Naya Jahan

Attempt to Big blow to Transparency Act

2011-10-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

Transparency Act has received a big blow when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , said on Friday , that in RTI Act a relook needed in grey areas.

Commenting on Six Yr old RTI Act he attracted criticism.

In The 6th Annual Convention of the Central Information Commission, Singh said, " We must take critical look at RTI. There are concerns that needed to be addressed and discussed honestly."

Although the Prime Minister tried to allay some fears by commenting that a bill for whistleblowers’ protection is being brought in.

Will Dhoni boy do the charisma

2011-04-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

So far charismatic captain of India and after beating Pak in high voltage day nighter will Dhoni's boy be able to do the same feat of 1983 World Cup final.

Now many enthusiastic in Indian team cherishing youth like Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli and other colleague will leave no stone unturned.

But Indian rival Srilanka is also full of same enthu like opponent.

So welcome to witness the history at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 2nd of April 2011.

JOSEPH LELYVWELD : New Furor

2011-04-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

Gujarat has banned Pulitzer-Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld’s new book about Mahatma Gandhi on 30th March after reviews saying it hints that the father of India’s independence had a homosexual relationship.

More bans have been proposed in India, where homosexuality was illegal until 2009 and still carries social stigma.

Gujarat’s state assembly voted unanimously Wednesday to immediately ban “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India.”

The furor was sparked by local media reports, based on early reviews out of the U.S. and U.K., some of which emphasized passages in the book suggesting Gandhi had an intimate relationship with a German man named Hermann Kallenbach.

The book has not yet been released in India, so few here have actually read Mr. Lelyveld’s writings.

But in the information age the excerpts are available on websites suggest about homosexual relationship of MG. Like some of past precedents of writing on Bapu this endeavour appears to sensetionalize the issue, never mind the propaganda will work.

In this context, Joseph Lelyveld’s book, “Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India,” seems almost eccentric, devoted as it is to explaining the evolution of a social and moral philosophy that, 60 years after the end of the British Raj, has lost the attention of the nation it once enthralled.

Mr. Lelyveld teases out the forces that transformed a sheltered young Gujurati Hindu lawyer from a conservative merchant caste into the Mahatma, a figure part politician and part saint, who renewed the ancient tradition of Hindu asceticism in the hope not just of political independence, but also of a social and spiritual transformation based in the Indian villages

POPULATION OF INDIA : Where we are ?

2011-04-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

Indias’s Population Reaches 1210 Million as Per Census 2011
Uttar Pradesh Remains Most Populous State With 199 Million
Overall Sex Ratio Reaches 940 – 7 Points Increases Over 2001
Literacy Rate Goes up to 74.04 Percent from 64.83 Percent.

The population of the country as per the provisional figures of Census 2011 is 1210.19 million of which 63.72 million (51.54%) are males and 586.46 million (48.46%) are females.

The provisional figures of Census 2011 were released in New Delhi by Union Home Secretary Shri G.K.Pillai and RGI Shri C. Chandramouli on 31st March.

The major highlights of the Census 2011 (Provisional figures) are as under ;-

The population of India has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011.

Percentage growth in 2001-2011 is 17.64; males 17.19 and females 18.12.

2001-2011 is the first decade (with the exception of 1911-1921) which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade.

Uttar Pradesh (199.5 million) is the most populous State in the country followed by Maharashtra with 112 million.

The percentage decadal growth rates of the six most populous States have declined during 2001-2011 compared to 1991-2001:

- Uttar Pradesh (25.85% to 20.09%)
- Maharashtra (22.73% to 15.99%)
- Bihar (28.62% to 25.07%)
- West Bengal (17.77 % to 13.93%)
- Andhra Pradesh (14.59% to 11.10%)
- Madhya Pradesh (24.26% to 20.30%)

· During 2001-2011, as many as 25 States/UTs with a share of about 85% of the country’s population registered an annual growth rate of less than 2% as compared to, 15 States/UTs with a share of about 42% during the period 1991-2001.

15 States/UTs have grown by less than 1.5 per cent per annum during 2001-2011, while the number of such States/UTs was only 4 during the previous decade.

The total number of children in the age-group 0-6 is 158.8 million (-5 million since 2001)

Twenty States and Union Territories now have over one million children in the age group 0-6 years. On the other extreme, there are five States and Union Territories in the country that are yet to reach the one hundred thousand mark.

Uttar Pradesh (29.7 million), Bihar (18.6 million), Maharashtra (12.8 million), Madhya Pradesh (10.5 million) and Rajasthan (10.5 million) constitute 52% children in the age group of 0-6 years.

Population (0-6 years) 2001-2011 registered minus (-)3.08 percent growth with minus (-)2.42 for males and –3.80 for females.

The proportion of Child Population in the age group of 0-6 years to total population is 13.1 percent while the corresponding figure in 2001 was 15.9 percent. The decline has been to the extent of 2.8 points.

Overall sex ratio at the national level has increased by 7 points to reach 940 at Census 2011 as against 933 in Census 2001. This is the highest sex ratio recorded since Census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961. Increase in sex ratio is observed in 29 States/UTs.

Three major States (J&K, Bihar & Gujarat) have shown decline in sex ratio as compared to Census 2001.

Kerala with 1084 has the highest sex ratio followed by Puducherry with 1038, Daman & Diu has the lowest sex ratio of 618.

Child sex ratio (0-6 years) is 914. Increasing trend in the child sex ratio (0-6) seen in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and A&N Islands. In all remaining 27 States/UTs, the child sex ratio show decline over Census 2001.

