Taking A Dive

True story: Sometime in 1999-2000 I took an Indian Airlines flight from Delhi to Lucknow for a day-trip. My return flight was around 5.30pm and passengers were boarded with a minor delay. When the aircraft was ready to leave the engine wouldn’t start. It was like a car that makes a whirring sound on ignition but wouldn’t start. We were offloaded and made to wait on the tarmac as two engineers came to the aircraft. They opened the cover of the left engine and did some minor checks and repairs. After a few minutes we were boarded again but the plane had the same problem and wouldn’t start. We were offloaded again and back came the engineers. They estimated it would take longer for the repairs so we were sent back to the terminal. We were served snacks while we waited and departure was announced again at around 9pm. We boarded the aircraft again but this time there was a new problem. You see, about a dozen passengers were quite worried about the engines so they refused to let the aircraft fly unless the engineers accompanied the flight. The arguments with the IA staff and crew lasted some 15 minutes till this group finally relented.

The dozen passengers had finally relented because an elderly passenger intervened and asked them if they expected the engineers to go out and make repairs if the engines conked out mid-air at some 30000 feet. There are some good, bad and hilarious moments I’ve had in flights with IA and AI. We did reach Delhi safely without another engine failure. Since then IA has had Alliance Air, then changed the name to just “Indian” and finally all the branches are under one brand ‘Air India’ (AI). Some years prior AI was one of the best in international flights and as Indian my preferred choice but most travellers were aware the airline was going down the drain. This is what brings me to a small review of the book “The descent of Air India” by its former executive director Jitender Bhargava (JB).    

I have often stated that Jawaharlal Nehru did not possess the foresight and vision for large country like ours. When he nationalised AI in 1953 he assured JRD Tata there would be no interference from the govt and he was true to his word. What he did not foresee is that his successors and other ministers would not stand by his word. Thus, one of India’s finest brands and world-renowned airline has been forced to take a dive. This is the story that JB tells us. The book may not exactly be exciting to read but is more like a documentary and mostly written as JB’s journey in his nearly 3-decade career with the airline. But it is a must read for anyone who wishes to acquire expertise on how to destroy a great business and a great brand.

There’s the usual union problems; with Commie political parties backing them. There are stories of pilferage of premium Whisky and stuff by the pursers and cabin crew. Excessive compensation demands, allowances and appointment of people without expertise and so on. There’s even a hilarious idea of “Kerala massage” for passengers to improve their inflight experience. There’s a case where seats were chosen not by rational purchase procedures but only by celebrities trying those out at the AI office (like Shobha De). And yes, they had a variety of expertise on the board at times, including Jaya Bachchan of Bollywood. AI had also informally shifted its HQ from Mumbai to Delhi years ago but formalised it in February 2013. This is so that the chairmen could be close to the Civil Aviation ministry bosses and other political powers. I know, you must be wondering why all of these should be coming to you from a book when AI has been going downhill for many years. Well, I always say: The media is the first line of defence for the corrupt. This may not entirely relate to corruption but since media too was scavenging on a dying airline many stories may not have come out in the open.    

Since the book covers a lot of areas of failures in AI I will stick to mostly media related issues. Let’s, therefore, digress a bit. In November 2012 I posted the article “HT Summit: How to Sell Leadership & Make Money” which showed how unrelated PSUs, some of which were monopolies and never big advertisers, were doling out money for sponsoring the HT Summit for inexplicable reasons. A majority of the sponsors were PSUs and YOUR money was being used to fund these “private parties”. I am not implying a direct connection with AI but part of the airline’s story is somewhat similar. So let’s read some edited excerpts (in blue, emphasis mine) from the book. For a start, here’s a serious way to solve your company’s problems (V. Thulasidas is a former CMD 2003-08):

As the airline’s performance careened to new lows year after year, none could stay immune to the impending catastrophe. Even Mr Thulasidas was perturbed. Instead of tacking the problems at hand with research and rationale, however, he decided to invoke the power of ‘vaastu’. An expert… from Hyderabad was appointed to guide the chairman on which angle to place his desk, where to conduct his meetings with colleagues and which doors to the conference room to keep shut or open. The changes suggested by the experts were duly carried out at substantial expense to the airline… Another example of how Mr Thulasidas prioritised his personal preferences was his insistence on being escorted to and back from work every day of his tenure. An AI employee would pick him up from his house every morning and drop him back at his house every evening. And in the mornings, as Mr Thulasidas’s car approached the AI building, the aide would call a peon at the office and ask him to hold the elevator door open.

