Radia's Parrots See Twitter Conspiracies

Ignorance! It’s the one word that describes the outpourings of certain writers in the MSM who have absolutely no clue what Social Media (SM) is really all about. Lately, a certain Radia parrot seems to have joined the battle in concocting conspiracies and plots about the SM that can make Don Quixote proud. Vir Sanghvi is desperately trying to get back into TV studios through the bathroom window. HeadlinesToday is trying to help but like RahulG would have said: “Boss, not happening”! We will get to VS but first let’s go through some delightful blasts from the past.

Vikram Chandra of NDTV is more or less conducting an outreach programme trying to reach out to Tweeple from the Right Wing to appear on his shows. NDTV’s group editor Barkha Dutt has long held the SM in contempt. After all, she made no secret about her dislike for bloggers and Facebookers in the past. Sometime back Vikram Chandra lamented the degeneration of TV news. He stopped short of naming those responsible for it, but I did. Then there’s another guy who called me a ‘terrorist’ at an SM event and then asked me to a debate and then disappeared. Then again, remember the rants against SM by the comic duo of Rajdeep and Sagarika? Add Sanjay Pinto, of NDTV again, who mourned the social network with alarming contempt. Some of these people seem to be slowly starting to realise that SM is here to stay and may even dictate the course of discussions in the national MSM. They lived in fear of “power to the people” so far but there is an air of inevitability to uncontrollable events and technology. News reports even suggest SM may impact elections in as many as 160 Lok Sabha seats. Does that explain the sudden interest of the MSM in SM people?  

In the post “How to buy friends & influence elections” I had tried to explain why the 100Cr programme of the Congress to influence the SM may not produce the desire results. The party has already accepted not getting very far and there were reports of outsourcing the task to ‘professionals’. After the recent speeches by Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi at various events many MSM writers have been crowing about how the Congress supporters have attained puberty on the SM. There is one such writer who goes beyond that, he imagines there are organised gangs operating on Twitter. That Vir Sanghvi is prejudiced against BJP is not such a big secret, after all he is the one who originally came up with the “mass murderer” tag for Modi. He is also one of Radia’s parrots. It is his ignorance about SM and Twitter that now convinces me the man belongs where he is; in the kitchen and not in the news media. Here’s what he writes (In “This means war: BJP, Congress get nasty on Twitter”):

“It has long been suspected that the preponderance of so-called Internet Hindus on social media is not an entirely spontaneous phenomenon. Thanks to journalistic stories and TV discussions, we now know that the Sangh coordinates strategy with several hundred ‘volunteers’ and tells them what the targets for the day are. This has been admitted to, on television, by the head of the BJP’s Internet wing. We also know, thanks to investigative articles in such magazines as India Today, that the BJP runs control rooms staffed by hundreds of boffins who are directed to create Twitter storms. When the boffins succeed, BJP leaders go on television to announce that as the Sanghi targets are trending on Twitter, the people of India have spoken”.

IH is not a spontaneous phenomenon? Haha! Sanghvi, the ignoramus, first uses a term coined by a CNN reporter to describe a bunch of unconnected people and then calls it a spurious phenomenon. Okay! Then he claims India Today ran an investigation to discover the BJP runs control rooms who direct Twitter storms. I always knew these MSM celebs were hollow and lacked intelligence but VS just about confirms it. I have no connections with the BJP or Congress or any political party as anyone knowing me will tell you. I have not even met any political leader of any standing at all. My limited interactions with politicians have been on Twitter with people like Shashi Tharoor or Smriti Irani who are both on Twitter. So let us educate these media morons on how topics trend on Twitter.

Any trend cannot be dictated by a group of people whether in a control room or in the Ministry of Twitter Affairs. Satire and cheeky tweets spread like wildfire on Twitter. Take a look at this tweet from February 24. If I recall right, it was on a slow Sunday evening that I used the tag #IfMahabharatHappenedNow for a sarcastic tweet about a media diva. Before one knew it had caught the fancy of Tweeple and they started using the tag to describe a Congress-BJP battle where Congress took most of the stick. The hashtag trended on top for nearly 2 days. Is VS suggesting the BJP “control room” invents these hashtags? If he does, he must be an idiot of the first water. Maybe VS would like to read how this happened at the Chirpstory page by @Equateall where he has listed a treasure of related tweets.

Next, when RahulG spoke at CII, I wasn’t aware of any trending hashtag. I was tweeting under #RaGaCII, RaGa being the nickname given to him by TimesNow. But I saw many tweets with #PappuCII so I shifted to that tag which also trended for almost 2 days. Even Sagarika Ghose was tweeting with that hashtag. Is she too directed by the BJP Control room dear VS? Is the Social Genius part of the BJP Twitter conspiracy? Now Pappu is not really a new name for RahulG, it has been used for him from the time I have been on Twitter and there are other tags like #YoRahulSoDumb which had trended in the past because of RahulG’s silly utterances. Is VS really crediting BJP control room with such great intelligence in creating funny hashtags? If he does, then I have to admire the party’s control room. Twitter started gaining currency in India during the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008. Most people, including me, have joined Twitter much later.