Mizoram has the highest child sex ratio (0-6 years) of 971 followed by Meghalaya with 970. Haryana is at the bottom with ratio of 830 followed by Punjab with 846.

Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points.

Percentage growth in literacy during 2001-2011 is 38.82; males : 31.98% & females : 49.10%.

Literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent.

VUVUZELA : A SAFARI PICKLE

2010-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

This year’s World Cup football has a special Safari treatment with Vuvuzela. Specially designed to create nuisance and instrument of masti . Also known as Lepatata (its Tswana name) and stadium horn, is a typical 65 cm plastic blowing horn that produces a loud, distinctive monotone note.
Several VUVUS are there and can create varying intensity and frequency outputs.
With the tide of soccer is up and up people are for and against of it. The Daily Telegraph's chief sports reporter Paul Kelso described critics of the vuvuzela as "killjoys" and said they should "stop moaning".
The intensity output depends on the blowing technique and pressure exerted. This is thrilling and can take its own toll .

Earlier prominent South African columnist and former sportswriter, Jon Qwelane, described the vuvuzela as "an instrument from hell" that had caused him to abandon watching live games, and urged that it be banned before the 2010 World Cup.

It has become a symbol of South African football as the stadiums are filled with its loud and raucous sound that reflects that exhilaration of supporters.

In response to criticism of the horn's use, President of FIFA Sepp Blatter commented, "I have always said that Africa has a different rhythm, a different sound. I don't see banning the music traditions of fans in their own country. Would you want to see a ban on the fan traditions in your country?"

The intensity of the sound caught the attention of the global football community during the 2009 Confederation Cup in anticipation of South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup, though its frequent usage during sporting events raised health and safety concerns.

The vuvuzela has been the subject of controversy. Its high sound pressure levels at close range can lead to permanent hearing loss for unprotected ears after extensive exposure. A test, shows the maximum sound output varied between 113 and 131 dBA.

The vuvuzela became popular in South Africa in the 1990s. Well-known Kaizer Chiefs F.C. fan Freddie "Saddam" Maake claims to have invented the vuvuzela by adapting an aluminium version as early as 1965 from a bicycle horn after removing the black rubber to blow with his mouth. He later found it to be too short and joined a pipe to make it longer. Maake has photos of himself in the 1970s and 1980s at local South African games and international games in 1992 and 1996 and at the 1998 World Cup in France, holding the aluminium vuvuzela.

The origin of the name vuvuzela is disputed. It may have originated from Zulu for "making a vuvu noise," directly translated "vuvu-ing" because of the "vuvu" sound it makes, or from township slang related to the word for "shower".
The world football governing body, FIFA, expressed concerns that hooligans could use the instrument as a weapon and that businesses could place advertisements on vuvuzelas, in violation of FIFA regulations.

In July 2008, FIFA ruled that vuvuzelas would be allowed at the Confederations Cup, after the South African Football Association (SAFA) made the case that vuvuzelas were essential to an authentic South African football experience. FIFA President Sepp Blatter was opposed to banning the instrument, saying, "we should not try to Europeanise an African World Cup."
FIFA received complaints from multiple European broadcasters who wanted it banned for the 2010 FIFA World Cup because the sound drowned out the voices of the commentators. Despite the protests, FIFA decided that the instrument would be allowed at the World Cup the following year,albeit only instruments shorter than one metre in length.

2010 FIFA World Cup

A user blowing a vuvuzela at a football tournament.As part of its marketing campaign for the World Cup, Korean automaker Hyundai and a local South African advertising agency called Jupiter Drawing Room created the largest working vuvuzela in the world—114 feet (35 m) long—on an unfinished flyover road in Cape Town.
Lionel Messi who complained that the sound of the vuvuzelas hampered communication among players on the pitch, and broadcasting companies, who complained that commentators' voices were being drowned out by the sound. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo went on record to state that the sound of the vuvuzelas disturbed the teams' concentration.

Others watching on television have complained that the ambient audio feed from the stadium only contains the sounds of the vuvuzelas and the natural sounds of people in the stands are drowned out.

COURSE OF CORRECTION

2010-04-22T07:12:00.000-07:00

Media and Journalism- two mystique wosrds for me . When i think about mission and its piouso aims feel proud, but nowdays there is no reason for this. In India , the man, muscle, money and power is spoiling journalism both inside and outside. Hence some ambiguity is there .

Stories are being pumped in rims and rims, megabyte to terabyte . When some one tries to ponder on this no one pay heed on his words. Generally he or she is treated as ostracized.

Ultimately Media mafia are ruling. Really the culture of couch potato is flourishing . Skin has become so hard that it is not being affected by anything.

Compare stories of 2002 Iraa Attack or Godhra Riots and this year's IPL. What we get or lose when time elapses. Do we like to look back ?

The Beginning of New Era : RTE

2010-04-01T05:16:00.001-07:00

Today is day of fulfillment of promise. Nearly one deade after the Constitution was amended to make education a fundamental right, the government today implemented a historic law to provide free and compulsory education to all children in age group of 6-14 years.

The 86th Constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right was passed by Parliament in 2002. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, a law to enable the implementation of the fundamental right, was passed by Parliament last year. Both the Constitutional amendment and the new law came into force from today.

The new law makes it obligatory on part of the state governments and local bodies to ensure that every child gets education in a school in the neighbourhood.

Its implementation will directly benefit close to one crore children who do not go to schools at present. These children, who have either dropped out from schools or have never been to any educational institution, will be enrolled in schools.

