Nilim Dutta - New Feather In Media Mafia's Cap

Did you read the post “Pots & Panellists”? If you didn’t, here’s a small piece from that one:

All our TV channels have a database of panellists. Let me explain. Supposing a channel is doing a debate on politics the ‘booker’ (the guy who books the panellists for the show) types in “Politics” as a search-term into the database and up come Vinod Sharma, SwapanD and so on. You type… “Anything on Women” you are guaranteed to get Mamta Sharma of the NCW. You search “Elections”... Yeah you guessed right, you’ll get Yogendra Yadav & Co. You type “Islam”; you will likely get Zakir Naik and Shah Rukh Khan. You type “Expert on everything” you’ll get only one name: Suhel Seth. It’s like a Cola vending machine. You press a button and out pops a panellist. What’s the context? We’ll get there in a bit.

In meantime let’s understand journalism a bit more. This is an interesting transaction between two friends; Barkha Dutt and Swapan Dasgupta. The lady fondly recalls Gandhiji on his death anniversary on January 30 and wishes we could celebrate him in a more ‘organic’ way. You can see SD’s light-hearted response. Now if you don’t know SD, he’s a killer of unsuspecting celebs with his subtlety. For the most part at least two of the Gandhi concepts that SD mentions are out of fashion. It’s the third one that Barkha picks on. Considering January 30 is a “prohibition day” across India she reminds SD and asks “guess which state has prohibition”? Umm, let me think, it can’t be Puducherry. It’s definitely not Goa. Assam? Nope. The little smirk at the end of her question tells me Barkha is thrilled at having another pot shot at a state she is not famous for being affectionate with because of that man with the silver hair and beard. But this is the alarming obsession with which our media picks their spokies, panellists and writers. One such product has landed them in some serious embarrassment; Nilim Dutta.

Barkha may not have anticipated even in her great nightmares of Narendra Modi the cheeky, stinging reply that was to follow from SD. And when he says “the one you don’t acknowledge is Indian” and refers to Kashmir he leaves it unclear if by “you” he only means Barkha or a whole lot of other people. Prohibition in Gujarat has existed since it was born. Prohibition in Kashmir is the handiwork of Mullahs and extremists and not the law. So last year in July-August when Assam was burning our media mafia desperately needed an ‘expert’. No matter how many times they pressed the “Assam button” in the ‘expert-vending’ machine they could get only one name; Arnab Goswami. Hmm! But that guy had already joined the Judiciary and was running his own court on TimesNow. Arnab was also probably the only media celeb to attend the funeral of Bhupen Hazarika; remember? So they had to pick someone else.  

When it comes to Assam (or North-East as they generally refer to that unfashionable territory) they had all kinds of excuses to avoid coverage. You know, like Rajdeep Sardesai’s “deaths being lower than Gujarat2002, lack of OB vans, tyranny of distance” and all that. Damn! We run the mafia and we don’t have a local boss in Assam? We don’t have a ‘Wiseguy’? So maybe all the TV channels and poodles in the tabloids and newspapers looked up Twitter. Lo and behold, look what the cat brought in! The perfect Rat! This guy gave proof on December 6, 2011 that he wanted to chew LK Advani’s balls. And when they found the guy was equally anti-Modi they couldn’t believe their luck. Jackpot! So Nilim Dutta became the Assam expert for all them. Tehelka (yes even the ones who use call-girls for journalism), Firstpost, Indian Express, The Hindu, the online site Kafila, NDTV, BBC and others were thrilled to bits. For the media celebs on Twitter he became the Saint from Assam. Nobody cared to fact-check, nobody cared to do a background check.

Nilim Dutta (ND) knew everything. He knew about Assam, about Bodos, about Bangla Desh. This guy was a ‘secular’ expert on everything just like Suhel Seth. Most of all, ND was a champion of the “secular” theory that the whole illegal Bangla immigrants was rubbish and this gave our media morons the weapon they wanted to counter the truth about the riots and the long standing strife in Assam. They were so carried away that they didn’t even bother to check who the guy is or what he does for a living. They were thrilled that he was running some “Strategic research and analysis organisation” which had its headquarters in the independent country of Facebook and a branch office on Twitter. What amazes me is that the guy was being exposed by Tweeple all along and still the media toasted him as a great find. You see, if you bear hatred towards Narendra Modi you are entitled to Gold Membership in the MSM club. That’s the only qualification you’ll ever need. When the moment arrived, our media was there to hand out a Platinum card to ND.

Raju Das from Assam lists ND’s minor achievements in a tweet. Other than that, ND also led people to believe he was a RAW agent (and yes secret agents do go around telling people they are that). He managed to fool Barkha Dutt and NDTV because, as I’ve shown, anyone anti-Gujarat is a hero and an expert. Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV runs a pathetically ironic show called ‘Truth V Hype’ and it borrowed ND (No, don’t confuse, NDTV doesn’t stand for Nilim Dutta TV). Then there’s Tehelka, whose editor Shoma Choudhury is the female version of Suhel Seth. She too is an expert on everything and hangs around TV studios and Litterfests most of the time. I can understand these guys, but following their choice of ND as an expert, even some reasonably careful sites like FirstPost got fooled and even the Beeb got fooled.

