Views on News 07 october 2015

Governance Section

VIEWS ON NEWS THE POLITICS OF MEAT 48

GUJARAT HARVESTS THE SUN 53

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

THE CRITICAL EYE

OCTOBER 7, 2015

ALL THE

WORLD’S A JOURNALIST

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Sundeep Khanna: Newspapers dying?

36

Shobha John: Trump blazing on TV 32

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By Ajith Pillai 12

Bikram Vohra: Who blacked out the OROP vets?

24

TMM Survey: Women as commodities 44

EDITOR’S NOTE

DIMINISHING RETURNS IT IS BECOMING evident that the more the hype created by media spin doctors to embellish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the more it produces diminishing returns. Huge pledges made in the heat of oratorical flourishes—as is the PM’s style—produce proportional criticism when they remain unredeemed.

A recent story in Mint said that Modi’s approval rating a year after he took office had risen to 87 percent. This is remarkable for any world leader—possibly a record. But, instead of being impressed by this statistic, observers were cynical about the findings of this Pew survey because it did not seem to match ground realities based on the performance of his government or street corner opinions.

Actually, when you look deeper into that survey you find: “Distrust (against Modi) remains perhaps in part because incidents of communal violence were up by nearly a quarter in the first five months of 2015 under BJP rule, compared with a comparable period in 2014 when a Congress-led government was in power.” Modi’s “lowest approval on domestic issues,” the paper said, “comes in his management of communal relations—the day-to-day interactions between the Hindus and minority Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, and Christians… as well as the relationship between various castes in the country.”

This is a very damaging finding which is completely out of sync with the “87 percent approval” boast. It is precisely because Modi’s spin doctors choose to

4 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

project and play up a figure so glaringly at odds with other facts that a credibility gap has begun to hurt Modi’s image.

It is true that all politicians promise the moon and fall short. But it appears that in Modi’s case, the rhetoric of candidate Modi and Prime Minister Modi, supported by massive PR blitzkriegs raised expectations beyond realistic thresholds.

The more sweeping the rhetoric, the deeper the resentments and disappointments when there is such a mismatch between promise and performance. Take for example, Modi’s latest visit to his constituency, Varanasi. Candidate Modi, a proud tea vendor who boasted of his humble origins, his hatred for India’s VIP culture and had won the hearts of Kashi’s residents, returned there as Prime Minister Modi.

In attendance were 13 ASPs, 23 DSPs, 500 subinspectors, 3,500 constables including women, 18 companies of PAC and central paramilitary forces; anti-sabotage and bomb disposal squads had been provided to the district to deploy with locally available force. The commandos of the anti-terror squad and intelligence wing cops had also been pressed into service. Varanasi had been converted into a fortress.

The ordinary people of Kashi were not impressed.

They remembered the promises he had made to their neglected and garbage-strewn city—power, ferries, a new centre for weavers. As the Huffington Post recently observed: “After all, he said in his campaign that a divine calling, no less, had drawn him to Varanasi—“Main aaya nahin hoon. Mujhe Maa Ganga ne bulaya hai (I haven’t just come. I have been called by Mother Ganges herself).” Much like the swell of the Ganges in the monsoon, expectations rose in this notoriously chaotic city. With the assembly elections in

Uttar Pradesh (India’s largest state by numbers) due in 2017, the BJP and Modi must realise that the road to Lucknow is via Varanasi.”

How much did the blazing rhetoric actually translate into work on the ground? “At best,” continued the post: “progress has been slow. The disappointment among the voters and residents of Varanasi is slowly rising and no amount of talk is going to bring acche din here—only work on the ground will. Assi Ghat may have improved somewhat, but if it takes three visits of the PM (spade in hand) to better one ghat, we are in for a very long ride as there are at least 84 ghats in Varanasi.”

This is a sad home truth to which the PM’s spin doctors should awaken. Take another glaring mismatch between bitter truth and blazing rhetoric: The Times of India reported that “in a wake-up call for the centre” the Swachh Bharat campaign launched by the PM on October 2 last year with massive pomp and ceremony and media glare was considered “a flop” in cities by 71 percent of those who participated in a recent survey.

In another blow to his “common man” image, PM Modi had to apologize to the residents of Chandigarh after his first visit because security arrangements paralyzed the city shutting down even the crematoria.

Modi’s rally in Bhagalpur, probably the last before the Bihar elections, may have attracted huge crowds, but a key constituency which had voted for his party— the weavers of the “silk city” (the BJP’s only Muslim votebank)—were left sorely disappointed because,

Modi’s proudest moments have been the “rock star” receptions he received abroad from overseas Indians. Even this is threatened by protests planned by non-resident Gujarati Patels. once again, he announced no special package for them despite tall electoral promises. Shortage of silk yarn is forcing them to buy smuggled Chinese silk!

What a blow to the “Make In India” program.

His promises and the dreams woven for the public by his publicists have come back today to haunt his government, the most prominent among them the pledge he made on OROP to India’s military veterans.

Narendra Modi’s proudest moments have been the overwhelming “rock star” receptions he has received abroad from overseas Indians. Today, even this last bastion of invincibility seems threatened by protests being planned against his government by non-resident Gujarati Patels.

Inflation, regular government statistics and pronouncements notwithstanding, isn’t coming down at the ground level, unemployment remains largely unaddressed, capital investments in new plants and expansion are zero, FDI is faltering and Dengue is spreading.

It is time for a reality check.

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 5

VOLUME. IX

ISSUE. 01

Editor Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Executive Editor Ajith Pillai Associate Editor Meha Mathur Deputy Editor Prabir Biswas Art Director Anthony Lawrence Deputy Art Editor Amitava Sen Graphic Designer Lalit Khitoliya Photographer Anil Shakya News Coordinator/Photo Researcher Kh Manglembi Devi Production Pawan Kumar

C O N T E N T S LEDE

Everyone’s a Journo

EDITORS’ PICK

12

Popularity of Print Media

The mobile camera has made everyone an instant journalist. And those most vulnerable are politicians with their foot-in-the mouth disease and public servants, writes AJITH PILLAI

With 45 percent of adults reading print newspapers, reports of their demise seem vastly exaggerated, writes SUNDEEP KHANNA

MEDIA MONITORING

Chief Editorial Advisor Inderjit Badhwar

ADVERTISING

App-vertising Smartly

CFO Anand Raj Singh VP (HR & General Administration) Lokesh C Sharma Circulation Manager RS Tiwari

36

The use of mobiles has changed the way advertisers woo consumers, reports MR DUA

29

Women Still in Poor Light

44

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America’s Favorite?

FOCUS

Muzzling Dissent

18

ABHAY VAIDYA wants to know why media baron Subhash Chandra is asking for a law to control the press

NEW MEDIA

Let Down by the Media

24

BIKRAM VOHRA describes how effectively ex-servicemen reached out to people via social media after the mainstream press blacked out their agitation

48

Politics of Meat

The banning of meat in various states to honor Jain sentiments is more than just about honoring religious sentiment, writes G MOORTHY

GUJARAT

32

CNN’s Chris Cuomo’s assessment of tycoon Donald Trump, in the race for US presidentship, is worth a second look, observes SHOBHA JOHN

MEAT BAN

A TMM survey of four TV channels shows that commodification of women is rampant in advertising

Vice-President (Ad-Sales) Vivek Mittal-09810265619

ANCHOR REVIEW

Governance

Sun to the Rescue

R E G U L A R S

53

In a new initiative, Gujarat will reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and rope in farmers to tap solar energy, observes KAUSHIK JOSHI

Edit..................................................04 Grapevine........................................08 Quotes........................................10 Media-Go-Round............................11 As the World Turns.........................17 Web-Crawler....................................23 Vonderful-English....................39 Breaking News................................40 Design............................................42 Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

6 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

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October 7, 2015 7

Grapevine Gogoi’s Friend ACTOR RAKHI Sawant has caused a strange headache for Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. She recently announced that the CM “is a good friend of mine”, and the “nice man” that he is, Gogoi has invited her to Guwahati for Bihu.

She added she was planning to wear “SadarMekhla” for him and also do Bihu for him! Going

Secrets of Selling Tea

red in the face, Gogoi is asking: “Who is she? I don’t know her. With such claims, I would have to give an explanation to my wife as well.”

But with Assam elections coming next year, his associates like Himanta Biswa Sarma deserting him, and Rakhi planning the role of the infamous Assamese Indrani Mukerjea in an upcoming film, Tarun Gogoi can certainly do without such friendships.

TEA-SELLING could soon become the most coveted professions in the country. Not only has it given us our PM, but fresh dimensions of the profession are coming to light every now and then. A new facet was revealed at the World Hindi Conference in Bhopal when the Prime Minister shared yet another of his tea-selling anecdotes. He said people wonder how he, being a Gujarati, speaks such fluent Hindi. The secret is, he learnt it while selling tea.

Culture War Talk Till The Call Drops RIGHT FROM the PM to the tea-seller, everybody is upset about calls getting disconnected mid-conversation. The telecom minister has been pulled-up and is giving statements day and night about why it should not be happening. But Delhiites must brace themselves for the worse, as the MCD is expected to seal many mobile towers. The Delhi civic agency is cracking down on mobile cell towers

Foot-in-the-Mouth General MINISTER OF State for External Affairs General VK Singh is at his caustic best again. One would have thought that he had given up calling media persons “presstitutes”. However, a dig at him by The Indian Express made the general retaliate: “Thought, departure of presstitute-in-chief from IE will make it better. Today’s edition proves basic traits cannot change. What a 8 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

shame! Dear P’s (presstitutes) at IE I do not have a favourite publisher and Hindi Samelan was not for publishers but to discuss future for Hindi.” Singh stirred a hornet’s nest, when he claimed at the Vishwa Hindi Sammelan, organized by the MEA, that authors usually attended it to eat and drink. Army discipline forgotten, General?

which violate telecom permission norms and has already sealed about 266 towers in the last two months.

Meanwhile, TRAI has announced a 15-day deadline for fixing the problem, rejecting the argument of inadequate spectrum. The option of setting up towers atop government building, is not acceptable to security agencies. Amid this tug of war, there’s a rush for the “window seats” at homes and in offices where reception would be good.

IN THE process of cleansing India of western influences, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma seems to be preparing the ground for a culture war.

The Obama Effect THE EFFECT of being up-close and personal with Obama does make one do strange things. No, we are not talking about a blue pin-striped suit with a name printed all over. It’s about MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who still uses the photo of the US’s first couple with him as his profile picture in social media. The photograph dates to Obamas’ India visit in January this year. In the photograph, the Obamas can be seen towering over him and he is seen craning his

So do only Hindi speakers drink tea or are they the only ones to buy tea at railway stations? Or do they buy and drink tea and the rest make it themselves?

His candid views on “meat ban and learning Hindi and Sanskrit are wellknown. He is now working with Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani to incorporate Ramayana and Mahabharata in schools. But what takes the cake is his statement that the government will decide on extending the meat ban to the nine days of the Navratri festival. Coincidently, this also is the time of Durga Puja, celebrated across eastern India with gusto. Will the ban go down well with Bengalis, who can’t do without non-vegetarian platters during Durga Puja? Sharma should confirm this with the HRD minister, who has deeply entrenched Bengali roots. neck backward doing a customary handshake on the lawns of Rashtrapati lawns. Other ex-MPs and ministers too have similar photos.

Class on Indian Culture DINANATH BATRA, famous for his advice to students on how to hold birthday parties, pontificating on what food to eat, promoting the idea of Akhand Bharat, is back on the scene.