The BJP IT cell is not something new it has existed since the days of Pramod Mahajan but may have added a lot of new activities to it. The Congress too may have an IT cell but its activities are not very well known. So on April 8, when Modi gave his twin speeches at FICCI and ThinkIndia the MSM came up with a spurious theory about #Feku Vs #Pappu. Mind you, there was no Pappu trending on that day. If #Feku was trending at the top it was merely because both Congress and BJP supporters were fighting and tweeting under the same hashtag. Nothing wrong in a good fight, is there? Don’t the MSM love it? I hadn’t tweeted one single tweet under #Feku until much later when HeadlinesToday and NDTV were doing spurious programmes on this battle, which I called ‘Fekulogy’. But what was the other trend during Modi’s speech? It was #ModiStormsFICCI which started with this tweet I made while a discussion was being conducted on TimesNow before Modi’s speech when there were other tweets with the tag #TrustNaMo. Now, is VS the parrot seriously suggesting the BJP control room dictates these tags like #ModiStormsFICCI? It seems evident that VS thinks that like his MSM world everyone can be bought. No dear VS, not everyone is up for sale.

There is often a Twitter discussion on what could be the opposite of InternetHindus (IH). Some have jokingly coined IM (to imply Indian Mujahideen). Some have joked with other tags. On April 10, someone sent a tweet to me with a suggestion on the clueless tweets of some Congress supporters and a name for them. I turned it into a hashtag and started using #InternetPappus in my tweets starting with the one in the pic. Given the funny tag it naturally caught the fancy of Tweeple and became and remained the top trend for 2 days. I wonder if VS thinks this #InternetPappus is also a conspiracy by the BJP control room. I can assure you #InternetPappus is going to be used frequently. Even an SC lawyer referred to some in the judiciary as “Pappus” in another context. So the Pappu tag is not going away anytime soon till such time RahulG shows some performance or his supporters on Twitter show some humour.

While the MSM and their parrots see conspiracies and wars on Twitter I see this is as an extremely good sign. It is better for both sides to fight battles on Twitter and SM than to fight on the ground killing people, destroying property and burning furniture as they are currently doing in Bengal. This is the way ahead for political battles by ordinary people and will get refined as it goes along. The MSM’s basic fears stem from the fact that the SM is gaining influence and dictating public discourse. It probably worries them that even elections may be impacted by SM and eat into advertising share. Why is that not a nice thing? The MSM finds it hard to believe that there are ordinary people in the world who are on SM whose conscience is not up for sale unlike their own Hammam. In the meantime, Vir Sanghvi, and others like him in the MSM, may like to find a cure for their schizophrenia.

PS: The book “Social media as watchdog” is now available. You can order a copy from HERE.

India's Worst Journalists - 2012

The previous edition of India’s Worst Journalist in 2010 on this site still remains one of the most popular posts and also a very widely reproduced one. Over the last decade or so our journalists have come to be held in the same contempt that is usually reserved for politicians. Many of them have simply forgotten the art and science of the profession and this is a serious tragedy for aspiring journalists. How they came to such a pass is a long story. The most prominent ones are not even journalists anymore; they are ‘Editorialists’ whose main job is to swing public opinion one way or another. Add to this the epidemic of ‘paidnews’ and some of our news channels and newspapers would be nothing more than Bollywood or Commercials. After all, didn’t the late Christopher Hitchens say: “I became a journalist because one didn’t have to specialise”.

Some prominent faces from the 2010 roll of honour have dropped out. Vinod Mehta has retired from active journalism and remains Chairman of Outlook. We wish him well. Suzy Roy has moved from part-time lie-mongering to full-time Maoist-Hurriyat sympathiser. ‘Pastiwalas’ are over-joyed at the ever growing size and weight of her 50+ page essays – they’re the only ones handling them now. Prannoy Roy was also dropped. He is now more into barbeque chats than any serious attempts at journalism. Even elections don’t arouse him. But there are some new faces with the old ones. Polling for IWJ ended today and thanks to all those who voted. So here are the winners from the poll, the list of India’s Worst Journalists-2012 from the poll results. Their 2010 ranking is indicated after their name:

Large & Larger..

10. Nidhi Razdan, NDTV (New entry): She has come to prominence more for many reasons other than journalistic skills. ‘Left, right, centre’ is her signature programme and happens to be one of those mindless debates on every topic under the sun. She is proof that you can be an expert on everything with specialisation in nothing. The best part of Nidhi? Now, don’t get me wrong, she likes everything large. Whenever confounded by a brilliant argument or point by a panellist she quickly jumps to her favourite line “let’s look at the LARGER picture”. One would have thought that debates are meant to look at the finer small details. No, not with Nidhi, the larger picture is a convenient exit. Training from NDTV helps. My prediction for this debutant is that she is likely to go higher up in the list in the future.

Friendly five member

9. Kumar Ketkar (New entry): Somewhere a brief bio about Ketkar says “He started his life as an active communist worker of the Lal Nishan Paksh (Red flag party)”. Now why is that not so surprising? And that also explains Ketkar somewhat. He is also reported to be a former speech writer during elections for Congress members. Isn’t that an accomplishment any journalist would be proud of? He has been mostly a Marathi journalist and last heard he is editor of Divya Marathi. A respected veteran, he was one of the privileged Five invited to a private press meet of PM Manmohan Singh around June 2011. Ever since, it has been downhill. He achieved his right to be on this list through his performances as a panellist. What can I say? I hope being a veteran he doesn’t appear here in the future.

Your Banal

8. Arnab Goswami, TimesNow (2010 #3): There can be no denying that Arnab is one of the rare patriots among journalists. Almost every one wishes our judiciary could be as quick and decisive as Arnab is. Which is the reason I conferred him the title ‘Justice Arnab’. His performance on TimesNow has definitely battered ratings of NDTV and CNN-IBN. Pick up any scam, any scandal Arnab can throw the documents at you. IB, RAW, GOI have no escape – all documents and papers have to pass through Arnab. Sometime back I remarked: Most of us wake up in the morning and want Coffee or Tea! Not Arnab, he just wants ‘answers’. Such are the never-ending questions he has. Much before Arnab became a journalist the rock band U2 wrote a song for him – “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”. They were the only ones to anticipate all the unanswered questions he’d come up with. Undeniable fact is that Arnab has dropped from #3 in 2010 to #8 in 2012 on this list. That is proof of his ever-growing popularity. He can out-shout anyone in this world. Anyone, except Meenakshi Lekhi and Smriti Irani.