According to ministry of MHRD at present, there are nearly 22 crore children in the relevant age group. However, 4.6 per cent of these children (nearly 92 lakh) are out of school.

The school management committee or the local authority will identify the drop-outs or out of school children above six years of age and admit them in classes appropriate to their age after giving special training.

The Act mandates that even private educational institutions have to reserve 25 per cent seats for children from weaker sections. Education will be every child's right . This makes obligatory for the concerned governments to ensure that every child gets free elementary education. But the hindrances are still ahead, certain schools have already challenged the law in the Supreme Court as being 'unconstitutional' and violating fundamental rights of unaided private educational institutions.

The Finance Commission has provided Rs 25,000 crore to the states for implementation of the Act. Government's estimates say, there will be a requirement of Rs 1.71 lakh crore in the next five years for implementation of the Act.

The Act says no school can deny admission to a student and all schools need to have trained teachers. In case of schools not having trained teachers, they will have to comply with the provision within three years.

As per the new law, the schools need to have certain minimum facilities like adequate teachers, playground and infrastructure. The government will evolve some mechanism to help marginalised schools comply with the provisions of the Act.

The government has already prepared model rules which have been circulated to the states for preparing their own rules for implementation of the Act. The Centre has also prepared separate rules for the Union Territories which will be notified by the Law Ministry next week.

As per the Model rules, the local bodies and the state governments will undertake household surveys and neighbourhood school mapping to ensure that all children are sent to school.

The rules say that the state governments or local authorities will determine the neighbourhood schools by undertaking school mapping. Such agencies shall ensure that no child is subjected to caste, class, religious or gender abuse in the school.

The local authority will conduct a household survey and maintain a record of all children in its jurisdiction. The record will contain detailed information about the child and the parents and will specify whether the child belongs to the weaker section or disadvantaged group or having any disability.

The state government or local authorities will identify children with disabilities and children from disadvantaged groups every year.

Unaided and private schools shall ensure that children from weaker sections and disadvantaged groups shall not be segregated from the other children in the classrooms nor shall their classes be held at places and timings different from the classes held for the other children.

The new law will ensure that quality education is provided to children of all community, including minorities and backward classes.

However, the reservation for weaker section will not be implemented from this year as the admission season is almost over. It will be implemented from 2011-12.

The state government and local authorities will establish primary schools within walking distance of one km of the neighbourhood. In case of children for Class VI to VIII, the school should be within a walking distance of three km of the neighbourhood.

WHY EVERY MOUTH IS TALKING ABOUT TV

2008-12-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T06:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-05T05:47:00.000-08:00

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

2008-08-24T14:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-22T04:34:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-09T10:54:00.001-07:00

It Is again Washington Post

2008-04-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

EVM conceptualiser is no more- Sujatha is dead

EVM conceptuliser is no more- Sujatha is dead

2008-03-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

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.

HAPPY DIWALI

2007-11-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

WISHING ALL - A VERY HAPPY DIWALI

WISHING PROSPERITY FOR ALL

ONE PILLAR STRIKES ANOTHER

2007-11-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

Ref : Assault on Electronics Media Journalist of NDTV India by a Bihar' MLA.

Persecution to journalist is not a new thing to press. It gathers momentum , when it surpasses the threshold of exploitation. Reporters Sans Border reports every year many mediamen are getting assualted, while covering Wars, Poltical Imbroglio, calamities.
But in the new case of NDTV journo it was clash of two representitives of democratic pillars. MLA brutally assaulted two journalist and one cameraman of electronic media. MLA Anant Singh is tainted and his indulgement has been proved in several cases. But it is power of his incumbancy to Nitish Kumar, saved him on several ocasions. On the 2nd of Nov he crossed all the limitations and shown his real attitude of goon. How it could be said that he is representitive of people, when his mental condition is not balanced. I think a tough lesson must be taught to him. Then it will convey a good message, after all it is on Nitish Kumar who is struggling to adore a image of Mr Clean.

The ruling Janata Dal (United) party,MLA who was arrested Thursday afternoon for having an NDTV crew beaten up, has promised that he will get the NDTV correspondent Prakash Singh killed.

MLA Anant Singh, a noted Patna don, is in custody but he says that's no problem, he will get Prakash Singh killed even if he remains in jail.

Prakash was at Anant Singh's house for an interview when the attack took place. He went Singh's house to get his comments on allegations that he is responsible for a rape and murder case of a woman in Patna.

But instead of a comment supporters and bodyguards of the MLA at his residence attacked the NDTV and ANI crew. They were beaten badly. The NDTV cameraman, Habib, escaped but the reporter, Prakash Singh, was held captive for almost two hours during which time he was beaten further.

The police refused to respond initially but after journalists staged protests they went and freed the two journalists.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,described the incident as unfortunate, said he had asked the state police chief Ashis Ranajan Sinha to take immediate action and added that five persons, including the MLA Anant Singh, have already been arrested. The Bihar government has also decided to hand over to CBI the case of alleged rape and murder of a woman, which had led journalists to query JD(U) MLA Anant Singh triggering a brutal assault on them.
''The state Home Secretary has been asked to recommend a CBI probe into the alleged rape and murder of a woman by Anant Singh's associates. A journalistic inquiry into this incident led to the unfortunate attack (on media),'' Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters.

''Those shedding crocodile tears over the attack on journalists and shouting from rooftops demanding a CBI probe are the people in power at the Centre. They are requested to use their influence to ensure that the CBI, which functions under the Prime Minister, takes up the inquiry,'' Kumar said.

Shameful incident

Asserting that his government was acting without ''fear or favour'', Kumar said Anant Singh and four of his associates were arrested and the case would be brought to its ''logical conclusion''.

