R.I.P. Social Media! Alternate Media is here.

                                       

Certain events begin with no fixed goal in mind, nor do people join in premeditated manner, before we even realize event has a life of it’s own and is driven by that energy, people are mere passengers contributing when required. This is precisely what has happened in the case “Social Media” in India

Some sections if not all of main stream media in India have conducted themselves in an utterly disgusting & despicable manner making democracy in India seem resting on a tripod instead of the normal four pillars associated with Democracies.

Validity of Social Media is enhanced as Main Stream Media has and continues to lose credibility on a daily basis.  This is continuation of what was started in December 2010, that is the role and challenge Social Media plays and poses to the ostensible Main Stream Media. This was followed by another post in June 2011 which has become overloaded with screen shots and needs to be closed for further update.

This post will take that process forward by constantly updating with relevant screen shots being uploaded if not on daily, at least on weekly basis. The question must be cropping up with you, why do we need this post and constant updating? In case you have not read the previous two posts please do so, that will bring a lot things into correct perspective. 

Social Media a formidable foe for Main Stream English Media? 

Twitter a case of Fatal attraction or twitter a case of a sting in the tale (not tail)?

If we thought 2002 Gujarat riot cottage Industry is closed, then look again, evidence is mounting on daily basis against those who have lead this Industry for past decade, answer they shall sooner, than later, nature has it’s own laws which demand justice be done. Media is behaving as expected without any change what so ever, at the drop of the hat Modi must be discussed & debated loudly in the studios, regardless if it makes sense to panelists and viewers, TRPs are important and those must be garnered. Rest is honkey dory Congress epitomizes sainthood, allz well.

What has the media been up to all this while? We had the hounding of BSY and then 19 part expose by Times Now on Nitin Gadkari. Little bit of yelling and shouting on Coal scam, minor mention of National Herald issue, fleeting mention of Robert Vadra and land acquired in Haryana and Rajasthan. Ashok Gehlot’s canceling of Mines to his kith and Kin has been skipped totally by Times Now as if it did not happen.

Some sound and fury on Augusta Westland Helicopter scam. Headlines Today did air a program on land dealing of Robert Vadra in Haryana and Rajasthan. In a nutshell it has amounted to nothing if we are to believe Media is the fourth pillar of democracy. And willingly shoulders the responsibility of exposing and reporting misdeeds of those in power.

While they continue to cry wolf about us, again mounting evidence shows that it is baseless, anonymous handles they engage with who in turn get abusive. Who know the genuineness of such handles and who is operating them? It’s all wearing thin no buyers for such tripe. On the other hand there is a parallel narrative “Impact of Social Media on Electoral Politics” MSM claims anything from 160 to 215 seats no one in the Alternate Media is claiming such impact.  Why are such narratives being built up, is MSM apprehensive? Does the presence of AM disturb MSM game plan? 

The need to engage with Tweeple is indeed a very high priority for NDTV which was rejected by a large number of Tweeple refusing to appear on it’s show ‘The Big Fight’ an unheard first for TV industry in India. No this was not the only first scored! far more significant was live web casting of the recording a day prior to the show. Why did this happen? Credibility of the channel was the common reason stated by all to decline invitation from the channel. In a way this also provided an opportunity for something equally important, there was a breaking of rank and this lead to a very heated debate. Finally it did prove beyond doubt there was no organized army of storm troopers operating at the command of some one else. There is always a silver lining to all dark clouds.

The CEO of the channel did want to engage with us outside of his channel, unfortunately he was unable to be present physically at the venue or it would have made for some memorable riveting debate for even posterity to cherish.

#pappucii had conveyed a strong message and when the counter #Feku was conceived it was generic and hijacked, it’s target was again the same individual as #pappucii. Congress unable to stomach a double dose deployed the media who went into overdrive held prime time debate in their usual contrived manner and pronounced what Congress wanted to hear. This indeed was far from truth as the screenshots posted below will establish beyond doubt.

Unable muzzle Tweeple, unleashed the most abusive character ever on Twitter, this also did not deter others, they simply did not engage with him. Left with little option Congress set up a healthy corpus fund to deploy their own Cyber Coolies to counter narrative that is seen to be hurting Congress interest. There is little hope for Congress on this score since the quality employed is poor. Do watch the video of their star performer Mr. Sanjay Jha who claims Digvijay Singh is a Twice CM of Maharashtra. 

Then of course you can also read the recently released book “Social Media as Watchdog” Yes Social media has evolved & evolved well above the threshold from where it can now be safely called the “Alternate Media”.  



