WHY EVERY MOUTH IS TALKING ABOUT TV

We know that on 26 th Nov Mumbai attack has not only put grief and sorrow, but it also underlined about electronic media. Which now dubbed as invasionary media.

After the siege was ended we saw Navy Chief Sureesh Mehta lashing out against the media at the annual Navy briefing. The fuming Admiral, who at one point even told reporters that ‘I would have chopped your heads off’ for an alleged ‘breach of privilege’, said a “Colonel was dismissed after he fired an artillery round on requests by a TV reporter that resulted in retaliatory fire which killed three jawans”.

But it was not limited to herewith, Information & Broadcasting Ministry also stepped into and issued an advisory.

The I&B Ministry in its advisory states: “Repeated visuals and stories pertaining to the attack, which would make the perpetrators feel their attack was a success, should be avoided. The media is hereby advised to play the positive role it has in its power to play to instill confidence in the citizens and send a message to the inimical terrorist forces that India is not in disarray.”

So TV journalism should not be heroic on the cost Country, people and society. Thus the disgust about News TV Channels not happening.

TEARS IN MUMBAI

It was start of Shock, Shame and Grief in Mumbai on 26 Nov. It was black wednesday. Terrorist claimed more than 180 lives.
Country was swaying in doldrums. Most of Indian were glued to TV sets. However drama was happened to be stretched more than easy it lasted for 60 hrs. Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, NSG major Unnikrishnan and many others lost in battle.
The proud was the NSG , ARMY and others who saved life people, taking stake on their life. But politicians were again seen indulged in mudslinging not bothering about what is grievous thing was going on.

This is our leadership which chants the about national security but when the time of action comes they are bitten by election bugs.

TOP HONCHOS : CONGRATULATIONS OBAMA

HU JINTAO : I look forward to endeavor together with you," he said. "To push the Sino-U.S. constructive and cooperative relations to a new level, in order to better benefit our two peoples and the peoples of the world." Urging Obama to join China in shouldering "important common responsibilities."
SARKOZY Obama's election raised in France, in Europe and around the world "an immense hope" and that the American people "had expressed with force their faith in progress and the future."
Afghan president KARZAI said the American people have taken "themselves ... and the rest of the world into a new era, the era where race, color and ethnicity ... will also disappear as a factor in politics in the rest of the world."
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh added: "The Iraqi government has a true desire to work and cooperate with the elected president for the best interest of the two countries to spread security and ensure Iraq's full sovereignty in a way that this will guarantee the interest of Iraqi people."
German Chancellor ANGELA MERKEL also offered her congratulations and said she would work with Obama to deal with the challenges facing the world. "I'm convinced that through a close and trusting cooperation between the United States and Europe we will be able to confront new risks and challenges in a decisive manner and will be able to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that are opening up in our world," Merkel said.

British Prime Minister GORDON BROWN described a "vital" relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom and said he was excited about the prospect of working with the new U.S. president.
Hailing as "extraordinary" Barack Obama's win in the US Presidential election, Indian Prime Minister MANMOHAN SINGH said he looked forward to working with him to realise the "enormous" potential for bilateral cooperation."Your extraordinary journey to the White House will inspire people not only in your country but also around the world," he said in a congratulatory message to the Democrat leader, the first African-American set to become US President.

OBAMA : MEDIA MANIA, CAMPAIGN & RESULT

On the 5th of November a long and much hyped campaign come to an end. As Democrate senator BARACK OBAMA rose to 44th Prez of world's most powerful democracy.

Now generations will remember him. First black and outspoken. How we would like to remember him as a son of Kenyan economist or a child of single mother. Or as a senator who won the seat in the Illinois state in 1996.

But he will be remembered best as a best hyped presidential nominee who tried to steal the show via every possible manner. He debated his septuagenarian rival and republican senator Jhon Mccain.

In 2oth January 2009 when he will take oath his prowess will be tasted. Because he has to face more challenges. Economy may be big bash. Since 1930's it is very depressingly crunch time. America seems to be under pressure with many fronts like War in Iraq and Afghanistan and on foreign policy.

As we talk full use media and campaign. Will it be set a trend ? It is question of future? Because when he purchased all the time space from television media he pushed people to see only OBAMA and OBAMA. It is not good message.

Absolutely old adage says it is all fair in love and war. After he has won war, rest is upto him. It is hope alive for Kenyan from where he belongs, there president honoured him with one day public holiday in Kenya.

