If You Have The Inclination, We Have The Crime

Lots of Opportunities since the new regime came in. Let’s make lots of money. If you have the inclination, we have the crime.

In just the previous post we looked at how Hindustan Times with its HT Summit splurged on public money. Most of their major sponsors being big time PSUs and govt companies. Even the poor man’s work insurance corporation, ESIC, seems to have found compelling reasons to invest in HT Summit. Part of that unholy trinity of media I wrote about is CNN-IBN, HT’s media side-kick. It’s Managing Editor, Rajdeep Sardesai (RS), often likes to talk about “integrity”. Look at the samples. In the first tweet from February 2010 he yearns for “news with integrity” and in the second one, from July 2012, he complains about his integrity being questioned. “Those who abuse...” he says. Actually, anything that questions or ridicules our media celebs is nothing but ‘abuse’. The second tweet is because he had to apologise for an earlier stupid and tasteless tweet of his. When Deep Throat said “follow the money” he damn well knew what he meant. Pursuit of news and stories never resulted in loss of integrity but pursuit of extraordinary wealth has often led to loss of integrity. For almost a month my Twitter friend Suresh Nakhua has been asking questions of RS and CNN-IBN; tricky, troublesome questions which, of course, would amount to ‘abuse’ in the world of RS.

In this post I will just summarise the questions by Suresh Nakhua who has storified the financial joyride of CNN-IBN and certain group companies in his post “Few questions for@sardesairajdeep & some unknown facts abt CNNIBN”.  In other words Suresh has just tried to follow the money. Before you look at the maze of companies, here is a company that became part of Global Broadcast News Ltd (GBN). And it’s splendidly titled ‘SRH New Holding Private limited’.

Well, well, all the names from the CNN-IBN family are there. Sardesai, Bahl, Anubha, Chaubeji, Vidya Shankar and, of course, Cacofonix. Don’t read too much into that because there is nothing wrong there. This is just to share the ‘dramatis monetis’. All you need to do is follow Suresh’s tweets on that page sequentially and enlarge the images contained in each. You will find integrity in each. So here are the questions that remain unanswered:

1. SRH was a loss making company so how did it end up giving loans worth 19.71 crores? Hmm! One could say “we are a private company and it’s none of your business”. Yeah, so you can’t be in the public domain and keep screaming about integrity either.

2. The remuneration of Jt. MD, Sameer Manchanda, exceeds the limits prescribed under the Companies Act. The explanation is that GOI approval has been sought and if not received the moneys will be returned. Clever? First commit the offence and then claim the money is being held in “trust” and if the approval is not received, it will be returned. Integrity!

3. At March 2006 GBN had a loss of 46.53 crores. It’s a perfect qualification to receive an “unsecured loan” of 40 crores during the year, isn’t it? We shouldn’t complain about the loan itself. It should be of interest to all of us who or what entity gives such loans just in case we anticipate huge losses too. Needless to say, you need integrity.

4. To run your business you do need some pocket money at times. Who’s your daddy? Of course, Syndicate Bank. So you have this bank lending an unsecured loan of 5 crores to tide over festival periods. While the title shows the amount as ‘secured borrowings’ the statement says ‘NIL’ against security created. What was it secured with, integrity? Do read the article on Reliance and ‘Raghav’s Endgame’ squeezed in between.

5. Then Raghav Bahl, the Chairman of TV18 group, has some 7 Income tax cases pending against him. That’s normal if you’re running a large group of media companies, nothing to worry. Then in another page that Suresh produces, an IT penalty of over 1Cr has been reduced to a mere Rs.53461. Nice, isn’t it? Who’s your daddy? Integrity?

6. That’s all. Oh yes, there’s this small thing apart from the IT cases, there is an ROC case against Raghav Bahl that is pending. Oh, one more thing. There is this e-Eighteen.Com and Victor Fernandes who claim Bahl & Co. illegally diverted their businesses and are demanding over 3000 crores in compensation. If I read correctly, it claims there was an undertaking that TV18 would route business distribution through e-Eighteen which Bahl is accused of breaking. Integrity! Not the kind of program that will be debated on CNN-IBN or any of its group channels for sure.

There is hardly any doubt that since the arrival of the UPA govt in 2004 there has been a dramatic growth in the fortunes of certain media companies. People were complaining of the amount of tax-payer money on the recently executed terrorist Ajmal Kasab. He’s just one guy. The amount of tax-payer money certain media outlets may be guzzling without notice is like silent killers; like Cancer or Diabetes. I have stated earlier that our news media is the first line of defence for the corrupt. Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal have been spending a lot of effort on politicians. If they spent half that effort on media houses I have absolutely no doubts that corruption and financial misdeeds will start diminishing in every other sphere. And next time Rajdeep Sardesai talks about integrity I suggest you have a good laugh. At least laughing doesn’t cost anything.

