Views on news 22 January 2015 by viewsonnews

BG VERGHESE

J&K POLLS

RED CROSS

A RARE BREED AMONG EDITORS PASSES AWAY 26

DID TRPs DRIVE TV CHANNELS TO FUDGE LEADS? 15

SHOCKING EXPOSE OF BLACK SECRETS 18

VIEWS ON NEWS

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THE CRITICAL EYE

JANUARY 22, 2015

Comrades in secret Anonymous users freely crawl the Dark Web for access to child porn, drugs, ammo and more 10

RANA AYYUB

‘Media attitude is nauseating’ 31

FUSS OVER PK

Audiences no longer give a damn about protests by fringe elements 38

NEW MEDIA

Now post your queries to Obama at Quora 34

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ONLY THE STORIES THAT COUNT EVERY FORTNIGHT INDIA LEGAL WILL BRING YOU NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE LEGAL MINDS IN THE NATION ON MATTERS THAT MATTER TO YOU

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EDITOR’S NOTE

INTERNET CENSORSHIP WILL BECOME A WAR VON’S COVER STORY, appropriately entitled, “The Cham-

sites. Our own telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad,

ber of Secrets”, focuses on the phenomenon of the “Dark

wants filters to block “objectionable content” (whatever

Web”, an internet journey that allows the traveler to surf

that may mean).

and write completely undetected and uncharacterized by

Says Tom Bradshaw, senior lecturer in journalism, Uni-

URL-filtering databases. “This online chamber of secrets,”

versity of Gloucestershire: “India’s government has dis-

writer Aaqib Raza Khan tells us,“is right under the web

pleased many internet users by blocking access to some

pages you frequent and is often invisible to search engine

major websites at the start of the New Year. A total of 32

trackers.”

sites were blocked, although sanctions have been lifted

So what’s wrong with that? In today’s Big-Brother-

from three most famous sites on the list: software devel-

watches-all-the-world, isn’t privacy the supreme concern

opment platform GitHub and video sites, Vimeo and

of the internet user? Isn’t it paramount that the investigative

Dailymotion.”

journalist, the wronged citizen and whistleblower and dis-

Bradshaw noted in a recent article, among the best I

sident be allowed protection and anonymity? What’s

have encountered on this subject, that the decision to

wrong if underground networks serve to promote the

block the sites was reportedly over concerns that they

cause of protest, pro-democracy movements in the Mid-

were hosting content by terrorist groups. “For many West-

dle-East?

erners, democracy and free speech are inextricably inter-

Here’s where we run into that typical double-edged

connected, so the idea of curtailing freedom of expression

sword conundrum that troubles the modern

in the interests of political stability seems illiberal and even

world and its philosophers. How much free-

totalitarian. But India is not alone in feeling the need to take

dom and at what cost? And even if total free-

some action. Some initial battles took place last year, but

dom is the watchword, then should not it be

it looks as if 2015 will really be the year in which internet

tempered by some sort of watchdoging? And

censorship will become a war.”

if so, how much and with what restrictions? Our cover story makes the remarkable rev-

I reproduce below the major points made by Bradshaw, which I hope will provoke more debate and discussion on

elation that some 80 percent of internet content

this wwi (world wide issue):

deals with the darker side of life—torture,

British prime minister, David Cameron, and other West-

drugs, child pornography, ammunition, terror

ern leaders have been forced to confront a difficult issue

groups. The moot question is, does availability

in 2014, as Islamic State showed how deftly it could ap-

on the net of these already existing evils create

propriate social media networks to spread its jihadi mani-

converts? Does supply create its own de-

festo. What happens when terrorists commandeer global

mand?

media networks and use them to disseminate propaganda

Nobody really knows the answer to that

aimed at undermining democratic, secular governance?

question. But the prevailing approach has been

The response from politicians has been to lean heavily

one of caution. Just as parents try and keep

on internet service providers, making them do more to re-

their kids away from pornography, paternalistic

move jihadi material. This approach is regarded as unjus-

and/or dictatorial regimes try and limit access

tifiable censorship by critics, including the Index on

of citizens to the net by blocking or censoring

Censorship which has argued for the right of people to de-

4 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

cide for themselves whether or not to view such material.

about just how the law was

For their part, social media companies such as Twitter

depriving Sinn Fein and other

have been taking down accounts linked to IS, even though

organisations of what Mar-

employees have been threatened with death for doing so.

garet Thatcher termed the

And YouTube has been working hard to remove jihadi ma-

“oxygen of publicity”.

terial that glorifies violence.

Since then, the digital rev-

But if you’re determined to find a video of an IS behead-

olution has transformed the media, enabling terrorists to

ing, you will find one. One student casually remarked to me

reach new audiences. By setting up a social media account,

during a recent lecture that he’d watched a beheading video

jihadis can immediately give themselves a voice with a

only a few nights earlier, in rather the same way as if he

reach that is potentially global. As a result, the UK govern-

might have mentioned that he’d caught up on an episode of

ment is now engaged in a similar battle to that which took

The Simpsons.

place during the Troubles, but the goalposts have been sig-

There are some who passionately believe that such

nificantly widened.

videos should remain accessible. The Index on Censorship

Recently, Cameron announced he wants companies to

argues that allowing governments or media corporations to

be more proactive in taking down “harmful material”. He

decide who watches what is the start of a process that

also called for stronger filters and an on-screen button to

leads, ultimately, to the muzzling of dissent and

report jihadi material.

difference.Those who believe this content shouldn’t be

Talk of filters induces queasiness in the anti-censorship

viewed can urge others not to watch it, as Twitter users did

lobby—and for good reason. Censorship of the web is reg-

in August with the #ISISmediablackout hashtag. Still, while

ularly used by repressive regimes to retain control over what

one or more people can choose not to look, the content will

is said online. But the trouble for those who oppose such

still be available unless politicians take action. And as

restrictions is that a traditional argument against censorship

Cameron ponders just how he should do that in 2015 with-

has been undermined—arguably by Twitter more than any

out triggering accusations of censorship, he could consider

other organisation.

a lesson in recent British history.

Social media often means that debate is conducted via

The British government formally ended a high-profile dal-

short statements that contain emotional responses. Abbre-

liance with censorship 20 years ago when it lifted restric-

viated words, images and hashtags often replace reasoned

tions on how the media could report the Troubles in

discourse. Almost by design, Twitter is not conducive to the

Northern Ireland. From 1988 to 1994, broadcasters were

sort of patient argument needed to express a controversial

banned from airing the words spoken directly by the Irish

opinion and justify it to your critics.

Republican party, Sinn Fein, and by specified paramilitary

So world leaders have started running out of options. The

organisations.

indicators are that they won’t leave it to chance this year

As it turned out, broadcasters could use actors and re-

and that censorship will continue to be deployed through a

ported speech to convey the content of such organisations.

combination of government and corporate activity. What

Interviews with Sinn Fein’s leader Gerry Adams were tele-

started in a panic in 2014, will become something altogether

vised and his exact words broadcast, just with the voice of

more structured and powerful in the 12 months to come.

an actor dubbed over the top. This all prompted questions

VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 5

VOLUME. VIII

ISSUE. 08

Editor-in-Chief Rajshri Rai Managing Editor Ramesh Menon Deputy Managing Editor Shobha John Senior Editor Vishwas Kumar Associate Editor Meha Mathur Deputy Editors Prabir Biswas Niti Singh Assistant Editor Somi Das Art Director Anthony Lawrence Senior Visualizer Amitava Sen Graphic Designer Lalit Khitoliya Photographer Anil Shakya News Coordinator/Photo Researcher Kh Manglembi Devi Production Pawan Kumar

C O N

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6 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

LEDE

Chamber of Secrets Anonymous users crawl the Dark Web for the underworld of lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;torture, drugs, child pornography, ammunition, writes AAQIB RAZA KHAN

SPOTLIGHT

Manufacturing Numbers AKASH BANERJEE writes that there was a massive kite flying exercise in TV newsrooms as J&K and Jharkhand poll results started coming in

T E N T S INTERVIEW

‘The attitude of the media is nauseating’

Rana Ayyub talks to VON on her investigation of fake encounters, online trolling and much more

Edit................................................04 Web Crawler..................................08 Media-go-round............................37 Shabash Reporter.........................42 Anchor Review..............................44 Breaking news..............................46 Tattle Tales.....................................50

INVESTIGATION

The Red Cross’ Secret Disaster

R E G U L A R S

Concluding part of a two-part series on bungled relief efforts, investigated by ProPublica and NPR

Not a nice privilege

NEW MEDIA

Hangout with Obama at Quora

PRANJAL GARG writes on the website that provides specific answers to specific questions from experts

BIG SCREEN

OBITUARY

Much ado over PK

RAMESH MENON recalls the legacy of the veteran journalist

Films are being used by fringe elements to garner cheap publicity. But the stupendous success of PK shows that the audience hardly cares, writes VISHWAS KUMAR

BG Verghese: A rare breed among editors

Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu were recently upset at being misled by the HRD Ministry on the issue of the “circular” on good governance celebrations on Christmas Day. Both the ministers had strongly defended the ministry on this issue on the floor of the Parliament, but they claimed the facts provided to them were dubious, which led to Privilege Motions being brought in against them by Members of the Opposition. Jaitley, it is learnt, did not mince words, in making his displeasure known to the HRD Minister. Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 7

EB CRAWLER WHAT’S TRENDING

Resignation letter that went viral FOR MANY OF us, the thought of shooting off that nasty resignation letter to the oppressive boss remains an unaccomplished goal. But The Hindu’s Opinion and Special stories editor Rahul Pandita actually translated his thoughts into action. In a fiery resignation mail, addressed to the editor of The Hindu, Malini Parthasarathy, Pandita mentions the complete lack of editorial authority given to him at the organization, as the reason for his resignation. He writes: “In the current situation what the Op-ed page really needs is a bunch of interns who can seek instructions from you on an hourly basis and then get in touch with the authors on your behalf.” Pandita, who has been a conflict zone reporter for long, further writes: “I have had guns pointed to my temple. Getting my blood pressure high in a conflict zone is a part of my life. But I do not like to get my

Wedlock selfie clocks hits

blood pressure high while sitting in a cabin, waiting for a phone call from you, of which I'll not understand a word.” Though the letter had all the ingredients of being potentially viral, the real credit of circulating this explosive internal conversation goes to Hartosh Bal, political editor of The Caravan. Bal, who joined Twitter after Open magazine sacked him, uploaded Pandita’s resignation letter on the micro-blogging website. He tweeted: “Where @rahulpandita signs off in style from The Hindu. Revelatory resignation letter to @MaliniP.” On Twitter, the letter was shared several times. Web portals like Scroll.in, Newslaundry, Firstpost published the entire mail on their websites. When VON contacted Parthasarathy for her comments, she said: "Not prepared to comment. Really an internal matter of The Hindu.” Thanks to social media, it’s no longer an internal matter.

