TimesNow May Collapse Under ‘Arnab’ IMPACT

Update (August 12): This was originally posted on February 18, 2011. I thought sending a new QBox to Arnab to Impact the fall of Narendra Modi might help. Order placed. When the TimesNow kicking and screaming is over we will have elections soon.

Rarely a night passes without Arnab Goswami telling us how many questions he would ask. On the night of February 16, the day MMS finally broke his ‘silence’ and spoke to TV editors, Arnab gave us some interesting statistics. There were 16 editors and a total of 20 questions were asked. That is hardly a scenario that Arnab would have liked. I must mention though that it was extremely insensitive and discourteous of Harish Khare to have interrupted Arnab and tell him it was not an ‘interrogation of the PM’ and to show some ‘courtesy’. In this case it was Harish Khare who was being a jerk. After all wasn’t Harish Khare a part of the Times Group earlier? After wrongly snubbing Arnab he allowed Prannoy Roy to not only make a long-winded statement but wrap 2 or 3 questions into one to the PM. Well, Prannoy is from NDTV so that probably goes well with Harish Khare. But this is about Arnab Goswami.

For a start, let me state clearly that Arnab is not as despicable as some of his peers from other channels. He just believes he has to set a record for the number of questions and then let Times Now outrageously claim that it has ‘impacted’ all the outcomes.

TimesNow Impact: Kalmadi sacked. TimesNow Impact: Darbari suspended. TimesNow Impact: Lalli (of Prasar Bharati) suspended. TimesNow Impact: Antrix chairman to go? TimesNow Impact: SMS fraud. TimesNow Impact: Sports minister acts for national swimmers. TimesNow Impact: Isro Deal cancelled. TimesNow Impact: Hosni Mubarak resigns. Oops! The last one was a tweet from somewhere. The other channels are just cheats who are repeating the ‘Impact’ claims of TimesNow. 

So if TimesNow alone can Impact so many outcomes I have started to wonder whether we really need a CAG or CVC or PAC or JPC. Such is the power of Arnab Goswami’s constant questioning. Exactly a year ago Arnab had just about asked 702,855 questions on TimesNow according to highly reliable sources from Fakingnews. Since that report, the Guinness Book of Records organisation has been keeping a watch on Arnab and have now reported that Arnab has set a world record of 1,000,000 questions. The most ever by any TV host or journalist in the world. Watch out for the ‘Breaking News’ about the Guinness Certificate on ‘Your channel’.

The 20Q Gadget specially made for Arnab by Firebox.Com

 The current information on TimesNow’s new strategy is that they are now planning to take the number one spot in ‘Breaking News’ ahead of India’s most loved and respected channel ‘IndiaTV’. And the trick is to keep asking more questions that have no answers and all silly answers can then become ‘Breaking News’. Take that Rajat Sharma! But in all fairness since TimesNow keeps telling me that it is ‘Your channel’ I have decided to help them in asking more silly questions that have no answers. I have sent a special 20Questions Machine to Arnab Goswami that might just deliver one answer on being asked those 20Questions. This is a gadget specially designed for Arnab Goswami who can’t seem to get answers despite so many questions.

I have only one fear. With the chances of the number of questions exponentially growing because of the gadget their ‘Impact’ would also be phenomenal. And I wonder if TimesNow itself will collapse under the Impact of Arnab’s questions. Wouldn’t that be nice?

CNN-IBN: Divide The Nation Polls - Terrorism

CNN-IBN carried another instalment of its series of opinion polls on August 11. This one was on terrorism. In the first two instalments IBN’s partner in this hobby, The Hindu, put out the complete data through PDF files on their site. However, in the last two polls (Economy and Terrorism) I have not been able to download the data files. Try downloading the data files at The Hindu’s site here and here. I guess CNN-IBN and The Hindu expected people to be awed and go gaga over these polls instead of being analysed in-depth. So now, you only have clips from their TV show to go by which are scanty in details on the questions, the respondents and so on. One word for their tomfoolery – BUSTED!

