I&B Admits MSM Losing to Social Media

So Arun Jaitley finally got up and slapped Justice Katju for his nonsensical propaganda work. About time someone did. Jaitley has sought the firing of Katju from his PCI post but he forgot another guy. He should have also sought the sacking of Varadabhai, the editor of The Hindu, who wilfully allowed Katju to peddle lies through his newspaper (or should I call it Matka?). In any case the propagandists are failing. And failing very badly! All the Queen’s poodles together haven’t been able to cause enough damage with their lies. This unfortunate truth has dawned upon the GOI after the Gujarat election results. Sagarika Ghose, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and the whole motley crew on TV tried their best to defeat Narendra Modi but failed. The Hindu and other newspapers tried too but they too failed miserably. Desperate times call for desperate measures. So the Congress has turned to the one they loathed the most in the last few years: Social Media. They have posted an application form for people to volunteer propaganda work through the internet.

Some comments in response to their invitation, through a blog post, are quite interesting and we should read and learn:

How many people you are selecting as volunteers?? – Ashraf VP

This guy wants to first know the total number of seats available and measure his chances of being recruited. That’s the limitation of the internet I guess. Like the I&B ministry it can’t take beyond a certain number or quota.

Have Worked with Some Social Media Giants & Did many Social Media campaigning, I am here to see the differences & Spread up positive Approach, Honest, Bharat Maa ko Pyar Karne wala, Govt. Ki Achchi Nitiyon ka Prasansak & Govt. ki Janhit ki yojnaon ko Social Media k Maadhyam se Janta tak Failana hi Lakshaya, 24 hours Dedicated & available over net,Planing to Develop Social awairness against baseless & mailafied criticism of right working Govt.& People – Anish56060

He’s the man. Manish Tiwari should be thrilled with this guy who is “24 hours dedicated and available over net”. He also comes with a lot of experience with some SM giants. I wonder if he’s referring to Poonam Pandey or Ashutosh Varshney. He has done many campaigns so he is against “baseless & mailafied” criticism. Understandable.

Interested in Inter-Caste/Inter-religion marriages for National Integration and Social Restructuring with ultimate aim to have a Manav Dharma & Casteless Society. If so, would you like to be a member of the Society for National Integration and Social Restructuring? If yes, please send particulars of yours and atleast ten other like minded men and women to dkdogra1942@gmail.com specifying whether you/they are inter-caste or inter-religion married person(s) or willing to be so or sympathetic to their cause. – DK Dogra

This one is the perfect ‘match’ for Manish Tiwari. He is willing to go beyond mere propaganda. He’s willing to arrange inter-caste, inter-religion marriages. And his last line is pretty impressive. “Specifying if you/they are… married”. So whether you’re married or not just respond if you’re sympathetic to his cause. The blog administrators of I&B must be thrilled with this comment being posted. The next three are strong, positive messages.

I HAVE A PLEASURE TO DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR MY NATION – Tuna

I love my country & i can do everything 2 its growth by the way me digital media. . .thanks & regards deep – Nokia7210

i Love Very much my India & i want to CORRUPTION-FREE-INDIA. it is my pleasure if i selected – Tanmay

Will do “everything 2 its growth… regards deep” … “I want to corruption-free India”. Really nice! Their writing and communication skills tell me they match the govt’s needs perfectly. All these guys are well-intentioned and are keen on doing something for India. It didn’t occur to the I&B ministry though, that in a blog post which merely requires a person to apply there isn’t much need for comments. But the form itself reflects the high IQ that Manish Tiwari & Co. possess at the I&B.

Alright, so I first ask you if you use any fuel for your vehicle. Then I ask you if you use a car or a bike. How very intelligent eh? This is to be on the safer side with the assumption that there might be car or bike users who may not be using any kind of fuel. So the form first asks you if you have regular access to internet and then asks if you use Twitter, Facebook etc. That is because there are, of course, millions of people who use Twitter and FB without access to the internet. The next question is how often you use your bike and there is one option that says “other”. I’m sure you’re wondering what this “other” is supposed to imply. Oh, this is for those guys who usually carry their bikes and cars on their heads instead of driving it. Or for that matter the guys who drive the most, the autos and taxis, who could be the guys who commute or travel the most. Right?

