Indian Express Blinks

A long time ago, around the mid-1990s there was a war between two toothpaste brands. It started with Pepsodent claiming it was 102% better on fighting germs than the market leader. That market leader was obviously Colgate. Some of the Pepsodent ads targeting Colgate negatively lip-synced a kid stating he was using Colgate. The matter ended up in the courts and nobody really bothered what happened after (Read here). But the Pepsodent guys had got their message out for a good few months by the time they pulled their ads. All this over a couple of toothpaste brands. What the story doesn’t tell us is dental care may not have much to do with toothpastes. Maybe the brush actually does more but even that may not be entirely true. For some time now Root-Canal treatment has been popular to fix teeth that are beyond fillings and minor repairs. But what is not commonly known is that even the Root-Canal treatment has been found inadequate not by common Dentists but by a former head of the Root-Canal department of Dentistry. Read these about Dr.Weston A Price and the article “The Root Canal Cover-up” by another specialist, Dr. George Meinig. You will be surprised with what you discover.

Dr. Price’s research states somewhere that tribals in Africa who never used toothpastes or toothbrushes in their life never experienced so many dental problems. And here we are, fighting over toothpastes. An online friend of mine, when asked about root canal, jokingly said the Dentist principle was: “Drill, pull, fill and bill… Lucky if you don’t kill”. Most of us accept the root canal treatment without thinking twice. We trust dentists the same way many still trust newspapers. But doctors mostly maintain a code of ethics while newspapers and the media in general don’t. Even the ethics codes they do have are often flouted. So lately a newspaper that cries itself hoarse over “Journalism of courage” and is challenged on this blog and also in the MSM, it cries “Defamation”. Typical of media isn’t it? Well, if you told your Dentist “root canal is a load of rubbish” imagine the reaction. (Don’t try it though because the doc intends no harm). That’s the response that one gets from media when someone calls their load of rubbish. And I can’t be sure that the media only intends “good” like the doc.

Just as Dr. Price’s research report on root-canal of early 20th century was “buried” for many years, some truths about media may take longer to uncover. Dr. Meinig exposed the root-canal cover-up only in 1994. So the Indian Express was chasing Google to knock off some of my posts because it had harsh criticism of the newspaper and Mr (Redact). So I get a mail from Google summarising with the following line: Two blogposts “are in violation of the terms of a court order passed in a matter brought by the Indian Express against our company”. So this is not new, as we shall see. The IE has done it long before.

Now, that order is not in connection with this blog but in some other connection and apparently IE had an agreement with Google in 2008 (When this blog didn’t exist) to pull content that “contains defamatory towards, contains illegal hate mail about Mr (redacted)”. Since the name has been redacted it’s hard to tell who that Mr is, isn’t it?

For the record, MediaCrooks (MC) is not in the business of “manufacturing news” or reporting news. MC just analyses and assesses reports from a different angle that our regular media may not do. The site only dissects their spins, distortions and deceptions. So what exactly was the problem for the Indian Express or its editors? You see, their problem is that this site had commented on their “Raisina Hill Army Movement” article of April 2012. I had reproduced certain quotes and media content about the article and Mr (Redact) which IE and its editors find “defamatory”. Hmm! Maybe the editors and IE as news reporters themselves have forgotten that quoting news reports for the purpose of analysis does not constitute defamation unless the publication of such quotes is specifically prohibited by a court. The “root” cause of this heartburn at IE is comments made by Vinod Mehta (of Outlook) in an issue of the Open Magazine. IE & others have filed a 500 Cr defamation case against Mehta and others for rubbishing the “Raisina Hill” article. But the article still exists online as anyone can see, which means no court has ordered the article to be taken down. Read “The Mother of all mistakes” at Open Magazine and also an analysis at MXM “Apology + Rs 500cr: Is Indian Express right in sending Open a legal notice”? If there was indeed a court order prohibiting the mention or analysis of the Raisina Hill blooper I doubt these pages would still be online.