REDRESSAL OR RITUAL

Indian private news and current affairs broadcasters have intended that they are stepping ahead to self-regulate their content. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has come up with News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redressal) Authority to enforce NBA's code of ethics and broadcasting standards. A nine member authority will be headed by former chief justice and former NHRC chairperson Justice J S Verma. Its members are, historian Ramachandra Guha, former Nasscom chief Kiran Karnik, JNU don Dipankar Gupta and economist and ex-under secretary general of UN, Nitin Desai. Its editor-members are, India TV managing editor Vinod Kapri, Zee News group editor B V Rao, Star News managing editor Milind Khandekar and Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami. The authority, to which the public with grievance over television content can bring their grievances, will become operational on October 2.

NBA "believes that media that is meant to expose the lapses in government and in public life cannot obviously be regulated by government, else it would lack credibility.

Again censure

In Association's " a censure emanating from a jury of peers would indisputably affect the credibility of a channel." The process of censure would not be without its legal ramifications. "A channel acting in breach of established guidelines could hardly defend its motives or suggest that it was acting fairly, if it is censured by a jury comprising its peers."

Is it again a eye wash or something else

Mostly people think channels are not doing any kind of charity work. The TRP bonded force not allow them to stick them must hyped Code of conduct. Because everyone thinks that the comptetition is very high.

So these channels in the name of their USP not relent to come with their awkward contents. So it will take to prove their hyped words.

BBC TARGETS LANGUAGE MEDIA

BBC journalists oppose offshoring of programming to IndiaAgenciesPosted
News: Reuters is going in the lap of Thomson Press. Zee Group is going to acquire UNI. And recently offshoring of Journalists from south Asia working in the Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali and Sinhala sections of the BBC World Service in London. They have launched a campaign to protest against offshoring of programming to the Indian sub-continent.
A series of meetings have been held between the affected journalists and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), which is supporting a union campaign against what is described as a "money-saving adventure" of the BBC management.
The offshoring involves new contracts for the London-based journalists who have been told to accept redundancy or relocate to their countries of origin in south Asia, and accept downgraded pay conditions.
Defending the move, the BBC said it had plans to have around 50 per cent of overall language service staff located closer to their audiences.
Mike Gardner, Head of Media Relations at the BBC World Service, said: "The proposed redeployments of staff to India, Pakistan and Nepal recognise the new media realities in those countries."
He added: "It aims to serve our audiences in the region better; equip those services with the qualities that will be successful in these fiercely competitive media landscapes; and use resources more efficiently."
Gardner said, it was BBC World Service's policy that its language services work closer to the audiences they serve for some time.
However, Indian and other south Asian BBC journalists said that the redeployment would "dismantle a broadcasting service that is the envy of the world". They added that it would affect their working and the lives of their families.
Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said after a meeting with BBC's south Asian journalists "We are committed to opposing these offshoring plans which are ill-founded and put at threat not just jobs but editorial quality, integrity and the future of the world service".
Dear said the plans which would have a fundamental impact on staff and their families were conceived without proper consultation and were in breach of agreements, which should worry staff across all BBC services.
"It is unacceptable that staff should be faced with the kind of choices - offshore or go - the BBC are seeking to impose... We're not against new staff, not against being closer to listeners across the sub-continent. We are against jobs being cut, offshored and outsourced to meet artificial budget restrictions.

Gardner noted that there was a rapidly changing media environment and highly competitive market both for radio and on-line in all parts of the world.
"This presents the BBC with new challenges, but also opportunities. It means the BBC can work closer with our local FM partner stations that deliver around one-third of our 183 million listeners a week and allows us to respond more rapidly to changing local media market conditions." According to Arjum Wajid of the BBC Urdu Service, the offshoring process started three years ago when Hindi programming was progressively shifted from Bush House, London, to New Delhi. This included the Hindi online service.
In 2007 end, staff of the Hindi Service was reportedly told that 80 per cent of the programming would be moved to India, while the Urdu Service staff learnt that 50 per cent programming would move to Islamabad.

BBC accused of off-shoring deception BECTU has accused the BBC of misleading Parliament over details of its plan to move finance jobs to India. The union has publicised a major discrepancy between information given to staff about the deal, and submissions made by top Corporation executives to the Public Accounts Committee.
“Parliament appears to have been mislead over whether the XANSA bid was the lowest” At a hearing on November 29th in the House of Commons the BBC claimed that a bid by Xansa, the company which was awarded a contract involving hundreds of jobs going to India, was the cheapest that had been received.
This contradicted a meeting only a day earlier, where the BBC had told BECTU officials that Xansa's bid was not the cheapest.
MPs also heard that all bidders for the BBC's finance contract, currently in the hands of Media Accounting Services (Medas), had included an element of offshore work in their proposals.
However, at the meeting with union representatives, the BBC said that the bid from Medas itself did not include any element of off-shoring, although some jobs would have been moved from London to Swansea if the company had won renewal of its contract.
BECTU Official Luke Crawley said: "The BBC is contradicting itself in its stories about the cost of off-shoring jobs. If what it says to the staff and BECTU is true then the BBC is spending more public money to send jobs overseas than it would cost to keep those jobs in the UK. This also raises a question about why the public purse should fund the resulting unemployment of this exercise.
"Parliament appears to have been mislead over whether the XANSA bid was the lowest bid for the outsourced work", he continued. "BECTU is calling on the BBC to own up and tell the truth, either it has lied to Parliament or it has lied to the staff and Unions about the contract."
The BBC's responded by saying that the winning bid from Xansa included a number of one-off costs that made "one of the other bidders marginally cheaper than the Xansa bid". BECTU has taken this as confirmation that, over the life of the 10-year contract, another bidder, thought to be Medas, would have been cheaper than Xansa
"We're not against additional resources and staff - we are against seeking to get work on the cheap," he said.