Two of the accused named in the FIR Mukesh Singh and Bipin Singh are absconding, Kumar said adding raids were going on to apprehend them and, if need be, police would move the court for attachment of their properties.

JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said the incident was condemnable and added that state government would take strong action.

Rubbishing charges of lawlessness leveled by RJD supreme Lalu Prasad, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said ''this is not 'Lalu Raj' where criminals are given protection. We have already arrested the MLA and others''.

Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly Rabri Devi said the attack on the mediapersons is an assault on the freedom of the media. RJD has called a statewide Bihar bandh on Friday in protest against the attack.

The RJD President described the incident as ''very shameful'' and demanded action against ''all the criminal elements in JD(U)''.

LJP President and Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan demanded stern action against the MLA. He criticised the Nitish Kumar government saying its claim to providing good governance was hollow. (With agency inputs)

Forgetting the warrior of Fourth Estate : RNG

2007-10-19T02:35:00.000-07:00

In Indian journalism we have so many legacies. We care for some of them and sometimes don't care. As a literate journalist belonging to media schools somebody of new generation know about media barons or bother to get know. How many of us know about RamNath Goenka. A true warrior who foughr against all odds of Freedom of Speech and Expression. On 5th of October this year was his death anniversary. But not any single newspaper wrote about that marathon champion of press. His own group The Indian Express which has institited Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in journalism in his memory, didn’t bother to pay homage him. Only ad were published in paper.
We remember Joseph Pulitzer and Hearst for their Yellow journalism spree, but how can we forget Goenka. Goenka stood rightward for the freedom of press and opened his all the assets for the sake of journalism. But how selfish we are ?
Young journalist must read about him. He was not the new print enterpreneur like Agarwal, Gupt, Jains who are dominating in RNI list. He led the tradition of courageous journalism. He bought mills other industries but not relinquished Indian Express which was his passion.
Ramnath Goenka combined in his person all the contradictions that characterise exceptional men. They came from vastly different disciplines, yet the contradictions in their make-up was a common thread. Firaq could, surrounded by some of the finest literary critics, sustain a parallel quarrel with his young wards about missing carrots and potatoes from the kitchen basket. He would then, quite effortlessly, resume his discourse on metaphysics, romantic poetry, comparisons between Wordsworth and Shelly. The life of his mind was completely out of sync with the texture of his own life.
Likewise, Ramnath Goenka -- RNG -- could be mean and magnanimous to a fault. He would quibble over 100 rupee increments for his sub-editors and yet take voyeuristic delight in enabling his editors like Frank Moraes and S. Mulgaokar live like princes. Since Moraes did not have Mulgaokar's guile, he fell from Goenka's favour. RNG was ruthless in discarding friends for whom, until just the other day, he appeared caring beyond distraction. For this turn there was sometimes no other reasons than that the "friend" had outlived his utility.
His capriciousness was, again, in stark contrast to his many consistencies. For instance he had a vision of an independent India and in it, an independent press: to these his commitment was unshakable.
He was also a deeply religious man. Daily at dusk, he would drive his Fiat (yes, he would drive himself with someone like me, on occasion, seated with him) to the temple opposite the Red Fort. He had contrived his own Chennai-Bangalore route: always via Tirupati. But even in dealing with the gods he created room for the exercise of power. A correspondent was posted at Tirupati to facilitate darshan for Ramnathji, his family and friends, ahead of the queue of regular devotees.

Power was something he enjoyed exercising although that was not his own assessment of his instincts and impulses. Lord Thomson's dictum that editorial matter was the "stuff you put between the ads" was not an article of faith with RNG. When he embarked on a campaign supporting Jayaprakash Narayan's Bihar movement, demolishing chief minister Antulay, taking calculated sides in corporate wars, cutting Indira Gandhi down to size, the advertisement department took a back seat.

Even though he was very much in the Gandhian mould, extremely proud of his khadi and generally homespun demeanor, the pre-Independence milieu (his formative years) made him aware that he had missed out on western social graces which he thought were a gift of public schools and British universities. "He is from Doons," he would repeat, "from Doons". Which was his way of saying that the candidate he had hired for a senior editorial slot was from a "good" background. Doon school was "Doons". This lack of the "Anglaise" in his make-up was made up by hiring editors who were in that mould.

Mulgaokar, more than any other editor, understood this weakness in the great newspaper baron. His projection of himself as a plausible English country esquire, keeping Oxford and Cambridge cricket scores (he had never been to college), playing bridge with the gentry RNG considered culpable, went a long way in ensuring Mulgaokar's longevity with his mercurial master. Mulgaokar was possibly the most brilliant writer in Indian journalism, but it was this, combined with his simulated aristocracy, that went down extraordinarily well with RNG.

The genius of RNG lay in the fact that the management of this category of people he hired or interacted with was only a tiny strand in his incomparably rich experience of India, district by district and, in some instances, village by village. That is where his countless "mofussil" correspondents and stringers came from. It was stunning how well he knew many of them, just as he knew which almirah in his numerous editions housed the nuts and bolts required by one of his ageing pressess in, say, Kochi.

In a flash he could grasp complexities which his editors would grapple with for days. This placed them at a great disadvantage, particularly during the 1977-80 Janata government which owed so much to RNG. The Janata government, after all, was a direct reaction to Mrs Gandhi's imposition of the Emergency during which RNG staked his whole empire.

It was almost a matter of protocol that every cabinet minister, except, of course prime minister Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram and Charan Singh visited RNG at his apartment on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.

