The death of Indian media

In the one week, most of the people I've come across had never heard about the explosive expose that was the x-tapes, which is now famously known as the 'Barkhagate'. For those who still doesn't known what its all about, this link might help. In short, Open magazine released a set of phone conversations that the well known PR agent Niira Radia had with various well known personalities. These include the face of NDTV Bark(ing)ha Dutt, top journo Vir Sanghvi, Ratan Tata, former telecom minister A.Raja and more. No, its not the usual talk. These people were involved in discussions on deciding the portfolios of the current UPA cabinet. And, most damningly, they played a key role in fetching the corrupt A.Raja a second term. They were also involved in the Ambani brothers fight, gas deals etc with Vir Sanghvi taking about scripted interviews and the like.

To think that our top journos are more than news gatherers is, shocking. They are power brokers of the worst kind who lobbies hard to thrust upon us corrupt leaders. The garb of patriots and concerned social activists that these people don when they talk to us from the studios is all part of the 'fooling the gullible pulic mechanism'. It all looks like a well oiled machinery which been working perfectly over the last few years. A machinery consisting of the big corporate, politicians and the media. The old days of journalists having commitment to the society are over. We all thought 'paid news' was the lowest that Indian media can stoop down to. Even this revelation might be the tip of the iceberg. Another issue is the media's anger at sting operations(a favourite tool of all these channels) when its used against them. Suddenly, they start speaking about issues of intrusion into a person's privacy and such issues. They speak of 'freedom of expression' every other day in the panel discussions. But, we all saw how Barkha Dutt sued a poor blogger and made his life difficult for writing a single blog about her questionable journalistic tactics, which put the life of solidiers into danger at Kargil and Mumbai. Yeah, 'Freedom of expression' is a dish best served at the media studios. Padmashri Barkha(wonder what all and whose all she sucked to get that Padmashri), its time to stop those hoarse discourses in your studios.

Whats more alarming than all this is the SILENCE, the silence of the mainstream media regarding this issue. Even the Hindu, one of India's must trusted newspapers didn't give much coverage to the 'x-tapes'(They did make up after 1 week with a real good editorial on the same). Not to mention all the 24 hour news channels who usually jump at the chance of the cheapest of exposes. What this points to is the fact that beyond all the rivalry between the media groups, all of them are infact together in this game, a dirty game played at the upper echelons where crores are exchanged and the common man's lives are sold to powerful corporations. So, if these guys decide, they can easily control what we should hear and what we shouldn't. The fact that only few people heard about this expose points to this. Most Indians depend on the mainstream media for news and if they decide to blackout a news item, we are sure to be in dark about the same. If not for twitter and facebook, the x-tapes wouldn't have got even the small attention that it has got now. A magazine like Open has only a limited readership, mostly in urban pockets. Same is the case with the above mentioned social networks. So, a big percentage of the public would never know about 'Barkhagate'. They will continue to blindly believe whatever the media says. And if they can blackout such a big scandal, they can also produce false news as a propaganda mechanism against someone they hate. NDTV says its statement on the 'x-tapes' that, "These are unsubstantiated, baseless and defamatory allegations and we reserve the right to take appropriate action". If thats the case, why are they all shying away from discussing the same. Why is not a single reader comment appearing under this particular statement? Even when such inconsequential things like Pamela's silicon boob show in Big boss are given 30 minute special attention on national news channels, an issue as big as this is blacked out. Not to forget, the minute details of Obama's visit which were served to us for about 1 month. And, in the end hailing the whole visit as a success for the country, when all Obama did was sell his shit in India and make some 'hollow speeches' on how India is ready to take on the world. Yes, corporate interests at play there too. I've lost whatever little trust I had left in mainstream Indian media. Here, am bidding goodbye to the manufactured news with a middle fingered salute. Only hope is left in magazines like Tehelka and Open and in newspapers like Hindu.

It badly affects the democracy when one of its four pillars is afflicted with a cancer like this. Its even more so when the other 3 pillars namely legislature, judiciary and executive are at their rotten best. All hopes of the press being a balancing force which questions the wrong decisions of the other three and acts as a champion for the cause of the common man, are dashed. Now, the common man is left to fight all the pillars himself.

pics courtesy-Open,outlook

your crusader Praveen

Tehelka, Leave alone Indian rock!

Tehelka. One magazine that was 'different' from all the others in the Indian market. They spoke truth. They were fearless. They wrote with conviction. Their long well researched articles were a treat to read. They exposed atrocities which few others dared to talk about. They lived up to their slogan of being 'free, fair and fearless'. But, a small mistake in the structure can take down a big castle. And thats exactly what is happening to Tehelka. In the issue dated April 17th, they decided to carry a so called expose on the media's hysterical coverage of the Indian rock scene. Inder Sidhu writes a supposedly path breaking article on how the whole Indian rock scene is a sham and says that everyone is desperately trying to sell a scene that does not even exist.

The introductory lines tell us how 'well researched' the article is. Leave alone 'well researched', I doubt if he ever consulted anything other than his 9th standard geography text book while writing this classic piece. Spiced up with quotes from unheard of bands crying loud on how the Indian scene will never take off, the writer goes on to throw mud on the face of every Indian rocker and rock journalist. Starting with the most outrageous of comments where he says thus about the one and only Indian ocean- "That one of the most original bands in the country has been working within the same musical framework for 30 years is, frankly, shocking." This one sentence shows the thorough lack of knowledge of this 'journalist'. This is like saying Zakir Hussain been playing tabla all his life and never tried anything else. Only an unbelievably naive person can make such a stupid comment. And to say this about one of India's widely respected band which has given us some timeless music, takes much more than the presence of duplicate rubber balls inside one's pants and elephant dung inside one's brains.

