Mediahyderabad

2009-01-12T08:15:00.003+05:30

Nitpickers' Lounge

That's what we need here and on other such blogs. A window to take a hard, close look at and then, get our claws into the 'meat' of some of our papers. Where the devil is the copy desk? Where have all the rewrite men gone?

Just when I said the TOI is slick with its copy, they give us a sentence like this (speaking of the Raju brothers) on the front page--"Though they are allowed to move freely inside the enclosure, they stayed put in their barracks and did not talk to anyone except prison officals that also (sic) when contacted." Two sentences later the story ends with--"at 7 p.m. on Sunday night, Srinivas Vadlamani, CFO of the Satyam was also admitted into the jail." Well, well, what do you make of that? On the front page in its two-column 'bottom', here's another one you could pick on--"Gilani's stand is expected because it would be politically suicidal for any Pakistani government to send over suspects."
More later....

new year musings

2009-01-04T09:03:00.003+05:30

Plan to be a more disciplined blogger in 2009 and comment on some of the sore points that stick out in the local media. Also, plan to watch some regional television channels especially since the competition is getting fiercer, with 'Saakshi tv' all set to make its appearance soon with a big bang.
In the print media, nothing seems to have changed very much. DC is a bit like the Bourbons--'learning nothing and forgetting nothing'. TOI is much quicker on the uptake and has a sharp desk that is right on the ball and tweaks the reporters' language just enough to make the requisite impact. 'The Hindu' continues to be the old maid of Anna Salai nee Mount Road. In a fit of sudden anxiety, probably when competition comes aknocking the old maid shakes herself up, dabs some make-up and tries to act more coquettish than she ever did in her staid 100 year-old existence, trying her hardest to woo young readers . But, these flirtatious, odd acts of nervousness on her part only seem to drive her readers into the arms of her competitors faster.
Sadly, the faultlines between the Urdu press and the rest of the media, both vernacular and English are very thinly disguised as someone familiar with these languages will tell you. The twain do meet but they remain poles apart in terms of coverage and analysis.
Will be back soon with more reflections.......not that they count. At least there's public space to think aloud and get on with one's life.

The channel war

2008-10-23T11:17:00.003+05:30

The channel war is likely to heat up with 'Saakshi' coming up with its tv channel soon. While the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, the way things look, the crowded channel television space in telugu is in for another round of competition, before each finds his bit of turf.
While I must apologise for this long 'break', in terms of media-watching, there's little to write home about. 'The Hindu' is staid as ever, DC is just the same in terms of content and presentation, and I must say that beyond its 'teachindia' and 'green' Hyderabad campaigns, TOI has not shown much imagination. Development journalism is missing. What both DC and TOI need is a P.Sainath.

new players and old rivalries....

2008-07-11T18:14:00.002+05:30

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Isn't that true of the media in some respects as well.
We see a whole bunch of new players in the ring--some waiting in the wings--in A.P., yet, politics relegates everything else to the backstage. And often, as in the case of Aitemad, Siasat and Munsif it's more of a slanging match, at one level with all sorts of accusations and insinuations. Time alone will tell how some of these media rivalries both in the print and electronic media will play out in the long run

Back from hibernation...

2008-03-14T11:39:00.002+05:30

It has been a long while since I scribbled my penn'orth...the reasons aren't even worth explaining, because it's pointless to rationalize sloth. Will be back soon. In the interim, as a reader pointed out this how 'Etemad' spells its name--I went by the way it ought to be spelt.....Khair! catch up soon!

Where have all the subs gone?

2007-10-15T08:55:00.001+05:30

Reports, signed columns and sometimes editorials get published in most newpapers with bloopers that a college journal would be ashamed of. The TOI is way ahead of the others. It probably has a competent rewrite desk. The Hindu and DC seem to be competing with each other in the 'typos and erroneous constructions' department. To be fair, The Hindu's editorials and edit page articles need no blue-pencilling. But, their reports (Hyd. edition is what I get to see) are ordinary to put it mildly and badly written. If you want to see the quality of writing by some of the reporters and columnists, check out 'Education Plus' and 'Property Plus' for starters. On a column that appeared 2 weeks ago, I wrote this letter to the Readers' Editor of 'The Hindu'.

Dear Sir,
With due respect to this columnist, one Mr. Yandamoori Veerendranath, I think you need to blue-pencil his work or refer it to a rewrite desk, at the very least.

This morning's newspaper carried a column of his ('Right Turn', page 3,'Education Plus', The Hindu, Hyderabad edition, October 1, '07) under the headline,'Getting across the message with clarity'.

Ironically enough, that's precisely what seems to be missing here. The ambivalent sub-heading says-'Take on students' test of nerves'. Is the piece meant to be 'a take' on students' test of nerves? Or is the columnist asking teachers to whom the column is addressed, to take on students' test of nerves, awkward as the construction may sound?

I'd like to cite a few more examples here from this column to support what I said in my opening sentence--that your rewrite desk (I hope Hyderabad has one) needs to come into play here.

1. "No student would confess his incapacity or poor standard of understanding before others." (While the sentence may pass muster in grammatical terms, it's a very clumsily structured one).

2. "Impress them that you are a person with whom they can be comfortable and confide in. Earn the right to offer advice and never advise unless it is sought." ('Impress them' is bad enough, made worse by the confusion between the use of 'advice' the noun and 'advise' the verb, as illustrated by 'never advise unless it is sought').

3."Understand the problem from their point of view, age and level of emotion. While giving an advice, add as many illustrations as possible." (Trying to understand a problem from someone's 'level of emotion' is a minor feat in itself, but on top of it all, if you need to give 'an advice' then you need 'some' or 'a piece' or 'a bit' of it yourself).

4. "More imporantly, never criticise a student before others, particularly opposite sex." (oh oh!--'...'before others, particularly opposite sex'? )

5. "Speak with expression, not monotonically." (As a college teacher handling English, I've been trying all morning to do this--to 'speak with expression and not monotonically." It isn't easy--I can tell you that. It's compounded by the fact that I'm not even familiar with 'monotonically', unless it's a special medicine meant to help us gain more 'vocal range', which the erudite columnist asks us to use. I don't think he meant 'monotonous').

Lastly, I have a question:
"If I want to give an advice, write, instead of speak with expression and not monotonically, without criticizing students, particularly before opposite sex, impress them that I am a person with whom they can be comfortable and confide in, while confessing my incapacity and understanding a problem from their level of emotion, can I write a column for 'The Hindu', Hyderabad?"

Yours truly,
YS

PS. No prizes for guessing what the Readers' Editor may have done--turned his snooty nose north of Anna Salai--the column continues to appear under the caption, 'Take on Students' Test of Nerves'. Who are we to ask whether 'take' is the columnist's 'take' on the students' test of nerves or whether 'take on' is a phrasal verb? Sample this from the same column in today's newspaper:

"After completing education, keep yourself busy even while searching for a job for if you don't, then you start considering yourself a waste and slowly get depressed.

