MxMIndia

Tag: Sonia Gandhi

  • The Shiv Sena-led MVA government gets even with Republic founder-ed Arnab Goswami. But the arrest was coming

    Comment: Not right to arrest Arnab!

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

     

     

    On issues like these, we can’t be sitting on the fence. It’s important to say where we stand. Upfront. Unambiguously.

     

    But before we do that: We must say that we don’t believe in or endorse Arnab Goswami’s journalism. Friend, Consulting Editor and our founding columnist, Ranjona Banerji, in fact goes a step further: she feels Arnab doesn’t practise journalism.

     

    It’s ditto with many other journalists and news media ventures. Sadly.

     

    Since Republic TV has been in the business, MxMIndia has helped produce 10-odd A&M shows for the channel. But that was purely a business decision. We didn’t go to town that we did it. But we must add here: no one then said they don’t want to be interviewed by the channel. They enjoyed the reach it offers.

     

    We admire Arnab Goswami’s business sense. He was our MxMIndia Mediaperson of the Year for 2017, thanks to the super success that he made of the channel. He’s a journalist, yes, but also a very shrewd businessperson.

     

    So enough of reinforcing our standpoint on Republic. Yes, we think it’s incorrect to arrest Arnab Goswami. It is clearly a blow to the freedom of the media, and the attempt is to muzzle and damn him. Even finish him as a journalist and close his media company.

     

    There may be many who say that Arnab asked for it. By damning the Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Sonia Gandhi belligerently in a way that only he can, he wasn’t going to get away with it easily.

     

    Then there is this senior police official who is now reported to have called him a hawala operator. It was clearly incorrect for the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh to indict Arnab in a press conference, without adequate proof. But in the height of the Sushant Singh Rajput case, Arnab also asked for the CP’s sacking.

     

     

    However, as we said earlier, it is incorrect to arrest Arnab Goswami. The 2018 suicide abetment case which had been reopened by the Maharashtra home minister, a fact he tweeted about in May 2020 We are surprised that the Republic TV founder, with Senior advocate Haresh Salve as his advisor, did not seek anticipatory bail. Even when the case first came up in 2018, it was considered very sensitive and there were fears of an arrest.

     

    Home Minister Amit Shah and a variety of political leaders, lawyers and other biggies have damned the arrest. Some of them weren’t as vociferous on the attack on freedom of speech when a few others were put behind bars for dubious reasons. That though is a different story. Arnab Goswami must be released. If his 20-year son was also assaulted, check the CC TV footage and someone must pay a price for that.

     

     

    But, Arnab also must take it easy. Practise your journalism. Take on the world. Expose people. But don’t go on to demolish them.

     

     

    For, by taking that route, he could well get caught in the crossfire.

     

    Editor’s Guild of India and News Broadcasters Association issue statements:

     

  • Like other sectors, which have been economically impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, the media and broadcasting industry cannot claim immunity

    IBF expresses concern on Opposition’s call to boycott government ads on TV

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has expressed its displeasure with Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi’s call to the Prime Minister to put an end to all advertisements by various state governments and Public Sector Enterprises for a period of two years.

     

    In a statement, IBF note: “Under such a scenario, we will resist any such move by the government to undercut revenue for government advertising as many of our member channels will lose substantial revenues and will be compelled to shut down resulting in massive job losses. At this critical moment when the nation stands united to deal with the aftermath of Covid-19 outbreak, we request all parties to give a thought for the media sector which is known for its neutrality and objectivity.  A lot of Government ads relate to social messages concerning health, education, etc.  TV still remains the primary mode of disseminating these messages to the citizens of India and stopping these ads is not in public interest.”

     

     

  • Ensure you, family and friends are registered in the electoral rolls. To check, visit https://www.nvsp.in

    Is Your Name on the Voters’ List?

     

    By Your Editor

     

    So the general elections have been announced.

     

    We all have our cribs about our politicians. Narendra Modi, Amit Shah. Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi. Mamata. Mayawati. Kejriwal. Shiv Sena. About the inefficiencies in the country: potholes, corruption, traffic, trains, buses, educational system, no jobs. We are fed up of our systems, and many of us believe that things will never improve in our lifetime.

