Delhi Protests - Lumpens In The Media

A few top guys in an office on the sixth floor of a semi-govt company used to work late often. This was at Nariman Point in Mumbai. So these 4-5 guys use to dip their hands in the office petty cash and order beer. The peon used to go and get the stuff for them. It was a regular practice and was on for years. The vouchers were made with fake bills and the auditors never found anything wrong or unusual in the expenses. This went on for 7 years till a junior auditor came along and found some vouchers with unfair expenses. The peon regularly claimed taxi fare to and from the company’s bank for daily transactions. On seeking a clarification from the manager, the auditor got the reply that there are no autos around Nariman Point and buses take a long time so it was fair for the peon to take a taxi every day. The junior auditor said “no, no, I’m asking why is he claiming taxi fare and why does he need a taxi”. The irritated manager again explained the difficult situation around Nariman Point with commuting. The auditor then told him: “But sir, your office is on the 6th floor and your bank is on the ground floor, so why a taxi at all”? Oops!  

If the management guys are looting the company then they have to take care of the little guy. They have to allow the peon his little share of looting. That’s a reasonably good value system, isn’t it? Be fair in looting! It’s a value system that govts share with the media too. The govt is the big guy and some channels are like the peons. So if the govt is into misdeeds then it allows some news channels to have their share of misdeeds and corruption. These news channels are the peons of the management in the govt. It is rare for the little guy to expose the misdeeds of the boss. That driver screwing his boss with a video of his sexcapades is an oddity. The guy was an unusual lousy boss who didn’t pay well for his secrets. But not the govt peons from the media, they’re paid well. They are paid well not only to keep secrets but also to defend the govt no matter what. The story in the first para is neither a joke nor fake. It’s time to take a detour.  

On December 22 people of Delhi were out on the streets protesting the brutal gang-rape and assault of a 23-year old woman on a bus. Thousands were out at India Gate and up the path to Rashtrapati Bhawan in protest. Their outrage was justified and the protests seemed spontaneous. Delhi-ites are sick to the bone with crimes, especially rape and assaults on women. Yet someone in the media could only hear of “drunken lumpens” among the protesters. You know, like lumpens who rape and assault women on buses and throw them on to the streets to die. The police had to lathi charge some of these lumpens. Yeah, why not! Take a look at the two pics below:

One is of a gentleman using a lathi and destroying the AmarJawan memorial in Mumbai during the Azad Maidan protests in August 2012. The police were kind to the civilised protesters at Azad Maidan then. The second pic is that of a lumpen element being lathi-charged by a policeman. You can take one look and tell that the lady being beaten up is drunk. Can’t you? Well, many such “drunken lumpens” had infiltrated the protesting crowds in Delhi so naturally Barkha Dutt was very disturbed. She went on a tweet-spree about these lumpens.

Barkha got feedback from her reporter that drunken lumpens had infiltrated the crowds and was naturally keen to let her friends know about the dangers. She first tweets quite pragmatically. Then she tweets to another friend called Prasanto. Both Barkha and Prasanto are “rabid mutual ass-lickers”. Don’t ask but I can tell these things. So it is safe to assume that the guy at Azad Maidan is a nice gentleman because he is “secular” and the lady being beaten up by the policeman is probably a drunken lumpen. In any metro city it is quite likely there are always certain lumpen elements hanging around in some corner, lurking for the moment and their prey. They can be on the streets, on trains and buses and even in media studios. So why is it so shocking for Barkha? No, wait! First, outside Safdurjang hospital it’s only drunken lumpens and no protesters. Dangerous, isn’t it? But on second thoughts, in the next tweet, she makes concessions: “some of the crowds” are lumpens, not all.  

Chaprasis have to often defend their bosses at all times. They may have various incentives to do so. If necessary, they can create suspicion, spread alarming falsehoods and even outright lies. It comes with the job. You try and point a finger at their boss and you will find yourself painted as the most uncouth, uncivilised character that possibly could be. Sometimes it can be mere loyalty. Let’s move on.

