Views on news 22 december 2015

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Governance Section

GOVERNMENT WILL INDIA, CANNY FUMBLES UNDERDOG WILLTHE THEPARIS BIHARCLIMATE PUNJAB BURNS SUMMIT BAN CLEANWORK? UP THE AIR? INASCLIMATE TALKS? LIQUOR

VIEWS ON NEWS PapiaPubby Samajdar

By Vipin 50 38

ByDarryl Vipin Pubby 5044 By D’Monte

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

THE CRITICAL EYE

DECEMBER 22, 2015 `50

INDIAN MEDIAPOLIS Ramesh Menon tracks the changes that are rapidly expanding the industry’s space into an exciting new global dimension 10 DINESH SHARMA Murdoch’s takeover of NatGeo is bad news 18

BIKRAM VOHRA Letting stories hang 22

AJITH PILLAI TV news hype over nothing 30

Also CNN, IBN RENEW TIE-UP 33 TV REVIEW Black-ish and the race divide 38 SUDHA J. TILAK Ajith Kumar, the new Rajinikanth 26

EDITOR’S NOTE

CONTENT WILL ALWAYS BE KING OUR COVER story this fortnight matches, as accurately as it is editorially possible, the headline writer’s mind with that of the journalistic thrust of the reporter’s story. Right before our very own eyes, a dramatic transformation is taking place which will lead this nation into yet uncharted dimensions. Yes, indeed, we are watching the birth and development of what our cover title picturesquely describes as a “mediapolis”.

The Indian media and entertainment space is growing at breakneck speed, it is innovating, it is setting world trends in technology and innovation. And the business, believe it or not, in the midst of other dreary economic statistics, is actually pretty good. Just consider these astounding figures: The industry now valued at `1,15,000 crore has the potential to grow to `3,80,000 crore by 2025.

This is good news for the economy. It is great tidings for the communications and technology sector. And at the macro level, it heralds the emergence of a segment of the service economy that can be considered not only a part of the national infrastructure but be a driver and catalyst for allround infrastructural growth.

Ah, but can we handle and make the best use of this new tiger that has burst out of its cage? Are our government, media and social planners equipped with the mental vision and acuity to create innovative policies to manage and control and stabilize the take-off?

For example, as Managing Editor Ramesh Menon states, that for the Indian media industry to cross the $100 billion mark— which a joint study by the Boston Consulting Group and Confederation of Indian Industry says is

possible—the regulators need to come together to create the most cohesive environment for growth. India needs to invest in infrastructure, skills and “create a positive environment for all stakeholders including government, regulators, industry players, advertisers and consumers”.

Some of the fertile areas include animation, VFX, sound mixing and post-production work. But for India to become the preferred destination for these activities, it needs to attract global investment through a friendly and enabling policy infrastructure.

The tectonic shift in other areas, such as content, distribution, consumption, and advertising, is already on the horizon. In another five years, estimates show, every second Indian will have a personal media consumption device. “Imagine what it will do to change the scenario,” comments the writer. Already, India has the largest base of smartphone users in the world.

It is ironical that while the global media industry is struggling and downsizing, India could be poised for a consumption explosion. Again, consider the statistics: India has 250 million digital screens including smartphones, tablets, laptops and personal computers which are more than all the TV and film screens put together.

The focus is already shifting to digital technology and development of the “integrated newsroom” concept. This will require retraining of existing staff and recruitment of a new, enhanced workforce with the right skills. This will be the next challenge for the industry.

Our report emphasizes that the emergence of cheaper content modes will challenge the premise that good content is expensive. But still, content will be the ace charioteer. Content will still be king. And that is a heartening note in our story which is chock-full of information and analysis for the general reader, businessmen and policy-makers.

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December 22, 2015 3

VOLUME. IX

ISSUE. 06

Editor Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Executive Editor Ajith Pillai Associate Editors Meha Mathur, Sucheta Dasgupta 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 Head Convergences Initiatives Prasoon Parijat Convergence Manager Mohul Ghosh Technical Executive (Social Media) Sonu Kumar Sharma Technical Executive Anubhav Tyagi

C O N T E N T S SPOTLIGHT

Media Sludge

The Fourth Estate today decides what people will see, read and hear. But this information deluge is without any follow-ups and accountability, writes BIKRAM VOHRA

PROFILE

The Next Rajinikanth

Chief Editorial Advisor Inderjit Badhwar CFO Anand Raj Singh VP (HR & General Administration) Lokesh C Sharma Circulation Manager RS Tiwari

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4 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

22

LEDE

Boom Time Ahoy!

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The media and entertainment industry is poised for a boom in India even as it is collapsing globally. To make the most of this edge, the government must attract the best minds and frame the right policies, says RAMESH MENON

SCIENCE JOURNALISM

Storm to Weather

18

The takeover of NatGeo by Rupert Murdoch might just have sounded the death knell for independent science journalism, fears DINESH C SHARMA

26

Tamil movie buffs are all set to crown Ajith Kumar, the baby-faced hero of Vedhalam, as the new king of hearts, thanks to his box office success and his “nice guy” image.

SUDHA G TILAK reports

EDITOR’S PICK

Selfie-serving Journalism

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The rush by journos to take selfies with powerful people has cast a shadow on their reputation and professionalism, observes PAMELA PHILIPOSE

TV REVIEW

Black or White

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A new sitcom, Black-ish, takes a fresh look at race relations in America.

SHAILAJA PARAMATHMA’S review

SMALL SCREEN

Teasing the Viewer

Governance

Climate of Change

The jury is out on whether India has been slowing progress on talks while batting for developing countries, writes DARRYL D’MONTE

Watery Ban

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TV news channels are hyping news which is of no significance. This robs the medium of its credibility and insults the intelligence of the viewer.

AJITH PILLAI’S analysis

Unbroken Tie-up 33 CNN has renewed its news-sharing arrangement with IBN, putting to rest doubts about the future of TV18.

AJITH PILLAI reports

R E G U L A R S Edit..................................................03 Quotes.......................................06 Media-Go-Round...........................07 Grapevine........................................08 As the World Turns.........................36 Design Review................................40 Breaking News...............................42 Web-Crawler....................................49 Vonderful-English............................54

44 50

Historically, prohibitions have failed, resulting in a boost to bootleggers.

Nitish Kumar might keep that in mind, cautions VIPIN PUBBY

Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

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December 22, 2015 5

EDIA-GO-ROUND

U O T E S

It is a question of putting the blame always… the West did it. They may have done it hundred years ago. India is one of the main players destroying the climate. We, China and Brazil are the largest producers of methane.

—Maneka Gandhi, women and child development minister, on the issue of responsibility of developed and developing countries in curbing carbon emission, on NDTV

Nepal blocks

—Vladimir Putin, Russian President, addressing the parliament, on Turkey shooting down a Russian military plane

After doing politics all these years, I do not see that we have the power to retrieve that (PoK) or they (Pakistan) can retrieve this (J-K)… So, we can trade, our boys can marry girls from there and their boys can marry girls from here....

That will settle many of problems of India and Pakistan.

—Farooq Abdullah, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister, on the need for porous borders in J&K, in Outlook

Writers are not responsible for riots.

Rioters are. Rioters don’t read books.

—Taslima Nasreen, author, at The Times LitFest

6 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

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epalese cable TV operators have blocked all Indian channels “indefinitely” to protest an unofficial Indian “blockade of goods” into the country, The Times of India reports.

The move comes in the backdrop of a large-scale agitation by Nepal’s ethnic

This admission just took 27 years, how many more before ‘mistake’ is corrected. (on Congress leader P Chidambaram’s admission that the ban on Satanic Verses was wrong).

Amitabh Bachchan, film star

I guess Allah decided to punish the ruling clique in Turkey by stripping them of their sanity. We will remind them not once about what they have done, and they will feel sorry about it more than once.

Indian channels

Salman Rushdie, author

Brilliance be with them that have counter ready to face the counter of the counter to their tweet .. !!!

Imran Khan, Pak politician While PM Modi is a prisoner of his extremist right wing supporters, PM Sharif conveys a deep-rooted fearfulness of the Establishment.

“Banning Satanic Verses was wrong” S

enior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram has said that the decision of the erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi government to ban Salman Rushdie’s book, The Satanic Verses, was wrong, reports The Indian Express.

“I have no hesitation in saying that the ban on Salman Rushdie’s book was

Raveena Tandon, actor Lot of chestbeating happened after mumbai floods. Then all died down, trees being cut everyday, national park full of encroachments....

Shekhar Kapur, actor-director When Holy Ganga turns in2 a seasonal river, alternatively flooding or drying up, we will wish we looked after our Glaciers #climatechange.

Vir Sanghvi, senior journalist With ref to BJP setbacks in Gujarat local polls-an ex Modi fan there tells me:all PMs phone-y. MMS was in Silent mode. Modi is in Flight mode!

Madhesi community, which has effectively blocked the Indo-Nepal border, leaving scores of goods-laden trucks stranded on the border and preventing fuel and essential items from entering the country. The United Nations Children’s Fund has warned that the resultant shortages of food, medicines and vaccines are putting more than three million infants at risk of death or disease as winter begins in Nepal.

wrong,” Chidambaram said during a session titled “Is India a liberal republic?” at the Times LitFest in New Delhi.

Chidambaram was the minister of state for home in the Rajiv Gandhi government from 1986-89.

The controversial book was banned in October 1988.

Muslim data to

JNU offers

be confidential

new MA courses

T Jagannathan switching job?

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as R Jagannathan, editor-in chief of Firstpost, moved to Swarajya? If social media is to be believed, then he will be formally joining the magazine as editorial director. Swarajya was launched by noted freedom fighter C Rajagopalachari in 1956 and stopped publication in 1980. It was re-launched last year in the print and digital format as a “fiercely independent, big tent of right liberal ideas”. Jagannathan, or “Jaggi” as he is known as, headed Network 18 publications, which also owned the Firstpost portal. He earlier edited The Financial Express, Business Standard, Businessworld and DNA.

he Union Home Ministry has decided to stop making information about Muslims serving in the police force public.

This practice had started under the Vajpayee dispensation, 16 years ago. Muslims were the only religious community whose representation was separately provided in the annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

“Records of police strength and infrastructure are an administrative issue and it has been decided that the NCRB will not compile this data.

The data is also compiled by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and henceforth will be done by it alone,” Akhilesh Kumar, chief statistical officer, NCRB, told The Indian Express.

The BPR&D, which also functions under the home ministry, said it has no plan to collect this information or to make it public.

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awaharlal Nehru University will introduce Masters programs in Film and Television, Art History and Theatre.

According to JNU's vice-chancellor SK Sopory, the university will offer three new MA programs from the next academic session.

“The Board of Studies of the School of Arts and Aesthetics had recommended introduction of the three courses. The proposal was mooted in July,” he said.

—Compiled by Shailaja Paramathma

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December 22, 2015 7

Grapevine Pahlaj Nihalani hai mahaan Coaching Tejashwi

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udhir Kumar, a 1982 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, brain behind the success of Lalu Prasad Yadav as Railway Minister, has a new job at hand. He has been told to mentor the new deputy CM of Bihar, Lalu’s youngest son Tejashwi Yadav. Set to retire in March 2016, the Lalu confidante has been made

fter Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) board chairman Pahlaj Nihalani has brought out a new glowing video tribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, titled Mera desh hai mahaan.