Okay, that’s hilarious but not all CMDs are described like that. JB goes on to describe how intolerant of dissent the leaders at AI had become between 2004 and 2008. As with other PSUs given below are cases where largesse was being doled out to media houses for no reason or rhyme. JB reads it as “barter” for publicity but even he judges it wrongly.

For example, when a reputed media house was hosting its annual summit, _____ _____ extended AI’s patronage to the event without consulting the chairman. He committed the airline to 30 lakh worth of tickets by way of a barter deal in lieu of publicity for AI. When the organisers sought tickets as part of the deal, we discovered that there was no written approval or sanction for the barter arrangement. No one had any knowledge of the verbal agreement either, but it had to be honoured since the minister had already given his word.

It was the same story when it came to organising familiarisation trips for the media at the time of a new flight launch or some such affair. The minister’s office would send a list of journalists to be invited… some of these ‘journalists’ never wrote a line after their return. But our views were not taken into consideration, not even when it could have both saved the airline a substantial amount of money and ensured better publicity. In 2007, when India won the T20 cricket championship, AI was forced to release full-page advertisement in the newspapers on the specious plea that we should celebrate as almost half the victorious team was on the rolls of AI. The advertisements cost the airline 3.50 crores – this at a time when the airline was financially bleeding.

Professional cricketers with lucrative contracts with BCCI were also on AI rolls? Nice! Cricket is as much a political tool for many politicians as are the glamorous PSUs like AI. Now, what JB refers to as “publicity” is not publicity at all. Publicity could be in the form of some favourable article (even notified as sponsored) or some write-ups that talk about the airlines services or major achievements etc. JB doesn’t indicate any such return for the expense. He calls it barter purely because no cash was paid; it was just plain “sponsorship” or an “advertising dole” with nothing measureable gained in return.

Since advertising budgets had always been low, the airline has chosen its media basket with caution. But at the behest of a few people in power, AI, AAI and IA were forced to release every campaign, irrespective of whether it was relevant to the newspaper’s readers or not, in a publication owned by a powerful media magnate. Even by the most conservative estimate, advertisements worth over 10 Crore were issued to the said media house.

And the above is backed by a note dated May 3, 2005 from the Ministry of Civil Aviation complaining about advertisements going to some newspapers were not going to ____ which is a leading newspaper for Western India. So everyone had a hand in the till. Many media palms were greased. It didn’t matter to many that all this was killing the golden goose. There are, of course, other issues of purchase of fleets beyond needs and burdening the airline. Giving off profitable routes to others and even the CAG pointing out entertainment equipment purchased above normal market prices. Much of this is being talked in the media only after this book was released in October 2013 although there have been stray articles here and there.  Here’s a video from NewsX as recently as February 1 talking about free tickets in 2006 (AI is unwilling to disclose the "commercial" beneficiaries) and the courts taking notice (2.0 mins):

Surprisingly, the publisher (Bloomsbury) has withdrawn the book from the market because Praful Patel filed a defamation case against them and the author for certain comments about him or certain decisions attributed to him and a certain scam. We don’t know because the case was settled out-of-court and the book withdrawn. But even when the book was in circulation and being sold no media house seriously discussed it. The reason is obvious; it may have implicated some of them as beneficiaries of govt largesse through AI. I have found nothing that can be considered defamatory because many adverse statements against Patel are either backed by documentary evidence or by references to deals that are in the public domain. JB has stated in the press that he will now publish the book himself or have an eBook made available soon. That should be good news for those who wish to read the book. Here’s another piece from the book that explains the culture of management at AI:

Over the years, the politicians have become more demanding. They interact directly with the chairmen, in whose appointment they are likely to have played a role. During 1993-94, when Ghulam Nabi Azad was the minister of civil aviation, Russy Mody, as chairman of AI, summed up the environment well when he publicly stated, “I want to be azad, and he wants me to be his Ghulam”.

