Social media a formidable foe for mainstream English media?

                        

"It has been my considered view that December 6, 1992, would not have happened in the age of 24-hour news television. Through the forest of microphones and broadcast vans that would have swarmed the disputed site in Ayodhya, it would have been impossible for either the Uttar Pradesh government or the Centre to deny knowledge of what was happening on ground zero.” These were his assertion Oct 08^th 2010 in an article  “A half-way house” by Mr.Rajdeep Sardesai.

The man is at it once again.  “News we can use”   it would be fitting finale to 2010 by writing rejoinder to this bigoted soul. He has sinned beyond our wildest imagination. There is no better way to describe the author than in the word of Sigmund Freud. “Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.”

Rajdeep Sardesai is singularly responsible for the vilest reportage about Mr. Narendra Modi for the past 8years. He has frozen the state of Gujarat in a time period from which the state is yet to emerge on CNNIBN. It would be most interesting to inspect the percentage of positive versus negative reporting on this channel for the period 2002 to 2010. No we would not be surprised at all it will only confirm what we know.

This editor in chief is guilty of manufacturing fake tweets to influence viewers, he is derelict in initiating action against his deputy who had the audacity to hurt the sentiments of millions of Indians with her irreverent tweet about Lord Ram being a “Divine Encroacher” or labeling all those who disagreed with her view point as “Internet Hindus” going to obnoxious extent to state that RSS was training people how to tweet in Nagpur and Jhandawalan.

At a news seminar in Ahmedabad two weeks ago, I was asked by a member of a rather irate audience: “Do you people in the media think you are god?” I hastened to emphasise my mortality, but realised that I had little chance. “At one level, the news consumer expects the media to solve the multiple problems of a nation: from banishing corruption, ending terrorism, to even clearing the garbage in the neighbourhood.”

Nothing could be further from truth than the assertions that Rajdeep Sardesai is making. The contempt for the viewer is all too obvious. This is precisely the mindset that we do not want and are opposing. Media personnel have built illusions around themselves; the discerning viewers saw through all this and switched off these channels long before Radia Tapes happened, confirmation of what we suspected is all that was needed for the public outrage to surface. 

Media has a role and that is to present the news as it unfolds sans editorial comments and slant in favour of a political party. Social media has made and is making their life difficult, people are extra vigilant, there are individuals who despite not wanting to watch this and another channel do so, to detect the lies and fabricated interactive feedback to further expose these manipulators and scamsters on the loose.  

China promotes and takes great pride in the growth of the Internet in the country, under its careful monitoring. But its over 450 million surfers mean something more than Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg choosing to vacation in Beijing and visiting its Web company Baidu; it also means an online image, a blog post, a message on one of its Twitter clones, can create chinks in China’s great firewall. “Comment is free.”

China is wary of netizens and social media, mainstream English media would do itself a great service not to challenge us. For we are the Watch Dogs, who will chase away the pet poodles and Lap Dogs from our amidst.

Let me conclude this with yet another quote from Sigmund Freud  “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.”

Must read blog SandeepWeb:  New post on blog about Indian Liberals. || Classic the template for liberals after Rajdeep's tweet.

Latest update on the subject.

What he could see evolving though, was a new objectivity. Objectivity, he then pointed out, had always been an idea important for the news. For him it was once designed to deliver journalism that people can trust. But in the new media age transparency is what delivers trust. He stressed that news today still has to be accurate and fair, but it is as important for the readers, listeners and viewers to see how the news is produced, where the information comes from, and how it works. The emergence of news is as important, as the delivering of the news itself.Here's a read on that Journos can dig head in sand. .

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.

How will pulling up socks help a corruption tainted political party?

Congress must pull up its socks.  By Mr.Pankaj Vohra, Hindustan Times 26/12/2010

This is the third article in close succession second in the month of December 2010. Why consternation of such high proportion? Mr. Vohra why have you by design thrown all caution to winds, despite the fact that Journalists and Media are wading through a very rough patch, credibility seriously dented in some case beyond redemption. You have faltered at the very outset P.M has no mandate from the people of this country to occupy the chair that he is in.