So the friend tweets and asks Barkha “how will social and physical disorder in public spaces achieve public order”? Good question! And Barkha instantly agrees. “Exactly” she says, like she was making the same point. Considering drunken lumpens had infiltrated the crowds the danger of some impending disaster was palpable. The protest was for security of women, to prevent crimes against women and it would be a tragedy if some crime were to happen during the protest itself. Wouldn’t it? I guess, they should have first consulted Barkha and her cronies on what would be the best way to protest. After all, Barkha does have experience of being in the midst of protests and reporting, doesn’t she? No, no, not from Jantar Mantar or India Gate but from another place. It’s called Tahrir Square and it’s in ancient Egypt. These people should have learned from Barkha about “secular” protests and how to treat women and stuff.

In February 2011 Barkha tweeted and dismissed fears about the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Islamic group, taking over Egypt. Barkha and her Fiberals were convinced Egypt was turning into a liberal democracy. But that’s hardly the point, eh? The point is about those loverly protesters at Tahrir Square. “Woh Tahrir waale kahan aur yeh India Gate waale kahan”. No comparison at all. Tahrir wins hands down. You see, at Tahrir the young people cut across all class types. Oh, not to forget, they were “secular”. Which in the words of our Fiberals means they are cultured and well-behaved, unlike the uncivilised lumpens at India Gate or Safdurjang who deserved to be lathi-charged and water-cannoned by the police. Egypt, as an Islamic majority nation, frequently targets Coptic Christians for violence, burns their churches and is now turning into more of an Islamic state than it ever was before. But to Barkha, they are “secular” and there were apparently no lumpen elements in all the crowds she met. Is that really true? And despite the massive presence of Army at Tahrir who didn’t assault the crowds, our police with their water-cannons and lathis were far more civilised. Right?  

We had our drunken lumpens in the bus who raped and have nearly murdered a woman. Lara Logan of CBS, a woman who belongs to Barkha’s professional community, had a very different experience though. On February 11, around the same period Barkha was in Egypt, Logan was attacked by Barkha’s “secular” crowds at Tahrir. She was assaulted and molested. In Logan’s own words:  "For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands. My clothes were torn to pieces...what really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence”. Writing anymore on this incident would be too graphic. But hey, they weren’t drunken lumpens like the ones at Safdurjang or India Gate and they were “secular”. Of all the Tahrir Square reports, I’m not sure I’ve read one from Barkha about Lara Logan.

Someone mentioned the term ‘MacaulayPutras’ to describe the elites. The Delhi protests brought out the contempt that one such MacaulayPutri, Barkha Dutt, holds for ordinary people when they are up against the govt she serves through her channel. Oh yes, if the govt is the boss it is fair to call NDTV the Chaprasi. The Chaprasi that will speak for, twist and spin issues on behalf of the govt. Not surprisingly, the only ones seeing lumpens are from NDTV as Maya Mirchandani tweeted. And the guy the channel was speaking to when the lathi-charge and water-cannons fired? Of course, MoS for Home, the Honourable RPN Singh! Yes, the same guy who kicked people on November 14, 2011 when RahulG started his UP campaign at Phulpur. In any other democracy RPN would have been in jail but he’s a minister in the Congress govt and, of course, Barkha is a Padma Shri.

Even a foreign journalist, Andrew Buncombe didn’t miss it. Vishnu Som, who was on the ground and reporting, perhaps suggested the ‘protesters have lost the plot’. Like most ordinary people even Buncombe didn’t miss the disgusting moronery of NDTV. He tweeted to call NDTV govt spokies. He is being kind. I have called them for what they are; peons. On December 22, the real drunken lumpens weren’t on the streets; they were in the studios of NDTV and in the heads of their propagandists, led by their chief-propagandist. 