Google gets it hilariously wrong

NOTHING UNUSUAL ABOUT two people getting married and posting their selfies on social networking sites. But when Mumbai’s Satish Apte and Lisa decided to do the same, the picture went viral and made news fodder for online sites. Why? Because Apte is 58 years old and Lisa is 20. Love certainly knows no age bar. And the web seems to be loving this couple’s unusual chemistry.

GOOGLE HAD AN oops moment when it picked up a spoof image of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and displayed it as his sister Kim Yo-jong. Goofed up algorithm was the culprit. But cyber creatures didn’t take to Google’s technical glitch very kindly. They had a field day sharing grabs of the hilarious mistake. The goof-up was reported on several web portals and also picked up by The Telegraph. 8 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

Sid Mallya a hit on YouTube HOWEVER YOU MIGHT hate Sid Mallya for being a rich dude living off his father’s money, he certainly has a funny bone. Siddharth Mallya, son of liquor baron and owner of the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya, is often trolled online for being arrogant, rich and for not paying the salaries of Kingfisher employees. However, he certainly has a funny bone and boasts of over 6 lakh followers on Twitter, who are kept entertained with his quirky tweets. His show on YouTube, #SidSessions, where he personally takes on his online trolls, gets millions of views. The Christmas special episode of the show with actress Nargis Fakhri got 1,03,090 views within a week of being uploaded. One of the funniest repartees on the show was to a question by Bhavya Mudgal: “@sidmallya how many times you had an intercourse #asksid”(sic). To this Mallya replies: “I believe I had my main

course”. Fakhri, also known for her idiosyncratic acts, added to this: “Oh the course between main course and the dessert should be an intercourse.” The two, with their crazy sense of humor, keep audience engaged with some adults joke thrown in here and there. But despite sexual references, the jokes never seem vulgar. Mallya also shows that the right attitude to handle trolls is not to snap at them but to poke them back. If Mallya’s son can keep the jokes coming, Kingfisher can dream of reviving its glory solely with Youtube revenues.

Taylor Swift

Thumbs down

woos fans

to Facebook’s Year-end slideshow

POP SENSATION Taylor Swift is known to value her fans more than anything else. After the success of her album 1989, she and her team decided to painstakingly study the “likes, job, whereabouts” of her social media fans. After all this, Taylor, packed personalized gifts and got them delivered to her fans. The whole process and the precious reactions of her fans after receiving the gifts were recorded by her team. The video, “Taylor Swift's Gift Giving of 2014”, was uploaded by the star on New Year’s eve. It has clocked a whooping 12,098,150 views. There couldn’t have been a better start to the New Year for all Swifties, as Swift’s fans are popularly called.

FACEBOOK’S YEAR-END slideshow, “Year in review” was one the most shared and liked features on the social networking site. But for many, the slideshow that goes with the tag line: “It’s been a great year, thanks for being part of it” wasn’t the best way to say goodbye to a year that had been tough and sad. For Ohio-based web designer Eric Meyer, the slideshow came as a cruel reminder of his daughter’s death. Meyer lost his six-year-old daughter Rebecca in 2014. She was suffering from brain cancer. In a blog titled, “Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty”, Meyer writes: “My year looked like the nowabsent face of my little girl. It was still unkind to remind me so forcefully. And I know, of course, that this is not a deliberate assault. This inadvertent

algorithmic cruelty is the result of a code that works in the overwhelming majority of cases, reminding people of the awesomeness of their years.” Just like Meyer, many people, who lost someone, had a breakup or went through financial hardships, criticized Facebook for being nosey. While someone had the picture of their dead pets as the cover of the slideshow, others were reminded of their deceased parents. Another woman had a picture of her ex-boyfriend’s apartment on fire as her cover photo. Facebook later apologized for the gaffes. VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 9

Lede Dark Web

h C The

f o r e b am

Some 80 percent of internet content deals with the darker side of life – torture, drugs, child pornography, ammunition…And the more governments try to shackle this, the less they will be able to do so BY AAQIB RAZA KHAN 10 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

lICK. The laptop screen goes black. Broken images attempt to show up, and then fail. The web page looks basic. A hyperlinked menu comes up and offers choices to proceed—hitmen, crowd-funded assassinations, choreographed torture, drug dealers, child pornography, arms and ammunitions and anarchy groups—all buzzing with activity. Anonymous users crawl through these pages. After all, regular internet can be monitored and privacy is an important issue today. Welcome to the deep side of the web, also called the Dark Web or Deep Web.

According to Cisco Security Intelligence Operations, more than 80 percent of the web is “dark”, meaning it is uncategorized by legacy URL-filtering databases. The internet we surf is actually just the tip of the iceberg. This online chamber of secrets is right under the web pages you frequent and are often invisible to search engine trackers. EASILY ACCESSIBLE So how does the Dark Web become accessible? While normal web addresses are preceded by “www” and suffixed by “.coms, .orgs”, etc, the Dark Web works on “.tor” address. TOR stands for The Onion Router. The different layers of encryption give it the name of Onion. It was developed in the 1990s by the US Naval Research Laboratory for surveillance purposes and is legal, but its use has transcended time and applications. Tor works by redirecting a user through a number of virtual networks before finally landing on the destination address. This removes the location and identity of the user and his machine. It’s used by people all over the world to

“Most of the laws of the actual world are completely ineffective in the Dark Web, primarily because of its architecture and Tor browsers. Identity is invariably hidden behind various levels of anonymity.” — Pawan Duggal, cyber law expert bypass censorship rules, surpass organizational regulations and maintain strict anonymity. It was reported that this underground network served the cause of protest movements in Middle Eastern nations. The project’s official website claims that family and friends use it to protect their dignity while using the internet; businesses use it to track competition and protect intellectual property; whistleblowers use it to safely report corruption (Edward Snowden and Julian Assange used the Tor network to surpass surveillance and leak “secret” documents); journalists often communicate on this network to maintain secrecy of contacts and information and armed forces use it to protect their investigations. “Most of the laws of the actual world are

VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 11

Lede Dark Web

While normal web addresses are preceded by “www” and suffixed by “.coms, .orgs”,etc, the Dark Web works on “.tor” address. TOR stands for The Onion Router. completely ineffective in the Dark Web, primarily because of its architecture and Tor browsers. Identity is invariably hidden behind various levels of anonymity,” says Pavan Duggal, cyber law expert. The National Security Agency of the US has also claimed that Tor is “the king of high secure, low latency internet anonymity”. RINGING IN SECURITY Andrew Lewman, executive director, Tor Project

SHADOWY FIGURES But the secrecy has come to haunt the system it-

12 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

self. The Onion Router works towards internet privacy as a non-profit organization, but its servers are now plagued by illicit activities. Nobody knows who propagates them, participates in them or maintains the portals. They are just shadows—dark and unrecognizable. Andrew Lewman, executive director, Tor Project, said to betabeat.com, an online news portal: “In the late 80s and early 90s, we heard that the internet was for child-molesters, money laundering, drug dealing and pornography. ‘Who would want to use this internet thing? It’s only bad!’ That’s where the deep web is now.” But the dark web is not all bad—it is also, says Lewman, a place where drug-addicts and other victims of violence wary of disclosing their identity, can come to seek help anonymously. Kabir Khalid (name changed on request), an

undergraduate student in Delhi University, says that he often surfs the dark web while accessing the internet from college. “It helps bypass the internal security gateway. I find a lot of interesting, and sometimes banned, movies and books there to download,” says Khalid. But the anonymous network has often been accused of promoting negative elements. It stocks arms and ammunitions, sells fake credit card details, fake passports, gives information about hitmen for hire and has Cheese Pizza, a codeword for child pornography. There are also gut-wrenching videos of torture and murders, human experiments and their reports and easy do-ityourselfs on making bombs and cooking drugs. All of it can be accessed, without revealing any information. However, there have been crackdowns on these nefarious activities. A recent global operation, “Operation Onymous”, led to the arrests of 17 people and closure of many dark net domains. Silk Road, Hydra and Cloud 9 are some of the most popular drug-peddling services available on the Dark Web. Here, stuff can be bought in exchange of bitcoins, an e-currency exchangeable for real cash. One bitcoin is Rs. 22,020.04 (at the time of filing the story). Bitcoins, says Duggal, have not been legalized by the parameters of the Indian IT Act. “Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India has stated in a circular that bitcoins are highly speculative, and people need to be really careful.” ILLEGAL STUFF Tor also has its advantages in places where governments crack down on the internet. “Tor is a great tool for people connecting from countries with restrictive internet access (like China’s Golden Shield), but obviously it can be abused by people wanting to carry out illegal activities. It’s a double-edged sword,” says Gorgash, a Dark Web user, on community information networking service Reddit. Another use, humperdinkel, says

CENSORSHIP Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wants filters to block “objectionable content”

Silk Road, Hydra and Cloud 9 are some of the most popular drug-peddling services available on the Dark Web. Here, stuff can be bought in exchange of bitcoins and e-currency exchangeable for real cash.

on the same website: “I've only stayed on Silk Road, so the coolest thing I’ve seen is a sale of British passports and bulk amounts of cocaine.” Another Reddit user, dethrowawayz, says: “There’s nothing you will find on the surface web that can really compare to the Deep Web.” Much of the political debate around the world has centered around the idea of internet and the right to freedom of speech. A free internet is synonymous with free speech. Governments try hard to filter down the content, and sometimes define strict guidelines to tailor the internet. China blocked Twitter to curb dissenting voices. However, proxy servers help tech-savvy Chinese citVIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 13

Lede Dark Web

izens to still access blocked websites. There’s always a way where there is a will. GOVERNMENT MOVE The Indian government too is keen to go down this controversial road. In September this year, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad met senior officials of the Directorate of Telecom, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII to discuss the implementation of one such filter. The censorship is being aimed in the name of “communal harmony” and to block “objectionable content”. The US is also seeing aggressive debates on net neutrality, which is for equality of access to all the websites against the proposed idea of boosting websites which pay a significant amount. Such selective control of internet content works against the open and democratic medium of the internet. It also eventually leads users to avenues such as the Dark Web, where they can voice their dissent and find content which is unavailable on the clear-net. “First and foremost, any kind of blocking of electronic content is nothing but internet sensation and invariably leads to far more traffic to it. Countries across the world have tried to block websites and failed. It’s possible to access such websites through proxy servers,” says Duggal. “The Indian IT Act is frozen in time and failed to

Communication patterns point to a world heavily dependent on the internet. Facebook has allowed access to its website in the Deep Web network, becoming one of the few mainstream websites to do so. 14 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

keep pace with the march of technology. The act was made 14 years back, with an amendment only in 2008.” PARTIALLY SHUT However, moves to control the Dark Web are not always successful. The recent shutting down of various versions of Silk Road, starting with Silk Road by FBI in 2013, then Silk Road 2.0, and the emergence of Silk Road 3.0 Reloaded, show that there is no stopping the Dark Web and newer, more advanced versions keep cropping up. After the fall of Silk Road and Silk Road 2, Black Market Reloaded tried to fill in their shoes. Incidentally, Black Market Reloaded sells guns. “I feel sad for Silk Road,” writes the owner of Black Market Reloaded whose user name is backopy. [The website] has been a great competitor all this time,” he says. The admin was Ross William Ulbricht, a 29-year-old graduate of the University of Texas. The market had reported sales of $1.2 billion in two years. Though Black Market Reloaded page looks dead as of now, with rapidly changing identities and a flourishing grey market, it might just resurface again. Duggal foresees that in future, privacy will be a concept of the past. Inter-connection of devices and networks will lead to a large number of complicated policy and regulatory issues. “It’s going to be different world altogether,” Duggal concludes. Rapid digitalization of devices and communication patterns point to a world heavily dependent on the internet. Facebook recently allowed access to its website in the Deep Web network, becoming one of the few mainstream websites to do so. And yes, there are piracy issues, as, along with other illegal activities perpetuated by Dark Web users, downloading of software, movies and music is quite rampant. It’s obvious that Dark Web will remain relevant in the years to come, especially if there are institutional clamp-down on websites.