Fine WhINES

7. Vir Sanghvi (2010 #9): I honestly don’t have any idea whatsoever what Sanghvi currently does. I don’t even see him on any Cookery or Foodie show. He must be doing something to merit an appearance on this list again, at a higher position even. Radiagate has damaged him far more than any other journalist, which is unfortunate. He managed to surface sometime back on his home channel NDTV claiming the Radia tapes were doctored and weren’t authentic and were tested by reliable foreign forensic labs. Nobody bought that though. Sometimes, a wayward journalist, at his peak, forgets simple decency. Sanghvi will forever be haunted with two things: Radiagate and the fact that he called Narendra Modi a ‘mass-murderer’. He will regret both episodes. Had it not been for Modi ignoring his stupid outburst Vir Sanghvi would have been in prison writing a cookery book or his autobiography titled “Fine Whines!”.

No facts, please

6. Karan Thapar (2010 #4): Readers must remember that every journo looks tall in the studio but not in actual life. KT is not blessed with stature and the same goes for his journalism. One can say he has improved a bit but still retains the unwanted scowl and growl when interviewing people. Madhu Trehan in her NewsLaundry interview showed up KT for the little puppy he was. Like the ones who just need a hug and a cuddle once in a while. And if you thought you knew nothing about KT, never mind. All you have to do is hear his signature line on his promo for his show on CNN-IBN: “I don’t want to go into the facts, the facts are disputed”. LOL! Facts are disputed? You have to undo a lot of learning to understand that facts aren’t facts and can be disputed. The worst job KT did in 2011 was massaging Kapil Sibal’s brazen attempt at pre-screening content on the internet. As if that wasn’t enough he pulled out Brajesh Mishra, former NSA, out of nowhere to call serving army chief, Gen. VKSingh, the worst ever chief of army in history. My prediction: As long as he is in the business, KT will be on this list.

Wheres the smirk?

5. Vinod Sharma (New entry): For those who don’t know, Vinod Sharma is the political editor of Hindustan Times. That’s right, ‘Political’ is the key word – less of an editor and more of a politician. It’s not very hard to recognise VS on a friendly channel. He has made the ‘smirk’ more popular than child-molester DGP Rathore on television. Sharma has also been acknowledged by many political spokespersons and viewers as the most loyal spokesperson of the Congress party. No matter what the scam or what the scandal you can expect him to staunchly defend even the worst misdeeds of the Congress by blaming it on the opposition or anyone else he can lay his hands on. The one chance to get him off TV for longer periods was a Rajya Sabha ticket, when Shobana Bhartiya, his boss at HT exited, but that unfortunately didn’t happen. So we’re going to be stuck with VS for quite a while. His best moment in recent times was during the debate over Gen. VK Singh and the Tatra trucks scam. He was angry that the debate was going one way (in favour of Gen. Singh) so had to somehow twist it against the tide. In his business time VS writes a blog titled ‘Separated at birth’. I guess that refers to some Pakistani connection or maybe his journalistic independence was separated at birth. Someday we’ll find out.

4.Shekhar Gupta (2010 #10): (Content held back on account of Indian Express' legal action with Google)

I washed my hands in the Hammam

3. Rajdeep Sardesai (2010 #6): Hmmm! The guy is making progress alright. I have always maintained there are two Rajdeeps – One on TV and one off it. Whenever he is off TV his conscience strikes and one can hear a sane person, sometimes profound, sometimes emotional. But his character loses focus in front of the camera. Recently, he lamented on Twitter about being abused as a’Muslim whore and a Motherf$#!#*’. Bad, but the kind of abuse of journalistic ethics that Rajdeep has frequently allowed under his watch is far more serious. He has even given the media the right to ‘conduct hearings’ against personalities. While he wonders about ‘image makeovers’ for others, there is no way he can ever get past the Cash4Votes bungling or the terribly biased reporting on Gujarat riots. His 2007 conduct of an HT Summit which featured a key speaker reflects a character of pathetically low moral values and journalistic ethics. And to top that he defended the tainted Radiagate journalists and was rightly ‘slapped’ by his own community. Death of decent journalism owes a small debt to him. He has rightly earned the nick name ‘Hammamboy’!

If it's Friday, it must be...

2. Sagarika Ghose (2010 #2): Ms. Cacofonix stays where she was: at No.2. You can’t fault Sagarika for not trying hard enough to be India’s worst journalist. She has made every effort in the recent past to get to #1. Journalism gives her a bad name. For her truly pathetic and fraudulent ‘live’ show with SriSri she would have been sacked from any TV channel in the world. That in itself is a reflection of the ethics and morals practiced at CNN-IBN by her and her boss Rajdeep Sardesai. You can imagine the skulduggery behind all other programmes and debates. And if that wasn’t enough she misses no chance to prove she is a ‘journalistic bimbo’ by mindless tweets on the social network. Be it about ‘ugly Indian males’, or Orange being a colour in our national flag or sending out a Good Friday greeting and withdrawing it she is truly the court-jester of Indian journalism. What can I say? Better luck next time!