When Nilim Dutta was finally arrested he tweeted being assaulted by the police instead. Friends like Pritish Nandy urged MoS RPN Singh (spouse of an NDTV anchor) to intervene. RPN Singh, who is a follower of Gandhiji’s “peace model”, immediately swung into action and called up Assam police. Educate yourselves: If you choose the career of a fraudster you have better chances of protection from the mafia and action from the highest offices of this land. In their haste to debunk the truth about Assam the media mafia picked up a guy with a dubious history. Rediff even points out: “Dutta, according to the police, is a serial offender in this regard. He was arrested and released on bail on 2004 on similar charges. The only difference is: this time he has Twitter celebs backing him, at least until now”!

You can read the rest of the story everywhere in the media now and have a good laugh. Crooks who were defrauding the nation with their fake programmes, debates and articles can also get screwed by one of their own wiseguys. The best was that when ND was being arrested he had someone use Twitter to send a message that he was being “assaulted” by the police and that his ankles were broken by them. Turns out he was actually trying to jump out a window to escape. Nothing captures this better than this pic (Thanks to @Surnell who tweeted this). Long back I wrote about “India’s biggest mafia” and with sound reason. Every crime and activity you can find in the regular mafia, you can find in our MSM too. So there’s nothing to worry. The media mafia just added another feather in their proud cap.

The Society Crook

Sometime back I had mentioned a story on “The Media Watchdogs” in Society magazine’s September 2012 issue. I received another reminder to carry the brief write up on MediaCrooks that the magazine carried in the story. So here it is. The story is an exact reproduction except for names. As usual, quotes used in the article are in blue and some parts of the text have been highlighted by me. Where posts are referred to, those have been highlighted with their original links. The article remains exactly as in the magazine.

“As a news watcher, I have, like many others, watched the consistent deterioration in the quality of news reporting, interpretation and subsequent debates and opinions” says..  creator of www.mediacrooks.com. And since there is no specific organisation evaluating the Indian news media in any manner, he took on the onus. “The cash-for-votes incident of 2008, when a news channel deliberately suppressed information acted like a trigger”. The universally criticised reporting of the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks was the last straw.. and the first post was written in February 2010. Since then his website has garnered nearly 500 followers by email and over 6,28,600 page views. Posting under ‘Ravinar’, an acronym of his name, he writes in a manner that is lucid, to the point and often sarcastic.

In one of his posts, ‘Rahul Gandhi-Sukanya Case: Amazing Media Silence’, Ravinar questions the under-reporting of the case by the mainstream media. In another, ‘Religious Secular Channels’, he notes that when news channels report on fraudulent godmen in controversies, the godmen in question almost always happen to be Hindu, while those of other religions get marginal coverage. In ‘CNN-IBN:The Greatest Indian Farce’, he points out the futilities and unfairness in comparison when CNN-IBN attempts to select the greatest Indian after Mahatma Gandhi.

Every couple of years Ravinar conducts a poll to rate who India’s worst journalists are. The polls have received a huge response and have attracted a lot of attention from readers as well as other bloggers. He terms the poll ‘a Razzies of sorts of the media’. He says, “News organisations conduct silly SMS polls almost every day and nobody knows who or how many voted. For instance, 10 people may have voted and eight may have said ‘Yes’. The channel would then proclaim: ’80 percent AGREE!’ This kind of foolish reporting is questionable. The media celebs pass judgement on anybody and everybody. This is my way of holding a mirror to them".

One of the beliefs he strongly he strongly proclaims on his website is that a corrupt media is the most dangerous threat to any democracy. In India, there is considerable freedom to print, which Ravinar feels, the media seldom makes use of. “In recent history, most scams were exposed either by the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) or journalists from smaller journals like The Pioneer. In one of my posts, I have called the media, ‘India’s Biggest Mafia’. You can find in the news media everything that you find in a regular mafia. Radiagate may only be the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “The rest of the story may unfold someday. There are still many great journalists who keep the good work going. But, you won’t easily find them in big media houses.”

He is of the opinion that ever since the media boom of the 90s, honest reporting has been the biggest victim in the pursuit of viewership, readership and profits. Through his blog, it is apparent that he considers a compromised media a greater threat to democracy than a government. “In not standing up for freedoms and in towing the government line on most issues, the news media is compromising not only their own freedom, but the very foundation of our democracy” he says, adding that it is difficult to differentiate between politicians and some journalists.

Sangma Slaps Karan 'TheTool' Thapar

In the American-Italian mafia business everyone had a nickname. Among the famous ones is George ‘Babyface’ Nelson. Then there’s the introduction to the GoodFellas: Nicky ‘Eyes’, Frankie ‘TheWop’ (A slur for those of Italian descent meaning  ‘Without Papers’), ‘Fat’ Andy, and the best one had to be when Henry Hill introduces Jimmy: “And then there was Jimmy ‘Two’Times’, who got that nickname because he said everything twice”. And the typical response by Jimmy TwoTimes: “I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers”.

