MxMIndia

Tag: Team Anna

  • The British feel that Indians only feel welcome when they see other Indians. In this case it backfired – as cultural determinism normally does

    Ranjona Banerji: Honey, you stole the show!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    It’s hard to choose the biggest noosemaker of last week. Was it Danny Boyle for his quirky, funny and very British opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games? Was it Madhura Nagendra aka Madhura Honey for gate-crashing India’s flag march in the parade of nations and not being colour coordinated at the same time? Or was it our old friends, the various members of Team Anna in their fight against corruption and the people of India who support them?

     

    This Honey or Nagendra person, depending on how affectionate you feel about her, has got no affection from the people of India – even less than they have for Anna Hazare. She smiled as she stole the show from our athletes but since then she has apparently even cancelled her Facebook page. The crime was double-fold: walking in the parade as if she belonged there, smiling away and then wearing bright red and turquoise which clashed horrible with the yellow of the Indian team. This is a rule which all gate-crashers must follow – at least attempt to blend in.

     

    Her daddy in Bangalore has tried to defend her (daddies are vital for the defence of all those connected with Indian sport as we discovered in the Bhupathi-Paes face off, especially daddies from Bangalore) and so funnily enough has Lord Sebastian Coe of the London Olympics. Nagendra got “over-excited” he said. She was supposed to be a performer which is why she was lurking about, but was not eventually selected which is why she had no business lurking about. Then there’s the other suspicion (mine) of the British propensity for cultural determinism. Someone put her there to make the Indians athletes feel welcome as they entered the arena, it was hinted at somewhere. This is because the British feel that Indians only feel welcome when they see other Indians. In this case it backfired – as cultural determinism normally does.

     

    So where does it leave Danny Boyle? Probably wishing he had selected Honey-Nagendra. What is this Honey thing anyway? The Indian press applauded the opening ceremony as did most of the world. Most even forgot that there was some speculation about AR Rahman being part of the show -which he wasn’t and no one cared.

     

    Mumbai Mirror’s headline “Tepid London Boyle’s Over” upset firstpost.com which pointed out that the headline and the body copy did not match.

     

    * * *

     

    That leads us to the latest fast by Anna Hazare and his anti-corruption crusaders. Last year over one lakh people supported him in Delhi and that was a lot and this year 6,000 people supported him and that was a lot. In Mumbai last year when 5,000 turned up in Bandra that was too little, and this year 2,000 people in VT is a lot.

     

    Thus proving that even mathematics is relative: If only my maths teacher had bought that argument when I was in school.

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    Ranjona Banerji: Is the media fickle, or just having fun

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Television is, of course, very worried about the next President of India, but newspapers have given it the treatment it deserved – reporting on the news rather than trying to create it.

     

    Which means that Friday morning saw the straining of the ties between the UPA and Trinamool Congress get full play in the papers, although Mamata Banerjee’s mocking of the prime minister seems to have got a muted response.

     

    There has been a distinct movement to belittle Manmohan Singh and the media now appears to have been taken along for the ride. It seems a bit odd that rather take a non-partisan stand, the media has been party to this campaign. Or maybe it is not odd and I am not surprised.

     

    The downside for Team Anna is that Mamata Banerjee has stolen their limelight. Of particular interest is her declaration in today’s Times of India that she is a “simple man”. Indeed.

     

    * * *

     

    Mumbai’s newspapers have focused this week on the extraordinary behaviour of the Mumbai police, with its raids on bars and restaurants and treatment of customers. On Thursday, The Times of India, Mid-Day and Hindustan Times dedicated pages to the police’s highhanded methods and its reliance on archaic laws to harass people. Vasant Dhoble, the assistant commissioner of police who conducted most of the raids, was also targeted. Pritish Nandy has written an impassioned article on the destruction of civil liberties in Mumbai over the years in TOI.

     

    Some of this concerted media focus has prodded the minister of state for home to ask the police to exercise some restraint. There has also been some discussion to re-look at all these old and pointless laws.

     

    Friday’s Mid-Day has a story on how the protests against Dhoble and the police which started on cyber space are now entering real life as well. And, according to the paper the city’s “young leaders” like Milind Deora and Poonam Mahajan have also asked the police not to harass the innocent.