A report in DeccanHerald quotes a senior I&B official thus: “The internet is extensively being used by certain sections to discredit the government by their dubious comments and information posted in various sites. This needs to be tackled”. What exactly are these dubious comments and information? I suppose they relate to corruption, misdeeds, bad governance, scams, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi etc. The topics that our MSM is usually scared to talk about. The ministry must be disturbed that ordinary men and women lampoon the Gandhis and the govt unlike the crony MSM. They aren’t afraid to speak up. The official forgot to add that these SM crooks also do lathi charges and use water cannons against the govt. These SM crooks didn’t learn from the GOI that protesters must be treated with courage and consideration. These SM crooks also don’t respect the privacy of people like AM Singhvi when he does stuff in his chambers in the court complex. The honourable MSM does that.

When Rahul Gandhi reads a speech and the ladies (like Sagarika, Pallavi, Barkha, Nikhil Wagle, Ashutosh and others) are driven to tears, these shameless crooks on SM are laughing all the way. And look at these dubious Tweeple and Facebookers, they are simply ungrateful for all the hotel arrangements, wine and food that the Congress party arranges for them. No wonder they have to be frequently blocked and chopped. Are these people supposed to ridicule the Congress or the govt for all the failures, scams and hypocrisy? Why can’t they be more like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Indian Express, Hindustan Times or The Hindu? Can’t they be secular and fall at Madamji’s feet and be good dogs like the MSM? And a huge population of these SM crooks appear to be fans of Narendra Modi. Gujarat has totally failed in every aspect because there is malnutrition in Gujarat. Such shameful conduct by SM!

The social media is like a corner shop or a pub where people often meet. They talk, they chat, they gossip and they laugh at everything, including at themselves. Anyone will tell you that a sense of humour helps a lot to be hanging out on the SM. Manish Tiwari, if he is observant, would have learnt by now that the SM warriors are indeed largely volunteers. They aren’t organised labour unions or slave unions like the MSM. There is a reason why the govt, Rahul Gandhi or Manish Tiwari fail at social skills. They haven’t learned to laugh at anything. Jailing cartoonists and even blocking satire sites. If you make idiotic laws then people will flock to any avenue that helps them vent. The reason some media morons are constantly at war with SM is their inability to take a few jokes and laugh. And who’s heading the Congress war on SM? It’s Rahul Gandhi who has simply no presence on it. From the Congress, Shashi Tharoor is a far more popular man regardless of people’s political affiliations. He interacts with people, he takes lampooning and criticism in his stride. This is what people like Manish Tiwari and Zero haven’t learnt. They could start by attending some classes with Tharoor first.

While this foolish exercise reflects the total ignorance of govt about social media, it also reflects a terrible lack of social skills itself. The bigger realisation for the Congress also has to be that their entire lot of supporters have been left behind in progress, technology and education. And the official that the Deccan Herald quoted admitted under anonymity “But, these steps are not yielding the expected results. Those campaigning against the government in cyber space are far more dedicated and large in number”. Whatever excuses the official offers the warning is clear: The MSM is losing out to the voice of people, the SM. That’s at least one reason for people to cheer.

How To Buy Friends & Influence Elections

No matter how rich Bill Gates is and how successful Microsoft is, it is widely known and acknowledged that he failed to read the Internet trend when it began. Early 1990s he couldn’t see it clearly and MS had to bundle Internet Explorer with Windows to combat Netscape. There are many other internet-applications companies that MS simply couldn’t catch up with. Even today Internet Explorer isn’t the No.1 browser. Others like Firefox, Chrome and so on have taken up a good bit of space. In business, it’s a huge advantage to be the first to take off. Everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first but not many may be able to name the second man to set foot on the moon. (Are you wondering who?)