Well, well, well, when a 'national newspaper' ends this with an avoidable typo (let's hope it's nothing more)--"The more you ask yourself, the more it helps your grow"...it's time to ask a few not too pleasant questions.

dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Arundhati Roy's article: 'Scandal in the Palace'

2007-09-22T10:38:00.000+05:30

Judges in India are divine beings. And if you're an ex-CJI, your sins are above mortal reproach., Arundhati Roy, Continue reading

This has nothing to do with the media in Hyderabad. But, in a sense it has to do with media everywhere. Arundhati Roy's brilliantly written, argued and presented piece in this week's 'Outlook' is a must read for everyone--journos, non-journos, citizens, businessmen, officials and even lawyers and judges. It is one of those articles that makes you gasp!

Also in Outlook: CHANDRABABU NAIDU
"We'll Have Something Concrete With The Left In Coming Months"
The TDP chief also considers the SP as a key member of the UNPA -- which means Mayawati and her BSP are out of the equation.

Babus and the media

2007-09-21T09:10:00.001+05:30

Kingshuk Nag has a close to a half-page piece in this morning's TOI ( 'Zara samalke' p-2), but has little to say, by way of something new, on the ex-Vigilance Commissioner's charges. The piece is a good example of armchair analysis and desktop reportage. Why don't Nag and other mediamen get their reporters to dig deep on each officer in question? The other English language newspapers are no different and this true of the tv channels,as well. The Urdu Press has a very narrow focus and that is that.
Speaking of media and the babus, they are strange bedfellows--each scratching the other's back--babus and the media. In recent years, the relationship between the bureaucracy and the political leadership on the one hand, and the media on the other, has been too close for comfort. Proximity to those in power has its share of allurements, seductions, glamour-value, attractions and benefits.
More than 30 years ago, when the government in power at that time felt that it was prudent to have journalists on its side, what it did do? Assigned them plots in the first of the 'journalists' colonies' to come up in the city (on Road #3, Banjara Hills). This was in days when Hyderabad had just the DC, 'The Hindu' and 'The Indian Express' (among major English language newspapers), 'Andhra Prabha', 'Andhra Jyothi', 'Andhra Patrika' and 'Andhra Bhoomi' (among Telugu papers), when 'Siasat' was the only major voice in the Urdu Press, and UNI and PTI were the only two major news agencies. Successive dispensations, both Congress and TDP have repeated this--given plots to journalists. Why any government should want a Journalists' Colony is anybody's question. Some wags say that Naidu had perfected the art of media 'management'in ways that no other Chief Minister had. Newsmen aren't just newsmen any more--they are power brokers, favour-seekers, wheeler-dealers and news 'managers' as well. Do they then have any moral right to put others under the scanner? Let them start by investigating the wheeling-dealing indulged in by newspaper barons--there are quite a few of them.

media indifference

2007-09-20T11:23:00.000+05:30

To go back to the same point, the Abhishek-Ash wedding or Salman Khan's appearance in a Jodhpur Court has all the world and his wife from the media in attendance on a 24 by 7 basis, but when the ex-vigilance commissioner from A.P., Samal, names officials in top positions, describing them as corrupt, what is our media reaction? It goes into an overdrive--we're referring to both print and electronic media here--getting reactions from politicians and fellow-officials, which of course, it should, but ignores putting these officials under its own scanner. What prevents the media from investigating the allegations of the ex-vigilance commissioner more closely, by looking at the assets of these officals, their business interests and lifestyles--do we need to tell them where to look, for heaven's sake!
A Union Minister--in this case Vaghela--and a Chief Minister (Deshmukh of Maharashtra) make fun of farmers dying of hunger. Our Union Minister tells the poor farmers that they're dying because they're too lazy to work. Well, well, if they're poor, they deserve to be poor, and if they die in the bargain, too bad. They deserve to die anyway. Barring the redoubtable P.Sainath in 'The Hindu', no one had anything substantial to write on this shocking behaviour of our 'leaders'. Sainath quite rightly described them as the Marie Antoinettes of our times.
When everybody--the executive, the legislature, the judiciary (which is merciflly, relatively in better shape)and the fourth estate become thick as thieves, we know where we're heading, as a nation.

Media and corruption issues

2007-09-17T10:31:00.000+05:30

Actually, there should be no dearth of stories on corruption in a country like ours, where nothing moves without some persuasion. Yet, in contrast to the electronic media, the print media does not feature many investigative stories on corruption related issues. The Telugu newspapers constitute an exception , to some extent.
The former Vigilance Commissioner's report and his comments have been highlighted in the Press and to see how newpaper's with clear political leanings view the issue, read today's editorials in 'Eenadu' and 'DC'. The former goes for the government's jugular, while the latter is an example of journalistic fence-sitting. To each his own--biases, that is.

Hyderabad flyover collapse: Survivors recount fateful moment

2007-09-11T06:34:00.000+05:30

The survivors have a common complaint- help did not reach them on time.

Watch the video @ IBNLIVE.com

Half-baked city, Newindpress Saturday September 8 2007, by Minti Jain

Chaos reigns in city on rainy Sunday, Hindu - 9 Sep 2007

News and views also at: Hyd flyover collapse: 30 feared killed

Media ethics...

2007-08-28T11:14:00.000+05:30

In two recent instances sections of the electronic media behaved in a glaringly irresponsible fashion. The first was the abduction and the brutal kiling of 16 year old Adnan Patrawala. It was reported that the kidnappers killed the boy after the news of his abduction was flashed by tv channels. The Maharashtra Home Minister has said that there would be a thorough probe into the incident to detect the source of the leak, but we know what such assurances mean. Media irresponsibility has contributed to the death of a promising life.
The second instance was the continuous telecast of the most gruesome footage by the etv channel, in its news bullettins, following the Hyderabad blasts on Saturday night. While it's necessary to give readers an accurate picture of events, the media has a responsibility to show restraint where required.

media divide in Hyderabad

2007-08-12T08:25:00.002+05:30

This is something as old as the hills, but it's getting sharper by the day. The media divide, so to speak or the perspective of the Urdu Press, in contrast to English and Telugu newspapers. I wrote of it under the caption, 'media fault lines' some weeks ago.
The Tasleema Nasreen case is a good example. The Munsif published a survey yesterday, with most respondents saying that the MIM's attack was an eyewash, an instance of 'match-fixing'. They felt that the writer was allowed to get off lightly. A photograph on the same page showed an MIM MLA ready to hurl a boquet at the Bangladeshi writer and the caption said--"What should be thrown at her: a boquet or a slipper"? The Aitemad tried hard to explain to its readers that the MIM had done all it could and cited Tasleema's statement to the media that she thought she would be killed, to prove its point.
The television channels, meanwhile, highlighted the incident. For instance, tv9 ran a half-hour program on it. One wishes though, that they (the tv channels) found somebody who told them what the Urdu press had to say. After all, Urdu newspapers represent a sizable section of the city's population and it doesn't help not to take their viewpoint into account while running opinion polls, commentaries, analyses and talk shows on such subjects.
All this tells us that the fault lines that divide the print media--there aren't enough Urdu television channels to comment on the electronic media--run deep and keep getting deeper.

media games and sparring

2007-08-10T11:48:00.000+05:30

One only has to read the 'Aitemad', 'Munsif' and 'Siasat' to know about the fierce sparring that has now sunk to new depths, in the Urdu Press. The latter have been very critical of MIM and its functioning and the criticism often took on personal overtones. The MIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi is frequently caricatured as a flirtatious, free-wheeling woman, 'Bi Pasha' in the pages of the Munsif. The result of this ongoing feud spilled into the streets sometime ago, in the form of an attack on the editor of Siasat in the city. On Wednesday, the Munsif carried a front-page, signed column lashing out at the MIM and its ways. On Thursday, the Aitemad hit back lampooning the credentials of a 'rowdy-sheeter turned reformer' (read editor-in-chief of Munsif) and fired a set of 16 questions at him.
We're told that both the MIM and Munsif are going to have their own tv channels soon--to add to to the prevailing confusion, more than anything else. YSR's son is set to launch 2 tv channels, according to reports, joining the list of politicians among media players. Inevitably, all this would be at the expense of objectivity. The politicisation of the media is getting increasingly brazen with the passage of time.

