CNN-IBN: The Greatest Indian Farce

First a confession from CNN-IBN: “Based on an internationally acclaimed format by BBC held in 22 countries, the initiative is to select that one great Indian after Mahatma Gandhi who is the most influential, iconic & inspirational and has impacted your life”. So it’s not CNN-IBN’s idea but something the BBC had done many years ago to find the greatest Briton. So after sham awards like “Indian of the year” CNN-IBN has now come up with this new gimmick to pick the Greatest Indian since independence. After Mahatma Gandhi! More of all that later.

First, it’s not so long ago that CNN-IBN picked Mamata Banerjee as the ‘Indian of the year 2011’ and since that it has been downhill for them with her. From trashing MamataB at every possible opportunity to the infamous walk-out at a public interview with Sagarika Ghose nothing has gone right with them and the Bengal CM. And two years prior they picked Rahul Gandhi as ‘Indian of the year’ only to consistently lament they knew nothing about him. Such petty past times are fine with say Cosmopolitan or Filmfare or those page-3 type magazines. Why would a supposed national news channel indulge in such nonsense? Oh, the BBC did it so they should do it too. And as they say “BBC’s internationally acclaimed format..”. What they don’t mention is that the BBC is loathed as much in the UK as the MSM is in India.

And why leave Mahatma Gandhi out? What gives the channel the right to decide on behalf of people that he is above everyone else? There is no denying his great contribution to India’s freedom movement but typically the media continues to create a myth around the man as if he is beyond any evaluation by normal people. This is what politicians have done but not expected from news channels. Or are they scared that MKG might end up being voted 10th or 20th in the list and that may be a great embarrassment for them and others who put him on an extra-ordinarily high pedestal? In Italy the most prayed-to person in times of crises is not Jesus Christ, it’s St. Paul. Jesus Christ is sixth on the list of most prayed-to holy persons. (Watch the second video in this post). That’s not me saying it, that’s a Vatican priest confirming it. Does that make Jesus Christ any lesser revered or any lesser the Son-of-God as Christians believe? Why this strange obsession and madness to put MKG over every other person who has made sacrifices for our freedom? Are we to believe that we would have never achieved independence had it not been for MKG? That remains a serious topic for another discussion though.

What then is the motive behind such silly greatest lists? There’s no other motive than some fun and trivial, meaningless pursuits in times of economic strife. Entertainment at best! There is no denying the final list of 50 eligible Indians for the vote has the most extraordinary people this country has produced. Some have dramatically changed the course of events through their expertise and some have not. How in the world do you fairly compare a B.R.Ambedkar to M.S. Subbalakshmi?  How do you fairly compare JRD Tata to Bismillah Khan? The list also contains 9 movie personalities and 6 sportsmen. Their contributions are immense but their impact is surely not the same. Of the current generation not many are likely to know MS Subbalakshmi’s work that well as they would A.R. Rahman’s. The British list was topped by Winston Churchill and at No.8 is John Lennon. Now, Churchill may have inspired a nation to victory in a war with his leadership but Lennon has the credit of changing the course of pop-music across the world forever. How would one make a comparison?

The BBC itself realised the folly of such rankings and later simply listed all the 100 Britons just alphabetically. All the 100 are special and there is no way there can be any fair comparison of their contribution and impact on Britain or on the world. While claiming to be inspired by the BBC format, CNN-IBN does not reveal the fact of BBC changing the rankings to merely listing the Greatest alphabetically. And what if B.R. Ambedkar ends up 50 th in the poll. Umm… that is sure to set off a juicy controversy, wouldn’t it? For that bunch of people who couldn’t tolerate a cartoon on Ambedkar, his ending up 50th in rankings would be absolute blasphemy. Well, that is exactly the motive and purpose of this farce. Stir up some unwanted debates and unwanted controversy. After all, nothing makes a media outlet grab TRP or circulation like a controversial episode. Not surprisingly, several people who appeared on the list of Greatest Britons also appeared on a parallel list of 100 Worst Britons. (Includes Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and the current Queen Elizabeth II) That’s the very silly nature of such a poll. Read the 100 Greatest Britons for the story.

