MxMIndia

Tag: freaking news

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

    Some clarity on Rushdie, please!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The case of Salman Rushdie and the Jaipur Literary Festival gets curiouser and curiouser. After the Deoband seminary asked that the writer be denied a visa to attend the festival, Rushdie clarified that he did not need a visa to visit India. Newspaper articles and TV debates focused on freedom of speech and the sentiments of Muslim voters keeping the UP elections in mind.

     

    After a couple of days of confusion, the Rajasthan government said it feared violence if Rushdie showed up. Soon after Rushdie announced he wasn’t coming because of death threats reported by the Mumbai and Rajasthan police. It took The Hindu to break the lies off that story – there were no such threats said the Mumbai police and they had passed on no such information to anyone. The Rajasthan police then corroborated this and the Rajasthan government waffled on about how they felt there was a threat and the Union home ministry also issued an advisory about a threat and then said that the government was willing to provide security.

     

    So far then we have examples of religious sensitivities, an election, a controversial writer and governmental pusillanimity. By now, confused readers and viewers were weeping for a comprehensive report putting all these diverse elements together. No such luck. Front page news and top of the hour headlines give you updates but not explanation and analysis.

     

    Editorials and opinions were still about freedom of speech and not so much about all these other angles popping up. India’s long and controversial history of dealing with “sentiments” also needs better examination. Sidharth Bhatia has commented very aptly on our fear “offending” sentiments in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle. Fali Nariman on the Indian Express edit page points out that blasphemy laws in the UK apply only to Christianity and are still in use.

     

    The additional problem now seems to be that the organisers showed some extra caution or cowardice – depending on how you look at it – by seemingly giving in to official pressure. Apart from a little hysteria on TV from the Hyderabad-based Asauddin Owaisi of the MIM, not enough effort has been spent perhaps speaking to Muslims and their representative groups about the issue, except perhaps by Mohammed Wajihuddin on the Times of India and by the Indian Express.

     

    **

     

    TV and the newspapers have kept up the pressure as far as the story goes, however. Extra twists have come from four writers, who in protest, read from Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, which is still banned in India. These writers were then either asked to leave the festival or left of their own accord. Again, reports are confused. Writer Hari Kunzru writes on his blog that he read from the book as a form of protest but seems to imply that the organisers wanted him to go since they had been “advised” of a threat or arrest. Jeet Thayil is quoted as saying that the organisers did not ask him to leave per se and they must have their reasons. Ruchir Joshi writes in India Today that Rushdie should be judged on fact not fiction.

     

    Everywhere then there is this “perceived” threat from some or the other Muslim groups but it’s all very bewildering. Nowhere have there been reports of massive street protests by Muslims or vandalism or anything similar. The organisers have appeared on TV saying that Rushdie chose not to come and that they had even at the last minute informed him that the Rajasthan government was willing to provide security. Yet, according to TV reports on Monday morning, even a video link up to Rushdie was seen as a terrifying idea.

     

    **

     

    Clearly, what we need is clarity! If someone could please do a little investigation and give us the real and perceived threats and figure out who is really in danger, other than the Indian Constitution.

     

    eom

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

    Can we pay attention to what’s put out?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There was an intriguing contradiction in the way Indians abroad were carried in the news in the last week or so. While the murder of Anup Bidve of Pune in Manchester and the ill-treatment of Indian traders in China got an enormous amount of coverage, the annual government mela for our brothers and sisters who no longer live in India was not treated with the usual fanfare. Does that mean that Indians who suffer when in foreign lands are newsworthy but non-resident Indians who return to visit us are no longer so valuable? Since the India story is now located in India, is the media now yawning about NRIs? I have no answers, but I find this trend interesting.