Spotlight TRP rush

THE CHASE

GAME

The J&K polls saw amazing kite flying by news channels. In the rush to beat competitors, many gave wrong “leads” in the first two hours of counting. What does this do to the credibility of these organizations? BY AKASH BANERJEE

hen it comes to hurling brickbats, news channels have never been short of coining terms: #PaidMedia; #SickularMedia; #ElitistMedia; #PartialMedia, and so on. The election results of J&K and Jharkhand on December 23, 2014, saw the addition of another feather to this notorious cap of epithets— #DupeMedia. It’s no secret that news channels have been facing rough weather of late. Some have been accused of partisan behavior; others have been facing pressure from their political or corporate masters. However, beyond these issues lies the real challenge of every news channel—that of garnering viewers and grabbing TRP numbers so that advertising revenue continues to flow in.

WILLFUL DUPING While breathless reporting and inaccurate newsbreaks are the perils of the TV news industry globally, the willful duping by some channels as the results of J&K and Jharkhand started pouring in on December 23, is worrying. For close to two hours (8am-10am), most of the news channels went on a kite flying spree, churning out electoral leads in a whimsical fashion and jacking up the projections to absurd levels. Clearly, the desire for TRPs was overpowering that day. The temptation to show results coming in for the “high stakes” J&K elections was too hard to resist. VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 15

Spotlight TRP rush

“I was told that those who got it wrong went on to say that the numbers were swaying wildly. They should have asked themselves if the numbers were swaying or they were!” — Times Now’s Arnab Goswami

PARTY WISE BREAK-UP OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR ELECTIONS BJP: 25 CPI-M: 1 INC: 12 NC: 15 PDP: 28 PC: 2 JKPDF: 1 Independents: 3

What many channels didn’t realize was that they were playing with the results of our hard-fought democratic process. Times Now’s Arnab Goswami stood out as the only broadcast journalist who openly spoke against this manufacturing of leads that was witnessed on TV channels. “It was impossible to access more than 60 of the 87 seats in J&K, when 90 percent of the constituencies (that is less than 10) hadn’t completed even round one of counting,” he said. Even as the counting was in motion, Goswami cautioned his viewers not to follow leads that even the Election Commission (EC) would be stunned to see. When contacted, many news channels refused to comment. This is a practice that’s not exactly new. Calculation of leads is a grey area and TV channels get away with inflating numbers, especially where the results are largely uni-directional. For example, in Jharkhand, it was easy to say that the BJP would be the majority party—inflating projections was a safe bet. REHEARSED SCRIPT? However, in J&K, news channels majorly tripped because of the complicated results. Going by exit polls results and gut sense, the numbers began

Newsroom editors claim that the manufacturing of leads happens from the agency supplying the data and not the news channels, a charge that CVoter founder Yashwant Deshmukh denies. 16 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

to be projected to show that the BJP would have massive gains and the PDP would end up as the largest party. To accommodate this “thought”, the Congress and the NC would have to be written off. That was the script that was followed in the first two hours. However, when the results starting kicking in around 10am, the picture changed dramatically. While significantly dented, the NC and the Congress were not decimated. “The numbers have changed now!” gasped a veteran anchor (who till then was writing obituaries for the NC and the Congress). The leads then swung to show the NC coming close to the PDP in numbers (before finally settling down at nearly half of PDP’s); but leads, unlike stock markets, don’t go haywire like that. “I was told that those who got it wrong went on to say that the numbers were swaying wildly,” says Goswami. “They should have asked themselves if the numbers were swaying or they were!” he quips. There are primarily two agencies that syndicate election results to news channels. These are AC Nielsen and more recently, CVoter. Newsroom editors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claim that the manufacturing of leads happens from the agency supplying the data and not the news channels. This charge is vehemently denied by CVoter founder, Yashwant

Deshmukh. “Our network of reporters are present at all counting centers and unlike others, we are a network of journalists, not a network of market researchers,” he says. “All our call center operations have 100 percent audio recordings of all trends conveyed by our reporters, across all counting centers. So we stand by our work,” he adds. Goswami, however, is not impressed. “Obviously the figures were messed up,” he insists. “Guess work doesn’t work in television broadcasting. We started with the AC Nielsen figures and they were accurate till the end. Despite the inflated numbers by others, Times Now got 50 percent of the channels’ share on all election days.” FLAWED SYSTEM While Deshmukh fervently stands by the work done by CVoter, he admits to a malaise in the system. “This question should be raised and tagged on to those networks that do irresponsible reporting and announce wrong results in their hurry to be first,” he says. “This has been going on for years and without accountability. The best solution lies in two agencies covering the counting and channels picking their trends after confirming them.” By his own admission, Deshmukh says this is a long shot and will never be implemented. The other and the more obvious reason for the galloping numbers on election leads is that every news channel tracks its competition minutely. Once a major channel goes on a manufacturing spree, it’s hard for the others not to. Such blind following of each other’s numbers on the election ticker will bring further disrepute to the already embattled news organizations. It’s a pity that despite being made aware of this malpractice earlier, the EC has never taken action on two fronts. One is playing with leads. Another is predicting results based on perception and not hard data. Take the case of outgoing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah—many news channels had to apologize to the NC leader for having declared him a loser from the Beerwah constituency. Oth-

ers had a more creative approach and made him win due to a last minute “surge”. With a few notable exceptions, counting day leads (specially the first two hours) were fraudulent and hasty. It’s a practice that must stop, because just like the Indian voter, the Indian TV viewer is not a fool. (The writer is Associate VP at Radio Mirchi and author of “Tales from Shining and Sinking India”) Note: VON contacted Rajdeep Sardesai, and Managing Editors of Aaj Tak and NewsX, Vinay Tewari and Yashwant Rana. While Sardesai said he was not the right person to comment on the issue, the others didn’t respond to our mails and SMSes.

RACE TO BE FIRST TV grabs from Aaj Tak and ABP telecasting leads in over 75 seats within the first two hours of counting

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Investigation Red Cross-Part 2

THE RED CROSS’ 18 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

SECRET

he problems with the Red Cross’ response to Isaac began even before the storm hit. About 460 mass care volunteer workers—90 percent of the workers the organization dispatched to provide food and shelter for the storm overall —were stationed in Tampa ahead of landfall, former disaster expert with Red Cross Richard Rieckenberg emails from the time say. The hundreds of volunteers in Tampa weren’t only there for the hurricane: The Republican National Convention was going on there and the Red Cross wanted a large presence, Rieckenberg says. The Red Cross typically deploys about 20 volunteers to such meetings. The Red Cross left hundreds of volunteers in Tampa, the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention, well after it was clear Hurricane Isaac would miss the city. Emails from the time show Rieckenberg com-

Concluding part of a two-part series. Through internal documents and exclusive interviews, investigative reporters from ProPublica and NPR uncover a bungled relief effort by Red Cross after Hurricane Isaac and Sandy BY JUSTIN ELLIOTT, JESSE EISINGER, AND LAURA SULLIVAN, COURTESY PROPUBLICA

DISASTER VIEWS ON NEWS

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Investigation Red Cross-Part 2

(Michael Rubenstein/NPR)

ABSENT FROM DISASTER SCENE In one New Jersey county, the Red Cross was Absent Without Official Leave(AWOL), says Lt. Matthew Tiedemann of the Bergen County Office of Emergency Management

plained that Red Cross officials prevented disaster response leaders from moving volunteers out of Tampa even after forecasts showed that the hurricane wouldn’t hit the city. It was the first time in Rieckenberg’s experience that people in charge of disaster relief didn’t have the final say over where Red Cross volunteers were sent. The Red Cross disputes the notion that the Republican National Convention influenced their deployment, saying it was responding to early forecasts that Tampa might be in Isaac’s path.... But according to the National Hurricane Center, at least five days before Isaac made landfall it was clear the storm would not hit Tampa. The charity also insists that “the volunteers and resources we deployed to Florida did not come at the expense of other states.” It did not provide figures for how many mass care volunteers were on the ground in other states before Isaac. Whatever the reason the Red Cross sent so many volunteers to Tampa, a number of Red Cross officials say there were delays in getting them out. “After how long they were in Tampa, they obviously could not redeploy. They consumed all their available time and went home,” says Bob Scheifele, who served as mass

The charity’s problems left some victims vulnerable to harm. Handicapped victims “slept in their wheelchairs for days” because the charity had not secured proper cots.

20 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

care chief in Louisiana. ... Rieckenberg emailed his superior at national headquarters on Sept. 12, 2012, to sound the alarm. “In Mississippi we were unable to open a single shelter with proper staff, materials and food resources prior to landfall,” Rieckenberg wrote. “We had trouble getting food to our kitchens.” The Red Cross’ relief efforts were “marked primarily by internal political wrangling, power struggles and ineffectiveness.” Rieckenberg met with senior officials in October 2012 to voice his concerns... “You (as usual) have clearly articulated the core of many of the issues we are facing. From a broad perspective I completely agree with you,” Trevor Riggen, the top Red Cross disaster response official, replied that same day. “This is extremely systemic.” He also praised Rieckenberg for his service: “You have been an extraordinary asset to the country,” Riggen wrote. In mid-October 2012, Rieckenberg and Scheifele traveled to Washington to present their experiences to Riggen and two other high-level Red Cross executives. “We are more enamored with the perception of success rather than success,” Rieckenberg told them, according to his notes. He and Scheifele presented a host of other concerns to the officials. The executives asked Rieckenberg and Scheifele to be patient, promising reforms. And then, on Oct. 29, 2012, Sandy hit New York. The superstorm was the worst to hit the northeast in a generation. In addition to President Obama, Mitt Romney and Bruce Springsteen urged people to donate to the Red Cross. The charity ultimately raised $312 million to help Sandy victims. (ProPublica has raised questions about the opacity of Red Cross disclosures on how this money was spent.) But while its fundraising was torrential, its disaster response was a trickle. “The Red Cross would have been helpful if it had offered food, water, shelter, cleaning supplies,

blankets,” says Rich Wieland, whose house in Toms River, New Jersey was flooded and whose neighborhood lost power for 16 days. His first contact with the charity came two months after the storm when Red Cross workers finally called to offer aid. “It was too little, too late.” Richard Sturiale, who saw the basement and first floor of his home in the Rockaways destroyed by flooding, recalls that “the only Red Cross truck my neighbors or I saw came two weeks after the storm.” In contrast, he says, Mormon and Amish volunteers “appeared at my doorstep offering much-needed help” just three days after Sandy. Behind closed doors, Red Cross executives acknowledged the effort was falling short. The charity was “not good at scaling up” to the size of the disaster, said the official in charge of the Red Cross disaster response in New York, according to the minutes of the December 2012 meeting to assess the charity’s performance. Among the multiple systems that “failed” was the charity’s tracking of its emergency response vehicles.

