Khushwant Singh is sad

Khushwant Singh is sad that the demise of Tarlok Singh did not get any mention in mainstream media. Had it not been the obituary columns this would not have been published at all, Singh says.
He was a stalwart undoubtedly but do the viewers in metros bother to watch the DD News that still carries such stories. As far as private channels are concerned should we except them to forget their TRPs when a sizzling Malika Sherawat's 40 second walk with Jackie Chan can eclipse all the leading news items in this country of 100 crores.

Amateurish Anchors making a mockery of journalism

An anchor on Sahara Samay questioned an MP, "Tell us where are your right now?". The MP represented Morena in Madhya Pradesh where a caste clash occurred. The anchor further said, 'Don't you think you need to be in Morena today?".
Such over-activism by anchors are making a mockery of journalism and journalists. Rather than asking direct and to-the-point questions, the anchors trie to linger on the conversation even though they get exposed in process. There are anchors who are not aware of the difference between suspension and dismissal, detainment and arrest, under trial and convict, even horribly the difference between lock up and jail but keep on doing bakwaas without a thought to what it does to the image of journalist.
A journalist ought to be knowledgeable and better-informed but we have the Pretty Faces who come out from no where and instantly start doing bak bak. The moment a tough nut comes across, these anchors turn dumb and running for cover.
NEWSPAPERS SCAN:
Jug Suraiya's piece on Calcutta was nice on editpage in Times yesterday and so was the Time Out of Humra Quraishi about the Muslims who had Hindu ancestors and continue to live like Rajput Muslims. Nalini Singh's article on Bihar was insightful on edit page in Express.

Buying India Today!

I just can't buy India Today now. The Rs 20 I spend on India Today I can use in buying a Tehelka and five other papers. Or given a choice I will have Outlook or our good old Frontline. Even week will do. But India Today at Rs 20---I guess I am a poor man. Sorry I can't afford it.
Nice story
The story of CNN IBN on human beings replacing oxen at Rampur diara village near Patna to plough fields no doubt stands out as a really good story so good that one finds it tough not to feel shameful at the comforts he enjoys even as people in India face such hardships.

Why women are not cartoonists?

Why are there are no good women cartoonists. Everyone is wondering. Even RK Laxman doesn't know or would rather not say as per his interview in the Tehelka weekly. Nice interview, racy, different. It is really strange that there are hardly any woman cartoonist around. Women are found everywhere in fine arts. Great artists, painters, photographers but why not cartoons. Is it a universal dislike of politics or what?

OPERATION MAJNU

The cops took local media along for publicity while raiding a park in Meerut for catching 'miscreants'. Over enthusiastic women cops thrashed couples including young girls, beat them up brutally. Initially some channels aired it as a local story of police action against errant youth but soon the realisation dawned upon them. And it was shown again and again--brute police against young lovebirds.
But it's an isolated incident where the footage is available. It happens all over India, mostly in Haryana, UP, Bihar et al. And what suspensions will do? The cops will be back soon, I assure you. That's how police works. Suspension is eyewash. At the lower level, cops keep on getting suspended and getting back on duty soon after.

Strange competition among channels

After Operation Duryodhan, it is now Operation Chakravyooh and once again our representatives have been caught shamelessly gulping down our hard earned money. Great work.
But I don't understand why when a channel does the sting operation, most of the other news channels avoid even mentioning the story. Ok, if you don't want to mention another competitor's name, you can at least tell your viewer what has happened in brief. Most of the channels simply treat another channel's sting operation as if it was their 'miss'. And only when the fall-out of the sting operation leads to lots of reactions that the other channels carry the story but by then most of their TRP is already lost. Isn't it better to carry the news in the first place rather making a fool of yourself later.

HT's magazine and the funny four

I couldn't understand what it was? It seems HT could not get the male models and decided to use its own staffers to show the impact of make-up. So we had HT's 'in-house intellectual' (no pun intended) Indrajit Hazra and three others posing as true metrosexuals in the morning.
Hazra grinning was indeed a funny sight and with him three others Samrat, Shreevatsa and Adtiya Sinha! I didn't know how to react. It was good, bad or what? The paper could not afford models, many said. Yesterday was a sad day otherwise. It started with the tragedy at Chennai where 40 persons died in stampede. It took time for North-driven channels to pick up the story. Express' story on the CPM's rigging methods in election was good. And seeing Mr Mitra shouting on television against the sting operations, I could do nothing but switch off the television.

Just heard this ;)

For the soon-to-be launched pink paper of DNA, the process of appointing reporters has begun. One journalist was told that he would get a particular salary for the first three months and in case the circulation in his city reached a figure near 20,000 in this period he will be offered double the salary.
Naturally the journalist asked what the circulation and marketing guys would do if his appraisal is solely based on circulation figures. And he is not alone who faced the interview. No prizes for guessing who took the interview. I won't be more specific.