The Surrogate Interview

For many reasons I cannot disclose many intricate details in this post but I will offer enough for readers to ponder. Surviving online with some kind of news outlet or media-watch site is a tough job. Some like Firstpost may be well-funded and have the access of Network18 to rely upon for content and distribution. Don’t know how Rediff does but it has online shopping business too. Sites like NitiCentral have to rely on limited access to news networks. Last year a satire site had to bite the dust and merge with an MSM branch to survive. Many have to make compromises that are forced entirely by their grim financial situation. You know, like the old boxing mafia in the US used to do. They fixed matches, up and comers were forced to take a dive and promising careers were killed. Here’s half a true story:

“My night. I could've taken Wilson apart that night. So what happens? He gets a title shot outdoors in the ballpark, and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palookaville. I was never no good after that night, Charley. It was like a peak you reach, and then it's downhill. It was you, Charley. You was my brother. You should've looked out for me a little bit… You should've taken care of me just a little bit instead of making me take them dives for the short-end money. You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am. Let's face it”.

"The medium is the message" said Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. If you tune into TimesNow or CNN-IBN or NDTV or an online site like Newslaundry you know pretty much what you’ll get. You know NDTV is alleged to have indulged in financial frauds and indirectly “facilitated” their IT assessment officer for “speedy disposal” (as the DLF chairman calls it). We have also seen the propaganda, plagiarism with fake videos and fake reports, fake tweets to support lobbying on some issue and even outright lies by some of them. Take a look at this:

 

So the crooks at NDTV believe “guilty by association” is legitimate news reporting. Of course, this is couched in clever trickery of not being inaccurate but the tweet by India TV exposes what the scumbags and scumbaginis at NDTV really are. They don’t miss even a remote chance to tar and malign Narendra Modi. So that’s what brings us to the question: why would Narendra Modi appear on a show in which this corrupt channel is a media partner? The answer isn’t simple. The other two associates of this event are Facebook (FB) and Newslaundry (NL). Who initiated this event is not clear to the public but based on evidence we have to assume since this is a social media event it is a Facebook event. But chances also are that the event was “concocted” in association by one or more of the partners or their PR brokers. The event is called “Candidates 2014” and is supposedly …. Well take a look at what NL said:

NL first put up a page that said (as in the first para of text) “Madhu Trehan interviews prime-ministerial front-runners”. Ha! What a scam! It included the convict Lalu Prasad who can’t even contest elections and others were Modi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav. So people pointed out this blooper and a few hours later this was changed to “… top contenders”. Top contenders for what? The speaker’s position in the next LS? The silliness of the new title seems lost on NL. Notice that under the text it says “You can be the first to comment” and that is in the revised page. For some reason NL deleted around 90 comments that I had seen when the page was first up on February 20. They even put up a notice saying comments for the thread are closed as the pic on the left shows. If everything is clean and transparent why all this skulduggery?

Kanchan Gupta, who heads NitiCentral, put out this a tweet and stated it’s an open event and anybody can broadcast and Niti too will broadcast. That was enough to start a scramble between the advertised partners of the event and that’s where the fun part starts. Here is an exchange between KanchanG and Barkha Dutt (who else could it have been?):

So the group editor of NDTV says “from what I understand” they are exclusive broadcast partners. The last tweet above from KanchanG says he heard differently (in another tweet he mentioned from Modi’s office) that it was a FB event and that he will be broadcasting it anyway. Elsewhere, Vikram Chandra, the usually amiable guy from NDTV, had a clear indication of what anyone else broadcasting the event would tantamount to:

Okay, so VikramC says it would be piracy. FB’s also said NDTV and NL are partners in this grand event. However, press releases weren't all that clear. So let’s now get a bit more into this puzzle.

 

On being asked about this deal and why others can’t broadcast, Abhinandan Sekhri, a founder and investor in NL, has this answer as shown in the tweet. Oh yeah! “Not sponsored by anyone… tu nahi samjhega”. So according to AS it’s an NL-FB event and NDTV is the “partner”. Err… “Tu nahi samjhega”! I agree with that part. Nobody understands. AS is an AAP member and the same arrogance that runs through AAP statements runs through this guy’s dialogue too. AS is the one who actually runs NL. Everything in NL is managed by him. Madhu Trehan just does her ‘Clothesline’ once a week or so. AS is also a vendor for NDTV. He runs a firm called ‘SmallScreen’ which produces videos, animations and scripts for many clients. So, without a doubt, AS is a talented guy and the animations and sketches you see on NL mostly come from him and, evidently, his team from SmallScreen.