That apart, the IE notice to Google also objects to certain tweets by Mr. (Redacted – Not of IE) and reproduced on this site for supporting the arguments of the related posts. Those are very damning tweets. Somewhere in the notice to Google, IE claims Mr (Redacted – Not of IE) has apologised for the tweet. As far as I know if there was any apology, no tweet relating to that particular issue was removed and still exists on Twitter. A screen shot of that tweet taken on January 31 is retained by me for records. So the apology bit is another load of rubbish unless it was privately whispered into the ears of Mr. (Should I say Redacted? Haha!) And then Mr. (Redacted) complains about credibility. Let’s see!

I have another post on “Indian Express” which asks why DAVP/GOI issues so many ads to IE. It doesn’t seem logical considering that the newspaper is behind other leaders of English newspaper business. That was written on the basis of actual ads seen in one of their editions. It doesn’t stop there. Newslaundry’s Anand Ranganathan explains the inexplicable favour of DAVP ads to IE in much greater depth in the article “Journalism of chicanery”. Here are quotes from that article:

“Indian Express, that had been trailing a poor third all this while (with a circulation figure 20 times less than ToI), manages to trump even the mighty Times of India! Circulation numbers be damned. Indeed, even HT spoils the ToI show. I wonder if Mr Jain has thought of commissioning PWC to crunch these numbers – a few dozen law suits might start to roll Mr Manish Tewari’s way…. Indian Express, despite having a circulation figure 20 times less than The Times of India, has earned the highest.”

I guess all these preferential ads for IE are pouring in for their “Journalism of courage”. What about IE’s complain about damaged credibility? Well, it looks like our media has for long enjoyed the privilege of damning, ridiculing and rubbishing anyone and any entity without anybody questioning them. If Mr. Redacted cared to hear (which I doubt) about the perceptions people now carry about IE then he would quit by accepting responsibility. Now that that the Social Media has started lampooning them and questioning them, they are starting to cry defamation. Aha! And this isn’t the first time we are seeing this wailing by media, are we? A tweet from January 31 from shows what an observer thinks. I can produce thousand more such tweets. How many will you sue Mr. Redacted?

The notices being to Google I have altered one of my posts and will be reworking another one. This blog is hosted on Google and I see no sense in taking up a confrontation with them. IE has reacted like Colgate has. Mr. Redacted too will realise root-canal is not a substitute for quality nutrition. Many had often asked if these guys read MediaCrooks. Well, I’m sure that answers a lot of questions. Not only Mr. Redacted but a lot of our media celebs read too and I have no doubts that it frustrates and irritates them. Actually, the better choice would be read and show visible improvement but that is a tougher choice to make than issuing legal notices.

Pepsodent pulled its ads after Colgate issued legal notices and went to court. Well, marketing gurus know the trick. Regardless of what Colgate did, Pepsodent got out its message of 102% better. In a contest between toothpastes there is nothing that can really establish the truth. Truth has far lesser chance with our media. The message of Raisina Hill and other bloopers are out across the country. The message has reached Mr. Redacted. Indian Express just BLINKED!

Note: The Root-Canal & toothpaste observations/analogies are made based on published papers but should not be construed as dental advice from this blog in any manner whatsoever. Your Dentist is the best judge and advisor. 

Delhi Protests - Lumpens In The Media

A few top guys in an office on the sixth floor of a semi-govt company used to work late often. This was at Nariman Point in Mumbai. So these 4-5 guys use to dip their hands in the office petty cash and order beer. The peon used to go and get the stuff for them. It was a regular practice and was on for years. The vouchers were made with fake bills and the auditors never found anything wrong or unusual in the expenses. This went on for 7 years till a junior auditor came along and found some vouchers with unfair expenses. The peon regularly claimed taxi fare to and from the company’s bank for daily transactions. On seeking a clarification from the manager, the auditor got the reply that there are no autos around Nariman Point and buses take a long time so it was fair for the peon to take a taxi every day. The junior auditor said “no, no, I’m asking why is he claiming taxi fare and why does he need a taxi”. The irritated manager again explained the difficult situation around Nariman Point with commuting. The auditor then told him: “But sir, your office is on the 6th floor and your bank is on the ground floor, so why a taxi at all”? Oops!  