Latest update on 22nd May 2013

                                  

Latest update on 21st May 2013

                                     

Latest update on 20th May 2013

 Latest update on 18th May 2013

 
  Latest update on 16th May 2013

                                                               08th May 2013

                                         

Digvijay Singh is Twice elected CM of Maharastra  so claims @JhaSanjay

To watch the video please lick this link  http://youtu.be/g0YdTB9l0q8                     

 

  

         

 
Read the storify by Suresh Nakhua 

CREDIBILITY !!! Does it matter? Yes it does Mr @vikramchandra cc @ndtv

 

I welcome a debate and discussion on this…As always, please keep your tone civil, your language polite…no sweeping generalisations please and no personal abuse.  Thank you.

All done and sealed in 90minutes every evening by the only Kangaroo court in India!!!!!!

Last morning Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN IBN was early on Twitter which is abnormal, Tweeted about this at 9.48AM soon he was followed by Sagarika Ghose and then came Pallavi Ghose with her profound Tweet on BJP and Nitin Gadkari. 

Expectedly jigsaw pieces started to fall in place and the picture began to emerge. This 

cacophony about Nitin Gadkari's scam and corruption started by Anjali Damania picked up by Arvind Kejriwal had become TV favorite NDTV had done some programme on it. 

However by early evening 5.07PM Pallavi Ghose again Tweeted, diametrically opposite 

to what she had stated in the morning. 

It was therefore safe to assume channel had been instructed by political paymasters to ease off on Nitin Gadkari lest the boomerang effect claims some unsuspecting and 

important functionary from their stable. 

The story does not end here, the interesting part was to follow at 9PM, yes where else 

but the noisiest, most abrasive and of course least logical of all channels you guessed it right Timesnow. Lynch mob was there Kangaroo court with the attendent jury, hysterical, prosecutor, judge and executioner in the shape and form of Arnab Goswami. 

Watching Arnab Goswami's Evangelic zeal against corruption one cannot blame those who may think that Thenewshour is not about NEWS but about judging and convicting 

the corrupt and scamsters. The minor shortcoming one does detects, there is no scope for a plea of Non Guilty. Justice is instant, verdict is predetermined, facts and evidence 

are not required. The accused should not belong to Congress party. 

Those who would like a repeat dose of this so called Thenewshour may click on the 

links below for Video.

Part #1. http://www.timesnow.tv/videoshow/4413134.cms

Part #2. http://www.timesnow.tv/videoshow/4413135.cms

I wonder if people still recall when this channel and this hysterical anchor targeted B.S. 

Yedduruppa democratically elected Chief Minister of State of Karnataka who was 

hounded while on vacation in Mauritius. The said Chief Minister was made to resign 

because of witch hunt launched by this channel and anchor. All charges leveled against 

BSY are failing the test of Law. Then there was the so called Porngate in Karnataka. An 

IPS officer killed in Madhaya Pradesh this anchor and channel again went ballistic, only 

to find out it was a case of accident more than a premeditated murder.

If this was not sufficient, this channel without investigating went overboard yet again 

involving Madhaya Pradesh in a case of Stayagrah that was not.

This is not all, the list is long in case of Gujarat, and it's Chief Minister Mr. Narendra Modi the very mention of this name, make this channel salivate at the prospect of high TRPs 

to ensure that it gathers together all the rabid anti-Modi individuals who can rant 

endlessly for hours if not days.

Let us revert back to present case of Mr. Nitin Gadkari, this manically hysterical anchor 

(don't know if he should be called an anchor) gathered a set of people including Anajali 

Damania who herself stand accused of wrong doing, but that is immaterial for his 

crusade to nail Gadkari. Phrase repeatedly used was "Packup Time for Gadkari" when 

Mr. K.G Suresh attempts to bring the issue into proper perspective by asking for a probe be conducted, Arnab summarily dismisses that as unacceptable, when the same point 

is made by Mr. Majid Memon again the response from Arnab is one of disbelief. His 

cameramen have been to some locations a few pictures are flashed across TV screen 

in his estimate that is enough evidence to hang Gadkari for his crime of corruption.

Now let look at the way, he and his channel have handled the scams of unprecedented 

scale which involve such humongous sums that we do not even know the number of 

Zeros needed to reach there. What has this channel uncovered in the last 3years other 

than Queen's baton relay in which some overcharging and authorized payments were 

made by Suresh Kalmadi. Yes this channel went after him with the same zeal, that was more on account of not being awarded any contract for CWG than anything else.