In sporting terms “taking a dive” simply means deliberately losing a match or a bout to a competitor with or without any consideration. In Cricket we are familiar with the term “match-fixing”.  AI has been forced to take a dive for many years. It may be too late to save the airline unless govt is removed from the management. It remains to be seen whether our media will take the trouble of looking into other PSUs who generously bail them out. I’m not betting on it. 

The Saints At NDTV

In February 2012 when a CBI trial court dismissed a petition of Subramaniam Swamy, seeking naming P. Chidambaram in the 2G case, the greatest tears of joy weren’t from the Congress party but from quite a few in the media. Some of those reporting from the court were jumping in joy over the relief for PC. There is a perception that PC is a darling of NDTV and it is in that context that some recent developments concerning the channel’s financial dealings are in public discussion again. Manushi, a trust run by social activist Madhu Kishwar, and she have been issued a legal notice for defamation by NDTV.

The notice for defamation started over an article published by Manushi titled “NDTV & Chidambaram Accused of Money Laundering Scam of Rs. 5500 cr”. The article also linked a Youtube video (which appears in the name of ManushiIndia) which has an IT Commissioner SK Srivastava narrating his thwarted battle in this alleged scam. This has been making the rounds for quite some time. The main contention of NDTV’s legal notice is that the article is based on bogus sources and in their own words: “Mr. Srivastava's charges are nothing new. These are completely bogus and laughably false claims that Mr. Srivastava and his associates have been making for years, which have repeatedly been dismissed by every authority who has examined them. That is the reason that no rational journalist has ever published these accusations in the past few years”. Alright, that part by NDTV is true that Srivastava’s claims have been dismissed and no journalist has ever published these accusations. The funny part is media houses and journalists don’t publish scams about their own “Hammam” even when there is reason to do so. What NDTV claims is also from old proceedings but don’t take into account latest developments in the case.

The latest discussions on these allegations started with Ram Jethmalani writing a letter to PC on December 6, 2013 (which is much after the dismissals of cases being mentioned by NDTV). What RamJ states makes stunning reading. Here’s a pic of part of the contents:

It is evident RamJ minces no words and directly accuses PC and his son being owners of the money allegedly laundered by NDTV. This is not the first time RamJ has accused PC in black-money related issues. Sometime back he wrote in the Sunday Guardian a stinging article titled “Friend, father & philosopher of black money is Chidambaram”. So S. Gurumurthy, a BJP finance specialist and freelance journalist, picks up RamJ’s notes and has a chat with Prannoy Roy who then sends a detailed reply to Gurumurthy on the queries. Obviously, SG isn’t happy with some parts of the reply so he writes back with more stinging observations. Let’s read some edited excerpts from SG’s mail:

There are two aspects to this issue. First, I never said that when Sumana Sen became the AO you hired her husband Abhisar Sharma. I had said she was the AO when Abhisar Sharma was your employee – which disqualified her from assessing the NDTV. Next she did make an assessment and give NDTV a refund of Rs 1.47 cr – which assessment was done illegally under Sec 143(1) which ought not to have been done when a notice for that assessment u/s 143(2) was pending. So you have not been properly briefed by whosoever gave you the facts. In fact from the manner of your response, your knowledge of the facts regarding Sharma-Sen seems to be very limited. Here are the correct facts.

In the links provided you will find that the IT Commissioner SK Srivastava whose investigations are under discussion by Manushi was also accused of sexually harassing this particular lady, Sumana Sen and one of her colleagues.