Batra had got Penguin Publishers to destroy all copies of The Hindus: An Alternative History. He has now officially arrived on the country’s education scene. Text books written by him are compulsory in Guajarat, and he formally shapes education policies in MP and Haryana. Recently, he made a presentation to HRD Minister Smriti Irani at the RSS-BJP coordination meet wherein he gave inputs for the New Education Policy proposed by the NDA government. Irani, who till recently claimed to have “never” even met Batra, must have got heavy dose of Bharatiya Sanskriti to work on.

Water Ban? ONE CAN survive a meat ban.

But what if water is “banned” every second day? Shiv Sena corporator from Mumbai, Ramakant Rahate, suggested at a Civic Standing Committee meeting that the BMC should look at an action plan of providing water only on alternate days to South Mumbai that is grappling with a severe water crisis due to a weak monsoon and dipping lake levels. But with the kind of high-profile inhabitants in South Mumbai, this idea might not have too many takers. Smart cities without water, huh?

—Compiled by Roshni Seth Illustrations: UdayShankar VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 9

EDIA-GO-ROUND

U O T E S

When bits of your personal life become a part of breaking news; when your life is caricatured into a few lines of half-truths and paraphrased analyses, you watch in helplessness and achieve a state of icy silence. Of wordlessness.

—Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, in her latest book, Leaves from Lahore

AIB’s newsy avatar MP has many problems but food shortage is not one. So what explains malnutrition? Need protein-rich food, veg or not.

Indrani Bagchi, Diplomatic Editor, Times of India

Why should we go to Supreme Court for opinion on meat ban? Why can't governments work keeping common sense and Indian constitution in mind?

Personally, I find that the media is more sensitive to women’s issues in India as compared to abroad.

Neelesh Misra, Founder, Gaon Connection At any given time, more people are dying of "unsexy" unfancied diseases than the diseases the media decides to start talking about.

—Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, answering a question during a Facebook Q&A session

Shahid Siddiqui, journalist

Extremists make for very good copy and I guess that’s why the media loves them.

AR Rehman is above religion or region.

He is an international icon. Music knows no boundaries. Fatwa against him is a publicity stunt. Condemn it.

—Amish Tripathi, author

Sonam Kapoor, actor Have an opinion whether it’s good bad or ugly. Let no one silence your voice.

Have the courage to stand up for what you think is right!

You won’t die if you don’t eat onions for a few days.

—Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Prabhu Lal Saini on rising onion prices 10 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

COMEDY COLLECTIVE AIB is all set to launch a news comedy series in October. Titled “On AIR with AIB”, the show will be aired on Star Network. The 20 episodes will first be aired on Star’s online portal, Hotstar and then on Star World and Star Plus.

The show will be on the lines of famous American news satirical series Last Week Tonight with

Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group

Rana Ayyub, journalist Truly hope that the RSS finds a fitting replacement for Mahesh Rangarajan as Nehru Memorial chief. Someone the calibre of Gajendra Chauhan.

John Oliver and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. “Super excited to announce our latest project.

Our most ambitious one yet,” AIB tweeted, along with a threeminute funny video that explained the concept of the show. The four-member group earlier this year hit the headlines for conducting an expletive-laced show, AIB Roast.

Sun Group bags contract

GSTV faces the heat

for 3 FM channels

for taking a dig at Modi

DIGITAL RADIO Broadcasting Ltd, a company associated with the Sun Group, has bagged three radio channels. The company got last-minute permission from the Delhi High Court to take part in FM Phase 3 auction.

Earlier, the Ministry of I&B had refused it permission on the ground that it had been denied security clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Digital Radio Broadcasting Ltd, which runs Red FM in Delhi and Mumbai, bagged radio channels in Mumbai, Jodhpur and Srinagar each. The rights for an FM channel in Delhi has been bagged by HT Media Ltd, with the highest-ever bid of `169.16 crore.

AFTER TAMIL channel Sathiyam was served a show cause notice in May this year for allegedly insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it’s now the turn of a Gujarati channel to face the music. GSTV has been served a notice for “a deliberate attempt” to malign the reputation of a leader in a program titled Gandhi Hatya Koni Jawabdari? (Who is responsible for Gandhi’s death?), reports The Economic Times. The

program was telecast on January 30. It asked why the government was not stopping the glorification of Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse. It also said that Gandhi’s thought cannot be taken forward by wearing expensive suits or by waving brooms in air, an alleged reference to Modi. GSTV denied having violated any code and said the show cause notice overlooked their right to free speech and expression.

Zee journo wins sacking case THE BOMBAY High Court has ruled in favor of a woman journalist associated with Zee News, who had claimed that she was wrongfully dismissed by the news channel during her pregnancy, a report in The Hoot says. The judgment was passed by Justice NM Jamdar.

The journalist had challenged the termination of her services in 2012, and both the Labour Court, Mumbai and the Industrial Court,

Mumbai, had ruled in her favor. Zee had challenged these rulings in the High Court, but Justice Jamdar too has upheld the earlier judgments, saying: “Arbitrary termination of service during the maternity period, such as the present one, not only affects the concerned woman employee, but creates a sense of despair and disillusionment amongst the working women in general.”

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 11

Lede

Citizen Journalist

A Universe of Prying Cameras

W

The ubiquitous mobile camera has made everyone an instant journalist. And everyone is under scrutiny.

Those most at risk are politicians with their foot-in-the-mouth disease and public servants

BY AJITH PILLAI

E do live in strange and exciting times when that bored looking and seemingly innocuous person next to you in a bus or suburban train can suddenly transform himself or herself into a super journalist. He or she need not be a trained media professional to achieve this instant metamorphosis. In today’s super-charged information age, a

news story is just a click away on the cellphone. In fact, recording images of dramatic events —be it an accident, a natural disaster or a riot—as they unfold has almost become second nature to many of us.

And once you have it captured on video, there are several avenues to make it public—the social media is an obvious option, although there are enough TV channels to grab footage, even pay for it and claim it as their exclusive.

So, are we slowly becoming a nation of people with prying cameras? Ask any politician, public figure or person in authority and he will tell you that their clan has to be more careful than ever before.

The realization has sunk in that the risk of being caught on camera can no longer be ignored. Simply put, what you say and what you do even in the remotest district of the country could turn viral and prove to be a major embarrassment. There is always the lurking fear of the citizen journalist wielding the smart phone or a stringer with a handycam recording what is happening.

Gone are the days when a politician could outright deny what he had said. The standard explanation given all these years was of being wrongly

quoted by the reporter or of statements being taken out of context with mischievous or devious intent.

Even audio recordings have been questioned for their authenticity, with allegations that they have been tampered with or the voice impersonated. But with video images, such denials lack any credibility as what was said or done is there for the world to see and hear in moving images. Politicians know that they have to brazen it out or pay the price if caught with their foot in the mouth.

I

n the 2015 Delhi assembly elections, union minister of state for food processing industries, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, was caught using abusive language while campaigning in Shyam Nagar, West Delhi. Her speech delivered late evening on a cold winter night in December last year was attended by a sparse crowd of BJP supporters. A few years ago, what the junior minister said at a low-profile meeting would perhaps have gone unnoticed. But this time, much to her chagrin, it was recorded. Her remark: “Do you want a government of Ramzaadon (followers of Lord Ram) or haramzaadon (those who are illegitimate-born)?” was not only up on

Media scrutiny has spread deep and wide and the modern-day politician as well as the bureaucrat or police official has to be aware of this.

Slapping a bank official or hurling abuse in public somehow gets recorded.

FROM GROUND ZERO

Anthony Lawrence

12 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

(Left) Supporters use mobile phones to click pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he arrives on the dais at an election rally in Jamshedpur

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October 7, 2015 13

Lede

Citizen Journalist

BJP Lok Sabha MP Sakshi Maharaj has made several statements which have embarrassed his party no end. Two decades ago, his comments would have merited very little media attention and the BJP MP would perhaps have got away with them.

TV but went viral. It was taken up by the opposition in parliament and the Sadhvi was left with no option but to apologize. Her attempt to contextualise what she said or to explain what she actually meant convinced no one.

Similarly, the brash BJP Lok Sabha MP from Unnao, UP, Sakshi Maharaj, has made several statements which have embarrassed his party no end.

Earlier this year, he was issued a show cause notice by the BJP for making controversial statements, including one that exhorted Hindu women to produce four or five children. He also blamed the Nepal earthquake on Rahul Gandhi’s “impure” (after eating beef) visit to Kedarnath. The last statement was made in Hardwar, but was picked up by the national media. Two decades ago, it would have merited very little media attention and the BJP MP would perhaps have got away with it.

Congress leaders have been caught on the wrong foot too. Former Union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal must have thought he was being witty while inaugurating a kavi sammelan at a women’s college in Kanpur in 2013. When the function was underway, news came that India had won an important

14 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

T-20 match. Jaiswal had to interrupt his speech to allow the bursting of fire crackers to celebrate the win. But before that, he said this to the audience: “You must celebrate the victory first since the charm of celebration is when the victory is fresh. If you delay and it gets old, the charm will be lost—like when a wife gets old, the celebration of marriage does not remain that enjoyable.”

F

rom the footage shown on national television, the minister clearly thought he was being witty. But he obviously did not factor in that his sexist jibe would be debated and dissected nationally. That, unfortunately for him, was the case.

Women activists were baying for his blood on prime time and the opposition sharpened its knives. Jaiswal had to offer profuse apologies for the remark made in Kanpur—a city which is never in the news unless there is a horrendous crime or an unexpected election result.

The entire episode proved that media scrutiny has spread deep and wide and the modern-day politician as well as the bureaucrat or police official has to be aware of this. Slapping a bank official or

hurling abuse in public somehow gets recorded.

The mobile has in recent times made virtually everyone accountable.

Last fortnight, a policeman was caught travelling drunk in the Delhi metro. The video made it to the news channels and as expected, he was suspended.

Similarly, dereliction of duty by officials or police disobeying traffic regulations captured on video invariably leads to punitive action. Last year, the Uttar Pradesh government transferred the DIG of Saharanpur for publicly endorsing honour killing. And an SP was shifted from his post for his insensitive remark to a father whose daughter had been kidnapped. He had said that the police’s priority is to catch thieves and not girls who have eloped. In both cases, action was precipitated by proof on video.

It is not just visual images that catch public and official attention. The BBC, reporting on the reach of social media, gives the example of Naresh Bankar, an adivasi farmer in Chhattisgarh, who had to pay a bribe of about `1 lakh to a forest official on behalf of his community for land deeds that were “sold” to them. The tribal community’s right to their land under Indian law is protected and the official was

demanding money for land owned by them. Naresh phoned a local news portal—CGNet Swara—and recounted what had transpired. This led to a departmental inquiry against the officer and within a month, he was held guilty and had to return the money he had extorted.

Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s abusive speech in the 2015 Delhi assembly elections was recorded, shown on TV and went viral.

She had to apologize and her attempt to contextualize what she said or meant convinced no one.

L

ast week, retired army veterans continuing their agitation for one rank one pension (OROP) were cut up with the poor media focus on the issue after the government alleged that the matter had been amicably resolved. The pensioners want all the pre-poll promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ex-servicemen vis-a-vis their pension fulfilled before they call off their protest at Jantar Mantar. The veterans also believe they have been given a raw deal by the media, which they allege, has switched off from their story.

