Views on News 07 september 2015

Governance Section

FTII SCRIPT GOING AWRY

MUMBAI COAST ROAD: ROAD TO DISASTER

VIEWS ON NEWS

By Abhay Vaidya

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By Darryl D’Monte

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www.viewsonnewsonline.com

SEPTEMBER 07, 2015

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Nepal or Vietnam??

Fooling the World How Social Media Disinformation Is Going Viral 12 AGENCIES: A house for Mr UNI

ADVERTISING: Kolaveri Di in Turkey

BOOKS: Farewell Kabul

By Shantanu Guha Ray

By Shobha John

By Rajendra Bajpai

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TMM EXCLUSIVE: Coverage of Radhe Maa 40

EDITOR’S NOTE

FTII: MISSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES VIEWS ON NEWS (VON) has always been a champion of the freedom of press as well as the liberty of institutions committed to academic and professional excellence. This is because democracy flourishes and thrives only within an environment free of restrictions on thought and expression within the boundaries of the constitution and social decency.

I reacted with great sadness, therefore, to the news that the police had made a late-night raid on the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and arrested students who were on strike over the appointment of the new chairman of FTII Society.

The police, of course, has every right to act in a manner consistent with the exigencies of the situation to uphold law and order. If it does not, it is certainly dereliction of duty.

But when the action involves entering institutions of learning, apprehending students and hauling them off to the lock-up, it demands extraordinary justification, the main ones being violence or exhortation to violence, criminal conspiracies, destruction of public property or illegally bringing to a halt essential public services.

These are well spelled out in the Indian Penal Code.

The debate over the

4 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, TV actor and BJP member, as chairman is a legitimate one. The point of this editorial is not to argue either for Information & Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley’s view that students cannot decide on appointments of teachers and administrators, or for the student protestors and critics whose agitation is based on their perception that this move is part and parcel of the Narendra Modi’s government’s agenda to nominate candidates on the basis of their proven sympathy for the BJP-RSS points of view—whatever they may be. here is little doubt that in the past—and this is before the BJP came to power—institutions have been politicized and learning has often been the victim of student politics. In the South, the DMK has produced powerful student-politician orators. In the North, even the adroit Arun Jaitley is a product of Delhi University’s student politics that remains polarized between the Congress-backed NSUI and the BJP-sponsored ABVP. Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been a hotbed of Marxist ideology and the colleges of Delhi University have, in the past, recruited professors and teachers known publicly for their ideological and political leanings. The principal of St Stephen’s College, the jewel in Delhi University’s academic crown, is chosen on the basis of religion—Christianity.

Similarly, FTII has been known for its Leftist leanings and its graduates have often produced left-ofcenter, anti-establishment films. A strike here is nothing new: In the last few decades, there have been 40 strikes and agitations over restructuring of

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syllabus, privatization fears and upgradation.

The world over, at Columbia University in New York, at the Sorbonne in France, there have been student agitations on similar issues, including systems of grading and marking and admission requirements. Liberal nations make it a policy not to allow police forces to enter campuses barring the rarest of rare occasions, based on the belief that it is often healthy for students to debate and let off steam and challenge hide-bound beliefs and value systems.

Societal and political change often comes from student movements; witness the stellar role played by ABVP in opposing Mrs Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.

It would be unfair to say that any Emergency-like situation exists on the campuses of this nation. What needs examination is whether the students at FTII are defending the status quo or agitating for changes that would make it a better and more creative institution. Has the status quo produced an institution bursting with creativity and productive energies which characterize the IITs and IIMs, or has it nurtured a white elephant? he debate should focus not on Chauhan’s party affiliations but whether he is qualified and willing to be a leader and participant— along with the students—and is contributing to excellence, originality and innovation in a world exploding with the new media. Administrative leadership on a campus consists of being able to spell out a concrete agenda for change and inspiring students and teachers to believe in it and executing it.

There is no real audit on whether institutes like

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What needs examination is whether the FTII students are defending the status quo or agitating for changes that would lead to excellence.

FTII or mass communications schools across the country are producing great journalists or technicians. Some of the greatest reporters and editors in the country have never attended journalism or mass com classes. But this does not obviate the need for technical or communications institutes. Media technologies, visual concepts, broadcasting and reporting techniques are changing rapidly. Film-making, cinematography, editing techniques and processes have altered within the last five years beyond our wildest imagination.

As these innovations proliferate rapidly, there is a definite need for more FTIIs, whether backed by the government or privately funded. But the watchword must be excellence. This is what I find missing in the FTII controversy which, having become politicized, may be missing the very strong and persuasive arguments for augmenting and creating an environment for quality education.

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September 7, 2015 5

VOLUME. VIII

ISSUE. 23 Editor Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Executive Editor Ajith Pillai Business Editor Shantanu Guha Ray

Political Editor Bhavdeep Kang 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

Getting fooled

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Endless oceans of information circulating on the net makes it difficult for traditional media to judge the credibility of accounts, pictures and videos. But search engines are helping out, reports SUNIL SAXENA

MEDIA MONITORING

Media watchdog

Courting danger in Afghanistan

For advertising & subscription queries sales@viewsonnewsonline.com

6 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

SPOTLIGHT

This news agency is in for better times with the clinching of a land deal, reports SHANTANU GUHA RAY

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RAJENDRA BAJPAI reviews Farewell Kabul – From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World, which gives an in-depth view of the games being played between Pakistan, the US and the warlords in Afghanistan

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

Makeover for UNI

CONTROVERSY

Stalemate persists

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The present crisis in FTII has shown that the govt is pushing ahead with its plans for the campus, reports ABHAY VAIDYA

ADVERTISING

BOOK REVIEW

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

OWNED BY E. N. COMMUNICATIONS PVT. LTD. NOIDA HEAD OFFICE: A -9, Sector-68, Gautam Buddh Nagar, NOIDA (U.P.) - 201309 Phone: +9 1-0120-2471400-432 ; Fax: + 91- 0120-2471411 e-mail: editor@viewsonnewsonline.com, website: www.viewsonnewsonline.com MUMBAI : Arshie Complex, B-3 & B4, Yari Road, Versova, Andheri, Mumbai-400058 RANCHI : House No. 130/C, Vidyalaya Marg, Ashoknagar, Ranchi-834002.

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ALLAHABAD : Leader Press, 9-A, Edmonston Road, Civil Lines, Allahabad-211 001.

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A parliamentary panel has recommended the creation of a statutory body as a media watchdog rather than self-regulation. Will this be the end of the road for the Press Council? RAKESH BHATNAGAR probes

Chief Editorial Advisor Inderjit Badhwar

Published by Prof Baldev Raj Gupta on behalf of EN Communications Pvt Ltd and printed at Amar Ujala Publications Ltd., C-21&22, Sector-59, Noida. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Requests for permission should be directed to EN Communications Pvt Ltd . Opinions of writers in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by EN Communications Pvt Ltd . The Publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All correspondence should be addressed to EN Communications Pvt Ltd .

Governance

GLOBAL TRENDS

Japanese invasion

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A sharp fall in ad revenues has led to the offloading of FT and The Economist.

While Nikkei takes over FT, the owner has brought down the stake in The Economist, reports MR DUA

Kolaveri Di in Turkey 32

A vibrant Coca-Cola ad for Turkey has gone viral, thanks to its famous Indian tune. It’s a perfect rhapsody of Indian and Turkish culture, writes SHOBHA JOHN

SURVEY

Talk of the town

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Controversial and colorful godwoman, Radhe Maa, garnered viewer interest as news channels had debates, talk shows and programs on her. A report by VON Team

R E G U L A R S

ENVIRONMENT

Controversial road

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DARRYL D’MONTE writes on the storm raised over a proposed road on Mumbai’s western sea front. Despite ecological concerns, the government has given clearances

Edit..................................................04 Grapevine........................................08 Quotes........................................10 Vonderful English..............................11 Media-Go-Round..............................20 As The World Turns...........................27 Web-Crawler.....................................28 Anchor Review...................................36 Design Review..................................38 Breaking News.................................42 Cover design: Anthony Lawrence Cover photo: Na Son Nguyen

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September 7, 2015 7

Grapevine Meri Awaaz Suno

Who is the Cleanest One? ALL GOVERNMENT departments are supposedly in the swachhata mode again. In an initiative that is yet another brainchild of the PM, secretaries of various ministries have been asked to initiate competition between different wings of an organization in order to increase participation in the cleanliness drive

and reward the better performing ones. So, do expect competitions between hospitals, police stations and railway stations. The idea is to not let swachhata be a one-time effort, as it is gradually becoming. Sustainability of the cleanliness operation is really becoming a mountain of a problem. Fresh ideas anyone?

Aam Aadmi’s Entertainment DELHI CM Arvind Kejriwal is indeed a movie buff. Not only has he taken to watching movies, he ensures that his comrades-in-arm also do not miss out.

And he makes sure that he tweets after watching a movie, even complimenting the actors. But all things backfire—especially in politics. A picture of the CM and his colleagues enjoying an exclusive screening of Drishyam at the PVR in Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, went viral. The only occupants of the theater—the photograph makes it clear—were the CM and his colleagues, who were being served the choicest of movie time snacks! Way to go!

THE 137-YEAR-OLD Secunderabad Club clings to an archaic rule of not giving permanent membership to women, even as males from the same family can get membership. Women can qualify only for associate membership without the right to vote or to contest election. Why are the male members hell-bent on being at their chauvinistic best?

Costly Postures Precise CV THE CORRIDORS of Shastri Bhawan are abuzz with sniggers about Gajendra Chauhan’s CV, which led to his selection as FTII chairman. It’s a single-para CV, highlighting his most significant act. An RTI reply quotes the file noting of I&B ministry: “Gajendra Chauhan is an actor who is best known for his portrayal of the eldest Pandava ‘Yudishtira’ in the Mahabharatha (TV series). He has worked in around 150 movies and over 600 TV serials.” What we can also add to it is that he is also a devout follower of the incredible Radhe Maa and has been photographed with her as one of her high-profile bhakts!

8 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

Gender Divide

AN RTI by an Amdavadi has revealed that the government spent `15.87 crore for SMSs in the run-up to the International Yoga Day on May 21. This author received one too, from the prime minister himself!

A vendor, M/s Arch Concepts

THE BJP is making full use of the radio medium to reach out to the masses in Kerala. It plans to link up with the local NGO network to bypass the rule of I&B ministry that political parties cannot run radio services. Already, Kerala-based NGOs are doing the rounds of the ministry.

Whose brainchild is this? None other than the party president’s.

What an idea sirji!

A Piku Query

A ARUNMOZHITHEVAN posed a pertinent question to health and family welfare minister in the Lok Sabha in July. He asked whether a large number of people, specifically in urban areas, suffered from chronic constipation, as a study claimed. He sought various details of the same as well as the steps taken by the government to create awareness about constipation and its seriousness. In its reply, the government, while denying any study in this regard, reiterated its resolve to provide comprehensive healthcare to the public. In parliament corridors, it was being called the Piku effect!