It’s a famous song by The Beatles: “Can’t buy me love” but I’ve got news for you. There’s also a movie of the same name titled “Can’t buy me love” in which the hero rents a girlfriend for $1000 for a month. Hmm! Are you available? If you are, you’re in luck! Someone’s just decided to buy a lot of friends on the Social Media. What do you do? Send in your profile to the guy who gave that “Badminton” speech on January 20. Here’s the good news:

According to reports, Kapil Sibal, the guy who earlier wanted to choke the internet and social media, the Congress party would need to spend 100 Crores to buy fraaands and influence votes through the social media. The other guy, foul-mouthed Digvijaya Singh, who ironically heads the party’s Communication Cell feels the BJP is leading on the social media front and Congress got left behind. The best part? Both these wiseguys have decided a strategy would be formed and presented to Rahul Gandhi, the “Badminton” boy. So essentially what they’re thinking is that the RSS invented social media, Narendra Modi nurtured it and the Hindu terrorists have overwhelming presence on it. Yeah! Move over Social Genius ‘Internet Hindus’ is now passé. After Sushil Shinde’s remark on Hindu Terror, the call-sign is now changed to “Internet Terrorists”. Except for the stray presence of Diggy on Twitter, the other guys don’t have any presence and still probably believe Al Gore invented the internet. Nothing to worry, help is always around.

Remember all those tweets you get promising to get you thousands of followers in just a few hours or days? That would be a good starting point for Congress. Of course, there are Twitter champions like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Bhupendra Chaubeji, Ashutosh, Nikhil Wagle and even Pankaj Pachauri, the PM’s media advisor. No, I haven’t forgotten! They also have Twitter Goddesses Sagarika Ghose and her protégé Pallavi Ghosh. With a whole team and these two ladies batting for Congress, a solid start is assured. So while these guys have been called PaidMedia for Congress so far, now there’s a new meaning to it; they will now be PaidSocialMedia. I hope the party also needs some bloggers (Hint! Hint!). Someone on Twitter has also suggested maybe the Congress should float a TwitterNREGA. Not a bad idea for a bunch of brain dead people who still don’t understand how SM works.

Diggy and the Congress still remain under the impression that the SM in India has been driven by RSS or Narendra Modi. Well, what can I say! If the doc diagnoses your common cold as cancer he is bound to make you spend 100 Crores. Hey, later on don’t complain if we make some noise about the ‘100Cr tag’ just like someone created serious heartburns with the ‘50Cr tag’. So how do we help the party spend the 100 crores? The first point is always those paid-follower sites which guarantee you millions of followers like this one:

There is a harsh truth behind the Congress’ SM plan. It’s that the MSM has failed to help the party’s fortunes. Despite their best attempts, channels like NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now and the gang don’t seem to have worked wonders for the party. All the Tulika ads during the Gujarat campaign haven’t paid off. In the print media, newspapers like Hindustan Times seem to have failed them. Remember, this is despite the fact that the last HT Summit was best funded by Govt PSUs. Social Media has now become a watchdog over the MSM; there can’t be any more doubts about it. All the lies, half-truths and propaganda by MSM have been successfully dismantled by SM. Congress feels the threat because there’s a forecast that by 2014 there will be 200 million internet users in India. Let’s try and examine some features influencing SM.

1) First and foremost most of the SM people who are successful in getting their message out are well-educated people. Historically, that is not the Congress vote-bank. In fact, I’d go a step further in stating that Congress thrives by keeping people uneducated and uninformed.

2) Being connected for serious participation on SM requires stable power supply. There’s hardly any Congress-ruled state that isn’t facing power problems. This is a failure that will affect not just their SM constituency but life in general.

3) Unlike MSM, SM is mostly “user-generated” content that comes out of genuine interest and beliefs. I doubt money can buy that. Sure, there are some people who can be bought but usually they are the ones who don’t really have thinking skills or writing skills that can have a great influence. You know, like the bimbo on Twitter who said villages in Maharashtra had internet connection in 1995.

4) The Congress foolishly thinks NaMo’s success is partly due to his presence on SM. Wrong! NaMo gained followers and admiration for “performance” and not for “presence”. By Congress logic Shashi Tharoor should be far more influential for the Congress as its SM brand ambassador. Doesn’t work like that!

Now, being on SM is all about being “connected” with people. If the Congress were to really learn from Modi they’d have to learn that Modi “connects” everywhere. He connects on the SM and he connects with villagers in rural Gujarat. In contrast people like Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are being booed when they visit Amethi or Rae Bareli. The duo had to beg Mulayam Singh for non-stop power supply in their constituencies as a favour. No villager has to beg NaMo for such a favour. Does that teach them anything? No! The Congress still believes money can buy fraaands.