Needless to meander into political science discourse, you are fully aware how the Westminster form of Democracy functions. Laws and Conventions have an equal weightage. To obtain a mandate one must contest elections. Which is missing in the present case; appointment by High Command of Congress is not a substitute for popular mandate.

We fail to understand why is it that every journalist has to begin each article with the same preamble singing paeans of personal integrity and honesty of Dr.ManMohan Singh when facts on ground point towards the opposite direction. If bribe giver and taker are both equally guilty than those indulging in corruption and those permitting deserve to be treated on par.

“The Congress, on its part, seems to have run out of ideas. It has not been able to counter the BJP and Digvijaya Singh's strategic attempt to shift the focus of the debate from corruption to communalism versus secularism does not seem to have worked. In addition, the negative perception of the government has increased thanks to the spiralling onion prices.” This is a fact which even you had to acknowledge, Congress is in total disarray due to its own actions or lack of it.

“If the deadlock continues, it is going to damage the UPA even more. A remedy could be that the government, even at this late stage, should agree to a JPC probe, which covers the telecom policy after its formulation in the early 90s. The guidelines, which opened up the sector to private players, should be examined in a new light and every telecom minister in successive governments starting from PV Narasimha Rao's time should be probed.” The scope maybe enlarged, however, the point is will it mitigate the fact that under Congress and P.M Singh the Nation has suffered a loss of humungous proportions. Let us not digress or obfuscate the issue of revenue loss in 2G. If the probe is enlarged then the fallout for Congress will get more serious since in the last six plus years it has neither tried to recalibrate or plug the loopholes in the policy. Congress is in no position to point fingers at this late stage.

Some of the suggestion made by you are noteworthy and should be incorporated in the JPC. This is the only way forward; then there are the other scams also which need urgent treatment. Investigating agencies enjoy a reputation on par with the Journalists as of today lesser said the better it is.

“The Opposition has to concede that any kind of discussion on the issue can be held only in Parliament and the deadlock is serving only the purpose of not allowing an elected government to function by a party which faced rejection in 2009. The Congress, on its part, should pull up its socks and start behaving as a party in power instead of drawing attention to its possible involvement in all scams that have broken out since the beginning of the year.” This is a puerile argument, conversely it can be said Government is stifling the voice of the Opposition by it brute numerical strength. It would have been a better argument if a mutual give and take approach was adopted. Government of the day has the onus squarely on its shoulders to ensure smooth functioning of the parliament. Debates on 2G scam have been held and no concrete actions resulted from those debates. The compulsion of Opposition to have its say, that obstruction has to be resorted to as a last resort.

The party's plenary in Delhi will be known for its RSS/BJP bashing more than poor organisation and inability of its leadership to give out a clear message. It is time for course correction. Otherwise, the countdown for this government has begun more in the minds of the Congress party than with the opposition. This demand for JPC is not to bring down the government.

In conclusion a party which has been exposed as never before should be very bothered about covering itself up rather than just pulling up its socks.

Sample comments Posted on HT site in response to this article:

1. By Spectrum “very strange pankaj is advising congress instead of blasting them for the wrong doing. are there any honest journalists left, or honest journalists left are are not given the forum to their views. How long HT is going to give a rope to these paid journalists so called the fourth estate, which has become four twenty to the core. In spite of 100 per cent comments blasting the congress, HT obediently follow congress glory. Look at the articles of so called impartial journalists varghese vinod sharma vir sanghvi barkha dutt rajeeep sardesai all pen a song for congress praising them to the hilt. Be honest once in a blue moon. You will save many a soul and die peacefully at your old age. Be brave be honest and atleast remember the so called mahatma gandhi”

2.By Arun “I want to know whether the Congress agrees that a presumptous loss of Rs. 176,000 crores mentioned by the CAG is a figure prima facie acceptable to the PM ? If the answer is yes , the PM should agree for a JPC. If the answer is no , the PM should enlighten the nation of his views. There are many a Indians who will take the PM at face value given his past record and simplicity / honesty of persona. This will not resolve any issues but only serve to educate Indians what the highest Executive of the land thinks of the 2G scam. The PM , of course , has to ensure he is not guided by the Congress party but speaks HIS mind regardless of what the aggressive opposition thinks of his views.”