They have been venting their frustration through social media networks. Here is one thought from a retired general in the public domain: “Dear Barkha Dutt, Vishnu Som, Arnab Goswami, Mahroof Raza and the esteemed members of the fourth estate of my Country. You have VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 15

S THE WORLD TURNS

Lede

Citizen Journalist

HAULED UP (Below) Former coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal was also caught on the wrong foot after his sexist jibe in 2013

stayed with our soldiers, enjoyed their unparalleled hospitality, drank their highly subsidised liquor and ate their high quality rations, made your careers by showing their blood and tears and their bodies wrapped smartly in tricolour while they visit their loved ones for the last time. And yet when they needed your support the most you abandoned them with such disgrace. Please go to a corner of your bedrooms, face the wall and hang your head in shame for a minute, may be then you will be able to forgive yourself for what you did because you guys will not be able to redeem yourself in the eyes of a soldier in this life or the next. But when you are marooned in a flood or on a hill top while holidaying or cower yourself in your houses or offices hiding from terrorist bullets then the very soldiers will not think twice to put themselves in harm’s way to res-

Social media is also full of “false news” and should be viewed with a fair amount of scepticism.

There are images that do not tell the complete story. A video from an earlier riot is sometimes shown as proof of an incident that currently occurred.

16 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

cue your sorry asses.”

It is another matter that what the general did not factor in was that the media is allegedly under pressure from certain vested interests in the government to stay off the story. There is also the question of viewer fatigue on an agitation which is close to a 100 days old.

B

ut what is significant is that such a message to the media would not have found its way even in the “letters to the editor” column of a newspaper. If it did, it would have been edited and sanitized with much of the frustration tempered.

However, in the social media, which is like a wordof-mouth high on steroids, it goes exactly as it is written. A forum is now available for venting one’s thoughts and more and more people are using it.

One must quickly add that many are abusing it too. Which is why, social media is full of “false news” and should be viewed with a fair amount of scepticism. One can also find images that do not actually tell the complete story.

There are times when a video from an earlier riot is shown as proof of an incident that has currently occurred. Even established news channels have been fooled into using such visuals in their rush to telecast exclusive footage.

Sometimes, it is courtesy CCTVs that the rich and powerful stand exposed. TV channels and the net often go viral with images of politicians and rich kids refusing to pay highway toll and instead, vandalizing booths and brandishing guns. News channels are full of stories on a host of issues, including environment degradation, civic apathy, VVIP racism and what have you, which have inputs from citizen journalists. Any man, woman or child with a smart phone is today a journalist and part of the newsgathering process.

And what makes it to the public domain could be the good, the authentic, the bad or the ugly. It could also be the trivial, the inaccurate, the unreliable or the nonsensical. But it does come out. Remember, a million cameras are watching you...

Caught kicking on camera A HUNGARIAN camerawoman for an online TV channel has been fired after reporters filmed her kicking migrants as they fled from police at Roszke in southern Hungary. The footage went viral internationally. The N1 TV channel’s editor, Szabolcs Kisberk, said in a statement that employment of the camerawoman,

identified as Petra Laszlo, had been “terminated with immediate effect”, reported Al Jazeera. The Internet-based TV is close to Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party which has an anti-migrants stand. Tension between migrants and police have been running high for days near Roszke.

Google abused market position: Russia FOLLOWING ALLEGATIONS by Competition Commission of India that Internet giant Google Inc “abused its dominance” in the Indian market, now Russia’s Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) has found Google guilty of abusing its dominant market position. Last year Russia’s Yandex search engine filed a complaint with FAS about Google’s practice of pre-installing its own apps on Android smart devices. Yandex is Russia’s largest search engine provider.

On September 14, FAS announced that it found Google in breach of a Russian law on "protecting competition." This was reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Not fair Charlie THE FRENCH satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has published cartoons of the photograph of drowned three-year-old Syrian boy Alan Kurdi. The toddler was found on a Turkish coast, after a failed attempt by his family to reach Greece on boat. In the cartoon, the child is depicted with a caption that says: “So close to his goal.”

The image shows a billboard featuring a Ronald McDonald lookalike and the caption reads: “Two children’s menus for the price of one.”The magazine became a symbol of freedom of speech when it was attacked by Islamist militants in January for publishing cartoons mocking Prophet Mohammad. However, the latest edition has invited sharp reactions for making mockery of death.

Now, tweet

Ukraine bans 40 journalists UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree banning 40 journalists and bloggers from 15 countries, including them as potential “threat to national interests”. The journalists are included in an extensive blacklist issued by Poroshenko's office, which prohibits 400 people from entering Ukraine for a year. The President's crackdown is in response to the upcoming elections in the rebel-held territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine is set to hold nationwide regional elections on October 25, but the rebels have announced they will hold their own two-stage polls beginning a week earlier.

your donations

AS THE US presidential election gets nearer, candidates are taking to social media and campaigning aggressively.

Twitter has introduced a feature that enables candidates to raise money through its mobile application from followers. Apart from presidential candidates, the service is also available to

local and state-level candidates. Twitter is working with Square Inc, a financial services firm, to collect funds and information that the Federal Election Commission requires from donors. Twitter’s user-base is particularly engaged with news and current events.

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Focus Media Regulation

Muzzle the Press!

Why is media baron Subhash Chandra demanding a law to control the press? While the press has been ridden with corrupt practices, is this an attempt to justify government control of the medium?

BY ABHAY VAIDYA

L

AST month, media baron Subhash Chandra called for the introduction of a law to regulate the media in India.

Chandra, who is the chairman of the Zee TV-Essel Group, said the credibility of the media was at its lowest, media ownership was “opaque” and he wouldn’t be surprised if a criminal like Dawood Ibrahim was owning or controlling some news TV channel in the country.

“If there is someone who can bring a law to regulate the media, it is (Prime Minister) Modi and no one else,” Chandra said in an interview televised on Zee News on August 8.

“If there is someone who can bring a law to regulate the media, it is (Prime Minister) Modi and no one else.”

— Subhash Chandra, chairman, Zee TV–Essel Group 18 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

He suggested the setting up of a regulatory mechanism for entry into the media business, on the lines of the Reserve Bank of India’s “fit and proper” criteria. Chandra said some dubious entities had entered the news media business “as a shield for their illegal activities” and there was a need for a clean-up.

The fact is that driven by greed for higher profits, media barons have themselves compromised media ethics and are thus responsible for a high degree of corruption in the Indian media.

The Zee News-Jindal Steel & Power Company case of 2012 is one of the most shameful episodes in Indian journalism. In November 2012, Zee’s Group Editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Business Head Samir Ahluwalia were arrested by Delhi

Police on charges of attempts to extort a `100 crore advertising deal in exchange for favorable news coverage. In a reverse sting operation, the duo was secretly filmed by Jindal Steel while trying to negotiate that deal. The company then showed the video at a press conference and accused Zee TV of indulging in “blackmailing and extortionist tactics”.

I

n 2012, The Times of India Group, which runs the world’s largest English newspaper, answered a fundamental question about its existence. “We are not in the newspaper business, we are in the advertising business…,” said Vineet Jain, managing director of Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), the firm that publishes The Times of India (TOI), in an interview with Ken Auletta of The New Yorker. As he explained: “…if 90 percent of your revenues come from advertising, you’re in the advertising business.”

All that Jain meant was that newspapers were forced to depend on advertising revenue, as the cover price of newspapers amounted to a fraction of their production cost.

However, Jain’s poor choice of words stuck badly and it has come to suggest not without reason that at TOI, the advertiser and his promotional interests get a clear priority over all other stakeholders in journalism.

This is true of a large section of the Indian media today which has followed the TOI’s footsteps and introduced their own versions of paid news and private treaties and have firmly declared the supremacy of

“We are not in the newspaper business, we are in the advertising business…if 90 percent of your revenues come from advertising, you’re in the advertising business.”

— Vineet Jain, managing director, Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd VIEWS ON NEWS

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Focus Media Regulation

The paid news format soon spread like cancer in the rest of the print and TV media and the clear demarcation of advertorials was not always adhered to.

SHAMEFUL EPISODE (L-R) Zee’s Group business head Samir Ahluwalia and editor Sudhir Chaudhary

T

In November 2012, Zee’s Group Editor Sudhir Chaudhary (right) and Business Head Samir Ahluwalia were nabbed by Delhi Police for allegedly trying to extort a `100 crore ad deal for favorable coverage. the marketing department over the editorial.

When TOI launched Medianet, its paid news department in 2003, it was meant to prevent corporate and PR companies from using the news space to promote their brands, products and clients. TOI explained that such “news” was to be carried as paid-for advertorials with a clear disclaimer to distinguish news from advertisements.

In a paper published by Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in 2013 (In Need of a Leveson? Journalism in India in Times of Paid News and ‘Private Treaties’), Times CEO Ravi Dhariwal was quoted as saying that the purpose of Medianet was also to counter journalists who were being paid by PR agencies to plant news in the paper.

20 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

hus, readers are either unaware or left guessing about advertorials sneaked in as news reports and paid news has become a part of “organized and institutionalized” form of media corruption.

Media companies have even collected substantial black money from politicians in exchange for favorable, one-sided coverage during elections. One such instance was cited by the Press Council of India (PCI) in its report, Paid News: How corruption in the Indian media undermines Indian democracy. It related to Loksatta Party candidate Parcha Kodana Rama Rao’s revelation that he paid `50,000 in cash (without receipt) to Eenadu to carry a report on him.

Many news organizations have also entered into “private treaties” with various firms after the BCCL marketing innovation was introduced in 2005 in order to accept equity in lieu of advertising revenue.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was among the first to raise serious concern that “private treaties” (renamed by TOI as Brand Capital) “may give rise to conflicts of interest and may therefore, result in the dilution of the independence of the press vis-à-vis the nature and content of the news/editorials in the media of companies promoting such agreements”.

This is exactly what the “private treaties” arrangement has degenerated into with newspapers offering protection against negative coverage to firms covered under private treaties and promising only positive coverage for higher amounts. This is akin to the “protection money” charged by gangsters and the underworld from celebrities and wealthy businessmen.

The Reuters Institute paper quoted Dhariwal

as saying that “a Chinese wall exists between Brand Capital (private treaties) and the editorial department” and that the editorial is not influenced by firms engaged in private treaty arrangements. However, Dhariwal could not explain the Rahul Joshi-The Economic Times episode of 2007 and the skewed Sobha Developers coverage in TOI Bangalore in 2008.

In 2007, in a piece in the news blog Sans Serif, award-winning journalist Sucheta Dalal published a leaked email from The Economic Times editor Rahul Joshi dated November 29, 2007, instructing his journalists to support private treaty clients.

His email read: “At ET, we are carving out a separate team to look into the needs of private treaty clients. Every large centre will have a senior editorial person to interface with treaty clients. In turn, the senior edit person will be responsible along with the existing team, for edit delivery....”

ations of the Saradha Group, former Congress MP Matang Sinh, Sun TV and a host of others.

To propose regulatory control over the media in India tantamounts to touching a raw nerve.

Was Subhash Chandra influenced by the RSSBJP to propose a law for media regulation? This media baron, who is close to the BJP, voluntarily offered a clarification during his interview that he had not prompted or directed Zee TV’s

T

he email further went on to say that news stories on private treaty clients would be integrated into different sections of the paper and “in this way, we will be able to incorporate PT into the editorial mainstream…”

When newspaper barons are found dabbling in mega real estate projects, bidding for coal blocks and engaged in power generation, the larger picture is very disturbing and raises conflict of interest issues.

In some cases, it suggests that running newspapers and television stations is essentially a façade to use the power of the press to promote larger business interests.

In March 2014, media baron, Congress MP and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Lokmat Group from Maharashtra, Vijay Darda, was charged in the coal block allocation scam along with his son, Devendra Darda. The father-son duo and a business associate were charged with cheating, conspiracy and corruption.