Media priorities

2007-08-06T09:58:00.000+05:30

One doubts if anyone has taken a leaf out of Sainath's book. For years, he has had ploughed a lonely furrow, highlighting the problems that the 'other India' was almost unaware of. Sainath admitted that early on in his career he decided that he was going to focus on the 95% that did not make it to the headlines or even the inside pages. Yet our Magsaysay award-winner is hardly the role-model for our budding reporters and correspondents. Look at the content of our urban-centred, politics-obsessed newspapers. The TOI Hyderabad for instance, has a quarter-page column under the caption, 'True Lies' on the bureaucratic grapevine, transfers of officials and what have you! It would be interesting to run a survey to discover how many readers (other than ten pinch-beck officials) actually read this weekly fountainhead of wisdom. The Urdu press highlights Palestine and Iraq at the cost of newsier stories, as if they were Siddipet or Nalgonda. Investigative reporting is virtually unheard of in the Urdu press.
Similarly, our tv channels in particular, went overboard with Sanjay Dutt's sentence. True, he's a celebrity. Accepted that the case does attract a lot of media attention by virtue of his star status. But running polls asking people whether justice had been served to him turned the whole thing into a farce. What about victims of the blasts and the riots earlier? Did they get justice? Has anyone run a poll on them? Soli Sorabjee lamented the media hype surrounding the verdict in Dutt's case. "He wasn't carrying toy gun or an air-pistol", Sorabjee said. By the same yardstick though, leaders carrying weapons during the riots that preceded the blasts should be brought to book. But the media circus is losing its way, it appears.

Media biases

2007-07-30T21:12:00.000+05:30

It's not as though as our media--be it print or electronic is pure as the mythical Gangajal. Please pay some attention to the adjective here. Far from being the holier-than-thou institution it pretends to be, our Fourth Estate is no less vulnerable than the other wings (of a state destined to wither away)--the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary. We know of reporters and correspondents turning into wheeler dealers or as the expression goes, 'power-brokers'. We have seen, in the local media, (there aint no tellin' what the national media can do, as Huck Finn might've said)how, by virtue of being their 'bedfellows', journalists turn into politicians' stooges, millionaires and super-successful businessmen. Each newspaper has its own take on Mudigonda and Mecca Masjid, be it 'Eenadu' or 'Aitemaad', 'DC or Andhra Jyothi.' The slants are all too visible and if there's one institution which has, over the years, proved to be utterly toothless, it's the Press Council of India.
Be it a Ramoji Rao, a Zahid Ali Khan, a T. Venkatram Reddy or for that matter an M.J.Akbar, an Arun Shourie, a Vinod Mehta or an N.Ram, each has his own set of tinted glasses--to each his own agenda. Where are the Pothan Josephs, the Khasa Subba Raus, the Gora Sastris and the Iswar Dutts....?

an 'off and on' blogger

2007-07-16T09:04:00.000+05:30

Yours truly is more of an 'off and on blogger', for a variety of reasons. The primary one being the effort it takes for a lotus-eater to be a regular blogger.
If you look at the newspapaers of the week that just went by, you can see for yourself, the amount of space and coverage that a minor altercation on a road can get. Well, of course the victims happened to be the CM's brother and nephew and the aggressors, a local MLA's son and his 'pals' In a way it was healthy, ringside reportage that one saw in the English newspapers, but this cannot be said of some of the Telugu papers. It is one thing to take an anti-establishment stance--even that has to be backed up facts and reason. It is quite another to turn this stance or viewpoint into a clash of personalities or an 'us and them' context.
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The remarks of a college teacher (which offended muslim students) of St. Ann's was another issue, which made news for a day or two One wishes though, that newspapers had interviewed some of the students at some length and could get a word in, with the teacher in question, as well.

dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

English papers--Where are the newshounds?

2007-06-26T09:10:00.000+05:30

One wonders where the newshounds who 'scent' investigative stories are. One comes across hardly any major 'scoop' in the local english language newspapers. The TOI is marginally better than the others in this respect, while the telugu newspapers are streets ahead--they have a story a day, of an invsetigative nature. As for our friends in the Urdu Press, they need to wake up to the reality of media coverage in 2007--they're caught in a time-warp, as it were, when it comes to content, although the 'look' of all the major Urdu papers has improved dramatically, thanks to technology.

Most papers today highlighted the arrest of the 'recovery agents' employed by ICICI Bank, who had allegedly beaten a government employee to death, on Sunday for non-payment of a personal loan. The TOI turned the follow-up story into its first lead--good show!

While the electronic media has been going ballistic on the reports that the UPA Presidential candidate had defaulted on a bank loan borrowed by a sugar factory promoted by her and that she had allegedly lent protection to the accused (who happens to be her brother) in a murder case in Jalgaon, the print media is relatively silent.

dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Take a hike.....

2007-06-21T08:15:00.000+05:30

Our friends in the print media need this as a bit of advice. All they need to do is go a few miles outside the city to discover the contrasting nature of problems that people face, and that merit serious media attention. The Telugu newspapers--'Andhra Jyothi' and 'Eenadu', for instance, are streets ahead in this respect, as are the regional television channels.
In recent weeks the TOI has highlighted the indiscriminate nature of hysterectomies being performed by doctors in rural areas, in this instance, Medak district. The 'victims', one doubts if they could be called patients are as young as 15 and 16 in some cases. There's a follow-up story in this morning's TOI. Good show. While rounding off, one needs to say this again to the English--take a hike and see what's happening just a few miles from the city....

Media fixations.....

2007-05-29T08:59:00.000+05:30

One thing is for certain--our print and electronic media demonstrate a neurotic obsession with politics and politicians, that is beyond the pale of common acceptance, because it is invariably at the cost of 'human interest' stories. Today's front pages have nothing special--PM's views on the power sector and NTR's daughter and Union Minister Purandareswari's letter to Chandrababu are the highlights of front-page coverage. If her letter gets second-lead treatment in DC Eenadu's coverage of the TD Mahanadu tells its own story of each newspaper's leanings and slants, which reminds us of the media attention The Hindu bestows on the CPM. To each his own, slant, that is. While on the subject of The Hindu, it has a good front-page story by K. Venkateswarulu on the anti-media G.O. having been cleared by the Chief Minister, contradicting what YSR claimed (that he knew nothing about it).
The TOI has a newsier front-page--a Mir Ayoob Ali Khan report features as the first-lead on the cops picking the wrong man in Shoaib Jagirdar (in the Mecca Masjid bomb case), a story on Geeta Johri, the investigating IG in Gujarat seeking more powers and a 'bottom' on the use of a mobile phone ring tone (by forest officials) mimicking the call of a rooster to lure leopards!

dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Media fault lines

2007-05-27T12:47:00.000+05:30

To bilingual readers, the fault lines are clearly drawn. The Mecca Masjid bomb blast brings into focus the gulf (in perception and therefore, in coverage) between the news channels, the English and Telugu print media, on the one hand, and the Urdu Press on the other. The Urdu newspapers seemed more skeptical of the police version of the suspects behind the blasts, also suggested the involvement of Hindu right-wing organizations and were clearly more critical of the police action or reaction. This polarization of perceptions, if you will, is not only an an unhealthy sign of slants and proclivities finding media expression, but is also symptomatic of a certain amount of indolence on the part of the media, in general. As a result, one finds excessive armchair analysis, substituting investigation in most newspapers, and to a considerable extent, in the electronic media, as well. At the same time, the authorities should have held--it isn't too late in the day, actually--regular press briefings to avoid and to prevent needless speculation.