Sandy victims in neighborhoods along the beaches like the Rockaways couldn’t get food and drinkable water. Rieckenberg documented his concerns in an email on Nov. 18, 2012, to Riggen, the Red Cross executive in charge of disaster operations, and later mentioned it in a December email to other top Red Cross disaster volunteers. Another Red Cross disaster response chief, Steve Ade, complained to a vice president, according to Rieckenberg and two other Red Cross officials. “I can’t afford to have my ERVs sitting around all morning,” Ade said. “Stop right there,” a Red Cross executive from headquarters responded. “These are not your ERVs. They belong to Gail and she’s going to do whatever she wants with them,” referring to McGovern, the

PR DISASTER A Sandy photo-op with Heidi Klum tied up resources, angering a Red Cross official on the ground

gain, top officials impeded the organization’s relief efforts in their zeal to burnish its public profile. An internal “Lessons Learned” PowerPoint presentation lists “hindrances to service delivery.” Its first bullet point: “NHQ” – national headquarters. Under that, it lists one of the problems as “diverting assets for public relation purposes.” Rieckenberg, who planned the Red Cross’ mass care effort from Washington before the storm hit and then worked on the ground in New York, experienced the problem firsthand. In early November, the Red Cross had a limited number of emergency response vehicles, or ERVs, active in the New York City area. But multiple officials complained that the vehicles, a crucial part of the relief efforts, were being tied up at press conferences. On Nov. 2, 2012, at the peak of the post-storm crisis, 15 were assigned to public relations duties, Rieckenberg says. Meanwhile, (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for AOL)

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Investigation Red Cross-Part 2

WASTED EFFORTS The Red Cross left hundreds of volunteers in Tampa, the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention, well after it was clear Hurricane Isaac would miss the city

Red Cross chief executive. Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern speaks at a postSandy press conference on Staten Island with emergency response vehicles as backdrops. Relief workers were angered that the vehicles were diverted for public relations purposes. In a statement, the Red Cross denied that emergency response vehicles were “dedicated” to public relations duties. The charity said 15 vehicles were distributing supplies at a site in Staten Island where a press conference with then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was held. Rieckenberg says this was 40 percent of all available ERVs; the Red Cross says that’s wrong but could not say how many ERVs were in New York that day. The vehicles had been sent to Staten Island at the request of the borough president “to address needs in that area,” the charity says. According to the Red Cross, Chief Executive McGovern “participated in the press conference, but Red Cross did not hold the press conference and, to be clear, it was not the reason that ERVs were sent to Staten Island.” (The Red Cross did issue a press release for the event, stating that McGovern would have a “media availability.”) In another diversion, an emergency response vehicle was dispatched to an early December photo-op

with supermodel Heidi Klum to tour affected areas with Red Cross supplies, recalled a third senior Red Cross official who requested anonymity because the official still works for the charity. “Did you know it takes a Victoria’s Secret model five hours to unload one box off a truck?” the official says. “I was so mad.” The Red Cross says Klum was delivering supplies to families. At the same time emergency vehicles were assigned to public relations duties, the Red Cross was having problems in many other parts of the relief effort, according to the “Lessons Learned” presentation. Among the more worrisome instances had to do with sex offenders. Red Cross officials are supposed to track sex offenders who come to shelters and confer with law enforcement. But staff “didn’t know/follow procedures,” the presentation notes. There was an additional problem with “ unrelated adults showering with children.” “It’s hard for us to know based on this document exactly what occurred and where,” the charity wrote in a statement. “The Red Cross has a humanitarian responsibility to provide safe shelter to all people

(Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

22 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

who seek refuge in our facilities and has policies and procedures to handle a wide array of situations, including the presence of sex offenders in shelters.” More generally, in response to questions from ProPublica and NPR about the “Lessons Learned” presentation, the Red Cross wrote, “Some of the issues were corrected immediately during the response, others we are taking additional steps to improve.” During the Sandy disaster, some government officials came to resent the Red Cross. When the storm hit, officials in Bergen County, New Jersey activated their Emergency Operations Center. In keeping with a carefully established plan, representatives from government agencies and charities gather there to coordinate, share information and respond to crises 24 hours a day. A seat was reserved for the Red Cross, the most important non-government responder. But the Red Cross’ seat remained empty for the full duration of the Sandy response. “They were the only major player not there,” says police lieutenant Matthew Tiedemann, who helped run Bergen County’s response to Sandy. County officials had no easy way to get in touch with Red Cross leadership to tell them about areas of need on the ground, he says.

urnover and reorganizations appear to have had a corrosive effect on the Red Cross’ effectiveness. The “ biggest challenge,” one top Red Cross official said in the December 2012 meeting, is the “skillset that is possessed by our workforce.” Another was even more stark: The “ caliber of the people is a major issue (this is not a training issue),” according to the meeting minutes. The Red Cross acknowledges that nearly twothirds of the volunteers responding to Sandy had never before provided relief after a large disaster. Staten Island pastors Daniel Delgado and John Rocco Carlo say the Red Cross didn't show up after Sandy. Some of the Red Cross’ Sandy volunteers were hindered not only by their lack of experience

or skills but by their advanced age. As the Red Cross’ internal documents note, the challenges of urban disaster response include physically grueling tasks such as walking up stairs in high rises to get to people in need... Relief workers for other groups often found the Red Cross’ efforts ineffectual and at times even “absurdist,” says Sofía Gallisá Muriente, a volunteer for the relief group Occupy Sandy. She started working in the Rockaways a couple of days after the storm hit and stayed for 10 months.

Catherine Barde/American Red Cross via Flickr

When the Red Cross finally appeared weeks after the storm, volunteers were planning to distribute flashlights but discovered they had no batteries, she says. One Red Cross staffer came to a Rockaways community center and asked them to donate some. “I was infuriated,” she recalls. “Didn’t Lady Gaga just donate a million dollars to you guys?” she asked the Red Cross staffer. “Buy some batteries with it.” Bringing volunteers from places like Kansas and North Carolina to New York City, in some cases for the first time, led to problems. Muriente and others recall that Red Cross workers got lost driving

A PR EXERCISE? Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern speaks at a post-Sandy press conference on Staten Island with emergency response vehicles as backdrops

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Investigation Red Cross-Part 2

DEVASTATION A man walks through the ravages of Hurricane Sandy

around New York without GPS devices, trying to find devastated neighborhoods. In one previously unreported incident that became instantly notorious among Sandy responders, the Red Cross brought a truck full of pork lunches to a Jewish retirement high-rise. With the charity stumbling badly in the early days after Sandy, Red Cross headquarters began feeling pressure. Sandy victims were going hungry. In early November, headquarters issued an edict that the New York operation needed to start producing more meals.

hat wasn’t the problem, Rieckenberg told his superiors. He was in charge of tracking food and, at the time, the Red Cross was already wasting three out of every 10 meals being prepared, he estimates. The real issue was that the Red Cross was failing to gather information about where hungry victims were located. Officials at the Red Cross’ national headquarters stood firm over Rieckenberg’s objections. They directed a catering company to increase its output dramatically, from 20,000 to 220,000 meals per day. And it had to start with breakfast for 100,000 the 24 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

next morning. In the ensuing chaos, the caterer was only able to deliver 70,000 Danishes the following day, Rieckenberg says. The cost to the Red Cross: about $7 apiece, much more than normal. Top Red Cross officials had assured Rieckenberg that someone would get him the locations where staffers could deliver the meals. The list was never supplied. About half of the pastries were wasted. The caterer couldn’t produce the lunches and dinners. Red Cross volunteers had to distribute cold leftover Danishes instead. “We were pushing every resource we had to its maximum capability,” Riggen, the Red Cross executive, said when asked about the episode. In response to questions about its performance after Sandy overall, the Red Cross frequently points to the total number of services it says it delivered: 17 million meals and snacks, 74,000 overnight stays in shelters, more than 7 million relief items like blankets and flashlights. However, one internal report casts doubt on the reliability of these figures: The “sheer size” of the disaster “ crippled our ability to count” the number of relief items distributed, it says. Asked about that, Riggen says “crippled” is “a

strong term.” The public enumeration of the Red Cross’ services was accurate, he says. The focus on public relations persisted throughout the Sandy operation. In early December 2012, Red Cross officials asked Bob Scheifele, who was then mass care chief for New York, to put on a demonstration for donors who had funded the Spirit of America, a giant mobile kitchen attached to a semi, which has the capacity to make 30,000 meals a day. The Spirit of America had recently been shut down, as the need for meals was tapering off. Scheifele says he made the arrangements to have it restarted, but there was a snafu, and the Spirit of America didn’t get up and running properly. Top Red Cross executives were furious. Scheifele says they demanded that he fire people under him. He was baffled by the reaction. They hadn’t failed to deliver disaster relief, after all. He says he refused, telling his superiors that if anyone should be let go, it should be him, since he was in charge. The Red Cross sent Scheifele home, dismissing one of its most senior disaster responders. “Public relations became the issue. It was a dogand-pony show,” Scheifele says. He has since reconciled with top executives and continues to work on disasters for the Red Cross, an organization he says he loves. The Red Cross maintains that the Spirit of America was reopened to serve the community, not for donors. It declined to provide documentation for its account. Scheifele documented the incident at the time in a “memo for the record.” As he had after Hurricane Isaac, Rieckenberg brought his concerns to top Red Cross officials after Sandy. “We became focused on making ‘the numbers look good’ and in ‘showing a presence,’” he emailed Riggen, the Red Cross vice president, on Nov. 18, 2012. He described what happened when he advised his bosses that a suggested feeding plan wouldn’t help storm victims. “I was quite bluntly told that they didn’t care – it was the plan that was going to make the ARC [American Red Cross] look the best to the local politicians,” he wrote.