Me, Myself & I

1. Barkha Dutt (2010 #1): For the second time in a row Barkha retains her position as India’s worst journalist in the poll, by a whopping margin. The only road to redemption is apologising for past blunders. While she and another one have been vocal in demanding apologies and expressions of remorse from public figures the same standard doesn’t seem to apply to her. No matter what she does the taint of Radiagate and many other indiscretions are unlikely to disappear. The accusations of causing deaths in Kargil or in 26/11 are also going to linger.  She is probably the only news celeb on TV that has a ‘wardrobe sponsor’. All the image makeovers may not help much. Most of us have held Rahul Gandhi for the Congress’ UP election disaster but Barkha and NDTV must be credited with the disaster too. No one has singularly promoted RG and his cause and almost turned him into India’s saviour till the engine got derailed. Her penchant for Pakistani politics and politicians is another thing that disgusts many viewers. In the meantime her language keeps getting better and better. In a recent tweet she responded to sarcasm with: “… ‘ .. if ever language betrayed desperation of loser, it is here…” Losers or not, with over 70% of the votes polled, Barkha is the absolute winner here. Cheers!

So there you are. Let’s also not forget that are many journalists who now increasingly seem to be anti-nationals. Their ties to Ghulam Nabi Fai aren’t even being investigated by the govt. Industry leaders usually raise the standards of performance of the industry as a whole. The opposite seems to be true in the media. Systematically, many of India’s journalists have brought the profession to rock bottom over the years. I continue to maintain, they are the greatest threat to our democracy. 

The 'Hang-Modi' Weekend

Yes, it’s that time of the year. This year it’s even more special because it’s the 10th Anniversary of Godhra and the Gujarat riots. Throughout Monday, February 27, you can expect newspapers with specials and TV news channels to carry on endless debates on Gujarat and Narendra Modi. Expect to see sepia toned images of violence, deaths, burnt train compartments. Expect to see special documentaries on the plight, anger and anxiety in certain pockets of Gujarat. Expect to see how muslims from adults to school kids to new-born are systematically being discriminated against in Gujarat. Mind you, some of these stories aren’t unique to Gujarat but exist in pockets of many states in India. But once again, you will be reminded that it’s only in Gujarat alone that sufferings are magnified and state-sponsored. For the record, some of the lies about the Gujarat riots spread through the last decade have been exposed enough for the propaganda to change course. This is particularly the number of people killed, fake rape and torture cases and fake affidavits.

Let’s go back to September 12, 2011 when the Supreme Court returned the Zakia Jafri case to the lower court. Here’s how one politician still holding Modi criminally responsible for the riots responded: Sitaram Yechury of CPM stated that it does not absolve Modi of the “communal ri…” and then he paused, thought for a second and said “communal pogrom”. That is one of the major lies that was being spread. 790 muslims and 254 hindus were killed in the riots; far from features you would associate with a pogrom. The communal riots were terrible but creating a political agenda out of them is just as bad. The second big lie were the numbers themselves. All the reporters and political activists like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vir Sanghvi, Teesta Setalvad, Shabnam Hashmi, Sanjiv Bhatt, Arundhati Roy, Harsh Mandar and many more have consistently fabricated the numbers killed between 2000-3000. Some still and will continue to do so.

What to expect? Well, one of the reporters who was instrumental in spreading untruths about the riots, Rajdeep Sardesai, is already off the block with a blogpost “Modi's 'Sadbhavana' and the horror of 2002” on February 24 and he wonders if there’s closure and if Gujarat has moved on. Rajdeep continues the same refrain from the past of how muslims have become second class citizens in Gujarat. There is a major change though. In his post he doesn’t use the word “Guilty” for Modi and he doesn’t use the term “mass murderer” which he had frequently borrowed from his HT colleague Vir Sanghvi. But well, old habits die hard so Rajdeep does start his post with a lie: “Has Gujarat really moved on ten years after the terrible violence of 2002? The answer depends on who the question is asked to. Chief minister Narendra Modi, for example, claims to have moved on to the point where he refuses to take questions on the past”. Well, during the Sadbhavna mission in September 2011 Modi did speak to a lot of reporters including on the topic of the riots. T.M. Veeraraghav of Rajdeep’s CNN-IBN also got an interview with Modi. So you can expect Rajdeep to use newer, different lies to promote his sentimental clap-trap.

Fast off the block from Hindustan Times (whose former editor could have been in jail for slandering Modi as a “mass-murderer”) is another opinion from Shiv Vishwanathan. Like Rajdeep, he too, starts off with a bang and it’s pretty easy to miss his gentle twist. He states: “In recent times, we had a Special Investigation Team report into the Gujarat riots that claimed that Narendra Modi was not guilty of the riots. If the media were to be believed, the way is now clear for the BJP to anoint him unofficially as prime minister”. This when the SIT report is not even officially released. But that is not the point. The wording of Shiv’s line is “SIT CLAIMED”. Haha! SIT claimed? One should remember that the SIT is an investigative body appointed by the SC and they don’t make claims. They just submit reports on whether they have found evidence to prosecute someone. Claims are usually made by opinionated columnists or TV panelists. For them, unless some legal body or court finds Modi guilty everything is just a “claim”. And then Shiv goes on to wonder whether Modi will fit the bill as PM or not.

Isn’t it amazing? From calling him a criminal, mass-murderer, pogrom manager, Hitler, Nazi, fascist almost everyone in the media is now discussing whether Modi will make it as PM or not. Haha! During the last state elections in Gujarat these very people were wondering if he should even continue as CM. Now they don’t even have the remotest doubt if he will win another state election this year. The fake opinion polls for Gujarat election won’t be published anymore. They would be horrified if they looked in the mirror and noticed that Modi has silently led them up a path where they would be discussing his PM candidature.