     

    * * *

     

    The unfortunate ego battle between Indian tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi has now got full media attention, especially as it affects India’s Olympic media chances. Here too, the media is divided between the two and as Bhupathi is better at building media relations, his case is being viewed with more sympathy. This is, in spite, of the fact that Bhupathi is the one putting up terms and conditions and refusing to play with Paes and also that Paes has bigger dibs on the Indian Olympic team because of his higher ranking.

     

    * * *

     

    The News Corp noose around British prime minister David Cameron gets closer and closer. Testifying in front of the Brian Leveson Inquiry into media ethics, Cameron tried to stand his ground that he had done no wrong but was hard-pressed to explain a text message from former News Corp CEP Rebekkah Brooks which said “we’re definitely in this together” just before the general election which the Conservative Party and Cameron won.

     

    The nexus between Britain’s political classes and the Murdoch organisation is no secret but its tentacles appear to have poisoned British polity, the establishment and the media itself.

     

    * * *

     

    Interesting to see after all the hoopla over former army chief VK Singh and all that bombastic media support, suddenly the media focus seems to have shifted to his detractors!

     

    Fickle or just having fun?

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] It’s all about how the media operates

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The most serious news programme on TV sometimes is The Daily Show by Jon Stewart, aired every week night on Comedy Central at 11.30pm. The only show that comes close is, of course, The Week That Wasn’t on CNN-IBN with Cyrus Broacha.

     

    On Monday night, on The Daily Show, Stewart was all ready to discuss the fact that the Trayvon Martin case was finally going to trial. He was ready with the legalities of the case. Only, his reporters all vanished on him. There they were in Florida, standing outside the courthouse, because story was now no longer about George Zimmerman shooting Trayvon Martin: it was about the media and its reactions.

     

    A programme with a 24-hour discussion on whether the media was over-reacting was proposed. As Stewart had fits in the studio and ordered his reporters to get back to New York, they refused saying that this case was already being called the “case of the century”, “case of the millennium” and “case of the millennia” and they were not going to lose out.

     

    What a fine exaggeration of the way the media operates, I giggled to myself.

    Then, at midnight, I shifted to Times Now. Only to see Arnab Goswami in fine form, as he held forth on morality and the nation and the alleged sex CD featuring former Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and a lawyer. Some mention of becoming a high court judge as a result of this slap-and-tickle was made.

     

    The panel was three journalists (four, if you count Goswami) and Siddharth Singh of the BJP. The BJP was, as far as I could understand, upset that Singhvi had resigned from his posts. They wanted him to explain the CD in the house (presumably not in a sex education way but knowing the BJP’s penchant for porn in legislatures, anything is possible). If the CD was real, then a probe (not like that!) was required. And if it was not real – as Singhvi has said – then another probe was required.

     

    Vinod Mehta, guiding light of Outlook said it’s all over and done with, Singhvi has resigned and let this remain a private matter. Vinod Sharma of Hindustan Times said the BJP was trying to squeeze every last drop of political mileage out of this, in spite of their own transgressions and once the Pandora’s Box was opened, they would not be safe. Arati Jerath said if this is the way high court judges are appointed, it is shocking and the matter should not be ignored.

     

    Goswami said that politicians can no longer as for privacy when their private lives are made public by the media, given the BJP’s demands.

     

    If this wasn’t fascinating enough, the next debate turned to the rift within Team Anna. Here the viewer was spectator to an incredible public squabble between three Team Anna members as Goswami and Hartosh Singh Bal of Open magazine watched with their mouths opening astonishment. Truly it was jaw-dropping stuff. All sorts of internal problems and ego battles were revealed.

     

    At the end, Goswami sternly admonished Team Anna that the fight against corruption was not anyone’s monopoly!

     

    At the end – 1.30 am — there was only the terrible truth of The Daily Show to think about. I didn’t sleep till about 3am as a result.

     

    * * *

     

    There is plenty of cyber rage over Press Council chairman Markandey Katju’s “proof” that 90 per cent of Indians are fools. People, get over this. The man is entitled to his opinion!

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web.

    Freaking News: How the media covered 10 years of Gujarat riots

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Interesting to see that Hindustan Times has gone for all out coverage of 10 years of the devastating riots in Gujarat, while The Times of India has played it down. This is particularly intriguing because at the time, TOI quite beat all other papers when it came to covering the Godhra train attack and the subsequent riots. Disclosure: I was deputy resident editor of the Ahmedabad edition of The Times of India at the time.

