MxMIndia

Tag: Bhupendra Chaubey

  • Oour colleagues on killing beats like health in the middle of a pandemic get shortchanged by their own community, writs Ranjona Banerji

    Second Waves of Praising Modi

     

    Ranjona BanerjiBy Ranjona Banerji

    I had promised to revisit the excellent journalism done by a small group of health reporters who kept us informed about the pandemic last year. They worked against all odds, especially official obfuscation, global confusion and a plethora of half-truths and lies about Covid-19 and its effect on both people and the health system.

    Between that promise made at the end of March and now, we find ourselves in a massive second wave and one that threatens to be as bad if not worse than the worse Covid-19 spike of 2020.

    Events overtake us and journalists cannot sit on their laurels. So here we are again. Having negotiated through the various information minefields of inadequate disclosure, scatty and spotty Covid-19 strategies, the Central Government’s endless publicity gimmickry, the vagaries of the virus itself and then the deleterious effect on the medical community, journalists now find themselves back where they started. In the middle of a pandemic. A number of frontline journalists got Covid-19 and a few sadly succumbed.

    You would hope that we had learnt something from last year. But for the most part, you would be wrong. A vast majority of India’s journalists or if you’re feeling generous, of India’s media houses, continue to see the world in terms of: promote Narendra Modi or keep quiet. Therefore, the Centre’s inept handling of the pandemic has to be covered up. As ever elections jump to the rescue. We have spent months concentrating on the “Battle for Bengal” as if that was all that mattered: five assembly elections.

    And now, the large community of political journalists – especially those on the BJP cheerleading beat – are agog with excitement over Modi’s announcement of a “tika utsav” or vaccination festival. This is while our dedicated branch of health journalists track how states have run out of vaccines, how vaccine centres are turning people away, how the manufacturers have asked for money and time, how the calls for protocols to be loosened are growing wider…

    On what basis will the Prime Minister, who has ignored the second wave to jeer at Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, organise this “festival” without vaccine stocks? Instead of concentrating on facts and logistics, because it is almost guaranteed that all available stocks will be held for the PM’s “festival” from April 11 to 14, we have senior TV persons full of excitement.

    Pallavi Ghose of CNN News18 was practically first off the block: “PM makes a strong case for vaccine – vaccine utsav from 11th to 16th April” in a tweet on Thursday night, minutes after the announcement. The dates are wrong, but we can forgive that in the excitement to get a praise Modi tweet out. Please note that there is no analysis here. No questions on why we just need a proper plan and not more publicity stunts.

    Thus, our colleagues on killing beats like health in the middle of a pandemic get short-changed by their own community.

    Ghosh is just one example. I give you this tweet from Bhupendra Chaubey, formerly of CNN News18 and now with India Ahead: “11th April to 14th April. Anniversaries of Jyoti ba Phule and Baba saheb Ambedkar (sic, sic), in between these days “vaccination festival” @narendramodi. If there ever was a doubt that he was India’s best political communicator, the reference to these two anniversaries should settle it”.

    Again, no questions, no relation to ground realities, only an overwhelming desire to praise Modi.

    In what way can journalists who actually do their jobs – question, question, question– compete with this?

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia every Tuesday and Friday. Her views here are personal

  • The journalist-turn-media baron aims to in turn the group into a tech-enabled multi-platform news organisation

    Bhupendra Chaubey goes for the Big. Joins India Ahead as Owner, Co-Promoter, CEO and Group Editor-in-Chief

    By A Correspondent

     

    Senior journalist and former main man of CNBC-News 18, Bhupendra Chaubey will manage the affairs of 12 editions of Telugu daily Andhra Prabha, English Language news channel India Ahead, and its foray in to regional spaces. He has joined India Ahead, the English national news channel beamed out of South India as Owner & Co-Promoter. He will be part of the core founding team, a release added. He will also be Group Editor-in-Chief and CEO.

     

    “In the post-Covid world, the media landscape is changing dramatically. And there is no  one better poised than Bhupendra to take this Media company forward and create a new template for broadcasting.” Goutham Mootha, the Founder Promoter of the company said.

     

    Said Chaubey: “I have known Goutham for a while. He paved the way and invited me to become his partner that enabled me to get into broadcasting with my own creative and disruptive ideas, post moving on from Network 18. The sheer opportunity to build a disruptive business model and create  business as well as viewer value in the post-COVID world convinced me that this was the best time to take up this challenge,” adding: “Future is all digital. Some of India’s best minds have come together with me to layout an execution roadmap which makes for a very exciting journey ahead. We want to be local and global. India Ahead will not just be a TV channel or a print publication, this is the time for a Tech-enabled multi-platform news organisation.

     

  • Oh, yes, it will. Just as an NDTV will minus Dr Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutt. Though not necessarily so for Times Now sans Arnab Goswami

    Mediaah! Will CNN-IBN survive without Rajdeep Sardesai?