Hindustan Times also published the transcripts of Modi’s deposition with the SIT in March 2010. That document contains all the responses of Modi to the questions raised by the SIT. None of the MSM appears to want to discuss or debate that. TV channels have been quiet on that front. The reason is pretty obvious. The answers contain many facts which were so far conveniently hidden from the public. That Modi had appointed Congress leaders to watchdog committees after the riots must come as revelation to the public. The number of times he had appealed for peace and called for the army in time is all facts that were twisted by the media. Having failed to politically or legally hang Modi the media crooks started a weird campaign seeking an apology.

What to expect? Well, I think one can also expect a special bout of ‘We the poodles’ by Barkha Dutt with the usual peddlers of the drug called ‘untruth’ on Sunday, February 26 or a special programme of some kind. After all, she and Rajdeep were the ones who fuelled the spectacular anti-Modi campaign which provided refuge for all kinds of liars. Arundhati Roy has more or less disappeared from her campaign of lies. Teesta and Sanjiv Bhatt are struggling to keep untruths alive. Vir Sanghvi has been mass-murdered by Radia. Barkha has been tainted by Radiagate, Barkhagate, Barkhabarks, shoddy 26/11. Barkha has now been reduced to a sorry mouthpiece of the Congress party and the Hurriyat (As Swapan Dasgupta jokes). To her credit she did manage to improve her wardrobe during this time though. Rajdeep, apart from Cash4Votes also got trashed for the fraudulent telecast of Sri Sri debate by his wife. Rajdeep has already announced a programme ‘Revisiting Gujarat and If Gujarat has moved on’ on CNN-IBN for the weekend. Expect another round of selective story-telling by him. And yes, Rajdeep will actually CRY!

They say truth is the first casualty of the war. Our media claimed Gujarat was different because it was the first time riots were on camera and on TV. That is only half the truth. The other half is that this is the first time a great campaign of lies and untruths was carried out by the media for political ends and sustained for the better part of a decade. Now the lies and the liars are falling apart. But brace yourselves – the ‘Hang-Modi’ weekend has just started and expect some new concoction to be served.

Also read:  1) Gujarat riots - The true story   2) SC exposes media's clean shit.

Vanity Of The Defamers

The media is up in arms against the Supreme Court decision not to interfere in the proceedings of a defamation case against TimesNow by former Justice P.B. Sawant. The ruling requires TimesNow to deposit an amount of 20crores and a bank guarantee of 80crores with the Bombay High Court to hear an appeal against a lower court’s order in Pune which awarded the 100crore defamation to Justice Sawant.

Lately, the media has been under fire from various quarters, particularly the new PCI chairman Justice Katju. He is in favour of newer and stronger regular regulations, including punitive measures for infringements by the media. In the present case TimesNow argues that showing the picture of Justice Sawant in the report of a scam was a genuine, unintentional mistake without malice. All other media organisations like Editors’ Guild, BEA, NBA and others have criticised the SC ruling. Oh well, I’m not surprised even politicians like Abhishek Singhvi, Arun Jaitley and Ravishankar Prasad have also joined the chorus. In a few days this might even become a human rights issue and the NHRC might also make a statement. Wait, who knows even the UN and UNSC come out in support of our media since the eminent Lord Meghnad Desai seems to have said the “court order was tantamount to an intimidating attack on the freedom of the press”. An attack? On freedom of the Press? The SC simply ruled it won’t intervene.

There has been a trend lately to rush to the SC with SLPs to either stay or quash proceedings in lower courts. Sanjeev Bhatt’s is another case where the SC has declined to quash proceedings against him. There is a consistency now in SC rulings which appears not so keen in interfering with lower courts except in stray cases. That is the message that the media should have drawn instead of protesting the SC ruling so severely. After all, the Bombay HC still hearing the TimesNow appeal and if their order is unfavourable then going to the SC remains an option. As for 100 crores, does it seem excessive? Well, on the face of it for 15 seconds of infamy it does seem excessive. So let’s look at another case. The “Rahul Gandhi-Sukanya case – Amazing media silence” is an older post on this blog that still remains on top. So what happened in that case?

Indian Express (March 8): A former MLA of the Samajwadi Party, Kishor Samrite, filed a petition in UP against Rahul Gandhi’s alleged illegal detention of a woman named Sukanya. “The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court…slapped a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on…. who had filed a habeas corpus petition, alleging that Rahul Gandhi had raped a girl from Amethi and was keeping her and her parents in illegal detention since 2007. While dismissing the petition of Kishor Samrite, the court also ordered CBI to register a case against him.

Mind you, when the case was filed it was just a few stray newspapers that reported it. When the HC dismissed the case and ordered the penalty of 50 lakhs it was all over the place and the news channels carried the report over and over again. No one really asked the question if 50 lakhs was fair and justified. For one, the petitioner went to a court of law and statements in courts cannot be considered defamation. So Samrite files a petition in the SC which stays the penalty. And who rushes to the SC to get into the case? The CBI! Oh yeah, the CBI which is usually reluctant to investigate certain scams and politicians showed unusual enthusiasm to be a party to the case in SC. Here’s what ET (August 26) reported:

CBI rushes to SC to becomeparty in case against Rahul: In an unusual move, the Central Bureau of Investigation has rushed to the Supreme Court wanting to be a party in an appeal filed by Kishore Samrite against whom a probe was ordered by the Allahabad high court for levelling false charges against Congress general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi. The HC had asked for the CBI probe against Samrite on March 7. The CBI had lodged a case under Indian Penal Code Sections — 120b (criminal conspiracy), 181 (false statement on oath), 211 (false charges to cause injury ) and 499-500 (defamation). The HC had imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh on Samrite.