Arnab and Timesnow have not shown any interest in following through in the CWG 

scam which involved Rs 80,000crores. Kalmadi was not the only one involved, yet this 

channel did not ever demand or make an expose against those who were involved. We did not hear "Pack up time" for any Minister or CM of Delhi. Similarly take the case of 2G there has been no expose nor the phrase "Pack up time for so and so". Coal scam no 

expose by this channel other than on Subodh Kant Sahay but we still did not hear "Pack up time for so and so."

There are many other instances, where this anchor and his channel are busy pretending allz well when Congress is involved. This post would be incomplete without any refence to the common ploy used by this anchor, to dilute and divert attention, when ever 

Congress is on a sticky wicket. He is a virtual archive digger, despite knowing fully well 

that inflation figure of 10years ago are not going mitigate the current price rise, yet he 

does bring those out so that the escape hatch for Congress is opened. He invariably 

employs 19982004 soap bar to wash away the stains of Congress corruption. Ah 1998-2004 is the time when NDA had formed the government at the center. So every misdeed of Congress, is canceled by a similar deed from that period without forgetting to remind us Two wrongs don't make a right. Yet he does it evening after evening. If in case he 

can't find 19982004 soap bar then he does have the liberty of using 2002 Gujarat riots 

cottage industry to justify. 

In conclusion he does rub salt into our wound by claiming "Your Channel" excuse me if itwas my channel I would either eject you or close down this so called news channel and not even miss it.

This Article appread today in DNA.

India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Anjali Damania, who allegedly grabbed 60 acres oftribal land at throwaway prices by claiming to be a farmer, has now been accused of blocking the passage to the only crematorium in Kondivade village, 12km from Karjat tehshil.

  

Similarly this set of Tweets should also make you think.

Click the link to read Mishraji's tweets on Nitin Gadkari

  

Latest update on 08th Dec 2012 

NEW DELHI: A former chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation has contested 

 Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati's allegation that the NDA government had misused the agency to put pressure on her. 
Former CBI director Uma Shankar Mishra told ET on Friday that there was no pressure from the then government to pursue cases filed against Mayawati between 

2003 and 2005 and that it had acted on the orders of the Supreme Court.{ LINK }  

Amateur's encounter with the media upclose

Have been observing media with a very keen interest for over a decade, though began 

actively voicing my concerns and writing critical articles post 26th November 2008, 

which I would consider as the personal inflection point.

Since then have also been very active on Twitter with over 1,25,000tweets to my credit, primarily focused on Media, News and the Political events on a daily basis. 

Have met many interesting people, have networked with some very well informed and 

articulate individuals, unfortunately interaction with Media celebrities has been rather 

limited and forgettable barring a few exceptions.

Thanks to Mr. A.S. Raghunath who arranged for me to be part of an event on media on 

the 4th and 5th of Oct 2012 called TV.NXT 2012 organized by afaqs. Must confess it has helped me understand the industry some what better and the challenges that it faces in near, medium and long term.

Some of the segments of this event have been etched in my memory which would be 

hard to erase, the well informed and well moderated debates/discussion unlike our daily fare on Television. As a consumer of media we are not privy to much of the information, 

trials and tribulation the industry faces as a whole and across specific segments.

Let me now indulge in placing in a chronological order the highlight which have left an 

indelible mark with me personally.

"darr ke aage jeet hai" tag line is for a soft drink. 

True claimant for this is Mr. Subhash Chandra the man who took the initial risk 

and has survived to tell his story 2decades down the line. His humility is evident 

and clarity of thought is remarkable. His keynote address will easily rate as one of the 

finest that I have ever heard. TV.NXT 2012: A few profitable media companies do not reflect the health of the entire industry:

The next most riveting session was with Mr. Anurag Kashyap, not because he is a 

celebrity or from the film land. The clarity of thought and the creativity that seems to be 

straining to explode, really wish this man gets the space to produce what he wants, 

sans restrictions. Would be treat for all to experience what he can churn out.

After this there was a session of discussion hosted by Ms.Vinita Kohli Khandekar Shabir Momin, of ZengaTV ,Hiren Gada of Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. and Sandeep Dahiya of Viacom 18. This opened a new horizon for me as a consumer, the possibilities that 

exist and can be exploited.

As we approached the end of the event, there were two items of maximum interest to 

me as a consumer both related to News.