Hasty Media Again Makes Nasty

PUTIN with KABAYEVA.
It is old proverb 'Hasty makes Nasty'. It was revisited again. This time media which has been always claimed became the victim.
In Russia media tried to go akin to US media.

The scapegoat was former Russian Prez Vladimir Putin. A tabloid, Moskovsky Korrespondent, published rumors that President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife to marry a 24-year-old gymnast Alina Kabayeva.

So again the media committed silly things and faced the ire.

Later it was proved a funny. Duma, or lower house of parliament, overwhelmingly passed a bill that would loosen the libel and slander laws, and also allow the central government to shut down news outlets that published material deemed to fall under the new definitions. The newspaper shut down after Moscow authorities barred its distribution
Well, Russia’s press has a lot to learn about journalism, too, said The Moscow Times in an editorial. Here, “leaks to the press are routinely used to discredit public figures, journalists are regularly accused of blackmail and authorities systematically cow independent-minded media.” In this case, “the newspaper did not identify its sources, a practice that, while defendable in certain circumstances, was unacceptable given that it did not even bother to call the Kremlin for comment.” This whole mess could have been avoided if the paper had observed some “basic rules of reporting.” Then the paper shut down, and the Duma promptly sealed the media’s coffin. "Are relations between Chairman Putin and Deputy Kabaeva anything more than comradely? Don't look for answers in a Russian newspaper anytime soon.”

The story, picked up by the world’s media, caused the Kremlin severe embarrassment and led Putin to blame journalists “who, with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies, prowl into others’ lives.”
The offending newspaper, Moskovsky Korrespondent, subsequently ran a front-page apology and suspended publication for “financial reasons”.
But that did not appear to satisfy angry parliamentarians who voted to give authorities unprecedented powers to shut down media organisations guilty of libel. A news outlet that “disseminates deliberately false information damaging individual honour and dignity” of a public official will be subject to harsh punishment.
The State Duma has voted 339-1 in favor of a measure that gives the government an additional tool to crack down on dissent, the Moscow Times reported Monday.
Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to widen the definition of slander and libel and give regulators the authority to shut down media outlets found guilty of publishing such material.
The legislation, passed by the State Duma 339-1, is the latest attempt by the government to squeeze the country’s increasingly embattled news media.
The bill allows authorities to suspend and close down media outlets for libel and slander — punishment that is identical for news media found to be promoting terrorism, extremism and racial hatred.
It also expands the definition for slander and libel to “dissemination of deliberately false information damaging individual honor and dignity.”
The legislation will be considered in two more readings, before heading to the upper house of parliament, where approval is likely, and then to Putin for signing.
The bill’s passage comes just days after a scandal involving a tabloid newspaper that had reported that President Vladimir Putin had divorced his wife and planned to marry a champion gymnast.
Putin vehemently denied the report in Moskovsky Korrespondent and the newspaper was shut down after Moscow authorities banned its distribution and the chief editor resigned.
The bill was submitted by Robert Schlegel, a former activist of the Kremlin-backed youth movement Nashi that gained notoriety for street protests and political pranks against Putin critics.

The Coveted Pultzer Medal

It Is again Washington Post

PUBLIC SERVICE
The Washington Post
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
The Washington Post Staff
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
The Chicago Tribune Staff
EXPLANATORY REPORTING
Amy Harmon of The New York Times
LOCAL REPORTING
David Umhoefer of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
NATIONAL REPORTING
Jo Becker and Barton Gellman of The Washington Post
INTERNATIONAL REPORTING
Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post
FEATURE WRITING
Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post
COMMENTARY
Steve Pearlstein of The Washington Post
CRITICISM
Mark Feeney of The Boston Globe
EDITORIAL WRITING
No Award
EDITORIAL CARTOONING
Michael Ramirez of Investor's Business Daily
BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Adrees Latif of Reuters
FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
Preston Gannaway of the Concord Monitor