Anyway, before I get to this latest instalment on Terror one has to understand the minds that work behind such surveys and polls. Much of it looks like a political position already taken by  the heads of the organisations involved. Now read Rajdeep Sardesai’s anguished tweet over the right wing. I don’t know if I qualify as right-wing yet but here’s what Rajdeep tweeted:

“afzal on death row for 5 years, kasab for 3, but rajiv assassins on death row for 20 years. why no right wing anger? Gnight”

August 11, around 11.30 PM

That is probably one of the most boorish tweets to have come from Rajdeep. I also think Rajdeep was completely unaware how stupid his tweet and his thoughts are. Now, here is a media dealer who keeps shouting hoarse about a lot of things on his channel and yet it didn’t occur to him that he should be the one asking the Nalini question to the UPA. Having failed in that job miserably he thinks the right wing should be making those noises. So tell us Rajdeep have you, as a media dealer, ever asked that question to MMS, PC or Sonia Gandhi? Or have you asked that question on your channel? If not, make it a point immediately that your channel would want the same fate for Nalini as Guru. Having abrogated your responsibility don’t point fingers at some vague right-wing. You should be ashamed that you didn’t actively seek justice for both Nalini and Afzal Guru and then lament that people don’t care about others on the death row. Do you care?

In case Rajdeep forgot,  it was Rajiv’s own family member, Priyanka Gandhi, who met Nalini to seek solace. In case Rajdeep forgot, the Indian right-wing didn't coin the term 'Global Jihad'. Rajdeep has found a place in many of my posts but I thought it would be a good point to remind him of what I think of Nalini. And here are excerpts from some of those posts:

The Scum Of All Spheres

What if Pakistan did hand over the remaining 49 wanted persons from that list of 50? What exactly would our government do? Afzal Guru and Nalini (Rajiv Gandhi’s assassin) are still comfortably lodged in jails.

‘Terror’s Creed..’: MorePoppycock From Rajdeep Sardesai

Killers of Rajiv Gandhi are still in jail. Ajmal Kasab continues to dance around Indian courts every week. Now that, I suppose, is resolve for you……..It is the serious ineptness of the UPA in allowing killers like Afzal Guru or the killers of Rajiv Gandhi to defy justice that spurs anger among citizens

Islamic Terror, Government &The Indian Media

So let’s understand what the 3 stooges have said. The first stooge, PM talks about resolve. Resolve is usually shown by messages or by action. There is neither any message nor any action. Afzal Guru still continues to live in some jail. Killers of Rajiv Gandhi are still in jail.

There, Rajdeep, patriotic Indians are not biased like our media to distinguish justice for terrorists. In fact, the killing of our Prime Minister is as much a war against us as the attack on our parliament. And it is polls like the ones CNN-IBN is doing that attempts to divide the nation with dubious leading questions.

That bit done, let’s get back to CNN-IBN’s dubious surveys. Behind all the silly percentages, not backed by raw data, the only conclusion that Yogendra Yadav came to was “People say terror not linked to religion”.  Frankly, that is a line any lame duck politician will give you free of charge. Why spend all the money on surveys unless it’s free funds? And really, one had to go and ask BJP and Congress workers about their perceptions on terror? That’s really cool. CNN-IBN gets guys from BJP and Congress almost every day on their show. Where’s the need for this exercise?

Historically, terrorism was born out of religion and intolerance. Now, if all the wise men and women at CNN-IBN, CSDS and The Hindu are those who have supposedly read history then they live in denial. Not so long ago there was terrorism by IRA and PIRA in Northern Ireland/UK. The objectives were political but the motive was religion. Surveys that don’t even ponder the political motives of terrorism are usually conducted by ‘useful idiots’. Islam is not just a religion but also a political doctrine. The conquest of territories, conversions, belief in supremacy over other religions are all part of the political and religious agenda. The only religious group to have any influence in the UN is the ‘Organisation of Islamic Countries’ (OIC) who collectively attempt to pass international laws on blasphemy and such religious beliefs. That our media consciously spreads untruths is now out in the open. Don’t claim it to be ‘journalism’ anymore when the only motive is money, money and more money. The best part is getting people like A. Owaisi of MIM to debate terrorism. How clever is that? Groups that are violent against writers like Taslima Nasreen. And terror has no religion?