"The vocabulary and context for rock criticism does not exist in India"-Thats another main point of the article. And this from a man who has mentioned the Rock Street Journal in the same article. I wonder if has ever read one issue of this magazine or visited any of the 100s of blogs providing in depth analysis on new releases and on the concerts happening around. He says this 'shoddy coverage' is a reflection of the shoddy music. This is exactly where the lack of research shines the most. He must've got his hands on a bootleg CD by some startup college rock band and wrote a whole article thinking that this is what Indian rock is all about. He talks about the lack of depth in lyrics and amateurishness in music, all the while keeping bollywood as a reference for the perfection of all this. He says that the homegrown rock lacks character compared to its original roots in the American 'protest music'. He paints the Indian rock musician as an upper middle class junkie, smoking weed and bankrolled by indulgent parents. Mr. Inder, if you can hear sounds with your seemingly non existent ears, do check out a band called motherjane, one of India's top most bands. Their lyrics have more depth than any music you ever heard till now, their music is truely Indian and truely international at the same time and they are all middle class Indians who stays away from weed and the like. There are many more examples like that including Junkyard groove, Indian Ocean, TAAQ and many more. And these are the guys who rule the scene, the same scene which you says 'does not exist'.

Next comes another blunder. Inder says Indian rock is concentrated in 'A-grade metros' like Delhi and Mumbai. The writer seems to be blind to Bangalore, the rock capital of India. There's only a passing mention of the north eastern states, where rock is there in every home and Bob Dylan is seen in as high esteem as Sachin Tendulkar. And while writing this article sitting in his a/c room in one of those A-grade metros, Inder seems to have also missed the rising rock revolution in small cities like Trivandrum, cochin, manipal etc. The young bands coming out of these places are so utterly creative and will surely carry the torch of Indian rock music forward. With this one article, you have mocked at all the hard work that these bands put to do what they like. You have mocked at the undying spirit and passion of an ever growing fan base. You have mocked at metal gods like iron maiden who have acknowledged the might of the Indian fan base. Just think about it, are these guys that foolish to come to our country 3 times in 2 years if we don't have a big enough fan base. And its not metal oldies alone who are flocking to our country. We had the progressive sensations 'opeth' and 'porcupine tree' coming down here last year. And this year will see one of the bands that defined this past decade in metal, 'Lamb of god' performing in Bangalore. I do wonder if you have ever heard of these names considering your knowledge in rock doesnt go beyond that stupid 'rock on' reality show in MTV.

A humble request to the media- Its ok if you don't cover Indian rock music. This movement has grown even without an iota of support from the mainstream media. And now that you've realised that this has grown much more than you ever thought it will, you are puncing on it so that you can also get a share on the big pie. Yes, even bashing can make the cash registers ring. Rather than writing such mis informed articles, you could spare us and let us live our own way. We were doing fine without you. And we will continue to be fine without you. And just like the title of your article screams-"Don't believe everything you hear". I'll think twice before I believe what 'fools without conviction' blurt out in the name of 'feature on Indian rock music scene'. You and your ilk of half baked heads may get orgasms over your careful wordplay deriding something mighty. But we just don't give a fuck for it. And it can't be said better than what was said by Thermal And A Quarter in that open letter to tehelka with that awesome quote from their own cult song 'Paper puli'- “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.”

PS- Wrote this because I was saddened at this shoddy journalism on the part of one magazine which I care for. If it was any of those trashy yellow mags, I wouldn't have cared a bit. We expect much better from tehelka. Hope they don't carry such crap in the future and live up to their old name. And, I won't stop my subscription just because you let one idiot into your pages!

Recommended reading for Inder Sidhu-Ten commandments of Rock journalism. Am sure you'll get a 0/10.

your crusader Praveen

When news is paid!

Imagine the scenario when the news you read are nothing but advertisements masquerading as news. What if they are paid for by people with vested interests and twisted in the way they like and printed without the mandatory 'advt' tag at the bottom? That is exactly what happened during the Maharashtra elections. Through an investigative article in the hindu, P.Sainath has pointed to this new menace. It all happened during the recently concluded Maharashtra elections when an article praising congress leader Ashok Chavan appeared in many of the regional newspapers. The story was published with the credits attributed to a 'special correspondent'. And proving his case that it indeed is paid journalism at its worst, Sainath points out that you can't have the same special correspondent writing for all these papers. More than blaming the politicians or parties, here the blame rests solely with the concerned media houses for such an act which goes against the basic tenets of journalism.

After incidents like this, how much can one trust the newspaper that you read. Barring a few of them like 'The Hindu', rest are all owned by business houses with an eye on profit. To be precise, just on profit. As fake stories become the order of the day, we will find it hard to separate the real news from the advertisement campaigns. Tomorrow, if I want, I can have a nice article written on me provided I've enough money. Newspapers are slowly becoming propaganda machines for those with fat pockets. Its almost as scary as the thought police that we all read in George Orwell's '1984'.

your crusader Praveen

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