Do you remember? When the Olympics allowed professionals into the games the Americans came up with the term ‘Dream Team’ for their Basketball players. All of them were big names. That’s not bad at all. One can always dream of a dream team in any sport. Football usually has the Peles and Maradonnas, Cricket has the Dons and Sachins. As against the greatest Indian it wouldn’t have been bad to have a dream star-cast in a movie with a great director or a dream concert with the greatest musicians. And yes, a dream Cabinet in a dream govt wouldn’t be bad either. So what would one of that look like? Let’s see…

Sardar Patel -Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee – External Affairs Minister, Indira Gandhi – Home Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru – I&B Minister, B.R. Ambedkar – Law Minister etc. and top it off with Mahatma Gandhi as the President. Go ahead, make your own dream team.

I’m not the gambling types but I can hazard a wild dream for CNN-IBN. Jawaharlal Nehru voted the Greatest Indian after Mahatma Gandhi. Then follow three rounds of debates that would include all the 28 member jury that CNN-IBN has conjured up, conducted, of course, by the stuttering Rajdeep Sardesai. Then a grand ceremony to award the Greatest Indian award… Oops, Nehru can’t be there, so Rahul Gandhi, the latest of the Nehru clan will receive the award on his behalf. Mission accomplished. Enjoy the Greatest Farce on TV!

CNN-IBN - The Dirty Awards

J.Jayalalitha, Jairam Ramesh, Mamata Banerjee, Salman Khurshid, Arun Jaitley/Sushma Swaraj and Tarun Gogoi. What do these names have in common? Easy – they are all politicians. Some of them are chief ministers of some states. And they are all going to be part of a most shameful act in a democracy – sham awards titled “Indian of the year” by a news channel. Of course, this is not the first time that CNN-IBN is handing out these awards and also not the only channel. Their mirror channel NDTV was the one to start this shameful practice some years ago. A few weeks back NDTV hurriedly gave out these awards in October, although they excluded politicians this year.

One must recall the Indian of the year awards handed out to Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Nitish Kumar and other politicians by these news channels. Can’t say there’s a connection but under the Congress govt. at the centre people like Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai have received the Padma awards. That’s like politicians and news media scratching each other’s backs. Ironically, the new tagline for CNN-IBN is “the most awarded channel”. (They seem to have dropped the previous “whatever it takes” line.)

Last year I wrote the post “CNN-IBN– Indian Of The Year–The Sham Awards” on the same topic. It is one thing for a news channel to hand out awards to sportsmen, businessmen and others but altogether a different thing to hand out awards to the very people they are supposed to keep a watch on and report. Jairam Ramesh is on the list of CNN-IBN for the second years running. Arun Jaitley & Sushma Swaraj are clubbed together as one entity. The reasons are not important. The Radiagate incident has exposed the nexus between media and politicians and these sham awards are a furtherance of the continuing nonsense by CNN-IBN.

Since giving the ‘Indian of the year’ award to Rahul Gandhi for 2009, CNN-IBN has subsequently questioned whether he has a vision for India. The channel is on record stating they have no idea of his views on various national issues. None of this occurred to them before bestowing a silly award on him. What is equally shameful is the manner in which media celebs like Barkha and Rajdeep address various politicians. Barkha addresses CM Nitish Kumar as ‘Nitish’ like he were an old classmate of hers. The news media is yet to evolve a protocol on how to address public servants and politicians. Rarely do you hear them addressing senior public servants as sir, mr or madam. That is the kind of superior and powerful position they have accorded to themselves.  A previous article by regular blogger V. Gopalakrishnan on the topic, “Media awards to public servants – a crying shame” is also worth reading.

What the politicians, who equally, shamefully accept such sham awards from the news media,  miss is an important aspect of who funds these awards and shows. These are ‘sponsored’ honours which no politician or public servant should ever accept. The list is long: SRM University (a university?), Hindustan Times, ONGC, Mint, Hindustan, Swarovski, Ford, Parker, Sensodyne, Chivas (liquor brand), GE and some more. In short, it’s just another money-making business for the channel which public servants should be avoiding.

The practice of news media handing out awards to public servants and politicians while they are still active is one of the most unethical practices of the Indian media. You may not find this in most mature democracies. TIME magazine does have a ‘Person of the year’ lead story but that is only to acknowledge the impact of an individual on the world during the year. It does not involve handing out some award or some ceremony. I can’t also understand the title of ‘Indian of the year’! What the hell is that? Fair to have a sportsperson of the year or businessman of the year from India but that certainly doesn’t make the person Indian of the year. This is clearly an insult to all other Indians, many of whom do make extra-ordinary contribution to society. Which is enough reason for me to call these the ‘Dirty Awards’.