Look at the all the penal codes under which CBI wants to prosecute Samrite. His motivation for the case against Rahul Gandhi may be suspect but not one newspaper or news channel, I repeat NOT ONE, ever questioned whether the 50 lakh penalty was justified. Well, obviously that is not an attack on freedom of speech for media. After all, it concerns the first family. Mind you, not just that, not one single media outlet even questioned why the CBI was so enthusiastic to be a party in the appeal by Samrite. Not one!  

Recently  Sudheendra Kulkarni and few BJP MLAs and others were arrested and jailed for their involvement in the Cash4Votes scam. This time, it’s the Delhi Police who were acting on SC orders to investigate the scam. These were the ‘whistleblowers’ in the scam and their arrest was shocking to most people. Once again, they were bailed out by the High Court which observed that none of them seemed to have taken any bribes and there appears to be no prima-face against them. Yet, apart from sensationalising their arrests not one media outlet questioned the conduct of Delhi Police and the validity of their actions. How is it that ordinary people are able to see through the acts of DP and yet the wise ones in the media are not. It’s an extraordinary event where the guilty are roaming free and apparently innocent ones were being prosecuted. Did the media stand up for their freedom? Not one! Not one media retailer even asked if Kulkarni and others were actually being “framed” in the whole case. Alright, never mind!

What about frequently calling Narendra Modi a ‘mass muderer’. Does the media have any evidence? I suppose that is not defamation. Should he have desired, NaMo could have sued Vir Sanghvi, Rajdeep Sardesai and others for a 100 crores too. How do they shamlessly carry on such a campaign and yet claim defence for themselves? How do they allow a rogue cop to call NaMo a ‘Common Criminal’ on their news channels and yet not black out that comment. Instead, the media played out that comment over and over again. That is willful defamation many times over. Well, I guess it’s fair game when it comes to others. Did the media plug these horrible utterances?

Roll back to another case, again by none other than the CBI. This was against former Home Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah. I now don’t even remember how many charges were packed against Shah. Involvement in extortion, Sohrabuddin case, the list might go on. When the news broke, the news channels were up shouting and hollering how the ‘right-hand man’ and ‘aide’ of Narendra Modi was screwed. They clearly implied that because Shah was charged and arrested it was an indictment of Modi and there were those who even demanded Modi’s resignation. Again, not one, I repeat not one, media retailer even bothered to ask if the CBI’s case had any merits or what was the basis on which the charges and arrest were made. The CBI not only opposed bail but even sought Amit Shah to be kept out of the state of Gujarat. This is a plumbing job! The media simply went overboard in using the case to hurl further accusations at the Narendra Modi govt. Defamation, Slander, Libel anybody? The order by the Supreme Court in this particular is not only shocking but exposes the outrageous act of the CBI. Here’s what the TOI (November 18) reported on the SC order:

The bench indicated its agreement with Jethmalani's (Amit Shah’s lawyer) submissions and told additional solicitor general Vivek Tankha, who appeared for CBI, that "the complaints appears to be absolute trash". "Mr Tankha, you (the CBI) are supposed to be the finest investigating agency. You have to respond to all these lapses and deficiencies. The insinuations (against Shah) were wholly unwarranted and totally unfair," the bench said.

Apart from some minor reporting of the SC order and some in the scrolls at the bottom of the TV screen most news outlets buried the item. They were happy to have found the sensational allegations of Vinod Kambli about match-fixing pretty handy.

TimesNow frequently claims to base their reports on secret documents of IB, Home Ministry that they somehow come to access. Other news channels also often claim to possess secret letters and documents of the govt. in their reporting. Yet, not one newspaper or newschannel has ever reported on Sonia Gandhi’s reported illness, her surgery or her the state of her health. Why? No leaks or are the media plumbers doing a good job of plugging it all. But they find enough leaks to do hit jobs on detractors of the govt. Not even the CAG is spared. The 100 crore defamation award is still in the appeal court. There is no denying the severity of the order but is there any sympathy lost for the news channel? The only thing hurt seems to be the media’s collective vanity.

Sack Sagarika

Dan Rather, an internationally acclaimed journalist, was the first to break the assassination of John F Kennedy. He also covered Watergate and many wars. In 2004 he ran a report about military records of George W Bush using documents which later turned out to be forged. Rather did the morally right thing, he quit CBS in 2006. His only fault was that he hadn’t fact-checked the story and the documents, although there is still no concrete evidence that the documents were unreliable. That was probably a rare mistake from Rather in career spanning over five decades. What does it say about journalists in India who continue to not only hold on to their jobs but continue to sermonise the nation as if their character were soaked in the purest of waters?

We first had Barkha Dutt, the Radiagate hero, stringing along a lobbyist and indulging in power-brokering who continues to moralise the nation. We now have Vir Sanghvi, another Radiagate hero, who now claims the tapes were doctored and he is innocent. This is the same brazenness with which politicians hang on to office despite being tainted with acts of corruption. If I have consistently maintained that a corrupt media is more dangerous to democracy than corrupt politicians then the media doesn’t stop providing more evidence to that belief.

Most Indian businesses are family-run and owned. But it is a common practice among many corporate entities to not employ two or more members from the same family, at least not in the same department. There is no particular reason behind this practice except for the belief that all the acts of the members may not be free from prejudice if they were from the same family. And what if your spouse also happens to be your boss in a news media enterprise? It then makes it all the more likely that sometimes even trash can be passed off as journalism. In all the posts on this site I have never once referred to Sagarika Ghose as the wife of Rajdeep Sardesai. I have always referred to her as the deputy editor. However, now I do believe the deputy editor must go. That any other Managing Editor in the seat of Rajdeep Sardesai would not tolerate the outright rubbish that Sagarika churns out so frequently. The latest one really has to be the last straw. That Rajdeep himself has a lot to answer for is another story.

