MediaVigil, Journal of Global Communications and Justice

Note : The trend of occupation of media  by 'natural' market forces  has been unfolding for quite a while. Indeed " media regulation" is "essentially a bargain between power brokers in the media and the competing elements within the political domain" amidst "concentration of ownership".    Hasn't TRAI recommended something like a Third Press C ommission “headed by a retired Supreme Court judge” to examine the structural changes in the media landscape?  First  Press Commission was set up Nehru Govt. The Second Press Commission set up by Morarji Govt and reconstituted by India Gandhi Govt. There was a demand for the 3rd Press Commission which Dr Manmohan Singh government agreed to it. It sought  its Terms of Reference twice from Kuldeep Nayar  but failed to set it up. The Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Information Technology in its report in 2013 has observed on cross-media ownership and its adverse impact on "democratic stru...

मुझे अचरज नहीं हुआ जब मुकेश अंबानी के रिलायंस इंडस्ट्रीज लिमिटेड ने एक बड़े टेलीविजन नेटवर्क को अपने हाथ में ले लिया। ज्यादातर चैनलों- लगभग 300-के मालिक प्रोपर्टी डीलर हैं जो हर महीने औसतन एक करोड़ रुपया खर्च करने में सक्षम हैं, काले धन को सफेद करने का तरीका अपनाते हुए। मुझे जिस बात से धक्का पहुंचा वह यह था कि मीडिया ने सौदे की खबर तो दी लेकिन इसने खामोश रहना पसंद किया। इसके बावजूद कि पत्रकारिता अब एक पेशा नहीं रह गया है और उद्योग बन गया है, मैं कुछ प्रतिक्रिया की उम्मीद कर रहा था, कम से कम एडीटर्स गिल्ड आफ इंडिया से। लेकिन फिर यह समझा जा सकता है क्योंकि एडीटर्स गिल्ड आफ इंडिया ने मेरे इस प्रस्ताव को खारिज कर दिया है कि संपादक भी अपनी संपति घोषित करें जिसकी मांग वे राजनेताओं से करते हैं। दोहरा मापदंड उस ऊंचाई को झूठा बना देता है जिस पर मीडिया बैठा हुआ है। मैं कारपोरेट के मीडिया में पूंजी लगाने के खिलाफ नहीं हूं। बढ़ते खर्च और विज्ञापनों के घटते जाने से मीडिया भुखमरी की स्थिति में है। लेकिन आदर्श यही है कि मीडिया खुद पर निर्भर हो।...

Note: There is circumstantial and documentary evidence that suggests that Jawahar Lal Nehru was either taking instructions from UK based politicians or was reporting to them. Nehru paid his first and the last visit to China in October 1954 after its 1949 revolution. He was there from October 15- 19, 1954, when he was in China after a stopover in Vietnam. Nehru had a long meeting with Mao Tse-tung. Nehru wrote a top-secret note on his visit to China on November 11, 1954. Nehru had sent a copy of his top-secret note to Winston Churchill, the UK Prime Minister which was declassified at the expiry of 30 years and is available in Britain’s Public Records Office. In India, it was published first in Nehru’s Letters to Chief Ministers first and then in the Selected Works in the 1990s.    Gopal Krishna      Interesting disclosure Neville Maxwell who outed the Henderson Brooks report has another disclosure in The Times of India . A "couple of years ago I ...

Note: Indeed Open magazine has no business to apologise on behalf of Vinod Mehta and Hartosh Singh Bal without either speaking to them or taking consent from Manu Joseph, the then editor of Open . Was the magazine forced to apologise? Media Vigil    Mehta and Bal on Open magazine's "regret" Following the item carried on the Hoot – “ Vindication? ” -- about Open magazine's “regret”  regarding an interview it carried in 2012, Vinod Mehta and Hartosh Bal have asked that we carry this letter they have written to the editor of  Open .   April 1, 2014 S. Prasannarajan Editor Open Magazine New Delhi Dear Sir, This is with regards to the ‘clarification’ published in the last issue of Open Magazine expressing regret at the hurt caused to The Indian Express by an interview of Vinod Mehta that referred to a report in The Indian Express on Army troop  movements towards Delhi.  We the undersigned Vinod Mehta, e...

March 18, 2014, The Kremlin, Moscow  Federation Council members, State Duma deputies, good afternoon.  Representatives of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol are here among us, citizens of Russia, residents of Crimea and Sevastopol! Dear friends, we have gathered here today in connection with an issue that is of vital, historic significance to all of us. A referendum was held in Crimea on March 16 in full compliance with democratic procedures and international norms. More than 82 percent of the electorate took part in the vote. Over 96 percent of them spoke out in favor of reuniting with Russia. These numbers speak for themselves. To understand the reason behind such a choice it is enough to know the history of Crimea and what Russia and Crimea have always meant for each other. Everything in Crimea speaks of our shared history and pride. This is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined t...

An Appeal to Indian Journalist Fraternity by a Group of Media persons, released in Chandigarh, 16 March, 2014 In a terse comment, Aam Aadami Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said that a part of the media, particularly some TV channels “sold itself to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and is indulging in running a propaganda spree in favor of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi”. As has happened earlier in many cases relating to deprived and unprivileged sections of the Indian society, that section of media took an undue offence to the comment that was completely out of proportion, and it launched a virulent campaign against AAP. This section of media is peeved at Arvind Kerjriwal’s remarks that if his party came to power, a punitive action would be taken against those media outlets which have been biased in their news coverage and suppressed the anti Modi news stories projecting his false claim to an ‘unparalleled development of Gujarat’. During his field tour t...