Most of all, in the politician category, I can even predict the winner. Well, it’s a simple toss-up between Mamata Banerjee and J. Jayalalitha. Why? Because they have swept the state elections this year. And all possibilities are it will be Mamata Banerjee for her accomplishment of ending the three-decade old CPM rule in Bengal. If you know any of these politicians or can communicate with them do make sure to advise them not to accept these awards. These dirty awards are merely another form of media corruption.

NDTV – We The Poodles: Crime Pays!

'We The Poodles'

It is laughable to watch a tainted journalist strutting around a TV studio asking this question to prominent politicians and citizens. That’s right, Barkha Dutt’s ‘We The People’ on Sunday (February 20) had this very question: “Has the India Story been endangered by Scams or is that too negative a self image”? Imagine discussing the effects and consequences of corruption with someone like A. Raja. Would you? I doubt, but there are prominent journo-politicos like Chandan Mitra and Congressmen like Manish Tiwari who don’t seem to know better.

A few days back NDTV also had another ‘Indian of the year award’. Prominent citizens worthy of many awards, like Sachin Tendulkar and superstar Rajnikanth, were among the recipients. Once again, would you receive an award for honesty from an A. Raja? I admire both Sachin and Rajnikanth but I somehow feel they should avoid awards from the tainted. It is time prominent citizens started sending a clear message to tainted journalists, tainted news channels and the poodles of a corrupt government. Both Sachin and Rajnikanth represent the best of the Indian people and not the ‘negative’ self-image that the scams have brought upon India.

Experience TRUTH?

Corruption and scams by politicians and businessmen are not new to India. They existed since independence and were largely institutionalised by the likes of Indira Gandhi and the Congress. If the recent scams have deflated the Indian spirit and brought in a negative self-image it is largely due to the media scams. People had immense trust in journalists and the news media. It is when the last bastion of ethics and propriety collapsed that people are now stunned and have no one to trust in the public domain.

Of course, there are still many honest and upright journalists who dare to talk facts. But if anything has contributed strongly to denting India’s image it is the news media.

The scams are huge. But if one were to look up news coverage and journals since November 18, 2010 the most talked about corrupt-practices are the ones about the media. Even international journals and websites have discussed Indian media’s corruption extensively. Barkha Dutt being the main focus of most of that coverage. And yet, the gall with she asks such questions seems to be a tradition with NDTV.

The chairman of NDTV, the smooth-talking Prannoy Roy, is sometimes referred to as the father of Indian NewsTV. Some observers have been watching this father quite closely since the Radia tapes broke. Here’s a report from the Indian Express in January 1998:

Indian Express in an article CBI case against Prannoy Roy dated 20 January 1998 reports

"Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case of criminal conspiracy against New Delhi Television (NDTV) managing director Prannoy Roy, former Director General of Doordarshan and present Chief Executive Officer of Star TV R Basu and five other top officials of Doordarshan.  The First Information Report (FIR) filed on the basis of “source information'' says that the undue favour granted to Prannoy Roy had led to a loss of approximately Rs five crore to Doordarshan. The FIR names Ashok Mansukhani, the then Deputy Director General (DDG) of Doordarshan, Harish Awasthi (DDG), Shiv Sharma, the then Director General (DG), S Kapoor, the then DG, S Krishnan, the then DG, Prannoy Roy, Managing Director NDTV and the television network too  According to the CBI charge-sheet, DD suffered a loss of over Rs 3.52 crore due to the ``undue favours'' shown to NDTV as its programme The World This Week (TWTW) was put in `A' category instead of `special A' category".

Roy (R) - Romancing the Good Times

So the story on Prannoy Roy and NDTV’s romance with corruption and the corrupt doesn’t seem to be something new. One has to wonder what happened to the CBI investigation and who buried it. The case and related reports and developments or its sudden closure is dealt with in great detail on the sites of some media watchers listed below: (and I strongly recommend reading them)

CBI FIR against Prannoy Roy on MediaShame. NDTV & Prannoy Roy – Once upon a time on Zoomindianmedia and CentreRight. I have stated a few times earlier that no matter how much the mainstream media tries to suppress facts and history, it is hard to do so in the tech-age. Is it any surprise that Barkha Dutt dislikes bloggers?