During Isaac, Red Cross supervisors ordered dozens of trucks usually deployed to deliver aid to be driven around nearly empty instead, “just to be seen,” one of the drivers, Jim Dunham, recalls. Rieckenberg recalls that the Red Cross was failing to get cooking supplies to kitchens run by its partner, the Southern Baptists. Those kitchen workers were forced to improvise. Riggen, the disaster official, pledged to call him the following week. Rieckenberg says he never heard from him.

efore he left New York, Rieckenberg finally was able to look up from his post, leave the relief operation center in Manhattan and get out to see Sandy’s destruction for himself. He encountered an older woman who was running a kitchen for the Southern Baptists. The Red Cross was supposed to be supplying the kitchen with propane, but the woman said it hadn’t arrived. She told him a group of volunteers scraped together $700 to get the supplies they needed. “I felt so ashamed,” he says. More recently, sitting on his patio in a small town in New Mexico, he says his experiences in Isaac and Sandy had permanently altered his view of an organization he had loyally served for years. He was asked: Should people give money to the Red Cross? “I don’t donate to the Red Cross. People should do what they think is best for them.” (This story was co-produced with NPR. Theodoric Meyer contributed reporting. Justin Elliott has been a reporter with ProPublica since 2012, covering politics with a focus on money and influence.Jesse Eisinger is a senior reporter at ProPublica, covering Wall Street and finance. He writes a regular column for the New York Times’s Dealbook section.Laura Sullivan is a NPR News investigative correspondent whose work has cast a light on some of the country’s most disadvantaged people.) VIEWS ON NEWS

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Obituary BG Verghese

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A RARE BREED AMONG EDITORS The recent demise of this veteran journalist has left a gaping hole in the media world. After all, how many editors can one find today who are feared and remain uncompromising when it comes to the truth? BY RAMESH MENON ITH the passing away of BG Verghese, one of the doyens of Indian journalism, it almost seems as if an institution has come to an end. He personified the blooming of development journalism in India and showed how the media could emerge as a catalyst of change and give a new perspective to readers. In the mid Seventies when I had stars in my eyes and saw journalism as an interesting career to chase, Boobili George Verghese was an icon we all looked up to. He fearlessly championed the cause of the downtrodden and unprivileged and felt that it was a journalistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job to crusade for justice, social equality and freedom. He worked for newspapers like The Times of India, The Indian Express and Hindustan Times. He then turned to scholarly work in 1986, with the Centre for Policy Research. WHAT AN INSPIRATION When the top editors of The Times of India

group interviewed me for the job of a trainee journalist, one of the questions they asked me was whom I considered an icon in journalism. One of the names I nervously spluttered out was BG Verghese. They wanted to know why. I said that I liked the seriousness he brought to the profession, tackling subjects that needed urgent attention as the future of the country depended on it. I got the job. I was always inspired to work under him due to his kind of journalism that was hardly popular or fashionable, but it was not to be. Journalism for him was a vehicle to ensure social transformation. He was definitely one of the most respected editors of his generation. He was a stickler for facts, accuracy and grammar. His colleagues remember how he would spend hours every morning circling out mistakes in the newspaper and then point it out to them so that they would not be repeated. He was feared in political and bureaucratic circles, as he would not compromise on the truth or be pressured. It is rare to find such editors anymore. For his pioneering work and leadership, VIEWS ON NEWS

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Obituary BG Verghese

he was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1975. The citation read: “Journalism for him is zestful. Yet his sense of public duty is strong.” It is precisely this that gave him the tenacity and courage to keep writing with a sense of purpose even though he saw the institution of the media crumble around him. Maybe, that is why he was always an unwavering activist ready to fight for causes like human rights. He spoke out against the Gujarat riots like few editors did. (See box: Lessons from Gujarat) AMAZING OUTPUT He was a prolific writer. His books include, Design for Tomorrow, that dealt with India’s infrastructure

LAMENT for the MEDIA Managers have increasingly taken over from editors, some of whom have fallen prey to bloated salaries and perks. BY BG VERGHESE

ndia is rightly proud of its vibrant democracy despite shortcomings and flaws. Among the instrumentalities of our free society is the media, which has seen exponential growth in both the print and electronic segments with a huge and burgeoning viewership and readership in all regions and languages. The communications revolution has given the media an instant and global reach and, with convergence, a multi-dimensional capability. It has grown in range and sophistication and is now immensely powerful and even feared not only by the public but by the organs of state. It was always true, but today, information truly is power. This carries with it a corresponding responsibility imbued with a sense of trusteeship in providing the people with the kind of information needed for democratic participation, empowerment and informed choice. We must lament a disgraceful fall in standards as revealed by well-documented stories of the sale of electoral coverage by sections of the news media through ‘packages’ relating to the kind of treatment sought. What earlier seemed an isolated, low-level viral outbreak appears to have gained virulence

28 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

and epidemic proportions. Alarm bells have sounded. One respected editor of a leading Hindi daily resigned on this score while another Urdu editor who contested the elections was also asked to pay for coverage, although on concessional terms after he protested that he was himself a journalist. A complaint was lodged with the Press Council by late Prabhash Joshi and others and the matter is now being investigated by it. Meanwhile, new evidence has come to light from the just-concluded Maharashtra polls. Chief minister Ashok Chavan was found to have shown no more than Rs 10,000 for media advertisements in his election returns though pages and pages of advertising had appeared in his favour which in aggregate in value could even be in excess of the total permissible electoral expenditure for an Assembly seat. Not content with this, he publicly awarded substantial monetary prizes to each of the three polling stations that gave him the highest votes. What is this if not an ex-post facto electoral inducement and an act of dubious morality if not an outright electoral malpractice. Who paid, Chavan or the exchequer? If it is the former, then this must be added to his

election expenditure which could inflate his returns above the prescribed ceiling. None will be taken in by such subterfuge and the papers must be asked to disclose who paid the bills. The rot set in with economic reforms and deregulation which led to a rapid expansion of economic activity with new ventures, mergers and acquisitions, rising stock values and corresponding public relations spending. Business reporters were baited with freebies and, in turn, started demanding or assuming favours, something governments had long done with housing plots and so on. ADVERTORIALS The Editor’s Guild prescribed a code to curb business sops. But then managements entered the lists and ‘advertorials’ crept in obliterating the distinction between news and ads. This was followed by ‘private treaties’ in which advertising was bartered for company shares to mutual benefit with promotional news writing and sponsored news. News was commodified and dumbed down to provide titillation, sensation, hype and sound bytes rather than substance to catch ‘eyeballs’, enhance

projects; North-East Resurgent, which talks of the fragile situation there; Waters of Hope on the abundant water resources in rivers like the Ganga and Brahmaputra; Reorienting India: Rage, Reconciliation and Security on managing India’s diversities; First Draft: Witness to the Making of Modern India, that recounts his observations on how India was evolving and changing;and Post Haste-Quintessential India, his last book in 2014, that chronicled the diversity and history of India as portrayed through its relentless workmen like postmen, who traversed extremely difficult areas like jungles and remote Himalayan Valleys to do their job. Obviously, he valued research tremendously, as he saw that as the only way to bring the real picture to his readers. The Editors Guild of India said the passing away

sales even if it meant dumping copies at vantage points, The media’s mission to provide unbiased news, outside the editorial page, yielded to the market. News has become commerce. Managers have increasingly taken over from editors, some of whom have fallen prey to bloated salaries and perks. Many family papers have gone the same way with money overriding mission. Honourable exceptions apart, this represents a sad decline in professional values, though many journalists are acutely unhappy and embarrassed by these trends. Some of the largest papers have been the worst offenders. The 24x7 news channels too have not been blameless. They are by nature shallow unless they take special pains to give depth to their coverage. Some anchors have turned inquisitor, slanting discussion to preconceived views and seeking to impose their opinions on panelists. That there are some excellent programmes too only shows what we are missing. And in this scenario, the government, parliament, the media, advertisers and the entertainment world have willfully conspired to all but kill public service broadcasting and radio. The well-heeled consumer has trumped the citizen who looks to the media for empowerment, access and participation in life and living.

BG Verghese was a stickler for facts, accuracy and grammar. He would spend hours every morning circling out mistakes in the newspaper and then point it out to colleagues. of Verghese, a veteran journalist and a “sensitive chronicler” of post-Independence India’s triumphs and travails, was a grievous loss to the world of journalism and to public and humanistic causes in general. Guild president N Ravi said Verghese served as a “conscience” of the media world. As the Indian media crawls and compromises, we may learn to value doyens like him in the years to come.

The matter is too serious to be left to drift. Maybe the Press Registration Act needs review to entrench the position of the editor who is even now responsible for everything published, including advertisements. Can the law require public interest directors to be appointed to boards of all media houses from tiered panels to act as guardians of the public interest? The establishment of self-regulatory bodies for the broadcast media by no means precludes the necessity for mandatory broadcast regulations as found in every part of the world. This need not curb media freedom. Fast driving requires good brakes. Should ‘private (ads for shares) treaties’ be required to be mandatorily disclosed by the paper/channel concerned? Can the Election Commission compel separate accounting of all advertisements and advertorial support for candidates under election expense? These are obviously extremely sensitive and complex matters that impinge on freedom of expression. But when freedom becomes license, democracy is in peril. Courtesy: Deccan Herald, December 29, 2009

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Obituary BG Verghese

LESSONS from GUJARAT BY BG VERGHESE

he true horror is the official effort by the perpetrators in Gujarat and their mentors and protectors in Delhi at different times and occasions to sanitise, extenuate, vindicate and even exalt the evil that was done. This is unprecedented. There was little remorse; no shame. The Prime Minister spoke and then self-confessedly abdicated to the supremacy of the mob. Some of his senior colleagues were brazen; others silent. All are complicit. Extraordinarily, with a few exceptions, there was no national appeal for funds to aid the victims. This cannot be glossed over. Donations not merely bring succour to the distressed but are a recognised means of expressing solidarity with and reaching out to the victims. On the other hand, barring a section of the Gujarat press that once again disgraced itself, the media rose to expose the true dimensions of the crimes committed against innocent men, women and children as well as the unborn. Hindus took grave risks to save the lives and property of their Muslim neighbours–or even total strangers– and vice versa. The rest of the country witnessed a storm of anger and protest against what was widely seen as a planned genocide in furtherance of the Parivar’s warped agenda. This was spearheaded by the Vishwa Hindu

30 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

Parishad and other front organisations and orchestrated by the BJP chief minister, Narendra Modi with the loudly silent approval of the Centre. But the riots did not spread to other states. Hindutva is not Hindu. The course and sequence of events is well-known. Yet the background needs telling. A series of electoral reverses for the BJP across the country and the surfacing of scams and internal bickering had steadily combined to stir disquiet and despondency within the Parivar. The radical view, espoused by hardliners especially within the RSS and other front organizations, was that the rot had set in on account of the seeming compulsions of coalition politics to abandon core issues in the Hindutva agenda. Correctives were indicated; and where better to start the process than Gujarat, which has emerged as the stoutest bastion of Hindu fundamentalism. Not without reason did Gujarat send one of the strongest contingents of kar sewaks to join the renewed Ayodhya crusade. (BG Verghese was part of the Editors Guild of India Fact-finding Mission after the Gujarat riots of 2002. The article has been taken from bgverghese.com)