RNG's patronage of the Janata government gave him access to information, his editors sometimes did not have. The situation induced in him not so much a sense of power as childlike amusement. RNG, the prankster, privately laughed his head off at the discomfiture of his editors. His razor-sharp mind, a capacity to gauge even the most complicated characters in a jiffy, extraordinary courage, resided quite comfortably with the child inside him, naive and sometimes very lonely.

Many of his angularities could be put down to his relatively humble background. He was born in Darbhanga district of Bihar. One of the great ironies in the life was that the founder of the largest English language chain -- it is another matter that each edition of The Indian Express had an attached regional language edition -- was appointed a life trustee of the Hindi Prachar Sabha when still in his 20s. At 22, he was nominated by the British government to the membership of the Madras Legislative Council. In 1932 he embarked on The Indian Express.

The defining moment in RNG's life was the Emergency. That is when he fought on an epic scale like someone whose place in posterity was assured. It is conceivable that during this combat a personal element crept into his even otherwise combative attitude towards Mrs Gandhi. Jawaharlal Nehru had asked him to employ Feroz Gandhi and he was brought in as general manager. That Feroz was Sonia Gandhi's father-in-law just shows the complicated, cavernous ways in which contemporary public life in India is still tied up with Ramnath Goenka.

Freedom fighter and newspaper baron Ramnath Goenka was born in Bihar on April 3, 1904. After his primary education in Varanasi, he came to Chennai at the young age of 15. It was the quirk of fate that led him to foray into the business of newspapers.

His journey to fame began in 1932, when he took over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free Press Journal. He went on to found the Indian Express in 1936, India's first national newspapers to be published from multiple locations.

He had an active interest in politics and became a member of the Madras Legislative Council. He was close to all the top leaders of the Indian freedom movement. Ramnath Goenka was fiercely independent and is remembered for his role during the "Emergency", where he was among the very few who stood up to Indira Gandhi. He also took on the might of industrialists like Dhirubhai Ambani.

STING OPERATIONS : IS JOURNALISTIC INNOVATION IS DYING ?

2007-09-17T00:20:00.000-07:00

The recent fake sting operation of Delhi based school teacher has raised many question. Specially piousness and ethics of journalism. The TV Channel perished all the prestige earned by that lady teacher. Not only this the kingpin alleged reporter Prakash Singh has also tarnished the image of broadcast media. The fake encounter was well planned and committed with grievous intention. The mushrooming media industry and lack skilled media persons are giving rise to these kinds of culpable crimes. Some have come with intentions of only making money this may christened as Extortion Journalism.

There fore a renaissance is needed. Spawning media and good talent crunch is resulting some cumbersome incidents. Some nuisance creators are willing to take media on the verge of evil image, as we know that these kind of practices are prevalent in West. Yellow Journalism, Check book Journalism, Kiss and Tell & Kiss journalism, Paparazzi are the defamed ones. As we take all the format from Western Media so all the garbage is coming is necessary because we don't think we are not thinking and willing to think that what price we will pay ?
If this media lose it's credibility then healing will take Lot's of time. And may be, we witness TV Burst as happened in the case of dot.coms.
Because it is audience who dislodges any one, then it is for long period.
In the recent cases e.g. Salman Khans abusive tapes, Union Minister M.R. Gavit's alleged fake conversation with mafia have landed media in trouble.

With the present scenario and fake sting operation, Govt may pile up pressure on Broadcast Media. Already the issue of Broadcast Bill is hovering over. So there is a need of correction of faultline that has been appeared. In absence of effective step or preventive step gagging intentions will flare up. So this serious thinking and pondering time.
Stings Ops must not be stopped when in it is Public Interest. Then and that case Judiciary will hail it and uphold it. But who follows self discipline when there blind race is going one. TRP is making them without any feeling of human touch. One has to set the yardstick of good journalism, we Indian's have covered a long journy in Print Media. Good journalism and it's innovations must be preserved.

How the journalist will get benefit from the new wage board ?

2007-06-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

Will justice available for journalists ?

New Wage Board notified with Justice K. Narayana Kurup as Chairman
The big question is looming around how the justice will be done to journalist when Jst. Kurup was appointed. The mission era of journalism has elapsed, now it is corporate era. Government has issued notifications constituting the Wage Boards for Working Journalists and Non-working Journalists of newspapers and news agencies with effect from. 24th May 2007. But when we see the last futile reports and committees constituted for the journalists betterment little hope remains. Remember Bacchhatwala's, Manisana, Diwetia, Palekar Wage Boards and what happende to their recommendations. Let's hope the watchdogs will remain aware and sethji wll not dominate. Because in journalism it is time of merger and acquisitions.

Perhaps the cognizance taken by Manmohan Govt is initially appreciable. Boards have been constituted for the purpose of fixing or revising rates of wages of working journalists and newspaper employees and non-journalists newspapers employees in accordance with the provisions of the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955. The headquarters of the Wage Boards will be New Delhi. The Boards have been asked to submit their reports within three years.

Both the Wage Boards will have 10 members each headed by Dr. Justice K. Narayana Kurup. Justice K. Narayana Kurup is a former Judge of Kerala High Court and has also served as Acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court.

Mr. K.M. Sahni, former Labour and Employment Secretary, will be the Member Secretary for both the Boards. The other independent members common to both the Boards are Mr. B.P. Singh and Mr. P.N. Prasanna Kumar.