Pulitzer Award announced. It is The Washington Post again, which snatched 6 Awards. For a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper through the use of its journalistic resources which, as well as reporting, may include editorials, cartoons, photographs, graphics and online material, a gold medal.
Awarded to The Washington Post for the work of Dana Priest, Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille in exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Charlotte Observer for its illuminating examination of the mortgage and housing crisis in the newspaper's community and state, resulting in federal probes and changes in a major lender's practices, and Newsday, Long Island, N.Y., for its comprehensive investigation into the hazardous gap between a New York railroad's trains and its boarding platforms, spotlighting individual injuries and triggering a multi-million-dollar remedy by the railway.
BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
For a distinguished example of local reporting of breaking news, presented in print or online or both, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to The Washington Post Staff for its exceptional, multi-faceted coverage of the deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, telling the developing story in print and online.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: The Idaho Statesman Staff for its tenacious coverage of the twists and turns in the scandal involving the state's senator, Larry Craig, and The New York Times Staff for its swift, penetrating coverage of a fire in the Bronx that killed nine persons, eight of them children.
BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY
Reuters pohotographer also confirmed his berth. For a distinguished example of breaking news photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence or an album, in print or online or both, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
Awarded to Adrees Latif of Reuters for his dramatic photograph of a Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar.
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Mahmud Hams of Agence France-Presse for his picture of a missile, caught in mid-air, as it falls on a target in the Gaza Strip while young Palestinians scramble for safety, and the Los Angeles Times Staff for its powerful and often unpredictable photos that captured wildfires devastating California.

Content, services biggest drivers in mobile entertainment

FICCI Frames 2008
Traditional media is shifting to digital," said Ralph Simon, chairman emeritus and founder, Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), Americas, in his keynote address on Day 3 of Ficci Frames 2008. Simon said it is the content and services provided by mobile entertainment companies that will drive mobile entertainment. This shift is seen because the consumer has made his choice. He has expressed the need to have multiple touch points. He would like to be connected to his world and to the world outside his world at all times and whenever he likes. In order to met this need of the consumer and not lose out on him, traditional media players will have to reach consumers on multiple and newer platforms. Digital media is the newer media of the moment.
The panel discussion that followed was moderated by Pankaj Sethi, president, value added services and enterprise market, Tata Teleservices, and director, MEF Asia board. The panellists were Ferhan Cook, president, Any Screen Productions, and head of jury, Mobile TV Awards, MIPCOM, France; Tim Green, editor, Mobile Entertainment; Mazen Chmaytelli, senior director, global technical marketing and business development, Qualcomm MediaFLO Technologies, USA; Sudhanshu Sarronwala, chief executive officer, Soundbuzz, Motorola; Troy Lobo, associate director, wireless, India and South Asia, Turner; and Simon."The strengths of the traditional media can be supplemented with the new digital media of the mobile," said Simon, continuing with his address. He warned that traditional media that stuck to the old ways of thinking would die off soon.Simon listed favourable ways of garnering the mobile medium into traditional media: monetising mobile inventory via ads, monetising mobile premium content via subscriptions, and differentiating with measurable actions such as calls, purchase or requests. There is a whole new subset of people who live by the mobile phone and all of their daily activities surround the mobile. The study of this individual is called mociology, said Simon. The consumer entertains himself with the mobile in various ways such as podcasts, video streaming, social broadcasting and photo galleries. Music artists have cashed in on this in a big way, and it is time filmmakers, content owners and the entertainment industry followed suit.Ferhan Cook talked about the necessity of creating content specifically for the mobile and not transferring content from another medium onto mobiles. Sudhanshu Sarronwala spoke of the music aspect of mobile entertainment. "Mobile music dominates the digital music space across Asia," he said. More than 95 per cent of all music sold digitally is sold on mobile devices. Mobile music would outdo the rest of digital music by a ratio of 10:1 any day, he said. Mobile music has come a long way, from monophonic ringtones to polyphonic ringtones and then the streaming video format. Caller ringback tones are the latest rage across the globe. Sarronwala said search would be the next to take over the mobile entertainment section – not in the web based format, but in a new format that is viable on the mobile. Troy Lobo was sure that advertising was the way to go with mobile entertainment to rake in revenue. Turner recently switched its subscription based model to an advertising based one. Tim Green presented a view of how mobile entertainment can provide services such as instant messaging, chat, photo and video uploading at a fixed monthly/weekly price because content and services are what will take mobile entertainment to the next level.Mazen Chmaytelli offered a typical technology provider’s thought about mobile entertainment. "Instead of viewing mobisodes on the mobile screen, consumers want to view content in the long form," he said. There has been a paradigm shift in the time at which the consumer wants to view his prime time content. The traditional prime time has moved to commute time and down time. Reality TV and sports are the most consumed genres of content on mobile TV. This time shift could be termed mociotime, a term he coined in sync with Simon’s mociology. All the panellists agreed that the technology for mobile entertainment was still in its infancy and the sky was the limit for the medium.