The 6.42-minute music video is an ode to Modi’s achievements, cheered by a

ET scribes lose favor e know for sure now that there is at least one minister who reads The Economic Times. HRD Minister Smriti Irani has been miffed with ET journalists who write stories that she doesn’t deny, but does not like as they “tarnish” her image.

Interestingly, the ET recently

multi-cultural group. Interestingly, all the “achievements” featured are outside the country. Visuals of the Tour De France, Moscow’s International Business Centre and the Dubai Expressway are shown in a montage as glimpses of PM Modi’s India.

Comments on social media have ripped apart the video.

Tharoor pitches in for non-IAS officers

Coincidence?

Polluted paradox

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fficers of the non-IAS services are a happy lot these days. After a fillip from the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, that questioned the sole rights of IAS officers over top posts, nonIAS officers have another high-profile supporter. Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor in an article in DNA stated: “Top posts in India cannot be the monopoly of

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principal secretary, Road Construction, with the rank of chief secretary. As OSD to Lalu in the Railways Ministry, Kumar scripted Lalu’s success, and Lalu donned the mantle of a “business guru” at the elite Harvard Business School.

It now remains to be seen how he is able to guide Tejashwi.

reported that the HRD minister cleared over 5,000 requests for admission to Kendriya Vidyalayas in the current academic year, which is over a four-fold jump from the quota levels of her predecessors. It was stated that “it is the responsibility of the government to respond to poor families.” This must be some privileged class of poor families indeed.

the IAS. It is bad for the government and bad for the wider public interest.” The comments made Tharoor an instant hero among non-IAS officers. In fact, the allied services offices enjoy the support of quite a few present and former ministers, who might not agree with Tharoor on many issues but would happily support him on this issue.

Jab we met

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rime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met during the climate change conference in Paris.

First, it was “just a handshake”. Then they had a “longish” chat. It was noted that Modi did most of the “talking”. The news was flashed by Pakistani TV channels. Later, an Indian channel had some inside information, which was that “the meeting lasted all of 120 seconds”. As several outstanding issues remain pending between the two countries, it is yet to be seen when the ice melts.

s it a coincidence that the World Toilet Day and the International Men’s Day are observed on the same day every year, 19th November? Whoever is responsible for this was the ultimate troll as we know for sure that the day was first named Men’s Day and the clubbing of the Toilet Day was only done recently.

he Paris Climate Change Summit created its own massive carbon footprint, with emissions of about 300,000 tons of CO2.

Nearly 50,000 delegates and aides came from 195 nations. The average distance travelled per person was 9,000 miles. About 27 million gallons of jet fuel was burnt. Though the goal of the conference was to keep the average global temperature from rising by 2 degrees C, it created a lot of hot air.

I&B’s own home theatre

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very weekend, an auditorium of the Films Division of the Ministry of I&B hosts screenings of recent films from Bollywood, films selected for festivals as well as renowned foreign films. Often the cast and crew are present at the screenings.

On the invite list are senior I&B bureaucrats, their families as well as some lucky politicians. Entry is strictly by “invitation only”, and an identity card is required to gain access. Wonder if the PM is aware of this little privilege enjoyed by the bureaucrats in Lutyen’s Delhi?

—Compiled by Roshni Seth Illustrations: UdayShankar

8 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

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December 22, 2015 9

Lede Media and Entertainment Industry

More Gold

Waiting to be Mined India’s media and entertainment industry which is worth `1,15,500 crore has the potential to grow to `3,80,000 crore by 2025. But great imagination is needed to create infrastructure and policies for it to take off

BY RAMESH MENON

10 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

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NDIA’S media and entertainment industry is at another turning point. In another de-cade, this industry will be redefined.

Currently valued at `1,15,500 crore, it will see a tectonic shift as far as content, distribution, consumption and advertising is concerned. In another five years, estimates show that every second Indian will have a personal media consumption device. Imagine what it will do to change the scenario. Already, India has the largest base of smartphone users in the world.

Ironically, the media industry globally is witnessing a rough patch with digital eating into traditional media revenues. Further, subscription has fallen and advertising revenue is collapsing for traditional media due to the shift to digital media which is more effective.

A seminal report by Boston Consulting Group and Confederation of Indian Industry—“Shaping the industry at a time of disruption”—details how the Indian media and entertainment industry can be made into a $100-billion one. For this to happen, it says: “While macro factors like growing economic activity and consumer demand are providing the right tailwinds, the industry and the regulators need to come together to create the most cohesive environment for growth. India needs to invest in infrastructure, skills and create a positive environment for all stakeholders including the government, regulators, industry players, advertisers and consumers.”

The report says that India can achieve the $100-billion vision by shaping the industry to leverage consumer and digital trends.

India needs to attract global investment and that is only going to happen if it has an enabling policy infrastructure. India must be seen as the destination for animation, VFX, sound mixing and post production work, says the report.

If government initiatives like Make in India and Digital India take off, it will help India emerge as the global nerve center of media and entertain-

ment. But then, it has to move beyond slogans to performance and delivery. Also, let us not forget that the consumption of media is directly proportional to the level of economic prosperity in India.

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oth these pet projects of Modi can take off if India emerges stronger. But then, it has to be seen as a production hub that is also attracting global investment. It also needs to come clear on IPR policy and enhancing the ease of doing business. Currently, India is ranked 142nd out of 189 economies by the World Bank in this regard.

The government needs to attract India’s brightest minds among the stakeholders to help policymakers get it right. And in this regard, it must realize that people like Pahlaj Nihalani who heads the Censor Board and Gajendra Chauhan, chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India, cannot do much to improve the image or the working of the crucial institutions they head.

India has the third largest TV audience and is today the largest producer of films in the world.

You cannot fritter away this advantage.

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December 22, 2015 11

Lede Media and Entertainment Industry India’s media and entertainment industry provides employment opportunities for 5 million people.

As the focus shifts to digital technology and implementation of the Integrated Newsroom concept, re-skilling of existing staff and recruitment of new, enhanced workforce with the right skills will be the next challenge for the print industry.

Also, cheaper content modes will emerge, challenging the premise that good content is expensive. It was heartening to see that the report underlined that content would continue to be king and it would help to pay heed to developing it.

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India’s media and entertainment industry is throbbing with activity and promise as the market is largely unsaturated. In contrast, it is struggling in the West. If the Indian economy grows, advertising is bound to expand. Right now, the output of Indian advertising is only 0.33 percent of its GDP, while the global average is 0.64 percent.

Is there a consumption explosion for the industry in India? It seems so. India has 250 million digital screens like smartphones, tablets, laptops and personal computers which are more than the number of TV and film screens put together. It is estimated that it might catapult to nearly 600 million in another five years.

The future will see users making primetime redundant as they will look at content on personal devices. It will also create fragmented audiences, as consumers will selectively opt for niche content depending on their interest.

he moot point is whether all this growth can be monetized. It certainly can by tapping into the latent needs of the Indian media consumer as digital TV is available for as less as `200 a month and newspapers are also priced pretty low. This is probably why players who want to ride the media and entertainment wave will invest heavily in content as it is ultimately the only way to make a dent and stand out in the crowd.

With the media and entertainment industry standing at about `1,15,500 core, it is easily one of the best performing sectors. It accounts for nearly 1.7 percent of the country’s GDP, apart from providing employment to nearly five million people.

It is quite clear though that this sector has underperformed. India has one of the lowest per capital spends in this area.

There are also regulatory issues related to pricing and taxation that have to be addressed to create a balanced tax regime that could emerge as a winner for the industry, government and the consumers. Let us admit it—there is a serious skills

India’s TV audience is the third largest in the world.

12 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

India produces the largest number of films in the world. gap in the industry. And there is a strong need for professionally trained personnel to bring some sheen and sparkle as well as professionalism.

As media consumption grows, economic growth and content generation will continue. This will help the industry grow from the current `1,15,000 crore to `3,80,000 crore by 2025. This could well happen as many Indian regions have still not been penetrated. Only 65 percent of Indian households have a TV, making that about 172 million households. If this increases substantially, which it certainly will, then advertising and subscription will grow. That is good news for the media and entertainment industry. With the growth of broadband, the industry can expect to touch `5,00,000 crore by 2025.

Digital has arrived. A digital mindset will ultimately be the bedrock of a strategy fit for a digital age. It would do well if companies see the writing on the wall and forge ahead with confidence, speed and agility as it will also stimulate innovation.

“Different genres and experiments will happen now. We are already seeing some amazing plot lines emerging in the television and entertainment arena as they are seeing what is happening globally and they are learning to compete.”

— Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder, Newslaundry

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perators have spent as much as 90 percent of industry revenue on the last two spectrums. They are expected to spend more than $30 billion over the next two to three years. This is expected to exponentially increase the number of connections and also improve network speed.

Presently, the consumption gap is wide.

Indians spend around 37 hours a week consuming various kinds of media. That, incidentally, is the lowest in the world. In the US and the UK, it is around 64-68 hours

Piracy obstructs growth; more than half of Indian internet users access unlicensed services causing revenue loss to the industry.

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December 22, 2015 13

Lede Media and Entertainment Industry Only 65 percent of Indian households have a TV today; that is about 172 million households.

“The media and entertainment industry has a bright future. The thing to watch is the digital space as it has tremendous opportunity. The challenge today is to work towards blending digital and conventional media.”

— Bhupendra Chaubey, executive editor, CNN-IBN

a week. China stands at 44 hours and Russia at 47 hours. India needs to at least come closer to China.

As programs can be recorded, viewing patterns will result in changing behavior. News is now available on the go and that is why prime time ratings have in the past few years drastically declined. In 1970, prime time was the most important slot. But in 2014, the gap between prime and non-prime was narrowing and will continue to do so.

When consumption behavior changes, there could be polarization of content. Mid-tier and generic content might become unattractive as toprated and niche content is well sought after instead. The changing scenario shows how myths are breaking. One of them is that good content is expensive. Social media is now competing with traditional media.

A survey done by the Boston Consulting Group of 6,300 consumers shows that Facebook and chatapps are sources for the first news people read or see. It is also cheaper as it costs about 1/100th of traditional broadcast models.

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ew players are now integrated online and offline to create a “river of content” style where online becomes the first source for breaking news. After that, digital comments across social media are integrated with editorial opinion, creating the final story. So, social media, news-wires, reporters, audio and video content are married together slowly, letting the river

Facebook, Google and Yahoo attract more than 50 percent of the digital display advertising revenue in the US. 14 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

It is estimated that 2/3 of Indians will afford smartphones in the next three years. of content grow from a narrow tributary to a large swathe where all kinds of information and background material are seamlessly woven together.

Data analysis is finally helping advertisers to measure ad exposure and what it leads to. It helps them strategize better as well as plan better. They can do sharper advertising campaigns.

Finally, Indian content is gaining global acceptance. Nearly 35 percent of the box office collection of Bollywood’s top ten films came from outside India.

Indian artists and performers are increasingly being recognized abroad. A growing media and entertainment industry can benefit from a large growing youthful workforce, IT professionals and engineering graduates.