     

    Meanwhile, our TV channels have taken their outrage about suffering Indians to new levels. US Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman has been subjected to some racial abuse in the US for his adopted children, who are apparently Chinese and Indian. This had our morning anchors foaming at the mouth. Also, according to the on-screen updates, US Hindus were also very angry. Is this a new category of people, US Hindus? Does it include people of non-Indian origins who might be Hindus? So why would Indonesians or Nepalis (for instance) be so angry about the anti-Huntsman ads? What about followers of the Iskcon movement in the United States? Are they US Hindus? Are US Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Sikhs (who might be of Indian origin) not bothered? What about the Chinese (regardless of religion or regionality)? Or all people concerned about racism?

     

    It is a futile wish, but one still does occasionally hope that Indian TV channels paid a little more attention to what they put out.

     

    **

     

    As expected, Indian cricket has been under the scanner with all the accompanying hysteria. I understand that journalists have short memory spans but still, don’t they get bored of jumping from one extreme to the other whenever things go right or wrong. Sack the team, sack the board, worship the team (to be fair, almost no one says worship the board!), are the predictable mantras depending on performance. Then it’s an inevitable battle between oldies and youngies – strangely, whenever the selectors lean towards one or the other based on media and expert advice, there’s usually a disaster on the cricket field.

     

    Partly of course, the new belief (most prevalent in the new media) that India has to excel at everything it touches is to blame.

     

    **

     

    The travails of Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption continue. The Times of India on Saturday had a front page story about Shanti Bhushan’s duty evasions and on the edit page, there was Shanti Bhushan lecturing us about corruption! The Indian Express on Monday tells us that Anna Hazare’s followers and friends (of the pre-Jan Lokpal variety) have been redoubling their efforts to point out that India Against Corruption is “100 per cent pro-RSS”.

     

    **

     

    Mid-Day’ Mumbai edition carries a story about how the son of a former Mumbai police commissioner (RD Tyagi) has been accused of beating up customers to his beer bar and the Mumbai police have been slow in taking action. This misuse of power by the Mumbai police needs more exposure.

     

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

    TV news = Bigg Boss?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    As has happened with newspapers, there are small signs that television will also walk along the same line – the journalistic desire to question the intransigence of Anna Hazare and his insistence on his version of the Lokpal Bill. The political classes appear to be certain that they want more time and will not be harried into passing a bill which may be inadequate. The enormous scope given to members of Anna Hazare’s movement has been considerably reduced on television as other news enters the cycle.

     

    On Wednesday, for instance, the black money debate in the Lok Sabha got much play on television and led, as usual, to plenty of screaming and shouting on panel discussions later. The tendency of these leaders of society to yell and brawl on TV shows remains appalling and a tremendous indictment of Indian manners. However, it is also fair to say that most people do not behave like this in real life, thankfully and perhaps neither do these habitual TV guests when the cameras are turned off.

     

    **

     

    The terrible news of the deaths of more than 100 people in West Bengal from drinking contaminated illegal alcohol dominated Thursday’s TV bulletins, which includes the international channels as well. TV of course is concentrating on the human story so we will get the bigger picture from the newspapers. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, already getting flak from a once-enamoured media, now has to do damage control on a number of fronts and this is bound to be further debated.

     

    **

     

    James Murdoch, son of media tycoon Rupert, has now admitted that he knew about the phone-hacking practices used by journalists in his newspapers. Earlier this year, James had told a British parliamentary committee investigating phone-hacking that he knew nothing about it. More media scrutiny will – and must – ensue.

     

    **

     

    The Indian Olympic Association has decided not to boycott the Olympic Games, as demanded by the sports ministers, some activists and a few sportspersons, in spite of Dow Chemicals’ involvement in the Games. More debate is expected and more TV-inspired pyrotechnics.
    TV news in India is like the Bigg Boss for those with intellectual pretensions.

     

    eom

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

    It’s the economy, stupid

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Perhaps appropriately, the problems of the Indian economy have taken centre-stage. Some newspapers are concentrating on the falling rupee while others are concerned about the falling industrial growth rate. Both seem to be legitimate headlines. The general consensus seems to be lack of governance and the general drift of UPA II. Says The Times of India in its editorial on Wednesday, “If the political class needs a crisis to see that policy gridlock is strangling our economy, then that crisis is upon us… But the onus is also on the opposition to forego bloody-minded politics which makes the government’s job harder.”