If the management guys are looting the company then they have to take care of the little guy. They have to allow the peon his little share of looting. That’s a reasonably good value system, isn’t it? Be fair in looting! It’s a value system that govts share with the media too. The govt is the big guy and some channels are like the peons. So if the govt is into misdeeds then it allows some news channels to have their share of misdeeds and corruption. These news channels are the peons of the management in the govt. It is rare for the little guy to expose the misdeeds of the boss. That driver screwing his boss with a video of his sexcapades is an oddity. The guy was an unusual lousy boss who didn’t pay well for his secrets. But not the govt peons from the media, they’re paid well. They are paid well not only to keep secrets but also to defend the govt no matter what. The story in the first para is neither a joke nor fake. It’s time to take a detour.  

On December 22 people of Delhi were out on the streets protesting the brutal gang-rape and assault of a 23-year old woman on a bus. Thousands were out at India Gate and up the path to Rashtrapati Bhawan in protest. Their outrage was justified and the protests seemed spontaneous. Delhi-ites are sick to the bone with crimes, especially rape and assaults on women. Yet someone in the media could only hear of “drunken lumpens” among the protesters. You know, like lumpens who rape and assault women on buses and throw them on to the streets to die. The police had to lathi charge some of these lumpens. Yeah, why not! Take a look at the two pics below:

One is of a gentleman using a lathi and destroying the AmarJawan memorial in Mumbai during the Azad Maidan protests in August 2012. The police were kind to the civilised protesters at Azad Maidan then. The second pic is that of a lumpen element being lathi-charged by a policeman. You can take one look and tell that the lady being beaten up is drunk. Can’t you? Well, many such “drunken lumpens” had infiltrated the protesting crowds in Delhi so naturally Barkha Dutt was very disturbed. She went on a tweet-spree about these lumpens.

Barkha got feedback from her reporter that drunken lumpens had infiltrated the crowds and was naturally keen to let her friends know about the dangers. She first tweets quite pragmatically. Then she tweets to another friend called Prasanto. Both Barkha and Prasanto are “rabid mutual ass-lickers”. Don’t ask but I can tell these things. So it is safe to assume that the guy at Azad Maidan is a nice gentleman because he is “secular” and the lady being beaten up by the policeman is probably a drunken lumpen. In any metro city it is quite likely there are always certain lumpen elements hanging around in some corner, lurking for the moment and their prey. They can be on the streets, on trains and buses and even in media studios. So why is it so shocking for Barkha? No, wait! First, outside Safdurjang hospital it’s only drunken lumpens and no protesters. Dangerous, isn’t it? But on second thoughts, in the next tweet, she makes concessions: “some of the crowds” are lumpens, not all.  

Chaprasis have to often defend their bosses at all times. They may have various incentives to do so. If necessary, they can create suspicion, spread alarming falsehoods and even outright lies. It comes with the job. You try and point a finger at their boss and you will find yourself painted as the most uncouth, uncivilised character that possibly could be. Sometimes it can be mere loyalty. Let’s move on.

So the friend tweets and asks Barkha “how will social and physical disorder in public spaces achieve public order”? Good question! And Barkha instantly agrees. “Exactly” she says, like she was making the same point. Considering drunken lumpens had infiltrated the crowds the danger of some impending disaster was palpable. The protest was for security of women, to prevent crimes against women and it would be a tragedy if some crime were to happen during the protest itself. Wouldn’t it? I guess, they should have first consulted Barkha and her cronies on what would be the best way to protest. After all, Barkha does have experience of being in the midst of protests and reporting, doesn’t she? No, no, not from Jantar Mantar or India Gate but from another place. It’s called Tahrir Square and it’s in ancient Egypt. These people should have learned from Barkha about “secular” protests and how to treat women and stuff.

