India TV today released the exit poll spelling out the political picture ahead.
"This massive exercise, undertaken on our behalf by C-Voter, was spread over one month and covered all 5 phases of the elections," Mr Rajat Sharma said.
Showing posts with label Media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Media. Show all posts
Warren Buffett may have sagely advice on investment in any number of fields, but one area he says he won't touch these days is the newspaper industry.
'The Oracle of Omaha' made these remarks at the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholder meeting last weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal online.
Though his Berkshire Hathway still owns Omaha-based Sun Newspapers and the Buffalo News, the world's top money manager views the future of the newspaper industry dismally, says the journal.
"For most newspapers in the United States, we would not buy them at any price,'' the world's second richest man was quoted as saying. "They (newspapers) have the possibility of going to just unending losses,'' said Buffet, who has long considered himself to be a newspaper man.
As long as newspapers were essential to readers, the journal quoted him as saying, they were essential to advertisers. But now news is available in many other venues.
Referring to the Washington Post Company in which Berkshire has a significant investment, Buffet said "the company has a solid cable business, a good reason to hold on to it, but its newspaper business is in trouble,'' according to the journal.
His deputy Charles Munger termed newspapers' woes "a national tragedy.'' "...these monopoly daily newspapers have been an important sinew to our civilization, they kept government more honest than they would otherwise be,'' Munger was quoted as saying.
One of Buffett's first jobs as a child was delivering newspapers, the journal said of his old links to the media industry. "An Omaha newspaper Berkshire owned, Sun Newspapers, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 based in part on a tip Mr. Buffett provided. One of Berkshire's biggest investments in the 1970s was the Buffalo News, which it still owns,'' according to the journal.
With the Boston Globe, another major American newspaper on the edge of shutdown, President Barack Obama's administration has signalled that the newspaper industry will not be getting a government bailout.
"I don't know what, in all honesty, government can do about it," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters when asked whether the federal government will consider stepping in to help save newspapers, as it has with so many other industries.
Gibbs signalled one difference from bailouts for the auto industry and financial firms is that it's a "bit of a tricky area" for the White House to be helping media companies that cover the President, given the potential for conflicts of interest.
It's not like the President, who is routinely spotted with a newspaper tucked under his arm when he's getting into a motorcade, is completely unsympathetic to the industry.
Gibbs said Obama feels "concern and sadness" over the plight of the print media, though the spokesman couldn't resist a poke at some of the reporters in the briefing room who had recently posed sceptical questions about the President's push to trim a small amount of federal spending.
"You guys didn't think $100 million meant a lot a few weeks ago," Gibbs said. "But looking at some of the balance sheets, $100 million seems to mean a lot."
The White House comments came amid reports that the New York Times Co, owners of Boston Globe, were planning to close the newspaper unless the unions agreed to $20 million in cuts.
Newspapers in India have hailed the success of Slumdog Millionaire, its composer AR Rahman and the documentary Smile Pinki at the Oscars on Monday.
Rahman won two Oscars, best original score and best original song - Jai Ho - with fellow Indian Gulzar.
Resul Pookutty bagged another award for sound mixing of the rags-to-riches Mumbai movie, which also won best picture and best director.
Smile Pinki, about an Indian cleft-lip girl, won best short documentary.
The success of Slumdog sparked massive celebrations back in India.
The Oscar wins made front page news in all the newspapers, with special praise for AR Rahman, who is a cult music composer in India.
Slumgod, headlined The Indian Express .
"Like it or not, you have to have been swayed by its anthem song, Jai Ho. And whether or not this prepares the ground for an Indian original to cross over, there had to have been misty eyed moments when AR Rahman took his bow," the newspaper said in an editorial.
Writing in the same paper, critic Sandipan Deb said that though India should "really rejoice for the six children" who acted in Slumdog and for composer AR Rahman, "it's a bit too much if we take this as a victory for Indian cinema".
"It's a non-Indian film which happened to have an all-Indian cast. We shoot entire films abroad nowadays, especially in the US, remember?".
'Triumph of hope'
India Breaks Sound Barrier headlined The Times of India , alluding to the success of Rahman's music and Resul Pookuty's sound mixing awards.
"You know India has arrived when everybody in Hollywood's Kodak Theatre - from Brad Pitt to Kate Winslet, Steven Spielberg to Meryl Streep - move to the beat of Jai Ho," the newspaper wrote.
The newspaper said that India "justifiably has much to celebrate about Slumdog's night of Oscar glory".
"Three Indians have won individual Academy honours this year, and that's a tremendous achievement."
The newspaper said that "for all its problems, India is a multicultural experiment that works".
"Just take a look at the Indians who won Oscar accolades this year -they follow different religions. But they accepted the honours as Indians, on our behalf, and dedicated their wins to us".