Forget corrupt politician and business men. The only message coming out of tainted journalists and corrupt media channels is: Crime Pays! And to add insult to the injury they will talk about India’s ‘self-image’! “Oh God! What should I tell them”?

Rajdeep Sardesai To Sermonise On Role & Responsibilities Of Media ?

DNA newspaper reports a seminar is being organised by Divya Bhaskar in Ahmedabad on 'Role and Responsibilities of Media'. Excellent topic, considering the current circumstances in the media. Only one problem. The sermoniser-in-chief is going to be Rajdeep Sardesai. The DNA goes on to add “Some other topics which will be discussed in the seminar include values, professionalism, and freedom of media as well as political intervention in media”. Isn’t that neat? And Rajdeep will be moralising in the very state of Gujarat which brought him fame through his venomously biased reporting of the riots (along with Barkha Dutt, of course). So let’s check out how responsible Rajdeep Sardesai is.  Both mediamen and politicians have long believed that public memory is short. Unfortunately, in the new tech-age that’s not easily done.

Ask yourself a question. Would you, as a host, want to ever humiliate or attempt to insult your key speaker at a seminar? I wonder how Rajdeep would feel if the seminar host tried to humiliate him every step of the way. It would be safe to say as a responsible host or media person that is probably the last thing you would want to do. But not our Rajdeep.

Flashback to October 2007 at the HT Summit, of which CNN-IBN is a partner, where Rajdeep Sardesai was the host of the event. Narendra Modi was the key speaker in one of the events and following his address,  the behaviour of Rajdeep Sardesai was most irresponsible and disgraceful to say the least. Deviating from the topic of the program Rajdeep tried his best to humiliate Narendra Modi, even as the audience applauded Modi’s address and replies. He even went on to refer to Modi the favourite title of ‘Mass Murderer’ bestowed upon him by the editor of HT, Vir Sanghvi and complimented Modi with the title of ‘hero of hatred’.  He completely forgot the sheer decency and grace of Modi attending a summit hosted by HT despite being called a mass murderer by Vir Sanghvi of HT. Would Rajdeep agree to be the key speaker for an organisation that calls him such names? Responsible media? Values? Professionalism? Watch the video below:

Rajdeep did get a resounding figurative slap from Narendra Modi. But he doesn’t seem to have learnt any lessons. Modi directly accused him and the media of dividing the nation. And rightly so. Let’s open another dark chapter from CNN-IBN and the sham ‘Indian of the year awards’ that Rajdeep’s channel doles out, quite probably as ‘quid pro quo’. In 2009 the award was given to the moron extraordinaire Rahul Gandhi. Why? For energising the Congress in UP! Energising the Congress in UP is an accomplishment worthy of the title of ‘Indian of the year’? Mind you, Congress didn’t even win UP, it was Mayawati who wiped out the other parties. We are used to sycophancy in the Congress (Italian) but sycophancy from the media is the specialisation of the likes of CNN-IBN, NDTV. To bestow such a title on a man who has practically achieved nothing for India or done nothing speaks a lot of about media values, responsibility and professionalism. In fact, campaigning in Bihar in February 2010 Rahul Gandhi stated: “To change India, we must change Gujarat” ! Change Gujarat? A development model that other states are trying to follow? This happens to be one in a long line of moronic assertions by Rahul Gandhi who got thoroughly spanked by the student audience of L.N. Mishra College in Darbhanga. Watch the video below:

Now, the students in that meeting had put up the video on Youtube. Aaj Tak carried a part of it. But CNN-IBN ? No, CNN-IBN did not carry the news at all. They black out all the stupidity at Rahul Gandhi’s meetings. So much so, when Rahul was in Ahmedabad sometime ago he himself blacked out the media, knowing he was bound to goof up. And the students did ask him serious questions. Yes, serious questions which Rajdeep Sardesai will not ask Rahul Gandhi and yet his channel will honour the moron with awards carrying the ‘India’ name.Professional and responsible, indeed!

