The Political Conflict At CNN-IBN

From ‘Argo’: "If you want to sell a lie, you get the press to sell it for you”. Truer line was never spoken in the modern age. The press now exists to peddle lies and falsehoods. The CNN-IBN in the title is meant to represent the whole IBN or TV18 gang and not one channel. Not one editorialist in the media had the guts to call the farce being played out in Delhi by the AAP party for the last 10 days. Elections, then 18 questions, 25 lakh letters, SMS referendums and so on are the most idiotic methods introduced in a bogus concept they call ‘Direct democracy’. Most of the honest commentary on politics is now coming from the SM or from stray news site observers. Here are a couple of tweets from TheJaggi, editor of Firstpost:

If you read the first tweet on the left (in the pic above) you wouldn’t know what the context is unless you’re aware of the background. The second tweet is quite obvious. What Jaggi refers to as fake liberals I call “Fiberals”. So Jaggi thinks people talk about right and left wing without understanding these terms. Hmm! Okay, but what was he responding to? 

There’s another tweet by TV18 Chairman Raghav Bahl supporting “right wing” economics being most successful in eliminating poverty. Oops! Does Bahl understand right and left wing? Jaggi isn’t sure he does, so he replies with “right way and wrong way” so that the answer to ‘centre-right’ in Bahl’s tweet can be avoided. I am an admirer of Jaggi’s articles because he says it like he sees it and reasons it well. But he’s dodging here. He doesn’t want to admit that both left and right see “their way” as the “right way” to do things. And that’s the reason for the conflict and it’s a healthy conflict, as long it’s not violent. But if historical evidence is of any value then the “left way” of solving problems has indeed failed. The AAP represents extreme left ideology if one goes by their ideas and manifesto.     

On November 8, 2013 a “source” told me Rajdeep Sardesai was headed for Nagpur. Although my source was correct I wasn’t willing to believe RS would go all the way to Nagpur just to deliver a lecture and not run a few other errands. So in a lighter vein I asked the question on what RS would be doing in Nagpur. It is no secret that RS has a severe contempt for both the RSS and BJP as does his deputy Sagarika Ghose. This contempt has been nurtured very fondly in a parent-like manner by both Rajdeep and Sagarika across the IBN family. So you can understand the usual haters like Ashutosh, Wagle and others in IBN who constantly send across hate-filled messages for the BJP and Modi. Did Rajdeep tell us what happened in Nagpur? Only partly as the following tweets indicate:

RS had a good time and drew a crowd of 1000 (my source tells me the Rotary hall can accommodate only 350-500 people). But Rajdeep doesn’t tell us what the Caravan magazine writes about his trip to Nagpur:

So Raghav Bahl is a right-winger who admires Narendra Modi, then you can understand the conflict with his entire gang in the IBN family. Unlike NDTV, TOI Group and others who are permanent supporters of the Commie ideology of Congress, Bahl can make the shift if he wants to. The Caravan article isn’t entirely accurate because while Bahl may be leaning right for some reason, his entire sales team at IBN is full of committed Commies. The first tweet in this post by TheJaggi (December 1) where he says people don’t understand the terms right or left wing is in response to the Caravan article by Rahul Bhatia (December 1):

Rahul Bhatia suggests the shift to the Right is being influenced by Mukesh Ambani. In a tweet he also contends the organisation’s leaning need not apply to its people who are unhappy about it. One can’t be sure but it can only be partly true in the absence of any clinching evidence. But what we can confirm with ample evidence is that the entire sales team of IBN had been a slave of the Congress party since the channel was born. Rajdeep himself had made his fortune by peddling stories about Gujarat 2002 and abusing Modi. The Padma award is just a small recognition for his work. Secondly, just a few months back TV18 had fired a lot of their employees to make the business more viable. Even comedians like Ashutosh and Sagarika were reportedly on the chopping block but survived with salary cuts. That they didn’t sack Sagarika is a sacrilege. You can understand the widespread grievance, fear and anger in the company when this happened. The compassionate Rajdeep didn’t like it but had to play with the top management on this decision.

What follows is a theory of what I estimate happened at the company. Now remember, this is a theory with reason but still a theory (with some inputs from “sources”. If you haven’t read “The AAPSucker Proxies” I recommend you do, before proceeding)

#1: Bahl went along with the Congress as long as things were rosy as did his sales team. Once he noticed the corrupt Congress had hit rock bottom he wanted to make an open shift but he was asking too much of his team. You see, people like Rajdeep, Sagarika, Ashutosh, Sagarika, Pallavi, Bhupendra Chaube are all soaked in Congress bloodline and philosophy for many years and an overnight shift would have been impossible and also a betrayal of their “Fiberal” clan. What would their darlings like Amartya Sen or Tarun Tejpal think of them, eh? Supporting the Congress any further would have been a deadly mistake for all of them but given their anti-BJP DNA the only party they could turn to was AAP. So it is quite possible that Rajdeep & Co. made it clear to Bahl that they would go the AAP way and he can like it or lump it. Faced with a revolt Bahl may have chosen to play along.