     

    Mediaah! By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Rajdeep Sardesai’s decision to quit CNN-IBN isn’t like that of an employee leaving any organisation. Had he not quit NDTV in 2005, he wouldn’t have not gone on to team up with Sameer Manchanda and Raghav Bahl and set up the channel.

     

    In Bahl, Rajdeep found an able ally and his teaming up with Manchanda, one of the sharpest brains in the business, ensured that the new channel started operations near-instantly. Rajdeep quit NDTV in April and CNN-IBN went on air in December 2005, and its instant success contributed much to Bahl’s fortunes as well as image of being a television news tycoon.

     

    Until early 2008, Rajdeep and his channel were the clear leaders. They had trounced NDTV early and the year 2006 and 2007 belonged to them. Rajdeep was voted ‘Impact Person of the Year’ in 2006 and was clearly the toast of town and the must-have guest in the capital’s political circuit.

     

    However, from 2008, after much fumbling and a really terrible take-off,  Times Now started gaining ground. This columnist, then writing on exchange4media.com, commented much to the annoyance of many how Arnab Goswami was a better, more aggressive, news anchor.  If Rajdeep would frown on his shows, Arnab would ask the tough questions. He was bratty, and often abrasive, and represented the mood of the viewing masses.

     

    The November 26 Mumbai terror strike changed things dramatically for Arnab and Times Now.  It was the undisputed leader. Simultaneously there was a sense of outrage against Barkha Dutt, though not as much against Rajdeep, who was equally shrill in his coverage from the terror zone. But then so were most other television journalists, including Times Now staffers.

     

    What emerged from Arnab’s show right then and the scene hasn’t changed dramatically ever since is that there’s little else other than the Newshour on Times Now. The other popular programme is Total Recall, but that’s Bollywood nostalgia.

     

    NDTV has established a huge second and third layer, though other than Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutt, the rest of the cabin crew  – Vikram Chandra, Sonia Verma Singh and Sreenivasan Jain – pale in comparison even as they can hold fort for a month or two. Quite like CNN-IBN where Bhupendra Chaubey was an excellent stand-in for Rajdeep on the days he took off, but is he the man who can steer the channel to the top slot amongst English news offerings? Can his interviewing skills match those of Arnab?  The answer is a clear No. Read that in 200 points, all caps.

     

    So will CNN-IBN survive after Rajdeep Sardesai’s exit? Oh, yes, it will. Just as India not just survived but thrived after Indira, the Tatas after JRD, the Aditya Birla group after Aditya Birla etc etc. Also, remember, we have had channels which have meandered directionless for years. Headlines Today, for instance. Or even NewsX.

     

    Headlines Today has seen a fresh lease of life after the entry of Karan Thapar and it will gain more respectability with newly appointed vice chair and editor-in-chief  Shekhar Gupta on air.

     

    There were rumours that both Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt were approached by Reliance Industries for the top editorial job at CNN-IBN. Barkha is said to have spent a few days in Mumbai recently and even though she denied the news posted by Sahara Samay on its website last week, many believe she may well accept the job now that it’s clear that Rajdeep has exited. A well-known face like Barkha’s will ensure that Rajdeep’s absence is not felt by viewers.

     

    Meanwhile, a new top deck is reportedly assuming charge at Network18 and an announcement is likely to be made on who will lead the company in the absence of most biggies in the organisation.

     

    Will Rajdeep join the India Today group, as was speculated? Or is he taking time off to write a book? Since MxMIndia doesn’t revel in breaking news or carrying wild gossip , we recommend you look up other trade sites for that. What we would like to reinforce are three things.

     

    1. Had Rajdeep Sardesai not existed or not quit NDTV, CNN-IBN would’nt have been around or at least not happened as early as December 2005. Of the various news channels, CNN-IBN has an excellent reporting team, even though many were retrenched last year.

     

    2. The success of any leader is indicative by how it manages operations after he or she leaves. Prannoy Roy has ensured that. Arnab hasn’t. You don’t want to watch the 9pm bulletin when he’s not on air. Rajdeep has a good B and C team but none of them with the same profile has him

     

    3. CNN-IBN (and IBN7) will survive for sure. But it’ll need a new face soon.  Clearly, money is not going to be the constraining factor for this recruitment. For Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Industries Limited, that’s hardly a worry. What the master and his advisors have to convince the big and famous editors is that they will be allowed to operate in a free and frank manner.  That they will be allowed to carry news which may be negative on them. Now will that will be a tough ask?

     

    There are many who  believe news journalism is doomed with the active entry of Reliance Industries in news media. That, as I have written earlier, is an incorrect assumption. Most of our big publications were set up by business houses – large or small.  Moreover,  we do know of some well-known media conglomerates indulging in corrupt or incorrect practices.

     

    If in the true spirit of business, Mukeshbhai and Reliance Industries do not devalue the brand, there is no stopping CNN-IBN and the rest of the media empire from attaining greater heights. If considerations of the rest of their businesses impact the editorial policies, the Ambanis know what happened to TheSunday Observer and the Observer of Business and Politics in the 1990s.

     

    Interesting times ahead for sure.