Sometime back I had already explained why the MSM is ‘India’s biggest mafia’. One of the ‘honourable’ members of this MSM just got a new nickname: Karan ‘TheTool’ Thapar. This was in his interview of Presidential nominee of Opposition parties, P.A. Sangma. Anyone who saw the interview would easily agree it was indeed motivated, sometimes in poor taste, and mostly ‘Karan The Tool’ clearly seemed to be campaigning for the other ticket, Pranab Mukherjee. Such is our criminally biased media that far from interviewing Sangma, The Tool was actually ridiculing him on many counts. That Sangma is an ‘underdog’ is not good enough reason for the media to campaign for Pranab, which they have been doing so far.

There’s a reason Justice Katju once said our so-called journalists are not well-versed in History (or Science or anything). Take a look at the picture on the left. The headline says “Dewey defeats Truman”. The man holding up the newspaper and smiling is definitely not Thomas Dewey the Presidential candidate against Harry Truman in 1948. Truman was the underdog in that election and almost everyone had predicted he would lose. No one gave him a chance. The presidential elections were held on November 2, 1948 and even before final results were announced the Chicago Tribune had released its early morning edition of November 3, 1948 with that headline. Many newspapers even ridiculed Truman’s campaign and candidature, just like Thapar The Tool and the rest of Indian MSM do with Sangma. A New York Times article editorialized that "If Truman is nominated, he will be forced to wage the loneliest campaign in recent history". Everybody loves an underdog. Fact: Harry Truman won the election. You won’t find a bigger slap on the media in history than that headline carried by the Chicago Tribune. But the likes of Thapar TheTool, CNN-IBN and others in the Indian MSM don’t seem to learn from history.

Even if a candidate is an underdog, even if the media favours Pranab Mukherjee journalists would tread a bit cautiously in making extreme statements. The Tool’s interview of Sangma smacks of arrogance, extreme bias, motivated and in very bad taste. Here are some of the questions and statements (in blue) from the interview  (Read the full transcript here):

Mr Sangma I have spoken to many people and practically all of them, including many of your sponsors, say that you have very little chance of winning. Then, why are you contesting..

I guess nobody taught Thapar The Tool, that in a democracy it is almost a ‘Sin’ to not contest elections and allow any candidate to be elected unopposed. This is the very foundation of democracy. But slaves like CNN-IBN, The Tool and others in the MSM want Pranab to be elected unanimously. Was democracy created for unanimity? Shameful!

Mr Sangma let me put it to you, people are fond of you, they indulge you, but they are laughing at the fact that you believe that you can win. Nobody believes it but you.

By sheer logic why was The Tool’s channel breaking so much sweat over Lee-Hesh and Tennis players for the Olympics. Does anyone seriously expect them to win a medal? What is the motive for deriding a person’s candidature? It can’t be mere bias or sympathy for the other ticket. It has to be a lot more than that. And those who play or contest elections must firmly do so with the belief they can win. If not, they should behave like losers like The Tool.

Are you a little worried that by standing in the face of such odds and they are incredible odds, you might make yourself a laughing stock?

A laughing stock? Where does such language come from? Only uncouth, uncivilised and badly reared journalists talk to a presidential candidate in this filthy language. I wonder if such journalists are becoming the speciality of CNN-IBN. In reference to BJP’s support for Sangma, The Tool comes up with this:

Mr Sangma are you reducing the killings in Kandhamal, the killings in Dang, the Graham Staines, as a few incidents?

And then morons like The Tool and his channel keep screaming about “Secularism” and “One nation”. What has Kandhamal got to do with Sangma’s candidature? Has The Tool asked Pranab about Emergency? Given that Pranab was directly involved in certain actions during that time? Has The Tool asked Pranab about favours and offences relating to benefits allowed to some corporate bodies?

Mr Sangma, even if you look at the BJP, who you said a moment ago had increased their support for you to 26-28 per cent, are using you… as a stepping stone over the bridge to Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik. Mr Sangma you are a tool. You are a part of a strategy that supports their convenience. That’s why they are supporting you, not because they believe in you.

Those are not questions. Those are inferences and theories spawned by the interviewer himself. That’s CNN-IBN journalism for you. But Sangma responded with a resounding slap for The Tool: “You think we are ignorant of which media is whose tool? Mr Karan, you think we are ignorant of which media is whose tool. Mr Karan don’t talk about tools”.

Karan‘TheTool’Thapar:  Are you suggesting that my questioning is motivated?

Candidate PA Sangma:   Yes, yes, you are also a tool….

In trying to campaign for the Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee, Thapar The Tool ended up making up an absolute fool of himself. I always knew that Thapar The Tool is a motivated, biased and a journalistic moron. Sangma just confirmed all of it and exposed him to the whole world. However, there is always this bright side. Given that the MSM is India’s biggest mafia, Karan Thapar has a first to his credit. He is the first one to be nicknamed by a Presidential candidate like in all mafias and the nickname suits him in many ways. He is now Karan ‘TheTool’ Thapar. He and CNN-IBN can celebrate! 

PS: Vote for India's best journalists - Top right of this page.