Our Money, Their Promotion Pvt Ltd, was paid a total of `3.67 crore for the main event at Rajpath in New Delhi, including `1.02 crore for the supply of 36,000 yoga mats.

The RTI reply of the Ministry of Ayush also reveals a payment of `1.32 crore to Ernst and Young for its services. T-shirts by National Textile Corporation cost `49 lakh, and `12.05 lakh was paid to the Guinness Record Ltd for their commercial services, along with an extra £450 for “fast track service”. The NSS regional centre in Delhi, which provided 1,000 volunteers for the event, charged `22.5 lakh for it.

Besides this, publicity by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity and on Doordarshan, and All India Radio cost the ministry `828.43 lakh.

THE KEJRIWAL government in Delhi has finally admitted that they spent `22.33 crore on TV, radio and print ads that they bludgeoned us with—in just three months! First, they said that the expenses were being borne by the AAP, but now they have conceded that it was your and my money being spent. Whatever happened to probity?

Some Premonition

THIS IS how the second para of page 50 of APJ Abdul Kalam’s latest book reads: “Now, finally, Pramukh Swamiji has put me in a God synchronous orbit. No maneuvers are required any more, as I am placed in my final position in eternity.” Isn’t it eerie? The book, Transcendence: My Spiritual experience with Parmukh Swamiji, was launched on June 29 this year.

—Compiled by Roshni Seth Illustrations: UdayShankar

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September 7, 2015 9

U O T E S

Shekhar Gupta, senior journalist

One commits rape and then four more are named. Kabhi aisa ho sakta hai kya? Aisa practical hi nahin hai. (Can such a thing happen? It is impractical.)

—Samjwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav

The main problem of our society is most of d people don't read, watch n think. They draw conclusions from Half baked TV debates n fight!

DID YOU KNOW?

SMARTEN YOUR TALK

You may be successful and laughing your way to the bank but a wrong usage in English speaking/writing can turn you into a laughing stock!

Party on!………..That’s right!

Bated breath, NOT baited Gramophone, NOT grama Dos and don’ts, NOT do’s Gymnasiums, NOT gymnasia Gauge, NOT guage

—BJP national secretary Siddharthnath Singh

8 p.m. deadline for female Jamia students. To 'protect' them! Will authorities guarantee their safety before 8 p.m.?

You remember your boss’s silver wedding anniversary and you also attended your bank’s golden anniversary celebrations. But what would you call the special day when you complete, say, 13 years in your company?

Paper anniversary – completion of one year

Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister Promises, big bang announcements & packaging. Little actions & no delivery on ground. No wonder increasingly people say #BolneMeinKyaJataHai

Cotton – 2 years

Crystal – 15 years

Leather – 3 years

Silver – 25 years

Wood – 5 years

Pearl – 30 years

China – 9 years

Ruby – 40 years

Tin – 10 years

Golden – 50 years

Steel – 11 years

Diamond – 75 years

Lace

Centenary – 100 years

– 13 years

Bonus!........That’s great!

That tears it!...........That is too much!

Sharp’s the word!..........Be quick!

(Well) What do you know!..........(exclamation of surprise) Not on your Nellie!................Definitely not!

Use your noodle!................Use your head!

I don’t mean maybe!...........I am serious! (not kidding!)

All right, NOT alright

RED-LETTER DAYS

Someone asks me: Why do you guys suffer such a haranguing, hollering, hideous TV anchor? I tell: Because you guys watch the farce. #Choose

Spit it out!........Say it!

Get the picture?...............Do you understand?

Chivvy, NOT chivy/chevy

Shobhaa De, columnist

Sanjay Jha, Congress spokesman

Pardon my French!……..Forgive my bad language!

What’s yours?............What would you like to drink?

De luxe, NOT deluxe

Wunderkind, NOT wonderkind

Will Rahul Gandhi be the “naada” which will hold the pyjama party together?

10 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

Aisi Taisi democracy: great lines: Wahan Mulleh youtube ban kare, yahan pandit kissing se ghabraye!

Nikhil Wagle, journalist

—Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, reacting to Modi’s statement about the problem with Nitish Kumar’s DNA

—Journalist and Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, on the Prime Minister’s I-Day speech

Rajdeep Sardesai, senior journalist

English is one of modern India’s twenty-two 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

Grievous, NOT -ious

Now that Bihar polls are approaching, everyone should watch the (Manjhi) film to know what the DNA of Bihar is made of.

To use a cricket analogy, in last year’s Independence Day speech, he played on the front foot. On Saturday, he was defensive and on the back foot.

I have no views on @sanjivbhatt.

But really, is marital fidelity 1of our svc conditions? Is Victoria still our queen?

TYPES OF MEN & WOMEN It takes all sorts to make the world. Take your pick: MEN Wastrel……….idler/loafer Philanderer………womaniser/fickle suitor Adonis……….handsome man Don Juan…………seducer Debonair………..urbane/stylish WOMEN Virago………..bad-tempered Coquette………..flirt Hoyden………tomboy Prima donna…temperamental/inflated view of self worth Winsome………….shyly pleasing/pretty

THANK YOU, SIR!

HIT LIKE A TON OF BRICKS?

Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, though a gentleman does not expect this. So why not say ‘Thank you’ in style and make your communication memorable for the benefactor?

Owe you one Thanks a skillion Tack Merci I owe you big Thanks a bunch You have my gratitude I owe you big-time A zillion thanks Thanks heaps Gracias

‘Surprise’, meaning to take off-guard/unawares, is a mild verb, but ‘astonish’ is stronger, and a still stronger word is ‘astound’.

However, ‘amaze’ is the strongest.

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September 7, 2015 11

Lede Content Credibility

O World

Na Son Nguyen

Fooling the

The vast amount of information circulating on the net makes it difficult for traditional media to judge the credibility of accounts, pictures and videos posted there. But search engines are helping out

BY SUNIL SAXENA 12 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

This photograph of two Vietnamese children went viral as part of Nepal earthquake footage.

NE of the most iconic pictures of the Nepal earthquake was of a young boy comforting his sister. The photograph was telecast repeatedly

by Indian news channels; it also went viral on the net. It was only much later that the BBC found that the picture was a hoax. It had nothing to do with Nepal. In fact, the picture that touched so many hearts was taken by a Vietnamese photographer in 2007.

The photographer, Na Son Nguyen, told the BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia32579598) that he was driving through Ha Giang province of Vietnam when he saw two children playing in a remote village called Can Ty. The little girl, around two years old, started crying on seeing

Getty Images

a stranger, and her brother hugged her protectively.

Na Son captured the moment and later published the picture on his personal blog.

VARIOUS HOAXES So far so good. But three years later, Na Son found the picture circulating on Facebook as that of “abandoned orphans” in Vietnam. What’s more interesting, Na Son told the BBC: “Some people even weaved intricate tales about the kids, like their mother had died and their father left them.”

The picture’s journey did not end here. Later, it started circulating on social media as that of two Burmese orphans and when violence broke out in Syria, social media painted the children as victims of the Syrian civil war.

The picture resurfaced in Indian media during

the Nepal earthquake and Indian anchors waxed eloquent on the tragedy that befell the “two Nepalese kids”.

This is not the only picture that has fooled world media. The BBC itself was the victim of one such hoax. In May 2012, BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2012/05/houl a_massacre_picture_mistake.html) published a photograph of a child jumping over body bags that had been placed in neat rows. The bodies were said to be of children who had died in Houla in Syria) massacre and were awaiting burial. The picture was found by BBC editors on Twitter. It had evidently been posted by Syrian activists as evidence of the Houla massacre in which 100 people were said to have been killed. Imagine the surprise of Getty Images photographer Marco di Lauro, who saw the

A child shown by the BBC as jumping over bodies of children in Syria in 2012 was actually captured on camera in Baghdad nine years ago.

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September 7, 2015 13

Lede Content Credibility

Reliability Check

Here are 10 questions that you need to ask to decide the credibility of anything on the web

Does the article have a logical structure?

Good writers take great care to structure their articles. The most important points come first, the less important points follow. There is no repetition or jumping from point to point. Such articles reflect the pains the author has taken in obtaining and presenting information, and can, therefore, be trusted more.

Who is the author?

Does the author have sufficient experience and expertise? What are his affiliations? Does he work for a credible institution? What are his past writings?

In case of blogs or individual home pages, check this information on About Us page. Good bloggers provide detailed information about themselves.

Professional websites provide this information at the end of the article, including even email IDs.

untouched as they may not be based on facts. Question the credibility of articles that promote self or own products.

Does the article quote sources?

The most trustworthy articles quote from established sources. They hyperlink information to authoritative sources on the net. They’re well-researched and well-referenced.

How good is the quality of writing?

Meticulous writers are very painstaking. They fuss over syntax, writing style, spellings, etc. They want to make sure that there are no typographical or any other errors that may invite ridicule. You can trust such writers.

What is the purpose of the write-up?

Has the article been written to inform or educate? Is it to advocate a cause or sell a product? Articles that use inflammatory language or promote activist views should be shunned.

Similarly, those that reek of bias should be left

Is the article balanced?

The best writers give all points of view. They use data and evidence to support their arguments. Similarly, their conclusions are drawn from accepted information. Most important, they don’t force their opinion on you, but help you try and understand issues.

Is the information dated?

All data gets dated. Do not use information that has been posted four or five years ago. Check for latest information. It is a good test to establish the relevance of data, and the effort made by the writer to provide useful and valuable information.

LEST YOU FALL FOR FALSE FOOTAGE Websites like Storyful help you ascertain the authenticity of photographs and videos

picture when he logged onto the BBC site. He had taken the picture nine years earlier in 2003 and it was of skeletons that had been found outside Baghdad.

On hearing from Lauro, the BBC removed the picture instantly. Fortunately, BBC editors had been careful. Their caption mentioned that the photograph was provided by an activist and could not be independently verified, but it is “believed to show

14 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

the bodies of children in Houla awaiting burial”.

These two cases establish the challenge that traditional media faces when sourcing content from social media. The dilemma is to use the first-hand accounts, photographs and videos posted by eyewitnesses or to ignore them.

IMAGE SEARCH Fortunately, the task of editors has been made slightly easier by Google. Its image search helps you track the source of pictures posted on the net.

What’s more, you can even find out if the image has been modified or edited, and by which website.

All that you need to do is to enter the url of the photograph or upload the photograph from your computer in the Google search field (https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl). The Google search engine will do the rest.

You have one more tool that performs an equally powerful image search. It is the reverse image search engine TinEye (www.tineye.com) which has indexed 12.3 billion images; this number

Who is the publisher?