     

    The Indian Express in its editorial concentrates on decline on the Index of Industrial Production and comments, “Unfortunately the slowdown has hit us at a time when real interest rates are negative.” However it cautions the Reserve Bank to wait and watch before “taking action”. It also brings up the valid point of many students coming out of management institutes being unable to find jobs if industrial and services growth on a downward spiral.

     

    The Deccan Chronicle in its editorial looks at how Indian companies are now looking abroad to invest their money, given the situation in India. “What India and the economy urgently needs to grow at this point is low inflation, low interest rates, immediate implementation of the new manufacturing and procurement policy, and a business-friendly transparent environment to unleash India’s unmatched entrepreneurial strengths.”

     

    The Economic Times carries a feature on the rupee crisis headlined “India Inc sends an SoS to RBI’. A Subba Rao of the GMR group is quoted as saying, “It’s like a natural calamity, like a tsunami… with the rupee falling so fast and so sharply, there is only so much you can do.”

     

    A discussion on Times Now on Tuesday had FICCI chairman Rajiv Kumar practically begging politicians to sort our their problems and prevent a further downslide in the economy. His predictions were dire unlike Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s somewhat sanguine assurances that things were not so bad.

     

    **

     

    Given our current obsession with corruption, two stories in Wednesday’s newspapers deserve attention. The Telegraph, Calcutta, has a story on how the Jyoti Basu government handed the AMRI hospital land in the Dhakuria area of Kolkata between 1994 and 1998 at rates that will remain frozen till at least 2024. Unlike other such deals, there are apparently no provisions for revision of the rental rates. The state government has, according to the report, acquired the land in 1991 to provide affordable healthcare.

     

    The Indian Express’s flyer story looks at the various irregularities in the Noida farmhouse allotments, from which a key member of the Anna Hazare-Jan Lokpal movement also benefited – Shanti Bhushan and his son Jayant. The Express report provides details of various transgressions and concessions, many of which appear to be inexplicable.

     

    **

     

    Even as TV continues to be the chief champion of Anna Hazare and his campaign for his Jan Lokpal Bill, the print media conversely continues to question. The Economic Times in its second editorial on Wednesday says, ‘Anna Hazare has displaced the my-way-or-highway sort of undemocratic attitude reminiscent of authoritarianism and a vigilante-style notion of justice and that is part of the problem.” It cautions against actions which will lead to anarchy.

     

    eom

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

    Much admiration for glam add-ons

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Just to entertain myself, I decide to read the glamour supplements of The Times of India and Hindustan Times. Though now I am not sure whether entertainment or aggravation is what I was looking for. Since the arrival of Medianet and its variations in other newspapers, I usually ignore Bombay Times, HT Cafe and the entertainment/celebrity sections of all newspapers. Disclosure: I used to write a restaurant review for DNA After.Hrs but I haven’t seen that either for over a year and many years ago, I edited the Ahmedabad Times and Baroda Times. This takes nothing away from my life as I have minimal interest in Bollywood and tinpot celebs.

     

    So what have I learnt today? That a supermodel I had never heard of (though they told us her name) has agreed to launch a perfume (which was not named). This unnamed perfume will cost a million dollars and proceeds from sales will go to charity (named). So what do I make of this? That the supermodel paid Bombay Times, while the perfume and charity did not? Or that the editors just take the line of least resistance and do not name whoever had paying potential?

     

    This then turned into a fun game. Ekta Kapoor made an appearance (some new movie or something) on the front pages of both Bombay Times and HT Cafe. Money paid or not? Time Out has its food awards this week. HT Cafe covered it, Bombay Times did not. Because Bombay Times has its own awards or… By the way, these are the people whose pictures appeared in HT Cafe as guests or presenters at the Time Out awards: Abhay Deol, Malaika Arora Khan, Neha Dhupia, Shahana Goswami, Mahie Gill, Kalki Koechlin and Shruti Shah. Barring Deol and Dhupia (though it could be her large dress), none of the others looked like they’d eaten a meal in two weeks. Two winning chefs got a mention in the accompanying paragraph and no restaurants were mentioned (paid or not…?).