Mr. Naresh Mohan (Indian Newspaper Society), Mr. Gurinder Singh (All India Small and Medium Newspapers Federation), Mr. Prataprai Tarachand Shah ( Indian Language Newspaper Association) will be representing employers on both the Wage Boards.
Mr. K. Vikram Rao (Indian Federation of Working Journalists), Mr. Nand Kishore Trikha (National Union of Journalists (India ) and Mr. Suresh Akhouri (Indian Journalists Union) will represent the Working Journalists on the Wage Board for Working Journalists.
Mr. Madan Phadnis (All India Newspaper Employees Federation), Mr. Uma Shankar Mishra (National Federation of Newspaper Employees) and Mr. M.S. Yadav (Press Trust of India) will represent non-journalists on the Wage Boards for Non-Working Journalists.

India's son in penury !

2007-06-20T02:48:00.001-07:00

8th World Hindi Conference will be held in Newyork this year. Millions of money will be spent on the name of Hindi. But are these things happening for the sake of Hindi ? The real men who are working on the ground level are marginalised. Read the story of a farmer's Handicapped Son who developed Hindi Browser. Now he is in penury. Due to renal ailment his health is worsening. But this man of Madhya Pradesh is not getting any kind of sop or help.
Jagdeep Dangi, a physically challenged youth hailing from a small town in Madhya Pradesh was a victim of the (English) language barrier that left many unfortunate citizens in this country in complete technological darkness.
So instead of waiting for the rest of the country to wakeup and address his problem, Dangi developed a fully functional Web browser in Hindi for the benefit of the countless Net-savvy Hindi-speaking populace in the country.
Sharing with CXOtoday the inspiration behind developing the browser, Dangi stated, "Being a Hindi medium student, I have faced the same difficulties, which scores of other vernacular medium students at some time or the other have faced -- the perennial language block of English. This problem turned more acute especially when I was pursuing my computer engineering degree. And that was the turning point that inspired me to develop this Hindi Web browser."
The browser is replete with the functionalities of Internet Explorer but all in Hindi (Devanagari). In addition, it also has extra functions such as opening multiple files, saving files, a search bar, slides and auto history viewers.
One of the key functionalities of the browser is the word translator. All that the user has to do is to click on any word online or offline and it would instantly translate the same in Hindi along with the correct pronunciation.
The browser also offers two type of translators -- one is local and the other is a global word translator that is compatible with all Windows applications online or offline.
Dangi has used object-oriented methodology in coding with Visual Basic, creating 1027 KB lines of codes with all program blocks and algorithms being his own (Absolutely no copy-pasteÂ's). Developed single-handedly, it took him more than three years to make the application.
The browser can run on all Windows operating systems right from 95, 98, 2000 to ME, NT and Windows XP. However, it is not compatible with Unix or Linux.
An English to Hindi or vice-versa digital dictionaryhas been also developed by him, which currently supports 20,320 words and allows users to add more words as per their requirements. This dictionary enables users to search for synonym words either in English or Hindi within a few seconds.
With a B.E. from SATI College in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, 26-year old Dangi revealed that he houses a mini-library of 400-500 computer and engineering books, which keep his innovative mind always occupied; a diversion that is extremely necessary as his mobility is severely restricted due to handicapped lower limbs.
Though short on money and resources, Dangi, the son of a farmer, nurtures a dream of developing an entire operating system in Hindi. However, until then, he is content with savoring the success of his browser.
But who cares these inventions, Dangi is facing penury because he didnot harness commercially his invention.

Another Story by The Statesman

For combined with SAFA and Vachak, it may prove a boon to blind persons using Hindi or other regional languages for their studies who I suppose far outnumber us--English using folks.
Fine reader, as far as I know, does not have OCR capacity for Hindi or any Indian language in its vast repertoire of 179 languages.At last, the ordeal of a Vidisha boy who developed the first Hindi software of the world, has ended. The Central government has recognised the software, thanks to the rigorous follow-ups by the handicapped developer. Mr Jagdeep Dangi's software is now on the website of the Technology Development for Indian Languages. The Union ministry of information technology gave the go-ahead after software experts gave their clearance. The government will use Mr Jagdeep Dangi's software for expansion of computer knowledge in Hindi. Mr Dangi of Vidisha, who lost his right leg and left eye in childhood, did not let it affect his academic zeal and worked for years to develop the "Hindi Explorer" that matches the functions of Internet Explorer and can translate English into Hindi at the click of a mouse. Mr Dangi saw an advertisement by the Central government and C-DAC on 22 May 2005 inviting "individuals or companies" to become "partners of the Nation" by providing Hindi software. Mr Dangi applied and received an e-mail from C-DAC Bangalore office asking him to submit the software or the screen shots. He complied promptly. Mr Dangi was invited by Union IT ministry to demonstrate his software to experts at New Delhi. The Department of Information Technology, C-DAC New Delhi and C-DAC Noida MIT also "appreciated his software very much." Mr Dangi's software is an improvement on internet explorer since it provides extra functions like opening multiples files, a search bar and auto history viewers. The word translator in Mr Dangi's browser will translate English into Hindi with instant Hindi translation and pronunciation.
Courtesy: The Statesma

VISUAL JOURNALISM

2007-06-20T02:19:00.000-07:00

Newspapers are vying with each other to jump into the bandwagon of visual journalism. The attempt is not only to make the product visually more attractive, but also to reduce the cognitive load of the reader.

One of the reasons cited for this trend is the change in readership habits. People, especially of the younger generation, spend very little time these days reading newspapers. According to surveys conducted in India and abroad, they expend a lot of time watching television and surfing the Internet. A national readership survey (2002) found that an urban reader in India, on an average, spends 32 minutes on newspapers against 100 minutes watching television.