Cabbages and kings....

2007-05-17T08:23:00.000+05:30

Our media is quite often is forced to play Lewis Carroll's walrus--it has to cover events that are purely political and topical in nature and serve no real purpose other than being public displays of flunkeyism. And ends up writing about cabbages one moment and kings, the next. It is by no means a balancing act that is easy to accomplish given the fact that there are scores of mediamen, not to speak of zillions of conmen (masquerading as journalists) dying to latch on to two-bit politicians and pinchbeck bureaucrats.

This morning's TOI has two first-rate stories--one on the A.P. Housing Board's generosity to bureaucrats and another on passenger's having to push a train to get it going! The latter, under the caption, "It happens only in Laluland!", is a hilarious account of a bizarre incident in Bihar. The opening paragraph though, has a good example of how not to use the word 'encore': "You have seen people pushing a four-wheeler to rev up the vehicle's engine. Hundreds of Indian rail passengers got more than they had bargained for when the driver of their train asked them to get out and do an encore."

All the papers frontpaged the Supreme Court's order to educational institutions to get tough on ragging. The fact remains though, that no tv channel or newspaper covered the menace of ragging through good investigative coverage--students of most engineering/pharmacy/medical colleges face ragging, but few are willing to talk about it. How difficult is it for a newspaper/magazine or tv channel to 'plant' someone (during the few weeks of classes following admissions) in these days and times when mobile/spy cameras are ubiquitous? Unfortunately, ragging gets noticed by the media only when there's a death or when it turns violent. The DC has an interesting single-column front-page story on the heat-wave in A.P.--"23 die as State burns at 49.8"

Story of the Day: Jinka Nagaraju's lead in the TOI--"Housing Board Bounty for Babus".

Heat and Traffic

2007-05-14T08:28:00.000+05:30

Heat and traffic are quite expectedly major media obsessionsas well--apart from polticians, that is.
Sunday's TOI had a front-page story on a major traffic snarl in Secunderabad and followed it up today with another lengthy report on traffic conditions, bottlenecks and causes.
Otherwise, this morning's papers are a bit of a yawn. Expectedly Dayanidhi Maran's resignation and Mayawati's swearing-in hog the limelight.

Story of the day:
TOI's CID probe into kidney racket.
See also:

Hyderabad iz hot!

dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

'All Maya'......

2007-05-12T08:16:00.000+05:30

The Times of India's lead said--'It's all Maya' and the DC's headline had the same quibble: 'All is Maya'. As for The Hindu, 'Mayawati takes Uttar Pradesh', it said.
The Deccan Chronicle's editorial 'Maya's surprise' had an interesting observation that media organizations--both print and electronic--need to think about: "There are several lessons for all involved here. One, the media does not necessarily matter in an election in one of the poorest and most backward states in India." The TOI's editorial calls it 'The USP of BSP'while The Hindu's editorial terms it 'Political tour de force' and describes it in the opening sentence as 'subaltern power on spectacular display'.
The TOI has a good front-page three-column story on the Gujarat IG (CID), Geeta Johri's visit to Hyderabad--"Rajiv Trivedi faces Johri heat" and an excellent three-column 'bottom': YSR sows Monsanto seed in US'. What the YSR story reveales is a much concealed fact that YSR did not go to the World Agriculture Forum in St. Louis at their invitation--the state government paid seven lakhs as registration fees, so he could attend the Congress and deliver his speech! Secondly, the report reveals that one of the WAF sponsors is Monsanto and that the Forum was in fact founded by a former director of Monsanto. Good show.

The Hindu's front-page retraction

2007-05-06T08:37:00.000+05:30

It's a bit unusual--a newspaper of the stature of 'The Hindu' to publish a first-lead, front-page retraction. Look at this morning's newspaper and you'll see what I'm referring to. A story on the investigations into the fake encounters' case, contributed by Neena Vyas ('The Hindu', May 5) under the caption "Geeta Johri report speaks of collusion of state government" prompted the Home Secretary of the Gujarat government to send a rebuttal. The gist of the response of the editor-in-chief of 'The Hindu' is that "The Hindu retracts its frontpaged assertion... We deeply regret these serious errors in a story that drew on documents we relied upon in good faith.We agree we should have verified the facts...before publishing the news stories."

For someone who's been a 'Hindu' reader all his life one can't remember the paper eating its words in a long time! Perhaps, if it leans less to the left, in an all too blatant fashion, these things wouldn't happen. It isn't the business of a newspaper to lean this way or that--just tell us the plain and simple truth without using either red or saffron lenses.

'The Hindu' has a good 'local' story on work commencing on the Seetaphalmandi-Malkajgiri section of the local train network, but keeps telling us, true to officialese, that 'works' will be completed by September and that SCR is taking up the 'works' at a cost of.... The paper also has a report worth mentioning on the third page on the 'face-to-face' programme conducted by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and a very well-written story on Pune (Anand Parthasarathy) becoming the first 'unwired' city in net terminology, in the country, ahead of Bangalore and Hyderabad.
As for the other newspapers, there's not much to write home about. 'The Munsif' continues to run its weekly cartoons lampooning MIM leaders, but what it needs is a more creative cartoonist.

Saty: dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Post May Day thoughts....

2007-05-02T08:29:00.000+05:30

The Gujarat fake encounters case has kept all the front front pages buzzing. And the Hyderabad angle to it is also being discussed in the media--except that thus far no major investigative story has been done on the local cops in question and their exact role. Local tv channels keep showing file footage of policemen (from other previous stories) unrelated to the issue in question, shots of the local police control room etc. What any of this has to do with the big story is anybody's guess!
Today's Hindu has an excellent local story (filed by J.S.Iftekhar)on Muslim cemeteries running out of space to bury the dead, with a photograph of a sign on a cemetery that says--'don't bring the dead here'.
The Munsif has a well-written report that deserves to be mentioned, on one of the rankers in the recent Intermediate Public Exam--Rubina, who secured 984/1000 and lives in abject poverty in a one room house (right next to an old graveyard) with four siblings.Talk of 'graveyard silence--'Rubina says that the silence of the graveyard is a big help and helps her to concentrate. That none of the other papers--especially from the English and regional press--have bothered to write about the fifth ranker--when a two-bit rally or function with an MLA or Minister gets front-page attention says something of our media obsessions.

पोस्ट इन इंग्लिश

2007-05-02T08:19:00.000+05:30

Editorials....

