MxMIndia

Tag: Shoma Chaudhury

  • Catch will be based out of New Delhi and will be run by former Tehelka grande dame Shoma Chaudhury. Catch's team of astute, experienced journalists and hardcore digital natives are a perfect reflection of its intriguing duality, the announcement says

    Rajasthan Patrika to launch Catch News with Shoma Chaudhury at helm

    By A Correspondent

     

    What’s with the hinterland media groups and their desire to get into the English language. Bhopal-based Dainik Bhaskar group jved with the Zee group to launch news daily DNA in 2005. A few years later – in May 2010, to be precise – the Jagran group acquired Mid-Day, but this was not before launching a hybrid newspaper called ‘iNext’.  And now the third biggie from the region – Rajasthan Patrika – has announced its entry to the big world of English media with ‘Catch News’.

     

    Catch, as per a note put up on a LinkedIn announcement inviting applications for various positions, has been described as an “ambitious new media platform that combines the solidity of traditional journalism with a new-age approach to storytelling”. And it adds: “Catch will have a distinct voice. Informed. Questioning. We believe the time is ripe for an Indian digital news platform that at its core has three beliefs: journalism matters; quality matters; individuality matters.“

     

    A communiqué was reportedly issued, but MxMIndia didn’t receive it. The announcement though is juicy enough to give out some info. “We live in a complex, highly interconnected world where events, people and decisions both within India and elsewhere impact our lives every day. To navigate what it all means, people need not just information, but interpretation, insight and analysis. Our challenge is to provide that insight in a way that is engaging, relevant, entertaining and inventive.”

     

    So, Catch will be based out of New Delhi (note: not new media capital Noida) and will be run by former Tehelka grande dame Shoma Chaudhury.  Catch’s team of astute, experienced journalists and hardcore digital natives are a perfect reflection of its intriguing duality, the announcement says.

     

    Ms Chaudhury is known to be a tough editor, and one doesn’t know whether the Tehelka experience has softened or hardened her. But who we are to add our ‘vishesh tippany’ on anyone?!

     

    The Kotharis (who own the Patrika group) are fine with it, the journos who’ve joined her are cool with it, so we should just await the entry of another exciting publication in the ‘breaking views’ category. In no specific order: Scroll, Quartz, HuffingtonPostIndia, DailyO, FirstPost, Quint… uff, did we miss out on any?

     

    The story goes that the MxMIndia boss was also contemplating a HuffPost-like site four years back, but the lack of a revenue model then took him away to set up MxMIndia. Sigh.

     

    Chalo, chalo. If you are interested in working with Ms Chaudhury, apply to jobs@catchnews.com. You could well be their Prize Catch. If you are not, just wait for it to happen. Catch eeeet!

     

  • There has been much discussion about whether the media has been conducting a witch hunt against Tarun Tejpal and Shoma Chaudhury. Ranjona Banerji addresses the issue

    Ranjona Banerji: Is there a trial by media on Tehelka?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Is there a trial by media in the Tehelka case? Has the media conducted a witch hunt against Tarun Tejpal and Shoma Chaudhury after allegations of sexual assault bordering on rape were made public? As many in the media know and have pointed out, there are innumerable instances of sexual harassment within the media and in most cases justice has not been done to the victim. The Vishakha guidelines which everyone now quotes so freely are followed in only a few media offices.

     

    Looking back, coverage of this case hinged on a few key points. The first was the verbose bombast of Tejpal’s various letters of apology. The second was the release of the victim’s email which detailed the very serious charges against Tejpal. The third was Chaudhury’s aggressive posturing in front of reporters, especially her comment, “Are you the aggrieved party”.

     

    The gauntlet had now been thrown down to the rest of the media. And yes, as has been said before, the media is the aggrieved party. Everyone is the aggrieved party. For a journalist to ask this of another, shows how easily we forget our professional compulsions when matters become personal.

     

    There is another less savoury aspect to the reaction of the media. For all the sterling work that Tehelka did, many journalists were uncomfortable with sting operation journalism as well as with Tehelka’s very self-righteous approach. If there is anyone who knows that being self-righteous in the media is a sham, it is a journalist. We have to live on cynical pragmatism while following an idealistic principle. Being judge and jury is not our calling. Being the mirror is. To be sure, it’s a tightrope walk. So it is possible that many of us found Tehelka’s sanctimonious front a bid galling and that made this case a bit more intriguing.

     

    However, at the bottom of it all, lies some unacceptable behaviour and that has nothing to do with the feelings of the viewer. The change of stance by Tejpal, the stonewalling by Shoma Chaudhury, the tenacity of the victim who did not let go and did not capitulate all increased the interest in the event.

     

    And then came Tejpal’s bail application. Even if it was drafted by his lawyers, it contained every bit of misogynistic patriarchy that Tehelka itself has been fighting against. It blamed the victim, it questioned her behaviour after the alleged assault and it claimed that Tejpal was forced to write letters of apology by Chaudhury.

     

    Given all this, it is hardly surprising that the media has been following this case so closely. Add to that the political sideshow with Tejpal somehow blaming the BJP for his predicament and you have a story that no media outlet would miss.

     

    One could also argue that the level of media interest in gender stories has also increased since the December 2012 gangrape in Delhi. Also, while many are questioning why senior journalists are going after Tejpal and not protecting their own it is worth remembering that the victim is also one of our own.

     

    **

     

    The Tehelka case forced me to watch prime time news TV slugfests after almost six months. Most channels and anchors managed a few stimulating discussions on the subject mainly because they avoided inviting politicians: Karan Thapar (CNN-IBN), Nidhi Razdan (NDTV), Sagorika Ghose (CNN-IBN), Arnab Goswami (Times Now), Rajdeep Sardesai (CNN-IBN), various anchors on Headlines Today and NewsX.