Rajdeep’s anger at the right-wing is understandable. I think he finds them too intelligent and far too capable of expressing themselves truthfully against CNN-IBN and their close relatives at NDTV, HT and so on. His deputy editor is credited with coining the term ‘Internet Hindus’. Far from seeing it as an affront the right-wingers wear that tag proudly. Not something she would have anticipated. The politicians’ constant endeavour is to divide the nation in every possible way. They wouldn’t have succeeded but for the help of media crooks.

At the very best Yogendra Yadav’s article “People say terror has no religion” might win an essay contest in some primary school or maybe the UN. But if truth were the measure, it fails miserably. These are media-lessons on how to divide the nation.

Sanjiv Bhatt In Arnab's Kangaroo Court

I had already suggested ‘Padma Shri awaits Sanjiv Bhatt’. I guess that is not enough so a higher award for this courageous cop may be in order. If Teesta Setalvad got embroiled in fake cases of her own affidavits the media needed a new hero against Narendra Modi. Well, looks like they’ve found one.

On August 9 evening Arnab Goswami scooped an interview with Sanjiv Bhatt. The first round had Arnab questioning Bhatt about his hobnobbing with Congress leaders, getting Blackberry from them, emails that were exchanged and so on. The hilarious part came a little later in the evening at 9pm on Arnab’s Newshour when he again had Sanjiv Bhatt and a panel to discuss the suspension of Bhatt by the Gujarat government or to be more specific Narendra Modi as media would insinuate. Sanjiv Bhatt came to the discussions with his lawyer Iqbal Syed. With his lawyer? Yes! That’s right, hahahhaa!

‘Hello Arnab, you know me, now meet my lawyer please’! Isn’t that nice? Now what else would Arnab want for his Kangaroo court? Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai must be writhing in anger that they couldn’t manage to do this on their channels. The lynch mob isn't out there on the streets anymore, it's there on TV channels in the form of news anchors.

Imagine, a supposedly honest cop, a whistleblower, possessing great regard for truth and his own convictions turns up at a TV panel discussion with his lawyer. And Bhatt has made a statement these are desperate measures (his suspension) by a desperate government. Bravo! By now the Congress spokespeople are all over the place. Ambika Soni stated “everybody knows what is happening in Gujarat”. Yes we do, it is that terrible police state where all freedoms have been suspended and it’s a state where there is virtual emergency. Of course, in case you missed it, the tainted Teesta Setalvad got her chance to be on TV again and shooting off her mouth.

Okay, all that is fine. Now, if you even remotely know anything about Narendra Modi you would also know that he is one of the shrewdest politicians around. He is not so dumb as to not estimate that actions such as those against Sanjiv Bhatt (and lately one against Rahul Sharma) wouldn’t invite accusations of vendetta politics. That he would be accused of hounding a cop who has filed an affidavit against him in the SC. That this would give the Congress and all the sickular media channels to again start hurling abuses at him. Is Narendra Modi that silly? Well, even if there is some grain of truth in the vendetta part I doubt he is nervous (as Arnab implies) and I also doubt if there is any legal loop-hole in the actions against Sanjiv Bhatt or Rahul Sharma.

Now, apart from being the CM of Gujarat and knowing well the Congress would use the issue to sidetrack many other issues would Modi be silly enough to undertake these actions? I doubt. This is also given the fact that Congress at the centre is in shambles over various issues of corruption and wrong doings. NaMo would hardly hand them an issue on a platter in such a situation.But the media thinks he desperately would.

In another case of fake encounters it was made out that Modi was a mass murder, ‘maut ka saudagar’. In an article today this is what S. Gurumurthy wrote in the Indian Express:

“That State (Gujarat) is the least sinner in fake encounters, just one in a hundred. Yet, its leader is vilified as ‘Mauth Ka Saudagar’ [merchant of death]. So, the selected State’s leader is the target, not fake encounters as evil. The State selected? Needs no guess. It is Gujarat, certified as the best governed, most prosperous. The leader targeted? Needs no mention. Narendra Modi, known as the cleanest, also the ablest. The National Human Rights Commission’s list of 440 fake encounters from 2002 to 2007 under inquest shows the share of Gujarat as just 5, almost the lowest. Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 231, followed by Rajasthan 33, Maharashtra 31, Delhi 26, Andhra Pradesh 22, Uttaranchal 19, Assam 12, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka 10 each, Tamil Nadu 9, West Bengal 8, Bihar and Haryana 6 each. More. At 7.25 am, on 8.8.2011, the NewX channel reported a further 120 fake encounter deaths in UP after 2007!