The other thing is historically the communists and the MSM have perpetrated a fake history on Indians when it comes to the Mughals, the British and many other historic events. They have even turned patriots into villains. This correction of history is undertaken on the SM by many good writers and researchers and nobody pays them to do this. Their only drive is their love for their country and truth. The anti-Hindu MSM, similar to Shinde’s “Hindu Terror” comment, has always been biased against the Hindus. Many SM people make a strong effort in correcting this bias. They aren’t paid for this. The MSM may help sustain the Congress propaganda or campaign of half-truths but propaganda usually gets exposed and rejected on the SM. Lies and half-truths get destroyed on the SM. Every lie, deception, distortion and negligence by the MSM has been exposed by people on the SM. If Congress believes spending money will gain friends and influence votes they haven’t fathomed SM yet. That is why it appears they’re going for Chemotherapy to treat the common cold.

The Congress team for SM is going to be headed by Rahul Gandhi and assisted by the likes of Digvijay and Kapil Sibal. Two of them don’t have any presence worth the mention. The third, Diggy, is the comic relief on Twitter who gets ridiculed every step of the way. Modi was vilified by the MSM, he became a hero on the SM, that’s the reason his supporters have campaigned heavily for him without seeking any payment for it. Unlike the sycophants in the Congress party that fall at the feet of “Madamji” and the prince, SM doesn’t have a sycophant culture that can be bought. Seriously, you can’t pass 66A as law on one hand and hope to succeed on the SM.

Hard truth is that for over 60 years the Congress, the Commies and the MSM wiped out the Hindu voices from public discourse. Let me add that everything connected with Hindus, like the RSS, BJP or any party was painted as “Evil” by these political parties and the top media celebs to appease their favourite minority group. The Hindu practices and rituals were rubbished. Their temples were looted to pay out doles. Technology has this potential to destroy lies, distortions, deceptions and injustices. It is laughable that those who couldn’t do justice in the public domain are now seeking to redeem themselves on the SM. Take the case of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Their voices were destroyed by the MSM but they’re being heard on the SM. You need to spend money to buy lies and propaganda. You don’t need money to buy truth. Too late the Social Hero!

The Gandhi Septology

A few nights ago a couple of friends and I were having dinner at a restaurant. One of them is a top professional from the Pharma industry and the other is an economy expert. One was a visitor to Gujarat, so the chat inevitably veered around to Narendra Modi at some point. It was the usual set of questions visitors to Gujarat have about Modi, the “Will he, won’t he?” types. No, not if he will win Gujarat but if he will pitch for Delhi in 2014 or anytime general elections are held, as a PM candidate. And whether he will able to tame or win over the Delhi Establishment. Since there were news channels on with their usual debates on TV at the restaurant, the other question was how certain channels that were doing badly financially were still around. Answer to the second question is simpler; if the channels are part of the “establishment” in a ‘Banana republic’ it’s not a problem.

So what about the “establishment”? “… It includes leading politicians, senior civil servants, the most important financiers and industrialists, governors of the BBC, and the Royal Court…  The term in this sense was coined by the British journalist Henry Fairlie, who in September 1955 in the London magazine The Spectator defined that network of prominent, well-connected people as "the Establishment", explaining: "By the 'Establishment', I do not only mean the centres of official power—though they are certainly part of it—but rather the whole matrix of official and social relations within which power is exercised”. That sums it up quite neatly, doesn’t it? But do replace the BBC with India’s Doordarshan and most of the private TV channels and the Royal Court with the Indian ‘Royal Court’ and the picture is complete. Now does it explain how loss-making TV channels survive? If most political funding is from “anonymous donors” and if so much black money goes into electioneering is it any different in the media? Corrupt crooks in the Politico-Media complex are not about to produce receipts for “paid news”.