The Hindu newspaper called the film's success as a "triumph of hope".
The newspaper said that though Slumdog was made by a British director and funded by a European company, "it is seen by many at home as an Indian film".
'Curious amalgam'
The newspaper pointed out that unlike Richard Attenborough's Gandhi - the film won eight Oscars - the cast of Slumdog was "almost entirely Indian".
Also, it said, "the style that permeates the film is a curious amalgam - one that represents a true cinematic union between Hollywood and Bollywood".
The Hindu said that "India impacted on this year's Oscars in another way, and one that deserves special mention: the best documentary award to Smile Pinki".
Hindustan Times said that Slumdog was a "great exhilarating film that has brought willy-nilly the 'Bollywood' language into mainstream world cinema".
"What better way for us to be flattered than when a foreign film hits Oscar gold by going down our 'filmy' path?"
But, in an editorial page piece in the same newspaper, critic Indrajit Hazra wondered whether Slumdog was really an 'Indian' film.
"If there's any 'national' aspect to the Slumdog Millionaire mega-haul it is that of AR Rahman winning two Oscars - not because he is an Indian national, but because, through the score of the movie and the two songs he has been able to bring the contemporary Hindi film sound into the international mainstream," he wrote.
"The rest, as they don't say enough, is nationalistic poppycock."
Slumdog Is Top Dog, headlined Mail Today
The newspaper said Rahman's awards proved that the composer's music has "gone beyond India, and is part of the global mainstream, something incredibly creative and human, and something very personal, linked to his genius".
The Economic Times said it was a "Bollywood show at the Oscars, as a group of kids walked the red carpet and won a million hearts".
AR Rahman told DNA newspaper that the Oscars would help Indian talent.
"I think it's a great bridge .. it is the starting point for Bollywood and Indian talent. Americans [earlier] had an aversion to any other culture."
"Now we are probably making our culture more acceptable, we are setting a trend .. I loved the way the kids came in [the Slumdog child actors walking the ramp].. it was so moving."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7907043.stm
What a biffing our eyes have received during the recent Mumbai terror attacks. A nation glued to the idiot box like never, watched in horror and disbelief the terror drama unfold in Mumbai.
The media coverage of the attacks broke all the barriers of sensible journalism. The terrorists may not have been able to bring down the Taj Mahal, Oberoi Trident, Café Leopold and Nariman Point, but they have been successful in achieving their main objective, which was making the nation feel the tremors of what happened in Mumbai through media. Media especially television gave wide coverage as if they were watching a cricket test match. Terrorist were provided a running commentary of what commandoes and police were doing. Even if terrorists had no access to television, their masterminds surely had. Who were regularly on phone with them. Media called the events in Mumbai as a war, but the way it was covered it had no element of war journalism.
In a war, the armed forces take every care that their adversary is not aware of the strength of the opposing forces but the anchors of television channels were constantly breaking news about the reinforcements and their details and the images of people locked up in their rooms surely gave the terrorists concrete targets to go after. The disclosure of the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist Viajy Salaskar and many others surely boosted the morale of terrorists.
Most of the television channels have been around for less than five years. For some the Mumbai terror seize was the first major event that have covered live and they rushed to provide live non stop coverage. In the way amplifying the general hysteria and panic.
It has been impossible to ignore the countless times news channels claimed to be the first to report a certain incident in the 60 hours long terror seize. It is almost sickening, before the incident is reported; they remind us that they are the first to report the incident. Is that really the most important side of a developing crisis?
For more than 60 hours of Mumbai seize, resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said Pronoy Roy’s channel on the left side of channel spectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Times Now. Similarly CNN IBN was also not left behind in the game of upmanship over TRPs. They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling terrorism.
The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and in market killings. The resilience of the ordinary man suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work, manufacturing and even film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves.
Media also declared the attacks as 9/11 of India, even a CIA official on CNN called it the same. Yes, indeed it was 9/11 of India, but what CNN did when 9/11 happened. They did not try to show the exclusive rescue action and they did not invade ground zero. But India’s television channels surely seemed to do one thing that CNN did during 9/11. They did not take commercial breaks for a day.
Advertisements were not shown because viewers could switch to other channels in the meantime. All the news channels wanted the highest TRPs in troubled times so that they later can demand higher rates for advertisements and stay up on charts.
Worst was the conduct of so called celebrity reporters, who wanted their cameraman to zoom on everything as they lay on ground. A star reporter cum anchor spoke lying on the ground to create the impact that he was reporting from war zone.
The most maligned journalist has been Barkha Dutt, the anchor cum reporter of New Delhi television. The Facebook group, "Barkha Dutt for worst journalist in the world," has attracted nearly 1,600 members since its creation following the attacks. The group accuses her of being melodramatic, arrogant, and insensitive to relatives of victims.