     

    A story on French producer (called veteran, which means just about anything) Marc Zermati is headlined ‘I’m not interested in Bollywood bulls**t’ is next to the Time Out story which perhaps shows someone in HT Cafe has a great sense of irony or none at all.

     

    Both Bombay Times and HT Cafe have the same people in the lead: Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan. Bombay Times says they both get ‘wet and naughty’. (Actually the headline says ‘Hrithik and PC get wet and naughty’ so for a moment I thought it had something to do with Hrithik and computer porn. The pic showed them really close, so give me a break). HT Cafe has Priyanka Chopra saying there is no “lip-lock” in this movie. So don’t get disappointed when you watch it, presumably.

     

    I was pleased to see that I no longer needed a magnifying glass to read my fortune in Bombay Times but was disappointed to see that it did not say reading “advertorial entertainment promotional features is bad for mental health”.

     

    Anyway, by this time I was so bored that I had to stop.

     

    Question for those who make them and those who read them: how do you guys do it? Full admiration!

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

    Mid-Day Delhi & Bengaluru closure a shame

     Ranjona Banerji

     

    The day started with the sad news that Mid-Day was closing down its Delhi and Bangalore editions with immediate effect. Undoubtedly the owners have their reasons but it is still a shame.

     

    Having worked with Mid-Day many years ago and also having been part of a publication which shut down years before that, I can feel the pain. Commiserations to all involved.

     

    **

     

    Part of Tuesday on television and twitter was about Kapil Sibal wanting websites like Google and Facebook to screen “offensive” content on the internet. Outrage broke out on all levels. So far, except for China, no government has had much success with patrolling or reining in the internet, so good luck to Sibal and the government. Initial reactions have been largely over the top with twitterers and TV commentators rushing to protect India’s democracy, Article 19 A and so on. Without irony (actually irony is conspicuous by its absence on Indian television), Times Now rushed to Varun Gandhi to get his opinion on free speech, he of course, is known for an infamous hate speech.

     

    **

     

    Kudos to Mumbai Mirror on its story that “fans” were paid Rs 300 each to cheer for Hollywood star Tom Cruise, who was on a Mission Impossible promo visit to India. Since almost nothing in the media appears to be real, when it comes to entertainment, why not pay for a few people to cheer? The whole celebrity-entertainment culture appears to be a carefully constructed falsehood – and the media is an integral part of this.

     

    Sadly for the PR genius who came up with this scheme, the death of cinema stalwart Dev Anand pushed Cruise off the main Indian news pages and segments. Also, isn’t Rs 300 a bit cheap for a star as big as Tom Cruise?

     

    **

     

    Congratulations to film star Aamir Khan and his director wife Kiran Rao on their new baby. Good for them that they told the world it was through an In Vitro Fertilisation-surrogate process, thus giving untold free publicity to the expensive IVF process and its doctors. But is this headline in Hindustan Times’ HT Café appropriate: “Baby Boy! Produced by Aamir Khan, Directed by Kiran Rao’?

     

    Cleverness gone too far, I think.

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

    R.I.P, Dev Saab

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The death of Dev Anand, not unnaturally, took up most of Sunday’s news and a good proportion of Monday’s newspapers. To the more maudlin amongst us, it seems that 2011 has stolen many of our “icons” (The cynical might argue that death is inevitable). But when it comes to Dev Anand, no amount of mourning is enough and no encomium over the top. This is a loss of an amazing spirit and an irrepressible zest for life. In this ego-ridden world, Anand refused to rest on his past laurels and kept looking ahead to his new ventures. He did not seem fazed – or if he was he did not let them daunt him – by his many failures in the last 20 years. He just kept on. The Times of India most appropriately headlined their lead, ‘India’s Youngest Star Dies at 88’.

