ADIEU to MJ Akbar from The Asian Age

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

EVM conceptualiser is no more- Sujatha is dead

EVM conceptualiser is no more- Sujatha is dead

EVM conceptuliser is no more- Sujatha is dead

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

HAPPY DIWALI

WISHING ALL - A VERY HAPPY DIWALI

WISHING PROSPERITY FOR ALL

ONE PILLAR STRIKES ANOTHER

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

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 ?

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.