thevigil.in: public scrutiny of news media

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By BV Rao

The proceedings of the joint drafting committee of Jan Lokpal Bill have ended in the expected anti-climax. At a time when the government was under unprecedented pressure to bring in a tough law, a weak Opposition was two-timing the nation and the national media was more trusting of the government than “civil society”.

The result was that the government was allowed to wriggle out of a tight situation rather easily. Anna Hazare and his team were subjected to all kinds of scrutiny, which is as it should have been, but the government and the Congress got away scot-free. Little was being asked of them and nothing was answered.

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In the column “Talking Heads” on sports page today, the Hindustan Times writes: WHAT MUNAF PATEL SAID: I’m concentrating on line and length, and leg-cutter…batsmen do their job, we (bowlers) do our job. WHAT MUNAF PROBABLY MEANT: Why don’t you talk to me in Hindi? We can have a longer chat”!!!!!
Cheap, cheap dig. And by the way, whoever reads the Hindustan Times for its Queen’s English?

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Courtesy: governancenow.com
An open application to Prannoy Roy for the post of Group Editor, NDTV

Respected Dr Roy,

I am writing to apply for the post of Group Editor, English News, NDTV.

I am a journalist with 26 years experience. Throughout my career I have made innocent mistakes. I have been silly, I have been gullible and I have been prone to making errors of judgement. Frequently, when I am “desperate for khabar” I also fib to sources. I string them along so much that I have often tied myself up in knots. continue reading…

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On Monday, May 24, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address a press conference in New Delhi to unveil the report card of his government’s performance in its first year. The press conference is going to be unlike any other before it. It will not be limited to Delhi journalists. Reporters from Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Lucknow will be present by video to pose questions to the prime minister. Maybe a few questions will be taken from foreign capitals too. According to Harish Khare, the information adviser to PM, about 250 news channels and 1,500 print journalists will cram Vigyan Bhawan, the venue.

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Now that the dirt has hit the ceiling, it seems like there were more “mentors” than bidders for the IPL auctions. Shashi Tharoor says he was just “mentoring” the Kochi team; Praful Patel says he was just mentoring Shashi Tharoor (or helping a friend, in his words) for mentoring the Kochi franchisee! Will we ever get to know who was mentoring Praful Patel?

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That Shashi Tharoor’s ministerial stint can be summed up in four words: Twitter. Glitter. Sputter. Quitter. — B V Rao

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That if only that bunch of GenTwit which agrees with Shashi Tharoor is the “new India”, I’,m happy to be “ancient India”.

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That if the Prime Minister doesn’t want to tell Advani and Parliament what secrets he is talking with the US on Pakistan because Advani did not tell Manmohan and Parliament what secrets Jaswant Singh talked with Strobe Talbott, who’s going to tell anything at all to Parliament?

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By B V Rao

I was always worried I would die without knowing enough about Arindam Chaudhuri. But last week, The Hindu and Tehelka put me at ease. Thanks to these two highly respected publications, I will leave this world armed with better information about the management mogul, his life and his works. continue reading…

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By B V Rao (source: exchange4media.com)

From the way CEOs and editors keep defending the brain-dead programming on Hindi channels, you would think that the population of morons is galloping in the country.

Thankfully, the contrary is true. continue reading…