Regardless of how many faults I might find in Rahul Gandhi, if I were the host of a seminar where he were to be the key-note speaker I wouldn’t subject him to the hostility and humiliation that Rajdeep attempted to dish out to Narendra Modi. Yet Rajdeep will sermonise people on values, professionalism and responsibilities of media. Take that! And if any more proof of Rajdeep’s morals and ethics were needed, you just have to wonder how he was quick to jump to the defence of Barkha Dutt and her thoroughly unethical interaction with Nira Radia. Rajdeep Sardesai needs to learn ethics, values, professionalism and responsibility before he can sermonise anyone. Would any sensible journalist want the same reputation that Rajdeep has today? You decide. The seminar is on Saturday, 18th December, and the banner below from Twitpic says it aptly.

CNN-IBN – Indian Of The Year – The Sham Awards

Here’s the announcement on their webpage:  CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2010, the biggest and the most credible award of the nation is back in its 5th edition. Most credible? Right now, ‘credible’ is the last word to describe anything concerning Indian news media. Least of all a channel headed by Rajdeep Sardesai, the man who likes the line ‘Hammam mein sab nangen hain’.

The problem is when supposed ‘news’ channels start giving out awards, especially calling those awards ‘Indian Of The Year’.  This blog has consistently protested a news outlet giving out awards as this is a serious conflict of interest. News channels are not investigative or spy agencies who know the goings-on behind the scene in respect of some that they choose to award. And yes, I am referring to politicians in particular.  CNN-IBN’s award categories include Politics, Business, Entertainment, Sports and Public service. Awards for sports and public service categories are always welcome. Entertainment categories have plenty of their own but another award cannot cause much harm.  What does harm is the politics and business category.  Especially politics, one can still condone the business category.

A news outlet is meant to be a watchdog over politicians and businessmen. Therefore, instituting awards for them is a direct conflict of interest. Let us look at some past CNN-IBN IOTY winners since 2006 and current year nominations:

2006: Manmohan Singh -  Now that MMS has come to be known as the head of the most corrupt government ever in Indian history, will CNN-IBN stand up and give him that award? Ordinary citizens may learn facts by hindsight, but news outlets are expected to possess prudence. A fair and reliable blog, Sandeepweb,  lists MMS at no.4 on India’s most loathsome people for 2010. 

2007: P. Chidambaram - To quote CNN-IBN “For engineering a spectacular growth rate and being an astute economic manager despite coalition pressures”. Since then, PC has been shunted out of the Finance Ministry. My own blog has asked him to come clean on the phone tapping and Radia tapes. Allegations by Subramanian Swamy still remain unanswered.

2008: Nitish Kumar – In a tribe of ever growing corrupt politicians the Bihar CM is one who definitely appears to stand out. Much as he is worthy of admiration, there is no justification for a news channel to be giving him awards. 

 2009: Rahul Gandhi – “For energising the Congress and being the key strategist behind the party's revival in Uttar Pradesh”. So energising or reviving a political party makes him ‘Indian of the year’?  I can at best understand ‘Congressman’ of the year maybe. As for Rahul Gandhi the latest salvo has been fired by Ram Jethmalani and a lot of questions about Rahul remain unanswered. I am yet to be convinced the final skeleton from Rahul’s cupboard has tumbled out yet. My posts here and here express my reservations abundantly. Yet for the ass-licking news channels he must appear to be Godsend for India! The same UP strategy of Rahul was all too evident in Bihar elections. So much for his wisdom and the prudence of CNN-IBN. Sandeepweb lists him as the 2nd most loathsome person of 2010.

2010: (Nominations) Jairam Ramesh, Kapil Sibal, Mayawati (Mayawati?), Nitish Kumar, Pranab Mukherjee and Raman Singh. Some of these politicians may have done commendable work. But is it the business of a news channel to confer awards on them?

Is it any surprise that most of the winners and nominees are from the Congress?  There are wisecracks who have called CNN-IBN’s program ‘Face the nation’ as “Fool the nation’. Such awards are the greatest attempt to glorify corrupt politicians, with stray exceptions. ‘Fool the nation’ doesn’t seem very far-fetched. And CNN-IBN is not the only one, watch out for the NDTV awards too. When it comes to ass-licking of politicians my bet is on NDTV to outdo CNN-IBN. Both deserve the ‘Ass-Lickers Of The Decade’ Award!

Time and history are the best judges of politicians, not some biased and slanted news channels.