The report points out that those thinking big turn out to be winners. “YouTube is not a videosharing website, it is a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut illustrative of the vast size and rapid growth of free online video consumption. Today, YouTube is a global phenomenon with over one billion unique monthly users, one billion video views per day, one million advertisers and channels with over one million subscribers,” the report says.

Rising literacy will drive the growth of newspapers, particularly Hindi and vernacular ones, which account for 80 percent of the circulation.

Surveys done by the Boston Consultancy Group have shown that news consumption increases with the time spent online. It has also shown that classifieds and real estate have seen a significant

“When 4G and 5G comes in, youngsters will not be watching TV. TV will have to reinvent itself and concentrate on programming for the web. TV behaves as if it is patronizing the web.

The scale of destruction for TV will be huge when the web grows and takes over.”

— Aniruddha Bahal, author and editor of Cobrapost.com

India has the largest base of smartphone users in the world.

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Lede Media and Entertainment Industry

Media Control

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ross-ownership of the media in India has always been a sticky issue and has been debated for decades. Last year, TRAI, the telecom regulator, said it was time for India to impose cross-media restrictions, following the lead in countries like the US and the UK, in order to ensure “a number of independently-owned media voices in the market”.

India’s media is largely held by a handful of players and the danger is that they can significantly sway public opinion. TRAI’s stand has been that cross-media ownership rules should be restricted only to the news and current affairs genre, including business and financial news, and not radio and internet. The concern about a few media houses controlling the industry has increased among independent media analysts and observers. This is because paid news and private treaties with advertisers and organizations

have diluted the essence and value of journalism. (Private treaties are agreements between a media company and a non-media entity in which the latter transfers shares of the company to the former in lieu of advertisements, space and favorable coverage.)

The idea is not for the government to regulate the media but for the media to come up with a self-regulatory body of eminent non-media personalities who will see that this independence is not tampered or watered down by mere commercial interests. This will ensure that the industry grows in a healthy atmosphere and performs the duties that consumers expect it to.

Aniruddha Bahal, who founded Cobrapost.com which specialized in investigative journalism, says that today consumers should be given diversity of choice rather than be stuck with a limited service controlled by a handful of players. “Monopoly is not healthy both

shift to digital with 90 percent of consumers indicating a preference for the digital medium in these categories.

The digital has hit cinema too. Indians may have the lowest screen density in the world, but Indians love cinema. The Indian film industry is estimated to be worth `13,000 crore and is growing at about 13 percent.

Single screen theatres have been converted into multiple screen complexes, giving a wider cho-ice to a wider audience.

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ontent-driven films have become money grossers. New genres are erupting. So are experiments. Technology is getting a new traction with films like Bahubali: The Beginning. There are estimates that the film industry will gross around `22-24,000 crore in another five years.

Radio in India is currently valued at `2,300 16 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

for the vendors and the consumers,” he says.

News anchor Bhupendra Chaubey, who heads CNN-IBN, says: “There should be a disclosure of who runs the media and there must be transparency of ownership. For example, everyone knows today that Reliance owns Network 18. Laws have been created to ensure that they do not do that and that is why media players function under different entities. Basically, what is worrying is that the government wants to control the media.”

Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder, Newslaundry, says: “Cross-ownership is a problem area in India and there is no law to fix it presently. The distinction between radio, print and television has now blurred with consolidated newsrooms coming in with the advent of the internet. But we have to figure out a sensible way to deal with cross-ownership.”

crore. Radio as a medium has soared as private FM channels and mobile phones with in-built FM services in smartphones have increased. There are 250-300 million radio users today, which incidentally, are more than internet users. Radio greatly benefitted from election ads recently and e-commerce has turned out to be a major advertiser.

But radio needs to experiment with different formats other than music. It is boringly repetitive and does not have the freshness of programming that radio in London has, where it is vibrant and informative. In another five years, Indian radio is expected to touch `5-6,000 crore. Also, with smartphones and tablets increasing, the gaming sector too is fast emerging as a promising source of revenue for the industry.

It will take a perceptive government with a vision to ensure that the potential for the media and entertainment industry is tapped and exploited with proper infrastructure and policies. Whether we will see it in this regime is a moot question.

Science Journalism National Geographic Partners

Climate Change at National Geographic

A $725-million deal between Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and National Geographic Society could be the beginning of science journalism getting compromised

BY DINESH C SHARMA 18 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

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HE placid world of science journalism was stirred up just before the world began another round of negotiations on one of the hottest topics in science—climate change. A self-proclaimed non-believer in the science of climate change wrested control of a news organization known for its impeccable and fiercely independent science journalism, particularly relating to global warming and climate change.

On November 16, 21st Century Fox and Na-

tional Geographic Society announced that they have completed a transaction to form a new entity, National Geographic Partners. This concludes the takeover of media-related business of the 127-year old National Geographic Society by media mogul Rupert Murdoch through a $725 million deal first announced in September this year. The new entity will be owned 73 percent by 21st Century Fox and 27 percent by The National Geographic Society. The transaction was followed by top-level management changes that saw Fox executives moving over to National Geographic Partners and contracts of leading journalists being terminated.

EDITORIAL CONTENT Mergers, takeovers and changes in management of top media companies in America and elsewhere are commonplace and are rarely a matter of concern for readers and other sections of society. However, the takeover of National Geographic magazines, National Geographic television channels and other media platforms owned by the National Geographic Society has raised doubts over the independence of editorial content.

First, National Geographic Society is a nonprofit entity engaged in science, education and exploration, while the new Fox-controlled company, National Geographic Partners, will be for profit and will report to shareholders. The very character of National Geographic media properties has changed with this deal.

The second point of concern is that Murdoch is a known denier of climate change. He is on the same side of the climate debate as the fossil fuel lobby which believes that climate change is not man-made and that it is a phenomenon that has been occurring over centuries and millennia. Murdoch himself has acknowledged that he is a climate skeptic, but not a denier.

Murdoch has often rubbished climate change science as nonsense. On August 26, 2015, he tweeted in the context of the UN summit on sustainable development goals: “A climate change skep-

“We should approach climate change with great skepticism. Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here, and there will always be a little bit of it. At the moment the North Pole is melting, but the South Pole is getting bigger.”

—Rupert Murdoch, CEO, 21st Century Fox tic not a denier. Sept UN meets in NY with endless alarmist nonsense from u know whom! Pessimists always seen as sages.” In a television interview in July 2014, Murdoch said: “We should approach climate change with great skepticism. Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here, and there will always be a little bit of it. At the moment the North Pole is melting, but the South Pole is getting bigger.” These are the same lines that climate VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 19

Science Journalism National Geographic Partners

While Fox CEO James Murdoch (right) claims to have no interest in the editorial affairs at NatGeo, his father Rupert has a well-documented history of editorial meddling. change deniers funded by Big Oil have been mouthing for a long time now.

With Murdoch owning a majority stake in the highly influential National Geographic media platforms, will these outlets also start reflecting Murdoch’s line on climate change? If one goes by past experience, the chances of science journalism getting compromised are very high.

MOOT QUESTION Will the takeover of NatGeo by Fox lead to watering down of scientific work on climate change by its expert team?

DENIAL OF SCIENCE An analysis of the editorial tilt of media companies owned by Murdoch, done in a study by David McKnight, media researcher at the University of New South Wales, found that newspapers and television stations owned by News Corporation largely denied the science of climate change and dismissed those who were concerned about it. The study, from 1997

20 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

“Climate change will always be there” Rupert Murdoch expressed his views in an interview to Sky News in 2014 “WE should approach climate change with great skepticism. Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here, and there will always be a little bit of it.” “… we are all environmentalists, we all want clean air.

to 2007, was based on editorials, columns and commentaries in these media outlets. While the intensity of commentary and editorials about climate change varied between media outlets owned by News Corporation in the US, Britain and Australia, its corporate view framed the issue as one of political correctness rather than science. “Scientific knowledge was portrayed as an orthodoxy and its own stance—and that of ‘climate sceptics’—portrayed as one of courageous dissent,” McKnight concluded in his study published in Journalism in 2010.

Such pronouncements of Murdoch and new ones have got activists and citizens worried. An online petition on website SumofUs demanding that the National Geographic board appoint a Public Editor has already been signed by over 1,49,000 people. “We may not be able to stop the deal from going through, but together with our allies at ClimateTruth.org we can stop Murdoch from meddling if we put enough pressure on the board. Top publications enforce editorial independence by appointing Public Editors who represent the public and investigate complaints of editorial interference,” the petition says.

Fox CEO James Murdoch has said that he has no interest in the editorial affairs at Nat Geo, but his father Rupert has a well-documented history of editorial meddling, it noted. “From interfering in

But in terms of the world’s temperature going up, the worst, the most alarmist things have said ... 3°C in 100 years.

“What it means is if the sea level rises 6 inches, that’s a big deal... we can’t mitigate that, we can’t stop it. We’ve

just got to stop building vast houses on seashores and go back a little bit.”

“The world has been changing for thousands and thousands of years, its just a lot more complicated today because we are so much more advanced.”

elections to hacking the phones of murdered teenage girls, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has shown time and again that it will do anything for profit and power. But his most dangerous legacy by far will be his scientific illiteracy—and his quest to ensure that human-caused global warming is dismissed as a conspiracy,” the petition has warned.

RIGHT WING PERSPECTIVE Jeff Cohen, founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, New York, and a long-time expert on Murdoch, pointed out that “Murdoch’s Fox News Channel has been a font of ignorance and fear on global issues from climate change to refugees, unlike National Geographic.

And, going back decades (before there was a Fox News Channel), Rupert was never shy about imprinting his rightwing and corporate perspectives on news outlets that he owned.” However, he said that rightwing imprint has never been dominant in Murdoch’s entertainment companies in Hollywood.

“Only time will tell which of the two fates awaits the legendary National Geographic.”

Climate change communication is vital for shaping public perception about real threats and challenges of climate change and is also a great influencer on policy-makers. Research has shown a strong link between political perspective of a media company and its stand on climate change.

For instance, the supposedly left-leaning Guardian reports extensively on climate change and

plays down skeptical opinions, while right-leaning Daily Mail leads the climate denier brigade. The Wall Street Journal too is far more likely to publish skeptical opinion pieces and editorials. Media “exaggeration” of climate change is also an area of concern in climate change reporting.

A study by the Oxford Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which examined reporting of climate change skepticism in six countries, found that such voices were much more likely to be reported in the UK and the US than in Brazil, China, India and France. Climate change reporting should be based on scientific evidence and not torn between deniers and skeptics. The Nat Geo takeover has provided an opportunity to introspect.

PITTED AGAINST THE POWERFUL An online petition on SumofUS which demands that the NatGeo board appoint a public editor, has garnered about 1.49 lakh signatures

— The writer is Fellow, Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 21

Spotlight Business of News

Since we now decide the news, its level of importance and what you should think, it is the media that makes the menu. Heck, if horror, terror and the blood and gore of caste, color and creed sells, sell it. Add to it dollops of prejudice, hatred, misery and fear and you are home free.