Latest article in Indian Express : 27/12/2010

However, India has been robbed of more than Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2 lakh cr) through the various scams (2G scam, CWG scam, Adarsh scam and more) on his watch, yet he is mum on that, having refused to go beyond the cursory statement that the intelligence agencies are looking into the matter. Sleeping on the Job.P.M Singh looks to assure a robbed India he is clean. How does this help us?

The more the Congress party extols Dr Manmohan Singh as a man of integrity, the more they hang him out to dry. For in the bland finality of that characterisation, lies a story that speaks poorly of both the PM and the ruling party. Dr Singh & the rest of the iceberg By: Santosh Desai.

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.

Has the Youth Icon from congress let down the youth of India.

Wikileaks has brought into lime light a conversation between Rahul Gandhi and US Ambassador to India. As per the report Rahul finds the threat from Hindu radicalization more dangerous than LeT. Reams have been written about this. Congress spokespersons have been all over trying to explain what was meant, as if we do not understand English written or spoken.

No I am not going to get into the politics of this, nor am I going to explain what has been written in which paper. I will simply post links to all those articles. 

I am going to approach this from a social or let’s say societal angle. Now what can the parents do in such a situation? We are repeatedly told till it gets ingrained not to discuss family affairs with outsiders till it becomes second nature to us, this is not unique to India it is a world wide phenomenon. Imagine the plight of a parent who rebukes his/her child for discussing family matters with an outsider, the child turns around and retorts but that is okay since our Icon also spoke about India’s domestic affairs with the US Ambassador. Not withstanding all the protestations and explanations from Congress this is unacceptable. A very poor example to emulate!

The second point that I am going to touch upon is that, this conversation has established beyond doubt youthful exuberance can cause serious damage, and is not the panacea as has been projected by Congress. The youth icon has done a great disservice to the Indian youth who wanted to enter politics. Third point youth who come through rank and file with experience in college and university level politics over parachuted politicians should be preferred.

The political fallout, the articles which appeared are being made available for all readers to form their independent opinion on this issue.

 
You cannot be a political columnist in India today and ignore the man who could be our prime minister tomorrow if he wants. But, for those of us obliged to pay careful attention to Rahul Gandhi’s political career, one big problem is that he seems never to have any views on anything. This is what Tavleen Singh had to say. Rahul on terrorism. 

Some people have greatness thrust on them. By Swapan Dasgupta This Emperor-to-be,has no clothes

Flawed teacher , Ignorant pupil. by Chandan Mitra   

Complete analysis of whole Rahul Gandhi controversy,enough to shut the mouths of his supporters. 

 

Lastly responsibility and authority together form the word “leader.” Leadership cannot be bestowed it has to be earned by displaying those broad shoulders which can bear the weight of responsibility. Unfortunately the youth icon has failed, he had the opportunity to own for his comments, he chose to remain silent. Will the Indian youth view this positively or will this become an albatross for Rahul Gandhi. 

I will conclude this post by posting another cartoon by Mr.Satish Acharya.

 

Latest Article posted in Wall Street Journal.

 Rahul Gandhi's naïveté is a greater threat to India" by Sadanand Dhume

This is an absolute must share for all the readers.

Prof. Rahul’s tryst with Wikileaks! : Dabs & Jabs Great one least expected from Hindustan Times.