CNN-IBN: How To Misunderstand Advani & Deceive

“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…” is a line from a famous song by an artist who is often credited with being the creator of modern pop music as we know it. On Sunday, August 5 if there was one statement that should have been lampooned and ridiculed in the news media it should have been the one by the new Home Minister Sushil Shinde. “I am a foot soldier of Sonia Gandhi.. if Sonia asks to shoot… will shoot to kill”. This was in an interview to Prabhu Chawla in the New Indian Express. 

Such stupidity and sycophancy seem to come naturally to many Congress leaders. It is just that it’s not from a low-level ‘darbari’ but from the Home Minister of a vast nation. However, one did not find a single mention of Shinde’s chivalry in any news channel or even online media, except the NIE itself. CNN-IBN is usually a good judge of character as Rajdeep Sardesai’s tweet about Shinde’s arrival clearly indicates. After all, didn’t an eminent Social Genius tweet that when it comes to political analysis “Rajdeep Sardesai is Numero Uno”? And they’re also good at ‘misunderstanding’ all they see. But let’s come to CNN-IBN later. Let’s first misunderstand BJP leader L.K. Advani (LKA). I promise you, it will be fun.

Since the BJP’s election loss in 2004 LKA has made a series of comments which have caused embarrassment to his party or even some damage. The first one was about M.A.Jinnah being a secular man. Naturally, this was enough fodder for not only the Congress but even the BJP and the Sangh Pariwar. LKA had to pay some price for this folly even if he considered it his honest assessment of Jinnah. This statement was made in Pakistan around May-June 2005; the first year after the election loss. Things went quiet for a while after this. Then in 2008, in an interview with Arnab Goswami, LKA was asked what he thought about Rahul Gandhi and about LKA Vs. RG as an election battle in the 2009 General Election. LKA then narrated how he ran into RG at an airport and I quote from the interview:

“He (RG) met me in the VIP lounge of the airport and he asked, "What do you think will happen in the country?" … I said to the PM that after the UP verdict, there is a growing feeling in the political circles that the two mainstream parties are shrinking. Caste based parties and regional parties are occupying that space. Rahul asked, "What can be done about this?" I said that the only thing that strikes me is that the two mainstream parties should not regard each other as enemies. Political adversaries, yes. Political opponents, Yes. But not as enemies”. There is absolutely nothing wrong in LKA’s advice to RG. But I have to wonder why LKA only blames regional parties for the caste calculations. The Congress is the pioneer in dividing the nation by caste, community, linguistics and religion which indeed has been the inspiration and motivation for regional parties. That was, of course, casual conversation but would LKA have put similar sentiments in writing independently? About the same Sushil Shinde CNN-IBN tweeted, quoting him: “Caste is important to be Home Minister”. So there! So you can judge how CNN-IBN analyses LKA and Sushil Shinde.

Alright, the BJP then puts together a Task-force on Black-Money and on February 1, 2011 released a report: 'Indian Black Money Abroad in Secret Banks and Tax Havens'. The report said that Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were among Indians who held Swiss bank accounts. Oops! So SoniaG writes to LKA expressing her heartburn over this allegation and that neither she nor her family had any Swiss accounts. LKA instantly writes back to “express regret”. That was enough to set off another round of misunderstanding over what LKA actually meant. The media naturally called it an “apology” by LKA while BJP and others defended that LKA just expressed regret Sonia and her family were mentioned in the report and it wasn’t an apology. At this incident LKA should have already appointed a Secretary of Clarification. It’s been long overdue.

In the background of the Anna Hazare agitation against corruption LKA decides to go on another Yatra in October 2011. Though the yatra was meant to be over issues of corruption the media constantly and cleverly keeps asking him questions on whether he is still a PM candidate of the BJP at the next election. LKA smartly ducked and dodged the question but never made a single strong statement to shut the media up once and for all over the question, one way or another. The PM issue clearly dwarfed his anti-corruption yatra. Then, again in May 2012 he skips BJP’s national executive meet and the media suggested he was “sulking” at being side-lined. After this meet LKA goes home and writes a blog slamming party president Nitin Gadkari and others for failures in UP elections and many other crucial decisions. Again, absolutely nothing wrong in writing that but a top leader of a political party would be expected to calculate the consequences of his public outbursts.