*The title is from a Pet Shop Boys song.

15 Lakh Crores & The Business Channels Don’t Find It Newsworthy!

CNBC-TV18, NDTV-Profit and other mediacrooks of business news were busy all of yesterday with mundane statistics. How growth slowed down in November 2010 and blah blah blah! The only newsworthy story they carried was Indigo’s plan to buy 180 new aircrafts. That’s the single largest deal in commercial aviation history and one which can bring cheers. That would be worth around $ 15.6 billion. Cheers to Indigo! From from Paris where Indigo sealed that purchase there was an event in small time India that was far bigger, had big national and international players and has become some sort of roadmap to progress. Vibrant Gujarat.

If one were to go by the sound bytes of major business channels or news channels the Vibrant Gujarat event would appear to be some small time village mela for cattle trade. The only channels covering the event were local and some national Gujarati language channels. The major business and news channels only found space for the event on their websites, perhaps grudgingly so. For anything remotely connected to Gujarat or Narendra Modi is anti-India to them. So be it!

It is Gujarat though that is having the last laugh. Some minor details are mind boggling:

Mahatma Mandir - Venue of Vibrant Gujarat 2011

1. The worth of investment commitments is around 1/3^rd of the national GDP itself.

2.   Over 25000 international and national business, political and diplomatic delegates attended the two-day Vibrant Gujarat event on January 12

3.   2076 MOUs signed worth $333 Bn or 15 lakh crores.

In the season of scams this would have been something to cheer about. But as is the practice with our media, anything to do with Gujarat is a non-event. In an investment summit such as this, one would have thought that the central Commerce and Finance ministers would be interested as it makes a big difference to the Indian economy. Well, its not a Congress government in Gujarat so that doesn’t count for India to them.

Is there criticism? Sure, Shaktisinh Gohil, leader of Congress in Gujarat says only a fraction of the MOUs actually materialise and much of the land to big industrialists is given away at throw away prices. First, yes all of the MOUs may not finally translate into investments. However, even if a good fraction of the 15lakh crore ($ 333Bn) MOUs materialise it is still a huge investment. Compare this to the fact that Obama came shopping and went back home happy with commitments worth $ 10Bn. That should put it in perspective. And if land is being given away at throwaway prices as Gohil would suggest we are yet to hear complaints from those who sold their lands unlike in Singur (Bengal).Vibrant Gujarat and such events bring hope. Instead, the media is caught up with the nonsense of Rahul Gandhi’s utterances.

One would fervently hope that other states in India pick up this lead and set up events, systems and practices that put them and their people on the road to being busy with healthy economic activities. The good news is, Vibrant Gujarat may well recover the worth of all the UPA scams put together.

Rajdeep Sardesai Blames ‘Corrupt Society’ For Media Weakness

Thats right! In a seminar hosted by Divya Bhaskar in Ahmedabad on Saturday, 18^th December Rajdeep Sardesai blamed the ills of the media on a corrupt society.

The DNA reports: "Today's TV viewer or reader is only in search of crime and cricket which eventually affects the credibility of the journalists," said Padmashree Rajdeep Sardesai. He added that the media at times seems week due to a corrupt society. So because people are crazy about crime stories, cinema and cricket, journalists are willing to sacrifice ‘credibility’? He also went on to say "At times, we take our viewers for granted."

I wonder how Rajdeep came to this great scientific conclusion that media is weak because of a corrupt society. What makes up ‘society’? Politicians and journalists are a very small number when compared to our populous society. The number of influential businessmen is even smaller when compared to politicians and journalists. So this extraordinary logic that a corrupt society is to blame for media ills is wanton and thoughtless at best.  Society has largely been a victim of corruption and not the perpetrator. Society is largely made up of ordinary men and women who work or do business and lead an honest life. A big chunk of society barely makes ends meet.  It is the number of corrupt people in powerful places that is a very small number in comparison.  The media is a slave to this very small population of the corrupt and not of the society.  To blame society for media’s problems is like blaming the rape victim for being provocatively dressed.  And this comes from Rajdeep Sardesai, the Chief Editor of CNN-IBN, a channel which does not exactly cover itself in glory where honest reporting is concerned. (Read the CNN-IBN fake tweets article here.)