Manjunath’s ‘spirit’ travels all the way to Assam’s forest and farmers

Akhil Gogoi gets Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award for exposing corruption in govt projects
Golaghat district in Assam may be far away from a petrol pump in Uttar Pradesh but the distance between the two disappeared this evening on a stage at IIT Delhi. Akhil Gogoi acknowledged an unusual debt to Manjunath Shanmugam, the IIM graduate and Indian Oil manager who was killed in November 2005 by the petrol mafia for cracking down on adulteration.
Recipient of the second Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award today, 31-year-old Gogoi, a farmers activist in Assam, said he didn’t know who Shanmugam was and how he died until he was told by a friend to apply for the award. “It’s only then that I came to know,” he said, that he was a kindred spirit. “So I came to Delhi not so much to receive the award but to pay my respects to his spirit.”
Gogoi, as general secretary of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti of Assam (KMSSA), has been working for the cause of farmers in Assam since 2002, particularly the forest-dwellers in Golaghat bordering Nagaland. According to the citation of the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust — which instituted the award to honour and encourage efforts by individuals and institutions working to uphold values of truth and honesty in public life — Gogoi remained steadfast in his fight against corruption and malpractices inherent in various “development works” of the government.
His work highlighted irregularities in the Panchayat system, Rural Development schemes and the Public Distribution System (PDS).
“It started when over 5 lakh people were evicted from the forests by the department without any provision for rehabilitation. I was a university student then and with two more friends we mobilized the people and took out a rally. It had an effect. That is when my fight started. We keep mobilizing people and that’s the key to our efforts,” he said.
Gogoi, the general secretary of the Cotton College student’s union in 1995-96, left college and took up social service when he was doing his MA in English Literature in 2002. The same year, he married Gitashree Tamuly, who is a college teacher. They have a two-year-old son and the family’s expenses are paid for by the salary his wife gets.
“I was attacked by the local Congress Committee members for my ‘anti-state’ activities, and a case was also filed against me. But I was rescued by the High Court,” says Gogoi. During this period, Gogoi had to go underground, and he was introduced to his son only when he was already six months old.
Gogoi and his KMSSA used the RTI Act to uncover corruption in various schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana and the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. This was reported to the Chief Minister and following media coverage, local officials were arrested for alleged corruption.
The two other finalists for the award were the Urmul Jyoti Sansthan (UJS) and its founder Chetan Ram from Bikaner in Rajasthan for their work in health care, rural development and public advocacy. The UJS also used the RTI Act to expose corruption in various public projects. Working under the banner of the Jagruk Nagrik Manch, UJS activists actually coerced many public officials into returning bribes they took from citizens.
“Though our efforts were initially dismissed, government servants gradually started returning the money they took. We have all the receipts with us, wherein the official writes the amount of bribe he took and then returns it back,” said Ram. “I have been dragged to court in many false cases and have even faced physical assault. But now, resistance has declined.”
The fight against corruption led the third nominee, M N Vijayakumar, an IAS officer from Karnataka, to be transferred seven times in nine months. Not allowed to attend the event, he was represented by Jayashree, his wife and an activist herself. His crime? Blowing the whistle on the misuse of Government land and corrupt practices in various PSUs. Said Jayashree: “Vijayakumar keeps getting notices every time he uncovers corruption in the state. But it’s the zeal for bringing about change that keeps us going despite all the threats.”
The nominations were adjudged on the basis of the gravity of the situation in the area of work; corrective measures taken to fight the situation; and the extent of difficulty and challenges faced. What was common to all the nominations was their commitment towards ensuring transparency in the government’s development works.
“The fight against corruption is an uphill task. You’ll be beaten up and dragged to courts for all your honesty,” said Kiran Bedi, the chief guest at the award function. “Justice and integrity mean nothing unless we talk of police reforms. That department is the most corrupt,” she said.

BLUSH-Comrades

The crackdown started again. Everything is in the eye of media, people. Fervour of Free TIBET is on rise again. Officially more than 20 monks has been killed. Bloodshed is going on. Big brother China has flexed its muscles. Comrade Hu Jintao and Wen Jiya Bao has given licence for this. Beijng Olympics are next door. When they were tired to establish the image of Goodwill China all these happened. Now they are diverted. They are vpwed to crush
Dalai Lama can play a very favourable role given his belief in non-violence, given his stated position that he does not seek political independence for Tibet, and given his unassailable authoritative moral stature, not just with the people of Tibet but with people from around the world. China has turned ear deaf. Dalai Lama Nobel Peace laureate, who is on exile in India since 1959 after a failed armed uprising against the communist rule in Tibet. He could play key role.