2007-04-02T07:45:00.000+05:30

For some reason, most of the editorials one comes across in newspapers are couched in drab, boring language and have a pompous edge to them. For the most part, one gets the impression that they're from another day and time. This morning's editorials in The Hindu, however, provide an exception.The TOI also is a shade better in this respect. It usually has editorials on a wider range of topical issues, compared to its peers. However, TOI's 'Karma Sutra', interesting as it is, has the odd flawed sentence--unpardonable in an editorial. Take this--"It is assumed that any open discussion on sex, its physical, legal and moral aspects, violates the social etiquette..."
The TOI's first lead focusses on global warming and tells us that the phenomenon could melt most Himalayan glaciers by the 2030s. The contentious IIT going Medak's way is another big front page item in the TOI and the DC. Then there's the other page one story in the DC and TOI--the CM's son refusing to take the government land given to Raghuram Cements (of which he is a director) in Kadapa district.
Over the last several years, The Hindu has not been able to disguise its pro-left political leanings and one good example of how this shows up is the five-column front lead status given to an item that merits single-column attention--"Maoists join Nepal government".

Saty: dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Drab Friday

2007-03-30T08:41:00.000+05:30

Most of the morning newspapers are a yawn.The Supreme Court judgment putting the 27%Reservation on hold, dominates the headlines in almost all of them. The TOI has what in journalese is called a bottom--a 3 column story on the possible involvement of the dreaded D gang in Bob Woolmer's murder.
The other story local papers have been full of centers on the menace of stray dogs in the City. The TOI has a story on the front page and a related one on p-4. Else, there's nothing much to write abuot....

Tuesday--March 27

2007-03-27T09:57:00.000+05:30

The LTTE 'airstrike' gets front-page attention in all the morning newpapers, as it indeed ought to. The DC is the only paper of the three English papers I get--TOI, The Hindu and of course DC, which accorded--and quite aptly--page one status to the AP High Court's verdict asking the AP government and the HUDA "not to entrust any work relating to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) project to HUDA Secretary, P.Venkatarami Reddy ." The contention of the petitioners in the case (TD leaders), was that he was responsible for changes in the alignment of the project and that his relatives were into the real estate business.

B. Krishna Prasad's 'bottomline' story in the DC--'People get power to shock' on power consumers using the 'Citizen's Charter' to get compensation for delay or denial of service, is an excellent piece. It is the kind of a story that enlightens readers on their rights as power users.
The Munsif's first lead focusses on Iran's resolve to use nuclear energy for peaceful ends.

One thing is for sure--the Urdu newspapers are miles behind their English and Telugu counterparts, when it comes to investigative journalism. The notion that the publication of stories and statements on and from all and sundry, will help boost circulation isn't doing the Urdu papers any good. And, the fewer photographs they publish of their 'editors' and 'associates', the better it would be for them.

High and Lows of cricket....

2007-03-25T09:15:00.000+05:30

Cricket continues to dominate the front pages of most newspapers--India's early (though not wholly unexpected, if one were to be rational)exit being the focus.

The Hindu, The Times of India, The Deccan Chronicle and Munsif have front-paged reactions of fanatical fans on India's first-round exit. They're only taking a leaf out of what the tv channels are doing ad nauseam--dissecting the Indian defeat and getting the Sidhus and the Jadejas to tell us what went wrong. Me asks rather ingenuously--do we really need an expert's opinion on this? Actually, some of the unprintable sms messages doing the rounds sum up our responses better. Bob Woolmer's tragic death continues to remain in focus.

One wonders how the Hyderabadi Press, I mean the non-Urdu Press, has almost completely ignored the ongoing sniping between Aitemad (Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's voice) on the one hand, and Munsif and Siasat on the other.There's been no letting up and if anything the recent attack on Siasat editor, Zahid Ali Khan, has only made the triangular campaign, if one may say so, more strident. Both Siasat and Munsif have accused the MIM of engineering the attack, while Aitemad maintains that the party had nothing to do with it. Sunday morning's Munsif's cartoon hits a new low. It features someone asking a woman depicted as a scavenger, Bi Pasha (supposed to be a caricature of the MIM legislator and Owaisi Junior--Akbaruddin)--"Bi Pasha log keh rahe haiN ke tum 'Ghilaazat saaf karne ka kaam karti ho'--which in translation would mean 'It is said that you're a scavenger....'? And the response-"Arre yeh tau hamaara aabaai pesha hai. maiN aur mere mustanDay hamesha yahi karte haiN. muNh se tau roz hi Ghilaazat ugalte haiN, kabhi se haath se bhi Ghilaazat phenkte haiN--(I'm afraid one isn't up to translating the rather gross response!)The point I'm making here is why are all the non-Urdu newspapers, the English ones in particular looking the other way?

PS. Cricket Tikka Masala Image courtesy: A Glutton for Punishment
Btw, Cricket Tikka Masala (CTM) Image comes from the site of Melvin Durai, Read also his funny stuff: INDIAN ENGLISH: IT VILL BE WERY HELPFUL, YAAR!
And, don't confuse this as CTM as Chicken Tikka Masala a movie's review coming from Arcadians Cricket Club Gloucester

Saty
dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Ugadi musings

2007-03-19T15:38:00.000+05:30

Sorry for the rather long hiatus--if anyone's noticed, barring the cyber antaryaami--Md Taher!

For the most part today's papers are full of India's (read cricket fans') emotional reaction to the team's loss to minnows--Bangladesh. Of course the TOI provides an interesting dimension in a related story:the admen/sponsors et al are in jitters after our 'brilliant' performance and crores of rupees may simply go down the drain if the boys don't pull up their socks.

Ugadi image courtesy: High Commission of India, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dull Saturday

2007-02-17T08:35:00.000+05:30

Saturday papers aren't much of a read. The Hindu's front-page is a big yawn. It has a four-column piece on the judgment by a Salem Court in the 'Dharmapuri bus burning case'. The Hindu also has an excellent editorial on the judgment and how the ruling government of the time tried to delay the judicial process. It also has a five-page 'bottom' on a 2,500 crore car unit set to come up on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The story makes for dull reading though. And, the Old Maid of Anna Salai simply cannot rid itself of the habit of using long, convoluted sentences. Sample this lead sentence in Siddarth Varadarajan's story, which is incidentally, the paper's first-lead: "With major differences persisting on lifetime fuel guarantees for safeguarded reactors, the reprocessing of spent fuel and a reference to a future Indian nuclear test as a condition for the United States nuclear co-operation, India has drafted its own 14-clause version of the crucial bilateral nuclear agreement with the U.S. which will be handed over to American officials in Washington next Monday by Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon." Get it? Punctuation be damned--can you get it at one go?
The Hindu is perhaps the only paper that seemed to carry o report (on p.5) of three young men stalking a group of girls in the wee hours of Thursday night and brandishing a revolver to boot! They followed them all the way from BanjaraHills to Sainikpuri in a Skoda!
The TOI has a more interesting first-lead (A.P. pips B'lore in Biocon deal) on Bio-con setting up a 1000 crore unit near Visakhapatnam, (and how Karnataka was edged out by A.P. in the race...).
The TOI has an interesting 'bottom' though--

'Centre loses minority loan fight'. It says that the RBI and the other banks shot down the Centre's proposal to reserve a hare of loans for members of minority communities on the grounds that 'lending practices are based on the borrower's creditworthiness and not the person's caste or creed.'