     

    Perhaps this belief is correct. But we can try and make a difference. For starters, elect a candidate and political formation to represent us. And pray the elected reps do something. Make them accountable.

     

    The question is: how many of us will beat the summer heat, the lethargy and the attraction of sleeping those few minutes extra because it’s a holiday? For those in Mumbai, the voting day is April 29, a Monday. Perhap enough reason to get out of the city for a long weekend.

     

    It’s however important for each of us to vote. If there’s no candidate who you think is worthwhile, press the NOTA button. It’s critical to express ourselves and get the right person elected as Member of Parliament.

     

    Please check if you are on the voter’s list.

     

    Visit: https://www.nvsp.in

     

    If you get an error, just click on reload. It will come on.

     

    Then enter your name and search. If  you don’t remember your Assembly constituency, don’t bother. The search facility is pretty powerful.

     

    Also, please check with all those eligible to do the same, if they haven’t already done that. If they haven’t registered, they must. And if they have registered, they should keep checking at the website.

     

    The submissions (for proof) are simple: photograph (passport- or ID card-sized), birth certificate, passport, driving licence. If you don’t want to link your Aadhar Card with this, you can manage without it. The only painful thing is that if the first-time voter is over 21 years of age, then there’s a self-declaration to be filled in, signed and uploaded (click here). Please ensure that the scans of all of the above are jpegs/jpgs, not pdfs.

     

    We’ve done it ourselves for a recently turned potential voter and are hence convinced that it’s simple. You’ll get an sms near-instantly giving you a reference number.

     

    Please do visit the website. Check if your name is on it. As also your family. And then get your friends, colleagues etc to do something.

     

    Also, if you are an employer or a biggie at an organisation, dream up something to incentivise voters. An extra day’s salary may be a bit much, but how about a meal at a good restaurant? Or tie up with a Big Bazaar or Book My Show and get some discounts. Even tie up with the Nykaas of the world asking them to cosmetics at a 50% rate.

     

    We need some of upscale stores to step in too. Foodhall, Nature’s Basket, the five/seven star hotels, an extra discount to Zomato Gold members who have voted.

     

    How about some brands sponsoring hot and healthy/unhealthy breakfast outside the voting booths? Meal boxes.

     

    Can our TV channels position their popular stars at selfie points for people who have voted. Take a selfie with Shankar Mahadevan?

     

    If brands can do major activations at the Kumbh Mela, this is a Maha-Maha-Maha-opportunity for a public connect.

     

    Dream on, folks. Let’s make the 2019 Lok Sabha elections an unforgettable one. And elect a government we want out there.

     

     

  • Television has dominated this election practically setting agendas and leading the battle from the front, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Election of the Trivial & Telegenic

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    If this general election is indeed a watershed moment for Indian polity then it is no less a groundbreaker for the Indian media. Television has dominated this election practically setting agendas and leading the battle from the frontlines when it comes to chosen candidates and parties. The battle is won by the trivial and the telegenic. The smaller India grows in terms of communication thanks to telephony and technology, the larger the disconnect from reality: or so it appears.

     

    If the media is going to play such a significant role from here on, then the elements within the media must come out and identify themselves by their ideological and philosophical bearings. The old argument used by journals that they are all things to all people cannot stand any longer. It is in many cases patently untrue. Further, it has reached a stage where you are taking readers for a ride.

     

    Television has no such argument at all and instead has created an atmosphere of rumours, allegations and gossip to thrive. Even within the media fraternity, there is a constant stream of stories about which channel has been sold to which political party or who favours which candidate. Some parties are barely being mentioned when it is evident that they will have some bearing on these elections. Thrown a few corporate houses into the mix and you have a great Indian muddle which barely resembles a delicious homemade khichdi.

     

    Who has financed all these opinion polls to project election results for instance? What is the consumer of news to make of them when ground reports from journalists are at odds with those surveys? In a two-month long voting schedule, a constant stream of opinion polls amounts in fact to trying to influence those who have not yet voted, even if the Election Commission has not cottoned on to it yet. The figures for conducting these polls which are going round the grapevine are astronomical.