Then, creating this Establishment requires years of brand building. There are many tiny corners in this vast country of ours where people, young and old, still believe Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Mahatma Gandhi. Who’s gonna complain about that, eh? That guy who said “What’s in a name..” would have stabbed himself in the back, twice, and then run his own truck over himself, again twice. Ever observed the credits of a modern-day, hi-tech Hollywood movie? It takes anywhere between 500 and 1000 people to make one of those plus a dozen odd companies that provide the effects, marketing, distribution. Then it’s released in over 3000 screens at a time. The same goes for creating the “establishment”. In fact it takes lakhs of people. One of the key features of building the establishment is in using the magic name and like the movie ‘Terminator’ protect and propagate the brand. Find success and create a trilogy. The credits for an “establishment” movie might run like this (2:24 mins):

That’s just a small part of all the schemes and projects in the Nehru-Gandhi brand name and scrolling at high-speed. If I were to include all the 450 schemes that A. Surya Prakash has listed and scrolled it at normal speed, it would take at least 30 minutes to read all the credits. (And he says those 450 are only in the last 18 years). Those 450 brand-builders are quite a handful and can "Terminate" any challenge to power. Also, Surya Prakash’s list doesn’t include Mahatma Gandhi since he doesn’t belong to the “family”. But hey, the “Gandhi” brand name is what it is and has the same effect on the ground. So instead of a trilogy it could have been a Septology. Mahatma Gandhi à Nehru à Indira Gandhi à Rajiv Gandhi à Sanjay Gandhi à Sonia Gandhi à Rahul Gandhi. Oh, and there’s Priyanka Vadra in the wings who can any day turn into Priyanka Gandhi if and when required. If trilogy is about a series of 3, septology is a series of 7.

What does Sanjay Gandhi have? Not much, but there’s a prominent National Park in Borivali, Mumbai named after him? What about Sonia Gandhi? Ha! You’ll be surprised. Since there was nothing else possible, Padma Shri horticulturist Haji Kaleemullah Khan has named a ‘mango variety’ after Sonia Gandhi. Haha! Sounds fair for the ‘Mango Man’, doesn’t it? What about Rahul Gandhi? He is too busy to bother about these things so the Congress UP branch decided to name his birthday as “Farmers’ Rights Day”. If you thought that is all, you just got lucky. You see RG is fond of eating at various homes and places. So this Canteen in M.S.University in Baroda named all the dishes after RG and each dish is accompanied by a nice picture of him. So you could order RahulGandhi-Samosas, RahulGandhi-Rotis or just RahulGandhi-Coffee. And you will be served!  

We can ignore the light-hearted menu at the RG canteen. We can also grant the projects in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, given that he is now an international icon. There are streets and monuments to his name across the world. A report in 2008 mentioned there’s a campaign to rename 185 streets in 39 countries after the Mahatma. Not much to read in that but in India The Gandhi Septology also forms a great part of the “establishment”. That’s the challenge for any non-Congress or non-Gandhi family person to seek high offices. We can even accept a few monuments and projects in the name of Nehru-Gandhi but surely 450 is an excess that is too glaring. Does the MSM protest or complain?

This “establishment” includes govt schemes and projects, organisations funded by the govt. They also include NGOs and individuals, educational institutions, many govt titles (Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna?), think-tanks, many media beneficiaries and wannabe beneficiaries. Most of them receive public land and money one way or another. Collectively they could directly or indirectly employ a million people or more. Would they want to let go of what they have been enjoying under this Septology? So apart from official govt and political propaganda these million plus people also spread the good word. In a brilliant article Minhaz Merchant exposes how “How black economy subverts India’s politics” and how the officially declared “funds” can hardly cover election expenses for any party.

Well, my answer to the friend who asked the question was that many media channels also survive on such funds. Think about another one: Does Reliance really expect to earn money from an investment in TV-18 group? Does it expect to earn money from any media group? With investments like 1500 or 2000 crores, which is peanuts for Reliance, what do they really aim to earn? Your guess is as good as mine. These 450 Nehru-Gandhi schemes and projects are mostly moderate to heavy advertisers. Even at a measly 5 ads per annum to each friendly media house that would be 2250 ads. Even at a heavily discounted rate, of say Rs.20000/- per ad, you do the math for each media outlet. Then add to that all the anniversaries of those who feed the “establishment”, it’s quite a feast. Isn’t it? Suddenly there’s a Motilal Nehru ad, in colour. Sure, celebrate his birth anniversary but why an ad? Also add those individuals and groups who aren’t part of the govt but operate NGOs and other feeder organisations. All of this with your money! Why would they want to kill this goose? Motilal Nehru? That just made it Octalogy, didn’t it?

Identity Part 2: Society Reacts To MediaCrooks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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