Like I said in the beginning, it is hard to sustain an online news or satire site in India. Madhu Trehan has often asked the question on whether they should seek sponsors or subscriptions from viewers. I don’t think the subscriptions route worked all that well. So it is likely that NL didn’t have a sustainable revenue model. Remember, this was supposed to be a media-critic and analyst. NL did that job pretty well; bringing out the hypocrisies, ironies and idiosyncrasies frequently. It also did a fine job on putting some of the media celebs on the mat in its interviews. All this was under the heady tagline “Sab ki Dhulai” (Washing everyone or thrashing everyone – depending on how you read it). But looks like they finally ran out of detergent. NL has now gone the MSM way partnering a channel with allegations of corruption and financial fraud.

The change at NL was visible about 10-15 days ago I think. Their site was down for maintenance they said and then it came up in a new avatar and design. What struck me most was a stingingly spiteful article against Tarun Tejpal’s “rape victim” on Valentine’s Day. The writer poured scorn on the victim and made out Tejpal to be the victim of her malicious campaign sort of. Cleverly, as with other MSM morons, the writer of this spiteful and hate-filled article calls Tejpal’s prey “MsTehelka-Assault-Victim”. Astonishing! Why is she Tehelka’s victim and not Tejpal’s victim? Is this the honest discourse Madhu Trehan had promised NL readers? But then Madhu was always an MSM member. Some things don’t change. The name of the author of that article? Nirupama Sekhri! Nice! So that should tell you how NL is now following the “Tejpalisation” of media. Tejpalisation essentially involves reckless writing, writing propaganda for one particular party and their friends and slowly turning a rape victim, in the case of a media celebrity, into the offender. NL as you knew it is over. As a reader points out “Get used to it”! How did this turnaround or compromise happen? It’s not very hard to guess or should I say “Tu nahi samjhega”? I estimate the ownership pattern of NL itself might have changed.

Let’s look at the line up for the event. There’s Modi, Lalu, Akhilesh, Kejriwal and MamataB. Would Modi have agreed to an event initiated by NL? I don’t think so. Would Modi have agreed to an event initiated by NDTV? Fly a kite! Therefore, the only possibility is Facebook would have initiated it and roped in Modi. Besides, who would really want to listen to Lalu or Akhilesh? I don’t know, maybe an “organised” mob. What about Kejriwal? What exactly would be special about AK in another event? He is on TV almost 24X7 there is nothing that anyone can learn anew from his tape-recorded “Ambani is corrupt, Modi is corrupt and you are corrupt” dialogues. MamataB? Maybe a few but she is no way a major attraction beyond Bengal. In short, without Modi this event would have been still-born. And the only entity that could have roped in Modi is FB. KanchanG suggests Modi’s office wasn’t aware of the other partners of the event.

Leave aside FB. One of the other two partners probably created the event and one of them got FB to sell it to Modi (and the others) because it’s clearly unlikely Modi would have agreed to. And is it all for free? No sponsors? I sincerely doubt it. In fact Modi supporters aren’t very happy that he would be appearing on NDTV, a channel that abused him for a decade and still continues to abuse him in very “clever” ways as the first tweet in this post shows. So what happened? NDTV got a surrogate interview to telecast that they otherwise wouldn’t have got. Modi has appeared in interviews with Timesnow and CNN-IBN over the years but not in a major exclusive with NDTV. This is their kill in response to exclusive interviews on another channel. In the following lines that I quoted in the beginning lie an answer:

“You should've taken care of me just a little bit instead of making me take them dives for the short-end money…” Who took the dives for the short-end money? That’s for you to figure out. All I can say for sure is that NL as a media-critic brand is over. In its new avatar you will find it more directly aligned with one of the MSM outlets. As for NDTV, its pathetic slide down the drain will continue and with the prospect of a political change at the centre their future doesn’t look too bright. NL may temporarily glow under the lights of this event but I would have to once again quote but rephrase the lines in the 2nd para:

“You don't understand. You coulda had class. You coulda been a contender. You coulda been somebody instead of a…”

A Moment To Treasure

Sometimes you start something you never know what turns the story might take. On April 20 a few online friends were holding a Tweeple’s meet in Delhi. This was organised under a social project called “Ek Aur Prayas” (EAP) which takes activities of friends beyond Twitter to ground level actions to help the poor, needy and currently the drought hit in Maharashtra. The people behind the activity are @Jemin-P, @AnilKohli, @ASRaghunath, @SureshNakhua and some more.  The idea they share at these meetings is that members of the Social Media can go beyond Twitter or Facebook and help on the ground.

For the event I had offered my book “Social media as watchdog” for purchase by those interested but my friends gave me a pleasant surprise. They organised a formal launch of the book by prominent journalist Mr. Kanchan Gupta and lawyer Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi. Here is a great pic from the event with the two releasing my book.

Thanks to my friends who organised this and to Mr. Kanchan  Gupta and Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi. For a small writer in a small corner this is an unexpected honour. It’s a moment I will treasure all my life.

  

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.

 

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