Being credible, honest, fair are choices any professional makes. That applies to journalists too. In what way does society influence media to be anything else? On the contrary it’s the media that has the power to indulge in propaganda and lop sided stories. If stories of adulterous professors get greater TRPs then it’s the media that plays it up for drama, don’t blame society.  Rahul Mahajan’s spat with his wife from a reality show was a prime time main story on CNN-IBN. Who runs these stories?  Does society ask for such crap on a news channel? There are many other channels specialising in such dirt, what makes Rajdeep’s channel make such non-issues a major headline? Rajdeep should know that the biggest business on the internet is pornography. So if porn were to be legalised in India would CNN-IBN be peddling porn stories because it’s very popular and demanded? What kind of twisted logic is that, Rajdeep? Pray what part of society compels CNN-IBN to use fake tweets to support or legalise lobbying? What compels TV channels to dish out biased reports day in and day out? Society’s demands may compel competition, but does it compel journalists to act as power brokers with lobbyists like Nira Radia?

Rajdeep Sardesai should find better reasons for media’s weaknesses and not blame society.

Do You Really Trust CNBC-TV18 ?

“CNBC-TV18 today is clearly the last word in business news. CNBC-TV18 is a joint venture between Network18 and CNBC, the global leader in business television”. That is what their website tells us. With the Radia tapes exposing many journalists and news channels and newspapers,  the financial networks haven’t received much attention. They, of course, offer wisdom on how your money works best or how the economy is doing or what shares will do well. But do they always tell you the facts? Can you trust them? Let’s take the case of CNBC-TV18. The TV18 group is headed by none other than Raghav Bahl, the author of a recent book called ‘Superpower’. Yes, he should know everything about power. 

                     Udayan Mukherjee - Pays 6 Crores as Income Tax?

Girish Nikam, a journalist, has been following the telecom scandal for quite a long time. Following the second round of the Radia tapes exposure in Outlook magazine, here are some extracts from his site: (in colour and edited for space by me)

What does Raghav Behl, the MD of TV 18(CNBC TV 18 and CNN-IBN), have to say about Manoj Modi (right hand man of Mukesh Ambani) claiming (on June 10,2009) in his conversation with Niira Radia that he told(threatened) him(Raghav) “your organisation is corrupt…. Even factual stories you don’t print about ADAG and you will work for us. I want to know who is the source, Mukesh(Ambani) ko personally attack karega toh main manoj modi hoon, chodega nahin kisiko.——-Raghav said in order to put pressure on me(Raghav himself)— send me(raghav) a legal notice”...... Did Raghav Behl ask Modi to send him a legal notice? If not true, did Raghav Behl get a letter from Modi, making such threats, as Modi claims in this tape and repeatedly asks Niira Radia not to disclose about it to anyone?

In one of the conversations(on June 13,2009) .......Niira Radia remarks that “Sebi investigations is on against Siddharth(Zarabi, Economic Policy Editor, CNBC TV 18), Udayan(mukherjee, anchor and MD CNBC TV 18)....they are getting their wives involved in the (stock) market), and the SEBI investigation is on”. She also goes on to say that Udayan Mukherjee “files the highest tax returns among journalists…… he pays Rs.6 crore as income tax, and he doesn’t even earn that much”. Now what has Raghav Behl and his colleagues named here done about these obviously serious charges? Is what she is saying true? If not what action are they contemplating or have taken?

 

Make no mistake whatsoever. CNBC-TV18 and other financial channels as also most of our news channels and journals can only be expected to be faithful to their paymasters. The viewers and readers are their last priorities. And if you believe all the stories that appear on financial channels, do so at your own risk. Most financial journalists eat from the palms of corporate bosses and advertisers. Not convinced yet? Let’s go to the global CNBC itself.

In my post ‘Servantile Journalism’ in March 2010 this is what I wrote:

"... In March 2009 in his now famous smack-down of CNBC (the American financial channel) Jon Stewart of The Daily Show showed how the journalists at CNBC asked all stupid and servantile questions to CEOs of companies like Bear Sterns, AIG, GM, Merryl Lynch, one even went far enough to ask Allen Stanford “how does it feel to be a billionaire?” ....In weeks after the interviews each company collapsed and Stanford was actually running a Ponzi-scheme. Yes, the very same Allen Stanford who sponsored a cricket event in the WI. The point here is, the journalists sucked up to the CEOs of these companies and never asked real hard questions that would indicate the health of their companies. The end result was the economic collapse in the US."    View the full Jon Stewart CNBC smackdown video HERE.

That US economic collapse also affected India. There were suicides by many financially broken people. When it comes to your money beware of servantile journalists and channels. When it comes to financial channels, be cynical. Be very cynical. Can you really trust them?