Interview Rana Ayyub

In a forthright interview, journalist RANA AYYUB explains why she has faith in the judiciary and why she is shocked at how her own tribe is behaving under the new political dispensation

RANA AYYUB, former senior editor with Tehelka magazine, and now a freelance journalist, is an intrepid woman who has shaken the mighty. Known for her expose of fake encounters in Gujarat, she tells VON team that her fight for justice has just begun. The court recently cleared BJP supremo Amit Shah of ordering the police to carry out the killings of Sohrabuddin, his wife and a friend when he served as Gujarat home minister. But she says that her faith in the judiciary and her work is firm.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I FIND THE ATTITUDE OF THE MEDIA NAUSEATING NOWâ&#x20AC;? VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 31

Interview Rana Ayyub

FEARLESS MUMBAIKARS Ayyub says Mumbai journalists like Kumar Ketkar and Nikhil Wagle are more perceptive because of their distance from the power center

You are one of the few journalists who painstakingly followed the fake encounters in Gujarat.Your investigations and scoops for Tehelka badly affected Amit Shah’s political career. But he has received a clean chit in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. I will be honest here, I was shocked. I have tremendous respect for the Indian judiciary, which sent the first serving home minister in the history of Independent India behind bars. I am talking of Amit Shah. The Supreme Court had accepted the CBI case which called him a “murderer” and “head of an extortion racket who ran a crime syndicate”. Shah was also chargesheeted in the murder of Sohrabuddin’s wife, Kauserbi, who was raped, sedated and killed. As somebody who culled out all his call records that clearly established him as the man who was in constant touch with the cops, I continue to have faith in the higher courts. The battle for justice has just begun. Has there been consistent media scrutiny on the fake encounter cases in Gujarat? I think the media has been unfair in its coverage of

32 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

the fake encounters. Barring a few regional newspapers, hardly any mainstream national daily reported on the fake encounters investigation, which began from 2004 onwards. In fact, newspaper images from the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter itself tell the story. Top cops like DG Vanzara, who had carried out the encounter, displayed the bodies of the four who had been gunned down, as Lashkar terrorists. Not one journalist asked why a fidayeen called Ishrat Jahan, who was wearing her college I-card, was on her way to assassinate Modi. I remember when I reached Gujarat to investigate the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, many journalists spoke in whispers about the involvement of Shah, but were too scared to face his wrath. When the BJP claimed that Sohrabuddin was a terrorist, nobody from the media asked probing questions. If he was indeed a dreaded terrorist, why was he trading and working with top cops like Vanzara and Chudasama, who are behind bars? Why was Kauserbi raped and killed and her body burnt and thrown into the river? The silence of my feminist friends in the media stunned me. Is there a sense of general cautiousness in the media about reporting on the current government and its policies? Barring a few journalists who have refused to align with the government or take selfies with Prime Minister Modi, I find the attitude of the media nauseating. It was the media which rightfully took to task the government over the coal, 2G and Commonwealth Games scam. But why is there little outrage over conversions or when the RSS chief addresses the nation on Doordarshan? You tweeted a few days back: “To think we outraged over Lakhvis’ bail plea. Kindly go through the cases registered against Amit Shah by the CBI, findings accepted by SC”.You almost equate Amit Shah with Lakhvi. Is it fair? No, whatever I say needs to be seen in the context.

Having a Muslim surname comes with the baggage of wearing my “outrage” for Pakistan on my sleeves. I refuse to follow the diktats of the right-wing over my critiquing of Pakistan. My profession asks me to be pro-justice. My point is that I would be outraged over Lakhvi the same way I would be outraged over Amit Shah. Both have been accused of the murder of innocents. That’s where it ends for me. BJP may be a polarizing party, but it has support in almost all the states. Do you think majoritarian politics has helped sway voters or is this is a fleeting phase? I am not a psephologist, but the spinelessness and lack of leadership in the Congress has helped the BJP make inroads. It is using the development plank successfully, although the situation on the ground is at variance with this concept. Conversions, glorifying Godse, legitimacy to the rightwing fringe elements.… If this is the BJP politics and if it’s working for the people, then it must really bother us as a society. The cynical voter who saw the Congress at its worst got manipulated into buying the “achche din” idea. The PR blitzkrieg of Narendra Modi worked. But it needs to be seen how far PR can replace good governance. You have been one of the most targeted journalists on Twitter. What has been your worst experience ? I have learnt to live with it. On my bad days, they humor me. On a serious note, this is classic intimidation politics. From rumors about an alleged CD to an MMS, to an alleged link-up with a Congress leader, they have done it all. And I don’t blame them. These generating these trolls are paid to intimidate journalists and if you are a woman journalist, then you have to develop a thicker skin. Any real-life troll experience? Yes. In 2010, I had to write an open letter in Tehelka

Conversions, glorifying Godse, legitimacy to the right-wing fringe elements.… If this is the BJP politics and if it’s working for the people, then it must really bother us as a society. to stop these intimidating tactics. This was right after the Amit Shah expose. Some BJP leaders who portrayed themselves as rivals of Shah, called to offer help. Others, informed me that they knew about my whereabouts. In three years, I have changed 18 sim cards and six handsets. Every word I spoke was being tapped. Rajdeep Sardesai, in his book, has mentioned an incident where a stack of notes was sent to my hotel room to implicate me in a case. I have been threatened that I will be sent to hell, my parents will be harmed, acid will be thrown on my face… Journalists from Mumbai, be it you, Kumar Ketkar or Nikhil Wagle, are quite fearless about speaking their mind. Why are they different from journalists in Delhi who seem more "sober"? I have tremendous respect for Kumar and Nikhil and have learnt a great deal from both of them, especially on Maharashtra politics. I guess most Mumbai journalists by virtue of being away from the power centre, tend to be detached. I do not mean that Delhi-based journalists are not courageous, but I believe that most of us Mumbaikars are not power-struck or in awe of high-profile politicians. As Edward Said famously said: “Distance gives a sense of perspective”. Tell us about the book you are writing on Modi. It was supposed to be released in 2014, but my publishers got cold feet. My investigations are backed by documents, but top editors refused to publish them. Let’s just keep it at this for now. You will know when the book releases later this year. VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 33

New Media Quora

Hangout with Obama at Yes, you read right. This website provides specific answers to specific questions from specific experts. That’s what sets it apart from other websites BY PRANJAL GARG

ne of the greatest achievements of human civilization is the spectacular growth of knowledge. From the time humans evolved some 200,000 years ago, they have travelled far, accomplished much and conquered unknown frontiers. And with the advent of Internet, the world is just a click away. Want to know how nanotechnology works? No problem, just log on and the answer is just a blink away. Want to know a shrewd way to get ahead in your business? That, too, is yours for the asking. But not everyone is happy with generalized answers. Many want personalized ones and that’s the reason why website Quora is so popular. The website co-founded by two former Facebook employees, Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever, has been named among the next generation of multi-billion dollar start-ups by The New York Times. SPECIFIC TOPICS It is essentially a question-and-answer-cum-blogging site, but is very specific. Unlike the plethora of websites available online, at Quora, one can choose topics that hold one’s interest. When these topics are discussed, related questions and answers appear on your homepage. If someone you follow posts a question, answers one or votes an answer up or down, this activity too will appear on your Quora home page. There is also a system of upvotes, down-votes and comments section which has

34 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

evolved into a healthy group discussion forum. And the best part is that it offers you anonymity. So if you are a writer and looking for likeminded people, you just may meet your co-author at Quora. That’s how Gayle McDowell met Jackie Brown; together they wrote a book, “Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology”. And when Vladimir Novakovski, a trader of hedge funds in the US, asked how the PDF format was created, the answer came from Alan Tracey Wootton, a former software engineer at Adobe. While the internet is a fount of information, it is not all reliable. The increasing popularity of ques-

“Quora fills the big hole that news media and magazines should have filled. Thus, we take to Quora, Wikinews and blogs as a replacement for our media.” -- Balaji Vishwanathan, product manager. tion and answer websites saw even giants like Google and Yahoo jumping on the bandwagon, but failing. And that is where Quora fits the bill, leaving behind other “upstarts”. With a rapidly growing user population and specific domain experts who give invaluable answers to questions, the website has generated invaluable repositories in over 4,50,000 different topics. The experts come from all spheres of life: actors, directors, authors, entrepreneurs, songwriters, politicians, economist, comedians, sportsmen and composers. And you can ask them any million dollar question: how they became famous, what their life is all about, etc. The website also recognizes its most valuable and active contributors through the Top Writers program. Though Comscore, a leading internet technology company, says that Quora had 1.15 million visitors in December 2013, the website itself doesn’t share its growth numbers. D’Angelo states: “Usage numbers don’t reflect quality and user experience, which are what’s important to us.” EXPERT ADVICE Domain-specific experts that Quora has are impressive: Founders of Instagram and Yelp (answer questions about their companies), Stephen Fry and Ashton Kutcher (for questions about actors), Navy Seals sharpshooters and even US President Barack Obama. Yes, you read right

Illustration: Anthony Lawrence

VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 35

New Media Quora

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH US President Barack Obama and Actor Ashton Kutcher answer questions on policy matters and Hollywood respectively

– the world’s most powerful man answered questions related to policies and personal experiences. With its innovative search algorithm and graph data structures, Quora is quick to give the relevant information quickly. Another plus point about it is that it is like a game, with users being given credits for quality answers. Using these credits, they can compensate experts to answer a certain question. Unique, isn’t it? As for ensuring that offensive mails aren’t put forward, Quora relies on its community members to police each other. Some 100 users are also granted administrator privileges to delete answers that use hate speech or other offensive remarks. Every piece of editing is logged in the Quora system for everyone to see. The website has many hidden possibilities too. One day, on a whim, Oliver Emberton, founder of a software company, Silktide, answered a question: “What would a modern-day evil genius have to do 36 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

in order to take over the world?” He answered with a short story, which he had in his mind for 10 years. The story resonated with users and within five days, many people, including a favorite author, book publishers and movie producers, contacted him. He is now writing not one, but two novels. Others have managed to get jobs they loved through this forum. Henry Modisett was recruited as a product designer for Quora after answering a few design questions. Phoebe Gavin, an ex-HR professional, was recruited as a curator for Upworthy (a website keeping track of viral content), while Rishi Mukherjee was offered a job at Zooper (a website selling baby products) for his answers on Python, a programming language. The list goes on…. As for Indians, they have welcomed Quora with open arms. It generates more traffic than some of the biggest newspapers., except The Times of India.One reason for the popularity of this website in India was provided by Balaji Vishwanathan, product manager in a venture-funded startup (apparently up-voted by 5,000 people). He states: “Educated Indians hate our media. For a country with such history, our media is a shame. Quora thus ideally fills the big hole that the news media and magazines should have filled. Thus, we take to Quora, Wikinews and blogs as a replacement for our media.” The overabundance of Indians on this platform has also led to certain India Shining moments. In a reply to the question: “How Quora has changed your life”, Andy Chaisiri, an art director from the US, says: “Quora introduced me to India.” He would have never visited India, but is now figuring out which place to visit here first. But there are some glitches in Quora which should be corrected. Unlike Linkedln answers, there is no professional profile. One can answer anonymously, leaving a question mark on accountability and accuracy. Quora, still requires some more polishing, to continue garnering eye-balls.