The Great T News Deluge The Fourth Estate is so filled with power that it decides what the audience should read and hear. It zaps them with high-pitched and mind-numbing sludge without any follow-ups or accountability

BY BIKRAM VOHRA 22 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

Anthony Lawrence

HAT news is made by the media and it decides what should be given publicity and what should be ignored is now a given. The fact is the yardstick is arbitrary and intrinsically dangerous. It also corrals the reader into a mental stockade and reduces him to a severely limited feed of pap and pre-conceived but vivid imagery.

That this restriction comes at a time when information flow is a deluge and there is so much choice is a paradox but underscores how much of a bog the Fourth Estate has become.

There are four reasons for this collapse of integrity. Much of it is initiated by greed, intrigue, willfulness and arrogance by its practitioners.

SHRILL MEDIA To a great extent, journalism and its six pillars of wisdom (why, when, who, which, where, what) have moved into the realm of “agenda advocacy”.

We push towards a designated and specific goal and not go where the truth takes us. Mass communications is just that...sapping the end-user’s stamina by zapping him with bullet points and abbreviated pre-digested pap. Over time, his capacity to absorb data is severely restricted to stunted sentences. The quick fix is all. This suits us immensely because he has now been “tasered” into submission. Even when he questions us, it is according to our diktat. Today’s media is neither the voice of the people, the keeper at the gate or the watchdog of propriety. It is just a business selling high-pitched sludge set to a shrill decibel.

Remember the time when we had three choices for ice-cream: vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. They sufficed for years. Now, the list is long, confusing and absurd. Who eats pumpkin ice-cream or frozen sesame seed or mulberry?

Much the same occurs with the dispensation of news. It comes in all shapes and sizes and has breached the banks of conventional journalism what with opinion and reportage mingling in muddy eddies until the sanctity of both has been destroyed. There is so much information flung at the reader/viewer that he has switched off and his relationship with the news is desultory at best. He skates over it because in-depth, ironically, has sunk. One can even say that advertising and news are now not so strange bedfellows and the first commands the second. As garishly marketed “masscomm” grabs the stage, the factual has become dull by comparison.

The second element segues seamlessly into the third. The immediacy demanded by radio, TV and news websites and their channels of communication make a pastiche of the news and function on pure guesswork. It multiplies every day. Take the Paris blasts. The casualty figures bounced up and down depending on what news frequency a person was switched into, as was the hunt for the killers. News now comes in staccato bursts packaged in contradictions. This bombardment compels the reader to just give up on it and make his own figures and stats. Ergo, one more lie to the pile. So we end with X opinions, all based on false premises.

NO RESEARCH The frenetic pace of sending information and the need to maintain circulation, TRPs, eyeballs and hits has made the “investigative” element and the painstaking research that went with it laughably redundant. Where you once spent a month finetuning a story, now you spend five minutes. And where checking facts are concerned, the devil take the hindmost. There are no follow-ups, no end of the story revelations, just half-spun clods of sensation often conjured out of thin air and left

PURE GUESSWORK The Paris attacks toll bounced up and down as one switched between TV channels

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December 22, 2015 23

Spotlight Business of News

Take Geeta (right), the girl from Pakistan.

Is anyone bothered if she has gone back, is in a home or is with her mum and dad? We have decided it is now a non-story and has run its course. unfinished. So heavy is the deluge that there is no space left for accountability. This approach has wiped out the thinker in the pack and left a majority target audience on whom nothing really sticks... it is all transient.

Why would it stick? It has no adhesive of authenticity to back it. Take Geeta, the girl from Pakistan. Is anyone bothered if she has gone back, is in a home or is with her mumsie and dad? We have decided it is now a non-story and has run its course. And it was just recently that the highest in the land was pouncing about wanting to be photographed with this lady. Now she is of ab-

T The Rape of Common Sense

solutely no relevance.

Even the feeding frenzy accompanying Indrani Mukerjea has lost its steam and no one knows where the case against her stands. Even the arrest of her husband caused nary a ripple; this story has run its course. Chhota Rajan could be back in Indonesia and no one would know. Nary a peep about him when, at one time, we were getting updates by the hour.

We made such a song and dance over OROP and our bravehearts and when 2,000 of them got together to give back their medals (not one was burnt contrary to reports) recently, the media decided ho hum these guys have canteen facilities and keep getting pension reviews, this story won’t sell, spoilt bunch, drop it.

Also remember the dainty lady minister in MP who kicked a 10-year-old beggar? What was the aftermath? No clue.

OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENTS The desire to be in the news is so overwhelming that making outrageous statements is now a legitimate option. The fact that no one is held responsible or made to explain why action should not be taken for creating unrest, causing hurt or stoking sexist, communal and caste dissension only makes these areas the first choice for provocative commentary.

This time round, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Salman Khurshid have a third challenger. Let’s

Minister Kailash Vijayhe series of rapes in India and the way the media has given vargiya for this display of prominence to high-profile brilliance on rape? He said: politicians who have given Indi"One has to abide by cerans moral science lessons with a tain moral limits. If you cross this limit you will be difference is tangible proof of its negative role in propelling menpunished, just like Sita was Kailash Vijayvargiya Banwari Lal Singhal tal garbage. abducted by Ravana."

Where are all those who raped little children, some Andhra Pradesh Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana who are not even a year old? Do the arrested ever go on described Nirbhaya’s gangrape as a "small incident". No action is taken against them, no pressure put. Not keen to be trial? Does anyone chase the story? Did anyone indict MP

24 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

take the case of the governor of Tripura, Tathagata Roy and dissect his words of wisdom as the perfect example of lunacy. He says that the fight against intolerance will only be balanced when Muslims have pork in the open. By his logic, we also accept that intolerance will be given a pat on the back if Hindus eat beef out in the open. Jains should have onions and garlic in a picnic spot.

Catholics should have meat on Friday, especially through Lent, right on the beach. Mormons should start coffee and tea open houses. Yazidis should remove the ban on lettuce, cabbage and butter beans because they cause gas. As if there isn’t enough gas any way.

This is a sitting governor enjoying the privileges of his office, having crores wasted in maintaining his lifestyle in the finest real estate in Tripura. Cars, servants, monogrammed silverware, manicured gardens, flags, security, salutes, the whole pomp and splendor. He also has an official responsibility and this drivel is his public viewpoint. And after he has babbled on about it, this country lets it pass as just another VIP saying what he feels. Has he been asked by New Delhi what the heck he thinks he was saying and what was the basis for his genius?

Not a peep.

Did Rahul Gandhi become a British citizen?

No comment. Has any action been taken either by the Congress or the administrative machinery against Khurshid and Aiyar for sitting in

left behind in this bizarre dispatch of moral wisdom, Banwari Lal Singhal, BJP legislator from Rajasthan, worked out all by himself that wearing skirts in schools led to sexual harassment. Can anyone recall that incandescent genius and Khap panchayat leader Jitender Chhatar who told us that consumption of fast food contributes to such incidents.

Chowmein leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts.

All gone down in history, courtesy media as vignettes of deep wisdom.

PIB

Pakistan and badmouthing the prime minister?

Not that we know about.

NO ACCOUNTABILITY? In this lies the flaw. There are so many people saying so many stupid things that they are cancelling each other out and getting away with it.

And the trickle of nonsense that was leaked by various gurus and out-of-work politicians at one time has now become the equivalent of a mental dengue epidemic. Those exhibiting symptoms grow by the hour. Think of it. Every day there is some mind-numbing nonsense spewed by people in high places. Either there is some infection in the air or the lure of the media has become a junkie’s fix and these people deliberately court controversy.

It is inconceivable that pork and beef should become the central subject of discussion in a country beset with the largest problem of all: the lack of employment for educated youth and the rage and restlessness in their ranks.

Read their writing on the wall. When 2.3 million men and women apply for 368 jobs as office boys (peons), forget about what’s for dinner and worry about tomorrow.

“People can have beef in the open, even though I personally consider it gross. People have the right to eat what they want but the scales would be even when Muslims come out and have pork in the open. And that day, we can really call it war against intolerance.”

– Tathagata Roy, Tripura governor

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December 22, 2015 25

Profile Ajith Kumar

Kollywood’s New SUPERSTAR The hero of Tamil hit, Vedhalam, is being hailed as the next Rajinikanth and the star to watch out for. It helps that he has an image of being Mr Nice Guy, both on and off screen

BY SUDHA G TILAK

I ACTOR TO EMULATE Ajith in Vedhalam

26 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

N the world of Tamil cinema, there exists the biscuit test. It explains why certain heroes are hailed as successful stars. It boils down to their wholesome goodness factor and image. “The popular impression is that he is good,” is what is often repeated when Chennai-based film critics, avid movie-goers, friends and family talk about Ajith Kumar, 44, the hero of the monster hit, Vedhalam. Bad boys being human like Salman Khan are suited better for Bollywood. In Tamil moviedom, the humane guy scores. In crores.

Social media platforms erupted with thunder

and noise this Deepavali, hailing Ajith or Thala (The Head as he’s called after his eponymous role as the leader of a band of thugs in Dheena, 2001) as the next Tamil superstar after Rajinikanth. The movie’s mighty opening in over 500 screens and its collections which ushered it into the `100-crore club has made the buzz over Ajith louder. Rajinikanth in an interview said he “admired Ajith’s honesty and frankspeak”.

In a state where hero worship and hyperbole is an expression of affection for a movie star or a politician, Ajith is the next object for mass adulation. He may personally be uncomfortable with it, as he has often expressed in his interviews, but the uneasy crown has been plonked on his head. The superstar in Tamil Nadu gets his stature not just from box office success but from winning a place in the hearts of people. And then, he will be foisted on the pantheon of cult heroes.

“Ajith is fair and has a pleasant-looking face on screen which, discomfiting as it’s politically incorrect, has a huge constituency in the state.

He loves his racing bikes and cars—the girls love that—and people love him as a person for being gracious and generous, a responsible citizen and

a committed family man,” says Chennai-based writer Janaki Venkataraman.

SAME MOULD? Ajith is being hailed as the next Tamil superstar after Rajinikanth

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he film, Vedhalam (Crafty Vampire), follows the life of a good and guileless Tamil taxi driver in Kolkata (who dances in Kalighat to the chant of Ganpati Bappa Morya and whose “fair” complexion regularly gets vocal approval in the film) who dotes on his artist sister.

However, the baby-faced hero was once a nasty thug in Chennai whose stone heart melted before the kindness of a young woman and her parents.

He adopts her as his sister after she loses her memory following a murderous assault, and wrecks righteous vengeance on a dreaded gang of baddies who harmed her.

As far as storytelling, acting or aesthetics go, the film leaves much to be desired. It does not even play up the kitsch well or offer entertaining moments. However, what seems to have worked in making the film a big hit is the tried and tested template of hero worship and image building in Tamil cinema of the hero, Ajith. He may lack the superior acting chops of a Kamal Haasan or the celluloid charisma of a VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 27

Profile Ajith Kumar

“Ajith has a huge constituency in the state. He loves his racing bikes and cars—the girls love that—and people love him as a person for being gracious and generous, a responsible citizen and a committed family man.”

— Janaki Venkataraman, writer

Rajinikanth, but Ajith is a star who tries very hard to break the cookie cutter image (lacking originality) and that attempt is received generously. His contemporary, actor Surya, said, “He’s bold and wants to try something new.”

