Comments on: Times of India, HT and their journalism of jealousy http://thevigil.in/2009/10/26/times-of-india-ht-and-their-journalism-of-jealousy/ where the public critiques the news media, and keeps them true! Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:44:51 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: The Commander http://thevigil.in/2009/10/26/times-of-india-ht-and-their-journalism-of-jealousy/comment-page-1/#comment-198 The Commander Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:38:14 +0000 http://thevigil.in/?p=255#comment-198 Here is how the Indian TV news channel NDTV 24x7 would report the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. All names (except those of Jack and Jill), are fictitious. Prashant - TV Anchor Two persons have been injured in a freak climbing accident. Jack and his companion Jill had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water when Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after. Live from the hill, our reporter, Amrita Shah, takes up the story. Amrita Shah Thank you Prashant. Well, as you say, two persons - Jack and Jill - had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Suddenly, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Prashant. Prashant Thank you Amrita. What do we know about the hill? Amrita Not too much. Jack was going up the hill to fetch a pail of water when he fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after [Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "hill breaks crown of pail-boy Jack"] Prashant What news of Jack and Jill? Amrita Prashant, it seems that Jack had gone up the hill to fetch a pail of water. We know nothing about the pail, or how heavy it was but it seems that Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. I have here with me, an eyewitness to the accident, Mr Shahid Trivedi. Mr Shahid, tell us what you saw. Shahid Trivedi Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. [Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Boy and girl tumble down hill. Water spilled"] Amrita Jack and Jill. What do we know about them? Are they brother and sister? Are they married? Just what were they doing on the hill together? Shahid Trivedi Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail a water. Amrita And what happened next? Shahid Trivedi Jack fell down and broke his crown Amrita Go on. Shahid Trivedi And Jill came tumbling after. Amrita Prashant, there you have it. Two people innocently going about their business to fetch a pail of water when one of them falls down, breaks his crown, and the other comes tumbling after. Back to you in the studio Prashant. [Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Water errand ends in tragedy"] Prashant I have with me in the studio now, Professor Chandrashekar Belagare from the Indian Institute of Applied Hill Sciences. Professor: a hill; Jack; Jill; a pail of water. A tragedy waiting to happen? Professor Well that depends on the hill, the two persons, the object they were carrying and the conditions underfoot. Let us look at the evidence so far. Jack and Jill Went up the hill To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down And broke his crown And Jill came tumbling after. Clearly, one would suspect that if Jack’s fall was severe enough to break his crown then the surface of the hill must have been slippery or unstable. But I think we’re overlooking something quite fundamental here. Who was carrying the pail? Jack fell down and broke his crown and – this is the key – Jill came tumbling after. If Jack and Jill had been carrying the pail together, would they not have fallen at the same time? The fact that Jill came tumbling after suggests that Jack lost his footing first and perhaps knocked Jill over as he slipped. Prashant Professor thank you very much. So there we have it, two persons – Jack and Jill – went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Later in the programme, Osama bin Laden captured in Afghanistan , President Bush says rent-boy menage-a-trois was "just a brief lapse of judgement", and Pakistan launches nuclear warheads against key Indian cities. But next up, join us after the break for a studio discussion about hills, boys and girls and whether water-fetching trips should be supervised. We’ll be right back... Here is how the Indian TV news channel NDTV 24×7 would report the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. All names (except those of Jack and Jill), are fictitious.