This is the best yardstick to establish credibility.

Websites of established newspapers, magazines, institutions, government departments, research institutes, etc, greatly value credibility. They check and cross-check information before posting it online.

Such information is more trustworthy. However, the same cannot be said of blogs where it is essential to check the background of the author.

Do others link to the site?

Another useful indicator is external links. People will only hyperlink those sites that are trustworthy and credible. You can find the back-links from Alexa.com.

The site tells you how many external links are coming to a website.

Is there useful information on About Us Page?

The most trustworthy sources are those that provide contact information about themselves, as well as of authors writing for them.

continues to grow. This search is not limited to the net alone. TinEye has expanded to include pictures posted through mobile devices too.

The challenge becomes greater when it comes to verifying web videos, especially those posted from war zones or by terrorists who use the web to plant vicious and malicious propaganda. These user-generated videos are a nightmare for the media. Which ones should it use and which ones should it reject? And why?

STORYFUL SOURCE One organization that is trying to make sense of this vast ocean of user-generated content is Storyful (www.storyful.com). It has set up a team of journalists, technologists and social media evangelists to track and verify all sensitive social media content. It says that it has combined “proprietary technology and expert journalism” to create a human algorithm.

“This game-changing combination,” gives Storyful “the ability to discover, verify, acquire and de-

The net is a huge web and needs a strong mechanism to monitor. The task is even more difficult for individuals.

How do you decide which article or website to trust?

liver the most valuable real-time content the social web has to offer.” Already, some of the leading media organizations are turning to Storyful to source their social media content.

Interestingly, social media giant Facebook, on which many fake videos surface, has tied up with Storyful to create FB Newswire. It publishes usergenerated images and videos at Facebook.com/FBNewswire and on Twitter at @FBNewswire.

To make it easier for journalists and newsrooms, Facebook even allows them to “find, share and embed newsworthy content in the media they produce”. All that they need to do is to credit the video creator in their broadcasts or on their websites.

Facebook has also introduced a Trust Badge.

This badge, which is a blue check mark, is placed on accounts that have been verified by Facebook.

The credit of initiating Trust Badge, however, goes to Twitter.

The badge is literally a lifeline for the media, which can blindly quote tweets from Twitter accounts of celebrities that have a Trust Badge.

These are a few institutional efforts which help the world find truth on the net. But they are minuscule. The net is a huge web and needs a much stronger mechanism to monitor. The task is even more difficult for individuals. How do you decide which article or website to trust? (See Box) In times to come, perhaps this could become easier.

—The writer is Dean, School of Communication, GD Goenka University, Gurgaon VIEWS ON NEWS

September 7, 2015 15

Spotlight

United News of India

UNI Gets a Makeover

The news agency’s heydays may be back again with a new construction

deal. Will this sort out its cash flow problems? BY SHANTANU GUHA RAY

I

T was in the late 1970s—after the Emergency was lifted—that the management of United News of India (UNI), then headed by editors of various newspapers, planned a building of its own. Probably the UNI management was envious of a building already constructed by the Press Trust of India (PTI), its immediate and next-door rival, and the way PTI was earning cash through high-value rentals, its tenants ranging from state-owned banks to foreign news agencies and newspapers.

TEETHING PROBLEMS The land was there, at a prime location right behind Niti Ayog, then the Planning Commission, and sandwiched between Sanchar Bhawan and Vithalbhai Patel House, home to MPs, maverick writers, free thinkers and theatre personalities. But somehow, the building could never come up because of teething problems between UNI and the government, which was its biggest subscriber but often jettisoned the agency’s much-sought-after building project.

When Zee Telefilms made an abortive bid to acquire UNI and wanted to usher a new information wave through the news agency, the buzz in Delhi revolved around how the Mumbai-based media conglomerate was eyeing the land, considered a cash cow with assured deliverables. But the deal did not happen, and was spiked by a defiant union. An enraged Anil Shakya

16 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

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September 7, 2015 17

Spotlight

United News of India

CLEAR FOCUS

Highly-placed sources in Delhi claim the land deal was possible because of a push from the center that wants to encourage competition in a rather monopolistic news agency market dominated by PTI. ABORTIVE ATTEMPT (Right) Subhash Chandra’s bid to acquire UNI did not materialise

(Left) Chairman, UNI, Viswas Tripathi with Union Minister of Transport Nitin Gadkari

Subhash Chandra, chairman of Zee, walked out and demanded an instant refund of the `35 crore that he had given at the time of the proposed takeover. The agency, which paid `25 lakh per month to Zee, has now cleared its dues.

DEAL SEALED But now, nearly four decades later, the final stamp of clearance has been given for the UNI land and its two owners, the news agency and Press Council of India (PCI) that presently operates from a different building in Delhi. “The land has been allocated to the two owners,” a senior official from the Ministry of Urban Development said on condition of anonymity. He added that subsequent clearances would be required by UNI and PCI because the building falls in Delhi’s “highest security zone” that is home to the various ministries, the RBI, AIR, Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The official further said the initial cash to smoothen the construction process has already been paid by the two parties a few months ago and the “deal has been sealed”. The building, it is reliably learnt, will be constructed by the state-owned National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC), a blue chip company with a consolidated revenue of over `5,000 crore.

UNI and PCI will have 2,600 sqm each of the land. There is an additional 620 sqm in the same venue, which was offered once to UNI at commercial rates by the Land and Development Office, which falls under the Ministry of Urban Development. UNI had refused it then. But now, it is reliably learnt, the news agency is keen to acquire the same and has approached the Land and Development Office with an application.

18 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

Though it was not immediately known how many floors UNI and PCI would keep, as per current estimates, both would occupy a floor each.

Some more space could be allotted to state-owned media outlets like DAVP and some wings of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting . Some newspapers, magazines and channels could also be accommodated there.

BUILDING AGENDA The agency’s management, currently headed by Vishwas Tripathi, a seasoned chartered accountant with deep knowledge of the real estate market, is pushing the building agenda because it’s the first answer to the agency’s fledgling cash flow problem. “Once the building is completed and floors rented to interested parties, much of the news agency’s insurmountable cash flow problems would be sorted out,” the official said.

Highly-placed sources in Delhi claim the move was primarily possible because of a push from the government that wants to encourage competition in a rather monopolistic news agency market

dominated by PTI. The news, for obvious reasons, has not been made public, but the UNI management and its editor have expressed relief at what they claimed was “a major breakthrough”.

The agency has been making several efforts to reach out to a number of high-value clients (read top newspapers like The Times of India) and bolster its service, which also includes regional language services and a photo service. The pricing has been deliberately kept low to pull in subscribers, who had often expressed dissatisfaction at the slow pace of the agency in today’s cutting edge news environment.

RESURGENT UNI The agency, it is reliably learnt, could benefit if the government lifts restrictions on private radio channels for news reporting, especially in the light of the auction of new FM channels across India.

With the government admitting that more than 200-plus news channels and 150-plus newspapers and magazines are waiting to get clearances to start operations, UNI’s rates would be affordable

for them. Various members of the BJP, it is reliably learnt, are favorably disposed towards seeing a resurgent UNI. Some have even had meetings with current board members, explaining what the news agency must do to get into a combative, competitive mode.

The agency has started a slow hiring process, mainly pulling in junior editors to bolster its copy desk, once valued for its crisp articles. The idea is to beef up news operations that are currently operating at one-third the capacity as compared to PTI’s specialized news gatherers.

UNI copies were earlier jokingly referred to as “crispy like dosas”. This snack is sold in its famous canteen, a favourite haunt of journalists, bureaucrats, MPs and corporate captains. And with the new deal, its canteen too could get a second lease of life.

As of now, all eyes are on pending clearances from the government. After all, the land deal is the best opportunity for UNI to get back into the national news platform.

The countdown has started in right earnest.

The building will be constructed by NBCC. UNI and PCI would keep, as per current estimates, a floor each.

Some space could be allotted to media outlets and the I&B ministry.

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September 7, 2015 19

EDIA-GO-ROUND

Media Monitoring Anurag Thakur Panel Report

Journalists’ Protest TO PROTEST against states’ failure to bring to book perpetrators of violence against journalists, the Press Council of India (PCI) wants the media to protest symbolically by blacking out news for two minutes on November 2 every year. “The PCI may

Trouble

“Media Giving

for Outlook

Wrong Picture”

THERE’S MORE trouble in store for Outlook magazine, which published an objectionable snippet in its July 6 issue about Telangana IAS officer Smita Sabharwal. Outlook alleged that she served as “eye candy” at official meetings because of her good looks.

Now, the Telangana government, through a government order (RT.No.2296 of August 20), has sanctioned `15 lakh towards legal expenses that she would incur while filing a civil defamation case in which she has asked for `10 crore as damages. Of the money allocated, `9.75 lakh will be deposited as court fee while filing for defamation.

The government order states that the money will be repaid to the treasury by Sabharwal once she is awarded compensation by the court.

JUST FOUR of the 26 persons executed in India since 1991 belonged to the Muslim community, and yet a perception has been created by some media channels in the aftermath of the hanging of Yakub Memon that members of the minority community are being targeted, government sources told The Times of India.

An internal report by the I&B ministry has taken exception to the “tenor of discussion” in

YouTube’s Production Facility

Big Brother as Regulator A parliamentary panel has recommended creation of a statutory body as a media watchdog rather than self-regulation for the Fourth Estate. Will this be the end of the road for the Press Council?

BY RAKESH BHATNAGAR

four channels—Aaj Tak, ABP News, NDTV India and NDTV 24X7—and argued it was a “serious threat to national security'' and had “sown seeds of distrust between communities.”

YOUTUBE HAS announced the opening of its collaboration and production facility for YouTube video creators, called “YouTube Space Mumbai”, at Whistling Woods International (WWI). Slated to open late 2015, the space will allow video creators and students at WWI to learn about video production, collaborate with other creators, and break down resource barriers that inhibit innovation and creativity. Located in the heart of Mumbai's film and television production hub, Filmcity, the unit is the latest to open after the ones in Tokyo, Los Angeles, London, New York, Brazil and Berlin.

Terror Coverage CONCERNED BY violations during coverage of terror operations, the I&B ministry is likely to issue another advisory to TV channels asking them not to divulge operational details.“While monitoring of coverage related to Gurdaspur terror operations we found that many TV channels were reporting details like reinforcements sent, where the paramilitary men or police were positioned or what arms were being brought in. This is against national interest,” a source told The Times of India.

20 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

proclaim November 2 as the National Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists and ask all newsrooms across the country to observe two-minute silence,” it said in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court in the case of UP journalist Jagendra Singh's murder.