So, knowing how media crooks in India are known to twist any statement in favour of the Congress party, LKA writes another blog titled: “Speculations about Congress fate in 2014”. Let me quote critical excerpts from this particular post which the media, particularly CNN-IBN, is toying with (Emphasis mine):

In an informal chat with two senior Cabinet Ministers before the formal dinner, I could clearly perceive an intense sense of concern weighing on the minds of both these Ministers. Their apprehensions were as follows :

a) In the Sixteenth Elections to the Lok Sabha, neither the Congress nor the BJP may be able to forge an alliance which has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha.

b) In 2013 or 2014, therefore, whenever the Lok Sabha elections take place, the Government likely to take shape can be that of the Third Front. This, according to the Congress Ministers would be extremely harmful not only for the stability of Indian politics but also for national interests.

My response to the anxiety voiced by these Congressmen was: I can understand your concern, but I do not share it.  My own view is:

i) The shape which national polity has acquired in the past two and a half decades makes it practically impossible for any government to be formed in New Delhi which does not have the support either of the Congress or of the BJP.  A third Front Government, therefore, can be ruled out.

ii) A non-Congress, non-BJP Prime Minister heading a government supported by one of these two principal parties is however feasible. This has happened in the past also.

But…. Such governments have never lasted long…..

Soothsayers are not wanting who predict that it may be the first time when the Congress Party’s score sinks to just two digits, that is, less than one hundred !

Well, in what is a severe castigation of the Congress in which LKA estimates less than 100 seats for them in 2014 the interpretation of his blog by some is quite interesting. Have to start with that BCCI guy, also a Congress MP and spokesman, Rajiv Shukla, who thinks with a ‘ball’ instead of brains. Shukla concludes: “LK Advani has conceded defeat in 2014 General Elections”! And like a faithful dog, without questioning their master, CNN-IBN reproduces that quote as a headline as if that represented the exact content of LKA’s blog. Not only does CNN-IBN ‘misunderstand’ but also hopes to mislead viewers and readers through such deceptive headlines.

That LKA has predicted Congress will be decimated in 2014 is not the headline but BJP has conceded the 2014 election is the headline. Shukla can be forgiven being a Congress-man. But how do you explain the “Numero Uno” political analyst’s channel that misunderstands? Take the earlier headline from CNN-IBN: “Non-Congress, non-BJP Prime Minister feasible in 2014: LK Advani”. Once again CNN-IBN while quoting the text correctly twists the meaning to suggest a third alternative seems more feasible according to LKA. Mildly, this would be deception and harshly I would call it lying to readers and viewers.

Fact is, LKA was responding to apprehensions by Congress Ministers that a third front govt in 2014 may be harmful. CNN-IBN and others have reproduced LKA’s response to these apprehensions without stating the context. Even Times Of India produced the same headline of a non-Congress, non-BJP PM being feasible as if LKA was ‘Predicting’ such a scenario. Again, a misleading and deceptive headline! No harm in calling it another lie by TOI. To their credit only NDTV reported LKA’s post and content quite accurately with their article: “Congress' score may come down to double digits in 2014 polls: LKAdvani”.

In summary, LKA has predicted a decimation of Congress in 2014 with less than 100 seats for them. In response to apprehensions by Congress ministers of a third front PM he has only stated that is feasible but going by history such govts do not last. His views are neither misplaced and do not in any way concede a BJP defeat as Rajiv Shukla or CNN-IBN would have the world believe. LKA probably needs to craft his posts in much simpler language for the morons in our media to understand, especially CNN-IBN. CNN-IBN media celebs were probably taught in journalism schools to misunderstand what is obvious to the world. They seem to relish misunderstanding simple posts and compose misleading headlines. But then sometime back #CNNIBNLies had trended strongly on Twitter. I guess there must be a strong reason for that tag!