But the rest of the paper isn't very newsy, if you ask me. The Munsif isn't much of a read. The DC has a very boring front-page and the rest of the newspaper matches the front-page for newsiness. Bhagwan's Singh's story on the Dharmapuri Case judgment got pushed into the third page.
Andhra Jyoti has a good exclusive report on its front page--hoe honest IPS officers get the boot for being 'sincere' and cites two examples--D.T.Naik and Charu Sinha.

PS. Get off the couch today -- You Bad-Boy!
Couch potato image courtesy

Valentine's Day protests, among other things.....

2007-02-15T09:36:00.000+05:30

The morning newspapers have an expected tale to tell-- Bajrang Dal and ABVP activists (ABVP is the students' wing of the BJP, as we know) 'counseled' young couples in parks against celebrating Valentine's Day because it was against 'Indian culture'. SIO (Students' Islamic Organization--the students' wing of Jamaat-e-Islami) and Muslim Girls' Association did the same thing telling young couples that it was against Islamic culture and way of life. The TOI has a story and a photograph of Bajrang Dal activists, while 'The Hindu' has a story on them and a photograph of MGA activists holding posters saying celebrating Valentine's Day was 'Haraam' or forbidden. 'The Munsif' has a three-column story on the MGA and SIO campaign detailing how the 'teams' of 'counselors' had visited parks, fast-food joints and other places where they confronted 'erring' couples.
'The Munsif' has come out with an excellent supplement on the great Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib to mark the poet's death anniversary. Among the features in the supplement are a piece by one of the great masters of Urdu poetry, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a feature on the poet's time in prison, a lengthy and very informative piece on the plays written on Ghalib and an article on the influence of the Persian master 'Bedil' on Ghalib's work This was of course, acknowledged by the poet in the couplet:
tarz-e-Bedil meiN reKhta kehna
Asadullah Khan qayaamat hai
(To adopt Bedil's style in Urdu
Asadullah Khan is a great feat)......

The TOI has a well-researched piece on the firing policy of big players in the IT industry in the city--'IT bytes: Techies in the firing line'. But the rewrite desk seems to let howlers pass. The same story has the bit--''Menon pegs it between 400 to 500'' and the gem at the end of the story--"When talent was scarce, companies were liberal, but now no that's not the case".....
Both the DC and the TOI have front-page stories on terrorists trying to use ghost companies with addresses in the Middle East, to manipulate stock market operations in India.

Follow up coverage

2007-02-09T11:32:00.000+05:30

One of the things about our newspapers is that follow up of stories that might be of human interest, newsy and topical or crime related, isn't always satisfying. One example that comes to mind is a report concerning the mysterious death (in Hyderabad) of an army man's two sons, Neeraj Rawat and Dheeraj Rawat, some years ago. They were killed and dumped into an unused well. To this day, one doesn't remember any newspaper following up this event with the investigating authorities and reporting it. At that time it created a sensation and some tension between miltary personnel and the residents of the area.

Today's papers don't really have much to write home about. Andhra Jyoti is an exception--it has a front page report on the involvement of an MRO (dubbed 'dynamic lady officer') in a reportedly bogus land deal. The Hindu feels that the passing away of S Rangarajan merits first-lead status! He was the Chairman of Kasturi and Sons (of The Hindu group).
The DC's front page has a (good)report on the demand of govt employees for a five-day week, shot down by the CM and the Chief Secretary.
Chidanand Rajghatta gives us a good piece in the TOI on Washington ending all bilateral financial aid to India in view of the country's economic surge.

Not much of a Sunday

2007-02-04T18:56:00.000+05:30

The Sunday papers were a yawn, for the most part. And I don't want to talk--at least not today--about the same old thing: bad language and pedestrian reportage. 'The Hindu' had at least two good stories on the third page (as distinct from page three, if you please). One was about slum-dwellers' huts (built on the lakebed of 'Durgam Cheruvu) being razed, and their just complaint that the authorities wouldn't dare to touch the big builders doing the same thing. The other report appears right next to this one, and is about the Municipal Commissioner, Sanjay Jaju's visit to parts of Karwan, in the old city. Good human interest stories, both. 'The Munsif' has a cartoon featuring a sherwani-clad man, smoking a hookah ( a dig on the Hyderabad MP, Asad Owaisi, it appears) asking a thug--'kya laaya hai?'--'what have you brought?' The ruffian replies--'Your share of the loot from illegal land-grabbing deals of wakf property and private lands, and money generated from interest'. More on what's going on in the local Urdu papers in another piece.

dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com
hyderabadiz.blogspot.com

'catching it live'

2007-02-03T10:36:00.000+05:30

This piece comes courtesy my friend Taher, mt2222@yahoo.com, an inveterate blogger, an accomplished librarian and my most trusted online resource centre. Dr. Taher lives in Toronto and was associated with the American Studies Research Center (ASRC) in Hyderabad for many years in a senior capacity.

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/shivpujanjha/55/32472/qualifications-of-a-reporter.html

Qualifications of a Reporter

It is not just nose for news but a fit and athletic body and mind that should become the criteria for hiring reporters, particularly for the Crime Beat.

Don't laugh, if things continue the way are now my contention would become reality. Assignments across the news channels have already started proving my point.

Whether it's the fire in Meerut or the Nithari killings, the yardstick for which reporter should cover the event is simple: one who understands the crime beat and can withstand aggression. To feed the common man's growing appetite for news, these have become necessary.

Remember the fire in Meerut that destroyed three pandals and trapped dozens of people in Victoria Park. Despite a thick police presence on the spot the mob began targeting the media.

The next day thousands of angry people gathered at the spot and protested against the 'live coverage'. People thought their action was justified, as the "media had sided with the district administration by reporting the death toll figures provided by officials."

While we journalists were doing our work, the mob converged on us. Our mikes were snatched; we were pushed, manhandled and abused. The police remained aloof. Reason: the media was blaming the administration for the fire.

By allowing the protestors to target us, the administration taught us a lesson. Journalists took refuge in the police training ground. I fell over a burnt AC and got some bruises, but my cameraman was badly injured.

Journalists have to understand that for a mob a spark assumes the shape of an inferno and it is no point braving the odds at that point. When the police choose not to act, a single reporter is no match to the crowd. Journalists are the most vulnerable targets of a mob's ire.

I had a similar experience while covering the court appearance of the accused in the Nithari killings in a Ghaziabad court. Reporters tried all possible tricks to get inside the courtroom, but it was locked and the policemen were on guard.

Some lawyers demanded that they be allowed into the courtroom. The policemen didn't budge as a mob started building up.

Within minutes, the mob started shouting slogans against the judge and then suddenly windowpanes were smashed. As the police tried to control the protestors, the 'agile reporters' had already flashed the news.

The mob became angrier when the Moninder and Surendra were being brought out by a bunch of policemen and CBI officials.

Once they were out of the courtroom people competed with each another to rain punches on the duo. Reporters tumbled over one another and cameramen had a tough time adjusting their focus in the melee.

It all lasted for over 5 minutes, before the police finally managed to transport Moninder and Surendra to safety. The bosses in the news channels had by that time sniffed a "day driver" in the story and naturally wanted a minute-to-minute update through lives.