LAYING STANDARDS Sir Brian Henry Leveson, whose recommendations led to the creation of the Independent Press Standards Organization in the UK

W

HEN Lord Justice, Sir Brian Henry Leveson of the UK chaired a public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press, prompted by the News of the World phone hacking affair in 2011, he was perhaps unaware of the ramifications that his recommendations would have on the media elsewhere, including India. In November 2012, Sir Leveson submitted a three-volume report that led to establishing the Independent Press Standards Organization (IPSO) in 2014. Prime Minister Cameron’s government abandoned the Press Complaints Commission (PCC), which had been the main industry regulator of the press in the UK since 1990.

Leveson report assumes significance in the Indian context in view of a spate of complaints about paid news and degeneration in news dissemination.

There are allegations of deals between media managements and private parties who pay for either concealing or highlighting stories in accordance with the terms of an agreement.

Following the Leveson Report in the UK and in view of the ills, especially paid news, afflicting VIEWS ON NEWS

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Media Monitoring Anurag Thakur Panel Report

GIVING A NEW DIRECTION? Parliamentarian Anurag Singh Thakur suggests evolving a statutory mechanism rather than continuing with the Press Council

The Anurag Thakur panel expresses concern over “private treaties” between media and corporates entities, the loss of independence of journalists and the menace of paid news.

the Indian media, a Standing Committee on Information Technology chaired by BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh, Anurag Singh Thakur, also examined the menace of paid news. This committee in turn had been constituted in the light of a report submitted by another committee headed by Ashwani Kumar two years ago which had left it to the government to evolve a mechanism for rooting out paid news in India.

ADOPTING UK MODEL The report submitted by Thakur to the Lok Sabha on July 13, 2015, takes note of the Leveson’s recommendations. However, while examining the “regulatory model” set up in the UK, the Anurag Thakur panel agrees with the consultative report finding 22 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

that the regulatory models in other democratic countries are also required to be studied before adopting the Leveson’s model.

A slew of recommendations by Leveson are: Appointment of a new watchdog independent of MPs and newspapers, with statutory underpinning.

This independent self-regulatory body should be protected by a statute. It should be free of “any influence from industry and government”.

It should also be governed by an independent board. The chairperson and the members of the board must be appointed in a genuinely open, transparent and independent way.

The Leveson report also says legislation should allow for an independent regulator to be organized by the industry, but it “should also place an explicit duty on the government to uphold and protect the freedom of the press”.

Leveson recommends certain remedies and sanctions. It recommends fines of one percent of turnover of a media company, with a maximum of £1m. The watchdog should have “sufficient powers to carry out investigations both into suspected serious or systemic breaches of the code”. The new watchdog should have an arbitration mechanism for resolution of civil legal claims against subscribers.

The process should be fair, quick and inexpensive.

“Frivolous or vexatious claims” could be struck out at an early stage.

SENSATIONAL STORIES Sir Leveson also points out to “reckless” and “sensational” stories being pursued by the media. As he observes: “There has been recklessness in prioritizing sensational stories, almost irrespective of the harm the stories may cause and the rights of those who would be affected.” Several famous people have had their family lives destroyed by the relentless pursuit of the press, Leveson says, as it refers to “ample evidence” concerning it. “Their families, including their children, are pursued and important personal moments are destroyed,” Leveson says.

He finds there is “a cultural tendency within

EXTREME MEASURES (Above) The infamous phone hacking affair of the News of the World led to its closing down; (Right) The Leveson report was critical of hounding of celebrities and reckless stories on them

parts of the press vigorously to resist or dismiss complainants almost as a matter of course.” He says some newspapers are defensive, and even when an apology is agreed, they get their own back by resorting to “high-volume, extremely personal attacks on those who challenge them”.

In the backdrop of Leveson findings, the Anurag Thakur panel also takes cognizance of adverse impact of “private treaties” between media and corporates entities on the independence of journalists, editors, media professionals and it giving rise to the menace of paid news.

The committee strongly recommends that the I&B ministry or regulatory bodies strictly enforce all the existing guidelines and codes for bringing transparency in “private treaties”, thereby curbing paid news to a great extent.

The I&B ministry has stated that in view of the Press Council of India’s (PCI) advice to Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that regulates the stock market operations, voluntary disclosure of any interest in any listed company has been made mandatory. The Thakur panel expresses concern that neither the I&B ministry nor any self-regula-

Leveson suggested appointment of a new watchdog independent of MPs and newspapers, which should be free of “any influence from industry and government”. tory body such as PCI and the National Broadcasting Authority have conducted any study to evaluate the mechanism adopted by other countries to tackle the menace of paid news. These institutions couldn’t provide any input regarding the existing mechanism to regulate media.

The parliamentary committee, therefore, feels that it is important that various news and informative programs delivered by the print and electronic media “are factual, neutral, fair and objective”. The response of the government and observations made by the committees each led by Ashwani Kumar and Thakur make it amply clear that the government may do away with PCI and evolve a statutory mechanism much to the chagrin of the media which believes in self-regulation than by any diktat of the government.

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Book Review Farewell Kabul – From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World

Courting Danger in Afghanistan

Christina Lamb finds Pakistan and ISI’s hand behind Afghan affairs and believes that Osama bin Laden could not have entered Pakistani territory without help from the Pakistan establishment.

This book gives an in-depth view of the games being played between Pakistan, the US and warlords in Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous places on earth

BY RAJENDRA BAJPAI

J

OURNALIST Christina Lamb’s latest offering, Farewell Kabul – From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World, is not just about the dangers of reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also about the double-game Islamabad has played for nearly 30 years with its neighbor in the West as well as its benefactor, the US. She finds overwhelming evidence of Pakistan interfering in Afghanistan, training the Taliban and fighting alongside them in the hope that it can seize power in Kabul. It can then turn Afghanistan into an Islamic state to gain the strategic depth it is seeking on its western frontier.

Lamb knows both the countries well because she lived there for years and went back on numerous occasions. In fact, she began her career as a young journalist in Afghanistan, which she 24 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

EVIL DESIGNS Pakistan feigned support to the US in Afghanistan but stoked anti-US feelings behind its back

thought was an ideal place to launch a career as a freelance journalist.

RISKY JOB Lamb was lucky. And she was willing to risk her life. She went to Tora Bora mountains in eastern Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden lived in caves along with his followers before fleeing to Pakistan as US and Afghan troops chased him and came within a couple of miles of his hideout.

Lamb was ambushed in southern Afghanistan when the Taliban attacked her and the US troops she was accompanying. She jumped from trench to trench to avoid the fire.

Frequently, Lamb found that the Afghan Taliban was accompanied by Urdu-speaking Pakistani troops. She interviewed nearly all the key players in the AfPak drama—from Pakistani

lars during the height of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and then, stopping all aid, leaving Pakistan and the Taliban to fend for themselves.

Lamb is also unsparing in her criticism of Afghanistan, where every warlord and politician appears to be on the take. She says Afghan troops accompanying US soldiers appear to have taken money from bin Laden in 2001 when they came within two miles of his hideout. That helped bin Laden escape from Tora Bora to Pakistan.

She also hits out at Hamid Karzai, who she got to know well because he often protected

TRUSTED ALLIES? (Clockwise from below left) Afghan warlords Abdul Rashid Dostum, Ata Mohammad Noor, Mohammad Mohaqiq and Ismail Khan

generals to former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, from Afghan warlords to former Afghan president Hamid Karzai. She has a whole chapter devoted to Colonel Imam—his real name was Brigadier General Amir Sultan Tarar—who admitted to training thousands of Afghan Taliban.

She finds the hand of Pakistan and its intelligence agency, ISI, behind Afghan affairs everywhere and believes that bin Laden could not have entered Pakistani territory, as he did at will, without help from the Pakistan establishment. She dwells at length on Islamabad’s double-game with the US—taking money from that country and then stoking anti-US sentiments.

SHORT-SIGHTED AMERICANS Lamb also highlights US’ silly and short-sighted ventures in Pakistan, pumping in billions of dolVIEWS ON NEWS

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S THE WORLD TURNS

Book Review Farewell Kabul – From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World

Indians bag dance trophy DESI HOPPERS, a group of Indian dancers, emerged victorious at the World of Dance competition in Los Angeles, beating 34 competitors from 14 countries. On August 16, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the group was crowned winner with a trophy and $5,000. Desi Hoppers were the first-ever In-

dian troupe to represent the country at the championship.

The dancers staged an energetic performance by starting with the formation of Lord Ganesha, and then providing a glimpse of Indian classical dance. The team will be seen in TV dance reality show Bindass Naach, starting this month.

DANGEROUS GAME (Right) Taliban insurgents killed after they attacked Afghan parliament in June this year

Malaysia wants social media curbed

corrupt warlords and governors. In Afghanistan, you could be in jail on corruption charges one day and become the governor of a province the next day. In some ways, corruption was a full-time job in Afghanistan. There were warlords taking money from Pakistan and the US, and during Afghanistan’s invasion, from the Soviet Union as well.

To understand Afghans and Afghanistan, one has to be familiar with the tribal politics of the country. Tribal rivalries are handed down from one generation to the next and often go on for centuries. Americans were not too familiar with that and learnt eventually from their mistakes, but it was too late. Lamb spent enough time in that country to understand tribal politics and her book is a must-read for those having any interest in that country. And if you are an Indian diplomat living in Afghanistan, you must carry her book with you.

FAREWELL KABUL – FROM AFGHANISTAN TO A MORE DANGEROUS WORLD

By Christina Lamb Publisher: William Collins Price: `599; Pages: 640

26 VIEWS ON NEWS

DANGEROUS PLACE Afghanistan is a dangerous place; there is no doubt about that. To go there without knowing its history, geography and politics only multiplies

September 7, 2015

dangers. As a Reuters correspondent, I went there just after the Soviet troops arrived in Kabul. There was firing in the capital every day and locals were training their guns on Soviet troops.

During a visit to Jalalabad in March 1980, we came face-to-face with the dangers of working in that country. I was part of a convoy returning to Kabul when local gunmen opened fire at us almost at the same spot where British troops were massacred more than a century earlier. One could not see the gunmen hiding behind rocks and taking aim at buses, cars and taxis on the highway.

The Indian counsel-general in Jalalabad was in his black Soviet-made Volga car and he hastily turned to go back, and asked me to tell the Indian ambassador in Kabul that he could not make it for a scheduled meeting. His first mistake was to ride a black Volga, which otherwise is used by Afghan officials, who are all targets of rebels.

Christina Lamb sets out the dangers clearly.

She is a journalist’s journalist—lucky, plucky and willing to court danger armed only with a notebook and a pen.

THE MALAYSIAN government wants Facebook, Twitter, and Google to curb content for public safety. The controversial demand was announced after Prime Minister Najib Razak was accused of transferring $700m from a state fund into his personal account. Najib has denied the allegations. According to The New York Times, Malaysia’s communications minister Salleh Said Keruak wrote on his blog that the government will meet with representatives of Facebook, Google and Twitter to enlist their help in combating “the increasing tide of false information and rumors”. Najib sacked his deputy last month after he questioned him about the alleged embezzlement.