In its special report on August 7, Zee Business highlighted controversies relating to media oper-

According to a Press Council of India report, Loksatta Party candidate Parcha Kodana Rama Rao allegedly paid `50,000 in cash (without receipt) to Eenadu for a positive report.

Media baron, Congress MP and Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Lokmat Group, Vijay Darda, was charged in the coal block allocation scam along with his son.

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EB CRAWLER WHAT’S TRENDING

Focus Media Regulation

Battling on another front

posals to empower the PCI with punitive powers.

He had also proposed a national qualifying examination for journalists on the lines of a license for doctors and lawyers, which could be revoked in the event of serious violations.

AN IMAGE OF a group of women officers of the US Army has gone viral on Facebook, garnering 2.5 million views. The picture is by photographer Tara Ruby, former member of the US Air Force, who was on active duty between 1997 and 2001.

Saying that her aim was to remove the taboo surrounding breastfeeding in the military, Ruby added that she was heartened by the overwhelming response to the picture. While the US Army does not have a country-wide policy, individual army bases have guidelines requiring “modesty”. Such rules have been criticized by serving mothers.

O

Various governments in India have attempted to control the press. Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan tried to introduce a private member’s media regulation bill in parliament in 2012.

India needs to initiate a Lord Justice Brian Leveson-style inquiry done in the UK to look into the affairs of the media.

All issues related need to be examined and addressed.

“Mission Clean Media” campaign.

Over the past decades, various governments in India have been itching to control the press one way or the other and the NaMo government could be expected to do likewise. The most brazen muzzling of the press was during the Emergency in 1975-77 when press censorship was at its severest.

Other attempts include Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan’s bid to introduce a private member's media regulation bill in parliament in 2012 and PCI chief Justice Markandey Katju’s pro22 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

ne of the strongest recommendations for regulatory control over the media came from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology in 2013.

Its report, Issues related to Paid News, recommended heavy penalties and regulation, censure, fine, cancellation or revocation of the license of the media house and even imprisonment depending on the gravity of the violations.

Incidentally, this was the first such report of its kind by a parliamentary body in India on media corruption.

In the light of the 2010 Radiagate expose which revealed the unholy nexus between top journalists, lobbyists and ministers and politicians, it was not surprising that the parliamentary committee recommended stiff regulatory measures and also drew attention to the Leveson Inquiry undertaken in the UK into “the culture, practices and ethics of the British press”.

Instituted in the wake of the News of the World phone hacking scam, Lord Justice Brian Leveson’s Inquiry Committee said in its 2,000page report that a new independent body with powers to impose a range of sanctions and fines on errant media was necessary.

As a first step, India needs to initiate a Leveson-style inquiry to look comprehensively into the affairs of the media. All corrupt and questionable practices, the need for an independent regulatory body, a review of the powers and functioning of the PCI and the need for greater job security for journalists need to be examined and addressed.

— The writer is a senior journalist who has worked in The Times of India and DNA

An innovation that turned into a nightmare AHMED MOHAMED, A 14-year-old student from Irving, Texas, who is interested in robotics, thought he would impress his teachers by showing off his home-made clock. Instead, he was arrested and taken to a juvenile detention center under suspicion that the clock was a hoax bomb.

Mohamed was handcuffed and put under intense questioning for more than five hours, prompting an intense backlash on social media.

President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed their support, with Obama and Zuckerberg extending Mohamed invitations to the White House and Facebook headquarters, respectively.

Ahmed was later released for lack of evidence.

Hope for humanity AMIDST A TORRENT of heart-wrenching images pouring out of Eastern Europe due to the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, the image of a Danish police officer playing a game with a young Syrian girl has won hearts across the world, in stark contrast to scenes of refugees being tear-gassed by cops in Hungary.

The picture, taken by photographer Claus Fisker near the German-Danish border, has been shared on social media platforms and has generated an outpouring of goodwill.

Remembering the Iron Lady DURING A TELEVISED debate between leading Republican Party presidential hopefuls, former Florida governor Jeb Bush singled down on UK’s former prime minister Margaret Thatcher as his choice for the woman to be represented on the new $10 bill, due to be circulated in 2020.

“I would go with Ronald Reagan’s partner, Margaret Thatcher,” he said, noting that it was unlikely to happen as she was not American.

Nevertheless, “Margaret Thatcher” started

trending on Twitter soon after, receiving everything from support to outright mockery. User ElmOnTeamHillary cited Thatcher’s “shameful support for apartheid” as proof of her unworthiness of such an honour, while user Mike Koenigs quoted Thatcher’s famous words: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money”, a sentiment that echoes strongly among American conservatives. Two other candidates chose civil rights activist Rosa Parks.

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October 7, 2015 23

New Media OROP Agitation

Dumped by the Media the Indian media per se and their deliberate ho hum turning of the back to the Ekta rally in which 50,000 ex-servicemen and their families displayed an impressive solidarity, has opened another front. The vets took the publicity blackout punch on the chin and like the soldiers they still are, developed their own strategy. Let’s go to the people and use social media platforms, we don’t need the conventional press.

LEGITIMATE DEMAND (Right) Army veterans at the Sainik Ekta rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi

The press is overcome

by OROP fatigue and has bypassed the ex-servicemen’s agitation.

But they have reached out to people via social media. Is this the end of Fourth Estate’s relevance?

BY BIKRAM VOHRA 24 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

W

ITH supreme fatigue having set in on the OROP issue, the media is not really interested in carrying anything on it. Unless one of the fasting ex-servicemen cops it or there is a bonfire of the vanities and they burn their citations of bravery or hand back the medals, the party, as far as the TV and press are concerned, is over. Time to move on to tilt at other windmills.

Curiously though, the major snub given to the vets by

SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN All the OROP leaders I spoke to say it may not set the Jamuna on fire, but the word is spreading fast.

The first signature campaign gathered 35,000 supporters inside two hours and is now a legitimate legal document that can be forwarded to the government.

And as I sift through my inbox and read scores of messages from ex-servicemen around the globe, it strikes me that the TRP race and the inward looking press and TV band of journalists might just be facing a future siege, a sort of Alamo

The first signature campaign on social media gathered 35,000 supporters inside two hours and is now a legitimate legal document that can be forwarded to the government. without the heroics. The conceit is so tangible in our ranks that no one would even consider social platforms as a threat. But with bloggers more interesting and erudite than professional writers, the public involvement in issues intensifying and the chance for the individual to express himself sans interference is a heady elixir. The speed of delivery makes for a deadly combination. Anybody can be a writer and a dispenser of news and opinion.

Wunderbar.

The adhesive which is still needed is a sense of organization and it is fair to concede that the OROP call may not achieve its goals at such an early stage. But it has set into motion an alternative messenger. The geometric progression of

PRIDE OR SHAME? (Above) An armed forces veteran with his medals at the dharna for OROP in New Delhi

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October 7, 2015 25

New Media OROP Agitation

PLAINTIVE CRY “A dissatisfied military is not in the interest of any nation least of all India which has to contend with multifarious internal and external security issues. The nation at large and the political leadership must be alive to the prevailing sentiments and act appropriately lest the gates of military stations are opened.”

— Lt Gen NS Brar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd), former Deputy Chief Integrated Defence Staff and Member Armed Forces Tribunal

“Dear Prime Minister! I hope you have seen the sad picture of a proud veteran trying to fight his tears and another veteran whose shirt with medals torn asunder withstands the criminal use of force against him with quiet dignity and equanimity. It is still not too late to make amends.”

— Lt Gen PG Kamath (a veteran)

“The Ekta Rally proved to the World that soldiers are a disciplined lot. Not a single slogan shouting against the Govt. No “hai hai or murdabad”. Everyone was standing in Regimental lots or state lots quietly listening to the speeches. I have never seen such strength which was so disciplined. Over 50,000 veterans with wives and children from all over standing there. Hats off to the Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, Bangla Sahib and Rakabganj Sahib for organizing stay for people coming from outside, they provided breakfast, lunch, langar, water, tea at Jantar Mantar. The kar seva members went to Jantar Mantar and served everything to ex-faujis and their families. What we want from the social media since press is gagged, we want your help: Please make it viral on WhatsApp and Facebook.”

100 people sending forward a chain letter in the morning can reach hundreds of thousands by evening. And before you know it, there is not just a groundswell of public opinion, there is a visible reaction as well.

STRONG INFLUENCE It is a sobering thought that it was Twitter and Facebook that accelerated the Arab Spring in Egypt and for a high-density population like we have in India, getting the nation to stir its conscience and come to bat for a cause is not difficult at all. YouTube is widely seen as a major element on US politics.

The governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, was the pioneer for political activism through social media. He changed the paradigm on mobilization of numbers, accelerated fundraising and gave the likeminded their focus.

Remember the Oscar Morales saga where the Colombian citizen took on the guerrillas engaged in kidnappings and used Facebook to generate a global uproar that actually resulted in the release of a victim?

Let me give you three story angles doing the rounds from retired officer enclaves to active cantonments and even reaching service personnel living abroad where the indignation is tangible. All these have been studiously ignored by media organs because of the boredom factor and steep diminishing returns.

STORIES GALORE Story One: A subedar major spoke to the throng. He started by saying he was the father of not one but two martyred sons. He asked the prime minister (with reference to his foot-in-the-mouth public remark that he’d be given OROP at the cost of the poor) whether he still needed to prove his loyalty to the nation? To stifle spontaneous cries of “Shame, Shame” he declared that if the prime minister publicly proved that he indeed needed to deprive the poor to give OROP, he didn't want it.

What a story, it would do any cover proud but there were no takers. How many parents have given two sons in uniform and stayed on earth to mourn them? It screams for attention. Just this story can be a rallying point.

Story Two: Former service chiefs are coming together to meet the president in an extraordinary conference around the beginning of next week.

Some of them are currently abroad but are flying back for this session in which the prime minister is expected to be present. The call is to take Major General Satbir Singh, the spearhead of the movement, with them.

This is the first time former four star officers are coming together to create a unified force.

There is not even a mention of it anywhere.

But the ever-increasing ripples on the internet are finding listeners. There is also the “pass on” effect to those on civvy street who have relatives in the forces and, what is more, the messages, translated into various languages, is reaching out to rural areas where 90 percent of our soldiers’ families reside.

Herein lies the irony. Blacked out by the media, the movement was compelled to go underground, but it has more support now from sources that had not stirred themselves when the coverage was intense. Now, they are stepping in to fill what they see as a breach.

Blacked out by the media, the movement was compelled to go underground, but it has more support now from sources that had not stirred themselves when the coverage was intense.

GLORIOUS TRADITION (Left) Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar pays homage to martyrs of Kargil war on Kargil Vijay Divas, July 26

— Chander Kamboj (a veteran)

26 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

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New Media

Advertising Mobile Medium

OROP Agitation

OPTIONS GALORE (Left) They do not need media attention

OROP GETS SCBA SUPPORT The OROP issue received wholehearted support from lawyers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). Around 20 lawyers led by SCBA president Dushyant Dave were to represent the veterans in the apex court. And they had decided not to charge a single penny.

The decision, taken at a meeting of the executive committee of SCBA, was chaired by Dave and included Secretary, SCBA, Aishwarya Bhati and other office bearers.

After the government agreed to implement the OROP scheme, Dave also sent a letter of thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Story Three: The sentiment is indeed a matter of rising damp. The feelings of hurt, confusion, disbelief and anger at being given short shrift for taking a stand on principle are now coalescing into an effective weapon through messaging. Clearly, the decision to bypass the media that bypassed them is working in generating a certain squirt of glue. Says a very senior frontliner over the phone: “We are all speaking the same language and sending the same message to everyone. That fosters unity and there is no ambiguity. Nor are we prey to contrived stories designed to derail us. Our only regret is that being born in the non-net years, we did not appreciate how important it is and we do wish we had harnessed the resource earlier. It costs nothing and is effective. We don’t want to be on TV, get lost, we will enter your homes and offices on a one on one.”