These findings need to be looked at closely. There is little doubt there are many things in modern life that compete for a person's time. So, the time he spends on newspaper has come down. However, the 100 minutes on television is not in direct competition with newspaper or news. Many other activities, like time spend on going to the theaters, would have taken a cut.

Infographics
Many newspapers in India and abroad have found a solution to the dwindling 'reader interest' on their product. (In India, their circulations have never been dwindling). They include simplification of the language, offering of soft stories and presentation of stories with highlights, infographics and even pinups.

This could turn out to be a vicious circle with the reader looking for lesser and lesser cognitive load on him. The readers, especially the younger ones, may become lazier as information is offered to him in tablet form. Making the reader lazier would be suicidal for the medium in the long run.

MTV generation
However, there is little reason to think that today's reader is lazier than the aristocrats of the past. Nor is there evidence that the MTV generation cares less for good content.

The readership surveys do not look at reader satisfaction. We have seen readers throwing away newspapers saying that there was hardly matter for ten minutes reading in them. This did not mean that there was nothing in the 10 or 12 pages each of those newspapers. Apparently, the reader is not finding material that interests him, or what he thinks he should spent more time on. So, the problem is more with the content rather than design. (Design sometimes creates the impression of plenty or the lack of it). Light material would get thrown away more easily than gripping and serious stories.

This is not to say that one should not try to make the pages more attractive. Initial buying decisions and sustained liking for a newspaper may be decided by lay out and ease of reading (from the typographical point of view). Printing and other production technologies including colour printing have made it possible to make visually appealing pages quicker than before. There is no reason why one should not take advantage of them.

Web vs. Print
However, there is a tendency to adapt design elements from the Web. This needs to be chosen carefully. Compared to computer and television screen, the luminosity of the printed page is very low, especially on newsprint. So, clutter of infographics and images could darken up the page more easily on print than on the screen, especially if the tonal values are high. They can also cause visual overload. (Visual overload happens very often on the Web. This may be one of the reasons, other than slow loading of images, that prompts readers to look for text in preference to images on Web pages.) Images, advertisements and infographics could suppress text.

On the Web, news stories appear in different pages. So, design requirements vary. For example, a photo or graphic with every story, which is desirable on the Web, would not be desirable on the print unless the format is of magazine.

Text is more readable on the print than on the Web. (Readability is lower for the Web as the resolution of the computer screen is low*.) So, print can always accommodate more text without the reader being turned away. News sites would have to depend on infographics more than the printed publications to tell the story, because the screen size is small. Many readers are even reluctant to scroll down. (If we accept the argument that the readers are inherently lazy, the print has an advantage here. However, it is notable that interactivity is described as the great advantage of the new medium.)

Of Visual Journalism:
Visually attractive does not mean that the product would be intellectually attractive. The pages should look inviting. At the same time, the content should be stimulating. If the objective of the newspaper is only to sell, sex and crime on the front page could achieve the objective. Still, there is the question as to how many pin ups one would want to see in the morning (See the related link). However, as everyone knows, stature of a newspaper and lack of higher objectives are mutually exclusive.

It is said about the Web that content is the king. This is all the more true for newspapers where the written content is the King.

Does Ethics Matter in Modern Journalism ?