There is no major threat from 'saffron terrorists'

The recent controversy over a politician's remark on 'Hindu terror' and another gem of invoking visions of an India [ Images ]n Hitler [ Images ] need to be dismissed with contempt they deserve. The former American Ambassador to India, David Mulford's comment that Indian politicians can stoop to any level to garner votes is a ringing indictment of this tribe of politicians.

But such is the power of repetition of lies that there is a great danger of these becoming self-fulfilling prophesies and therefore need to be challenged. An even greater reason is that a politician in wilderness (and a former chief minister) has insinuated that (just like Pakistan) 'saffron' terror has infiltrated even the Indian armed forces. He approvingly quotes the example of a lone wolf rogue officer who is alleged to have got involved in terrorist acts. In the interest of national security, these wild assertions need to be challenged.

 

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.

We deserve an unbiased honest media

Dear Mr. Karan Thapar, you do indeed hold a deep contempt for the viewers and readers. When you say that?  “You, the reader or viewer, rarely miss what you cannot read or see. Not unless you're looking for it. Therefore a great way of manipulating the news is to simply leave something out i.e. not make the audience aware it happened or that it's worth deliberating upon.”

 “it could be the legacy of Radia tapes." The fact is people like me have been observing and voicing it for a long time. I am amazed that you have ignored the crucification of an individual for 8years in the print and electronic media without an iota or shred of evidence. I could cite numerous other instances in support of my contention. What would you term that as?

Mainstream English media sold its soul a long time back and indulged in the most unethical professional practices ever seen in this country. The other point that you have overlooked is the Paid News that these so called News Channels have indulged in, compounded further when the report of experts was not published in its original and complete form.

Self regulation has miserably failed, unworthy individuals have found their way to head certain guilds of journalists(ostensibly) I have with complete responsibility put that word within parenthesis , since a lot do not qualify to be called journalists. Eloquent verbosity is not a substitute for intellect, which is woefully absent in majority of the inhabitants of field of journalism. 

Lets revert to your opening statement. “want to share with you a question that's troubling me. Do the Radia revelations suggest an alarming degree of media manipulation, possibly to the point where you could have doubts about what you read or see? Or does the fact that there's no overwhelming proof of the media being manipulated — the odd example apart — suggest that our newspapers and TV channels have handled a tricky situation admirably?”

The judgment has already been delivered by the people. Our media is corrupt to the core.

“Radia appears to be influential, effective and ruthlessly thorough.” Well let me explain this by placing an example here. Pharmaceutical companies distribute FREE SAMPLES of Medicines to the Doctors now that is not unethical by itself, if the same medicines are sold by the Doctors then it becomes unethical. Ms Radia profession is well known and she charges a fee for rendering her services, it is her brief to influence any and everybody for the benefit of her clients that is not unethical. What is unethical is when others succumb to her influence and yet do not disclose the same or pretend to be performing their professional duties with complete honesty and integrity.

The extent of rot in the media can be gauged from the most recent incident of fake tweets generated by CNNIBN  Twitter lobbying. Another scam in the making?” shocking . Time for introspection is over. Transgressions such as CNNIBN need to be dealt with severely and expeditiously, mere apologies for such action cut no ice with the public today. The tainted individuals must be removed from the profession, if the desire to win back the confidence of the readers and viewers is of paramount concern. 

“Alas, this leaves a lingering doubt that's hard to resolve. The sort you can't prove — one way or the other — but will, inexorably, dent the image of the media. This, I suspect, could be the legacy of the Radia tapes — doubts we cannot cast aside but will always be uncomfortable with.” This may be a politically correct statement to make since you are part of the fraternity. We are under no such compulsion and most candidly state there are no lingering doubts in our minds, a large number of us have switched off those channel which are tainted, and our ranks will only swell with the time. What we suspected, Radia tapes have brought the murky dealings in the full public glare.   