Prashant – TV Anchor
Two persons have been injured in a freak climbing accident. Jack and his companion Jill had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water when Jack fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after. Live from the hill, our reporter, Amrita Shah, takes up the story.
Amrita Shah
Thank you Prashant. Well, as you say, two persons – Jack and Jill – had gone up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Suddenly, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Prashant.
Prashant
Thank you Amrita. What do we know about the hill?
Amrita
Not too much. Jack was going up the hill to fetch a pail of water when he fell down and broke his crown. Jill came tumbling after
[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "hill breaks crown of pail-boy Jack"]
Prashant
What news of Jack and Jill?
Amrita
Prashant, it seems that Jack had gone up the hill to fetch a pail of water. We know nothing about the pail, or how heavy it was but it seems that Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. I have here with me, an eyewitness to the accident, Mr Shahid Trivedi. Mr Shahid, tell us what you saw.
Shahid Trivedi
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.
[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Boy and girl tumble down hill. Water spilled"]
Amrita
Jack and Jill. What do we know about them? Are they brother and sister? Are they married? Just what were they doing on the hill together?
Shahid Trivedi
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail a water.
Amrita
And what happened next?
Shahid Trivedi
Jack fell down and broke his crown
Amrita
Go on.
Shahid Trivedi
And Jill came tumbling after.
Amrita
Prashant, there you have it. Two people innocently going about their business to fetch a pail of water when one of them falls down, breaks his crown, and the other comes tumbling after. Back to you in the studio Prashant.
[Headline appears at the foot of the TV screen: "Water errand ends in tragedy"]
Prashant
I have with me in the studio now, Professor Chandrashekar Belagare from the Indian Institute of Applied Hill Sciences. Professor: a hill; Jack; Jill; a pail of water. A tragedy waiting to happen?
Professor
Well that depends on the hill, the two persons, the object they were carrying and the conditions underfoot. Let us look at the evidence so far.
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Clearly, one would suspect that if Jack’s fall was severe enough to break his crown then the surface of the hill must have been slippery or unstable. But I think we’re overlooking something quite fundamental here. Who was carrying the pail? Jack fell down and broke his crown and – this is the key – Jill came tumbling after. If Jack and Jill had been carrying the pail together, would they not have fallen at the same time? The fact that Jill came tumbling after suggests that Jack lost his footing first and perhaps knocked Jill over as he slipped.
Prashant
Professor thank you very much. So there we have it, two persons – Jack and Jill – went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Later in the programme, Osama bin Laden captured in Afghanistan , President Bush says rent-boy menage-a-trois was “just a brief lapse of judgement”, and Pakistan launches nuclear warheads against key Indian cities. But next up, join us after the break for a studio discussion about hills, boys and girls and whether water-fetching trips should be supervised. We’ll be right back…

]]> By: Bikram Vohra http://thevigil.in/2009/10/26/times-of-india-ht-and-their-journalism-of-jealousy/comment-page-1/#comment-191 Bikram Vohra Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:08:19 +0000 http://thevigil.in/?p=255#comment-191 Scoops exist only in ice cream parlours. We don't follow up stories because we are so fragile and insecure that to acknowledge the competition is seen as treachery. Kill the story before it kills you. So what if there are acute angles, we are into journalism, not geometry. Also, have you noticed the only time we do carry common ground reports is when they are predicated to scandal, crime, sex, celebrities and other such seamy side of the street stories. Climate Change??? Are you kidding. There is no scandal there, Spike it...onwards you fourth estate soldiers, to greater battles of valour and vice. Scoops exist only in ice cream parlours. We don’t follow up stories because we are so fragile and insecure that to acknowledge the competition is seen as treachery. Kill the story before it kills you. So what if there are acute angles, we are into journalism, not geometry. Also, have you noticed the only time we do carry common ground reports is when they are predicated to scandal, crime, sex, celebrities and other such seamy side of the street stories. Climate Change??? Are you kidding. There is no scandal there, Spike it…onwards you fourth estate soldiers, to greater battles of valour and vice.

]]> By: Vinod Agrahari http://thevigil.in/2009/10/26/times-of-india-ht-and-their-journalism-of-jealousy/comment-page-1/#comment-186 Vinod Agrahari Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:50:11 +0000 http://thevigil.in/?p=255#comment-186 Readers or viewers have nothing to do with news organisations' rivalry. Why should they pay price of it? Giving credit to the first is a good sign and a healthy competition can be maintained by doing so. I recall an incident of three years ago when a famous celebrity misbehaved with a news channel reporter in a press conference. Channel was hyping the news as his reporter had suffered. Surprisingly soon a rival channel also picked the news and took phono of the reporter with his designation and name of the channel he was working for. It was quite unusual. Normally channels either keep quite or put the news with other angle if such things happen. Similarly most of the times news channels take credit for news or visuals of other channels, but except in cases of financial obligations, no one bother to give credit to the original. Many stringers are the sufferers whose stories get maximum airtime and generate TRP to various channels, but viewer could hardly know the exact man behind the story. All news editors must think on this and need to draw a line between rivalry and journalism ethics. Vinod Agrahari. Readers or viewers have nothing to do with news organisations’ rivalry. Why should they pay price of it? Giving credit to the first is a good sign and a healthy competition can be maintained by doing so.

I recall an incident of three years ago when a famous celebrity misbehaved with a news channel reporter in a press conference. Channel was hyping the news as his reporter had suffered. Surprisingly soon a rival channel also picked the news and took phono of the reporter with his designation and name of the channel he was working for.

It was quite unusual. Normally channels either keep quite or put the news with other angle if such things happen.

Similarly most of the times news channels take credit for news or visuals of other channels, but except in cases of financial obligations, no one bother to give credit to the original. Many stringers are the sufferers whose stories get maximum airtime and generate TRP to various channels, but viewer could hardly know the exact man behind the story.

All news editors must think on this and need to draw a line between rivalry and journalism ethics.

Vinod Agrahari.

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