PROUD VETERANS Here is a report doing the rounds on the net by Lt Col KJ Vohra: “At the massive ex-servicemen rally on September 12, there was a rare collective bonding, a steely resolve, a sense of dignified indignation.

When 80-year-olds spoke, their feeling of pain and humiliation was masked by the JOSH, something that flowed spontaneously. Perhaps, this was the

28 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

grueling army training where you always knew how to convert adversity into purpose.

“Some veteran frames were slightly bent with the ravages of age, but heads were held high. Passions were intense, a common thread ran through the sea of humanity conservatively placed at a rolling count of 50,000.

“Some limped on to the stage to speak, but when the slender frame spoke, a lion roared from within with enough force to cause mild tremors across at 7, Race Course Road, and resonate with their grandchildren at the borders. It appeared to be one big family, where even wives and children instinctively invoked their instilled spirit of camaraderie and solidarity to create an atmosphere that was solemn, focused and yet almost festive. Eighty-year-olds strutted about in the oppressive heat in colorful turbans with medals across their chests (that somehow got inflated to over 56 inches with pride).

“My wife and I nearly didn’t come. News reports, authoritative sources said the rally had been called off. Some friends from out of town cancelled their trip. It didn't matter that the dirty tricks department was at work. You cannot stop a tsunami by breaking wind against it.”

Fond imaginings or not, the vets are still there and they don’t seem to care that the media has dumped them. That’s the first time in India that any entity has said, oh phooey to you, we don’t need you.

To me, it is the small beginning of an Orwellian world and will hasten the change. With scarcely any laws to govern it, the net and its crisscross grids of highways and arteries is a whole new game.

Except that it isn’t...a game. So, does the media have blinkers on and will it risk getting sideswiped?

Absolutely.

App-vertising Smartly The use of mobiles has changed the way advertisers woo consumers. As they zoom in on smartphone and iPhone users, it’s predicted that this business will reach $49.81 billion in two years

BY MR DUA

A

DVERTISE or perish. That is the mantra of today’s marketing punditry. Moreover, since time immemorial, advertising has been universally accepted as the most essential ingredient of any successful marketing endeavor. Therefore, any advertising media, be it print, electronic, outdoor or face-to-face, is the best tool for multiplying sales and increasing profits.

While most entrepreneurs and industries yoke existing advertising media with their publicity plans as and when they deem fit, of late, manufacturers and marketers have realized that all these devices take some time to reach the

FLASHY PHONES (Above L-R) Sangfei’s CEO, Kevin Hou, and country manager, SS Bassi with models, during the launch of Philips Mobile in New Delhi

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October 7, 2015 29

Advertising Mobile Medium

target audience. By the time it reaches the user, they have ended up losing him, sometimes forever. This is something no business enterprise wants in today’s cut-throat world.

GRAND OPENING (Below) Customers gather for the opening of an Apple Store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China

NEW AD SLOTS Therefore, in order to approach the targeted consumer expeditiously and attract his attention instantly, numerous mobile mediums such as smartphones, iPhones and tablets have opened up umpteen new ad slots. Studies in mobile media advertising have demonstrated the magnetic pulling power of these mediums to getting the consumer to buy the products. No wonder advertisers are rushing in to employ these new advertising techniques.

Also, with a massive target audience, this form

The advantage with mobile advertising is that it can provide product information such as location, users, time and tasks, allowing marketers to identify and influence customers at the right moment.

30 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

of advertising works best. It’s estimated that cell phone users have touched 30 million in India alone, while in Asia, there are over seven lakh apps. Some of the internationally reputed mobile phone advertising agencies are Adform, AdMob, AppBoost, Geemobi, Mobvista, mobileCore, AdMaxim and AdlQuity. eMarketer, a noted American media researcher, estimated that until December last year, more than $30 billion was spent on new mobile advertising globally. And it is predicted to expand further, reaching $49.81 billion in the next two years. In the US alone, it is likely to net more than $4.4 billion by 2018.

With the meteoric growth of mobile phone usage, and apps such as Pandora, Shazam, Angry Birds and web mapping service MapQuest owned

by AOL, marketers consider them to be the most profound, cheapest and quickest devices for accessing consumers everywhere, be it villages, small towns or metros.

VERY COST-EFFECTIVE Yet another innovative aspect of mobile media such as smartphones and iPads is that they can be easily and quickly integrated with other similar technologies such as the internet and tablets, thus making mobile advertising very cost-effective even for small businesses and petty traders.

For the consumer too, it is a winning proposition. Mobile media advertising gives him immediate information regarding a product and chances of it being bought increase exponentially.

Also, with smartphone and iPhone users invariably carrying their devises in pockets or bags, their access is fast.

Professionally speaking, the mobile media ad copy is brief, precise, to the point. It does not have any unnecessary adverbs or bombastic language.

At the same time, it has to be engaging, catchy, funny and with mass appeal. Such advertising carries the image of the product and has sugar-coated copy to persuade the user to buy the product.

Most often, the screen just shows the product, while empty space could be used to lure the user with discounts in phone tariffs, call costs, etc.

Most iPhone and smartphone users could enormously benefit by such concessions and deals struck instantaneously.

While the ad content and duration of advertising in mobile devices may vary with costs and transmission plans, messages are put out in these formats: SMS advertising, MMS, mobile PPC (pay per click ads, also called InPage advertising), mobile banners, contextual mobile ads, idle screen advertising and audio advertising.

Also, commonly aired ads include: mobile phone audios, internet videos, cartoons and engaging conversations with consumers.

The advantage with mobile advertising is that it can provide product information such as location, users, time and tasks, allowing marketers to identify and influence customers at the right moment of decision.

In addition, cell technologies and apps are being effortlessly “married” with several other technologies. “App-vertising” is the most recent innovation. It’s not surprising that Apple’s App Store is fast entering the market for cell phone advertising. For its new sports car, the A4, luxury car-maker Audi has created the “A4 Driving Challenge Application”, says The Wall Street Journal.

PROBLEM AREAS Despite the growing importance of mobile advertising, many hurdles remain in the actual usage of these adverts. Some of the most frequently experienced are created by web detectors, Ad Blockers.

In addition, there is skewed mobile screen space— fitting the matter and illustrations, monotonous content, users deleting messages, exaggerated messages unaccompanied by actual delivery of products. There are also numerous risks such as malware, privacy intrusions and spam profusions.

However, several startups are providing relevant software and solutions to battle such defects.

eMarketer, a noted American media researcher, estimated that until December last year, more than $30 billion was spent on new mobile advertising globally.

With media consumption habits constantly evolving, it is being seen that print media is losing clientele and television viewers are fickle. In this context, mobile advertising will most certainly gain new ground in all areas of marketing and advertising strategies.

And in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India taking off soon, mobile advertising is bound to make waves in rural and urban areas in times to come.

APP-SAVVY WAYS (Top) Audi’s A4 Driving Challenge App Interface (above) The Digital India initiative aims to integrate government departments with the populace

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Anchor Review CNN with Donald Trump

The Trump-et Card

thumping statements.

The interview was smartly divided into various sections—Hillary, immigration, trade, jobs, ISIS, TV education, family—making it easier for American voters to judge him on various issues. Interestingly, the interview is done in what seems like a mall, with curious onlookers watching from a distance and taking pictures.

HITTING AT HILLARY Asked about polls saying he and high-profile Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton were in close competition, Trump dismisses them saying Hillary will have a hard time over her leaked emails. And then ridiculously, he compares this to the leak of classified documents by Gen David Petraeus, then CIA director, to his mistress. Cuomo rightly points this out to him, but it hardly matters as Trump asks righteously: “What’s she doing?” “Why is she doing it?” He even goes on to say the email leak could be a criminal act or incompetence, none of which is good for the US president.

Coming to geo-politics, Trump takes the credit

for predicting that if Iraq is decimated, Iran would take over the Middle East and then, someone would take over the leftover oil, which is ISIS. “So call it vision, I have to call it vision as I am trying to get elected,” he says pompously.

But he is clear and blunt about one thing—oil.

He says categorically he will take the oil there—“the source of their wealth”—and give it to the armed forces and wounded soldiers coz “they deserve it, they are the greatest people and I love them”. No wonder America is loving him!

He slams the Iran-US nuclear deal,calling it the worst deal a country has ever made. While an eversceptical Cuomo says Iran has been fighting

Despite Trump rubbing many people the wrong way, and his skewed idea of economics and diplomacy, America is loving him for his blunt talk about getting oil and jobs for the Americans.

Why are the Americans rooting for Donald Trump as president? What makes this arrogant and pompous tycoon so appealing? CNN’s Chris Cuomo’s assessment of this tycoon is worth a second look

BY SHOBHA JOHN

FRANK ABOUT BEING BRASH (Above) Donald Trump (left) was unabashed in sharing his views in an interview to Chris Cuomo (right) on CNN

T

HE way he is going, this billionaire may just come up trumps at the hustings. If polls are anything to go by, Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, may just end up being the next US president. An uneasy thought considering all the wild and offensive things he has been saying recently, so much so that Republican Lindsey Graham even called him a “jackass”. A bit excessive, but then Trump has rubbed many people the wrong way. He says force-

32 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

fully: “We are a country in serious decline,” and he thinks he’s the best man to tackle it.

In order to gauge his growing popularity and the reasons for it, VON decided to watch an interview of his with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on August 19. Now, Cuomo is a seasoned journalist who has worked earlier with ABC and comes from a family with political links. His father, Mario Cuomo, was a former New York governor and his brother, Andrew Cuomo is the current NY governor. So obviously he is no push-over and as the interview progresses, one can see his growing scepticism over Trump’s chestVIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 33

Anchor Review CNN with Donald Trump

Tim Sebastian (left) has become a legend for his interviewing style, especially on BBC’s Hardtalk. His interview with author Isabel Allende (right) will be remembered for its charm and graciousness. against the ISIS, Trump says that the US has been making many mistakes in the Middle East and in Syria. “I want to take care of ourselves and want to rebuild this country and focus on the wealth of ISIS.” It is this sense of false bravado and fighting for what he thinks is truly American that is getting him the votes. He wants an incredible and powerful military that no one can play games with or mess with—he says looking after the military is what he will be best at. Does that bode well in an increasingly hostile world?

GREATEST JOBS PRESIDENT Coming to the economy, Cuomo says that Americans think that as Trump is rich he can make others too rich. But Trump’s statements on this—“I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created”— seem ludicrous when he says emphatically that he will take back jobs from Japan, Mexico, China….

34 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

He lambasts big businesses for building factories and cars in Mexico instead of the US. But that’s coz labor is cheaper there, interjects a stiff Cuomo. But Trump says these businesses will have to pay a tax/penalty to drive those cars back in! But won’t these cars be expensive for US consumers? “Then they should buy fewer cars,” says Trump triumphantly. He seems to have got his economic fundas mixed up. Cuomo looks astounded as Trump says: “We are getting killed on trade.”

Even foreign relations and diplomacy are plain business for Trump. “They are killing us and they don’t even like us,” says Trump of China. Calling a spade a spade, eh? “With me, they will like us and we will beat them,” he says emphatically. Sure. “Even my Chinese tenants love me,” says this real estate magnate. Of course, they will love him—he is rich and can throw them out any time. Trump goes on about China: “They understand they are ripping us off….We have the greatest business people in the world.”