BAN the Phantom JAMAAT UD Dawah’s leader and the mastermind behind the 26/11 attack in Mumbai, Hafiz Saeed, wants upcoming movie Phantom banned in Pakistan. Starring Saif Ali Kan and Katrina Kaif, Phantom shows Saeed’s assassination in the movie. Lawyer for Saeed, AK Dogar, wants to stop the film from being shown, arguing it is Indian propaganda meant to hurt the image of Pakistan abroad. Phantom is based on the novel Mumbai Avengers by S Hussain Zaidi.

Long messages on Twitter

Tinder CEO steps down DATING APP Tinder’s CEO Chris Payne is stepping down, with co-founder and president, Sean Rad, taking over again, according to a report from Re/Code. Tinder was in the news recently for tweets against a Vanity Fair author, for a report in the fashion magazine about how bad dating apps

NOW TWITTER users will be able to send long messages through direct chat, though the 140-characters limit will continue for tweets. For perhaps the first time in its history, the social media company urged its users to “go long” when messaging other users. “Direct Messages now go beyond 140 characters. Go long, express yourself, wax poetic,” tweeted @twitter.

The company has been expanding Direct Message features to compete with Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts. like Tinder are for young people. Last year cofounder Whitney Wolfe sued the company for sexual harassment and stripping her of title.

Another co-founder Justin Mateen, accused of sexual harassment, left the company.

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Web Crawler What Went Viral

Amazon Faces Heat

Sporting Honor

JEFF BEZOS, founder and CEO of e-commerce giant Amazon, is in the news since the publication of an article in The New York Times on August 15, that crticized the work culture and practices followed in the company. The article, written by Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, uses accounts of former and current Amazon employees to describe a cut-throat organization which has no place for those who can’t keep up with the pressure, due to personal or health reasons.

Titled “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace”, the article has elicited strong reactions from employees and the management alike. Bezos released an internal memo soon after the NYT article, stating Amazon would not tolerate such callous management practices. He commented on the article, saying it “doesn’t describe the Amazon I know”. This internal memo was obtained by CNBC on August 17.

DELHI GIRL Aditi Chauhan became the first female Indian football player to be signed by a top English club. With a country that watches football almost as eagerly as it does cricket these days, the accomplishment has been celebrated across social media platforms. Chauhan has been signed by West Ham Ladies, which is currently in the Football Asso-

Modi In UAE

Pak Perspective

WHILE NARENDRA Modi was busy strengthening ties with the UAE, social media was gung-ho over every move he made. Now that the PM is back on Indian soil, internet trolls have taken over with a slew of memes doing the rounds on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. An image of Modi embracing the crown prince of UAE, HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has taken the virtual world by storm, with puns ranging from the obvious—“Let’s bridge this gulf”— to the absurd expression: “Ladies, there is no such thing as a thigh gap”.

BRANDON STANTON, the man behind the photo blog, Humans Of New York, travelled to Pakistan this summer and painted a picture of Pakistan that was almost unknown to the rest of the world. Messages thanking him flooded the HONY Facebook page as he showed the human aspect of a nation, known in the international media only for its terror and violence.

His photographs ranged from beautiful landscapes to portraits of people from across Pakistan.

The photographs are accompanied by human interest stories that include experiences and thoughts of those photographed. Stanton is making headlines for having raised $2 million to support the Bonded Labour

ciation’s (FA) Women’s Premier League Southern Division. This is in the third level in the women’s football structure in England. She earlier represented the under-19 Indian national women’s team at AFC Qualifiers in Malaysia.

Social media also criticized the dismal condition of women’s football in India where no top-tier leagues exist for female players.

Liberation Front, a Pakistani organization led by Syeda Ghulam Fatima, that works towards eradicating bonded labor.

Mission Food THIS INDEPENDENCE Day, a group of youngsters came together with the mission to feed 1,00,000 people across India and Pakistan. The group called Robin Hood Army (robinhoodarmy.com/ mission100k) took the initiative with the help of student volunteers across the two countries. Many restaurants pitched in with logistical support as the mission gained momentum in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Kolkata, Noida, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. With the aim to stamp out hunger, Robin Hood Army hopes this will be part of a sustained effort towards curbing food wastage and eradicating hunger. The initiative, mission100k, trended on social media and gained massive support on online platforms on both sides of the border.

28 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

Deadly Data Leak ASHLEY MADISON, a US-based web portal,which is described as “the online personal & dating destination for casual encounters, married dating, discreet encounters and extra-marital affairs” was recently hacked by a group called Impact Team.

The hackers threatened to reveal members’ details and data unless the Toronto-based parent company, Avid Life Media, took down Ashley Madison and EstablishedMen.com. On August 19, the hackers followed through their threats and posted 9.7 gigabytes of user details, including credit card information. Avid Life has criticized this move and asked the FBI to investigate the matter.

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September 7, 2015 29

Global Trends Takeovers The Financial Times, The Economist

Japanese Invasion N of Fleet Street A sharp fall in ad revenue and a dip in sales have led to the offloading of these twin publications. While Nikkei takes over FT, the owner has brought down the stake in The Economist

BY MR DUA

30 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

OT long ago, when Bloomberg Businessweek, a noted American financial journal, put out a story that Britain’s influential and prestigious weekly, The Economist, and its sister daily newspaper, The Financial Times, were up on sale, the news was stoutly and derisively denied, ridiculed as a mere rumor, and dismissed as “speculative nonsense”. However, the fact was that The Economist and The Financial Times’ owners were reportedly ill at ease in bringing out these publications due to heavy decline in their ad revenues and downturn in print edition sales.

These factors alone are said to have prompted the company to search for an alternative to off-load them somehow, although these stories were instantly scotched. Also, that is why some years ago, The Financial Times’ senior executive, Dame Marjorie Scardino, officially, and rather contemptuously, remarked that “the title would be sold over my dead body”. But, paradoxically and ironically, the current chief executive of the public owner-company, Pearson Inc, John Fallon, is said to have presented the paper’s sale “largely as an act of beneficence in the cause of journalism”.

Therefore, when the owner of the twin publications, Pearson Inc, a British media and education global giant, announced in July that The Financial Times had actually been sold, nobody was enthralled, and much less, taken aback. Remember, the company had in the past offloaded some of its valuable media assets, such as its financial news service, Mergermarket. In any case, The Financial Times constituted a minor segment of the company’s total holdings.

In the past, several whistleblowers had reported secret talks about the publication’s sale among numerous buyers, such as the British wire service Reuters Thomson, German Axel Springer and American billionaire and former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, but these were invariably branded as mere hearsay at the highest levels.

history. On August 12th, we announced the most important change to our shareholding structure in almost 90 years. Pearson, the owner of The Financial Times, which has had a non-controlling 50 per cent stake in us since 1928, is selling. Threefifths of those shares will go to an existing shareholder—Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family. The rest will be bought back by our parent company, The Economist Group.” The Economist, founded in 1843 “to support the cause of free trade”, always preferred to call itself a newspaper; the group also includes the Economist Intelligence Unit research company, and the US legislative information provider CQ Roll Call.

Meanwhile, the new owners of the publications plan “to shift to digital and mobile news”. In fact, Pearson CEO, John Fallon, is reported to have said that he offloaded one of his last remaining media assets “to give it the best chance of its success as readers switch from newspapers to smartphones and the market for business news becomes more global”. He said that Pearson will exclusively concentrate on its education business that has not been in good health of late.

NEW OWNERS However, when the 127-year-old The Financial Times was purchased by the Japanese media giant, Nikkei, for $1.3 billion, it made sizzling international news. And The Economist in its August 15 edition, had a Letter from the Editor, called A New Chapter, where it said: “This week’s issue is an exception, because it is an exceptional moment in The Economist’s

BETTER GLOBAL REACH John Fallon noted that Nikkei being the owner of the biggest financial title in the Japanese language, The Nikkei, and dozen other media outlets, will be able “to better focus on increasing the global reach of The Financial Times and invest in its digital future to compete with the financial firepower of

Bloomberg and top US business daily, The Wall Street Journal”. The new owners are believed to have been assured of “complete editorial independence”, as it’s “implicit in the culture and fabric of Nikkei”. Also, Nikkei owner Tsuneo Kita is believed to have stated that the company would “maintain the paper’s independence while investing in the brand”. He added: “Let’s be clear that the editorial independence will be maintained. The FT is going to be the FT—it remains unchanged.”

FT’s editor, Lionel Barber was also said to have been told he’ll retain his independence. Pearson Inc, however, will not part with its present classic mansion situated on the south bank of Thames river. The new owners will function from the same building and will pay for it.

According to Pearson, The Financial Times had sales of £334 million last year, with £24 million being its annual income. The group’s profits on March 31 last amounted to $93 million, as per a report in The New York Times. Patronized by rich and elite readership, the publications will be missed by the British readership, among many others in the US and Asia. FT’s change of owners was deemed to be “a desperately sad” event by many London mediapersons. The pink newsprint signature, The Financial Times, is said to be the classic symbol of London’s “pinstriped suit”—the only daily printed in pink paper. The same pink newsprint style is also a signature mark of three business dailies, The Economic Times, The Financial Express and Business Standard, in India.

OWNERSHIP CHANGE (From above left) John Fallon, the chief executive of Pearson Inc; Nikkei owner Tsuneo Kita (Below) FT’s office at One Southwark Bridge, London

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September 7, 2015 31

Advertising Coca-Cola

Kolaveri Di Hits Turkish Shores A vibrant Coca-Cola ad for Turkey has gone viral, thanks to its famous Indian tune. A perfect rhapsody of Indian and Turkish culture

BY SHOBHA JOHN

S

UNNY and sensuous. Sultry and sandy. As these two images merge on a hot, happening beach, you suddenly start feeling thirsty despite being ensconced in evergreen Delhi lashed by monsoon showers. Such is the power of advertising; it makes you desirous of things you don’t need. And that’s what Coca-Cola’s 2015 video for the Turkish market—Aç Bir Coca-Cola—does.

The song, sung by Turkish singers Özcan Deniz and Sıla, is vibrant. And as you watch the swaying crowd of good-looking men and women, the rhythms of West Asian music sweep over you

32 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

even though you don’t understand the Turkish lyrics. The beat of the tambourine is matched by the steps of men in casual clothes—open shirts with waxed chests, capris, T-shirts, hats….

FAMILIAR TUNE As the song swirls around your head, sung by a George Clooney lookalike, you say, wait, haven’t I heard this rhythm before? And yet it is clearly a Turkish ad for Coca-Cola. And then it hits you: the tune is from Kolaveri Di, the song sung by Dhanush in 2011 and which went viral, making him an instant star.

