Identity Part 2: Society Reacts To MediaCrooks

In ‘Identity: Part–1… ’ we dealt with Shivnath Thukral (ST) equating MediaCrooks (MC) with terrorists. Since that post Thukral and I have exchanged messages on Twitter. Considering he used screen-grabs from my Twitter page in his presentation at IndiaSocial he had the option before his speech then too to reach me and interact. He did not. That itself shows pretty clearly that he made his presentation without bothering to fact-check his theories. Never mind. In the Twitter exchange on September 14, ST has offered a debate with me and I have accepted. I will write a separate post on that later.

In this part let’s examine what bothers ST and so too MSM and whether MC is reachable. Whether MC is responsive and yeah, whether the crook is a secret, veiled terrorist. That MC exposes the spin and lies of MSM like many other bloggers is now bothering them. But of the thousands of accounts on SM, Thukral singles out MC to slander by equating him with "Terrorists". Why? Haha! That's a dead give away! Because MC is 'focused' on the news media and it hurts ST and his friends in the media.We'll come back to him in a bit.  

I have met people from the SM in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. Some weeks back I ran into a prominent person who frequently appears on TV panels. In a casual chat he mentioned that whichever channel or media house he goes to, people were asking him about MC and if he reads the posts on the site. Many ground level journalists do write in and share their feelings about media in general. But celebs do sneak a peek as evidence would suggest. For over five months now, the post India’s Worst Journalists-2012  (IWJ) has remained very popular. It seems to have a struck a chord with many. I call it the ‘Razzies’ for media celebs. There is something else too. There is hardly a media celeb who is unlikely to have read that post. 43,000+ views of that single post are quite extra-ordinary for a small blog in some corner of the world. Many have reproduced that post. Even Shobha De, a Page-3 specialist, copy-pasted the IWJ article on her blog without any reference or credit to the source. And self-righteous Shobha implies Fareed Zakaria is a “thief”. She forgot to look in the mirror. Laughable! That's celebrity MSM for you!  Here’s a video excerpt (0.36 secs) from an interview of Vinod ‘Smirk’ Sharma, who featured in that list, by Madhu Trehan on Newslaundry: 

Ahem! So Sharmaji has not only read IWJ but is upset about being in the list. He’s also upset being called a ‘Congress Agent’. Well, why would he acquire that reputation? Tarnished by SM? Surely, a part of the population or SM didn’t start out prejudiced against Sharma for him to earn such a title. Then he laments that ‘others’ are not included in the IWJ list but he is. Sharma is not the only one to be blamed. If he observes closely, almost the entire clan of MSM has become nothing more than propagandists. This perception of many viewers can change only with honest "introspection" and “listening” to feedback and viewers. PagalPatrakar (FakingNews) points out that TV channels and Newspapers never hold meetings to discuss feedback or viewers’ sentiments. And that the only meetings they hold are to discuss the TRPs. He quotes Shekhar Gupta who seems to mention that he doesn't even bother about feedback.  

Apart from TV and newspapers these media celebs also want to rant on Twitter and SM. They want the best of both worlds. They would any day like to see the SM dead or at least the virtual death of some of its users. It’s a nuisance and a hindrance that is now constantly challenging them. That’s what bothers ST too. I’ve already established that ST had many ways of reaching MC but he didn’t bother. I have a surprise for him and others in the MSM who think like him.

The SOCIETY in the title of this post doesn’t refer to people but the Lifestyle magazine. Shobha De, the copy-paster, was once part of the group that publishes SOCIETY. Now, SOCIETY is certainly not a MSM magazine that would have ever been the target of affection of MediaCrooks. But here’s an image scanned from the September issue of the magazine. It carried an article "The media watchdogs". It featured Kafila.Org, TheHoot.Org.. And Oops! There's MediaCrooks too. Oh hell! They even put a pic of the terrorist:

Now, here are  the questions Mr. Thukral: How in the world did a magazine like SOCIETY get in touch with MC? If MC was “Unidentifiable, Unapproachable, Inaccessible” in your words how did they talk to him? How did they do a Q&A with him? How did they get his pic even? Were they “terrorised” into doing so? Truth is: ST made his presentation with the same terrible lies that have infected most of the MSM, or blissful ignorance. He failed to even bother if what he was saying was fact-checked. Did he research his presentation himself or was it Zakarised? (Written by assistants, that is). Well, does ST now have the courage to stand up and say he was wrong? I leave that to him.

Towards the end of his presentation at IndiaSocial ST asks: Do these terrorists have a reason for criticising? Aha! What ST really wants to know is if there are ‘motives’ or any ‘agenda’ behind the criticism, like he had in his "terrorist" presentation. Read the tagline under the MediaCrooks logo ST, it has been there since MC was born. What does it say? “Crooks and liars in the Indian Media are the greatest danger to our democracy”. That’s enough reason and enough motive. No secrets there. MC does also seek to expose those who have embraced the “celebrity cult” in news media which gives them a strange belief that they are “unquestionable” and “untouchable”. MC also lampoons the nepotism in MSM where talentless friends, relatives and spouses are passed off as journos or panellists.  

According to Wikipedia  Shivnath Thukral is now the Group president, Corporate Branding and Strategic Initiatives at ESSAR. Well, he leaves me in no doubt that he’s an expert in “branding”. Folks in the MSM are gifted with "branding" skills - they brand those who challenge them as 'Trolls, Haters, Extremists, Fascists, Anarchists, Communal, Terrorists'. Essar, NDTV, CNN-IBN, TimesNow etc. are brand names. Big ones! MediaCrooks is also a brand name, a very tiny one but still a brand name. A sarcastic brand name! MC’s readers and users attach certain “values” to the brand; that of Facts, Truth and logic and a generous dash of humour. Readers make their own assessment of each post without having to bother or be influenced by who the writer is. These are values MSM should try. And that’s the way MC stands and is promoted. The author, while not secretive, has no mission to promote an individual or a personality who looks to be a celebrity or a panellist on TV. Because WHAT is written is more important than WHO writes it. Social Media will eventually help society embrace that understanding and not fall for MSM propaganda.

Note: The image of the Society article may not be very clear. It's not intended to be. The issue still being current, I shall post a larger image of article towards the end of the month. Of course, one can always buy a copy of the magazine.