In February 2011 Barkha tweeted and dismissed fears about the Muslim Brotherhood, the radical Islamic group, taking over Egypt. Barkha and her Fiberals were convinced Egypt was turning into a liberal democracy. But that’s hardly the point, eh? The point is about those loverly protesters at Tahrir Square. “Woh Tahrir waale kahan aur yeh India Gate waale kahan”. No comparison at all. Tahrir wins hands down. You see, at Tahrir the young people cut across all class types. Oh, not to forget, they were “secular”. Which in the words of our Fiberals means they are cultured and well-behaved, unlike the uncivilised lumpens at India Gate or Safdurjang who deserved to be lathi-charged and water-cannoned by the police. Egypt, as an Islamic majority nation, frequently targets Coptic Christians for violence, burns their churches and is now turning into more of an Islamic state than it ever was before. But to Barkha, they are “secular” and there were apparently no lumpen elements in all the crowds she met. Is that really true? And despite the massive presence of Army at Tahrir who didn’t assault the crowds, our police with their water-cannons and lathis were far more civilised. Right?  

We had our drunken lumpens in the bus who raped and have nearly murdered a woman. Lara Logan of CBS, a woman who belongs to Barkha’s professional community, had a very different experience though. On February 11, around the same period Barkha was in Egypt, Logan was attacked by Barkha’s “secular” crowds at Tahrir. She was assaulted and molested. In Logan’s own words:  "For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands. My clothes were torn to pieces...what really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence”. Writing anymore on this incident would be too graphic. But hey, they weren’t drunken lumpens like the ones at Safdurjang or India Gate and they were “secular”. Of all the Tahrir Square reports, I’m not sure I’ve read one from Barkha about Lara Logan.

Someone mentioned the term ‘MacaulayPutras’ to describe the elites. The Delhi protests brought out the contempt that one such MacaulayPutri, Barkha Dutt, holds for ordinary people when they are up against the govt she serves through her channel. Oh yes, if the govt is the boss it is fair to call NDTV the Chaprasi. The Chaprasi that will speak for, twist and spin issues on behalf of the govt. Not surprisingly, the only ones seeing lumpens are from NDTV as Maya Mirchandani tweeted. And the guy the channel was speaking to when the lathi-charge and water-cannons fired? Of course, MoS for Home, the Honourable RPN Singh! Yes, the same guy who kicked people on November 14, 2011 when RahulG started his UP campaign at Phulpur. In any other democracy RPN would have been in jail but he’s a minister in the Congress govt and, of course, Barkha is a Padma Shri.

Even a foreign journalist, Andrew Buncombe didn’t miss it. Vishnu Som, who was on the ground and reporting, perhaps suggested the ‘protesters have lost the plot’. Like most ordinary people even Buncombe didn’t miss the disgusting moronery of NDTV. He tweeted to call NDTV govt spokies. He is being kind. I have called them for what they are; peons. On December 22, the real drunken lumpens weren’t on the streets; they were in the studios of NDTV and in the heads of their propagandists, led by their chief-propagandist. 

The Union Of Snakes

Listen carefully: “..And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome, god-damn propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network…  So, you listen to me. Listen to me! Television is not the truth. Television's a god-damned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We're in the boredom-killing business. So if you want the Truth, go to God! Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves! Because that's the only place you're ever gonna find any real truth. But, man, you're never gonna get any truth from us… We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true! But you people sit there day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds. We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube. You even think like the tube. This is mass madness. You maniacs! In God's name, you people are the real thing. We are the illusion”. Those are confessions and rants of a has-been but reincarnated TV anchor to his live audience. *

The Union of Snakes

Somewhere in a corner of Delhi is a building that houses a union. It’s called the Editors Guild of India. As far as I know, it doesn’t have any website or any information for the public. Once in a while the members meet, have coffee and lunch, and confess their sins and then go back to their regular world of creating illusions. You see, habits have a very strong gravitational pull about them. So they met again on July 6, 2012 to confess their sins and seek redemption. Speakers were editors who were wondering how to address various challenges to the media including paid news. I must make a small correction here. What they are referring to is the ‘news media’ and not any other form of media. Hmm! That’s like snakes in a pit discussing how their oil can be better refined for their snake-oil distributors. So let’s sample a few:

Shekhar Gupta: Anchors in the electronic media on the manner in which they have gone from "becoming inquisitors, have now become judges and executioners". He then cited reporting on the Adarsh as an example of how little the editors cared to cross-check facts which led to "a mythology being built…. senior journalists were embracing the government" and "speaking for the government". Ah well, there is no better mythology in recent history than SG’s Raisina Hill army concoction, a stale one too. It’s revolting to listen to a man who embraces the govt more than any other and whose paper survives on ad doles by the govt. He urged members not be "seduced by the government" by accepting RS nominations or becoming part of any govt panel.That sounds like Moses himself talking doesn’t it? With what moral authority does the man speak? I believe journalists should not only decline RS nominations but not accept any govt awards like the Padma during their active careers. Shekhar is guilty of that too. Forget accepting awards and nominations from govt. the media snakes actually dole out awards to politicians and ministers, the ones whom they are supposed to keep a watch on. How can the watchdogs be rewarding potential crooks? And still claim objectivity and fairness in reporting is their motive or goal?

Here’s another gem from SG: "Indian journos are, afraid of their shadows, waiting for regulation". Simple fact is, no amount of regulation can ever be a substitute for the conscience of an editor or a reporter. Self-regulation is the mythical nonsense that these snakes offer as substitute while selling their soul to the devil at every opportunity. Rajdeep Sardesai, another of those editors, quotes SG: “journalists’ downfall is being caused by arrogance, greed and incompetence”. I wonder which part of that quote doesn’t apply to Shekhar or for that matter any other editor. If Rajdeep really understands that quote he should be looking at Sagarika Ghose on his own channel – arrogance and incompetence personified. In response to being scoffed at for his Raisina Hill blunder Shekhar and his team filed a 500 crore defamation suit against others. And talk about bad timing. SG makes this statement when veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar in his autobiography reveals about him: “He had become arrogant and abnormally affluent”. Abnormally affluent? Shekhar must feel like a schoolboy bunking classes after that remark.

Raghav Bahl, Network 18, said the media needs to regulate the content by itself and does not need "content filters", and criticized the way the media was "purveying virtually by rote half-understood government language. "Government is god, is the stance journalists are taking and end up magnifying what is a wrong hand-out by the government department" he said, putting the CAG report "in that category". Really? Talk about clever trickery by Bahl. Of all the govt departments, the one department that still retains a high level of integrity and trust by people is the CAG. The reason why Bahl cites the CAG report as a “hand-out” is because his channels somehow did not manage to prove the charges in the 2G scam were inaccurate and couldn’t be dumped by Rajdeep & Co. This is as third-rate a snake-oil sales pitch as you’ll ever get in a union meet. And as the rant in the opening paragraph indicates; a giant investment by a corporate giant is the best form of content filter that Raghav Bahl would endorse. Time will tell how Bahl’s media outlets will report on this corporate giant. 

Raghav Bahl? That's a laugh. Like politicians, media barons too think people have short memories. Here's an extract from Girish Nikam, which till date remains a mystery that Bahl has never answered:

What does Raghav Behl, the MD of TV 18(CNBC TV 18 and CNN-IBN), have to say about Manoj Modi (right hand man of Mukesh Ambani) claiming (on June 10,2009) in his conversation with Niira Radia that he told(threatened) him(Raghav) “your organisation is corrupt…. Even factual stories you don’t print about ADAG and you will work for us. I want to know who is the source, Mukesh(Ambani) ko personally attack karega toh main manoj modi hoon, chodega nahin kisiko.——-Raghav said in order to put pressure on me(Raghav himself)— send me(raghav) a legal notice”...... Did Raghav Behl ask Modi to send him a legal notice? If not true, did Raghav Behl get a letter from Modi, making such threats, as Modi claims in this tape and repeatedly asks Niira Radia not to disclose about it to anyone?