     

    Of course, it must also be pointed out that Hindustan Times does not have an edition in Gujarat, only a bureau and as Sujata Anandan, political editor for HT, then Mumbai bureau chief, pointed out in a related piece, she had to send people from Mumbai to cover the terrible events. It is possible however that the Delhi edition of TOI has not picked up the relevant stories, which is even odder because 10 years ago it was TOI Mumbai which shied away from riot-related stories and opinions. Apparently the resident editor at the time did not think it was relevant.

     

    On Tuesday, in the Hindustan Times, Harsh Mander, former IAS officer now social worker who works with Gujarat riot victims, hopes that there will be, well, hope soon. The day before Ashok Malik had asked whether it is time to forgive and forget. I wonder about that and our ability in India to behave as justice is an on and off system which we press when it suits us.

     

    Television, in particular CNN-IBN and NDTV, did focus on the riots and their aftermath: after all both their main faces Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt did cover the riots extensively, perhaps for the same channel at the time, my memory fails me here. As a print journalist however, the strident hysteria of TV reporters and anchors, especially at such critical times, can often be more of a hindrance than help and so it was 10 years ago in Gujarat. Provocative people may make for good television but sometimes it can lead to irresponsible journalism.

     

    * * *

     

    Having spent a few days in Delhi, or more correctly Gurgaon, it is fascinating to see how crime dominates the papers. Is this because crime dominates events here or because local journalists look out for it?

     

    * * *

     

    On TV land on Monday night, Arvind Kejriwal’s remarks about Parliament being full of robbers, rapists and murderers got some play (see what I mean about TV promoting people just to create good television?). Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN wanted to know whether everyone agreed with Kejriwal and the Election Commission’s intent to tweak existing laws to bar people accused of severe crimes for contesting elections, within a certain time limit.

     

    The normally rambunctious Chandam Mitra of the BJP, normally quick to have hysterics was abnormally quiet as he hummed and hawed and said a debate was necessary and suppose the accused was later proven to be innocent? (Incidentally, this problem of later being proved innocent never bothers the BJP where Muslims accused of terrorism as concerned!).  An activist pointed out that the proposal was seven years old and surely that was enough time to debate the matter.

     

    Prashant Bhushan, who defended Kejriwal, said a few innocent people suffering was a small price to pay to keep criminals out.

     

    The Times of India, in its second editorial, slammed Kejriwal and Team Anna for swinging their “bludgeon in all directions while assuming partisan and authoritarian overtones”, which can only lead to the movement floundering.

     

    * * *

     

    On NDTV, Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury got into a made-for-TV fight with an anti-nuclear activist. This was more interesting than the issue itself – foreign-funded NGOs – which got nowhere.

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

    Electoral politics or keeping people happy

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The poor BJP must be quaking in its shoes. There it was, happily chugging along on its collision course with the Congress over corruption and the government’s inept handling of the Lokpal Bill. And then, wham! India’s star TV anchors have turned against the party for a little transgression – nothing more the usual games played in electoral politics.

     

    But were Arnab Goswami and Rahul Shivshankar of Times Now and Newsx, to name just two, willing on Wednesday night to accept that election compulsions made strange bedfellows? Of course not – by admitting Babu Singh Kushwaha, recently chucked out of the Bahujan Samaj Party by Mayawati on corruption charges, the BJP had walked into indefensible territory. In television land, at least, where no person is too unlikely to be made into a saint if an anchor desires it and what goes up can also come down.

     

    On Times Now Meenakshi Lekhi screamed in defence of the BJP and though Goswami gave her time enough, he did not accept her explanation that the Congress was more corrupt or that Kushwaha was admitted into the BJP to help with the elections and not because there were corruption charges against him and that the Congress was also to blame for the CBI filing charges against Kushwaha.

     

    On Newsx Dr CP Thakur was far more subtle and distinctly un-hysterical as he provided the cynical explanation for the BJP – this was the way things were done during elections. You looked for the caste and community politicians to push your party’s case forward. Like Goswami, Shivshankar was also unsympathetic.