Media is not a private body as the Editors Guild would have the Standing committee on Lokpal believe. The power to influence people, opinions and even elections is not in the private domain. There is a strange streak in Sagarika Ghose that leads her to believe that people are idiots and can be fooled all the time. That there are ordinary people and there are elites and she stands independently as an observer. Her boss should have repeatedly told her that she was part of the elite. On 9^th November on her programme ‘Face the nation’ Sagarika ran the debate “Sri Sri on 4 day yatra in UP: should spiritual leaders take part in anti-corruption campaigns? FTN 10pm”. There were a few usual panellists along with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Except, SriSri wasn’t there!

First of all, the clear answer to SG’s question is anybody in this country is free to run a campaign against corruption at any place and at any time of his or her choice. Sagarika doesn’t have any moral business to question the rights of SriSri. This country’s values have been built on the spiritual cleanliness which outsiders find easier to recognise than people like Sagarika. The right question would now be: Does Sagarika have any moral right to continue as a journalist?

Sagarika Ghose conducted the debate as if SriSri were live on the programme and was responding to the comments made by other panellists. That wasn’t all, when panellists made a comment she even turned to SriSri to seek his response. What was being used was footage from a previously recorded interview with SriSri and suitably edited to make it appear as if he was responding live. This is nothing short of blatant mischief and fraud on the viewers. This is something CNN-IBN’s Cyrus Broacha does on his comedy show where the viewers are aware of the interviews being fake.

Some days back SG ran a debate on whether Justice Katju, the new PCI chairman, should apologise for calling journalists “uneducated”. I hope she now realises what exactly Katju was referring to. Not done with that, she frequently passes judgements on judges of High courts and Supreme Court some of which may actually be an act of contempt. In a recent article, ‘The Elite’s on trial’, here is what she wrote:

“The 2G trial too is one of India’s “million mutinies”. The overthrow of bail jurisprudence, the CBI’s failure to provide comprehensive evidence so far, the many weaknesses of the case beyond its rhetoric, have been highlighted by several legal experts. It is no longer even clear how much “loss” there was to the exchequer, with the CAG’s R1.76 lakh crore figure now being systematically questioned. Yet the 2G accused, before the trial, before proof of the money trail, appear to already have been declared guilty”. This not only reflects her terrible lack of understanding of the law but it also appears the article was written without a thorough scrutiny of the judgement by Judge O.P.Saini which denied bail to Kanimozhi and others. She probably implies that Indians simply want to hang the rich regardless of evidence or sense of justice.

I have said often that it’s not possible to hide in the tech-age. Faster than she could say SriSri people on Twitter quickly pointed out the recorded interview of SriSri being misused by Sagarika on her programme. She later tweeted that it was a bug and that FTN will carry a full apology to the viewers and to SriSri. I believe one can apologise for a mistake or an error. This was neither a mistake nor an error but wilful deception. The apology can pass but if Rajdeep Sardesai has any moral decency left in him he has to let his deputy editor go. Willingly perpetrating a fraud on the viewers is not a mistake that can be covered up by an apology. It is far too serious a crime. It is time for Rajdeep, the Managing Editor, to sack Sagarika. 

PS: Those who missed the episode on CNN-IBN can watch it here on YOUTUBE

Vir Sanghvi - In Defense Of The Corrupt

By Ram Valmiki

It’s very important to know the personal opinions of journalists as that is what influences how they report events or news.  There are many in Indian MSM who are incapable of reporting without their personal biases. Vir Sanghvi is just one of them. It is not a big secret, at least among netizens or as they put it “Internet Hindus” that VS is biased towards Congress and Government. In his recent posts on his blog titled “Don’t blame media, Mr. Kejriwal” and “How the govt lost its way, and its face” he so openly defends the corrupt government and tries to peddle the lie that it’s actually the government that brought out the scams into public. The title chosen for his second post is very misleading.

“I am prepared to agree with Kejriwal when he says that the Shanti Bhushan CD was part of a conspiracy. We know now that the CD was faked and the refusal of the Delhi Police to recognise that it was a cut-and-paste job suggests a certain level of official complicity even if the CD itself was made by non-governmental sources”

Yes Mr VS, it does suggest government conspiracy but how many from your MSM has really taken on government about this issue. The very idea that there exists possibility that a government can conspire against the citizens is disturbing. VS and MSM should have concentrated on this area rather than going behind the Team Anna. Just because CD was made by non-governmental sources does not in any way lessen the sin if those sources were prompted to do so by government?

“ Unless Arvind Kejriwal can somehow convince us that the government hypnotised Kiran Bedi into filing fake reimbursement claims, it is hard to see how this is part of an official conspiracy. The most he can suggest is that official agencies helped in unearthing the evidence. But if this is proof of a government conspiracy then surely he is also a co-conspirator with the government when he makes statements based on reports issued by such government bodies as the CAG. Just because the government digs up accurate information – as the CAG did in the telecom scam – and this information is used by the media and concerned citizens it does not follow that there is any conspiracy”

I could have never imagined an experienced editor and journalist would be able to dole out crap logic ever if I had not come across these posts. It’s really amazing that though “official agencies helped in unearthing the evidence”, what is more surprising is these “official agencies”  one fine day had a dream and then went on to dig stuff of selected people who happen to be criticizing the government.  I am not aware of any complaint against Bedi that led to “official agencies” to investigate and dig up the mess of Bedi. If VS is aware of any such complaint, I would like to know because it’s really frightening to know that “official agencies” can unearth evidences just to please the political masters.  In lay man’s language that would be termed “witch hunting”.