With the talkback tucked in my ears, I was preparing for my live when a bunch of lawyers came menacingly towards me. Their leader demanded that cameras and OB vans be removed immediately.

To prove they were serious one of them even showed me a danda and threatened to hit me if I continued on the spot for another minute.

I escaped but not a cameraperson from another news channel. He dared to defy the mob and ended up with a bloodied face. I assured the crowd that we would leave the place and was spared. But reporting from a crime scene has it's own thrill, so we decided to stick to the place and continue our lives once the crowd melted away.

That was a judgement error on my part. The moment I started answering the questions, another bunch of lawyers came to the place, snatched our mike and what followed was an angry outburst on the news channel.

Probably now you will endorse my views that reporting for sensitive cases requires physical abilities more than the mental abilities.

The page 3 fixation

2007-01-30T09:17:00.000+05:30

In Hyderabad, both the TOI and DC try to outdo each other when it comes to covering the so-called p.3 'crowd', and not infrequently the obsession with celebrities or the happening folks of the town and elsewhere spills into the front page, as well. A good example is a big, three-column story on the TOI's front page on Shilpa Shetty's success in 'The Big Brother'. Does the story deserve to be where it's positioned is a million-dollar question. The TOI's front page report on the auto strike getting called off, right next to Shilpa's photograph, is more in place. The Hindu infuses an element of sanity into the Shilpa Shetty saga in a timely editorial--'The manufacture of dissent'. It says:"A B-grade Bollywood actor, who shed finely wrought tears over racial slurs, has metamorphosed into an international celebrity. A splenetic dental nurse, who became renowned for her benightedness, has morphed into Miss Goody Two Shoes. And a tacky soporific reality show, which was on the verge of being axed, signed off as the biggest ratings success on Britain's Channel 4." Couldn't have put it better.
The Hindu's front page has a single column story on the auto strike coming to an end, and a newsy four-column piece--"Kurnool boy rescued from kidnappers." Perhaps, the day's best front-page story is Seema Mustafa's report--"Army fumes over police 'lies' ", on the much-publicised 'confrontation' between the Kolkata police and the army on new year's eve, giving the army version, based on an email 'widely circulated in defence circles'.
Before I sign off, I must mention Feroze BaKht Ahmed's excellent piece on Moharrum and its Indianization in the DC. While on the subject, this morning's Munsif has an excellent special supplement on 'yaum-e-a'ashurah' or the Day of Mourning.

Monday morning--Jan.29

2007-01-29T18:33:00.000+05:30

This was meant to be an everyday affair--playing the self-styled media watchdog, I mean. But, it certainly calls for a sort of discipline that a laidback Hyderabadi like me lacks. Anyway, most of the newspapers--the TOI, DC and Munsif, among others, got an interesting bit on the late O.P.Nayyar, wrong. Thanks to PTI, all of them carrying the agency report, attributed the song--'jhumka gira re' to him. Someone somewhere in these papers should have known better.
Talking of rewrite desks, looks like our trusted Old Maid from Mount Road could do with one, as well. Here are two examples from a story in The Hindu (p.2), on the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Telugu film industry: "Apparently stung by...he did not accept the honour at the event, which had ran into rough weather...." and"There is a temptation to get mislead ourselves as gods..." Also, all newspaper reporters and subs need crash courses in the use of articles--of the definite and indefinite kind. Look at the lead sentence of a report from this morning's Hindu, again from page two: "They are only a million in number throughout the world, but still Dawoodi Bohra community is going strong." Also, clumsy, faulty constructions are rampant--I cite two more examples from the same report:"A closed knit (sic) community Bohras consider their younger generation as real strength." Again--" Coming to Bohra women, they are allowed inside mosques, however they have separate enclosures...."

dioscuri

Rewrite desks...thoughts on Jan.09.

2007-01-09T11:21:00.000+05:30

None of the newspapers I get--DC, TOI, Hindu have the sort of rewrite desks they so badly need. If only they could take a leaf from the mainstream weekly journals, readers wouldn't be subject to slip-ups like--"The lack of a crowd...however did not deter Vijayashanti wearing a saree with checks... (talk of irrelevant detail-ys) .I personally wouldn't approve (in a front-page story at that) of the phrase 'gone for a dekko' ... (All this is from the TOI's front-page story on Vijayashanti's protest). There are other stories in the paper that merit a mention though, such as the front page story on lobbyists working overtime to get the new appointee (as Commissioner of Police), Balwinder Singh's orders cancelled, a p.2 report on the use of surveillance cameras mounted on 'interceptor' cars by the traffic cops and an inside page (8) story on the alleged rape of a sixteen year-old in a train, by a TTE.
Talking of some of these minor goof-ups that a rewrite man wouldn't miss, here's a small example from a front-page story in 'The Hindu'-- "If they came for a debate he would provide the truths to the people..."
Aitemad (the MIM's voice) and Siasat are slugging it out for some time now, but more on that in another post.

saty
dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

Monday Morning....

2007-01-08T08:39:00.000+05:30

The monday morning papers aren't much of a read. The TOI has a front-page story on the 'serial killers' of Hyderabad, which is a shade different from what the DC and The Hindu have to say in their coverage of the event. The TOI tells us that "the alleged killers were homosexuals, lured their victims with a bait of women and performed macabre acts like smearing their bodies with blood."
The TOI also has an eye-catching photograph of the the most unlikely political bedfellows-- Sonia Gandhi and L.K.Advani caught in what the caption calls,"close encounter". The DC's front-page has an equally arresting photograph--of a leopard that strayed into someone's loo in Baroda. The DC has has a newsy front-page story on an imminent shuffle in the higher echelons of the state bureaucracy--"CMO lists 'loyal' IAS officers for reshuffle". The Hindu takes a timely dig at the ways of the 'power' bosses in a story on its 3rd page--"Power crisis goes for a toss". In his report V.V.Subrahmanyam points out how Income Tax officials and film stars "revelled under the floodlights playing an inconsequential cricket match..." I'm not particularly happy with the expression--'revelled under floodlights' but then look at this sentence:"Considering the sweeping instructions from the State Government that air-conditioners be banned in all Government offices and even suggestions that only one light be used in all establishments during daytime to ward off the crisis gripping the State, the friendly cricket match only showcased the utter disregard for power blues and more importantly the commonest of the commoners bearing the brunt of power cuts..." Wonder what The Hindu desk thinks of the word 'brevity'!