Chinese state media said for the first time on Thursday that anti-government riots that rocked Tibet last week have spread to other provinces as the communist authorities announced the first group of arrests for the violence.
The announcements came as the government sent armed police into far-flung towns and villages to reassert control as sporadic demonstrations continued to flare up, and barred any foreigners from traveling there or journalists from reporting.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday on "riots in Tibetan-inhabited areas in the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu, both neighboring Tibet." It blamed the protests on supporters of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader.
Xinhua said the protests attacked "shops and government offices" on Sunday in Aba country in northwestern Sichuan. It said there were similar protests in five areas of southern Gansu province.
The Xinhua report confirms previous claims by exile Tibet activist groups that the protests had spread. Foreign journalists have been banned from going to Tibet and have found it increasingly difficult to travel to areas in other provinces with Tibetan populations.
The Tibet Daily reported that 24 people had been arrested for endangering state security, and for other "grave crimes" for their roles in last Friday's riots in Lhasa.
"This incident has severely disrupted the social order, harmed people's life and property, and these illegal acts organized, pre-planned, and well-designed by the Dalai clique," Lhasa deputy chief prosecutor Xie Yanjun was quoted as saying. "We have to strike the aggressive criminals on the basis of facts guided by law," he said.
Xinhua said previously that 170 people had surrendered for their role in the Lhasa riots. The violence injured 325 people and China says 16 were killed, denying Tibetan exile groups' claims that 80 died.
The protests have been the biggest challenge in almost two decades to Chinese rule in Tibet, a Himalayan region that the People's Liberation Army occupied in 1950 after several decades of effective independence.
But authorities appeared to be regaining control in Tibet and surrounding provinces where more than half of China's 5.4 million Tibetans live. Moving from town to town, police checked IDs and set up roadblocks to keep Tibetans in and reporters out. On Thursday morning, an Associated Press photographer was turned away from a flight to Zhongdian in Yunnan province. There were 12 policemen, including with automatic weapons at the check-in counter. The police said that no foreigners were allowed to travel to Tibetan areas due to the protests.
The unrest has prompted discussion of a possible boycott of the Aug. 8 opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and calls for China to address Tibetans' grievances and engage in direct talks with the Dalai Lama.
But a top Beijing Olympics official vowed Wednesday that the unrest would not disrupt plans for the torch relay preceding this summer's Olympics in Beijing. One leg of the relay will pass through Tibet, taking the flame to the peak of Mount Everest sometime in May.
"We know the incidents are the last thing we want to see, but we firmly believe that the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region will be able ensure the stability of Lhasa and Tibet, and also be able to ensure the smooth going of the torch relay in Tibet," Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, told reporters.
Many Olympic committees have spoken out against a boycott of the games, but some athletes have voiced concern.

MEDIA CITY-Media Hub in India

The government is looking at setting up a media city on the public-private partnership model. The proposal was mooted at a meeting called by the information & broadcasting minister which was attended by representatives from the print and broadcasting media industries including members of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), the Association of Indian Magazines as well as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation. The general consensus was in favour of a separate media city on the lines of facilities that have been set up in cities such as Dubai, Manila and Colombo. The government proposed that over 200 acres should be identified and developed as a media city housing the print, broadcasting, publishing and the internet media industries. It has also asked the media bodies to come up with a list of problems facing them and how a full-fledged media city could solve them. “Though the proposed city is still at the concept stage, the idea is to have a common place where broadcasters can find uplinking facilities while newspapers can avail of printing facilities. For instance, today my printing facilities are spread across Okhla, Gurgaon and Noida,” said Maheshwar Peri, publisher, Outlook Group. Some print media executives also complained that while the old newspaper companies have facilities at prime locations, the relatively new players found it difficult to get a place to set up their operations. While the government may have taken the initiative this time, proposal for a media city was first made by the print media industry some six years ago.