Yet,from 2006, the ‘secular’ media has been obsessed with, not the most guilty in encounter sins, but the least — Gujarat; and with only one of the 440 encounters — of Syed Sohrabuddin in Gujarat, none from the rest. Baying for Modi’s scalp, the media relentlessly pursued Sohrabuddin’s case, charged Gujarat with killing him [and his wife, Kausar Bi] only because of his religion. It made Sohrabuddin the poster boy of secularism, insisted on CBI probe to cover Amit Shah, Gujarat Home Minister then, and Modi himself. The judiciary too chose for CBI probe only Sohrabuddin’s case out of the 440 encounters. Later when CBI misused the court mandate, resorted to patent illegalities to fix Shah and target Gujarat and Modi, the media even seemed relieved. Interrogatories to ‘secular’ media on its role in the Sohrabuddin case are overdue. Here are some.Did the media even hint that, like Sohrabuddin’s in Gujarat, there were 435 other encounters outside, being inquired into by NHRC? No. And did it ever ask for CBI probe into them? No.”

There is a universal principle that Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai would do well to remember. IT IS USUALLY THE LOSER THAT GOES TO THE MEDIA. Check up history, check-up businesses and the principle will hold true. Teesta Setalvad talked about truth and justice for a long time. Now we know where she comes from and what her actions were. In much a similar fashion Sanjiv Bhatt talks about truth and justice.

In all the shrill noise that Arnab Goswami and others make not one, I repeat not one, has bothered to ask if the charges against Bhatt are true or accurate. If he has indeed been playing truant and is on illegitimate leave for 10 months. If those accusations are true then all this bullshit by Bhatt, Arnab and others will not wash.

I tend to call such people ‘washing machines of justice’ that wash nothing. These assholes don’t seem to realise that the more nails they drive in to Modi’s imaginary coffin the more popular he becomes. What next? Now are people going to bring their mom and dad to TV panel discussions? Arnab Goswami only exemplified what our media already is. TimesNow, NDTV, CNN-IBN, Headlines Today and some more are truly the real lynch mob in their own Kangaroo Courts.

CNN-IBN: 'Stupefy The Nation' Polls

Gallup is probably the world’s best known poll organisation. It is also one of the most trusted research organisations when it comes to opinion polls. But even polls by Gallup may sometimes not be an indicator of the grave impact of events. This is not to suggest that their polls are flawed or unreliable but that current events and trends may not have such an immediate and influential impact. Therefore, some poll results may end up being merely academic or a test of trivia. In the last dialogue in ‘All the President’s Men’, Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post, chides his two journalists, Woodward and Bernstein, thus: “You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a shit.”  Richard Nixon became the only American President to resign office. That many major scandals since then would be routinely suffixed with ‘gate’ is an impact that could not have been measured by the poll conducted by Gallup at the time.

That’s right; nobody gaves a shit till it finally hits the ceiling. Has corruption hit the ceiling under Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi? Not if you go by the CNN-IBN polls, which is presently airing on a daily basis as ‘State of the nation’ polls. In contrast to the Gallup poll I've mentioned CNN-IBN is busy indulging in trivia when the shit has already hit the ceiling. Much of the poll is based on questions that can best be described as ‘trivia’ or if you’re in school you might get to answer a GK question of that nature. The man leading the venture is Yogendra Yadav. He has a record of sorts for polls that have gone terribly wrong and has ended up with egg on his face on many occasions. When this happens all too frequently one tends to suspect the motive and aim of the poll itself.