The implicit assumption that information should be available universally and in real time is interesting. The right to be informed is not the same thing as the right to be a spectator. Nature of 24X7 television has made us transit from wanting to know to wanting to see. Information on TV has been recast in present continuous tense. The trouble is that we now construe our fundamental right to know as right to see.
Terrorism in its present form is a post media phenomenon. For terror to be produced from symbolic acts of violence, information must be conveyed to millions of people as quickly as possible. Media has become terrorism’s new best friend.
The recent Mumbai seize underlines that media is fast becoming a crucial part of terrorists’ calculations. Media needs to restrain itself from sensational journalism and must rise on the occasion. The rating driven nature f today’s media leaves less chances for an introspection and way towards sensible and efficient journalism.
Joining the chorus demanding that the media exercise restraint in covering terror attacks like that in Mumbai Nov 26 last year, Defence Minister A.K. Antony Friday urged the media to be a “little careful” in all aspects.
“During the recent Mumbai terror attacks, the armed forces had to work under extreme pressure. On such occasions, it will be of help if the media performs its role without endangering national security and is a little careful while reporting the events,” Antony said while speaking at the centenary celebrations of the armed forces journal 'Sainik Samachar' here.
“In such crisis situations (Mumbai terror attack), the defence forces and the security agencies must be allowed to work without exerting any pressure. We must ensure that good work is done without endangering national security,” Antony added.
'Sainik Samachar' had started as 'Fauji Akhbar', an Urdu weekly on Jan 2, 1909. Its aim was to provide army personnel with "a summary of news with a military bias". It was re-christened Sainik Samachar on April 4, 1954.
Unveiling a Coffee Table Book 'Soldiering On...' on the centenary celebrations of Sainik Samachar, Antony called upon the editorial team of the publication not to use the magazine only as a chronicler of prominent events and incidents taking place in the armed forces but also to “reflect the hopes and aspirations of jawans”.
“Through the use of journalistic tools such as analytical articles and features, including photo features in Sainik Samachar, your effort must be to further boost the morale of our jawans,” said Antony.
He also asked them to bring out the magazine both in print and its online version in all the Indian languages.
“This is imperative to broad base the overall reach of the publication to cover all corners of the country. The distribution mechanism of Sainik Samachar may also be further toned up, so that it reaches out to our jawans in the remotest corners of the country and even to those engaged in UN peacekeeping missions,” he said.
The book “Soldiering On…” is an anthology of articles, rare photographs and documents relating to the history of the Indian armed forces, spanning the last 100 years.
Air force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, army chief General Deepak Kapoor, defence secretary Vijay Singh, Navy's vice chief Vice Admiral R.P. Suthan and Deputy NSA Shekhar Dutt were present on the occasion.
The Delhi operations of the Sakaal Times, an English daily brought out by Maharashtra's leading Sakal media group, were closed down Sunday allegedly without informing the employees in advance. The group's management has denied the charge.
Many staffers who came in to work Sunday morning found the office closed with a terse notice pasted on the main door stating: "The editorial work carried out at Delhi is no longer required to be continued."
"As a result, the operations are stopped forthwith and the staff is being released. They need not attend office from today."
Sakaal Times is published from Pune while the group also runs a popular Marathi daily, Sakal.
Confirming the closure, editorial director of Sakal Papers Anand Agashe told IANS in Pune: "The operations of the Sakaal Times' Delhi bureau have been suspended for now."
He said: "The overall market crash has entailed drastic cut-downs." Agashe said he could not comment on the decision to close the Delhi operations since "the decision was administrative".
There were around 70 employees in Delhi, including editorial staff, who camped at the gate for several hours, angry over the management's decision to close down the Delhi operations a mere six months since Sakaal Times was launched May 7.
Sakal Papers' Director, Human Resources and Operations, Pradip Khire denied the charge of the staff that they had not been informed about the impending closure.
"It was communicated to them that their services are no more required and their dues are being settled," Khire told IANS in Pune.
He said: "Some pages of Sakaal Times were being produced in Delhi and those operations have been shifted to Pune. Since we are also reducing the number of pages, we won't require the staff that we had engaged in Delhi."
The employees in Delhi, meanwhile, instantly constituted an action committee to protest the lock-out.
K.K. Laskar, the photo editor who has now become the convenor of the action committee of Sakal Times staff, told IANS: "The closure is illegal and unethical. We will take legal action. This is a test case for all workers in the print industry to fight."
A senior editorial staff said: "None of us knew the edition will be closed down like this. We were neither informed nor given the option to relocate to the head office in Pune."
An initial few were laid off some time ago and 12 people were told their services were no longer required. "The rest of the editorial team, including photographers, editors, reporters and designers, was all in the dark," he said.