Ever since the success of his Tamil film Aasai (Desire) in 1995, Ajith has shown a yen for playing a variety of roles. From grey and villainous roles as in Vaali (1999), to an effeminate Bharatanatyam dancer (Varalaru, 2005), the remake of Rajinikanth starrer Billa in 2007 (a remake of Hindi Don, 1978), Aarambham and Yennai Arindhal (2013, thriller), Ajith has played a variety of characters. “I am the only star who has delivered more flops than hits,” he once said in an interview.

Explaining Vedhalam’s success, Baradwaj Rangan, film critic, The Hindu, says: “The director has thrown in a lot of ‘fan’ moments.” These include crowd-pleasers such as the hero saying never to stalk women or when he delivers a line about

28 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

being good. Rangan says the movie brought in families as well as fans. What went in Ajith’s favor is how he delivered a “monster hit in an era where there are so many entertainment options”.

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he history of Tamil cinema and its superstars has shown that its megastars are born in the hearts of fans and are products of carefully cultivated images. Artistry and craft have little to do with it. It explains how in the past, matinee idol and long-time chief minister MG Ramachandran was a winner despite his lack of acting chops. He was fair, an uneasy qualifier in Dravidian land and always acted as the goldenhearted, generous soul in his films. Outside of movies, his political image was also crafted as a charitable person with a philanthropic bent.

Sivaji Ganesan, his contemporary, had the acting qualifiers, had played grey and negative roles but never enjoyed the adulation that MGR did. In the following generation, the world embraced grey characters and both Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth played villainous roles. But once Rajni’s popularity as a superstar was made, he acted mostly in righteous roles.

History is now repeating itself. Ajith and his contemporary, Vijay, who always never toys with roles or his image, are now pitted against each other and Vedhalam’s success notwithstanding, Ajith’s stock seems higher in the popularity charts.

In his defense, Ajith has notched more acting awards (three Filmfare and state awards) and experimented with his looks and roles than Vijay.

“In the midst of other stars who give the image of being virtuous, it's fun to see someone do bad things on screen. I think this speaks to the youth of today, who like an edge to their heroes,” explains Rangan. And off screen too, Ajith continues to win approval.

Aditya Shrikrishna, a film writer, says in The New Indian Express that Ajith may play grey characters on screen but the real dichotomy is “Ajith’s anti-hero screen image and the universal opinion

of him being this ultra-nice guy off screen—to his fans, to people in the industry, to the crew and anyone in general.”

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here are reports of him cooking meals for the crew, making concerned enquires about the junior-most person on the sets and his philanthropy. “His persona as a good family man whose romance with actress Shalini led to a happy family life and his charitable nature have won hearts,” says Venkataraman. He dissuades pandering and prefers that fans lead purposeful lives than latch themselves to fandom. In a rare televised interview, he said he owed his success to his “fans’ unconditional love” but they should “not lose their self-respect” and go about their business “responsibly and in an informed manner”.

Ajith is the middle of three brothers born to a Palakkadu Tamilian and a Sindhi mother. He said his upbringing was like a regular Mandavelli boy who went to an English medium school. But he

soon dropped out even as his brothers went on to pick up white collar careers abroad. Ajith worked as a merchandiser at a Chennai garment company and was picking up tips to become a businessman when modeling beckoned and soon movies.

“It was destiny or fate that I became an actor,” he says. And while he enjoys his success in the movie world, Ajith is refreshing as compared to other self-obsessed actors. He pursues hobbies outside the movies and loves football and cricket.

He is a professional bike- and car-racer and has fond memories of his father taking him and his brothers to the Sholavaram race track, near Madras, for motor races. Social media regularly erupts with images of him whizzing on a new BMW, Ducati or Hayabusa bike. In 2010, he took a break from movies to train and participate in the international FIA Formula 2 Asia Championship.

Obviously, speeding down the tracks to success comes easy to Ajith and his fans would prefer to crown this hero a king of hearts.

IDEAL FIGURE Ajith’s reputation as a good family man has bolstered his image

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December 22, 2015 29

Small Screen Hyping News

What a story tease!

In the race to grab eyeballs, TV news channels are hyping news that has virtually no significance. This tabloidization of news lends no credibility to the TV channel and viewers can see through it

BY AJITH PILLAI

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING The story about Rahul Gandhi’s trip taken earlier this year did not merit all the hoo-ha that preceded it

H

OW often have we been led to believe that a story hyped on primetime by TV news channels is the burning issue of the day only to realise that it finds scant mention in the newspapers the following morning. Is it because what can lend itself to a lively or even a heated debate may not be significant vis-a-vis news? Or is it, as

30 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

David Brinkley who co-anchored the NBC Nightly News from the 70s to the 90s, famously put it: “Television news is like a lightning flash. It makes a loud noise, lights up everything around it, leaves everything else in darkness and then is suddenly gone.”

Last fortnight, we had a newsbreak on India Today TV which exactly fitted the bill that Brinkley was talking about. Since it was a newsbreak, it had to have the nine-letter “exclusive” tag at-

tached to it. The story, admittedly, was decent enough and the reporter had done a good job sourcing information. But the manner in which it was hyped on the channel raised expectations sky-high on primetime.

RAHUL MYSTERY You couldn’t blame the viewer for sitting glued to one channel and forgetting all about the remote.

After all, who wouldn’t want to know where Rahul Gandhi disappeared for 56 days (India Today revealed it was actually for 60 days) from February 16 to April 16 this year. His mysterious disappearance had let to considerable speculation in the media since it happened ahead of a crucial budget session in parliament.

Clueless Congress spokespersons came to TV studios and failed to provide any details about where the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family had vanished. This further added to the mystery. Now India Today, we were promised, would tell us exactly where the Congress vice-president had gone and what he was up to during the 60 days.

The teasers before the newsbreak seemed to obliquely suggest that the “tell-all” story may perhaps reveal some saucy gossip about the trip.

Who accompanied Rahul on it and what did he do? Was it only to “introspect” on the future of the Congress as party spokespersons had suggested or was there something more to the holiday which was kept a top secret?

When the story finally rolled out, it made mincemeat of the hype that preceded it. We were told “exclusively” that Rahul Gandhi visited four South East Asian countries, namely Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Further enlightenment dawned when it said that these countries were known for their Hindu-Buddhist culture and exotic cuisine.

Cambodia, 12 days in Vietnam, 11 days in Cambodia and one day in transit. And pray, who did Rahul go on his foreign sojourn with? Those who were waiting for some exclusive details relating to a budding romance would have been disappointed. Rahul was accompanied by Sameer Sharma, son of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Satish Sharma, a family friend of the Nehru-Gandhis.

He flew from London to Bangkok to accompany Rahul on his secret holiday.

There was nothing to discuss about the story.

The only sticking point was that Rahul left his SPG security at Bangkok before travelling to

Clueless Congress spokespersons came to TV studios and failed to provide any details about where the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family had vanished. This further added to the mystery.

NO EXCLUSIVITY Viewers were also made wiser about the fact that Rahul stayed 21 days in Myanmar, 15 days in VIEWS ON NEWS

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Small Screen

Small Screen Hyping News

Collaboration

CNN-IBN Tie-up Renewed With the ten-year contract between these two brands due to expire in January 2016, speculation was rife about IBN’s future. But the partnership continues

BY AJITH PILLAI

Nothing New! Views on News had already carried the details on Rahul’s visit in its April 7, 2015 issue (see screenshot). The magazine had full information on the matter. The fact highlighted in the news item that Rahul had gone on a medical break was not denied by the Gandhi family.

INTEGRITY UNDER CLOUD Channels simultaneously aired Chhota Rajan’s interview as an “exclusive”

these countries. That, many would say, was a security risk. Beyond that, a private holiday had no other revelation of any political significance.

A decent enough story had been done in by the “tell-all” and “revealed for the first time” hype.

To be fair, India Today is not the only TV channel guilty of indulging in hype. Viewers would recall

32 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

the drama that was enacted on TV when underworld operator Chhota Rajan was arrested in Bali.

We had exclusive “first view” from several channels of Chhota Rajan — a shaky, long shot of the balding pate of the man in a T-shirt surrounded

by Indonesian police. Then we had the “world exclusive” interview of the don mumbling, “I want to go back to India.” Ironically, it was telecast simultaneously on several channels, all claiming it was “exclusive”.

The Sheena Bora murder saga saw similar hype with the media selling so-called exclusive details of virtually no significance, such as Indrani Mukerjea, her mother, going to a beauty parlour, and Vidhie, her half-sister, eating a sandwich in court.

Some would dismiss this lightly as the logical outcome of the tabloidization of news. But there is a lesson to be learnt about hyping news that does not deserve that kind of push — it takes away from the credibility of the news organization indulging in this exercise.

With the profusion of news channels, the competition for TRPs is understandably intense. But that does not mean that one should accord a story prominence that it doesn’t deserve. It would be a gross injustice and perhaps an embarrassment for all those associated with it. As for viewers, they will soon see through the hype.

A

FTER months of speculation, CNN formally announced in the first week of December that it will continue its collaboration with TV18 network’s news channel, IBN. This effectively means that IBN will continue to use the CNN brand name in its logo after its ten-year contract expires in January 2016. The new terms of the contract have not been specified but it comes as a shot in the arm for IBN which can continue its news sharing arrangement and association with the Turner Broadcasting Inc’s channel with an international network and imprint.

The announcement puts to rest conjecture in media circles that CNN was considering a tie-up with the Zee News network. A meeting between representatives of the two channels followed by a visit of a CNN team to the offices of the Zee Network was seen as confirmation that a tie-up was on the anvil.

Announcing the renewal of the contract, Adil Zainulbhai, chairman, Network 18, said that the collaboration will usher in a new and improved CNNIBN. “We are delighted to announce the renewal of this extremely cherished partnership between two most respected brands in journalism….In this second term of our collaboration we aim to present a brand new CNN-IBN that will bring news with even greater speed, accuracy, clarity and keep viewers tuned in to the latest news and developments much ahead of others. We intend to cut through the noise that is currently present in the Indian television news space and offer best practices of journalism that will lead to better understanding of issues.”

DOUBTS RAISED It was in June this year that the TV18 management formally announced that its arrangement with CNN would not be continued after the contract expired in January 2016. In a formal notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange, TV 18 Broadcast Ltd had then declared that it will be “successfully concluding their ten year brand licensing and news services arrangement for use of the CNN brand and CNN news content in January 2016”.

It was then perceived in media circles that with the change of government at the center, CNN may be looking for a new partnership close to the ruling dispensation. This is why Zee was seen as a possible choice.

However, IBN has been spot on with its coverage of various events, including the recently concluded Bihar assembly polls. This, say IBN insiders, may have swung things in favor of the renewal of the collaboration.

It was perceived that with the change of guard at the center, CNN may be looking for a new partnership.

This is why Zee was seen as a possible choice.

VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 33

Editors’ Pick Pamela Philipose

Selfie-Made Journalism

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

Framed at BJP’s Diwali milan: A frontal view of servility to authority

INGRATIATING MOB PM Modi poses for a selfie with a journalist at the BJP office in New Delhi

I

F we believe that good journalists must be prepared to devote every fibre of their being to get to their news source, then the tight knot of news men and women that formed around Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Diwali milan held by his party on November 28 should gladden every democratic Indian heart.

