Indore newspaper owner's sexploits

So the owner of an established newspaper in Indore who was forcibly keeping sexual relations with a married woman has finally been booked. This middle-aged man was harassing her family and forcing her to continue a sexual relationship with force.

The police did not register either the woman who wanted to end the relationship or her husband's complaints. Only after the couple approached the High Court bench that police was asked to register a case against him. And what happened when an eveninger published the report.

The copies of the newspaper were forcible removed from the press and not allowed to be distributed. This is nothing new. Indore has quite a reputation when it comes to such tactics of newspaper owners who are basically non-journalists who make it big due to patronage of their masters in politics and then they indulge in all sort of misdeeds.

Who broke the story!

Everyone is taking the credit. Channel 7 claims that it was the first to break the 'Salman-Aish taped conversation' story. So was India TV.
Despite everyone knowing that it was Hindustan Times that published it in the morning forcing the other channels to run for the tapes and bytes. But every channel seemed beating its own trumpet about having broken the story. Indeed shameful!

Finally HT in Mumbai

So the HT is finally in Mumbai. And the story on tapes suggesting underworld links of Salman created waves as well. Not bad for the first day. The print order is reported to be 2.09 lakh.
After the initial euphoria dies down, it is to be seen how many TOI readers will switch to HT. After all, old habits die hard and it is more true for newspapers. HT has, however, stole a march over the DNA with its early launch and this might give it a mileage over the latter.
No doubt there is space for a second newspaper in Mumbai. But the Times of India has had a monopoly in the market for over 167 years so it will not be easy for a new entrant to immediately make a mark. Still, a few months from now it will be clear if HT (or DNA) is here to stay.

Press Information Bureau

The PIB (Press Information Bureau) has become a useless institution. It churns out press releases that are absolutely unfit to be published. The PIB offices are least helpful to the journalists or the newspapers. In fact, the bundle of press releases of PIB is usually shown the way to dustbin in most of the newspaper offices. It has become such a joke that as soon as PIB releases arrive in the offices, the journos do not give a glance before throwing them. What's the use of running this institution?

Channel 7 goes crazy: News becomes nuisance

A girl who came to Delhi for studies and was living in a rented accomodation had some trouble with the houseowner. This was turned into a great scoop by the fledgling Channel 7.
The girl had told the landlord that she was leaving the house but was reportedly abused and asked to pay a month's rent. This was enough for Channel 7 (as it described in its own words) to 'pressurise the police to reach the spot'.
The door was hit again and again to get landlord's byte. The girl did not have to pay one month's extra rent and this was victor for Channel 7. The cause was surely mindboggling. Channel 7 must get the due credit for its chutzpah to create an issue out of it and telecast the tamasha it created, in the news.

London blasts

Many stories appeared in Indian newspapers about the way politicians in UK and the British media reacted after the blasts in London. Even the opposition leaders were composed and spoke in a measured way unlike in India where no sooner did the terrorists struck at Ayodhya than every
politician was ready to cash in.
The coverage of Indian Express was exceptional, particularly, the analyses. Ashok Malik was outstanding. His piece on the edit page will be remembered for long. Except Tavleen Singh, who was extremely ordinary and repetitive, the coverage of the newspaper was way ahead of others.