     

    Once the politicians entered the scene, it all went downhill of course. And once politicians start behaving badly, all the other guests apparently believe that open season for lack of etiquette has begun. Interrupting, shouting over each other, refusing to answer the question asked – all the fine elements of a “debate” on English news channels in India. And Arnab Goswami I see has only grown in stature and now his whole show is unashamedly about his own opinions. My advice: dump the guests and have a nightly chat with the nation about what needs to be done.

     

    **

     

    Wags on social media have been pointing out that Tarun Tejpal has achieved what the might of the Congress party could not: knocked Narendra Modi off national television. Having said that, Tehelka will peter out sooner rather than later and the Gujarat surveillance case will be back.

     

    **

     

    And Cobrapost and Gulail have now informed the rest of us how politicians – and anyone else – use trickery and cheating to manipulate the social media. Expect some more on that.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator based in Mumbai. She is also Contributing Editor, MxMIndia. She can be reached via Twitter at @ranjona. The views here are her own

     

  • Geeta Seshu, senior journalist and commentator on women's issues and freedom of expression, on the Tarun Tejpal sexual harrassment/assault case and the procedures that need to be followed by media organisations to deal with such complaints

    Comment by Geeta Seshu on Tarun Tejpal case: Supreme Court guidelines must be followed

    By Geeta Seshu

     

    Inexcusable as it is, Tarun Tejpal was not the only person who made a shocking ‘error of judgement’. Clearly, the other really major error of judgement in responding to the sexual harassment charge by a young journalist during the magazine’s Thinkfest in Goa recently must lie with the Managing Editor of the magazine, Shoma Chaudhary.

     

    In his email, Tejpal referred to what he termed a bad lapse of judgement and an awful misreading of a situation. He offered an unconditional apology and recused himself from the editorship of the magazine for six months. In her email to the staff, Chaudhury appears to accept both the apology as well as Tejpal’s decision to step down for six months:

     

    “We have also believed that when there is a mistake or lapse of any kind, one can only respond with right thought and action. In keeping with this stated principle, and the collective values we live by, Tarun will be stepping down for the period mentioned”.

     

    Unfortunately, this is simply not enough. And the outrage that followed on social media sites by journalists and editors is only some indication that the Tehelka management has fouled up in tackling what is a pretty straightforward issue.

     

    When any complaint is lodged on a charge of sexual harassment, the law binds the management of a company to institute an inquiry with an independent member on a complaints committee. The Vishakha guidelines are clear on this.

     

    Moreover, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, passed by both houses of Parliament in 2012, was gazette in April 2013. Rules under the Act are currently being enacted but the Vishakha guidelines are clear and, as a statement of the Network of Women in Media, India, said, “compliance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines is the very least that mediawomen expect of the media which are, after all, supposed to be the watchdogs of society.”

     

    It is highly unlikely that the editor of Tehekla was unaware of these guidelines. Reports in various websites even attribute quotes to the aggrevied journalist seeking an inquiry under these guidelines. Was this done? Who constituted the committee? Was there an independent member as required by law? When were the hearings held?

     

    In any complaint, an independent inquiry is important and crucial. Due process of law must be followed so that justice must not only be done, but seen to be done.

     

    In the present instance, a major aspect of the complaint: that of the guilt of the accused, is already established. Tejpal has not only not denied the charge, but tendered an unconditional apology. It’s possible that, given incontrovertible evidence and/or the admission of guilt, an independent inquiry would have arrived at the same conclusion – that the charge was proven.

     

    The next step is the delivery of justice. Tejpal’s offer to recuse himself from editorship is all very well, but is this what the aggrieved journalist wanted or sought? What exactly did the journalist seek in terms of justice for the wrong done to her?

     

    For Tejpal, the ‘punishment’ for his act, couched in vaguely religious terms of atonement, laceration or penance, is that of stepping down from a post he occupies. How does Tejpal’s self-imposed, self-denial of his position, that too for a limited period, make any difference to the charge? To whom will it make a difference, if at all?

     

    But, while it may be part of a larger response of a man in a position of power and influence, it may not provide any succour to the individual concerned.

     

    The determination of the relief that the journalist will seek – whatever it may be – can only be done in a transparent manner, with full accountability and clarity. Whatever decision is then taken in terms of dealing with a clearly criminal act – must be done with the consent of the journalist concerned. Only then can a complaint like this move towards closure.

     

    The NIMBY phenomenon

    Despite numerous articles, the media is simply unwilling to address sexual harassment when it happens in its own backyard. Media houses need to come clean and publicise whether they have instituted sexual harassment committees in the work place and whether any complaints have been lodged before these committees.

     

    To date, the record of existing instances of sexual harassment in media houses is pathetic. The well-known instance of sexual harassment in Statesman, filed by journalist Rina Mukherjee in Kolkata, resulted in her dismissal in 2002, an order against which came in February 2013, a good 11 years later!

     

    In March 2013, a journalist filed a sexual harassment case against a senior editor in Sun TV, and was again suspended from service. A complaints committee instituted by Sun TV did not follow the procedures as laid down by law and did not uphold her charge. In another instance in India Today, a complaints committee was set up but the independent committee member is yet to be appointed!

     

    Geeta Seshu is a senior journalist and writes on free speech, women and representation and media ethics. She is Consulting Editor of the media watch site, The Hoot. She can be reached at @geetaseshu

     

    Photograph: Department of Communication and Journalism, Mumbai University