Here, indeed, was a stirring chase for breaking news.

34 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

But it was a chase with a twist — this was not about achieving self-made journalism but becoming selfiemade journalists.

When we, the crème de la crème of Indian journalism, media professionals privileged to be operating from Lutyens Delhi, the envy of our peers located across the country, surrender childlike to the enchantment of getting intimate with power embodied in the persona of the PM, it raises eyebrows — and questions.

How seriously do we take ourselves as professional journalists? How deeply do we understand what journalism is about? There have been reams written about how the fourth estate must necessarily firewall itself from the other three estates of the executive, judiciary and legislature in order to hold them to account for the sake of a vibrant, functioning democracy, and yet, here the only thing we are holding up, it seems, is a smartphone. Which anticipates the most important question of all: Can we who fail to achieve such a firewall demonstrate a capacity for independent reportage based on the courage to question the most powerful, who are sometimes the most silent?

Ultimately, is it the case that we who decide what is newsworthy for the world are in search of our own newsworthiness; we who invest through the magic wand of public recognition an incandescent power upon those we make visible through our work are secretly hankering for some of this power to rub off on ourselves?

Captured in the selfie is not just the smiling visage of oneself and that of the Eminent Leader but a frontal view of servility to authority. The government, which came to power cheered on by a great deal of fawning media coverage, now shows an inordinate appetite for controlling that very media—not just at home but abroad as well, going by the recent revelations of a staff writer for the Washington Post. It banishes us from the corridors of power, denies us access to any real information and disallows its senior ministers and bureaucrats from briefing us.

It has not granted us one decent, unrehearsed, unchoreographed interview with the PM. Even the few press conferences of an earlier dispensation are no longer on the menu, instead we are treated to the pakora-kulfis of Diwali milans.

Such hospitality should, of course, be acknowledged, not disdained. It must be said that the present government is not mean. It doesn’t grudge us our 15 seconds of fame but takes the time and effort from its busy schedule to allow us to undertake the mission of creating our own personal histories through our miracle mobile apps. We can then rush to upload the resultant pictures on Face-

book and tweet or Instagram them furiously, spreading images of government benignity across the world, even as we eagerly bide our time for the harvest of “likes” and “retweets” to come our way.

To be sure, there were many within the fraternity who had red-flagged these selfie pursuits. An anchor even tweeted from the venue, “Appalled with journos making a spectacle of themselves scrambling for selfies with PM. Your job is to ask tough question not click pictures”. The poor man was promptly inundated by a barrage of comments about how many hard questions he had actually asked, but that’s another story.

Speaking at the 75th anniversary celebrations of the Assam Tribune at Guwahati last year, Modi is reported to have said: “Journalism should be like honeybee and not housefly, as housefly sits on filth and spreads it around but bee sits on flowers and produces honey.” Wonder if the PM was really talking from his heart on that occasion.

Does he really want us to be honeybees? Surely, houseflies are so much more comforting. They don’t sting and are housetrained to boot. All they need is an occasional swat (or even a selfie) and they leave you alone.

— The writer is senior fellow at the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Delhi VIEWS ON NEWS

ET TU, BARKHA? NDTV’s Barkha Dutt was among those who were framed with PM Modi during last year’s Diwali Milan

December 22, 2015 35

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

S THE WORLD TURNS

BBC Newsnight’s Stratton joins ITV N ewsnight’s political editor is leaving BBC and joining ITV News as national editor, reports the Press Gazette.

Allegra Stratton’s departure follows in the footsteps of BBC’s economics editor Robert Peston, who was poached by the rival broadcaster last month.

Stratton has been with Newsnight for four years. Before that, she was The Guardian’s political correspondent.

The former BBC producer, who will take up her new role beginning next year, said she was “thrilled� to join

Trump denies mocking disabled reporter

R

epublican presidential contender Donald Trump has denied mocking a disabled New York Times reporter during a campaign address earlier this week, reported ABC News.

Trump flailed his arms while referring to an article written by Serge Kovaleski, who has a congenital joint condition. The billionaire property tycoon used a 2001 article by Kovaleski, who at that time worked for The Washington Post, to back up his own widely disputed claims that “thousands� of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the 9/11 attacks in the US. However, the politician insisted he did not know what the reporter looked like. “I was very expressive in saying it, and they said that I was mocking him,� Trump said. “I would never mock a person that has difficulty. I would never do that. I’m telling you, I would never do it.�

Nikkei Group acquires Financial Times

N

ikkei Inc has acquired Financial Times from Pearson, the UK-based education and publishing giant, becoming the world's largest business media group, reports The Japan Times.

Nikkei had agreed to buy Financial Times from the Pearson Group for $1.3 36 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dundar (right) and correspondent Erdem Gul

Turkey arrests two journalists for “terrorism�

T

wo prominent Turkish journalists were arrested on charges of assisting terrorists after they published footage that reportedly showed the state

billion. Best known in Japan for its flagship newspaper, Nikkei, with the acquisition of Financial Times, it grabs a combined circulation of about 2.97 million.

This is more than double of The Wall Street Journal.

Financial Times is known for its extensive global coverage of economic news. A majority of its subscribers are in the US and Europe. It has been a pioneer in digital media.

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.

Governance Section

WILL THE PARIS CLIMATE SUMMIT CLEAN UP THE AIR?

GOVERNMENT FUMBLES AS PUNJAB BURNS

VIEWS ON NEWS

By Papia Samajdar 38

By Vipin Pubby 50

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

THE CRITICAL EYE

DECEMBER 07, 2015 `50

MODI’S FOREIGN VISITS

STILL S TILL PAYING DIVIDENDS? Rajshri Rai’s on the spot analysis of the PM’s first visit to the UK 12

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

ITV News. “It will be a pleasure and a privilege to work alongside such a strong team and I can't wait to get started,� she said.

intelligence agency helping to send weapons to Syria, CNN reported.

A Turkish court ordered the arrest of the editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, Can Dundar, and the newspaper’s Ankara correspondent, Erdem Gul, the television channel said. Turkish media reports said the two faced a number of charges including membership of an armed terrorist organization and publishing of material in violation of state security following the release of the footage in May. European diplomats are measured in their criticism of media freedom in Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rule, recognizing that the West needs Ankara’s help on the migrant crisis and as an ally in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State.

VIEWS ON NEWS THE CRITICAL EYE

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AJITH PILLAI Exit Bihar polls 16

PRASOON PARIJAT Prashant Kishor, India’s buzzman 24

SHAILAJA PARAMATHMA Javed Akhtar’s poetry show 30

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TV Review Black-ish

Ebony & Ivory This well-known song comes alive as one sees Black-ish, an ABC sitcom airing on Star World, which talks of race relations between African-Americans and whites

BY SHAILAJA PARAMATHMA

DIFFERENT STROKES The Black-ish team with (extreme right) Rainbow and Dre, their four kids and Dre’s father

B

LACK people can’t be racist,” repeats Andre Johnson (played by actor Anthony Anderson) in a matter-of-fact manner, while his wife, Rainbow (played by Tracee Ellis Ross), looks on in shock. They are talking of how the Hispanics are lazy and are yet stealing their jobs in America. In Dre’s (Andre) view, racism is only a one-way street—flowing

38 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

from white to black.

But he is not alone. Ever so often, people tweak their vision so that they come out smelling of roses.

Britishers still view the plundering of India as a favor to the subcontinent, and the Americans call the arrival of Columbus on American soil as a “discovery”. So does Dre, the proud and affluent African-American protagonist of comedy show Black-ish, a person with means and power.

Dre Johnson has spent his whole life climbing up the social ladder. He had a low-income upbringing but now lives in a rich, white neighborhood. He drives an S-class Mercedes and is senior vice-president in a predominantly white company where most blacks hold lowly positions. Torn between his obsession with being successful and his desire to stay true to his roots, Dre is constantly flustered and tries to be the “good black guy” whom his kids can see as a role model. Alas, his attempts to teach his kids about their roots are in vain as the upper-class suburb he lives in and the opportunities it affords, makes it difficult to keep his family grounded. So he tries harder in overthe-top sitcom ways.

RACIAL MIX The series takes a gleeful look at the AfricanAmerican and white culture in an attempt to understand how both can mix. It shows some people striving to break down the walls between them, while others try to ensure that they remain solid.

It shows a world that does not see through colortinted glasses and telling its story through the eyes of someone who does—Dre Johnson.

Black-ish has got positive reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a rating of 7.3/10. The site states: “Although it seems uncertain of its target audience, Black-ish ingratiates with a diverse cast and engaging cultural issues.” Metacritic gives the show a score of 77 out of 100, while Rolling Stone’s called it “one of the only new network comedies worth watching”. Part of the reason the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) comedy has earned so many rave reviews is because it touches so many diverse races and backgrounds.

Creator Kenya Barris and his cast miraculously discuss the “N” word and all its implications from virtually all angles while remaining true to the show’s heart as a modern family comedy. Nominated for 41st People's Choice Awards for Favorite New TV Comedy and winner of NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Black-ish

The series looks at African-American and white culture to understand how both can mix. It shows some people striving to break down the walls between them while others try to ensure that they remain solid. tackles race head-on. Vijay Patel, a writer of Indian origin and co-executive producer of the show, says: “Laughter and comedy is a great presentation for controversial issues. We are not grandstanding; we are poking fun at it.”

So the tables have turned, at least in the world of American sitcom. Otherwise, for African-Americans who form the largest racial minority in the US at 13.2 percent, all is not well. They experience the most hate crimes and are most likely to be targeted.

Black-ish is like a breath of fresh air.

In one of the episodes, Rainbow reprimands her overzealous husband by saying: “Racism exists in this world but we might not run into it this weekend.” This could well be heeded in India as its secular fabric gets damaged by various deeds against the minorities.

The show is being aired every weekday on Star World, 8.30 p.m.

MAKING A POINT The four kids of the Johnson family

VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 39

Design

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

By ANTHONY LAWRENCE

Mickey Mouse meets Spiderman in this infographic about Walt Disney buying Marvel.

We have heard of Krishna holding a mountain on his little finger. Now, see for yourself Lord Ganesha holding the moon on his fingers!

Mumbai Mirror photographer Deepak Turbekar created this magic through an instant photograph. And the impact is divine.

Loud-mouth US presidential candidate Donald Trump does it again, this time drumming up passions over possible steps to monitor Muslims. In this illustration, amid cheers, Trump destroys values cherished in the US constitution. Is this the leader that the US deserves?

40 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

An artist’s impression of how the universe would be, with all its intriguing matter.

It’s not a bed of flowers. Rather it’s a sea of humanity on a Brazilian coast with each person holding an umbrella. Going collective with creativity!

A case of going ballistic with imagination. Artist Chen Wenling in this installation in New Zealand took care to etch the bull and its target as real as possible. The blast site, which left behind quite a few cracked tiles, would surely leave viewers in splits.

VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 41

DATE 21/11/15

NEWS

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

CRPF confiscates IED on SrinagarBaramulla Road.

21/11/15

22/11/15

23/11/15

25/11/15

25/11/15

26/11/15

26/11/15

Turkish Airlines flight from New York to Istanbul diverted to Canada after bomb threat.