The KC KULISH AWARD

Year 1956, nine years after Independence of India, one journalist dared to dream of a newspaper free from influences and interests, totally credible, wedded to truth and public good and devoid of commercial concerns and set about making it a reality. Karpoor Chandra Kulish’s dream and ideals drove him to launch Rajasthan Patrika with a borrowed capital of Rs 500 (about 100 US dollars then). Today Rajasthan Patrika is the most authentic voice of India’s largest state, besides being the only Hindi daily with readership in most parts of India including such non-Hindi speaking states as West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest circulated Hindi newspapers of the Indian sub-continent, and is among the top 50 newspapers of the world with over 13 million readers in India. The phenomenal growth from virtual scratch was possible only due to Karpoor Chandra Kulish’s grit and determination and his faith in the people of Rajasthan, who responded generously to his brand of journalism based on truth, courage and independence. Karpoor Chandra Kulish never swerved from the path of fairness and honesty. Professional excellence went hand in hand with coverage of news and expression of views always focused on public interest and welfare. He set high standards and healthy traditions for his successors to imbibe and follow.
Even today, the ideals and traditions of Karpoor Chandra Kulish remain the driving force for Rajasthan Patrika. In a recent BBC-Reuters survey, Rajasthan Patrika was listed among the top five “most trusted” publications of the country. The interests and problems of citizens as readers remain the newspaper’s prime focus and concern.
The Rajasthan Patrika Group is glad to announce the Karpoor Chandra Kulish Award 2007 (KCK Award 2007). This annual award, in the hallowed memory of Karpoor Chand Kulish, is aimed at recognizing efforts of thought leaders in media, journalist’s outstanding contributions to upholding professional values as well as protecting and promoting ethics and morality, right and freedom of the people for better quality of life. The award theme for year 2007 shall be “Human Development”.
There is no entry fee for the award.
“Human Development”:The first KCK Award for excellence in print journalism will be open to those who have authored and published the most compelling write-ups in media contributing to changing the lives and meeting the aspirations of people. We seek to honor journalists who covered events of people’s struggle for a life of dignity, fulfillment and honor.
We expect the contributions to represent manifestation of man’s unique spirit and goodness of life. They shall also depict strong focus on showcasing self-governance leading to effective social change.

FICCI Forum 2008

FICCI, has been playing a pioneering role in projecting the promise and the potential of the Inidan entertainment industry from getting the film industry to be recognised as an industry to corporatisation and access to clean, institutional funding. FICCI, very closely worked with the Ministry for Information & Broadcasting and was instrumental for getting the offical recognition of the entertainment sector, including films as an Industry.
The first ever report on the Indian entertainment industry authored by FICCI was released in 2001.
FICCI-FRAMES: Asia's Biggest Convention on the Business of Entertainment (2500 delegates from over 22 Countries)
FICCI instituted the first ever Animation Awards in India in 2004, FICCI BAF (Best Animated FRAMES) Awards, to recognize the excellence in Animation, Gaming and Visual Effects.
Works closely with both, Central and State Governments on Key Policy isues.
Showcases the promise and potential of India media & Entertainment Sector at various international forums.
International Linkages : CASBAA, WIPO, PROMAX, MIPTV, MIPCOM, ANNECY Animation festival, MPAA, VES, FICCI-IIFA Forum, LIMA, ATF etc.

KC KULISH AWARD- New in Journalism Excellence

Dawn & HT jointly win KCK Award 2007
The results of the inaugural Karpoor Chandra Kulish International Award-2007 for excellence in print journalism are in and the jury has declared DAWN (Pakistan) and HINDUSTAN TIMES (Delhi) as joint winners.
This annual international award, instituted by Rajasthan Patrika, a media institution of repute, in the hallowed memory of Karpoor Chand Kulish, is aimed at recognizing credible and value based journalism. To begin with, recognizing and encouraging inhouse journalistic talents has been a way of life in Rajasthan Patrika. Rajasthan Patrika had established an internal mechanism several years ago by which journalists within the organization are encouraged and adequately awarded. Now, it is the endeavour of Patrika to do it globally by instituting the KCKIA Award. In addition, the prestigious Concerned Communicator Award was instituted by Rajasthan Patrika over a decade ago. It is the most coveted and highly recognized social advertising award of the country. We invite ad professionals to make print advertisements on any social issue that they feel strongly for. This year the CCA has entered into its 10th Year and it continues to represent the true spirit of creative excellence.
The theme for KCKIA award for year 2007 was "Human Development" and stories should have been published on or after 1st January 2007 through 31st December 2007. The jury received 187 entries in total across the globe viz., from countries like the USA, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Pakistan, etc. The Sixty-one Indian newspapers pitched for 145 entries and ten members of international media submitted 42 entries. The story of Assistant Editor Afsan Subhai & his team “Why does corporate Pakistan detest democracy”, published in Karachi edition of the Dawn, and the story published by Senior Editor Nilesh Mishra & his team “The new Muslim series – From Masjid to market a journey” published in Delhi edition of Hindustan Times were declared joint winners.
The jury submitted that the entries were ample proof of quality journalism. They appreciated the efforts of Rajasthan Patrika and commented that probably it was the first time when not only the reporert but the whole team also was getting its due. It would enhance the team sprit and efficiency. The jury was comprised of luminaries, like Mr. N. Ram, Editor in Chief of The Hindu; Mr. H.K. Dua Editor in Chief of The Tribune; Prof. Bakul H. Dholakia, former Director of IIM, Ahmedabad; Mr. Peeyush Pandey (the ad guru), Executive Chairman & National Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Ltd.; and Mr.Gulab Kothari, Editor & Managing Director of Rajasthan Patrika.
The Award distribution function will be held in Delhi on the 12th of March. The Chief Guest will be the former President of India Dr. A.P.J.Abul Kalam, and the function will be presided over by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The award carries a prize money of US $ 11000 and a trophy. A few special-mention awards will also be presented.
And the following stories have been selected for merit award -
i) Times of India, Ahmedabad – “Save the girl child” by Radha Sharma & her team.ii) The Mercury, South Africa – “South Africa’s poisonous work places” by Tony Carnie & his team.iii) Hindustan Times Delhi – “India besiges series – one in every six Indians lives under insurgency” by Yashwant Raj & his team.iv) Dainik Janambhumi, Guwahati – “HIV/Aids awareness campaign” by Lakhyajit Gohain & his team.v) Amar Ujala, Kanpur – “Badhal Bundelkhand” by Pratap Samvanshi & his team.vi) Hindustan Times, Chandigarh – “War torn – a series on the plight of war martyr families” by Kuldeep Maan & his team.vii) The Statesman, Kolkata – “ The ugly truth in Nandigram” by Sukumar Mitra & his team.viii) Uttar Ujala, Dehradun – “Slow pace of development in Uttrakhand – resulting hardship of people” by Jay Singh Rawat & his team. ix) Rashtra Deepika Daily, Kerala – “Weeping faces, frozen mind” by Reji Joseph & his team.x) Saurashtra Aaspass, Bhavnagar – “Jiske jeevan me andhera hai…” by Hitesh Raviya

