IE editorial gives good insight on how journalist and media is manipulated

This entry into Media Watch pertains to an excellent editorial by Shekhar Gupta - Constant Congressman it gave us some insight on How Arjun Singh and congress by extension corrupted journalists by doling out free houses etc

Even though the topic was about Arjun Singh and how close he was to Rajiv Gandhi. It gave good insight on how he manipulated journalists, how he “improved living standards of journalists” while he was CM by giving them houses. It also spoke of how he gave houses to five senior most journos in Chandigarh when he was governor of Punjab and how the next day newspaper had news favorable to him!

Some of relevant portion of the editorial on how he “handled” journalist are

Following is how he took care when he was CM of MP

And When he was governor of Punjab

Surprisingly when we tried to access the editorial later it was not available online(not sure if its there in print). This is what we get

It is still available in Google search

But a fellow twitterati  @asraghunath found a copy of epaper which is below

This was brought to attention of IE

Can you please fix the link its not working RT @ietweet Constant Congressman http://goo.gl/jaSyY

Another day in TOI

Another day in TOI… Look at the priorities of news. Sonams dress disaster is higher than violent mob setting 3 buses on fire!

of course then you have Marde Dras parade and twonkle showing of baby bump!!

ToI labels Sikhs and KPs as activists from PoK

Above is from TOI article PM Manmohan Singh arrives in Jammu

First KP’s get kicked out of their home to become refugees in their own country. Now if we go by TOI caption, they donot even have a country!!

ToI poll on SC firing of CVC

Toi is conducting a poll to understand the impact of SC verdict on CVC. following is the result. Will TOI have guts to report this also

 

NDTV report on New Congress Working Committee & mixes up the names

This is pertaining to NDTV report on new CWC. NDTV in its report New Congress Working Committee announced among writes

Those dropped include Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithvi Raj Chavan, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, and Vilasrao Deshmukh who served as chief minister of Maharashtra but was removed for his links to the Adarsh Society scam -  flats in a Mumbai building intended for war widows and veterans were allotted to politicians, bureaucrats, and retired army officers, who rigged permissions for the building's construction in an area that is highly sensitive because of its proximity to important defence facilities.

It seems that NDTV is trying to portray dropping of Vilasrao Deshmukh as a great moral act and by narrating his wrong doing is trying to imply that he was dropped due to his wrong doings

What NDTV forgets to mention is the in January this year same party (with the blessing of same Sonia Gandhi) appointed Vilasrao Deshmukh as cabinet minister for Rural Development with additional charge of Panchayati Raj

Lastly, It may be a minor detail for NDTV that it was not Vilasrao Deshmukh who was removed Adarsh scam. It was Ashok Chavan. Vilasrao Deshmukh was removed for goofing up 2611. 

NDTV the word is Bhikkhuni Not Nun

Its high times NDTV learns some cultural and religious Etiquette.

NDTV in its article Nepal's singing sensation nun to debut in India calls a Buddhist Female monk Nun.

Ani Choying Dolma, a 40-year-old Buddhist nun of Tibetan ancestry, who took "asylum" in a monastery in Kathmandu valley at the age of 10 to escape the rages of an abusive father, is now one of the best-known singers in the country with followers in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US and Germany.

Female Budhist monk is called Bhikuni not Nun.

SC fires CVC PJ Thomas your turn media…

Today is a historic day. Perhaps for the second time in history of Independent India supreme court has given a verdict of such immense importance. The first one would be Justice Sinha's (Allahabad High Court) verdict on June 12, 1975, declaring Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha as void.

Media Watch will be closely watching how media is reporting this historic event.

The first one which has caught Media Watch attention is a NDTV report Who is PJ Thomas? 

At the onset, NDTV explains at length how the corruption charges against PJ Thomas is a very old one

Polayil Joseph Thomas, 60, has been in the eye of an unseemly storm for the last five months - a corruption case from years ago and an embarrassing question mark on his integrity came back to haunt him and the government that appointed him as the top man to look into corruption.