A reporter with the paper said: "I was in the office till Saturday midnight. Till then, there was no intimation by the management. Everything was functioning normally and when I reached office today afternoon, it was all locked."
"We may not get even this month's salary," she said.
Indo-Asian News Service
The rapid growth in Indian media has come at the cost of ethics, an Indian newspaper editor said here, even as the leading executive of another said the job of a newspaper like his was to “purvey optimism” and not “gloom and doom".
Indian media and Bollywood were the subjects of discussion at the Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Speakers, who included film director Shekhar Kapur and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of Mint, the business daily from the Hindustan Times group, cautioned that while the media in India had recorded dramatic growth, it had come at the cost of professionalism and a laxly enforced code of professional ethics.
The Indian media's rapid growth, in contrast to the recession in the industry in the US, attracted enthusiastic comments from two speakers - Sarbvir Singh, managing director of Capital 18 and Rahul Kansal, brand director of Times of India.
"Today there are 2,100 daily publications with 225 million readers (in India)," said Singh. He noted that even a one percent growth in literacy adds five million readers.
Their comments came at a panel discussion on "Indian media and entertainment industry: the world's window to India", which was part of the India Business Conference at Kellogg. The conference, an annual event for more than a decade, was attended by a record number of over 400 students, entrepreneurs and executives. The theme for this year's conference was "Branding India, Indians and Indianness".
Kansal spoke about the success of his group in interacting with young readers, adding that purveying optimism was the key.
"Newspapers tend to be purveyors of gloom and doom," he said. "Optimism resonates with youth. Moreover, young people today are not content to be mute recipients."
The Times of India group had championed various causes, including greater civic responsibility and greater accountability among elected officials, he said. "Our campaigns like 'Chalo Dilli' - from walled city to world city - were a big success."
Kansal said he owed the rise in his newspaper's circulation to three factors - low pricing, efficient distribution and a strong orientation towards young readers.
In contrast to Kansal's exuberance, Narisetti, a former editor for Europe of the Wall Street Journal, now the managing editor of Mint, expressed cautious optimism. Narisetti said the Indian media needed a stronger code of ethics and had to monitor itself better.
He also hinted that the market for newspapers, especially business newspapers in India, could be overestimated. "There is no country where there are more than two business newspapers. Delhi will soon have five. Add to this the fact that the average reader spends eight minutes on the newspaper," he said.
Narisetti said the below cost price of Indian newspapers tends to devalue the product.
"The trend among Indian newspapers is to cap the price of a copy at three rupees. This is counterproductive. You cannot even get a cup of tea for three rupees. This naturally leads the reader to form the impression that the newspaper is not worth more than three rupees. We are thus a captive of advertisers and they are aware of it. Fundamentally, you have created a long term problem," he said.
Narisetti referred to the dilution of editorial quality, some of which was at the behest of advertisers. "The increasing trend towards paid-for editorial content is detrimental to long term credibility. You cannot have a product whose credibility is continually in doubt," he said.
Shortage of experienced journalists was also a serious problem, Narisetti said.
"We do not have a pipeline of good journalists (in India). We have journalists with six months experience. This is, of course, great for companies because the public relations officer has only to dictate the story to the reporter, which gets printed without any critical comment," he said.
Moreover, the rapid turnover of journalists among Indian publications discourages training, Narisetti said.
"There is no code of (editorial) conduct, which has pretty much disappeared from Indian newsrooms. It is common knowledge that many of India's largest companies have journalists on their payroll."
Kapur spoke of the growing space for Indian and Chinese cinema in the near future.
"If 'Spiderman' takes his mask off, the face underneath it will be a Chinese or an Indian. The media and entertainment industry is projected to grow to $1.8 trillion. My view is it is going to be double that," he said.
Kapur, however, noted the contradiction between the brand and the product. "Today, Bollywood is a huge brand name, but where is the product? No one (in the west) has seen a Bollywood film. You need patience to sit through three hours."
Kellogg dean Dipak Jain, in his closing remarks, urged the students to develop the quality of caring, which, he said, was embedded in Indian 'sanskar'.
"You have to be successful to make a significance (to others)," he said. Jain divided human life into three time zones - 25 to 50, which he said should be focussed on success, 50 to 75, on making significant contribution to society and 75 onwards on sacrifice.
Jain paid tributes to Bala Balachandran, the professor who was instrumental in starting the India conference at Kellogg more than a decade ago. "He built the brand of the Indian faculty at Kellogg," Jain said.
Balachandran expressed satisfaction at the conference's dramatic growth over the years. "It is so nice to see that the seed we sowed has grown and become a trend setter for other business schools (in the US)," he said.
Indo-Asian News Service
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)