     

    From being one of the triumvirate who ruled Hindi cinema in the 1950s,60s and even the 70s and beyond, to a whimsical director who refused to be defeated either by age or opinion, Dev Anand carried the flag of both the golden age as well as the future.

     

    The fact is that Anand was criticised through the later part of his life – albeit affectionately – and he took it all in his stride. In death, then, we can only look back on a glorious life.

     

    **

     

    Most called Anand’s death ‘end of an era’, which indeed it does signify. The international media has picked it up as well and not just because Anand died in London. Bollywood and India’s reach is now well known. But Anand also made a name for himself a long time ago with Guide. Renowned novelist Pearl Buck adapted RK Narayan’s novel for the 1956 English version of the movie. The Hindustan Times, harking back to one of Dev Anand’s seminal films, headlined their second lead, ‘Indian cinema loses its ‘Guide’. Though one is not sure whether Anand would have been happy with being called a guide; perhaps he saw himself more as a trailblazer! (It is another matter that the making and final versions of Guide, gave Narayan close to a nervous breakdown!)

     

    **

     

    The newspapers have been full of tributes and over the next weeks we are bound to see more, from those who know him well, those who met him only once, the various people he introduced to cinema and his millions of fans.

     

    **

     

    Based on a conversation on Twitter and my own observation, it appears that reporters have so much to thank social media and micro-blogging for. The tedious task of calling people for reactions to some event has now been replaced by logging on to twitter and taking down comments. So much easier than conventional calls and with no chance of the person being “misquoted”?

     

    (Unless of course you quote Suhel Seth whose twitter account is apparently hacked into at regular intervals!)

  • 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.

  • 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!

  • Ranjona Banerji rues about how and why journos are no longer united on the J Dey murder case

    J Dey murder case gets murkier

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    When journalist J Dey was murdered in the Mumbai suburb of Powai in broad daylight in July 2011, the entire journalistic community came together in shock and horror. The first impulse was to believe that Dey was killed in pursuit of a story or that is, he was killed because he was a journalist. There were rallies and marches and seminars and panel discussions. Some sections of the media called for a special law to deal with attacks on journalists. It was alleged that the police would try and cover up the crime. The chief minister of Maharashtra swore that the administration would work as fast as it could to find those responsible.

     

    But since then, the story has become murkier. Dey, a crime reporter who had written a book on the underworld, was not killed because of any imminent story that he was working on, that much was clear. That the gunmen who did the deed were part of an underworld gang – specifically that of Chhota Rajan — was also clear. But there were several unanswered questions here as well and rumours amongst the journalistic community started emerging, of all sorts and colours.

     

    The story has now moved into the realm of the bizarre with another journalist, Jigna Vora of the Asian Age, being picked up for being involved in Dey’s murder – she is accused of passing on some vital information to Chhota Rajan which led to the killing. Although allegations of Vora’s involvement have been the air for a few months, her arrest was a shocker. Once again, many journalists came out in her support and her employers stood with her. But that was the initial reaction. As more details of the case emerged, we now learn that her colleagues are not so supportive any more.

     

    The journalistic community, which was brought together by Dey’s murder, is no longer a united front. Dey’s death was not of dangers inherent in the pursuit of a story and crime reporting in Mumbai cannot be compared to covering a war zone. The implication of another journalist has soured the waters. Journalists pick up a lot of information and not all of it can be printed. But that doesn’t mean that the information is false: it is sometimes just not possible to corroborate it. Dey’s death and Vora’s arrest fall into that category. The result is that a sympathy wave will now have to make way for the twists, turns and turmoil of a regular crime story. The kid gloves may well come off as friends of the murdered man and the accused trade charges and is it not likely that we will find some very unsavoury happenings at the bottom of it all?

     

    The implications (and accusations by the police) here are of a strange case of professional rivalry – not in trying to get a better story but in currying favour with your sources or the subjects of your stories.

