Mumbai Mirror!

Did any one hear about Mumbai Mirror after the hoopla surrounding its launch almost a month ago. It was heard that except free copies and subscriptions, thousands of copies were going as raddi. But the Economic Times proclaimed within a fortnight of the launch 'Mirror creating waves in Ad circle'. Soon Times wrote 'Mumbai Mirror demand has outpaced its supply'. The reality will emerge in a few months but one thing is clear. No one in the media world blows its own trumpet better than the Times of India group.

Pioneer Media School

The Pioneer regularly prints the in-house advertisement of Pioneer Media School. One wonders what would be taught in PMS. Though no big prizes for guessing about the curriculum. Surely, the faculty would be great, Balbir Punj, Sandhya Jain, Prafull Goradia, Tarun Vijay et al. And the BJP can now hope to get an entire brigade of journalists that would come out of the Media School to suit its likes.

EditIndia: An Indian Media Watchdog

Imrana case exposes journos

The Imrana case has once again exposed the journalists who lack the expertise on their subject and rush to conclusions without understanding the real issue. Some of the correspondents who were rushed to the spot after the incident lacked understanding of Muslim personal law.
They did not understand the terminologies and had no knowledge whatsoever of the problem. Some reporters tended to be commentative. Even the senior persons on the desk of news channels came out as hopeless people. The problem is when the Aalim (singular for Ulema) says a common Arabic or Urdu word and the terminology is not understood by the reporter or the coordinator of the programme. Either the person conducting the programme should do some homework before embarking on the complex issues or leave it for specialists. What a situation it is when the cleric says Khula which is about a woman's right seeking divorce (here Kh is not Hindi 'kha' as in Khana but Arabic Khe as in Khazana) but the journalists thinks it is Khula (Hindustani) that means open.
Such ridiculous situations occurred frequently. It was NDTV that once again appeared serious, sympathetic and unbiased. Other channels fell prey to the Shahbano Syndrome and did not know what to make out of the issue except sensationalising and sermonising.

Electronic media hiring wrestlers!

The news is that certain channels in the country are going to hire wrestlers, boxers and musclemen who will be trained as journalists. It is quite understandable.
When tragedy strikes somewhere, the correspondents barge into the affected area asking for bytes. In the beginning people were flabbergasted. Some docile people would give the needed byte. But the situation is changing fast and there are reports of journos with mikes entering a house and returning with bruises and marks.
Especially when dying man is asked, 'Kaisa mahsoos ho raha hai' the relatives of the man on deathbed seethe with rage. Many instances of such overzealous journos getting beaten have been reported in the country. No wonder, the muscleman would go with the mike, catch the hapless person by his neck and order him to 'give byte'.
It is not absolutely the fault of reporters for such a situation. The senior editors and coordinators at Delhi and Mumbai ask the reporter to get the byte immediately after the tragedy has struck. But now we hope that the wrestlers and bullies would make good reporters. Seeing their built and body language, the people would speak up due to fear and channels would get many more scoops.