EDIA-GO-ROUND

Barkha makes

the look

READYING THE SHOT for a much-awaited show in December, the elections in Kashmir, NDTV’s Barkha Dutt gets her look right with a mirror in front for a last-minute brush-up. The misty Dal Lake backdrop completed the look for the polling day coverage from the Valley. Tweepling about it later on her page, with the caption, “Still dark in Srinagar at 7.30 am as we begin our special election programing”, VON editors picked up the picture.

Film stalled at last minute SCREENING OF FILM-MAKER Anand Patwardhan’s awardwinning documentary, Ram Ke Nam, was cancelled 24 hours before it was to be shown at Pune’s Indian Law Society’s Law College. The film, made over 20 years ago, delves into the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s campaign to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya and documents the communal violence that followed after the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Patwardhan told The Times of India that he believed that certain right-wing elements in the faculty may have objected to the screening.

Sun Network COO held in sexual

abuse case

POLICE IN CHENNAI recently arrested Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Tamil Nadu-based Sun TV Network Praveen Kumar after a former employee accused him of sexual harassment. A team from the central crime branch questioned Kumar and he was later remanded to judicial custody. In her complaint filed after she resigned from the job five months ago, the woman said she was being harassed by her then boss, Kumar, for nearly two years. The woman worked for Surya TV, part of the Sun TV network.

Govt crackdown on 32 websites THE MODI GOVERNMENT started the New Year with its resolve to wipe out terror. It cracked down on 32 websites that have been carrying anti-India views and spreading propaganda of the Islamic State. completely blocking their access. According to reports, the websites have been blocked in reaction to an alert from the anti-terrorism squad. The recent arrest of Bangalore-based executive Mehdi Masroor Biswas, who was operating a Twitter handle under the name @ShamiWitness and promoting the views of the Islamic State, has come as a wake-up call for security agencies.

VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 37

Big Screen Protests

RANTING & RAVING OVER

RELIGION

Films are being used by fringe elements to garner cheap publicity. But the stupendous success of PK, which was attacked by these outfits, shows that the audience hardly cares BY VISHWAS KUMAR

38 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

HAT is common between PK, Vishwaroopam and The Da Vinci Code? All these three films have angered small segments of Hindus, Muslims and Christians respectively, for hurting religious sentiments. While individuals may not agree with the content of some films, does it give them the right to stop others from enjoying them or take it upon themselves to speak for an entire community? The answer is a clear â&#x20AC;&#x153;noâ&#x20AC;?. The fact that an overwhelming majority from these communities have

watched the films shows that these fringe elements are clearly a minority.

states to take action against these protestors if they violate law and order.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA But they have used social media to aggressively shove their views across. Protestors took to Twitter to inflame passions by launching hashtag #boycottPK, but this was soon countered by #wesupportPK. Anyway, what can be a better testimony of a film’s success than box office collections? The Aamir Khan-starrer, PK, has become the highest grossing Bollywood film as it collected Rs 276 crore within two weeks of its release. So why are there protests when the Censor Board, the nodal agency to certify films, has already cleared them? It is obvious that these outfits, be it the Bajrang Dal and others in the case of PK, the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam in the case of Vishwapooram and Catholics groups in the case of The Da Vinci Code, knew that protests would get them free publicity. However, film-makers and stars have taken them on. Kamal Hasan, the director and star of Vishwaroopam, had in an open letter lashed out at the protestors saying: “I have been ruthlessly used as a vehicle by small groups who seek a political profile. Icon-bashing is a great way to be noticed when you are not one yourself. It is happening again and again. Any neutral and patriotic Muslim will surely feel pride on seeing my film. It was designed for that purpose.” In the case of PK, the protests come against the backdrop of the conversion row and the fact that Narendra Modi was the PM. As expected, mainstream media vociferously criticized these Hindu outfits and urged Modi to “stop” them or it would damage his economic agenda of “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”. Modi, however, chose to remain silent because any comment would have only helped these organizations garner more publicity. Besides, in a democracy, protests are legitimate political tools to express differences of opinion. Also, law and order is state subject and it is up to the

RESPECT RELIGIONS Aamir Khan highlighted these facts when he was quoted as saying: “We (team PK) respect all religions. All my Hindu friends have seen the film and they have not felt the same (as the protestors). Even Raju (Hirani, writer-director) is a Hindu, so is Vinod (Chopra, producer) and so is Abhijat (Joshi, film’s co-writer). In fact, 99 percent of the crew was Hindu….I think that this is a democracy where everyone has their own opinions and I respect everyone’s viewpoints, their feelings and their opinions. I don't think that any of us are talking about any one religion in particular. Utmost care has been taken in telling the story in a sensitive matter.” He went on to say that faith is an integral part of our lives. “Raju, Abhijat and I genuinely feel

IN THE EYE OF STORM Protestors burn PK posters (facing page); Aamir Khan at a press conference strongly defended PK’s secular intentions (below)

VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 39

Big Screen Protests

“I have been ruthlessly used as a vehicle by small groups who seek a political profile. Icon-bashing is a great way to be noticed when you are not one yourself. It is happening again and again.” — Kamal Hasan, director and star of Vishwaroopam in an open letter

IN THE LINE OF FIRE Posters of Vishwaroopam (right) and The Da Vinci Code (below) that triggered protests

that faith should not be robbed…But blind faith or andh vishwas is unnecessary because many people exploit us under the garb of such masks…Sometimes under the name of religion, you do things that your religion does not allow you to do —like killing people,” he said. Rajkumar Hirani too spoke up against these protests. “We have not done anything to hurt anyone’s religious sentiments. The core idea of the film is just that we are not born with a birthmark proclaiming we are Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs or

WHY THE KOLAVERI? PK (released Dec 2014): Hindu outfits angered over the portrayal of Godmen Vishwaroopam (released Jan 2013): Muslim outfits angered over the portrayal of a Muslim as a terrorist Da Vinci Code (released May 2006): Christian organizations fret over the plot they said was blasphemous

40 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

Christians. Just like a baby is born without any preconceived notions and is made to follow a certain lifestyle and perform certain rituals, Aamir as an alien did not have any idea or notions about what religion is...To a Hindu, some ritual might be done in a certain manner…But for Muslims, it might be something else. Our ways are different, not by choice, but our faith remains the same.” Dan Brown, the celebrated author of The Da Vinci Code has expressed similar sentiments when he visited Delhi in November. He said his books were not against religion but those who come between man and religion. He was quoted as saying: “All world religions have at their core, the same human truth: Creation is better than destruction. Love is better than hate.” While he praised all organized religions, he also said that they “had put themselves between god and man". Till such time as religious zealots stop coming between God and man, film-makers and writers will continue to fight for their place under the sun and use social media to expose them.

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Shabash Reporter

Vajpayee Revisited

REPORTER: Marya Shakil CHANNEL: CNN-IBN

NN-IBN’s special documentary format show “30-Minutes” saw Marya Shakil, associate editor (Politics) of the channel putting together a film on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

STORY: The story, aired on the occasion of his birthday and Bharat Ratna being conferred on him documents the leader’s journey from the time when he was first noticed and praised by the first prime minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,till his tenure ended in 2004. Shakil has used brilliant archiveal footage and first-person accounts of people who have been part of Vajpayee’s memorable political and personal journey. The NDA coming to power under his leadership, the Pokhran nuclear tests, Kandahar hijack and other highlights of his life were covered in the documentary. TREATMENT: Shakil successfully revisits Vajpayee’s relationship with his colleagues and opponents both of whom admired and revered him. It’s not just BJP veterans sucha as Yashwant Sinha and LK Advani who sing praises of the leader. Even opposition leaders like JDU president Sharad Yadav and SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav have only good words for him. Shakil uses the right mix of Vajpayee’s old sound bytes, his speeches in parliament and elections rallies and poems to lend power and nostalgia to the film. However, once Shakil takes her story out of Vajpayee’s po42 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

litical life, she fails to keep the audience interested. Information on whether he attended marriages of his relatives in Gwalior, his native place or how he distributed gifts among the young ones in his family, aren’t of much consequence. The programme could have been more slick had Shakil focused on some of his political weaknesses and failures like the Agra Summit debacle. Shedding light on his private life as a bachelor and his adopted family would have also made the film well-rounded. In a nutshell, it was a well-packaged and welledited programme but lacked analysis.

USP: Good sense of visuals and storytelling (Reviewed by Somi Das)

Reporting on Bengaluru blast REPORTER: Deepa Balkrishnan CHANNEL: CNN-IBN

ust as the world was grappling with the gruesome killings of innocent school children in Peshawar, the garden city of Bengaluru was shaken by an IED blast, killing one and injuring another. Deepa Balkrishnan, bureau chief , CNN-IBN’s Bengaluru office, reported from the site of the blast—the popular Coconut Grove restaurant on Church Street, MG Road, at around 8.30 pm on December 28, 2014.

STORY: Over the years, Bengaluru has been subject to several blasts, one of the worst being the nine serial blasts of 2008 in which two people died and 20 were injured. The bomb in the latest blast had been placed in a drain. Police sources said it was a low-intensity blast using an Improvised Explosive Device filled with shrapnel, ammonium nitrate and fitted with a timer device. A bomb disposal squad and a forensic team had been rushed to the spot. Later, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he had spoken to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and taken stock of the situation.

TREATMENT: The report was well-packed with information and adequate visuals. The reporter was able to provide all the details of the investigation. An interview of an eyewitness helped the overall reportage of the incident. USP: Informative and timely (Reviewed by Saurabh Srivastava)

Assam’s tragedy REPORTER: Sambit Pal CHANNEL: Times Now

ormal life across Assam came to a grinding halt as heavily armed NDFB(S) militants launched simultaneous attacks on adivasi settlers in four different locations spread in two Assam districts, Kokrajhar and Sonitpur, on December 24, 2014. As 81 people were killed in the series of attacks, nearly 80,000 panic-stricken villagers continued to flee their homes, seeking shelter in safer places. In Kokrajhar district alone, over 75,000 people fled their villages and took shelter in schools, clubs and other places close to highways and police stations. However, the security measures had not been strengthened enough.