Mr. Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express to speak on "An editor's view of news on television"

In the course of the talk that Mr. Gupta as the senior most editor delivered, he was 

critical of the Electronic media and all the existing channels with the sole exception of 

one. This he reiterated not once but twice. He also referred to the word "Conscience" 

twice. He alluded to "Paid News" in electronic and print, surfeit of scams in the TV news,need for editors in control of the content on TV channels, lamented the fact that the 

current trend of editors in all channel were star anchors of those. He spoke on cash for 

vote and was pleasantly surprised that he believed wrong people had been arrested as 

the channel had exposed their source. Now that is news for me, have not read any 

article or editorial to this effect from Mr. Shekhar Gupta

  

Mr. Gupta also touched briefly upon the story that he did on Troop Movement and how it had spooked the government. Could not pose question to him on this since there was 

no time slot kept. How a Journalist had tweeted adversely about the story, without 

checking on the facts with Mr. Shekhar Gupta himself. 

He also alluded to the fact how politicians were getting into the business of media and 

the recent sale of one News channels. Here again why cast aspersion on the politician 

alone, he must have had some expert guidance from one of the media insiders and the close relationships that are being maintained by media personnel.

Lastly he touched upon the recent Hon Supreme Court observations/ judgment and wasvisibly unhappy about the possibility of curbs being imposed or an external regulator 

being appointed. Here I wish to ask the gentleman why was he and his publication silent when the government of India without verifying and providing evidence blocked accounts on Twitter, where was his zeal for Freedom of speech and Expression? Why is it what he demands for himself and Media, does not wish the ordinary citizen of India to enjoy?

Finally we reached the last item of the event this was a discussion session moderated 

by Mr. Paritosh Joshi and the participants were Sam Balsara, Madison World, Avinash 

Kaul, Times Television Network, Preet Dhupar, BBC, Vikramaditya Chandra, 

NDTV Group G Krishnan TV Today Network,  Arun Poddar  Media Network & Distribution (INDIA) Limited.

Post the opening remarks Mr. Vikramaditya Chandra was the first participant to speak he was most definitely agitated that his channel was not getting the kind of advrt revenue 

that in his opinion should be theirs by right, TRPs was flawed parameter to follow, he 

claimed his channel had registered 2billion minutes on the internet. 

The CEO is welcome to monetize it on the platform which was generating that quantum of traffic, extrapolation on to the other platform would not be possible. Mr CEO will also have to understand that the entire industry is being judged by the same agency 

and this grouse does not wash.

Without going into what other panel member said during the course of the discussion I 

shall not mention here but get straight to the point. I then posed a question to Mr.

Vikramaditya Chandra post Nira Radiia Tapes ethics of the organization had also come 

into play. Instantly a defensive posture was obtained. Response "the person concerned was not present to defend and also this was not the forum for this question." 

However the identical twin in the form of Mr. Shekhar Gupta said he would like to 

address the issue and answer the question. My point was simple if ethics of content and business practice come into play viewership would suffer.

This is the precise reaction that makes most of us wonder if News media is a Mafia in 

operation, where Omerta is the unwritten operative code. Things can only change the day "Crows start to feast on crow meat until then it's all in a Hamam. "

Mr. Gupta on his part tried to explain there was no ethical impropriety committed by the 

staffer of that channel. However in my opinion the question remains as per me the 

impropriety was committed and not been dealt with in an appropriate manner.

Inconclusion, this indeed was an experience to cherish, and also must compliment the 

organizers for a job well done, complete professional conduct barely a glitch to cause 

any embarrassment. Though would wish to see consumers of the media also being 

invited to participate in this event in future could add value, after all the target of all the 

participants is that passive consumer, would it not make it more meaningful if his views were also incorporated. Do not know if this would be considered for future events by the organizers.

Examples of the Tweets about NDTV and it's staffer.

 

 

 

 

 

 Credit: Photo sourced from Afaqs article.

Updated on 13th Oct 2012

As a journalist you train yourself to treat both accolades and abuse with the same level of levity; you tell yourself over and over again to not take yourself seriously and you even learn, eventually, to laugh at yourself. You understand that being in the public gaze inevitably comes with being viewed through a coloured prism — whether rose-tinted or jaundiced. And you develop the ability to lightly shrug off the distortions of a persona foisted on you by others. 

Updated on 10th Oct 2012

This tweet is an befitting response to Mr. Shekhar Gupta who claims journalists speak to many people. 

There was nothing inappropriate about the conversation between Nira Radia & B.Dutt of NDTV.