Rahul Gandhi begins Saharanpur padyatra, attacks Modi government, says its doors are closed for the poor.

Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna takes on Aamir Khan, says Aamir appears like a hero in shows like Satyamev Jayate and then says he wants to leave the country.

Aamir Khan clears his stand, says he and his wife have no intention of leaving the country.

The PM says that students should know the country’s constitution and must be educated about how it was created.

Senior ministers, including Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari meet Prime Minister Modi even as the Parliament session is on.

42 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

DATE 26/11/15

10:15 AM

On day one of the ASEAN summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in front of an upside down Tricolour.

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.

10:16 AM

10:16 AM

10:16 AM

27/11/15 11:15 AM

11:17 AM

11:17 AM

11:18 AM

27/11/15 10.43 AM

10.45 AM

10.50 AM

10.52 AM

29/11/15 12.51 PM

12.50 PM

12.52 PM

12.52 PM

12.53 PM

29/11/15 8.33 AM

8.35 AM

8.38 AM

8.40 AM

30/11/15 4.15 PM

4.15 PM

4.15 PM

4.15 PM

1/12/15 9:50 AM

9.51 AM

9.51 AM

9.51 AM

10.12 AM

10.16 AM

10.11 AM

CHANNEL TIME

In Lok Sabha debate, it is mentioned that Sardar Patel gave a distinct direction to India. Despite his humiliation, Ambedkar never talked of leaving the country.

11:45 AM

11:47 AM

11:48 AM

On the second day of Winter Session of Parliament and to pass the GST Bill, Modi invites Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh over for tea.

10:14 AM

10:14 AM

10:15 AM

India wallops South Africa at Nagpur, wins a series on home ground after 10 years. Ashwin emerges as hero.

3:30 PM

3:30 PM

3:32 PM

Nepal keeps 13 SSB personnel under arrest for about five hours; they had mistakenly entered Nepal while tracking smugglers; released later.

11:37 AM

11:38 AM

11:39 AM

Urban development minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Azam Khan comes down heavily on the Sangh; says RSS leaders are homosexuals.

6:00 PM

6:00 PM

6:02 PM

PM Modi meets Pak PM Nawaz Sharif during Paris Climate Summit; the two leaders shake hands.

3:42 PM

3:43 PM

3:43 PM

10:08 AM

10:01 AM

10:10 AM

10:10 AM

8.05 AM

8.06 AM

11:48 AM

10:16 AM

11:40 AM

3:43 PM

Modi-Sharif meeting sparks controversy; opposition demands details of the meet.

9.52 AM

2/12/15 10.11 AM

NEWS

NEWS

Chennai Airport closes following incessant rains and flooding; 19 trains cancelled; power supply cut.

8.03 AM

8.04 AM

VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015 43

Governance Climate Change Meet

India, Climate Blocker or Canny Underdog?

During the recent climate change talks in Paris, India emerged as a champion of developing countries as it demanded that rich nations take the lead in cutting emissions

BY DARRYL D’MONTE IN PARIS

A

MAJOR media event took place over the weekend before the Paris UN summit on climate change began. French authorities, conscious of the security for top leaders arriving on November 29, clamped down on demonstrations that were to be held in the capital and around Le Bourget, the conference venue.

As media coverage, there were pictures of a small but belligerent number of protesters clashing with the police in the center of Paris, near the site of a major terrorist attack a couple of weeks earlier. These contrasted with the sight of hundreds of shoes assembled on a street as a reminder of those who would have marched had authorities permitted them to do.

44 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

PROTEST MARCHES Nevertheless, as media images of protests around the world showed, the message of Paris travelled far and wide. No fewer than some 5,70,000 people took to the streets. Ironically, the biggest was in Sydney, with some 60,000 people. Australia is not known for its green policies and belongs to the umbrella group, headed by the US. The opening day was a media melee. More than the 3,000 media persons who had registered turned up and there was pandemonium in the media center. The biggest ruckus was caused by scores of TV crews, all doing piece to cameras in a babel of languages, at decibel levels sufficient to prevent any print or radio journalist from concentrating.

By coincidence, I was sitting near a favorite site for Indian news TV channels, some of whom summoned their nearby correspondents. There was Sanjay Suri from London for NDTV, while Times Now had someone over and so did a number of language channels. Ajay Mathur, head of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency who is leading the Indian delegation, was composed as he patiently waited for a full half-an-hour for his turn on a TV discussion in Delhi through Skype.

At the inauguration by Narendra Modi at the hi-tech Indian pavilion that morning, with laser messages projected on water falling on the frontage, a huge pack of TV crew was shepherded to one side, but the PM didn’t condescend to speak to them. They valiantly tried to get a sound byte, but that was not to be.

The very next day, the TV crews vanished and I wondered how much news channels paid to bring them over only for a day or two. There were meant to be ten times as many delegates as journalists, but the number of the latter waxed and waned with breaking news.

SILENT PROTEST Shoes assembled at a Parisian street after cancellation of a march owing to security concerns

INDIA AS LEADER Christian Hunt of the Climate Action Network— which has an office in Delhi covering South Asia —has a useful service monitoring the daily media.

Early on, he led with India as the point country in the summit. “The country’s stance has become the central fascination for journalists following the ins and outs of the talks,” he said. “India is, in short, a great story—although whether it’s the story of a climate blocker, slowing progress at the talks, VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 45

Governance Climate Change Meet “For India, it all comes down to money... has made climate justice its rallying cry and opposes many of the key issues that climate change activists believe are needed for a strong agreement.”

– Lisa Freidman of ClimateWire

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED World leaders at the Innovation Summit

At the inauguration

by Modi at the hi-tech Indian pavilion, a huge pack of TV crew was shepherded to one side, but the PM didn’t condescend to speak to them.

They valiantly tried to get a sound byte, but that was not to be.

or a canny underdog, seeking justice for less developed countries—the media jury is still out.”

Lisa Freidman of ClimateWire wrote: “For India, it all comes down to money. The world's fourth-largest greenhouse gas emitter [after China, US and EU] plays perhaps the most pivotal role of all 196 countries at U.N. climate change negotiations here… [it] has made climate justice its rallying cry and opposes many of the key issues that climate change activists believe are needed for a strong agreement.”

One of the most perceptive summit-watchers is John Vidal of The Guardian, who wrote: “India has emerged as a pivotal player... championing developing country demands that the rich take the lead in cutting emissions and providing more money for poor countries. But desperate for a strong deal to protect it from the ravages of climate change, it is also backing the US-led principle that all countries should act."

The Guardian also picked up a major controversy which was broken by Nitin Sethi of the Busi-

46 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

ness Standard a few days ago. It reported how "the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, comprising rich countries) said that developed countries had mobilised $57 billion of climate aid in 2013-14. But a paper published last week by the Indian ministry of economic affairs said ... in a foreword that the OECD had 'overstated progress’.” More pertinently, it accused the OECD of grossly exaggerating its case to bolster its claim of meeting its target to provide $100 billion by 2020 for developing countries to combat climate change. The ministry’s report was not official but indicates India’s new-found confidence in taking on big climate players on the world stage.

ORDER REVERSED Many journalists were caught unawares by the fact that the French reversed the normal order at summits and called the world’s leaders on the very first day. Nothing much usually happens at the beginning, but this time, there was maximum media at-

tention, with the leaders’ every word and gesture picked up. Several journos had packed their bags for the action in the second week and missed this beginning, including Modi’s triumphant launch of his International Solar Alliance.

Starting with the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, I have covered a number of climate and development summits, including Rio+5 in 1997 and +20 in 2012, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, Copenhagen in 2009 and Cancun in 2010 (both on climate). One takes a day to get one’s bearings because venues are usually away from the city center and all meeting rooms look alike, so one has to have a good sense of direction.

Things were especially difficult in Rio. I was covering it for The Times Of India. A group of 10 Indians had been funded through the good offices of Anil Agarwal of the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE). However, the Brazilian government had just opened a new conference center some 40 km from the city. One had to commute there for official meetings and also cover NGOs at a venue in Rio. There were complications, in those days before PCs, in getting stories sent through teleprinters by Brazilians whose English was minimal, with a deadline ten hours ahead of the proceedings.

Rio’s taxi drivers sped down the curving roads

at breakneck speed, with a sheer cliff on one side and the ocean hundreds of meters below. I died a hundred times on those trips. But there were many compensations, not least the vast quantities of caipirinha, the addictive lemon cocktail made from cane juice, not to mention bikini-clad women who wandered unselfconsciously along the beach fronts.

SPEAKING UP The global politics was as heady as the cocktails— a far cry from the sanitized deliberations FACE OF THE CONTINGENT Ajay Mathur, head of Bureau of Energy Efficiency, led the Indian delegation in Paris

VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 47

Governance Climate Change Meet

FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE Kamal Nath (above) took a strong stand for developing nations at the Rio summit.

He was aided by Anil Agarwal (bottom right) of CSE (Bottom left) Sanjay Suri of NDTV was one of the journalists who covered the Paris climate summit

Web Crawler What Went Viral

today. India had taken on the mantle of speaking for the G-77 developing countries; China was nowhere on the horizon and, in any case, has always been motivated by self-interest.

To add insult to injury, Kamal Nath as environment minister then was a self-assured, belligerent spokesperson for India and others of its ilk. He was aided and abetted by Agarwal, whose CSE was part of the official delegation. As jour-

48 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

nalist colleagues of Agarwal, we all had instant access to Kamal Nath and India’s position.

Kamal Nath was a thorn in the side of the US delegation and spared no opportunity to needle Uncle Sam. India made much of President George Bush Sr’s refusal to sign the newly drafted biodiversity treaty. Asked by an NYT reporter what all the fuss was about, he answered that it was all about Bushes and Quayles (his challenged VicePresident)! This referred, unerringly, to (wild) flora and fauna which the treaty protected. That made it to the front page of the NYT. Several former Indian newspersons are now part of national and international NGOs’ advocacy groups. Damandeep Singh is director of CDP India in Delhi, which works with corporates on climate. He was once the secretary of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India, which this writer still chairs and will file for Business World from Paris.

Aarti Khosla, now India Program Lead-Global Strategic Communications Council in Delhi, told me: “I have been following the UN climate meetings since the infamous Copenhagen. Being a communications expert, I had to go through a learning curve—to understand the way the negotiations work, to separate the grain from the chaff and be able to synthesize corridor information into political intelligence.

“Being a journalist and understanding the media space gives an edge—it allows one to retain the sense of the ‘outside’ world, knowledge that public opinion matters, and engage more credibly with both camps—experts and journalists. Having credibility in such a space is very important— which should be an ongoing process for all of us.”

Shailendra Yashwant graduated from being a photojournalist for several years to joining the small initial Greenpeace team. “I ran some successful campaigns, first in India and later in Southeast Asia,” he said. He is now advisor to Climate Action Network on communication and advocacy. Is journalism’s loss environment’s gain?

Outrage on social media against menstrual taboo

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n November 20, Nikita Azad, a Patiala-based woman, wrote an angry open letter to Sabarimala temple chief Prayar Gopalakrishnan, who had said that the Kerala temple would continue the ban on menstruating women until “purity checking machines” are invented. The next day, the letter was converted into a social media campaign, #HappyToBleed, which went viral, reports The Hindu.