ADIEU to MJ Akbar from The Asian Age

Veteran Indian journalist and author M J Akbar, who is widely regarded for his brilliant inscription of words, columns and books, has been ‘forced out’ of the Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle newspapers. Akbar and Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd, which had a majority stake in Asian Age Holdings parted ways this month.
Akbar, who worked in both the newspapers as its editor-in-chief.
Akbar says there had been disagreement over editorial matters with Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. “I wanted an independent line, whereas the Deccan Chronicle management was insistent that I be supportive of the pro-establishment, government policies. “I haven’t quit; I have been forced out,”. According to reports, he is holding 10 per cent in the Asian Age Holdings Ltd., while the rest 90 per cent is being held by the Deccan Chronicle; a fact that he outrightly denies.
The buzz is that ever since Deccan Chronicle increased its holding to 90 per cent from a meek 23 per cent in May 2005, there were disagreements between the two. However, the media insiders say this could just be a hogwash. It is said Akbar’s dismissal has a lot to do with the Congress party. Akbar is reportedly eyeing Rajya Sabha membership and opposition BJP wants Akbar nominated for one of the seats. It is speculated that none other than Congress President Sonia Gandhi wanted Akbar out of The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle. And Akbar’s conflict with ‘pro-establishment’ Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd could have acted detrimental here. Akbar had a brief stint as a member of parliament from Bihar’s Kishanganj constituency on the Congress party ticket in 1989. He founded the Asian Age in 1993, and published it initially from New Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata and London. He has previously edited publications such as Sunday and The Telegraph from Kolkata.
Discussing whether returning to politics was on his mind, Akbar said: “I am independent, and will remain independent. I, as a journalist, have many friends in the politics. Why should I not have political acquaintances and contacts?” he asked. “I am not going to be defeated so easily,” he added.
Cutting across ideological lines, many political parties including the Left have shown sympathy and support for Akbar.

EVM conceptualiser is no more- Sujatha is dead

EVM conceptualiser is no more- Sujatha is dead

EVM conceptuliser is no more- Sujatha is dead

The key person behind the development of the Electronic Voting Machine and an eminent writer, S Rangarajan alias Sujatha, has died.
A multi-faceted personality,73-year-old Rangarajan, is survived by wife and two sons. Sujatha, who had been suffering from diabetes and had undergone a bypass heart surgery, died of multiple organ failure on Wednesday night, doctors at the Apollo Hospital said.
An electronics engineer from IIT-Madras, Sujatha was general manager (Research and Development) in Bharat Electronics [Get Quote] Limited (BEL) and was instrumental in designing the EVMs extensively used for polls in the country.
He had taken great pains to prove the efficacy of the EVMs a few years ago, when suspicions had been raised about the functioning of the machines. Sujatha was a pioneer in the field of science fictions in Tamil. He also wrote short stories, novels, screenplays and columns in weeklies.
In his fictions, the writer imagined a Chennai post-2020, where air-taxis and gigolos would be a common affair. He also ventured into areas of child sex abuse, a concept not much discussed by the Tamil society.
With about 100 novels and 200 short stories under his kitty, he served as editor of popular weekly Kumudam.
His columns in Ananda Vikatan, which discussed a range of issues, enjoyed wide readership.
Sujatha wrote screenplay and dialogues for Rajnikanth-starrer film Sivaji --The Boss and under-production film Dasavataram featuring Kamal Haasan.