I call the whole exercise ‘Stupefy the nation’ polls. The second instalment of their polls is on ‘Corruption’ and here are some interesting facts from the poll. In the previous poll in which Rahul Gandhi was declared the most popular choice for PM, CSDS (who actually conduct these polls) had clarified that over 70% polled are from rural areas.  I’m no poll scientist but let’s look at some of the questions asked in this poll on corruption:

Q. Have you heard of these names? : A. Raja, Kanimozhi, Suresh Kalmadi, Dayanidhi Maran. And the max that have heard of them is 27% and those who actually know them is 22% If you look carefully, none of these are national level politicians in the real sense. Three of them are from a regional party (DMK members from TN) and one Congress member from Maharashtra. Well, why didn’t they ask about Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, P. Chidambaram or Praful Patel. First, has CNN-IBN given a clean chit to these people? Secondly, the more relevant question would have been if people knew about 2G, CWG, Adarsh and the actual scams rather than names involved in those. There is no need to preclude that only some individuals are involved in the scams as the poll does. This is hardly a popularity contest.

Q. Who is more corrupt – Centre, state or local government? – Now, this is how they fool people by asking a question that measures degree of corruption between various forms of government rather than each government separately. How is the perception of which government is more corrupt relevant at all to the study? It’s like asking you a stupid question: Do you like milk, coffee or tea? Chances are your vote will be divided between the three. In contrast if I asked you if you are a regular coffee drinker or not you are likely to give a more definitive answer. This is nothing but wilfully clouding the issue of corruption to indicate that one is worse than the other and covering up the severity of corruption of each one of them. As a consequence the All-India perception of the centre being corrupt is 35% when the answer to a clear single question would well have been 82%. This is a good hobby to play around with numbers. Alright, so between Manu Sharma and Vikas Yadav you choose who is a bigger murderer.

Q. On Anna Hazare, Ramdev, Lokpal etc ….. How is this relevant at all except for knowledge of trivia or general awareness? And does awareness of these people or their attributes have any significance to corruption? Frankly, I am confident that a huge population from the sample wouldn’t know who Pratibha Patil is. Considering that a majority of the sample is from rural areas it is not even clear if they have access to TV, national newspapers etc. Then, questions about Lokpal etc. Well, if there is a question about Lokpal it would have been worthwhile how many know there is a ‘Prevention of Corruption Act’ or a comparison with it. On a question about the polls Rajdeep Sardesai had tweeted a message to the effect that ‘there is a universe outside of TV channels and Twitter’. That should tell you enough.

Q. Is UPA very corrupt, somewhat corrupt, not much corrupt, not corrupt? Of all the questions this one has to qualify as the most stupid one. Is there a degree of corruption that can somehow be justified or condoned? Is that what these researchers are trying to establish? So in all discussions you will be told about the figure that 28% think UPA is very corrupt. Which clearly attempts to cloud reality and actual facts.(Didn’t they also highlight Rahul Gandhi has popularity of 42% when the real public figure was 19% according to them?) Therefore, the basic message is not everyone really thinks the UPA is that corrupt. Get that? The joke around is that MMS must simply release the names of ministers who are not corrupt. That would be easier. This method of polling almost reduces the exercise to a movie review by a critic who would rate it from 1 star to 5 and reduces the seriousness of the issue of corruption.

When Ajay Maken tried to pin the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as CWGOC chairman on the NDA the media went to town with his statement. Now that Arun Jaitley has completely destroyed and exposed his lies, the media looks like a fool as usual. The intricate nature of documents and forgery that are used are not easily comprehensible to a majority of our population. That makes it easier for the media to conduct fake and motivated polls to stupefy the nation. You never know, for all that matters the NDA itself might have bid for the CWG hoping to make a kill but then they lost power. The UPA came to power and made a killing with all the scams. There is no need to rate corruption by number of stars as the CNN-IBN poll attempts to do.

From Lensonews

In another poll by Lensonnews website one will find quite a different picture. That is mainly because that poll is only from 5 metro cities. But what Lensonews does is that keeps a clear focus on critical issues rather than trying to flavour the issues with some agenda. There are many issues that a government handles but some are critical to ordinary citizens. To confuse that by multiple choices or choices of degrees is a clearly dishonest poll. That poll also indicates Narendra Modi as a clearly popular choice for the next PM. But that can also be set aside as urban bias

CNN-IBN isn’t yet done with these polls. They will carry one segment each night till independence day. By the time they finish you might find it hard to remember what people’s opinions really are. And, of course, they will tell you Manmohan Singh is still an honourable man.