Hundreds of young women are posting their pictures on their profiles holding placards, sanitary napkins and charts saying #HappyToBleed, as a sign of protest.“Menstrual taboos prevail in the society. Women are considered impure during menstruation, are barred from entering kitchens and are isolated within homes. #HappyToBleed is a countercampaign,” Azad said.

National anthem fracas in Mumbai

No Ecstasy here

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n Australian’s posts on social media about his neardeath experience after taking Ecstasy have gone viral.

“Thank you so much for the love and support from everyone. I honestly cannot believe how much the post has gone viral. Please share this video. The more that can see this, the more lives can be saved,” Jordy Hurdes posted.

Twenty-year-old Hurdes was hospitalized after taking the popular party drug and says he was left with a stutter and severe muscle spasms, which may stay with him until he dies.“Taking party drugs seems like a fun option and you don't think anything life-changing could happen to you. I am lucky to be alive now,” said Hurdes in a Facebook post, which has been shared 12,000 times.

Hurdes’ video has been viewed nearly four million times on Facebook.

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video about a Muslim family being asked to leave the theatre because they refused to stand up for the national anthem gained widespread attention over Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media, causing it to be reported subsequently in mainstream media.

The incident took place in Kurla, Mumbai.

In the video clip, which is over two minutes, people can be seen arguing with the family. The crowd accused the Muslim family of making excuses for not standing up when the national anthem was playing. Eventually, the family was forced to leave the theatre.

Those present welcomed the move with applause.

“Sue me Saudi” campaign

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housands are tweeting “Sue Me Saudi” to compare the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia to that under the Islamic State, BBC reports. It’s a reference to an unconfirmed newspaper report that said the Saudi justice ministry was threatening legal action after someone made the comparison.

The trend began with a tweet about Ashraf Fayadh, a 35-year-old poet who is on death row in Saudi Arabia. Fayadh was sentenced to death in November for

apostasy and has been charged with promoting atheism and mocking verses of the Koran in public. Fayadh's case prompted a Twitter user, a prominent Saudi writer, to compare Saudi Arabia to the Islamic State. The newspaper report about possible legal action against the author has provoked a backlash online as more than 11,000 people tweeted the hashtag. “Beheading poets because they criticize a regime puts that regime on the same level as Daesh,” one tweet read.

—Compiled by Sucheta Dasgupta VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 49

Governance Prohibition

One Drink too Many

SAYING NO TO LIQUOR Women emptying alcohol bottles during a protest in Tamil Nadu

Before Bihar CM Nitish Kumar enforces prohibition in his state, he should keep in mind that this policy has not always been successful and has often driven the trade underground

BY VIPIN PUBBY

WITHDRAWAL PANGS (Below) Bihar CM Nitish Kumar will be treading on an arduous path after prohibition is clamped in the state

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NE of the most feared names during the Emergency and a no-nonsense builder of modern Haryana, Bansi Lal, did something dramatic on May 11, 1996, the day he took oath for the fourth time as the state’s chief minister (CM). Moments after he had signed the register at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh to take over as CM, a senior officer handed him

a piece of paper. He signed it on the same table and declared that he had enforced prohibition in the state and thereby fulfilled a promise he had made during the election campaign.

The sudden declaration, evidently preplanned by Bansi Lal, surprised everyone and led to celebrations in several parts of the state. Enforcing prohibition was one of the most significant parts of his party’s manifesto and women had come out in large numbers to vote for him on

this count. Less than two years later, he was forced to withdraw it after it proved a total failure. The decision to lift the ban was also equally welcomed throughout the state.

With Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, flush with a thumping victory in the assembly elections, announcing his decision to enforce prohibition there, it is time for him to weigh the pros and cons of his decision. He should take lessons from Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat—where prohibition was enforced— before he actually issues the orders.

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tatistics reveal why Bansi Lal, who was otherwise known to be adamant about his decisions, was forced to lift the ban on liquor. Besides a loss of `1,300 crore in revenue from excise duty, the state was saddled with 13 lakh seized bottles of liquor and over 90,000 cases related to violation of prohibition which clogged courts. Worse, at least 16 hooch tragedies were reported from across the state, claiming some 60 lives. Ganeshi Lal, whom Bansi Lal had designated as prohibition minister, later admitted its failure and said the “prohibition policy was too good to succeed”.

50 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

Bansi Lal, who was then heading the government with the BJP as an ally, also paid a huge political cost for his decision. The coalition partners together held seven of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state but their tally came down to a mere two seats in the elections held after prohibition was enforced.

However, it was the social cost of the policy and the popular outcry against it that appears to have forced him to lift the ban. Those who

Statistics reveal why Bansi Lal (left) was forced to lift the ban on liquor in Haryana.

Besides a loss of `1,300 crore in revenue, the state was saddled with 13 lakh seized bottles of liquor and some 16 hooch tragedies.

VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 51

Governance Prohibition

POPULAR BREW A long queue outside a liquor vend

Haryana’s Exemption

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n Bansi Lal’s plea in the High Court, these were the exemptions granted in prohibition.

“It was directed that designated establishment of the military and paramilitary forces would be given an exception to the general rule. Foreigners and Indians, returning from abroad had been allowed to carry permissible quantity of liquor while transmitting through Haryana. It had been further clarified that the distilleries would be allowed to manufacture only rectified and denatured spirit and not potable alcohol. Breweries would close down after six months notice to them or on the expiry of their period of license, whichever is earlier.”

remember the days of prohibition in Haryana, recall a booming illicit and spurious liquor trade.

The liquor mafia, comprising relatives of top politicians and anti-social elements, had a field day. The trade also boomed along the state’s 500km-long boundary with five other states. These states granted hundreds of licenses close to their border with Haryana. In turn, the licensees set up kiosks with night stay arrangements for the guzzlers.

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unjab, which shares the longest border with Haryana, recorded a hike of over 25 percent in excise revenue even as the loss to the public exchequer put the clock back on development in Haryana.

The state exchequer dried up, forcing its government to hike power tariff, bus fares, sale of petroleum

PERILS OF PROHIBITION? A family mourns the death of its member in a UP hooch tragedy, this January

52 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015

products and taxes on entrepreneurs.

Women, who had been demanding prohibition and were in the vanguard of support for Bansi Lal during the elections, now began demanding lifting of the ban. They pointed out that their men were not only spending more on liquor (having to pay higher to the mafia), but were abstaining themselves from home for long periods. Open sale of spurious liquor and hooch tragedies spurred the womenfolk to come out on the streets. Finally, Bansi Lal had to bow down to the popular wish of the people. In order to make up for the revenue loss, the state government went on an overdrive in giving out licenses in the years to come. Their numbers increased three-fold in a short span of time. It also took a long time for Haryana to recover from the slowdown in development and infrastructure.

Subsequently, the Om Prakash Chautala government set up a commission headed by Justice

JC Verma to probe into the prohibition period. Bansi Lal challenged it in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In his petition (Bansi Lal versus State of Haryana), the former CM sought issuance of a writ of Certiorari for quashing the notification dated December 7, 1999, on the ground that the Commission was appointed in contravention of the Commission of Inquiry Act. His plea was subsequently quashed by the court.

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e said in his plea: “The Governor of Haryana promulgated Ordinance under Clause (1) of Article 213 of the Constitution of India.........Resultant effect was that the import or export of any intoxicant into or from the State of Haryana by way of transport, manufacture, sale, purchase, consumption, possession of any intoxicant etc. was completely prohibited. It is averred that imposition of/promulgation of Prohibition Policy statutorily brought a sigh of relief in the general public, the resultant effects were encouraging and positive such as the crime-graph relating to every kind of crime fell down and a complete tranquility prevailed in the whole of State of Haryana.”

The Commission subsequently indicted Bansi Lal and Ganeshi Lal and noted that the prohibition created a situation whereby “smuggling of liquor was rampant” and that the liquor mafia became powerful even as the state government remained a helpless observer. It found substance in complaints that highly influential people gained pecuniary benefits from those involved in bootlegging.

Anyone who lives in Gujarat or who has lived

there knows how easy it is to get liquor despite prohibition there. Liquor of any brand and quality can be home-delivered, though the rates are double what is outside the state.

Andhra Pradesh was one of the first states to have tried prohibition in 1952. However, it had to revoke the ban in 1969 mainly due to illicit liquor trade and huge loss of revenue. Former chief minister NT Rama Rao again imposed prohibition in January 1995 but his son-in-law, N Chandrababu Naidu, who replaced Rama Rao, discontinued the policy in 1997, again on the grounds of failure to stop illicit trade and huge loss of revenue to the state. According to an estimate, the state lost over `2,100 crore annually to prohibition. Maharashtra, which earns a revenue of `20,000 crore from liquor sales, has also recently decided not to enforce prohibition there.

A lesson for Nitish?

ILL-FATED POLICY As CM of Andhra Pradesh, NT Rama Rao (left) brought back prohibition in 1995 but it was lifted by his successor N Chandrababu Naidu in 1997

VIEWS ON NEWS

December 22, 2015 53

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

SMARTEN YOUR TALK

OH, TO BE A WOMAN!

White or black? = With milk or without?

Frump = Dowdy woman

Hold your horses! = Wait a moment!

Hag = Ugly old woman

What possessed him? = Why did he do such a thing?

Grande dame = Influential woman

I am whacked! = I am exhausted!

Harridan = Aggressive old woman

That’s grating my nerves! = You are annoying me!

Minx = Impudent or flirtatious young woman

Breathe again! = Relax!

Femme fatale = Seductive but dangerous woman

Drop dead! = Go away!

Nymphette = Sexually attractive young woman

You are off your rocker! = You are crazy!

Blue stocking = Intellectual or literary woman

No trouble! = That will be easy!

Ingenue = Innocent young woman

FOR GOOD MEASURE

WRITE RIGHTLY

Time to learn about some important scientific instruments used for measuring different things.

Sphygmomanometer………blood pressure Altimeter.................................altitudes Lactometer……….density of milk Micrometer….small distances and angles Manometer…….gas pressure Pyrometer….high temperatures Anemometer….. velocity of wind Pyrheliometer…….solar radiations Galvanometer…….electric current Hydrophone…..sound under water

Remember how these words are spelt: Misspell Subterranean Penicillin Dysentery Tonsillitis Liquefy Ancillary Ecstasy Turquoise Workaholic

SAME DIFFERENCE

WISDOM OF THE STREETS

The following pairs of words mean the same and can be interchanged:

Keep these proverbs ready in your mind: Delays are dangerous Don’t cry before you’re hurt Cheats never prosper Curiosity killed the cat Dead men tell no tales Shrouds have no pockets Stolen fruit is sweet Appearances are deceptive Love me, love my dog A burnt child dreads the fire

Flammable and Inflammable Dietitian and Dietician Toward and Towards Strived and Strove Nonetheless and None the less Gelatin and Gelatine Dumbfound and

Dumfound Scarfs and Scarves Opossum and Possum Loadstar and Lodestar Highfalutin and Hifalutin Dived and Dove Dexterous and Dextrous

54 VIEWS ON NEWS December 22, 2015