.

India's Best Journalists

Since the article on India’s Worst Journalists-2012 (IWJ) last April I had received many suggestions to do one on India’s best. Some even recommended that the same ‘worst’ should be put to another poll to find out which are the best among them. When I looked up the ‘Charter of MediaCrooks’ there were hundreds of provisions to identify and talk about the crooks but not a single one to identify the good ones or the best in the business. Fair, since that wasn’t the task of MediaCrooks. So I derived inspiration from the 'Worst list' and ‘manipulated’ the Charter to enable this site to identify the best journalists. The candidates on the best journalists list were all picked by people on the social media. (Thanks to all who contributed). If I had left it to the Anti-SocialMedia (MSM) probably none of these names would have figured.

There is something else about the journalists on the list. You won’t find most of them flamboyant or glamorous. You won’t find most of them frequently in those back-scratching media awards functions. The greatest thing about the candidates on the ‘best’ poll is that when they write an article or appear on TV it is highly unlikely you will find them asking: “Oh God, what should I tell them”? They speak their own free minds. So here are those who have been voted India’s Best Journalists (Poll results appended at the end of this post):

10. Ashok Malik – Malik has been in the business for over two decades now. His association has mostly been with The Pioneer but you can also find him in other journals and lately also on many TV channels as a panellist. His writings are not the kind that will set you on fire but Malik manages to put across his views and arguments gently and without offending. That might be surprising since many bios of his mention his wanting to be a gossip-writer in film magazines. That’s hard to believe because he looks so serious. It would be nice, though, to see a gossip column from him – just to see some stuff from him on the Poonam Pandeys, Sonam Kapoors and Uday Chopras.  In any case, don’t expect him to be politically incorrect. Like other successful journalists who have adapted to the Internet Malik understands and values the social media. He is happy to write in a form that the MSM wouldn’t consider really ‘Sexy’ in these times. He speaks his mind anyway and that’s the obvious reason he’s here. 

9. Madhu Trehan – She’s one of the survivors from the journalism of the old world charm. The co-founder of IndiaToday, India’s first weekly news-magazine, has many firsts to her credit. The other significant claim to fame has to be her video news-magazine ‘Newstrack’, in the days of Doordarshan’s monopoly, which was made available as videos through her magazine and through regular video outlets. But Madhu Trehan is not on this list for her past laurels though. She has re-invented herself and has been active on the social media. Her news channel Newslaundry is growing in popularity. It’s a site where Madhu and her colleagues launder the regular crooks in the media with a lot of humour and candour. Viewers and readers of Newslaundry have often felt she has been soft on the crooks but that takes away nothing from her sincerity and her commitment. She has also learned to engage with the crowd on social media. Her popularity is on the up again.

8. R. Jagannathan – Business World, India Today, Express group, Business Standard, DNA he has worked with all of them. A significant involvement has to be the launch of Business Today. Other than that he has spent relatively smaller tenures with most of these publications. But TheJaggi, as he calls himself on Twitter, came to greater prominence with FirstPost. Though I call Firstpost the online sidekick of the Network18 group (CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV18 etc.), Jaggi has brought a lot of balance and freshness in the online news business. As editor of Firstpost not only his own articles but even those of others have largely been truly interesting and fair. That’s what is amazing. Since the group’s TV channels are heavily biased and are nearly political mouthpieces, Firstpost doesn’t appear to be so. Being a business journalist himself, his articles on economics and financial matters make exceptional reading. I don’t have numbers but I would dare to state Firstpost could easily be the most popular dedicated online news site at the moment and will grow in strength. A lot of credit for that must go to TheJaggi.

