite the same when a newspaper asks a restaurant to pay for publishing a picture of its opening. We don’t think it’s right. We stand for integrity in the profession and are worried as media companies compromise on ethics when they get into allied activities like events – conferences, awards, et al.

     

    We think journalists who accept bribes are as corrupt as those indicted in the various scams. We believe journos who pass off readymade stories handed to them by PR agencies as their own are corrupt even if they may be senior editors at respected print media. We think award organisers who give out awards without a legit process and/or juries deciding on them must be damned.

     

    We also want private FM radio to air news. We think news journalism – especially local and cultural – will get a huge boost with FM radio. When Markandey Katju went on a rampage against journalists, we were upset because some of it was indeed true, except of course he had no business to do so as Press Council chief.

     

    The MxM Journalism Review isn’t just about news journalism. We are as interested in documenting how the Maxim editor is doing as is the editor of Hindustan Times. We will write about how Sun News is doing as much as, say, YouTube-based film news offering Lehren.

     

    A lot of it is tough doing, but we hope to achieve the impossible thanks to a network of well-wishers across the country. In the process, we may experiment. Our columns and features may upset Editors, CMOs and CEOs. While some may threaten to pull their advertising, a few may choose to invest their faith in us.

    MxMIndia’s MJR will strive to bring you unbiased news and views on Indian journalism. So help us God.

     

    -Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Editor-in-Chief and CEO, MxMIndia

    Email: pradyumanm@mxmindia.com,
    BBM: 23050B5D, Twitter: @pmahesh
    Gtalk: pradyumanm[at]gmail.com

    PS: Taaliyaan!

  • These literary melas provide yet another celebrity event to fill the pages of our newspapers. They are also a tonic for our increasingly jaded elite.

    [MJR] Litfests: Boon or bane for Indian book market?

    By Yogi Aggarwal

     

    Literary events do not, as a rule, make news and are normally assigned just a paragraph or so in the inside pages of newspapers. Not the Jaipur literary festival (JLF), now in its sixth year.

     

    Its organisers have an eye for easy publicity, and the knack of drawing record crowds. It’s fast approaching the bustle and energy of a mela, with an attendance of over one lakh visitors during the five day jamboree last month.

     

    Either there has been a sudden spurt of interest in books, or the people just come to have some fun, as they do at the largely low-brow Kala Ghoda festival in Mumbai. Though literary events such as those recently started in Mumbai,KarachiandHyderabaddo help to sell some books, none has the drawing power or the induced magic of the JLF.

     

    Is the JLF in the envious position of attracting certain top writers, which then bring it to the attention of the media, or is it the media hype than brings in the writers? The latter is unlikely to be the case since the Indian market for books is still a small one. And despite the presence of several distinguished mix of writers, only one person has the reputation to generate a large crowd-pulling controversy – Salman Rushdie.

     

    It was his attendance at JLF in 2007 which led to vastly increased numbers at the fest in the following years, and it was the motivated opposition to his presence in Jaipur or even to a video conference that took the JLF to the top league in such events around the world.

     

    William Dalrymple, the impresario who runs the show, maintains that literary fests like the one in Jaipur have the effect of “putting literature back at the centre” and that such fests are part of the exponentially expanding book market inSouth Asia.

     

    Both are questionable statements. Literary fests do lead to some interaction between writers and readers, and this may even help the writers understand their audience, but at the signing that accompany the sales of books at the venue at most a few score copies are sold, hardly putting literature back at the centre.

     

    It is also debatable whether the book market is expanding exponentially in our region. There are certainly a larger number of fiction titles being published. But most of them sink without going into a second print.

     

    The reason for the proliferation of these literary melas is twofold. First, they provide yet another celebrity event to fill the pages of our newspapers, most of whom have abandoned their role of informing and educating their readers, to pandering to their prejudices and serving salacious stories. Second, they are a tonic for our increasingly jaded elite.

     

    For this reason the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie was the perfect marketing gimmick. While Rushdie himself thrives on the opportunity to be in the public eye, this occasion was the more central since it highlighted the conflict between “diehard mullahs” and “freedom of expression”.

     

    The media helped fuel the dichotomy by only giving space to a fundamentalist fringe, ignoring the large number of Muslim liberals. The heat and the large public interest & debate this generated will surely make the next JLF even bigger than before.

    All this does not leave the author any better off. Nor does it generate a genuine interest in the ideas that books are meant to foment.

     

    Just before the JLF, there was a similar event in Mumbai. Organised by a large media conglomerate, it was a successful mela with all the attendant frills of book signings, meet the author events, food courts and milling crowds. Surely it is another JLF in the making, and a bigger one too at that, considering the influential and well-funded backing, and its location in Mumbai.

     

    It is ironic that the media conglomerate has no space or time for books. It stopped reviewing them years ago since “our readers aren’t interested”. Intelligent and fair reviews by a dedicated lot of critics, complete with author interviews on a weekly books page or even section are necessary for the growth of an informed readership.

    Melas can be useful but cannot replace this essential perquisite of a literate, book-reading culture.

     

    Yogi Aggarwal is a veteran journalist.

     

  • Every Thursday, Ranjona Banerji will write about a grouse. Either spewing venom or tongue-in-cheek.

    [MJR] Famous Grouse: High-pitched hysteria on the box

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Day after day, as I watch television news, I am in a state of constant frustration and rage – so many journalistic mistakes made day after day and not a sign that anyone is going to correct them. Wholesale editorializing by reporters, daft theories for every event conjured up by editors, complete lack of coordination between a reporter at a “live” event and the newsroom, high-pitched hysteria in TV studios at prime time when the debates and discussions happen. Heck, they can’t even get the grammar or the facts right on the little bit of text they put up on their screens.

     

    Then, circumstances and real life conspired against me and I haven’t managed to watch much TV news this week. And shock and horror, it’s been traumatic. I have severe withdrawal symptoms. My melodrama gene has been severely denied and it is protesting.

     

    My chief grouse in this first of a list of grouse is against newspapers. I propose that they start a TV section. Not a review – which so many of them do so well and I do enjoy reading Shailja Baipai and Poonam Saxena and Mihir Sharma’s columns for Indian Express when he was still there and Sevanti Ninan and all the rest of my esteemed colleagues whom I may have left out.

     

    No, I’m talking about a page, at least, dedicated to the TV style. We can have wild accusations, absolutely no subbing of any copy, every impossible theory treated seriously, a studious attempt to avoid objectivity and a debate where two people who know the least about any subject are asked to write 500 words about it with no punctuation and plenty of highlighted words and CAPS SO THAT YOU KNOW WHEN THE CONTESTANTS (sorry participants) ARE SHOUTING.

     

    Is there a print equivalent of interrupting? If so, stick that in the mix as well.

     

    Aaaah, bliss!