Even NDTV with all its posturing of moral high ground never informed the Govt./Income Tax Deptt. about that and kept silent about the fact that the wife of its employee (Sri Abhisar Sharma) had become the Assessing Officer of NDTV, all its group companies and all its Directors including you under all the Direct Tax Acts. Even more importantly, in March 2005, five months after she became its assessing officer and all its group companies and all its Directors including you, NDTV offered through Abhisar Sharma European tour at its cost to Sumana Sen – a luxury which, the Income tax deparment has found, was not offered to any other employee of his grade.

After accepting the NDTV offer to foot her holiday travel to Europe by concealing the fact that she was the assessing officer, on March 28, 2005, Sumana Sen passed assessment order u/s 143 (1) of the Income Tax Act accepting the return of NDTV and granting a refund of Rs 1.47 crore. This was completely an illegal order as when this was order was made, there was already a notice issued u/s 143(2) of the Act and pending against NDTV for scrutiny assessment. The law declared by the Supreme Court is that when such a notice is pending no assessment u/s 143(1) can be made.

Ten days after Sumana Sen had made the assessment on NDTV u/s 143(1) and granted the illegal refund of Rs 1.47, on April 8, 2005, the government granted permission to her to avail of the benefit of travel to Europe, but prohibiting her from accepting it, if at any point of time she had any official dealings, either in the present or in the past with NDTV.

Despite being the assessing officer of NDTV and its associates and having passed order illegally refunding Rs 1.47 cr to NDTV on March 28, 2005, just 13 days before, on 10.04.2005 Sumana Sen gave a false and fraudulent undertaking that she was not the Assessing Officer of NDTV Ltd., has never dealt with the case of NDTV and has never had any official dealings with it.

The other parts concern funds raised by NDTV here, there and everywhere with their 21 subsidiary companies. You know, like “Chota mota” funds. There is another site (Mumbaiwalla) that details this recognition of Abhisar Sharma’s excellent work as a TV anchor for which he was rewarded by NDTV with a luxury trip to Europe. You have to believe NDTV that this grand trip for Abhisar Sharma had nothing to do with his wife, Sumana Sen, being the IT officer assessing NDTV’s returns and accounts. Sharma could have well been the “performer of the year” at the channel. Maybe NDTV should just a release a list of all its employees that were given such luxury trips as rewards. That brings us to the important question why NDTV chose only Manushi/Madhu Kishwar for legal action for defamation.

For a start, this isn’t the first time NDTV has been in the news for bad financial dealings or IT related bungling. Besides the articles linked here there was also a report by Sunday Guardian on “NDTV loan chicanery”. From Radiagate to financial scandals, NDTV makes more news on these than any other achievements. The reason for legal action against Madhu Kishwar seems to be basically to make her a “bakra” so that others get the message loud and clear: “don’t mess with us”. Even otherwise NDTV has always been trigger-happy in such actions, be it TAM ratings or a stray blogger on “shoddy journalism”. The reason to act against Manushi is that it will cause the latter some stress in legal expenses if the case goes any further. This won’t work with RamJ given he’s a tough lawyer himself and won’t have to buy legal expertise. The other reason is RamJ has written a letter to the finance minister on NDTV’s scams and not made any public disclosure. Although his letter has been leaked or released to the public it doesn’t make a case for defamation. Kishwar’s case is different in that she not only put out the information directly into public domain (including a video) and is not a private letter to someone seeking an investigation.