The latest article on this on 26/12/2010

But, the real crime of the media has been the manner in which our private television channels have allowed themselves to be used by the agencies of government to damn Niira Radia before she has been given a chance to defend herself. By Tavleen.Singh.

Media-introspection-needed.

 


 

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.

Corruption and Congress no strangers

India’s tryst with scams pre-dates our declaration of being a Republic. List of scams since 1948. Will have to hark back in time to get a historical perspective to our scams and corruption, in 1969 Congress party split and Congress (Indira) came into being. That was an era of extreme shortages of essential commodities and all other items, high tax regimes on personal and corporate incomes. Anything and everything that went wrong was conveniently attributed to an omnipresent/ omnipotent invisible foreign hand. Corruption was practiced at lower echelons of administrative machinery i.e. inspectors of all departments (irreverently called the license/inspector raj period).

Famously our original Mr. Clean from congress party Late Shri Rajeev Gandhi stated that only “16paise of every rupee reached the target”. Balance of every single rupee was fittingly dealt with by a porous administrative system. The other telling mots that he employed were Dhekna in Hindi (See) Banana in Hindi (Make or Construct). Today what we are witnessing is the interplay of these two Hindi words in English we are seeing an India teetering towards becoming a Banana Republic.

Ironically he perished at the altar of corruption, appeared on the India political firmament with lofty ideals and raised the hope of an impoverished nation. Yes Congress did manage to whitewash his reputation with the ensuing JPC. However despite employing all the Surf detergent the only high end washing powder available in those days, it has still not been able to remove the stains completely. This indelibly ingrained one fact among the Congress party, that all positives were for Congress party and Nehru clan to claim! All the negatives were to others account. This is still the underlined approach.

Keeping in line with that thought process Congress is loath to apportioning any credit to Late Shri.P.V.Narashima Rao for opening the Indian economy. Our incumbent Prime Minister was the main player, as the then Finance Minister. Even to this day Congress continues to appropriate all positive to itself and the Nehru clan, negatives are often equally divided between NDA and other Governments that were at the helm of affairs at some time or the other.

What emerged then was, Indian entrepreneurial skills being unfettered, however the systems were not suitably amended to support the growth that was to follow. Old control systems were recycled and new source for corruption moved up the ladder from the lowly inspectors to higher echelons of administrative machinery. The proverbial red tape length may have been reduced however it was substituted with increase in width.  It would not be wrong to compare our present status to a vintage car fitted with V8 or V12 engine.

The current chaotic situation and the angst among the people is due series of scams that have come to light and each surpassing the other in audacity and amount of money. Has the government got down to seriously tackling this situation? Emphatically NO! Interest of the country is being subjugated to protecting name of Congress and Nehru clan. A Joint Parliamentary Commission is the only way forward along with criminal investigation by other competent agencies.

The progression chart under normal circumstances for all those connected with these 1.Common Wealth Games. 2. Adarsh Housing Society.  3. 2G Spectrum. infamous events should have been taken into custody and interrogated. Prompt action was needed as time was of the essence for getting to the bottom of the issue. That has not happened in any of them. Let us now focus on what is happening in particular with the 2G where the amount involved is Rs1,70,000crores or close to US$40billion. Tapes have revealed a nexus between Politicians-Journalists-Corporates.

Opposition demand of JPC has not been acceded by the government. Supreme Court of India is supervising an investigation by CBI and has enlarged the scope to 2001 instead of only the present. This will probably nail the criminality involved in this sordid saga. The larger question of policy loopholes will remain unaddressed which only the Parliament can do. 