 7. P. Sainath – He calls himself a ‘rural’ reporter. One of the few Indians to receive the Ramon Magsaysay awards Sainath is the art movie equivalent of Bollywood in journalism. And I say that nicely. On the mainstream media degenerating into entertainment he once remarked: “"I felt that if the Indian press was covering the top 5 per cent, I should cover the bottom 5 per cent” and that he does splendidly. On another occasion he observed there were 400 journalists reporting on a Fashion show in Delhi but not one reporting on poverty in India. One recent article by him “Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint” about the misreporting and twisted journalism by TOI is indicative of the tenor of most of his articles and exposes. It is indeed surprising that he hasn’t been called upon to be a panellist on TV shows relating to farmer suicides and such related issues. Maybe he just detests the very format of these debates and avoids them. Outspoken against Paidmedia and other evils of the press he is one reporter who should be inspiration for a lot more.

6. J. Gopikrishnan – There must be a reason his name starts with G. His stunning investigative reports on the 2G scam has exposed many corrupt politicians and the entire UPA govt itself. Gopi, as he is called in trade circles, systematically pursued and exposed the manner in which scarce national resources were sold for a song by the corrupt. Naturally, apart from rising popularity among people a number of awards followed as well in the last year or so. The mostly compromised bigger media outlets started following the 2G story only after his reports. That Gopi works with a relatively small newspaper like The Pioneer also reflects on where good journalism is coming from lately. In the words of his own editor, Chandan Mitra, “He has put on no airs despite the accolades he has received and the many awards he has won. He remains committed to his profession and profession alone”. What followed Gopi’s reports are similar assessments by the CAG on 2G and worse, the explosive Radiatapes that exposed the media-politician-lobbyists nexus. More power to him.

5. Sucheta Dalal – She could have been somebody…. Somebody like… You know who, a media super celebrity. She could have easily compromised ethics and traded that for millions. But Sucheta Dalal is one of the most reliable financial journalists around. From the Harshad Mehta scam to Ketan Parekh to current misdeeds in the financial markets she has served ordinary investors and consumers all her career. Having worked with all the major newspapers in the country she now runs her own web magazine, Moneylife. Apart from various investment and securities boards, including those of the govt, she is also on the board of Consumer Education & Research Centre in Ahmedabad. In the crowd of many unscrupulous financial and stock market journalists, in print and on TV, she stands out like a beacon. One hopes future aspirants in this domain will look to her for inspiration.

 4. M. J. Akbar – There isn’t much that I need to write about MJ Akbar that people don’t already know. From a Trainee in TOI to launch of major journals like TheSunday and Telegraph and to also being a member of parliament there isn’t much that MJA hasn’t achieved. One of the senior most journalists of India he has also authored many books. In particular, his analyses of Indo-Pak relations are easily among the best anyone can get to read. His recent launch, the online SundayGuardian, has acquired a fair bit of popularity with the internet news readers. SundayGuardian is as hard-hitting a news magazine as you can get. He is currently the Editorial Director of IndiaToday and their TV channel HeadlinesToday. That he retains a high level of popularity after four decades in journalism says everything about why he is still rated as one of the best.

 3. Kanchan Gupta – He is most famous for his association with The Pioneer and even more so as an advisor in the PMO for Atal Behari Vajpayee. Apart from writing on politics and current affairs you could fairly call him a reasonable expert on middle-east affairs owing to his work in that region. He can be subtle, wry and sarcastic but don’t expect him to make you fall off your chair laughing. Straight-talking, blunt and sometimes provocative, his writings do not spin facts. That’s the reason he is very popular with the right wing and not so popular in the mainstream media. Often appears on TV shows but gets shouted down very easily. That is not so much because he doesn’t have a booming voice but because he stops when asked by the moderator and cares to listen to others. In a country where journalism and media is dominated by communists and being ‘right-wing’ is almost criminal, his success stands out for his brilliant, insightful and honest writing. Has been another one to quickly learn the future of media is online and has now started his own venture called Niti Digital.