It is, however, an undeniable fact that Madhu Kishwar has only put out information that was already in the public domain with additional claims of documents received by her. People were tweeting about the allegations against NDTV under the hashtag #PCWedsNDTV. So NDTV may hope that with their legal threat the talk on social media may dissipate and these allegations can fade. So, for NDTV to claim that only Kishwar’s article defamed them is nothing but spite. Naturally, the English “Hammam” gave a pass to the charges made by RamJ against both NDTV and PC. But it seems to have appeared in some Hindi papers as this tweet indicates (I have erased the Twitter handles):

I’m sure the Hindi paper didn’t bother to check with NDTV either as they have demanded of Madhu Kishwar. It has merely reported an exchange. If one goes through RamJ’s letter it will be clear that SK Srivastava has gone through and is still facing a lot of cases for doing his job. Given that NDTV is friendly with the current govt in charge at the centre the frequent allegations against them is not being investigated thoroughly. Each time these come up, the folks at NDTV claim they are “Saints” and are divinely free of any guilt. Either that or it’s a mere ‘error of judgement’. It will take a new govt, if it is courageous enough, to investigate and prosecute the many misdeeds of the MSM. 

India's Worst Journalists - 2014

This is the third edition of India’s Worst Journalists poll; the Razzies for the worst in the business. The poll is conducted every two years (Previously 2010 and 2012). The term “journalists” is being used only technically as people have coined many other names for these unworthies: “Paid media”, “brokers” and even “pimps”. It’s an election year and most of these unworthies will be seen campaigning heavily for the non-performers and the corrupt. That the poll has grown in popularity can be measured by the fact that in 2010 it was just a panel of 7 who picked the list, in 2012 there were 938 voters and this year there are 9429 voters.

A word about those who exited from the 2012 list: Arnab Goswami may not have won too many back-scratching industry awards but has earned a lot of respect for his integrity if not for his style of TV shows. Vinod Sharma, the HT mouthpiece for Congress, has lost in prominence and therefore wasn’t considered worth the trouble. Vir Sanghvi too has lost all standing as a journalist and the former Radia-stenographer makes some back-door appearances on TV and nothing more. Shekhar Gupta didn’t make it to the winners list probably because he is not in the news anymore and there weren’t any sensational “Raisina hill” type blunders. This is probably because he had to give up overall management of Indian Express and retain his job as editorialist. Poll results and tabulation are appended to this post. Here are India’s Worst Journalists 2014 (2012 ranking in brackets after name):

10. S. Varadarajan (New entrant)

Till recently S. Varadarajan or “Varadabhai” as I fondly call him, was the editor of ‘The Hindu’ which is famous for its anti-Hindu articles. Lately, Varadabhai is a TV panellist who helps to continue pounding the redundant theory that Modi abetted the 2002 riots. He came out strongly in support of Rahul Gandhi’s bogus allegations on January 27 with Arnab Goswami. Incidentally, RG stated journalists told him Gujarat govt was involved in the riots. I guess RG just missed naming Varadabhai directly. Peddling opinions as news articles was one of the reasons the anti-Hindu claimed he was sacked from the newspaper.  The most hilarious article carried in the The Hindu under Varadabhai was one which more or less claimed the “masculine pose” by Swami Vivekananda was one of the causes of rapes in India. So if Varadabhai ever strikes that pose I don’t want to venture a guess on what’s on his mind.

9. Kumar Ketkar (9)

KK stays where he was last time. He retains his old habits of hate-RSS, hate-Hindutva and anything remotely connected with BJP. Of course, most would remember he’s also a former speech writer for Congress. Lately, he’s an “acting” defence lawyer for the AAP party. Following the anarchic acts of Arvind Kejriwal & Co. outside Rail Bhawan in January 2014 Ketkar quickly defended them by telling CNN-IBN India has always been anarchic. He recalled events like the Ayodhya movement to defend Kejriwal’s stupidity. KK has a rare distinction though. He’s one of those media heroes who has been provided police protection following police complaints and threats for abusing a certain caste in Maharashtra. And that contempt is because he hated a certain politician. There’s also a case relating to defamatory articles against the RSS and also abusing judiciary. It’s unlikely the man will change. A hate-filled heart remains the same. 