In one of the conversations(on June 13,2009) .......Niira Radia remarks that “Sebi investigations is on against Siddharth(Zarabi, Economic Policy Editor, CNBC TV 18), Udayan(mukherjee, anchor and MD CNBC TV 18)....they are getting their wives involved in the (stock) market), and the SEBI investigation is on”. She also goes on to say that Udayan Mukherjee “files the highest tax returns among journalists…… he pays Rs.6 crore as income tax, and he doesn’t even earn that much”. Now what has Raghav Behl and his colleagues named here done about these obviously serious charges? Is what she is saying true? If not what action are they contemplating or have taken? So much for Raghav Bahl's self-regulation.

After a lot of motherly talk about propriety, not pandering to govt, govt is not God and not eating hand-outs from govt, who do they invite? Well, they invite a minister Salman Khurshid and Opposition leader Ravishankar Prasad. Khurshid, the man known best for his smooth double talk! Inclusive growth and sustainable development are the two most abused terms in the 21st century by govts all over the world. So the minister, fond of quotas in every other domain, called for an "inclusive, collective approach" while debating on the criminal aspect of defamation. There you go: “Inclusive”! He said civil suits in defamation could be effective in dealing with the criminal element of defamation. Hmm! Let me interpret that for you. Whenever our current govt mentions ‘defamation’ it mostly refers to offensive material about the Gandhis or cartoons about the Nehru-Gandhi clan. Bad taste and offensive content may not be healthy but they’re certainly not criminal and most content that Khurshid, Sibal & Co. want to filter won’t exactly amount to defamation in a court of law. But he hopes the Union would get the hint. That’s another verbal hand-out that has passed over Raghav Bahl’s head I suppose.  

Do these snakes have the guts to face the real issues instead of spurious issues like regulation? Here are some important observations by Ajit Mohan: “The Rotten State of India’s Media”, in the WSJ December 2, 2011. Excerpts (Emphasis mine):

What is broken about the news media in India is self-evident on the front pages of the dailies in the mornings and on the nightly news on television in the evenings… Frighteningly, the situation is even worse on television channels. Most news channels just do not do reporting anymore. What counts for reporting is usually a small snippet of a roving ‘journalist’ talking to a few randomly chosen individuals on the streets of Delhi and Mumbai for their take on the big controversy of the day. This then segues to what has become the preferred format of all channels: a panel of six to eight ‘experts’, usually spokesmen of major political parties mixed with out-of-work politicians, newspaper and magazine editors, and the day’s representation from the roving celebrity class of lobbyist-PR agent-commentators (whose reason to be on the panel is never quite clear), ranting at each other while struggling to have their screeching voices heard above the incessant screaming of the anchor. All this while the viewer struggles to keep up with the multiple, disjointed layers of scrolling headlines perennially sliding on the screen below the screamers…

So, how did we get here? For a start, the crisis in Indian media does lend credence to the emerging wisdom around the world that objective and independent journalism can only thrive in a non-profit environment, perhaps with the benevolent support of wealthy trusts and individuals. Most major newspapers and television channels in the country are owned by for-profit corporations that understandably have an emphasis on the bottom-line. These organizations invariably have other business interests and relationships that may make objective journalism within their newspapers and channels difficult and inconvenient. Many media outlets are disproportionately reliant on their advertisers – a recent analyst report estimated that nearly 75% of print revenue in India comes from advertising – thus, the temptation always exists to pander to them, especially when these advertisers are the subjects of the reporting. The temptation must also exist to punish those advertisers who choose competing outlets. This drift towards seeking easy ways to pander to audiences and advertisers is exacerbated by the culture of incestuous self-serving relationships.

Go fix that!

I can go and on but I think the ‘real us’ get the message from the snakes every single day. The days of straight and honest reporting have long been buried in every news channel and newspaper. Honest reporters would be an oddity these days. Still, the last thing one wants is any govt intervention or regulation of the news media. It will take another huge Radiagate or a monumental scandal of the media to break to really see any true reforms. Till then the union of snakes will keep peddling snake-oil through their distributors and networks. As the anchor rants “We are the illusion”!

*Excerpts from the speech “We are the illusion” by Howard Beale from the movie “Network”

Quotes in this post are from NYDailyNews and FirstPost.

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