     

    It is time therefore for all newspapers, news channels and websites to declare their political leanings. There is no shame in this. All over the world, the reader and viewer knows what their chosen media outlet stands for. This is not just about individual columnists to declare their leanings. This is about the organisation itself. Given the growth of the influence of the media – and these are strong words – to fool your consumer any more is tantamount to fraud.

     

    It is evident that it is not just a nudge from one corporate house and a wink from another that dictates media flow. We have seen epic and sudden changes of direction from left to right to centre and back. What most newspapers do to cover this up is provide a variety of columnists on their opinion pages to portray first one point of view and then another to prove that they are “neutral”. It no longer cuts it.

     

    TV of course is another jungle with its own rules, quite distinct in some cases from print. Editorialising and on the spot opinion-making is now par for the course. As a very senior editor who has a career in both print and television pointed out to me, if a star anchor, who is also the editor, asks a young reporter on live television, “Isn’t the political rally proving what I say?”, what is the young reporter to do? Disagreeing with the boss is not an option. And so news is created, not reported.

     

    For a long time in India, journalists were more left of centre than right but that was not an absolute truth. For instance Girilal Jain, a colossus in the Times of India was distinctly right of centre and the Indian Express was distinctly anti-establishment in the days when the only establishment was Congress.

     

    One must distinguish between the need for media outlets to declare their politics and the accusations and muck thrown at individuals on social media. Gutter language and threats will continue. But now the target will be clear and much larger. And in the interests of fairness, everyone will have a target!

     

  • The problem is that much worse has happened since the Bofors scandal and the grand sum of Rs64 crore – the bribe amount – seems quite teeny-weeny compared to the giant figures we've become used to

    [MJR] The Bofors scandal will never die

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There it is, after quarter of a century, back to plague us. Or has it? The Bofors gun, once the symbol of corruption in government, and which apparently led to the death of one prime minister and the fall of another, is in the news again.

     

    For those who can’t remember anything about it, there were allegations of kickbacks in the purchase of the howitzer (the word sounds better than gun) from the Swedish company Bofors. Last week, a Swedish police officer who had spoken secretly to journalist Chitra Subramaniam all those years ago, came out in the open – to Subramanian, who had covered the story extensively in the olden days.

     

    The problem is that much worse has happened since the Bofors scandal and the grand sum of Rs64 crore – the bribe amount – seems quite teeny-weeny compared to the giant figures we’ve become used to. Also, after years and years of investigation and allegation, nothing really happened.

     

    Swedish prime minister Olof Palme was assassinated, Rajiv Gandhi lost an election and was also assassinated. Meanwhile Martin Ardbo, president of Bofors at the time, whose diary had many leads about money that went from one letter of the alphabet to another, mainly the mysterious middleman Q, also died and so did Win Chadha the Bofors contact for India.

     

    Under successive governments (including non-Congress ones), the CBI floundered all over the place, as it muffed procedures, forgot to send the right letters (not of the alphabet, the other type, probably because neither the CBO nor anyone else in India could understand what a “letter rogatory” was. It’s not ‘R’, that was another alphabet in Ardbo’s diary) and couldn’t conclusively get to Q. Everyone knew who Q was – an Italian middleman who was a friend of Sonia Gandhi’s. Of course, every Italian is a friend of Sonia Gandhi’s because she is Italian. Like all Indians are friends of mine or maybe not since I am not remotely as important as Sonia Gandhi. Anyway, after some time, the CBI gave up on Q.

     

    The story, by the way, was broken by Swedish radio in 1987 and not in India. Amitabh Bachchan was also included in the deal by the Swedish newspaper Daagens Nyheter, and not the Indian media. He successfully sued them and the CBI and everyone else, (except maybe the mysterious Q?) agrees he was not involved.

     

    Meanwhile, everyone says that the Bofors field howitzer is a nice gun or tank or whatever it is. It was very useful in Kargil.

     

    The Bofors  scandal we know will never die. But as time passes, the alphabet will get weaker and weaker…