But he says they have the wrong people in the wrong job like Caroline Kennedy, US ambassador in Japan “who doesn’t even know how she got the job”. He cribs about Japan sending in ships with cars (“But they are cheaper,” says an incredulous Cuomo) even as the US sends beef and wheat to them which they don’t want. That’s unequal trade for Trump. It will be interesting to see how he equalizes it.

For a man running for president, Trump is anything but presidential. He is downright offensive and runs down rivals. He calls Jeb Bush, another Republican presidential hopeful, “a very low-energy person”. He claims he was given an award by the Marines Corps at the Waldorf-Astoria. When CNN checked this out, it found out it was the Marine Corp Law Enforcement Foundation, a charity. Two different things, ain’t it, Mr Trump?

However, Trump’s views on women would sound like music to their ears. “I will protect women more than anybody else.” And yes, he is willing to allow women in combat roles after speaking to the generals.

He is also unabashedly arrogant, saying he has the greatest company and has created tens of thousands of jobs, and he looks after his people well. “I am a job producing machine,” he says as he taunts the other presidential candidates for not being in the same league as him.

SERIOUS TAKE While Trump is full of bluster and blows his own trumpet at the drop of a hat, Cuomo, nattily dressed, came across as too serious. His lack of humor is matched by Trump’s own lack of charm. One almost misses the silky smoothness of Bill Clinton. Perhaps Cuomo would do well to see BBC’s Hardtalk where journalist Tim Sebastian interviewed world leaders in such a relaxed manner that they seemed like drawing room conversations. His interview with Isabel Allende, a Chilean-American author, will be remembered for its charm and graciousness.

No wonder Sebastian won Britain’s prestigious Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year award in 2001.

Coming to Trump, Cuomo asks him why he wants to send illegal immigrants back. Isn’t this a constitutionally dubious and extreme position? He says righteously: “I have to do the right thing. This

Trump says Hillary Clinton will have a hard time over her leaked emails, adding that the email leak could be a criminal act or incompetence, none of which is good for the US president. country is so politically correct and no one wants to take a stand on anything.” He says he will send the migrants back to their countries, build a wall along the border and they would need to get back in legally. Ludicrous idea, I say!

The problem with Trump is that he approaches every problem like a businessman and says: “We are losing business to Mexico…. Three hundred thousand births among illegals.” He even dismisses the 14th Amendment which will prevent this. But he promises that he will get “good people” to come back, but legally.

He even has a message for the Pope who will visit the US next month. “I like him, he seems like a pretty good guy.” How flippant. And if the Pope is against capitalism, which Trump says is a very good thing, he will tell him the ISIS is coming for him!

Yup, he said that.

Good luck to the Americans!

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 35

Editors’ Pick Sundeep Khanna

If print media is dying, why are moneybags investing in it?

VON brings in each issue, the best written commentary on any subject. The following write-up, from Livemint.com, has been picked by our team of editors and reproduced for our readers as the best in the fortnight.

With 45 percent of adults reading print newspapers, reports of their demise seem vastly exaggerated

L

AST week, Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox announced it was buying a 73 percent stake in National Geographic’s media properties, including its iconic magazine. The 127-year-old society had been in financial distress for a while and needed the lifeline which came with Murdoch’s $725 million.

This is the third mega print media deal in the last few months and comes after the acquisition of the Financial Times by the Nikkei group for $1.3 billion and The Econ-

POPULARITY OF PRINT Newspaper reading still remains a popular choice

omist by Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family, which paid $446 million to increase its stake to 43.4 percent. Two years ago, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid $259 million for The Washington Post and other products in its stable. The previous year, The Washington Post had lost $54 million.

Ken Doctor, writing on the Nieman Labs site in May, pointed out that for the first quarter of this year, seven of the 10 largest newspaper publishing companies in the US had total net income of about $21 million! So why are men like Murdoch and Bezos investing in print

media? With profits of all print products diving in recent years, it would seem to be a case of throwing good money after bad.

NOT THE END AS YET There could be several reasons.

Print is far from dead. According to readership data from Nielsen Scarborough’s 2014 Newspaper Penetration Report, 56 percent of those who consume a newspaper read it exclusively in print, while 11 percent also read it on desktop or laptop computers, 5 percent also read it on mobile and another 11 percent read it in print, on desktop and on mobile.

Effectively, more than eight in 10 of those who read a newspaper do so in print, at least sometimes. In addition, print ad revenues continue to be a substantial chunk of the media ad pie.

It isn’t easy creating brands in the digital space. Many digitally inclined media entrants are finding that the cost and challenge of building a digital brand outweighs that of buying a well-established print media brand and then leveraging its digital dividend.

The emergence of Facebook as a major news source proves that it is easier for a well-established brand to find success in the digital news space than it has been for most original digital news players such as Vox, Mashable and Buzz Feed.

Indeed, the most successful digital media products are still print brands. Even as The New York Times announced last week that it had hit the million paid digital-only subscriber mark, the top newspapers by digital traffic continue to be old well-established print brands—USA Today, NYT, Daily Mail, The Washington Post and The Guardian.

vestor Warren Buffett to increase his portfolio of publishing company stock. Buffett, who just this year has purchased The Martinsville Bulletin and The Franklin News-Post, two small-town papers in rural Virginia, now owns 31 dailies and dozens of weeklies in 10 states in the US. Newspaper acquisitions come with collateral gains.

Most long-time print brands come with other assets. In a complex deal that turned Nat Geo into a for-profit company from a trust, Murdoch’s acquisition brought him the National Geographic magazine, National Geographic Studios, digital and social media platforms, books, maps, children’s media and other business, including e-commerce and licensing.

Clearly print has legs yet. Instead of the end of the road predicted for it, sharper and more long-term focused investors see this as an interregnum in the profit cycle, a time to reinvent the ad-based business model.

For the first time in almost half a century global newspaper circulation revenues at $89.9 billion exceeded the $77 billion of print advertising revenue. According to Pew Research Centre’s State of the News Media 2015 report, in 2014, newspaper ad revenue declined 4 percent year over year to $19.9 billion, while circulation revenue among publicly traded newspaper companies grew 1 percent.

HABITUATED (Below) Browsing through the newspaper is a habit hard to give up for most

DEVALUATIONS Valuations are at historic lows. As print media companies find stanching the flow of red in their books impossible, they are willing to bail out to the most generous buyers.

The prices at which well-known newspaper brands have changed hands show a dramatic devaluation is happening in the business, prompting even that canny inAnil Shakya

36 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 37

Editors’ Pick Sundeep Khanna

from advertising, with circulation functioning merely as “a loss-leader to build audiences”. It wasn’t difficult to predict that when digital with its zero marginal operating cost model of news distribution came along, it would fatally disrupt that cozy arrangement.

In doing so, the digital onslaught may have also pointed the newspaper business to look for newer content and revenue models. In his 2013 letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Buffett wrote: “Charlie (Munger) and I believe that papers delivering comprehensive and reliable information to tightly-bound communities and having a sensible Internet strategy will remain viable for a long time”.

English is one of modern India’s 22 official languages, and is widely learned as the second language in most countries. Enjoy it and avoid falling into some common error traps. BY MAHESH TRIVEDI

NEVER IN PLURAL

HOW DO YOU DO?

While words like jeans and scissors are words used only in plural, there are many other words which never take a plural:

Next time you bump into your boss/colleague/friend, don’t greet them with a “Hello” but say……

How’s by you?

Getting any?

What’s the good word?

Hiya!

What’s cooking?

Howdy?

What’s shaking?

How’s tricks?

What’s happ?

How’s it been?

Yo! How have you been?

How’s the world treating you?

How you been?

What’s coming up and what’s What have you been up to? going down?

Hey now, say now, whatsay-say?

Que pasa?

Baggage Furniture Evidence Jewelry

For those unlike Murdoch who don’t have media as their primary business, the challenge will be to reconcile their major business interests with their interests in media.

A NEW FOCUS (Above L-R) Mukesh Ambani who recently bought Network 18; Rupert Murdoch has bought a stake in National Geographic

A change in the way the business has been done shouldn’t be such a surprise. It is what most mature industries go through at regular intervals.

Ten straight years of decline in soda sales in the US hasn’t meant the end of Pepsi and Coca Cola. They’ve moved into energy drinks, juices, foods. Earlier this year, Coke even launched premium milk brand Fairlife in the US. Contrary to what it seems today, the advertising-supported revenue model that has seen print media (and TV) succeed isn’t particularly old. A report by the World Association of Newspapers notes that the newspaper industry only became addicted to advertising in the 1960s, with eventually disastrous consequences.

By the late 1970s, 80 percent of its revenue was coming

38 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

NEW PLANS Whether the new owners succeed will, of course, depend on their ability to craft those innovative strategies. Both the outsiders who are entering this business for the first time as well as existing players buying legacy properties face several challenges with their new acquisitions.

Amazon has Kindle, a hardware product, pure digital plays such as Business Insider and a marquee legacy product like The Washington Post. Individually they mean little, but knit into a strategic game plan, they could well be future of media.

For those unlike Murdoch who don’t have media as their primary business, the challenge will be to reconcile their major business interests with their interests in media. It is a struggle for India’s new media tycoons like Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance Industries now owns Network 18 with its slew of television, digital and print products, as it is for Murdoch whose past pronouncements about climate change sit uneasily with National Geographic’s avowed, and increasingly strident, mission to save the planet.

With 45 percent of adults reading print newspapers, reports of its demise seem vastly exaggerated. The truth is many of the revered print media brands have been run like not-for-profit empires, fed on dollops of insane advertising money. It may be that the new buyers can bring in financial discipline and efficient management to turn around their fortunes.

— Sundeep Khanna is executive editor, Livemint.com

News Money Information Knowledge Insurance Weather

DID YOU KNOW?

ALL GREEK AND LATIN

It’s time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s:

Centre on, NOT centre around

Countless foreign phrases now form part of an English dictionary and every media professional must know them….

Cause celebre ………. Famous lawsuit Mens rea……………… Criminal intent Tour de force………… Great feat Sine qua non…………. Essential condition Quid pro quo ………… Something for something Pret-a-porter…………. Ready to wear Pro bono ………………… At no cost Lapsus linguae……….. Slip of tongue Inter alia ………………… Among other things

SMARTEN YOUR TALK

CONFUSING COUPLES

Here’s skin off your nose!..........Good health (a toast)!

Apprise….. inform Appraise ….. evaluate Discreet ………. capable of keeping a secret Discrete ………. . individually distinct Disinterested ………. impartial Uninterested ……….. not interested Laudable ………. praiseworthy Laudatory ……… praiseful Titillate ………… tease Titivate …………. smarten

To lambaste, NOT lambast Marshal, NOT Marshall Curtsy, NOT

-ey

Dignitary, NOT -tory Margarine, NOT

-ger-

Renown, NOT Reknown Remunerate, NOT Renumerate Senior to, NOT Senior than To return, NOT return back

(Go) take a running jump!........Go away!

That’ll be the day!....................That’s very unlikely!

What’s your poison?................What would you like to drink?

Get my drift?...........................Do you understand me?

You bet your boots!.................Certainly!

It’s been a slice!.....................It’s been good!

Go on!....................................I don’t believe you!

What’s the odds?..................What does it matter?

Bag that!.................................Forget that!

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 39

DATE 7/9/15

7/9/15

8/9/15

8/9/15

9/9/15

10/9/15

10/9/15

10/9/15

NEWS Audio conversation between AAP MPs Bhagwant Mann and Dharamvir Gandhi goes viral; Mann allegedly claims party leadership plotting against everyone.