8. Nikhil Wagle (New entrant)

Frankly, this media moron is in the bad news not so much for journalism but for his filthy tweets and some allegations by one Nitin Rane. I haven’t watched him on IBN Lokmat nor have I had the misfortune to read anything he may have ever written. Like some others in this list he is most known for peddling of untruths. His most stupid outburst was against the middle class people. He tweeted in March 2012: “I am surprised by the low IQ of middle class in this country. Their understanding of politics is so dismal that they vote BJP. God save!” In another tweet he brazenly claims “Not a single PM of India has defended communal riots directly or indirectly. If @narendramodi dreams to become PM he should know this!” Of course, this Congress crony apparently backs what Rajiv Gandhi said justifying killing of Sikhs with a great tree falling. While Wagle often screams about corruption, readers and voters are quite aware of his bosses being alleged to be involved in the Coal scam. I don’t see any reason why Wagle why will ever move out of this list. 

7. Nidhi Razdan (10)

The “Larger picture” has made progress and has gone up the list. If she is angling for a permanent spot among India’s worst then she’s doing just the right things. With a permanent scowl on her face and permanent contempt for some panellists, her show called “Left, right, centre” is nothing more than filler on NDTV. Sort of bench-warming for passing the “buck”. Nidhi delivered one of the most shameful episodes on Indian TV in her mindless rant against a British MP for inviting Narendra Modi to speak in the British parliament. She even claimed she had the right to “question” SC judgements. If you watch the video of that shameless spectacle Nidhi mentions “controversial/controversy” as many times as Rahul Gandhi mentions empowerment or systems in his speeches. A thorough disgrace to journalism.

6. Karan Thapar (6)

India’s only “bow-tie” journalist (he often reminds me of the bow-tie killer). He has earned the nickname ‘The Tool’ after infamously ridiculing PA Sangma, the presidential candidate, of being a tool in the hands of some political parties. His standard pose is the dangerous “masculine” pose that The Hindu warns us of as the cause of rapes. Often also called a Paki-Tool, KT sort of proved it when he was handed a quote of Nawaz Sharif about friendship with India. This quote was planted by the Pak news agencies after Sharif became PM and KT grandly discussed the “hand of friendship” on his show. It just turned out the statement was made by Sharif to none other than KT earlier (before Sharif became PM again) and the Pakis made KT a “useful idiot” to peddle that old statement in the midst of LOC violations. The other thing KT is fond of is making others (like Sibal, Jaitley) sit in his chair and play Devil’s Advocate and pay him compliments. His 2007 statement hoping for a “sudden removal of Modi” may hold more interest now in many quarters.   

5. Rajdeep Sardesai (3)

If Rajdeep has fallen one place it’s only because a bigger disgrace has made a grand debut in this list. “Point taken, fair enough” is now the standard defence RS offers when zapped by a panellist (much like Nidhi’s “larger picture” diversion). From defending Robert Vadra and the Gandhis, RS is now seen as grand campaigner for the AAP party. The number of interviews and promotions of Arvind Kejriwal on CNN-IBN and the whole IBN group would stand as proof. His most famous event in the past two years would be the incompetent interview with Modi on the bus floor. Modi even, deliberately or inadvertently, called him “Sar-ka-dard-esai”. Under RS the IBN group has hit rock bottom with many employees being sacked and the channel hitting new lows in TRP. Quite unfortunate considering CNN-IBN does have some of the best journalists on TV. Rajdeep’s judgement and prudence can be measured by the fact that most of his IOTY nominees have ended up as disasters. If the “top” is bad then no number of good journalists can shore up a failing channel.   

4. Ashutosh (New entrant)

One of the admirable things about Ashutosh is that he made his way up from humble beginnings to prominence. But as many will tell him, it’s not where you started but where you finished that counts. Right now Ashutosh has finished in absolute disgrace. He pretended to be a journalist and an editor while being a political activist for the AAP party. Ashutosh epitomises what most of his colleagues are: Political cronies in the garb of journalists. He had to be thrown out and he became a full time politician; scarf, cap ‘Malala look’ and all that. Having become a politician he now does a U-turn on many things he uttered as a closet-journalist. The pro-retail stand FDI turning into anti-FDI being the most prominent one. Somewhere, Ashutosh suffers an inferiority complex as well it seems. His muddled language often confuses but doesn’t fail to entertain with its stupidity. So much that Kiran Bedi held up Roget’s Thesaurus to him to help him understand the meaning of “anarchy”. In return he has promised to teach her a lesson. I’m willing to bet: failed journalist, failed politician.