As the catchy tune continues, you realize that the language of dating and romance is clearly the same everywhere. It shows testosterone-induced men, including the grey-haired lead singer who looks incongruous in this setting, asking young, sultry women something like “Why this murderous rage, girl?” (the English interpretation of Tamil Kolaveri Di.) As girls in hammocks look up, others are seen strutting around in mini skirts, halters and shorts and hand fans, with their blondish curls flying in the breeze. This is clearly a Bohemian Rhapsody as the girls are seen leading this motley group of men.

The lead female singer is a woman in a provocative red shirt and shorts with a comehither look in her eyes. As the women sway and dance in front of the thirsty men (thirsty in more ways than one!), they suddenly take out CocaCola bottles and show it to the men, who make a grab for them. But they are clearly not going to oblige, even as the men pretend to swoon.

As the women pirouette and preen, bend and roll on the sand, the temperature is clearly shooting up, evident from the various sighs that can be heard in the background. Dhanush has sure missed something.

FLUID BOUNDARIES (Above) The Coca-Cola ad for Turkey borrows heavily from the Bollywood template

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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

Advertising Coca-Cola

old Indian pride coming into play and our inherent greed for acceptance.� Suthan explains that the Turkish ad industry usually looks at the West for influences and it is far more cued to that part of the world than ours. “This film is, therefore, part affirmation and embrace of Bollywood and beyond in a global sense. This probably is a growing phenomenon and underlines India’s influence in the world, both as a strong economic power and a cultural reservoir,� he said.

Attempts to get Coca-Cola Turkey’s version proved futile.

THE MAVERICK (Above) Dhanush’s Kolaveri Di became an instant hit in 2011

Though Coca-Cola’s ads are powerful, this one with an Indian theme is the perfect example of how a nonsensical song set in exotic locales and with a change in language can still garner huge response.

The dance moves are interesting and Bollywood-esque as the men and women pair off, a friend wiggles his well-shaped eyebrows to the beat of the song. Very interesting, indeed. Even as the women run the bottles all over their bodies, the men cool off with water. The cold vapor streaming out of a Coca-Cola bottle juxtaposed against the beach in all its sunlit glory makes one sit up and notice this ad. As bronze bodies gyrate to the catchy song, the parched throat is slaked.

All of this is good, clean fun and the display of bodies is shown with finesse and panache.

INDIAN INFLUENCE Though Coca-Cola’s ads are powerful, this one with an Indian theme is a perfect example of how a nonsensical song set in exotic locales and with a change in language can still garner huge response.

In fact, Kolaveri Di’s official video had garnered more than 96 million views on YouTube since 2011, whereas the Turkish song has got more than three lakh views within two days of its release on YouTube.

Prathap Suthan, chief creative officer, Bang In The Middle, a Delhi-based advertising agency, says that advertising often borrows cultural signatures from across the world. “I was more than thrilled to see that they were inspired to dig into our Indian palette to find inspiration. This is good

34 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

HAPPINESS QUOTIENT Let’s compare this Turkish ad with Coca-Cola’s Indian campaigns. The Indian campaigns are not so much about fun as happiness. They are earthy, the language is colloquial and the situations, everyday. As Anurag Kashyap, director, of these Indian videos says in a promotional film: “We went into the interiors.� And though he says these are funny, cheeky campaigns, they have a different flavor from the Turkish one, which grabs eyeballs for its Arabic-Indian tone.

Coca-Cola’s Indian campaigns last year had three videos—Coca-Cola Open Happiness, CocaCola Injection and Coca-Cola Rickshaw. All of them featured the ethereal Deepika Padukone and her famous dimples, which is half the battle won anyway. And there is cute Farhan Akhtar too. “What Coca-Cola always manages to do is touch the heart,� says Padukone in the promotional film.

Pretty much like the Turkey video, which makes us forget that this country presently has terror literally at its doorsteps as it joins hands with American forces against the Islamic State. But then, that is the power of advertising. As Leo Burnett, founder of Leo Burnett Worldwide, said: “Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at.� And Coca-Cola’s Turkey ad does all this. Who knows, it may even have a cascading effect on Turkey’s tourism.

So say, why this Kolaveri Di?

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.

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Anchor Review Arnab Goswami

Shouting Bouts The Newshour on Times Now is increasingly resembling a boxing ring with Arnab and the panelists throwing punches at each other

BY AJITH PILLAI

OLD HABITS DIE HARD (Above) Arnab, as usual, badgered participants in a discussion on Indo-Pak talks on Times Now’s The Newshour (Right) Vishnu Som’s program on the same subject on NDTV was informative and sensitive

S

PORT, as George Orwell famously put it, “is war minus the shooting”.

He could well have said much the same thing about shrill and frenetic debates on Indo-Pakistan issues on Indian television. In fact, cross-border terrorism, talks and ceasefire violations trigger off hyper-nationalism on the idiot box, sometimes bordering on the extreme. And nowhere is this jingoism reflected in its worst form than in the programs moderated by our own “Super Primetime” patriot, Arnab Goswami. The ingredients for any discussion on the friction between the neighboring countries on The Newshour that he anchors on weeknights, is a mix of hysterical ex-generals, defense experts from either side of the border and politicians. Typically, all of them try outshouting each other almost as if to prove the basic

36 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

principle in sonic science right—the loudest is the one that makes the most noise.

So Arnab took everyone by surprise when, on August 19, he held a relatively “quieter” discussion on the Pakistan High Commission’s decision to hold consultations with Kashmiri separatist leaders over dinner just before the first-ever Indo-Pak NSA-level talks. Of course, as is his wont, Arnab went through his standard rhetoric about traitors and anti-nationals (read the Hurriyat leaders) before diving into the core of the subject under discussion: Should India be talking to Pakistan when there were 15 instances of cross-border firing in the last five days and several acts of terrorism in recent months?

But the temperature of the debate could not be raised beyond a point since the panelists—Siddharth Nath Singh, BJP; Maroof Raza, defense expert; Brijesh Kalappa, Congress; Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy and Shabnam Lone, advocate—failed to bring the discussion even close to boiling point.

That, incidentally, is the minimum required for Arnab to get truly worked up. However, that evening even Siddharth Nath Singh’s protestations—“I

will be heard. You cannot stop me”—was not inspiring enough. In sharp contrast, Vishnu Som’s measured and not-so-dramatic discussion on NDTV on the very same subject was far more informative and sensible.

E

xactly 24 hours later, Arnab was back with a double-whammy. All of two hours (minus ad time) was devoted to the Indo-Pak talks. The first 60 minutes was all about the BJP-PDP coalition government in J&K first arresting Hurriyat leaders that morning and springing a surprise by releasing them within a few hours. Why was the drama enacted?

Arnab wanted to know and so ostensibly did the entire nation. The Times Now anchor turned his gun first on Dr Mehboob Beg, spokesperson of the PDP. “Why have you become the B Team of the Pakistan government? Why have you arrested these Hurriyat traitors— you cannot call them leaders?” Arnab thundered. Dr Beg was visibly hurt that his party was being referred to as Pakistan’s B Team. “Please introspect,” he urged, “Who is helping Pakistan when you call the elected government Pakistan’s B Team? Remember Arnab, you are saying this on national supertime news (sic),” he added for good measure.

That set the tone for an hour-long shouting match with thought-provoking interactions, including one exchange which went something like this: “You asked me have I finished? Now I am asking you, have you finished? I will tell you one thing I am asking you a question. If you don’t have the courage to answer, then look into the camera and admit that you can’t.” When the panelist said he was ready to respond, came this trump card from Arnab: “How can you say you can answer my question when you haven’t heard my question!”

That all important question, incidentally, was what the discussion was all about—why were the Hurriyat leaders arrested and then released. For those tuning in to The Newshour for the first time, this verbal intimidation might sound genuinely amusing. But haven’t we heard this browbeating before?

However, there was more to follow. Another hour with Pakistani guests linked via satellite. This time, the preamble was only a shade different: Was Pakistan try-

ing to scuttle the talks by inviting the Hurriyat leaders to meet Pakistan NSA, Sartaj Aziz, ahead of his talks with his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval? Arnab was loud and very vocal for a start as he poured vitriol on “traitors and those peaceniks who back them”. But the Pak panelists soon took the wind out of the sails of the discussion by stating that their government was not shying away from the talks and was, in fact, keen on it. “Sartaj Aziz will be coming to Delhi. We are ready,” one of the panelists from across the border emphasized. “You don’t seem too keen on the talks,” he added. That left the discussions headed nowhere as it meandered over familiar territory—cross-border infiltration, ceasefire violations, Dawood Ibrahim, terror attacks and the like.

Luckily, there was no war declared on TV and hence no casualties. But there have been occasions when the heated debates left a bitter taste and it almost seemed as if some of the panelists would come to blows. Indeed, the day is not far when TV discussions will be staged in sets designed like boxing rings—the grand finale could then be a bout between rival panelists to decide the winner. Marketing would love that. Boxing, after all, is not just about giving participants a black eye but also about grabbing eyeballs...

MODERATING INFLUENCE? (Clockwise from top left) The panel on Times Now’s The Newshour on August 19 included Siddharth Nath Singh of the BJP; defense expert Maroof Raza; Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy; and Brijesh Kalappa of the Congress

VIEWS ON NEWS

September 7, 2015 37

Design

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

By ANTHONY LAWRENCE

Yet another creative lesson

by Tulip Books for kids. Its team has placed banana leaves in the shape of a cow, photographed them and sketched other features to complete the scene. But is the text font large enough for the target reader?

Does tomato red incite you to try out exotic cuisine from across the world?

If yes, the cover page of Passport magazine, a lifestyle publication, has succeeded in its mission. Simple and effective.

Scandals—the gray area of public life. On the cover of Rolling Stone’s10th Anniversary of Scandal, the use of gray for text, including the masthead, is juxtaposed with clean cutouts of dashing models to enhance the effect.

38 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

There’s a method to this madness in color. This installation, posted on Pinterest website for artists, is a riot of glitter colors stuck to a wall. But what is a human skull doing in the center of the installation?

The Economic Times graphically traced the history of swimsuits a few years ago, right from the late 19th century. An imaginative use of space here with a lot of information.

VIEWS ON NEWS

September 7, 2015 39

Survey TMM Exclusive TV Coverage

Radhe Maa: Talk of the Town The controversial and colorful godwoman garnered viewer interest as news channels had debates, talk shows and special programs on her

BY VON TEAM

G

IVEN the prominence given to godmen and godwomen in the media, it did not come as a surprise when several TV channels lapped up the Radhe Maa controversy. The story broke on August 2 when the 50-year-old spiritual leader was accused in a dowry harassment case.