2007-06-20T02:14:00.000-07:00

Courtesy CYBERJOURNALIST.ORG.IN
Lt. Col. Rajan Suresh (Retd) (Lecturer, Department of Journalism, University of Kerala, Trivandrum, Kerala, India)
Tehelka.com has been the most frequently discussed media entity in India for the past three weeks. Every day the media, politicians and bureaucrats have managed to place it on the public agenda one way or the other. But there seems to be no benefit in store for the billion plus Indian population. Judging by similar precedents, ordinary people have no tangibles to hope for. Tehelka did a very good job of duping some of the small fry in the arms business, and a few greedy civilian and army officers associated with arms purchases. They also managed to dupe important political functionaries such as Jaya Jaitley and R. K. Jain of the Samata Party and Bangaru Lakshman of the BJP. Tehelka established that many of their 'victims' took money, thereby going one step farther than Matt Drudge, the maverick American Journalist who set the trend of Web-journalism based mostly on sensational rumours. Tehelka obviously had their sights set on becoming 'top-dog' among the watchdogs of Indian polity. The reporter enjoyed celebrity status for a couple of days, and Zee TV, who had a stake in the sting, put the story out in all the channels they own, and most certainly raked in plenty of money. Tehelka's stated purpose- `to expose corruption', has bolstered their image as a smart team of modern day "investigative" journalists. Although debates have ensued about the rights and wrongs in legal terms, the case has raised serious questions about journalistic ethics and responsibility.
The West; particularly the United States and Britain, occasionally get to taste this genre of journalism. Private lives of `public figures' and private lives of private figures are often exposed by journalists looking for sensational stories. President Clinton and Princess Diana were the most prominent targets in recent times. Journalists can now become super peeping-toms with the help of hidden cameras and high-tech surveillance gadgets. And to absolve themselves of criminal intent, the sordid details of many such "investigations" are thrust on unsuspecting people, claiming that a public interest is being served.
Western journalists also cheated and ruthlessly exploited ordinary people by impersonating social workers, counsellors or health-care personnel, to gather personal details that often led to painful consequences. A few classic examples can be found in Fineline, an American newsletter on Journalistic ethics. In a few cases, reporters managed to dupe the US Government, for getting first-hand information from protected sources. Robert Kapler, a small-time reporter pretending to be a security guard, breached the security set-up of a nuclear plant on Three Mile Island to prove that their security was weak. Jonathan Franklin, a freelance reporter signed up as a mortician at the Dover US Air Force Base to get accurate numbers of American soldiers who died in the Gulf War. Whether such reporting has brought about any change in the daily lives of American citizens, or whether it has done the public any good, are debatable.
Tehelka used a wily combination of impersonation, hidden cameras and bribery (all these being culpable offences under Indian Law) to get their tape recordings. The Government of India contends that if public interest was a prime concern, the tapes should not have gone public in such an explosive fashion. But on the other hand, it can be argued quite logically that if the tapes had not been revealed so spectacularly, they would have lost much of their impact. No doubt the largest party in the ruling alliance has been shaken, and some of their political allies unnerved. The Defence Minister has resigned, and higher echelons of the armed forces have been tainted to some extent. India's opposition parties, led by the Congress (I) lost no time in calling for all sorts of "remedies". Tehelka has provided some political gains for the Congress (I). This leads us to the crux of the matter. What was the real purpose of this expose- Public interest or Tehelka's fame and fortune?
Middlemen are undesirable elements in any kind of deal; but the reality is that deals don't go through without middlemen. Corruption is nothing new to the political and administrative set-up in independent India, and some members of the Armed Forces have committed crimes that are morally more serious; such as espionage for alien powers. The Samba spy scandal of the 70s and the later Coomer Narain- Larkins cases involved gratifications of far lesser magnitude for compromising national interests. But after nearly three decades, the incarcerated `spies' stand absolved of the crime, and we hear nothing about the Larkins. Wouldn't it be logical to assume that public attention would soon shift from the Tehelka expose? So the net effect would be to Tehelka's sole advantage, unless Tarun Tejpal and his team persevere, forcing the judiciary or Parliament to set wrongs right. Will they keep at it, or withdraw from the scene saying that their job is over?
Tehelka has broken the story with damning footage on video tape, albeit a little out of focus and frequently out of perspective. The soundtracks and subtitles took on the task of convincing viewers about deals being struck and money changing hands. Unfortunately the odds do not favour Tehelka, simply because modern technology offers all and sundry the wherewithal to digitally manipulate moving images and sound through easy-to-use software packages. It would be a fairly simple task to `smart-edit' video footage, add doctored sound tracks and put all sorts of filters to blur the final product so that it appears authentic. This is not an allegation that Tehelka has done so, but it would take a lot more proof before knowledgeable people are convinced of the video's genuineness. Spielberg's Jurassic Park has made us all skeptical about such `reality'.
Perhaps the best thing the Tehelka tapes did was to highlight human greed. They brought out a story that actually sent ripples through the Government, and made people sit up and take notice. They managed to assign values to individual gullibility. It is now established that the ruling party's titular head can be bought for a hundred thousand rupees and a Major General in the Army for a fifth of that. There is no need to discuss the pros and cons of the matter or to probe whether the money went to party coffers or individuals' pockets. And there is no justification in saying that "money was taken because it was offered". Public figures have misbehaved, and Tehelka's reporters have exposed them. Tehelka.com, on their part, have taken the law into their hands, and played a con game on unsuspecting (though mostly corrupt) persons. It does not constitute normal journalistic behaviour by any standards. A question of whether this investigative exercise has caused harm to the public is also being discussed, because speculations are rife that Indian soldiers as a whole are demoralized and feel `let down' by the alleged compromises in arming and equipping them. If this situation is for real, then the consequences are not so much in the `public interest', and there may be reason for the Government to brand Tejpal, Bahl and Mathew as mercenaries and traitors. It is catch 22 for the trio. But since we have Dawood Ibrahim, Ottavio Quattrocchi, Harshad Mehta and the more down-to-earth Veerappan calling the shots, it seems anyone can get away with anything in India. Tehelka.com ought to survive, and continue entertaining the Indian public in true Drudge fashion.
The ethical issues in this case remain anchored on two aspects. One being the motivation for Tehelka.com to take up the issue of bribes and commissions in defence deals at this point of time, when far bigger cases such as Bofors , HDW and Tangushka are still unresolved. It would do well for Tejpal to explain whether it was journalistic vigilantism or self-interest that encouraged Tehelka reporters to give away large amounts of cash and take such risks. The other pertains to the method adopted- in befriending touts, feeding, wining and bribing them, and on false pretexts, recording their tall claims with hidden cameras, and finally offering these recordings as news to the public. There is a need to supplement the sensational footage with more real proof and explanation; particularly to ensure that the `public' are not fed half-truths and speculations. http://cyberjournalist.org.in/archive/tehelka.html © Lt. Col. R. Suresh

Who is Stephanian

2007-06-20T01:56:00.000-07:00

Who’s a Stephenian?
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
EmailControversy at an elite college hides a bigger question on true empowerment The current controversy over enhanced and new quotas announced by Delhi’s St Stephen’s College should, at the very least, fine-tune the larger debate on affirmative action. Controversy has come to the college after the authorities did two things. One, they set a target of reservations for more than 50 per cent of the seats on offer. Two, they introduced a new category for a 10 per cent quota, Dalit Christians. Taken together, these admission criteria have invited fears about declining space for merit and — this from Anil Wilson, the principal of the college himself who is on leave currently and has in the past fought a public battle with the acting principal — the technical difficulties in ascertaining how to categorise Christians by caste nomenclature. But what are really of interest in a wider context are two questions. Why is it that St Stephen’s, with the paltry 400-odd seats it offers to freshmen each year, should exercise the rest of us so much? What are the ways to adequately empower the unprivileged through affirmative action?