3. Sagarika Ghose (2)

She was again in the contest for the top slot. There isn’t much that Cacafonix hasn’t done which budding journalists should learn not to do. From Easter eggs on Good Friday to calling SC judges “Crackpot” you have heard it all from this C5M. Just two days back she was in a Sikh colony scavenging on their pain of the 1984 killings while her boss was calling the recent discussions on the topic a “nautanki”. It didn’t occur to Rajdeep that the nautanki was from his own channel in fake care for the victims. Sagarika was also a grand campaigner for the Congress in the December 2012 elections of Gujarat. She travelled through the ‘Muslim Corridor’ from Ahmedabad to Surat tasting “Communal” food and “Secular” food. Stuttering and stammering on her shows she also has this silly habit of repeating the last lines of her panellists for which Madhu Trehan of Newslaundry aptly calls it “Face the echo”. Sagarika is, of course, one of the greatest economists produced by CNN-IBN. You can tell by the stupid questions she keeps posting and repeating to RahulG and Modi. And, hold on tight to you chair, Rajdeep passes her as “Sense over Sensationalism”.

2. Barkha Dutt (1)

Barkha finally falls off her top perch. She topped the pile in the last two editions but then BD has fallen of every perch she’s been on. One of the biggest blows to her must be that RahulG preferred Arnab Goswami to her for his first ever TV interview. All her years of carefully “evoluting” the Gandhi has ended in misery. She also campaigned for SheilaD by moderating her Google hangout; but SheilaD too lost as did Congress in Delhi. Overall BD has been far more subdued in the last year or so but hasn’t failed to maintain her bitchiness or her sense of grandeur about herself. She thrilled when Hartosh Bal was sacked from Open Magazine because he had spanked her badly over the Radiagate episode. She couldn’t help telling the world over and over again how she was reporting from the “North Lawns” of the White House. She screwed up over the “Dehati Aurat” incident and then claimed the story was being made “about her”. She didn’t forget to bitch about a reporter from TimesNow in her reporting from the “Keran Sector”. To add to her misery her frequent darlings have also been in trouble. Musharraf is more in jail than out. Imran Khan got a smackdown in the Pak elections. Poor thing! Nothing is going right for ‘Lady Iamthenews’.

1. Deepak Chaurasia (New entrant)

India’s Worst Journalist 2014 by a good margin. DC who was earlier with Aajtak, then Doordarshan and now allegedly with India News is in the news for an alleged fake video. Many on SM have campaigned to vote for him on this poll because of a video which he is alleged to have doctored and aired to tarnish someone’s reputation. They were trending him on Twitter with #ArrestCHORasia. This relates to sexual molestation case of a minor. It is for this reason that he not only makes a debut in this list but also makes it straight to No.1. There is something I remember about DC that most people may not. You see, DC is a brave man who had gone to report on the US-Iraq war of 2003. That takes some courage, doesn’t it? Oh yes, our DC was right in the middle of it and he was all dressed up in flap-jackets, helmet and all and reporting on the war. There was just one problem though. The war was in Iraq and DC was reporting from Kuwait, which wasn’t under any attack. Perhaps this comedian thinks news business is also a theatre. Although DC is one of the early reporters in the Hindi category he is clearly not fit for TV journalism. If he is at the top of this trash pile he quite well deserves the honour.

Congratulations to all the winners and may they stand as a beacon for budding journalists on what not to do or be. It is fitting that we relive some funny, filthy and frivolous moments from some of these characters. Here’s a video compilation (6.30 mins. Some clips are from Newslaundry):

Poll results below. Please note that total number of votes vs voters as also related percentages may not match because voters were allowed to choose multiple candidates in the poll.