STORY: Despite the tight security deployed by the army and police forces, miscreants managed to burn a tea factory and vehicles in Kokrajhar on the very next day of the attack, raising questions about the security measures adopted by the government after such a big massacre. The Ministry of External Affairs

confirmed that India had spoken to officials from the Bhutanese government seeking aid to nab Songbojit, leader of the militant faction of the NDFB(S). A lot of damage was done to the factory, and elsewhere. Nearly 1.15 lakh displaced people had to be sheltered across 81 relief camps.

TREATMENT: The report could have been more hard-hitting had the reporter interviewed some survivors of the carnage USP: Reporting from a conflict zone is always a difficult task. Pal maintained his calm and gave every little detail of the developments happening in a simple, lucid style. (Reviewed by Saurabh Srivastava) VIEWS ON NEWS

January 22, 2015 43

Anchor Review

Ms Wiggly

Giggly

oel Purie’s weekend show on Headlines Today, “Couching with Koel” is fairly entertaining but at times gets too irreverent for the audience to care about her conversation with her guests. Her guests are usually Bollywood celebrities. Purie has been a part of the film industry and knows many of her guests personally. While that should work to her advantage, Purie often turns this familiarity into a personal chit-chat with her guest, leaving the

44 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

viewer clueless about what they are talking about. For instance, she asked actress Sonakshi Sinha, who recently cut her hair short, to teach her how to flick her hair in a graceful way. The two burst out laughing each time they flicked their hair together. The viewer was left wondering why flicking one’s hair should interest anyone at all. Koel does know how to keep coming back to the most controversial part of her guest’s life. For instance, she wouldn’t let Anushka Sharma leave the show till the actor, who claims to be very private about her love life, admitted on the show that she wished to be in Australia to cheer her boyfriend, cricketer Virat Kohli. However, her latest interview with Pakistani actor Ali Zafar was relatively boring.

We understand that she was simply awestruck by the “genteel” aura of the actor who is also a fine singer and painter. Still, giggling and blushing like a high school student throughout the show looked a bit ridiculous. Viewers might be more interested in Zafar’s story than her going on and on about how all the Pakistani men she has met in her life have been “born with some kind of charm”. She ended the episode by asking Zafar:“What is it that Ayesha, (Zafar’s wife) has, that no one else has? Why are you with her?” To this, Zafar responded: “I will tell you what you have. You have too many cameras around you.” Koel went a step further and probed if Zafar had ever tried being an infidel. Ali chose not to answer while staring at Koel. The anchor who till now couldn’t take her eyes off the actor, suddenly seemed quiet unsettled and uncomfortable with the stare. Rating- ******* Koel is bubbly and looks good on screen but she should get innovative to make the show more entertaining and less selfgratifying. She gets 7/10. (Reviewed by Somi Das)

Originality With Experience D

espite his changed role at CNN-IBN, Bupendra Chaubey continues to be the most experienced face on the channel. Recently, he resigned from the post of executive editor and assumed the role of consulting editor. He remains at the helm of affairs on big days like election results and is the only face on the channel who manages to get prominent political personalities to talk on various controversial issues. In the last week of December, he managed to interview

two major newsmakers. One was Sajjad Lone, former separatist leader whose party won two seats in the Jammu and Kashmir elections. Lone ,himself, won from Handwara. The other person interviewed was Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on the issue of revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia’s involvement in a drug racket. Despite Lone being on the winning side, Chaubey didn’t let him off the hook for his apparent closeness with the BJP high command prior to the elec-

tions . He also scored a point by probing him on his possible role in a future alliance that would rule Jammu and Kashmir—something Lone has steered clear of commenting on most occasions. The interview with Badal turned fiery with Chaubey cornering him for not asking for Majithia’s resignation. Incidentally, Majithia is his brother-in-law. Badal found it difficult to dodge Chaubey’s questions. Rating- ********Chaubey’s straightforward style earns him 8/10. (Reviwed by Saurabh Srivastava)

Precise and simple N idhi Razdan, one of NDTV’s star anchors who hosts the 8 pm show, Left, Right & Centre, on weekdays had a good run last week. One of the issues that was debated hotly on prime time on all channels was “ghar wapsi” and the need for an anti-conversation law. During the short duration of her debate, she managed to touch upon various aspects of conversion. Is there a need for an anti-conversion law or is it just another issue being milked by all political parties? Without mincing words, she asked Sambit Patra of the BJP as to why Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remained silent on Mohan Bhagwat giving validity to ghar wapsi, which

till then seemed an initiative of the VHP and other fringe groups. Where Nidhi scores as an anchor is her unbiased approach. She tried to pin down the RSS-BJP participants on the debate and questioned the ruling party’s top leadership, including the PM’s apparent silence on the issue. She didn’t let other representatives hijack the debate. When JDU MP Pavan K Verma tried to derail the debate and bring in the issue of celebration of Good Governance Day on the day of Christmas, she reminded him that the issue at hand was the anti-con-

versation bill and they should stick to that. She did fumble on a few occasions but one can forgive her for that when one sees the complexity of the issue. Rating- ********Her swift and precise anchoring style would fetch her 8/10. (Reviwed by Saurabh Srivastava)

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January 22, 2015 45

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NEWS Peshawar Attack: Parliament pays tribute to victims; PM Modi calls upon schools to observe two-minute silence.

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Home Minister orders several states to tighten security alert across all schools. 12:03PM

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These deaths will not go in vain, we will fight to clean our territory of terrorism, says Nawaz Sharif on Peshawar Attacks. India's heaviest launch vehicle GSLV-Mark III launched successfully from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. PM Modi congratulates scientists. Assets Case:SC extends Jayalalithaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bail by 4 months till 18 April 2015. Supreme court directs High Court to complete the hearing within three months. 26/11 accused and Lashkarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Commander Zaki-ur-Rehman-Lakhvi granted bail . Accused is under detention in Rawalpindi Jail and got bail on a personal bond of Rs 5 LN Mishra case: Four sentenced to life imprisonment by Karkarduma Court. Former Railway Minister L.N Mishra was killed 40 years back.

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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.

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NEWS Congress MP Mallikarjun Khadge demands PM Modi’s response in Lok Sabha on Lakhvi’s bail.

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Tehrik-e-Taliban’s commander Fazalullah reported dead in a drone attack; Pakistan media. Pakistan Army denies reports.

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Brisbane test: India loses second test by 4 wickets and trails by 2-0 in the 4 match test series. Unrest in the dressing room, says MS Dhoni

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India expresses disappointment on UN letter addressing 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed as 'sahib'

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Chennai: Alagiri’s close aide Napoleon “frustrated” with DMK, joins BJP.

Congress,TMC and SP protest against central government outside parliament on forced conversion row and black money.

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Janta Parivar reunites against Modi, comes together for a mahadharna in Delhi’s Ramleela Maidan.

BJP president Amit Shah thanks public for BJP’s victory; promises to give an efficient government in Jharkhand .

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PDP president Mehbooba Mufti says that her party is thankful to the people of J&K; says itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s difficult to say how the government will be formed.

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68 people killed in a series of attack by NDFB militants; Assam on red alert; Rajnath Singh on a visit to Assam today.

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President Pranab Mukherjee declares the names of Bharat Ratna recipients, says pleased to confer the highest civilian award on Pandit Malaviya and Vajpayee.

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Omar Abdullah cancels his foreign tour after meeting BJP chief Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley and Ram Madhav in Delhi.

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PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of Inter-University Centerfor Teachers` Education inside the BHU premises. He also visited Assi Ghat

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Army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag meets home minister over Operation All Out as Rajnath Singh orders army to crack down on Naxalites.

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The BJP legislature party today chose Raghubar Das, the first non-tribal, to be the new chief minister of Jharkhand. He will take oath on December 28 in Birsa.

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Rajnath Singh advocates online monitoring of acid sale to control acid attacks.

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NEWS PM Modi to kickstart BJP’s Delhi campaign from a rally in Ramlila Maidan on January, 10.

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Air Asia’s flight carrying 162 passengers, travelling to Singapore from Indonesia goes missing. Indian navy puts 3 ships, plane on standby to help in rescue operations.

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IIT Delhi director quits. According to TOI there was pressure on the director to give land for Sachin Tendulkar's cricket academy. Tendulkar denies, TOI publishes apology.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh calls a meeting with NSA, IB Chief and home secretary to review and discuss the situation in Bengaluru after blasts. Police nabs two.

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Islamabad HC rejects 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi's detention, Lakhvi free to walk out of jail. India to question Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

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Mumbai special CBI court acquits Amit Shah in Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter killing cases, ruling there existed "no case" against him .

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MS Dhoni announces retirement from test cricket after Melbourne test. BCCI confirmed Dhoni’s retirement with a tweet, Virat Kohli to captain India in the Sydney test.

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Our priority is not to cobble up a majority for the sake of government formation as we want the development of J&K: Mehbooba Mufti. Mufti meets Governor NN Vohra.

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January 22, 2015 49

All That Matters Tattle tales

Tough to let go inister of Human Resource Development (HRD) Smriti Irani would earlier never tire of telling people what a heavy workload she was single-handedly taking care of, and how under the UPA regime, it was being looked after by three ministers. Now that she has two ministers of state to help her out, she seems to be finding it hard to let go bits of her fiefdom. While Minister

of State Upendra Kushwaha has some low-key charges like adult education, assistance to voluntary agencies and so on, Minister of State Ram Shankar Katheriya handles minority education, schemes for the north-east region, and SC/ST/OBC related issues. Everything else, which is a large chunk, is being personally monitored by Madam Irani. Sometimes it is difficult to let go.

Illustrations: UdayShankar

What’s in a name

Undiplomatic ndian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Devyani Khobragade has landed herself in a soup again. Last winter, Khobragade had heated up Indo-US ties over her domestic help issue. Now, she is cooling her heels, being on “compulsory wait”. The current contention is that her children have dual citizenship–Indian and American—while her husband is a US citizen, a “small” detail she forgot to mention to her employers! It was last heard that a probe had been instituted and the minister of external affairs was planning action against her.

uestions are being raised regarding the new government’s obsession with Hindi and Sanskrit, with institutions and projects acquiring new names. After Planning Commission became Niti Ayog, we have names like Saksham, Saakshar, Ganit as names of new projects. These, in many cases, also happen to be abbreviations of the project names in toto.

Diplomat

Homesick Minister inisters are taking a cue from the newly appointed Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and making use of weekends to do what they want to. Parrikar manages to organize his schedule in such a way that he lands up in his home state, Goa, every weekend. He does not hide his homesickness to whoever is willing to hear. He left many tongues wagging recently, when he dashed off to Goa to inaugurate a film festival while soldiers were losing their lives due to fighting at the country’s borders.

Flavor of the Season t is being whispered in government circles as well as among media people covering political events that they have eaten more Gujarati food in the past six months than in the last 50 years. More loyal than the king,

I 50 VIEWS ON NEWS January 22, 2015

the officials ensure that the food served at official events and meetings has a substantial representation from the Gujarati Rasoi. So dhoklas, theplas and khakras form the staple fare now.

RNI No. UPBIL/2007/22571