CAG providing his report is NOT similar to “official agencies unearthing evidence” in case of Bedi. It’s the duty of the CAG to audit and provide report of government expenditure. CAG did his routine job and fortunately for India, CAG is a very honest and upright gentleman unlike MMS. Comparing CAG’s job with “official agencies” is totally out of context. As per the law “official agencies” require governmental permission or formal complaint or court order to “unearth evidences”. In Bedi’s case media has not reported any complaint or court order that prompted “unearthing” exercise and hence we have no choice but to believe the government conspired.  CAG does not take orders from executive branch of the government (ministers) where as “official agencies” do.

VS continues his new found CAG argument in his next post as well. We will look into that but before that, let’s just LOL at the statement by him: “On the other hand, you could argue that in the UPA’s second term, the scandals that have emerged have all been uncovered only as a result of the government’s own efforts.” Either VS thinks all his readers have no IQ or VS thinks by vomiting such crap will make him an intellectual journalist.  I mean, how in the holy god of secularism’s name he concludes that a government involved in scandals will uncover its own corruption. On second thoughts, has govt promised him Padma Bhushan next year?

“Let’s take 2G. The scandal only broke as a result of a report by the CAG. You may or may not agree with the CAG’s computation of the loss caused to the exchequer (and it is now clear that even within the CAG’s office, there were disagreements), but you cannot dispute that if there had been no CAG report, there would be no 2G scandal.” This is such a blatant lie that VS is trying to sell here. The scandal was in public even before the CAG report. PILs were filed and Subramanian Swamy moved SC long before the CAG report was tabled. If anything, the CAG report only confirmed the monstrous size of the scandal.  Here is the list of events and timeline as per Wikipedia. Yes Wikipedia is authentic reference, as it constructs the time line based on media reports.

…May 4, 2009: An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.

….May 19, 2009: Another complaint was filed to the CVC by Arun Agarwal, highlighting grant of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices.

….May, 2010: NGO Centre for Public Interest litigation moves the Delhi High Court seeking investigation into the scam by SIT or CBI.

….Sept 13, 2010: SC asks government, Raja to reply within 10 days to three petitions filed by CPIL and others alleging there was a Rs 70,000 crore scam in the grant of telecom licences in 2008

….Sept 24, 2010: Swamy moves SC seeking direction to the PM to sanction prosecution of Raja.

The SC has numerous times pulled up CBI for shoddy investigation. If not for active role of SC and petitioners like Swamy, the scandal would have been easily buried by the government. Saying government uncovered the scandals is nothing but a joke. “The current CAG, an honest and upright bureaucrat called Vinod Rai, got the job because the UPA Cabinet chose him. His candidacy was strongly pushed by the former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who knew Rai from his career in the finance ministry.” Justice Santosh Hegde was appointed by the government headed by Yedurappa. This is similar to Vinod Rai being appointed by the UPA government. Fortunately both of them have done justice to their assigned duties. This in no means absolves the governments of their sins. How would have VS responded if BJP claimed that it was their government that uncovered mining scam? It cannot get funnier than that. “So it is with the arrests. Who would have thought it possible that Spectrum King A. Raja would spend so many months in jail. Who would have imagined that the CBI would have the guts to arrest the daughter of M. Karunanidhi, an important Congress ally at a time when the government depended on the DMK’s support for its survival?”

CBI had no choice after being pulled up by SC. With various petitions that Swamy filed with documents he possessed, CBI had to act. Let us ask counter question. If Swamy did not really have possession of documents he claims he has, is he insane to move SC to seek permission to prosecute Chidambaram and also showing intention of even inducting MMS? “In the end, all of the uncovering of the scandal, all of the investigating and all of the arresting has been done by branches of the government. And yet, nobody believes that this government has any interest in uncovering the truth or in fighting corruption. The credit is given to the courts (who can only act once the CBI brings cases to them), to the media and to the opposition. The government itself gets no credit at all.” I don’t understand why VS is so hell bent on using illogical arguments in proving government is anti-corrupt. Is not this the most corrupt government yet? A government that indulges in corruption can no way uncover its own corruption. VS is either acting innocent or its time he took sanyas. I would prefer second option for him for his own good as well as the country.

 “So here’s what the truth is. No, this is not the most corrupt government is history. It is headed by a decent and honest man. And his government has uncovered most of the corruption cases we read about. But this is a government without a visible leader. The Prime Minister has made the mistake of sitting back and watching while his allies have made money. And now, while he should be associating himself with the clean-up, he cowers silently at Race Course Road.”

Well yeah you are right VS. Seriously, if PM was silent when his allies made money, he is as much responsible. That only means for him more than national interests, saving government was important. It’s not surprising though. We are already aware that to save itself, congress can indulge in horse trading. It is an art it has mastered. Cash for votes scam is another hot topic now.

With the title of his second post he misleads the reader to believe he is criticizing the government whereas all he does is mindlessly defend the government. Then he ends with questioning leadership of the government. It is clear where he is heading with his arguments. With Clown Prince rumoured to be made party president and Diggy already announcing in public that it’s high time sycophants like him are ruled by Clown Prince, it’s an attempt to create grounds for MMS to exit and Clown to claim Gaddi. After all, it’s not surprising if Congress realizes that they may not return to power in 2014 and Clown prince would have to wait god knows how many more years to sit on gaddi.