Nikki Gupta, married into a Gupta family closely linked to Radhe Maa, lodged a complaint at Borivali police station in suburban Mumbai, alleging that her husband Nakul Gupta, a chartered accountant, and her in-laws were persuaded by Radhe Maa to make dowry demands from her parents.

Gupta said in her complaint that her parents had gifted substantial amount of jewelry at her wedding, but Radhe Maa allegedly had asked her in-laws to put pressure on her family for more dowry. She was also made to work at her ashram in Mumbai. This was when things went wrong for Radhe Maa.

NO OF BREAKING NEWS 25 20 15

15

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40 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

4

2

0 1

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Aaj Tak ABP Times Now India Today APN Samachar Plus

14

10 8 6 4 2 0

1 1

COLORFUL GODWOMAN After a case was registered against her under the Dowry Prohibition Act, the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, the apex body of Hindu ascetic organizations, banned her from participating in the Shahi Snan at Kumbh Mela in Nashik on August 29. Soon photos of Radhe Maa in a miniskirt went viral on the net.

Footage of her dancing to Bollywood hits wearing brightly colored sarees also made news.

From August 2 to August 14, Aaj Tak had 24

Aaj Tak ABP Times Now India Today APN Samachar Plus

24

2

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NO OF DEBATE SHOWS 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0

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Aaj Tak ABP Times Now India Today APN Samachar Plus

2 1

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6

breaking stories, ABP News, 15, and Times Now, 10. The story attracted considerable notice because of the nature of the subject. Here was a godwoman, born Sukhvinder Kaur, from Dorangala village, Gurdaspur district, Punjab, who at the age of 23 became a disciple of Mahant Ram Deen Das of the 1008 Paramhans Bagh Dera in Hoshiarpur. He oversaw her deeksha (initiation ceremony) and named her Radhe Maa. Her style of blessing her disciples is unique— singing and dancing with them. She became popular and attracted thousands of disciples from across the country.

Hers was a success story.

Apparently, the quantum leap in her mass appeal came after she came in touch with the family of Manmohan Gupta, the chairman of MM Mithaiwala which runs a chain of sweet shops in Mumbai. Sanjeev Gupta, a family member, is the managing trustee of the Mamatamai Shri Radhe Guru Maa Charitable Trust. He also promotes her divadarshans in Mumbai through advertisements and hoardings.

VIEWER INTEREST Radhe Maa’s colorful life lent itself to special programs on many channels. Aaj Tak led with 16 of them during the August 2-14 period. ABP News had 14 and Times Now, one.

Debates were also featured on the channels. ABP News led the pack with four such discussions, Aaj Tak had two, and Times Now also saw the issue good enough to hold a debate.

The discussions ranged from “Who made Radhe Maa a Godwoman” to a “Pious vs Pretender” debate.

Why was there so much focus on a discredited spiritual leader? Perhaps one reason was that several channels saw that as sensational news in a week when there were apparently no big stories. Others felt that since there was so much viewer interest, there was a need to educate them. But there were still other channels which sensationalized the story with only TRPs in mind.

It must be pointed out that NDTV, India Today and Times Now raised other issues as well. GST, OROP, terrorism, the derailed monsoon session of parliament and the Naga Agreement were all given due importance and focus.

Regional channels like APN focused on parliamentary proceedings, bills and project cleared by the Cabinet and issues of governance which were far more newsworthy than the Radhe Maa controversy.

VIEWS ON NEWS

September 7, 2015 41

DATE 6/8/15

6/8/15

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8/8/15

NEWS BJP worker Avinash Kumar shot dead by three unidentified men near Gandhi Maidan in Patna.

Parliament logjam continues for third consecutive day; Sonia Gandhi attacks Modi government, calls it arrogant.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh condemns Udhampur terror attack in parliament; blames Pakistan for attack on BSF convoy.

Tiger Memon called his family on July 30; told his mother he would avenge Yakub’s execution.

Justice Dipak Mishra receives death threat; was member of the panel that rejected Yakub Memon’s plea.

Delhi Police arrests journalist Zuber Ahmed Khan on his way from Mumbai to join terror outfit ISIS.

NEWS

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42 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

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NEWS Stampede at Baidyanath Temple in Deogarh in Jharkhand leaves at least 11 dead and 24 injured.

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Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav to launch “Swabhiman” rally against Modi’s DNA remark; will take signatures of 50 lakh people and send their blood samples to Modi.

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Earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale strikes Hindu-Kush area of Afghanistan; tremors felt in Jammu Kashmir, Delhi and Punjab.

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Sushma Swaraj responds to Congress accusations in Lalitgate; blames Congress for lack of investigation during its term

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Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad Yadav declare seat- sharing formula at press conference; RJD, JDU will contest 100 seats each, Congress will contest 40 and NCP three seats.

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Kejriwal criticizes Delhi Police for Yogendra Yadav’s arrest; tweets peaceful protest is his lawful right.

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PM Modi praises Mulayam Sigh Yadav’s support to end parliament logjam.

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DATE 10/8/15

FIR filed against Radhe Ma in a case of dowry harassment.

Cloudburst in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh; Dharampur bus station submerged, four buses washed away.

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.

Arun Jaitley takes a jibe at Rahul Gandhi; calls him an expert without knowledge.

5.45 PM

VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015 43

DATE 13/8/15

NEWS

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Blast in a masjid in Trenz village of Shopian district, Jammu and Kashmir, injures 10.

16/8/15 7.42 AM

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Bombay High Court lifts ban on Maggi; samples of all nine variants to be tested in three different labs before Nestle can start manufacturing the noodles.

Congress protests in Parliament; NCP, TMC MPs support Sonia Gandhi in boycott of parliament.

13 pilgrims, including 6 women, killed as pick-up van collides with speeding truck on NH-33 near Chowka , 40 km away from Jamshedpur.

Dowry harassment case registered against Radhe Ma; asked to appear in Kandivali police station in Mumbai.

Prakash Javdekar lashes out at Congress for washout of Monsoon session; calls the party anti-poor, anti-progress and anti-democracy.

Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP government to wave off electricity bills of defaulters; JJ colony residents will be charged `250 per month for unpaid dues .

PM Modi begins UAE tour today; first Indian prime minister to do so in 34 years.

44 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

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Saina Nehwal becomes first Indian to win silver at BWF World Badminton Championships; loses to World No. 1 Carolina Marin

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Day 2 of Modi’s UAE visit; will engage in talks on terrorism and energy cooperation; will also address Indian diaspora later in the day.

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Modi visits Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi; Omar Abdullah dismisses it as a tourist moment.

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ED seals two of Lalit Modi’s bank accounts in Singapore; requested authorities to send money back to India.

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Eight killed in blast in Pakistan’s Punjab home minister’s office; home minister Shuja Khanzada trapped in rubble.

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Landslide hits Manikaran Sahib Gurudwara, at least 10 dead, many still feared trapped.

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VIEWS ON NEWS

September 7, 2015 45

Governance Controversy FTII Stalemate

The students opposed Chauhan because of his weak credentials in comparison to directors such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Rajkumar Hirani who would have brought prestige to FTII.

POLITICAL DIRECTION TO DISSENT

What’s the Agenda?

FTII has always been about freedom of expression and the right to creativity. But the present crisis has shown that the govt is pushing ahead with saffronization of the campus

BY ABHAY VAIDYA 46 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

A

UGUST 18, 2015, will go down as a “black day” in the history of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. On this day, the police was called in by the institute’s director to arrest agitating students.

This decision was clearly bull-headed and the police compounded this blunder by coming in at midnight to carry out arrests, obviously to avoid the full glare of media attention. By this solitary act, the government bureaucrats exposed their flank at India’s premier film and TV training institute. Rather than trying to resolve the crisis, the government only exacerbated it with the police action.

“I am stressed and appalled by the arrests. This is the first time that

(Above) AISA activists demonstrating against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan (right) as FTII chairman, in New Delhi on June 16

the problem has gone outside the campus and cops had to be called in. It is not a good sign and this should never have happened,” said director Shyam Benegal, reacting immediately after the police action. Benegal felt that Chauhan should have taken the initiative to visit the campus and meet the students, but he never did.

SNOWBALLING ISSUE The police action followed a series of mis-steps, all of which indicated that the crisis was growing bigger by the day. From a students’ protest against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, TV actor and BJP member, as chairman of FTII Society, it snow-

balled into an issue that became a political opportunity for the Congress first and then the AAP. More than that, the latest FTII strike by students, which entered into its third month on August 12, exposed the government’s autocratic style of functioning.

After the controversy over Pahlaj Nihalani’s appointment as the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (he had made videos for Modi’s election campaign), the government invited fresh trouble by appointing people on the FTII Society with open RSS-BJP affiliations.

The students were quick to sense what was happening and opposed the appointments of not just Chauhan but also of Anagha Ghaisas, Narendra Pathak, Rahul Solapurkar and Shailesh Gupta. These were the names that replaced the original choice listed by the then FTII director DJ Narain— Amitabh Bachchan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra among others for president and Naseeruddin Shah, Rajat Kapoor and others for members.

I&B minister Arun Jaitley responded by rejecting the student demand outright and pointed out that in no institute do the students decide who their director or chairperson should be. The students were at once branded as being unreasonable, asked to call off their agitation and go back to their studies.

This was the official line of the BJP. DIFFERENT ETHOS While the BJP bigwigs were treating the FTII as VIEWS ON NEWS

September 7, 2015 47

Governance Controversy FTII Stalemate

HOLD OVER ARTS (Right) Pahlaj Nihalani’s appointment as the chairman of Censor Board had also worried the film fraternity

WON’T FOLLOW THE GOVERNMENT SCRIPT

The FTII has seen about 40 agitations in the past five decades. Even when Mohan Agashe was at its helm as director, there were protests over fears of the institute’s privatization.

(Left) FTII students protest against the high-handedness of the government in appointments at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi (Below) Director Prashant Pathrabe was gheraoed by agitating students on the campus in Pune

Anil Shakya Anil Shakya

any other institute, the fact is that the FTII, established in 1960, is not any other institution. Students don’t come here to quickly get their diplomas and degrees, vie for placements and move on to jobs with attractive salary packages.

The FTII by character is a liberal institution which has always resisted authoritarian control. It is about freedom, creativity and ideas. In terms of ideology, it has always tilted towards the Left. A filmmaker’s life is a life of uncertainty and struggle and the students are well-aware of this reality.

Students from varied backgrounds compete fiercely to become creative professionals. Freedom and the pursuit of creativity have always been of paramount importance for the students and this is evident from a visit to the campus. Graffiti, installations and slogans painted on the campus walls are all about freedom of expression.

The FTII has seen about 40 strikes and agitations in the past five decades. Even when an accomplished actor like Mohan Agashe was at its helm as director, there were protests over fears of the institute’s priva48 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

tization in the name of modernization, re-structuring of syllabus, upgradation and whether the highly subsidized structure would be scrapped.