     

    They both refused to accept that politics was a dirty game, in spite of what everyone else said. The BJP, they said, had sworn to fight corruption. LK Advani, they said, had gone on a rath yatra against corruption. The BJP had supported Anna Hazare and the anti-corruption movement. And now the BJP had taken into its fold a man sacked by Mayawati on corruption charges and they were supposed to accept it as part of electoral politics? Never!

     

    If I were the BJP, which depends a lot on TV to keep its middle class supporters happy, I would be scared. Is winning UP more important that losing the hearts and minds of middle India which watches TV news? I wonder.

     

    **

     

    Newsx and Shivshankar went a step further than Times Now and put Anna Hazare’s committee in the dock as well. Mayank Gandhi tried to explain how Team Anna (which is what it calls itself now) was not looking at individual cases but systemic change, although it condemned the BJP. This was not good enough for Shivshankar and definitely not for Team Anna supporter and former bureaucrat Arun Bhatia who slammed Gandhi for being mealy-mouthed in his condemnation and his explanation.

     

    To make matters worse, on Thursday morning, Headlines Today carried a detailed report on the rifts within Team Anna over the Mumbai fiasco and support to the BJP.

     

    **

     

    One small sliver of hope for the BJP and Team Anna is newspapers are still slightly more balanced. And the only thing that can save them is if the eagle eye of our anchors shifts to India’s remarkable performance on the playing fields of Australia.

     

    Otherwise, hell hath no fury…

     

  • For Mumbai, which is not a politically active city unlike Delhi, Team Anna needed to think out of the box to get the crowds in.

    Anil Thakraney: The trick Anna missed

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    So, Anna Hazare’s Mumbai campaign suffered a serious setback. Only a few thousand ‘fans’ landed up, though expectations were of lakhs of people joining in. In fact, I was so mortally petrified of the projected traffic chaos, I made sure I did not plan any travel in the city… I stayed hidden under my bed like a coward for the period of the planned agitation.

     

    Quite clearly there are many reasons why the dharna flopped, and I won’t go into them out here, that’s for columnists in the mass media to worry about. But I must say this: For Mumbai, which is not a politically active city unlikeDelhi, Team Anna needed to think out of the box to get the crowds in. For one, they needed to hire a professional event management company, which would have organized entertainment and refreshments for the attendant junta. People are already fatigued of the Lokpal issue, and there have to be add-ons if Mumbaikars are tempted to give up their routine lives and spend three whole days at the MMRDA grounds. I am quite sure some event companies would have slashed their fees for the noble cause.

     

    Two, and no I am NOT kidding about this, Team Anna ought to have done a promo tie-up with Bollywood, without making a song and dance of it. For example, Don 2 released around the time of Anna’s Mumbai chapter. Could they not have tied up with Farhan Akhtar and Shahrukh Khan? What’s the worst that would have happened? SRK asking people to watch his flick, that’s about it. He does that everywhere, anyways. But in return, his presence would not only have pulled massive crowds in, it would have got Parliament on the edge. And the media would have shown much more interest in the event, even the Page 3 journos would have landed up.

     

    I am sure some of you might think I am trivializing a serious issue out here. Well,

    I am not. Because it’s quite clear to me that poor old Anna Hazare does not have the money or the means or the charisma to send Mumbai into a tizzy. He needed help. He needed to be clever. Because after the Mumbai flop show, even the Anna loyalists are having second thoughts about a solid Lokpal bill. And many fans across the nation seem to be losing faith in him.

     

    It would be a terrible loss for the country if Anna sahib were to fade away into oblivion. It’s time to think different.

     

    * * *

     

    PS: Since I am always cribbing and carping about the Indian media, I have decided to be nice in my last post of the year. For the entire year 2011, news channels behaved liked hysterical cheerleaders for Anna Hazare, thereby throwing all professionalism out of their studios. But as the year closed, I noticed a sense of calm and fair play across the board. The debates were more balanced and nuanced. Even Arnab Goswami was unbiased!

     

    Let’s hope we get to watch more of this in 2012. Happy New Year!

     

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers the morning after

    Freaking News: Enough of Team Anna’s high-handed ways

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    There is no greater joy for the newsperson than when you can successfully create a controversy out of very little. So first you have a demand for India’s highest civilian award to be given to India’s great cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. This continues for some years and every time the awards are about to announced, we have breathless speculation on TV about whether Tendulkar is going to get it this year or not. Where TV goes, can the rest of the media be far behind? Experts and fans all have their say. I have no idea what Tendulkar himself thinks; I don’t even know if anyone bothered to ask him or if he deigned to answer. Tendulkar’s views are insignificant here. It’s all about we the people.