saty
dioscuri.hyd@gmail.com

this morning's papers

2007-01-04T09:25:00.000+05:30

The DC has a front page that is certainly more interesting than what the TOI and 'The Hindu' have on their plate. The DC has a lead story on the Noida killer, Moninder Singh Pandher's connections and an interesting single column story (carried on p.2 as a six column spread) on A.P.'s objection to the Supreme Court's directive to initiate a slew of reforms in the police force. Syed Amin's Jafri's edit page article 'Problems aplenty for YSR' is a bit of a yawn as a read, but is extremely informative and analytical if one makes the effort of reading the entire piece.
The TOI has a very bland front page unless of course you're interested in a lead story which says--"foreign pilots clip wings of Indian pilots" on how expatriate pilots are likely to outnumber their Indian peers in the coming years. The only 'readable' front-page story from the human interest point of view, is a single-column piece on the death of a 14 year-old boy who had a history of heart disease, at Swami Ramdev's yoga camp in Bhubaneswar. But then, I must admit that 'readability' can be a highly subjective affair...but this is my blog, so what the hell! One of the good stories the TOI has is a four-column piece on p.2 on the wheels that turned and strings that were pulled to kick the police commissioner, Mohanty, upstairs. Ayoob Ali Khan tells us that it was the MIM which labeled him anti-muslim and took up the matter with Sonia Gandhi's political adviser, Ahmed Patel, after failing to convince YSR to shift Mohanty. Khan says--"What Mohanty has done is to enforce policing strictly in the Old City and this had affected some sections of supporters of the party." Kingshuk Nag has his own take on the location of the proposed IIT. The Government wants to have it Isnapur in Medak, while the TDP and TRS are queering the pitch of the demand to locate it at Basara. The Adilabad M.P. of the TRS has already 'sent' his resignation papers, on the issue. Nag says that all the arguments put forth against Isnapur as the proposed location are irrelevant--from an assembly resolution during the TDP years, to the ancient Saraswati temple as the raison d'etre for the new IIT, to the charge that YSR's cronies want to make a fortune by selling (to the government) the land they allegedly bought around Isnapur and that this was yet another YSR move to package his dream of Greater Hyderabad. Nag's question--how does it matter? Over to the politicians for answers. But can someone teach them to 'bulletize' what they say, mesays. The other piece in 'Room with a View' also (on the A.P.Government's recent brainwave to 'fix' the fee structure for junior colleges) poses a few questions worth pondering about. To paraphrase Nag--let market forces decide on who is good and who isn't. If you ask me (as college teacher) I'd say the same thing. Those who don't deliver fall by the wayside. Isn't this true of any other service as well? I have a question too--Why can't the state ensure that Government Junior Colleges compete with the 'corporate' colleges?
The Hindu has more to offer on the average Hyderabadi's current obsession--the state of the city's roads, traffic bottlenecks and all the rest of it. There are three stories in the inside pages (on the partial opening up of the Punjagutta, Greenlands flyover to traffic, underground cabling moving apace and progress on ORR expansion). Again,The Hindu's 'Downtown' is newsier and definitely scores over the DC and TOI in this respect.

saty

'Ten disturbing trends'

2006-12-31T08:55:00.000+05:30

I read this on robert's blog (dmw.media.com) and thought it was something worth sharing. This so true of media coverage in this part of the world as well....

Here is a list of ten trends identified and discussed by Peter R. Kann, Chairman of Dow Jones, in his essay titled "The Media Is in the Need of Some Mending", from the editiorial pages of today’s Wall Street Journal:

The blurring of the lines between journalism and entertainment.
The blurring of lines between news and opinion.
The blending of news and advertising, sponsorships or other commercial relationships.
The problems and pitfalls inherent in pack journalism.
The issue of conflict and context.
The exaggerated tendency toward pessimism.
The growing media fascination with the bizarre, the perverse and the pathological -- John Mark Karr journalism.
Social orthodoxy, or political correctness.
The media's short attention span.
The matter of [the media’s] power.

Ringside view of the Front Page

2006-12-29T08:39:00.000+05:30

The DC has the most interesting front page for a casual reader today. While it shares the top story with most other newpapers--"Mamata ends 25-day fast", it has a second lead with a caption that forces you to look at it--"State ignores cheap power at home, pays more outside" with a single column story right below:"Opposition lays siege to sub-stations"."Row over burqa ban in Maha gold shops" is an excellent story on a move by some Pune jewellers to bar women in burqas from entering their shops unless they show their faces, and the opposition (by muslim clerics) to this. "General's son displays dad's might at IGI" is a newsy two column piece by Sridhar Kumaraswami from Delhi.
The TOI in terms of its front page, isn't far behind. It has the same first lead as the others (Mamta Banerrjee) and on the right-hand top, has a five-column photograph of Aishwarya Rai (in a burqa) with her mother at the Ajmer Dargah. Then there's a four-column item on the High Court's directions to the state government on Ramoji Rao's petition, with two other interesting pieces at the bottom--"HC seeks Devanna encounter report" on the encounter deaths of a maoist couple and "Rural India survives on Rs. 12/day" (quoting from a National Sample Survey Organization report ).
'The Hindu', is quite true to form as the dear old maid of Mount Road. It has a front page that makes you yawn, barring a five-column photograph of NDA leaders coming out of Rashtrapati Bhavan. A question one might want to ask 'The Hindu' is whether the caning of CPM activists in Sanga Reddy and Vizag merits the front-page attention it managed to get. Or is it because of the party in question?

More after Jan.1....Happy New Year

Saty

About this blog.....

2006-12-25T15:12:00.000+05:30

Well, let me confess that I had to start a blog all over again after I couldn't access the one I created here yesterday, for the very same purpose--write about newspapers in Hyderabad, India, from the first of Jan. 2007. I'd like to write about their 'slants' and 'style'. I'm talking about the ones I get to read--'The Hindu', 'The Times of India', 'The Deccan Chronicle', 'Eenadu', 'Vaarta' and 'Munsif' and 'Siasat'. Fortunately, my Urdu is pretty good and my Telugu would pass muster.
I may have to repeat what I wrote yesterday--that I'm a self-styled 'media-critic' of sorts. I'd like to look at the coverage and reportage of these newspapers, warts and all, more as a layman than an expert.
For starters, let's take the coverage of what is snowballing into a major political issue here in A.P.--the 'Margadarsi' issue. 'The Hindu' went so far as to write an editorial ('Dangerous Intolerance', Sat.23.Dec.2006) taking the A.P. Government to task and commented that Nehru's party should be ashamed of what the YSR regime was doing in A.P. The Hindu had no comment on whether Margadarsi Financiers had violated any law in accepting deposits from the general public. It also had 2 four column stories in the Sunday paper, one quoting Digvijay Singh who said that the Congress would not muffle freedom of the press and another, which reported the criticism of the YSR government on this issue, by all the other political parties. It also ran a single-column story reporting the Congress M.P. Arun Kumar's version--that he raised the issue for depositors' sake. That the depositors themselves are silent is something the honourable M.P. aaparently doesn't like to talk about.
The TOI in its page 2 round-up (25.12.'06) that goes in the name of 'True Lies' took a gentle swipe at YSR's previous regard for 'The Hindu'--"Till recently chief minister garu used to publicly name a particular English daily as the one he preferred to read and in the past has also recommmended the newspaper on the floor of the assembly....But now YSR's favourite English daily has taken up the cudgels on behalf of one of the Telugu papers whose owner is now being hounded by the state government." It doesn't take much to see that the writer's tongue is firmly placed in his cheek. The TOI has 2 more pieces following 'His favourite daily' , one suggesting that Ramoji Rao has considerable clout in Delhi and another hinting that the RBI Governor, Y.Venugopal Reddy would act quietly if he found something amiss, without making a song and dance of the whole affair.

The DC had a story (24.12.'06) on its third page on the Congress MP, Arun Kumar's statement questioning 'The Hindu' editor, N.Ram's defence of Eenadu and Ramoji.

Let's see what happens as the plot thickens and how newspapers and tv channels view this and other events.
Starting Jan. 1 yours truly will take a close at all this and more--including style and language, columns and columnists.
So, come join the party and tell me what you think.

Saty