Accused presented in court in Sheena Bora murder case. Indrani, driver Shyamver Rai sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Controversy over Gujarat govt ad, which exhorts people to abstain from beef and quotes the Quran to prove that eating beef can cause diseases.

Rakesh Maria, probing Sheena Bora murder case promoted as DG Home Guards. Ahmad Javed takes over as Police Commissioner.

Bihar Elections announced. CEC Nasim Zaidi lays out the five-stage poll schedule for 243 seat assembly, starting October 12. Results to be declared on November 8.

PM inaugurates World Hindi Conclave; says people realize the importance of a language when they have lost it. Hindi is important even abroad, says PM. Rahul Gandhi attacks PM, wonders where are the acche din. It’s only the farmer who is dying of hunger, says the Congress leader.

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

DATE 11/9/15

11:59 AM

12:00 NOON

12:02 PM

12.01 PM

3:57 PM

3:57 PM

10:08 AM

10:19 AM

3:58 PM

Chhattisgarh follows Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat in banning meat.

No slaughter and sale of meat till September 17 on account Paryushan.

11.55 AM

11:57 AM

11:58 AM

12:00 NOON

11:21 AM

PM Modi addresses medical students at 34th convocation of PGIMER in Chandigarh. Says convocation is not the end of their education.

11:00 AM

11:02 AM

11:03 AM

11:04 AM

12:45 PM

The grand alliance (Cong-JDU-RJD) seeks a meeting with the election commission; wants suspension of PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat radio program till Bihar elections.

11:00 AM

11:01 AM

11:03 AM

11:05 AM

2:28 PM

Congress hits out at the Modi govt’s decision to discontinue with postage stamps featuring Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

Launches protest at a press conference.

11:22 AM

11:25 AM

11:27 AM

11:39 AM

Dengue claims 14 lives. Delhi High Court asks for a report from Kejriwal govt, NDMC, MCD.

11:39 AM

11:40 AM

11:40 AM

SC upholds Bombay High Court judgment against meat ban. Jain community had filed a petition against HC judgment.

12:53 PM

12:56 PM

12:57 PM

8:29 AM

8:30 AM

8:31 AM

11/9/15 11:05 AM

11:05 AM

11:20 AM

16/9/15 12:40 PM

12:42 PM

12:45 PM

16/9/15 2:26 PM

2:27 PM

2:28 PM

17/9/15 11:35 AM

11:36 AM

11:38 AM

11:40 AM

17/9/15 1:00 PM

1:01 PM

1:03 PM

1:03 PM

18/9/15 2:55 PM

2:57 PM

2:58 PM

MCOCA court in Mumbai convicts 12 out of 13 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, which had killed 189 people.

CHANNEL TIME

10:08 AM

11/9/15 3:57 PM

NEWS

NEWS

10:07 AM

Rajasthan govt imposes meat ban on September 17, 18, 27.

40 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

Here are some of the major news items aired on television channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.

2:58 PM

Pak Air Force base in Peshawar under attack. There could be 10 or 11 terrorists .

Three terrorists gunned down so far.

11:41AM

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 41

Design

Virtual world is as scary as reality! Who would like their hands sliced as sausages? But that’s what the computer software does. How about trying it to make the world a better place?

DESIGNS THAT MADE IMAGINATIVE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS, FONTS, COLOR AND WHITE SPACES TO LEAVE AN IMPRESSION

By ANTHONY LAWRENCE Modi has more on his shoulders than he can manage, this much is clear.

The discordant note is clear from way the instruments are loaded, indicative of the state of the country.

Street art taken to limits. Would you like to lick the dirt? But then, there’s no limit to imagination in this art form.

This sketch done by Satwik Gade for the book, Bhimrao Ambedkar: The Boy Who Asked Why so powerfully depicts the struggles that Ambedkar faced as a child, even for that basic need called water

Is Angela Merkel really the magnanimous state head that she is making herself out to be? In the midst of the Syrian refugee crisis, this cover of The Spectator conveys quite clearly the threat that her contradictory signals pose to those making a perilous journey to the European shores.

The image says it all.

42 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

VIEWS ON NEWS

October 7, 2015 43

Media Monitoring Advertising TMM Survey

A

large part of consumer preference is dictated by advertisements, be they on TV, print or radio. While some ads catch the eye and the ear for their catchy one-liners and wit, many hope to grab the consumer’s attention based on frivolous and effervescent concepts.

In the race to do so, many end up being sexist and regressive. Some objectify women in the hope that men will end up buying their products.

Why else would a car advertisement have a woman “draped” over the vehicle in a provocative pose? Why else would a pan masala ad show a model in seductive dance moves and why would a clothing ad show a woman fantasizing about her husband?

Some of the regressive ads that objectify women are:

Skewed projection of women

While these ads are meant to titillate men, advertisers forget that many women are now part of the work force and have bargaining power. Most ads give one a sense of déjà vu as they have the same ingredients—young, slim women who are fair and conforming to our image of ideal beauty (perfect skin, hair and alluring gaze).

Be it beauty products (including colognes and deodorants for men), tobacco, condoms or cars, it’s women who are shown in an obscene light.

How far is this projection of women justified across various media platforms at a juncture when the media is purportedly espousing the cause of women’s rights, equality and dignity?

Research done by TMM among four news channels between September 8-12, 2015, in a total of 60 hours, found out that it was beauty products which were mostly advertised, followed by food, electronics and vehicles.

The charts below show the product categories across channels, and figures regarding sensuous ads. The survey features women-centric ads. It focussed on just five days. Imagine the preponderance of ads portraying women in a sexist light over, say, a month or a year.

Percentage of ads in various product categories (Between Sept 8 to 12, 2015) 13%

Manforce Condom: Actress Sunny Leone, endorsing the condoms, is shown posing seductively and showing off her cleavage

HOW INDIAN ADS DEPICT WOMEN SEPTEMBER 8 TO 12, 2015 IN A TOTAL OF 60 HOURS

A TMM survey of four channels—Aaj Tak, ABP, Zee News and India TV—sheds some light on the commodification of women

By VON Team 44 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

15%

Shilajeet Pan Masala: It again shows Sunny Leone in revealing clothes and doing seducing dance moves.

15%

Cosmetics Food Electronics Vehicle

38%

34%

Total coverage of advertisement by four channels in different categories 40 Amul Macho:“Yeh to bada toying hai”, the ad says.

Here, wannabe actress Sana Khan can be seen washing an underwear and fantasizing her husband wearing it.

The suggestive expression of the actress says it all.

35 30 25

(Between Sept 8 to 12, 2015)

36% 32%

34%

33% 28%

24%

23%

20

31% 27% 26%

25%

17%

17%

15

12%

23%

12%

10 5

0

Aaj Tak

Zee News

India TV

Cosmetics

Food

Electronics

ABP News

VIEWS ON NEWS

Vehicle October 7, 2015 45

EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE MINDS IN THE NATION

Media Monitoring Advertising TMM Survey

Channel-wise break-up of the ads

Percentage of vehicleads (in %) (Between Sept 8 to 12 , 2015)

(Between Sept 8 to 12 , 2015) 12% 27%

36%

12%

Aaj Tak ABP News Zee News India TV

34%

23%

Aaj Tak ABP News Zee News India TV

31%

25%

Views On News (VON) is India’s premier fortnightly magazine that covers the wide spectrum of modern communication loosely known as “the media�. Its racy, news and analysis oriented story-telling encompasses current global and Indian developments, trends, future projections encompassing policy and business drifts, the latest from inside the print and electronic newsrooms, the exciting developments in ever-expanding digital space, trending matters in the social media, advertising, entertainment and books.

An ENC Publication If the media is leaving you behind, stay ahead of it by picking up yesterday’s Views On News!

VIEWS ON NEWS THE CRITICAL EYE

Aaj Tak, with 36%, is on top of the list, followed by India TV at 27%, ABP at 25% and Zee News at 12%. The beauty products are mainly endorsed by B-town actresses and celebrities like Kareena Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.

Aaj Tak led with 34% ads, followed by ABP with 31%, Zee with 23% and India TV with 12%. The ads featured cars, bikes and scooties, and were endorsed by film stars, celebrities and models.

For advertising & subscription queries sales@viewsonnewsonline.com

Governance Section

IS SHARAD PAWAR PLAYING THE CASTE CARD? 48

CHINKS IN MODI’S GUJARAT ARMOR 52

VIEWS ON NEWS www.viewsonnewsonline.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

`50

Indrani-Sheena Storm

WHERE DID THE REST OF INDIA GO?

Ajith Pillai, Bikram Vohra and Shantanu Guha Ray analyze how and why one sensational story shoved the nation into a black hole 12

SHASTRI RAMACHANDARAN: How media handles Sino-Indian tussles 36

RAMESH MENON: How the dish blew away the antenna 26

BHAVDEEP K ANG: Will the new Kisan channel succeed?

32

KRISH WARRIER: Is laughter the best bet in ads?

42

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SUBSCRIBE TO VIEWS ON NEWS S GET FABULOUS DISCOUNTS HTb 8 f^d[S [XZT c^ bdQbRaXQT c^ E84FB >= =4FB \PVPiX]T U^a cWT ^UUTa X]SXRPcTS QT[^f

Channel-wise break-up of food product ads (in %)

Channel-wise breakup of electronicsads

Break-up of sensuous ads appearing on the channels

(Between Sept 8 to 12 , 2015)

(Between Sept 8 to 12 , 2015)

(Between Sept 8 to 12, 2015)

17%

32%

26%

18%

24%

Deodorant

Tick one

Term (Years)

No. of Issues

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17%

28% 23% Aaj Tak ABP News Zee News India TV

32% of food product ads were on Aaj Tak, followed by 28% on Zee News, 23% on ABP and 17% on India TV. Ads include cooking oil, atta, tea leaves, food masalas, etc.

46 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

33% Aaj Tak ABP News Zee News India TV

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37%

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18% Talcum

28% Condoms

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VIEWS ON NEWS Don’t miss a single issue of this stimulating, unbiased, entertaining new fortnightly magazine and get special discounts for yourself and your friends

Governance Meat Ban

The Politics of Meat A BROILING PROTEST

(Below) Nationalist Congress Party workers hold chicken as they protest against the meat-ban outside the BMC headquarters in Mumbai

48 VIEWS ON NEWS October 7, 2015

The banning of meat in various states to honor Jain sentiments is not just about religious issues. It is interlinked with the economic and political heft of this community and Mumbai corporation polls in 2017

BY G MOORTHY IN MUMBAI

WHOLE week of debate over the slaughter and sale of meat in various states—but most notably in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan—to honour Jain sentiments during the community’s festival of purification, Paryushan Parv, saw fresh outrage on the evening of September 15. A section of the television media stated that Karnataka, led by Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah, too had banned the slaughter and sale of meat during the impending Ganesh Chaturthi.

A malaise that seemed to have struck BJP state governments and its over-enthusiastic elected representatives across the country now appeared to spread to the Congress too. As the night wore on, it became clear that the Karnataka government had not issued such directives in the state but the Benguluru civic body had banned meat for a day on Ganesh Chaturthi, as it always did. But it still made news.

The alacrity with which news of the “ban” made it to headlines in the last few days pointed to a number of things in India’s discourse now. They revolved around the private lives and personal choices of citizens in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India.

PERSONAL LIVES One, it touched a raw nerve because it meant that the government was now enlarging its footprint into our personal lives, directing what food citizens can and cannot buy on designated days. This was par-

ticularly galling in Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai city and the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) which was placed under the beef ban by the BJP government and an enthusiastic chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis.