     

    Now it turns out that sportspersons were never eligible anyway. So the law is changed to allow sportspersons and entertainers. And immediately, we are in the middle of another controversy. Whether sportspersons and entertainers are deserving or not, whether Sachin is deserving or not, should Dhyanchand get it before Sachin… here we go again.

     

    **

     

    MxmIndia is going into yearender mode, the results of which will be up soon. I am surprised to see that newspapers and magazines are waiting so long though – I would have expected precursors by now. The world has become so fast that usually we celebrate Diwali at Ganpati and Christmas at Diwali! Newsx is doing a countdown of the biggest news stories of the year, so look like someone somewhere has been looking at the calendar.

     

    **

     

    The situation in Egypt seems to be getting worse, as protestors continue expressing their outrage against the military establishment. Indian news however does not see the conflict in the Middle East as more than a story on the international pages and TV is hard-pressed to fit it in between Anna Hazare and Katrina Kaif’s childhood diet. I heard all about it this morning, I kid you not!

     

    **

     

    The fight over a version of the Gita being banned in Siberia gave TV a wonderful opportunity to pull out its ultra-nationalistic flag. But all interested parties have been foiled in fascinating ways. The Russian ambassador promptly damned the banning. The Yadav-run parties created a bigger ruckus over the issue than the Hindutva-based parties. And the Government of India stated that it had been on the case from Day One. Talk about destroying one more round of nation-wide hysteria.

     

    **

     

    We will know later today the latest on the Lokpal-Anna Hazare soap opera, so I’m leaving that till tomorrow. But here’s from an Indian Express edit on the anti-corruption campaign, “The point is, given what we know of them, Team Anna must not be allowed to set the terms any more. They do not own the cause of the Lokpal or that of integrity in public life. The upcoming debate must consider the bill on its own terms, without heeding the chants from Hazare’s crowds.”

     

    I have a request to add to that sentiment: can the TVwallahs please not exaggerate the crowds and pretend that a gathering of 50,000 people is the same as 50 million?

  • It's very clear by now that, drunk on the TV media's fan-like support, members of the team have become arrogant and Dubya-like in their attitude. The 'my way or the highway' deal. How healthy is that approach for democracy, we all know quite well.

    Anil Thakraney: Cut the Anna crusade

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    It is fashionable to credit the social media for Team Anna’s stupendous run. They have managed to hilao the government big-time, and it is often said their oxygen is the support provided by tweeters and facebookers. I totally disagree.

     

    The real fuel for Anna’s campaign comes from the television media. It is they who, in their childlike enthusiasm, have converted the saint from Ralegaon Siddhi into a god-like cult figure. And quite frankly, I am not surprised. It’s our TV media’s belief that any story that generates ratings must be given liberal play, even if it demolishes every tenet of good journalism. From no angle can you justify the role played by the assorted news channels as crusaders and poster boys for Team Anna. When the social media does that, it becomes understandable. Because the virtual world consists of individuals fed up of corruption… dudes who don’t really comprehend the complexities of the Lokpal bill, and are basically venting steam. That’s fine. But for professional journalists to become recruitment agents for Anna is simply an appalling situation.

     

    Anyway, what’s done is done. Team Anna is threatening Hunger Strike Part 2, this time from the ‘salubrious’ Mumbai. At least this time around the news channels must respect the principles of journalism and desist from going over-the-top on the coverage. Because it’s very clear by now that, drunk on the TV media’s fan-like support, members of the team have become arrogant and Dubya-like in their attitude. The ‘my way or the highway’ deal. How healthy is that approach for democracy, we all know quite well.

     

    Bottom-line: Let Team Anna fight its own battles. Report the story, like any other story, and no more. There are other interesting ways to get good ratings. Try village horror stories. At least they don’t threaten Indian democracy.

     

    ***

     

    PS: Wieden + Kennedy’s London office has found a charming way to wish you this season. The agency has set up a window outside their office, from where passers-by can take part in the celebrations. Lovely idea.

     

    Link: http://achoirofyou.com/