     

    In all the discussion about paid news and medianet, perhaps this kind of journalistic corruption also needs to be included.

    **
    This is an aside which is aimed at the PR industry because I am a little curious and would like to know the experiences of other journalists. To put my questions in perspective, my last job was with DNA, where I was senior editor and was on the edit page. I quit in March 2010. But I did continue to write edits, columns and a weekly food review as a free lancer on contract for about nine months after that. In January 2011, DNA shut down its edit page. Soon after my food reviews stopped and in May, all my dealings with DNA ended. I have since then not worked with any other newspaper. I consult with MxMindia and I do a weekly column with Mid-Day.

     

    One of the best parts of not working for an organisation is that PR people drop you like a hot potato (you can see why I will never become as powerful as Barkha Dutt or Vir Sanghvi). My contact with public relations was limited to a few emails about new restaurants, which soon petered out. But this wonderful peace has been shattered over the past week. I have been called to cover some medical event because I am “the health reporter for DNA”, to write about diamonds for Hindustan Times and to cover art events for Mid-Day. These are calls, not emails.

     

    I would really like to know how this works. Someone suddenly thought of me in one PR agency and a domino effect started? There are people with the same name and number as me who work in DNA, Hindustan Times and Mid-Day? I have inadvertently entered my name in some sort of PR roulette?
    If anyone can help me, I would be very grateful.

    eom

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

    HT’s series on medical malpractices

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I have to congratulate the Mumbai edition of the Hindustan Times for its hard-hitting series on medical malpractices – particularly the way doctors take patients for a ride by prescribing any number of fake tests. Almost everyone I know has been a victim of this scam at some time or another and it is shocking the way it has proliferated. Well done to HT – we have so many stories telling us about some celebrity doctor importing some ground-breaking medical practice at some exorbitant price or about the dismal state of government hospitals. Both aspects are undoubtedly true. But it’s also necessary to highlight the problems within the medical community which in keeping with the zeitgeist appears to be greed!

     

    I must admit to not being a fan of the Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times – being better than what DNA has become is hardly something to be proud of. On a normal day, The Times of India just whitewashes the competition with its total city coverage. But targeting issues which affect citizen and packaging them well is a time-tested and intelligent way of increasing reader interest and HT has done it well here.

    **

     

    It is quite amusing to compare last night’s television to this morning’s newspapers. So while some channels decided to focus on the Special Investigation Team’s submission that the Ishrat Jahan encounter case was actually murder, others were taken by the BJP’s plan to boycott Union home minister P Chidambaram in the Parliamentary session. Mayawati’s quickfire session to chop Uttar Pradesh into four also got airtime as did Pakistan’s problems with what has been dubbed ‘memogate’.

     

    The Times of India used the rupee’s downslide compared to the dollar as its lead tying into general economic woes, with Ishrat Jahan as second lead. Hindustan Times did a DNA and gave us everything – Mayawati as lead, then Ishrat, then NDA and Chidambaram with the rupee as a single col. The Indian Express has Anna Hazare and his wax likeness as a lead pic, with Ishrat Jahan as the lead, Mayawati second and the NDA boycott as third.

     

    The Telegraph, Calcutta, stuck to a local story as lead, went with Pakistan and memo-gate as second lead and Ishrat Jahan as third.

    So what then is “news”. The general news-entertainment channels would usually leave the rupee to the business channels so that could not be “news”. Besides it is almost impossible to have a sensational TV debate on the subject. Ishrat Jahan and Mayawati obviously deserved top billing. Pakistan’s memogate is one more in a list of problems to for most newspapers it was international page news. But Pakistan makes for TV drama, so it makes it there.

    The NDA boycott possibly got stuck in the news spin cycle because the bigger story will be about Parliament was disrupted, not the announcement of the disruption plan.