It is a telling comment that the Bombay High Court had to step in to reduce the number of days of ban from eight, four and two to one day in parts of the MMR. Further, after a petition by the Bombay Mutton Dealers’ Association challenged the ban, the Court remind the government: “You cannot have this formula for a modern city like Mumbai.” The petition stated that the ban “favored a small percentage of the population and was against the secular fabric of the constitution”.

Two, the ban sought to distinguish citizens into classes based on their significance to the BJP and its ideological battle. Thus, Jains and their lifestyle preferences during their festival were deemed more significant and superior to the inalienable

FOLLOWING THE FAITH (Below) Jain devotees observing fast on the last day of Paryushan in Ahmedabad on September 15

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constitutional rights of other citizens to choose and buy their food during those days. That one state after another, including Gujarat and Rajasthan, one municipal corporation after another in BJP-ruled states enforced the ban, often extending it by four and eight days, with proposals to extend it further, sent out clear signals to non-Jain citizens. It was bound to spark off sharp reactions from other communities, especially Muslims, Christians, meat-eating Hindus and Kolis.

WIELDING INFLUENCE (Below) The jewelry trade is dominated by the Jain community

POWERFUL COMMUNITY To place this in perspective, Jains constitute less than 0.5 percent of India’s population. In Mumbai and MMR, this is higher at around four to five percent, but their economic, commercial, social and political influence far outweighs their numbers. In trades such as diamond cutting and polishing, gems and jewelry, stock and commodity exchanges, they dominate to an extent that the trades have come to be identified with the community.

For years together, they backed both the Con-

gress and the BJP but, in the last few decades, their political preference for the BJP has been marked and overwhelming. Their unabashed pitch for Modi’s prime ministerial candidature turned into institutional support on the floor of the all-powerful Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai two years ago.

So, when BJP-ruled states and civic corporations picked up an old directive issued during previous Congress regimes to forcefully implement and extend the ban, the political motive would have been hard to miss.

Three, the ban was absurd and illogical in many ways beyond the personal rights over food. In Mumbai, a number of slaughter houses would remain shut for a day or two during the Paryushan Parv and, indeed, during major Hindu festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, but sale was allowed – without any of the brouhaha witnessed this year. Often, the local police would go around forcing them to close but it did not make headlines. This year, as the BJP government and its elected representatives in the assembly and municipal corporations raised the stakes over extending it to eight days and demanded a complete shutdown of all slaughter and sale of meat, the issue came to revolve around one community’s prestige against another.

TRUST DEFICIT In fact, the ban on slaughter and sale of meat is neither new nor has it happened out of the blue. In Maharashtra, for instance, the ban during the Jain festival was first proposed for a day in 1964, then increased to two days in 1994, both under Congress governments. It was subsequently re-introduced in 2004 under a Congress-

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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government. It was interpreted neither as a pro-Jain nor as an antiMuslim decision. But in the climate where Fadnavis’ government has taken decisions that raised the hackles of Muslims—banning sale and possession of beef earlier this year, not extending the quota for Muslims in jobs and educational institutions but doing it for Marathas—the meat ban deepened the faultline and the trust deficit between the community and the government.

“There is a Hitler-like regime and the police is doing the rounds and asking shops to shut down,” alleged Zubin Kamdin, lawyer for Bombay Mutton Dealers’ Association, in the High Court. In the previous years, the ban was limited to slaughtering of animals for two days during the Paryushan period, but the ban on sale was being additionally imposed for the first time this year, he pointed out. Asked by the Court why the government had not banned fish and eggs during the Jain festival, the state advocategeneral helpfully explained: “There is no slaughter of fish, they die when they are taken out of water” provoking much mirth all around. Indeed, if the ban was driven only by a pro-Jain sentiment, even the sale of onions, garlic and root-based foods such as potatoes should have been banned given that Jains eschew them.

Four, the political intertwining of the issue played a large part in keeping it on the boil. While the Congress, the opposition party in many states, including Maharashtra, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) silently watched the unfolding of this bizarre drama over food preferences and religious sentiments, other parties joined in. The Shiv Sena, for instance, picked up the gauntlet against the Fadnavis government. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray was unusually aggressive in opposing the ban, asserting that the party “would ensure that there is no ban on sale of meat”, exhorting his lieutenants to protest visibly and using the party’s newspaper to put the Jains in their place.

Thackeray even managed to appear liberal for a brief while in the party’s 49-year-old history of in-

POWER BROKERS (Left) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP enthusiastically supported the meat ban (Below) Mercurial Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray was a surprising opponent of the ban, albeit for his own reasons

Asked by the Court why the government had not banned fish and eggs during the Jain festival, the state advocate-general explained: “There is no slaughter of fish, they die when they are taken out of water.” tolerances. His cousin, Raj Thackeray, went more ballistic, not only opposing the ban but also reminding the Jains that “Mumbai belonged to Marathis”.

SENA’S VESTED INTEREST But there was more to their strident opposition. The Sena has had a number of grievances with the Fadnavis government, though it continues to be a junior partner in it. Its visible opposition to the meat ban would help it in two ways in the 2017 election to the BMC: to further consolidate its hold over VIEWS ON NEWS

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Gujarat Solar Power

“Can’t be pushed down the throat of citizens” THE Supreme Court has upheld the Bombay High Court’s decision to lift the ban on sale of meat in Mumbai during the Jain festival of Paryushan.

The SC bench of Justices TS Thakur and Kurien Joseph, while dismissing the petition by a trust run by the Jain community, said: “Spirit of tolerance is important and it has to be inculcated. These are the issues which cannot be forced down some one’s throat and these things should not be thrust on a particular class.” The Court asked the government and its agencies to be more tolerant towards diversity.

The trust contented that non-violence was a cherished dream of the country and people should show compassion towards animals. Manish Singhvi, the counsel for the trust, asked what harm could be caused by not selling meat for a day or two. To that the bench responded that “there was no logic to show compassion to animals only during festivals when ban was imposed. It should be shown throughout the year”.

The apex court asked petitioner to approach the Bombay High Court where the matter is pending as the petition is dismissed as withdrawn.

Justice Kurien Joseph

Justice TS Thakur

Maharashtrians and Marathi-speakers, many of whom are meat-eaters, and appeal to parochial instincts over the influence of Jains (and Gujaratis) over Mumbai. It helps to recall that Gujaratis and Jains were the first adversaries for the Sena, even before South Indians were targeted. The faultlines were renewed during the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last year as the BJP rode the Modi wave and cast aside its long-time ally, the Sena.

But, typical of the Sena, there were inconsistencies during the ban. The current fracas started in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, in the northern suburb of Mumbai, when it passed a resolution to ban the slaughter and sale of meat during Paryushan Parv. Jains comprise an estimated 1.2 lakh of the 8.5 lakh residents of Mira-Bhayandar.

The civic corporation is currently run by the BJPSena. When the resolution came up for vote, the Sena members abstained, allowing it to be passed.

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In the BMC, the Sena is the party with the highest numbers, though it runs the corporation with the BJP. Here, it did not object to the resolution nor did it do so in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. However, the Sena showed its belligerent opposition on the streets and the media.

The political intention was clear; it took precedence over other niceties such as constitutional rights and individual liberties. In fact, a delegation of Jain community leaders holding important positions in various trades, called on Thackeray after a week of raised temperatures over the ban. Thackeray issued a statement of compromise, putting the entire issue down to “misunderstanding on both sides”. Raj Thackeray’s idea of protesting with a meat garland/toran outside Jain temples drew sneers even from the most hardened Sainik.

MATTER OF CONVENIENCE The choicest cut of meat must go to Sharad Pawar’s NCP. Its representatives in Mumbai fiercely opposed the meat ban, calling it ludicrous. But in the Navi Mumbai Civic Corporation, which it presides over, the NCP was only too happy to introduce the ban and extend it to four and eight days. Pawar has not issued a statement yet explaining the contradiction.

Lastly, those who criticized the ban on the grounds that it was appeasement of a certain section of the population, were informed by Dinesh Jain, the BJP corporator who moved the resolution in Mira-Bhayandar that it was “not anti-Muslim at all but a question of religious sentiments” that Jain sadhus need not see meat hanging in shops during a period of purification. But as the popular sentiment against the ban gathered momentum, Jain sadhus took a break from the acts of purification and forgiveness to take to the streets against the meat ban.

And Dinesh Jain helpfully suggested that he would argue for a ban on liquor shops, sale and consumption during Ramzan next year.

Clearly, the ban bandwagon is on a roll and cynical political calculations will keep it going for a while now.

Farming Solar Energy In a new initiative, Gujarat will reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and rope in farmers to tap solar energy from their lands and earn additional income

BY KAUSHIK JOSHI in Ahmedabad

I

NDUSTRIALIZED nations the world over have installed significant solar power capacity into their grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. An increasing number of developing nations too have turned to solar energy to reduce dependence on expensive, imported fuels. Gradu-

ally replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy resources is the need of the hour.

In India, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the leading states in regards to solar power generation. With its recently announced agro-solar policy, Gujarat is the only state to link agriculture with solar energy. Under this policy, farmers in the state would be roped

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS (Above) An example of farmland being used for the dual purpose of cultivation and solar energy generation

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BRIGHT FUTURE (Right) T Harinarayana, Director, GERMI, is optimistic about energy output through these solar panels (Below) Photovoltaic panels installed at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University

Scientists also studied the impact, if any, of solar panel shades on crops growing below them.

Happily, it was found that the crops could be grown without reduction in their yield by this method.

in to tap solar energy and earn additional income from power generation companies.

T

he project, developed by the Gandhinagarbased Gujarat Energy Research and Management Institute (GERMI), helps farmers install agro-solar plants on their fields. The project envisions the installation of solar panels on structures elevated between three to five meters above fertile and cultivable land.

Says Prof T Harinarayana, director of GERMI: “Having studied the concept, we can proudly say that it can be implemented all over India and at all locations. Power can be generated using the farmer’s own land and give him profit too.”

Even as the farmer cultivates his land, it can be used for generating power.

This can then be used by him to work motor pumps to irrigate crops. If replicated properly across the country, it can help India attain the goal of energy security.

The project will also offer an incentive to the farmer as he will be

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paid for generating excess energy, which can then be connected to the main power grid or the micro-grid. “The farmer can also lend his land for power generation, for which he will be paid by the power industry developer. Thus, it is a winwin situation both for the farmer and the developer,” adds Harinarayana.

Scientists also studied the impact, if any, of solar panel shades on crops growing below them.

Happily, it was found that the crops could be grown without reduction in their yield by this method. This method of generating electricity would save enormous amounts of money, currently spent on establishing transmission and distribution lines.

Harinarayana explains: “Most of our villages suffer for want of electricity. Consequently, they don’t get enough water for cultivation. State governments spend huge amounts of money on laying transmission lines to reach remotely located villages. In this context, the agro-solar concept is an affordable and innovative solution.”

G

ujarat, which recently announced its Solar Power Policy 2015, aims for a future with reduced dependence on fossil fuels. It seeks to promote investment, employment generation and skill enhancement in the renewable energy sector, as well as promote productive use of barren and uncultivated lands.

Gujarat will also push for the use of subsidized agro-solar pumps, in collaboration with the central government and agencies. The farmer can also sell surplus power to the distribution company. For isolated and scattered residences in rural areas where grid connection is not feasible, the state has taken up an initiative for a home lighting system. Solar cooking and water heating systems have also been advocated for a cleaner environment and healthy living. The government has also exempted solar power from electricity duty. Considering its viability, other states in India should go solar too.

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