#2: Rajdeep & Co. have taken the chance on AAP to somehow thwart Modi and BJP coming to power at the Centre in 2014. It implies that even if the Congress gets routed in 2014 they hope the BJP can be kept out of power. A Narendra Modi as PM is a dreadful thought for the entire gang of Fiberals. So, multiple interviews of Arvind Kejriwal and other internal promotions happened. Bhupendra Chaube’s tweet (which he later deleted) quoted in response to a question by me is ample evidence of what was going on inside the IBN sales team. On November 20, 2013 Karan Thapar dissected the AAP manifesto and Rajdeep grandly tweeted it too. This was the first time since 786 AD that a party’s manifesto was so gleefully analysed. Obviously, the fact that AK had promised 50% cut in power bills, 700 litres of free water per Delhi-family and 500 new schools in 5 years all went over “The Tool’s” head. Someone pointed out on TV 500 schools in 5 years means 100 in a year and nearly 2 a week. Allocation of land in Delhi is under the Centre so how these schools will be delivered doesn’t matter. Also, the foolish promise of 50% cut in power bills and free water passed over their heads. Nothing mattered! They had to support AAP in the face of a definite Congress rout.

#3: Here are tweets from Ashutosh and someone called Latha Venkatesh who allegedly works as a financial analyst or reporter in CNBC-TV18:

Sounds like two desperate housewives? No! Ashutosh has worked his way up from small beginnings and many of his messages betray a feeling of “victimhood” and that explains his natural sympathies for Commie AAP even when his message contains LIES. We all know AK appealed to Muslims and also Dalits. What about this Latha? She’s the latest laughing stock from the CNN-IBN stable. She decided to support AAP because Maharashtra’s Congress govt decided ‘no-action’ against Adarsh scamsters, including Ashok Chavan. Bright as she is, she is blissfully ignorant (influence of Sagarika?) that AAP hasn’t announced contesting major Congress states in the next election. They have so far announced only contesting in Gujarat and MP which have BJP govts for over a decade. The only Congress state announced by AAP for a contest is Delhi neighbour Haryana which is AK’s home state too. So the morons at IBN feign ignorance of the pattern in which AAP is planning its LS campaign but this Latha will support them in Mumbai. Who did she support earlier in Mumbai? Mayawati?

Therefore, Rajdeep & Co want to promote a party that is exactly like Congress but doesn’t have the baggage of Congress. Like Karunanidhi or Nitish Kumar they want to save India from “communal forces” I suppose. Oh hell, even Karunanidhi praised Modi lately, so that downs the friendly numbers. It could be well be that Raghav Bahl has given some latitude to Rajdeep & Co. till elections 2014. Having gone through the trauma of having to fire over 300 employees just recently I doubt Bahl wants to rock the boat again so soon. So he’s given Rajdeep a long rope which will probably burn up around May 2014. At the moment Rajdeep, along with other channels, is lauding the stupid acts of AK and AAP in their referendums and SMS nonsense. AK is playing “victim” like Ashutosh, claiming he was forced to become CM by the people. He has created enough excuses in case he is unable to perform and deliver on his promises: Blame the “people who forced us to form the govt”. In an earlier post I had mentioned he could have formed a minority govt without fear as neither Congress nor BJP would pull it down with a major election around the corner. Even cartoonists can see what the Numero Uno and Unee political analysts can’t. TOI’s Ninan sees AAP, a pawn, riding the Congress quite well in this cartoon, with a noose around AK's neck.

The desperate ones in the IBN family are as battered as the Congress is by the Modi juggernaut. They simply don’t know how to deal with it or explain the phenomenon. That should help people understand the ecstasy and orgasm that the IBN gang and other channels are desperately faking in hope the AAP electoral performance will clean up BJP in MP, Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan or wherever the party is. Yesterday Rajdeep bleated his frustration with Akhilesh Yadav over the mishandling of Muzaffarnagar victims in camps. Well, many of Rajdeep’s IOTY nominees have indeed turned out miserable non-performers. But hey, it’s not performance that counts with the IBN gang, it’s whether their sham awards will be funded or not given the nominees they pick. Of course, CNN-IBN awarded another IOTY to Kejriwal this year so watch out for Rajdeep’s tweet a few months later. Some observant ones like Bhupendra Chaube, Suhasini Haider and Anubha Bhonsle have kept out of this malicious campaign by their ring leaders. Pallavi Ghosh still suffers from the Stockholm-syndrome with Rahul Gandhi.

TheJaggi knows better! He does know who is right wing and left wing. From the entire stable of IBN he was the only one to bluntly state that Sonia Gandhi is the most divisive politician in this country and not Narendra Modi. The whole gang at IBN (save a few) also know AAP is a pawn and clone of Congress. How far these “useful idiots” will carry their campaign is a matter of time. Much as clowns like Rajdeep and C5M Sagarika talk about “rifts” in political parties, a closer look into IBN will also reveal a severe political conflict that runs deeper.

PS: Please do vote on the poll for India’s worst news channels (on the top-right margin of this page).

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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