1. CAG report tabled in Parliament confirmed the wrong doing and the amount.

2. Government is quibbling over the amount stated in the CAG report.

3. The government was in know of this happening did absolutely nothing to prevent it.

4. CBI filed a chargesheet without names and then did nothing thereafter for 11months.

5. Government under extreme pressure removed the Minister finally.

6. New Minister appointed.

7. One man commission of inquiry set up to investigate intra departmental functioning.

To any keen observer of India the ongoing process would resemble a standup slap stick comedy show. Why was this statement made? There is the case of phone tapping which was done over a period 2 years. No subsequent arrests made, no cases filed on the basis of phone taps. Instead tapes leaked to media at the peak of 2G heat in Parliament. The Government is doing everything other than what it should have done, that is order an expeditious comprehensive criminal investigation along with a parliamentary joint committee to revisit the telecom policy and plug the possible loopholes. This is the logical course.

What has actually transpired can only us leave bewildered and anguished.  

  

The responses of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi to the extraordinary crisis generated by the 2G scam are exhibiting a brazen indifference to our predicament. Attacking the opposition’s double standards and lack of credibility is a fair tactic in an adversarial democracy. But it does not provide any reassurance in the face of the moral anarchy, institutional perfidy, economic complacency and political mismanagement of the current government.

We were at the receiving end of some pearls of wisdom.” The Congress president engages in abstractions when she speaks of our shrinking moral universe in the context of corruption. The second rhetorical trope in this repertoire is something to the effect that “we will get to the bottom of this”. This invitation to plumb dark depths is a clear obfuscation.”

Next the importance of the role of Prime Minister.

“Prime Minister, you are central to governance: you constitute the governance deficit.”

Breaking his silence over the telephone tapping controversy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today am aware corporates are nervous but phone tapping needed. This speaks volumes how the issue is being obfuscated by the man who should have faced the parliament and the nation for the colossal corruption and misuse of phone tapping.

Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid gives thumbs up to lobbying PR. The issues is not lobbying, the issue is Corruption. Another diversionary debate, which was picked by mainstream English media to ease the pressure on Congress and UPA government.

 Kapil Sibal ducks queries about 2G 

 The CAG has calculated the "presumptive" loss on account of the under-valued sale of 2G airwaves at Rs 1.76 lakh crore, based on the amount raised from the recent 3G spectrum auction as well as the price quotations submitted by some of the operators that did not get licences. Dot to assess actual revenue loss due to 2G scam Sibal. This is subverting the constitutional body CAG.

One-man-panel to probe 2G-scam: Sibal. Another sham and another diversionary tactic when a JPC would have done a better job.

Start pointing fingers at others in the hope to divert attention from self. The loot happened between 2008 and 2010. BJP offered JPC from 1998 why was that not acceptable? Wait till we expose the NDA Sibal.

Sibal on 2G spectrum scam clean-up mission.

Sibal with his spiel on 2G scam Audio Video:

Latest article on this issue:

S Gurumurthy has courage to write about  secret Billions of Sonia Gandhi siphoned off from India.

Is it too much to conclude that thanks to Sonia family’s suspected billions in Swiss accounts the system cannot freely probe the $462 billion looted from India at all? Tail-pieces: The total wealth of both Gandhis, as per their election returns, is just Rs 363 lakh, Sonia owning no car. Sonia lamented on November 19, 2010, that graft and greed are on the rise in India!! Rahul said on December 19, 2010, that severe punishment should be given to the corrupt!!! Amen.


BOFORS IS BACK WITH A BANG TO HURT CONGRESS. 03/01/2011


 

Gandhi denies payoffs in Swedish arms deal - Rajiv Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi used the penultimate day of campaigning in Delhi to launch her most vitriolic attack yet on the BJP, accusing Atal Behari Vajpayee of "telling lies" about Rajiv Gandhi's involvement in the Bofors scandal. Sonia Gandhi.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Saturday described the Bofors kickback allegations against his family as lies indulged in by non-Congress governments and asserted he saw no reason to apologise on the issue.  Rahul Gandhi.

Bofors Quattrocchi-Chadha IT AT order.

Brave talk with feet of clay. Clear double speak will not put their money where their mouth is.


The question every Indian is asking will the guilty be punished or once again the national interest be sacrificed to protect the real culprits.

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.