Does NDTV mean to say that seriousness of corruption charges decrease with time? It may be minor detail that P.J. Thomas is the eighth accused in the Rs 2.8-crore palmolein scam and has not been exonerated yet. In 2005, the then Congress government even moved the Supreme Court seeking that the palmolein case be withdrawn. Luckily, congress lost election and new Left government blocked the Congress government's move to get the case withdrawn. Now the trial is pending in the case as the SC ordered a stay on it based on Karunakaran's plea in 2007.

Also, Its intriguing NDTV missed any mention that PJ Thomas role at the DoT came under heavy criticism for a variety of reasons.

• One, he did not take any action against officials who allowed 85 firms to get licences even though they did not qualify (this was exposed by the CAG).
• Two, Thomas did not levy penalties on firms which did not fulfill their roll-out obligations, or recommend that their licences be cancelled — the CAG had to do this.

In fact, NDTV themselves in their report Is the new CVC against 2G scam probe? dated sept 08, 2001 had raised questions on integrity of CVC putting a question mark on whether the new CVC is in favour of probing the 2G scam. NDTV unearthed

In the note dated July 10, 2010, the Department of Telecom objects to the Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG's scrutiny of the 2G scam. PJ Thomas was the Telecom Secretary when this note was sent to the Law Ministry, seeking its opinion on the CAG's right to scrutinise the 2G spectrum allocation.
The Law Ministry replied to that note on August 13, 2010 saying the CAG or the CVC have no powers to challenge government policy.
In that note, the Law ministry clearly says the CVC can only probe corruption cases, not government policy.

Even SC questioned the tenability of P J Thomas supervising the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the 2G scandal. ASC observed

chargesheeted official doesn’t qualify as an outstanding civil servant.

Its shocking that inspite of all these grave charges, NDTV brushes off the the charges as “a corruption case from years ago”. Media watch would like to quote our esteemed PM on this

“Caesar's wife must be above suspicion ”

Then NDTV proceeds to imply that govt was caught unaware as CVC hid his assignment as Food and Civil Supplies Secretary or the palmolein case that happened during that time. NDTV reports

Curiously, his bio-data on the Central Vigilance Commission website lists all his assignments but not that as Food and Civil Supplies Secretary. The UPA government has said the bio-date that it saw while appointing Thomas did not mention this stint or the palmolein case that happened then.
The profile on the CVC website mentions Thomas' other assignments - that as Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education), Chief Electoral Officer & Principal Secretary to Government, Director of Fisheries, Managing Director of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Limited, Secretary, Taxes (Board of Revenue). Even District Collector, Ernakulam, Secretary, Kerala Khadi & Village Industries Board and Sub Collector, Fort, Cochin. One assignment listed merely states - Secretary, Government of Kerala.

Does NDTV want us to believe that GOI depends upon the biodata submitted by candidate for his service information especially when the candidate is being considered for a sensitive position like CVC? Wonder why NDTV missed to mention Home Minister P Chidambaram assertion that Selection Committee meeting to chose Central Vigilance Commissioner did discuss the issue of Palmolein case against P J Thomas. NDTV also missed to mention the dissent of Sushma Swaraj. In fact this was the first time in the last 15 years that government and the opposition differed in the choice of a CVC.

NDTV then finishes the report with some rave reviews

He also served as Telecom Secretary till he became CVC, and those who speak for him point to how much better the 3G spectrum auction was organised as compared to 2G.
The Supreme Court, which is also monitoring the CBI's investigation into the spectrum scam, suggested that it would be inappropriate for Mr Thomas to preside over an inquiry that could subject his own actions in the Telecom Ministry to scrutiny. Mr Thomas then recused himself from the 2G investigation.

One has to give it to audacity of NDTV in praising PJ Thomas especially on a day when SC has struck down his appointment as CVC.