CHAUHAN’S CREDENTIALS In the present case, the agitation is not so much about Gajendra Chauhan per se, but about credentials. The students opposed Chauhan because of his unimpressive body of work in contrast to, say, highly respected directors such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Rajkumar Hirani, who would have brought prestige to FTII with their stature.

The students’ fears were not unfounded and were bound to raise an alarm, which is precisely what happened. Rather than address these fears, the Modi government and the BJP saw the FTII strike as an act of indiscipline and went about dealing with it sternly.

Bureaucrats began to build pressure by turning the screw little-by-little. The agitating students were told that they would face rustication; those “overstaying” in the hostel were identified and asked to

vacate and employees on contract were asked to leave as there was no work at the institute. I&B officials also instructed Prashant Pathrabe, the new director of FTII, to immediately undertake the long-pending assessment of film projects of 50 students of the 2008 batch, even if the films were incomplete. The students protested, saying that the projects were incomplete because of administrative and infrastructural issues. In this, the students were supported by the faculty. When Pathrabe refused to budge, he was gheraoed by the students in his cabin for about six hours, after which he called in the police in consultation with I&B ministry officials. On August 19, four bouncers were deployed by the FTII management for Pathrabe’s security.

This did not go down well with the students and the faculty.

GOVT MISCALCULATION The police action resulted in widespread, negative reaction and the ministry hastily announced that a three-member team would be sent to Pune “to

assess the ground situation” and submit a report to resolve the crisis. The government clearly mis-calculated the fallout of the FTII crisis.

The government still has an opportunity to undertake corrections. The institute needs to flourish in its liberal environment and it needs real autonomy and transparency in its appointment procedures. One way out of this mess is to establish a mutually acceptable panel of experts which would work out a compromise between the government and the students.

“Even Anupam Kher and Paresh Rawal would have been acceptable in place of Gajendra Chauhan because they have far higher cinematic merit,” said filmmaker and FTII alumnus Salil Desai. He felt that the government had bungled badly by appointing Chauhan in the first place.

The government will succeed in destroying this premier institute if it decides to run it with a heavy hand and a hidden agenda.

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Governance

Environment Mumbai’s Coast Road

CHAIN OF HOPE School children join the protest against the proposed Coast Road in Mumbai on August 14

Road to Perdition?

A road proposed on Mumbai’s western sea front has kicked up quite a storm. Despite questions being raised over the ecological damage it would cause, the government has given most of the clearances

BY DARRYL D’MONTE

50 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

T

HERE is a serious issue concerning people’s right to know when it comes to the controversial Coast Road, proposed on Mumbai’s western sea front. It was mooted by the former Congress chief minister Prithviraj Chauhan, whose government was voted out of power last October. But he couldn’t get it off the ground in his tenure. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) did appoint a committee to advice on the road, the alignment of which was up on its website for several months. Subsequently, the alignment was incorporated into the 20-year Mumbai Development Plan (DP) from 20142034, but it was unceremoniously junked when experts and

SERVICE TO THE RICH The Bandra-Worli Sea Link is useful mostly to those who commute in cars

DIRE SITUATION

citizens pointed to gaping loopholes and inconsistencies in the document. This set the stage for a new DP.

The 2005 Mumbai floods occurred because there was no outlet for rainwater

FAST CLEARANCES It is illegal for an alignment approved by an official committee to be reworked without a proper official authorization like a government resolution (GR) for such a purpose. But the Shiv Sena-dominated BMC is obviously in a high comfort zone with the BJP-led coalition state government, not to mention compliant ministers in New Delhi like Minister of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Prakash Javadekar, who has given the road VIEWS ON NEWS

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Governance

Environment Mumbai’s Coast Road

The Hindu carried a long Sunday magazine feature by its Mumbai staffer, highlighting the human predicament of a fishing village which will be truncated by the road.

environmental clearances, and Minister of Road Transport Nitin Gadkari who is gung-ho about building highways. Gadkari was responsible for construction of 55 flyovers in the city when he was PWD minister in the BJP-Sena state government in the mid-1990s.

True to form, about a year ago, the BMC appointed STUP Consultants and Ernst & Young to draft a new alignment as a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a fee of `8 crore. This was submitted early this year to the BMC, which—for reasons best known to itself—sat on it till June when it released an executive summary along with the voluminous document. Citizens were given only a month to send in their objections.

The report, to put it mildly, is a hotchpotch of ill-digested raw data with sweeping conclusions, including the contention that the road, for which some 170 hectares are going to be reclaimed 100-200 meters off the coast, will have no environmental repercussions. Even the prose is wonky, which makes one wonder what an international consultant like Ernst & Young was doing co-authoring it?

It was difficult even for public transport experts to wade through the voluminous data, with traffic projections on the 35-km-long route by the hour, projected for a score of years. The report, like the DP in another context, is also riddled with errors. Ironically, the mandatory environ-

52 VIEWS ON NEWS September 7, 2015

mental impact assessment included in it, contradicts the thrust of the report by pointing to all the environmental problems that reclamation will cause to Mumbai. The city recently observed the 10th anniversary of the devastating July 2005 mega-flood, in which some 700 people perished when 944 mm of rain fell over (mainly suburban) Mumbai and its outskirts in some 12 hours. There was no way for the rain to escape.

On July 27, the deadline for sending in objections, the BMC found that there were too few— unlike a few thousand in the case of the DP—and extended it till August 27. By August 10, it complained that it had only received some 400 objections, most of which were repetitive.

JUST A PRETENSE Significantly, it said that these reiterations wouldn’t be taken into account—which gives a clear indication that it is dead-set on going ahead and is only going through the motions of consulting “stakeholders”. In the past, as in the case of the iconic Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL), which forms a central section of the road, fisher folk protested vociferously at the public hearing and disrupted it, but the hearing was officially declared as being held as required under the law.

In 2001, the Indian People’s Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights held a proper public hearing on the BWSL, in which this writer was a commissioner. It gave an adverse report (http://www.iptindia.org/wp-content/pdf/report/An-Enquiry-Into-The-Bandra-Worli-SeaLink-Project.pdf) on the `400-crore project which eventually cost four times as much. It is used by only 45,000 cars a day as against 1,20,000 estimated today, which means that the public is subsidizing seven percent of car-owners or commuters using motorized transport to travel to work, as will be the case with the Coast Road.

The belief that this is an eyewash is only reinforced by the fact that Javadekar has already provided most of the environmental clearances,

barring a few to do with the Coastal Zone Regulation law, which are in the pipeline. All this was before throwing the plan open to public consultation. This is a complete travesty of the entire process of governance, which requires people affected by a project to be allowed to air their grievances prior to the commencement of the project in any manner.

To compound the confusion, the Maharashtra government has—following the recent visit of Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte—invited Dutch consultants, to Mumbai to advise on the alignment and also explore the possibility of incorporating a metro line along the route. At the meet, Rutte and Dutch consultants reiterated that in Holland, all stakeholders are consulted before embarking on a project because, pragmatically, this saves time and money.

FLAGRANT VIOLATIONS Nothing of the kind is happening in Mumbai, where there is a flagrant violation of governance norms. Even well-informed citizens like Cyrus Guzder, a businessman associated with the heritage conservation movement and the Bombay Environmental Action Group, were in a quandary: how do they protest against a road project without even knowing what its alignment is and

what it envisages by way of reclamation? This is a fundamental deprivation of the right to information, especially when it concerns a project which will change the face of the city irretrievably.

In the absence of public information, the media has stepped up to the plate and been consistently reporting the tortuous process of decision-making on this project. This writer himself has written four articles, pointing to various deficiencies in the road plan (for example http://www.thequint.com/india/2015/06/08/mu mbai-coastal-road-rail-link-just-speaking-double-dutch). The Hindu carried a long Sunday magazine feature by its Mumbai staffer, highlighting the human predicament of a fishing village which will be truncated by the road (http://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/the-long-road-toprogress/article7411612.ece).

The most detailed critique has come from two young academics from Kamala Raheja College of Architecture in the city, Hussain Indorewala and Shweta Wagh. They have painstakingly—once again, in the absence of official information— plotted the alignment from the route provided in the DP and, later, the DPR. Surprisingly, it has fallen on citizens in the suburb of Bandra [disclosure: this writer is the President of the Bandra West Residents Association which is

YES MINISTERS (Above, L-R) Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari are gung-ho about the project

The city recently observed the 10th anniversary of the devastating July 2005 mega-flood, in which some 700 people perished.

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Environment Mumbai’s Coast Road

The project will not only deprive the fishing community of their vista of the ocean, but their very livelihood.

spearheading the protest] and other suburbs, while the residents of south Mumbai, which features the posh areas of Nepean Sea and Warden Roads, with Malabar and Cumballa Hills towering above, seemingly somnolent.

In the article: “Mumbai’s coastal road plan is a welfare scheme for the well-to-do” in Scroll.in in April, the two writers say that the official position is that “a freeway would “take away traffic from internal roads”, reduce Mumbai’s notorious congestion and cut down pollution levels, thus diminishing public “health hazards”.

The two further cite the official stand that the coastal road would supply “significant green space” to the city by reclaiming 160 hectares of land from the sea. It would also beautify the city’s western edge by creating recreational spaces.

On the whole, the committee’s report claimed, the freeway will result in a “quantum leap” towards enhancing the “quality of life” of its citizens. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge of coastal cities knows this is a falsehood.

There has not been a single article in favour of the project in the English media. Even the Marathi press, after some initial disinterest, has

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begun to awaken to the need to expose the false claims of the project. The popular daily, Sakal, recently carried a double-page centre-spread titled “Marg Kuberacha” which echoes the two academics by terming it a road for the rich.

On July 29, the same paper carried a report titled “Mumbaicha Coastal Road Samudracha Jeev Ghenar”, i.e. the road will rob the sea of its life. There is a symbiotic relationship of the Marathi media and the fishing community, who are already seeking legal recourse against the project which will not only deprive their community of their vista of the ocean, but their very livelihood.

Postscript: On August 14, a day before Bandra residents were to hold a human chain after hoisting the flag on two public promenades maintained by residents’ associations, committee members received repeated phone calls from the local police station, the CID and even Mantralaya (the state secretariat). The callers inquired about the nature of the protest and whether the safety of school children taking part in this entirely peaceful demonstration would be jeopardized. Someone purporting to be from the Anti-Terrorist Squad actually asked a convent to desist from sending their children, which prevented 90 girls from protesting. The demonstration passed of peacefully, with some 500 children in both locations, along with scores of residents and fisher folk. At Carter Road, this writer publicly quoted chapter and verse from Article 19 of the Constitution which guarantees both freedom of expression and the right of peaceful assembly.

Even trade unions have the right of such assembly, let alone law-abiding citizens. Are these the earliest signs of an illiberal government?

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