     

    **

     

    Having forced myself to watch NDTV, I was lucky to get a bit of a laugh when during Nidhi Razdan’s evening show, she played a clip of Srinivasan Jain’s interview with Anna Hazare. As is his wont, Hazare held forth on his normal procedure of flogging those who drink alcohol after being warned off three times and then taken to a temple the fourth time (I am guessing there are no Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Sikhs and Parsis and anyone else I’ve missed out on in Ralegan Siddhi). Jain, rather than question Hazare on this frankly outrageous practice, proceeded to repeat and expand on it, presumably for us who didn’t understand Hazare the first time around. Razdan was rightly outraged, but her guests – Manish Tiwari, Nirmala Seetharaman, Jyotirmay Sharma and Shoma Chowdhury were even appropriately very amused and could barely hold back their laughter at Hazare’s absurdity.

    **

     

    By the day, did anyone read Shoma Chowdhury’s defence of all the allegations made against Tehelka? Too much explaining never works in journalism. Brazen defiance works better.  Therefore, a tedious read.

    eom

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news and the fare in the papers the morning after

    Rantings of a Federer fan: give us more sports coverage!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I have to confess that my weekend was consumed by tennis – the last ATP tournament of the year before the finals in London, where of course only the top 8 men in the world compete. Roger Federer’s amazing run was my focus and Sunday night was a wonderful triumph as he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for his first title at the indoor tournament in Paris.

    Which led to Monday morning’s papers with great excitement. Yet, hardly to my surprise, the Mumbai edition of the Times of India was happy to reduce the news to a brief. Over the past few years, sports coverage in TOI has become rather pedestrian and predictable. It sticks to cricket and then willy-nilly fits in whatever other sport it thinks is the flavour of the week – again predictably, football and Formula 1. This is a far cry from the early 2000s when the TOI was lively and dynamic in its sports coverage. Even more strangely, in these jingoistic times, peppered with aman ki asha, the victory of the Indo-Pak tennis duo of Rohan Bopanna and Aisan ul-Haq Qureshi was also given short shrift.

    The Hindustan Times when it launched in Mumbai had an excellent sports section – good writing, mixed coverage, giving ample space to all the sports which people are interested in these days. Of course, they carried the Federer and Bopanna-Qureshi stories.

    Mid-Day has always had an excellent and comprehensive sports section and a good understanding of news.

    But my vote has to go to DNA’s Mumbai edition which had held firm against the falling standards in other sections of the paper by providing, for my money, the best sports mix in the country. Pictures are given importance as are stats and facts and there is an attempt to cover every sport. Hat’s off.

    I have to make it clear that I have worked for DNA, TOI and Mid-Day and enjoyed my time at all of them and have never worked at Hindustan Times.

    TV news channels are very fair to all sports in their sports bulletins. I might suggest to TOI that someone in their sports section might check exactly which events are shown by the sports channels to try and increase the scope of their coverage. Of course, then it might be all about golf and pro-wrestling!

     

    **

     

    The unfortunate death of former player and cricket writer extraordinaire Peter Roebuck was covered extensively in Indian papers and on TV. It took some time about his suicide and alleged sexual harassment/assault charges to emerge but the tributes certainly have poured in and continue to do so. Again, Mid-Day’s sports pages have a good package – a well-considered tribute by Clayton Morzello, details about his last moments and a gem of a Roebuck piece from the past.

    Ayaz Memon’s piece in Deccan Chronicle (and perhaps Asian Age as well?) on Roebuck is not just expectedly well-written but also insightful and moving.

    **

     

    The appalling attack on journalists by apparent henchmen of the sacked and perhaps disgraced Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna was covered by everyone. It should be noted by all such feudal Indians that this kind of behaviour will no longer be tolerated. Henchmen and goondas have to be either retrained to be acceptable bodyguards or vanish. Just like “public sentiment” is an unacceptable excuse for violence so is “love” for some invariably shady politician or fixer.

    **

     

    The imminent collapse of Kingfisher Airlines has taken up much air time and newsprint but perhaps no one has had as much fun as tweeters. It’s worth taking a trip there to check the jokes as well as the support!