2. Swapan Dasgupta – Quite easily the best and most popular of contemporary journalists around. That should be a surprise because he too is a ‘right-wing’ journalist. Not just that, he also happens to be the most sought after TV panellist. I refuse to call him an ‘intellectual’ as many do since I consider that term reserved for ‘Nobeler’ souls. Let’s see, I would call Amartya Sen or Dileep Padgaonkar an intellectual. Which is why it is dismaying to find him debating ‘intellectuals’ like Mani Shankar Aiyar. SD is simply blessed with an extraordinary abundance of simple common sense. That’s what makes his writings a delight to read. The number of journals he writes for is too long to be listed here. Sharp observations, deep insights and simple honesty are key features of his writings. Like Sachin Tendulkar he is not gifted with great vocal chords but he makes up for that with his solid batting. If he is on a TV debate you are assured of a decent one without the usual cacophony that passes for debates. Whatever one’s ideology he is clearly a role model for budding journalists.

1. Arun Shourie – This is quite a surprise. I say that in a nice way because Arun Shourie hasn’t been a very active journalist for quite some time. That he remains the best journalist with voters is a tribute to his standing and accomplishments. He is the first of India’s true investigative journalists who led to the fall of a Chief Minister in Maharashtra in the eighties. His most reputed tenure is that as the Executive Editor of Indian Express. At one point the Congress govt had nothing less than 300 cases slapped against the IE after the Bofors episode. Author of many books, MP and was also a minister under the NDA govt. It’s distressing for many that since the days of Shourie the fiercely independent IE has more or less become a ‘handler’ of the govt’s agenda. He had also strongly opposed Pratibha Patil for president and it’s not so hard now to see why. Every article and book written by Shourie is perhaps better researched, more thoughtful and provocative than any of the ones by many modern day journalists. Not surprisingly, he was he named as one of the International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the past 50 years in 2000 apart from being honoured with the Magsaysay award. The likes of Shourie and the others on this list keep the flame of hope for good journalism floating.

So there it is; India’s Best Journalists and I expect they will remain so for quite some time. In an age where skin colour, lipstick, make-up, laundering and brokering skills determine the prominence and influence of a journalist, it is not very difficult for them to stand out. I believe they would have stood out anyway. If most of the media crooks are a danger to democracy and freedom then there are some who strongly protect it too. And those are 10 good reasons to cheer.

PS: The candidates in the poll who did not make it to the Top-10 have nothing to worry. They are in great company and are sure to find their place in the sun for sure in the future.

 

.

Defamation: ITC V Suhel Seth

Defamation, Slander, Libel are serious issues. However, most cases that are filed in courts are the frivolous ones while the really serious instances of wilful defamation and slander are ignored. Usually, politicians and tall celebrities ignore slander and defamation for the simple reason that the public doesn’t believe what is being said about them. That really is the key to defamation: People must generally believe what is said, it must affect someone’s reputation negatively, it must result in some kind of verifiable damage or loss. That is usually not the case when people or entities are sued.

Some recent instances one can cite is the frequency with which Digvijay Singh has called Baba Ramdev a ‘thug’ alleging the Yoga guru sells spurious medicines. That is a clear case of slander which Ramdev has not acted upon. The most vicious case of slander and defamation in recent times has to be Vir Sanghvi calling Narendra Modi a “mass murderer”. This was repeated by Rajdeep Sardesai in an HT summit in 2007. Both could have been in very serious trouble had Modi chosen to sue but he let it pass. In yet another instance, tainted cop Sanjiv Bhatt slandered Modi by calling him a “common criminal” on TV. This again is a case of slander. And yet again, Modi has chosen to let it pass. But the extraordinary case of defamation filed by ITC against marketing and advertising guru Suhel Seth surely falls into the category of absurd. Read the full report in the Economic Times titled  “ITC sues Suhel Seth for Rs 200 crore overTweets”. Yes, tweets are also a form of publishing and subject to the same defamation laws applicable to any other media. We’ll come to this case in a while. But before that let’s look at the most bizarre case of defamation – one that concerns Larry Flynt, founder of the porn magazine Hustler and religious leader Jerry Falwell. In a parody of Campari ads about the “…first time”, Hustler carried a parody about Falwell.

