Yeh zara zyada ho gaya....

For hours the Star News telecast the entire video cassette of a marriage in Dawood's family. The Mogambo ki Mehfil part-III went on and on for hours on the channel and until midnight it had not finished
The whole marriage's video recording was played and the reporters/anchors probably got a rest. Agreed, you showed the don's men, the Bollywood singers at the party, albeit 15 years ago when Mumbai blasts were yet to take place but didn't the channel go overboard.
That may give TRP boost but isn't giving publicity to the criminals and glorifying the underworld. Personally I feel this was in a bad taste.

Media men manhandled at Amir Khan's marriage

Don't cry when you don't have guts to say 'piss off' to a celebrity who misbehaves:
So once again the journalists faced the embarrassment, trying to gatecrash the party of Amir Khan. The entire media fraternity was red-faced seeing the news alerts 'Patrakar pite' or 'media se marpeet'.
Who is at fault now? Of course, everyone has the right to privacy and if Khan's men behaved badly journalists too sometimes become a nuisance and they did make a fool of themselves. The mad race for TRP forces them to rush to every event.
But isn't it time for channels to draw a line. The bureau chiefs must stop dashing their reporter at such odd places. Amir could have given the task of informing media to a person but he didn't and we can't complain. Even none of the television channels let alone all of them together have the guts to black out him or any celebrity who misbehaves. Because the next time a reporter gets a chance of Amir speaking to him/her, the reporter would not let it go and the channel will forget all the humiliation to journalism and journalists and telecast the story.
So don't cry when you don't have the guts to say "piss off'' to a celebrity until he says sorry. You will fall at the feet of the star to get a few damn bytes and then cry that he didn' let you in. Come on, don't shed tears and make a mockery of yourself. Even sms polls indicate that overwhelming majority of Indians said that it is a star's right to guard his privacy and those who said against were mostly being courteous to you on camera. If you have the guts, don't go overboard the next time when Amir Khan's upcoming film would be ready for screening and he will be needing you help to make it hit.

CNN-IBN Vs NDTV 24x7

It may appear too hasty to call it a competition but given the short history of Indian television news channels and the lack of competition in English news, it is pertinent to make a judgement, howsoever, early it may be.
Prannoy Roy is a pioneer. Indeed. But his channel looks dull in front of Rajdeep's channel that is fresh. It may be that once the novelty dies with time, NDTV will stay the leader.
But the fact remains that a very tough competitor has arrived. Poonam Saxena wrote in HT that if she owned NDTV, she would have been really worried.
For viewers, it is good they have choice. But certainly CNN-IBN looks good. It is LESS LOUD and the anchors look friendly. No favoritism intended but....except when Prannoy Roy is on television, I don't feel NDTV has the edge. Isn't that funny. Even childish. But that's what I feel.
You see the same frame in both channels, the same shot but the quality of production, probably, it is better editing that makes Rajdeep's channel stand out. Or is it that the new channel has no advertisements and we are seeing nonstop news without interruptions that I like it. Frankly, I am confused that why I am liking IBN.

RSS shows its clout, CD of sexual scandal not aired on channels

Had it been any BJP leader caught in the sting the RSS wouldn't have bothered. But the fact that Sanjay Joshi, a pracharak of RSS and a senior functionary, apparently gave in to temptation has proved to be the biggest embarrassment for the Nagpur-based organisation.
The television channels were keen on airing at least some part after blurring the faces and parts of body but hard lobbying and even requests by top Sangh functionaries have at least for the time being delayed the telecast of the CD. The channels could otherwise have easily shown the CD. After all, in the past so many such explicit things have been aired. But no one is sure that how long it can be stopped as any channel with a sagging TRP can show it.
Interestingly, the persons who have received the CD (apart from mediamen) are not willing to allow anyone else to see it as they are mostly RSS functionaries.
What Rajat Sharma meant?
On India TV he said that 'he had seen 1-1/2 hrs of the CD with great difficulty' and at last found that it was Sanjay Joshi on it. He said that he can't show it as it was very disturbing. Now what does that mean?

Year of sting operations and a new leap for media

Undoubtedly the year 2005 was a year of sting operations. The Ajtak's latest sting of MPs, the Star News sting, the operations of India TV showing politicians having sex, Star TV showing an IG having sex with a tribal girl. And so many such stories that one lost count.
Even English channels tried to undertake sting operations but probably felt that their stories do not have the kind of impact as Hindi channels can have. Barkha Dutt wrote an interesting article about such exposes in HT. Notwithstanding the moral issues concerning these operations, one thing is clear--year 2005 was the year of stings.
Media emerged as the true 'Bhasmasur'. The corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and middlemen who feared none were trapped. With Ghoos Mahal and similar exposes using hidden cameras, journalism entered a new era. The Idian media and journalism has most certainly emerged stronger and proved that despite numerous constraints the journalists in India have opportunities and the will to bring to fore the underbelly of the society.
Also, the Right to Information Act came at the right moment. It is time for the journalist to monitor that the act serves its purpose and babus do not succeed in killing it.

Flop 'Breaking News' : C'mon grow up Star baby

The viewers were endlessly told that two big figures of Indian politics will be exposed as their presence in a party with fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim will be shown on television.
So much hoopla before the telecast and once the much-publicised 'Mogambo ki Mehfil' programme was aired, the viewers felt cheated and the anchors appeared uncomfortable as it was hardly a sting or breaking news.
The politicians were Abu Asim Azmi and Akhtar Rizvi. One SP MP and another former MP. Much to the chagrin of the anchor, both of them did not deny their presence and said that what was wrong if they met someone in a marriage party. Nothing! It was a couple of years before Mumbai blast and as the former commissioner of police on the television channel said that until then don was seen as just another smuggler and the anti-national tag came only after Mumbai blast.
So what the channel had thought? That this 15-16 year old video recording of a marriage party would shock the audience. C'mon, grow up Star baby!