While Hustler magazine has always been known for its explicit pictures of nude women and for what many consider crude humour, the Protestant minister Jerry Falwell objected to the parody ad the magazine printed in 1983 targeted at him, in which Falwell related having an incestuous encounter….. The real ads were tongue-in-cheek interviews with celebrities talking about their "first time". The ads, which played off the double entendre in the headline (“X talks about his first time”), initially appeared to discuss the star’s first sexual experience before revealing that the discussion actually concerned the subject's first time drinking Campari. Falwell sued Hustler and Larry Flynt but the US Supreme court finally dismissed the case under First Amendment rights and the fact that the public would have known it’s a parody and wouldn’t have believed the satire was true and therefore Falwell didn’t really suffer any damage. It’s true the US free speech law is more or less absolute unlike Indian laws.

So how exactly has Suhel defamed ITC? Here are some tweets that the news report states ITC has claimed as defamatory:

"YC Deveshwar of ITC has had a sterling track-record of avoiding retirement at all costs...he could also be offered to the Maosits (sic) but then...." Okay, so that is a snide remark by an ex-Advertising consultant to ITC, which Suhel Seth is. Is Deveshwar avoiding retirement? In the opinion of Suhel probably and that’s his opinion. “He could also be offered to the Maoists…” Really? Now what sane person would mistake this sarcastic remark as being one that is really intended and meant by Suhel? Would people seriously believe that is what Suhel desires? Hardly so!

"YC Deveshwar of ITC has just been nominated CHAIRMAN ETERNUS (sic)...forget Emeritus..." Hahahha! I hadn’t read this before because I don’t follow Suhel Seth on twitter, but I do find it humourous. Eternus? And that is defamatory? The report says Suhel has even deleted some of his tweets but I can’t see how this play of words is defamatory. Suhel has also stated that his account was hacked but that is a defence that is unlikely to be accepted by courts. However, I don’t believe that argument is even needed.

'Yogi Devesh will teach the insider trading course at Tihar School of Business'. LOL! As Suhel mentions this particular tweet neither mentions Deveshwar (ITC chairman) nor has any reference to ITC. So the mere self-righteous assumption that this tweet refers to the petitioner is a long shot. Even if it did, Tihar is now so much in the news for all the wrong reasons that there is hardly regular user of twitter who hasn’t cracked a joke or two about it.

It is quite possible that Suhel Seth is quite peeved as a businessman in losing the large account of a company like ITC and maybe making some statements in anger. However, I feel ITC should have just sent him a polite letter to refrain rather than filing a suit straightaway. If this were to be the practice all cartoonists and satirists would be facing defamatory cases almost everyday.

The most important thing in defamation is the question whether people or public would believe the statements being made against a person to be real. Have people stopped associating with Deveshwar or ITC because of Suhel's tweets? Have the share prices of ITC dropped because of these tweets? In this case it doesn’t appear to be so and one hopes the case will be mutually settled instead of a court trial. What ITC must also realise is that by filing the suit they have made even more people aware of the tweets of Suhel, which is far worse because many, including me, hadn’t heard about these before the legal action came about.  

A previous case of Barkha Dutt legally handling an unknown blogger made him and his post all the more famous and widely read. Criticism, mild insults, ridicule and sarcasm should be taken in one’s stride or at best responded to in kind. Why bring courts into it… especially for a whopping amount of 200 Crores? Where’s our sense of humour? Locked up in Tihar?