Amazon resisting voluntary censorship
IN Media Watch Briefs | 2018-09-12
The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is..
Editors Guild decries govt’s ‘Orwellian’ censorship attempts
IN Censorship | 2018-08-08
The Guild decries all attempts on the part of the government to interfere in the free and independent functioning of journalists.
IN Media Watch Briefs | 2018-08-06
The resignation of the ABP anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai according to a piece by him in The Wire followed explicit instructions from the proprietor (presumably Arup Sarkar though Bajpai does not name him) to not mention PM Modi in his show 'Masterstroke' or to even carry any pictures of him. Bajpai refers..
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |27/10/2017
The Wire reports that comedian Rangeela who recorded a mimicking of PM Modi for Star Plus's reality show ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’ has alleged that the channel refused to air his act. He said that he got a phone call from the production team almost a month after the episode was originally recorded..
A brief recent history of media self-censorship
BY SEVANTI NINAN| IN CENSORSHIP |20/10/2017
Are media establishments self-censoring more since this government came to power? Or were some equally mindful of the UPA’s sensitivities too
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |19/10/2017
Self censorship at NDTV is a can of worms whose lid is prised open occasionally only to be tamped down again. But the most recent disclosure by Sreenivasan Jain a couple of days ago has led to a long outpouring by Barkha Dutt on her Facebook page about the selective censorship at that channel...
Journalism without self censorship?
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |08/10/2017
When The Wire published this story on the "Golden touch of Jay Amit Shah" on Sunday its website crashed at the surge of traffic and then came back up. The story has been reported by former ET journalist Rohini Singh who, Wire founding editor M K Venu says, has joined them..
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |28/04/2017
The story on India having slipped three places in the international press freedom rankings is one several newspapers have carried. It is based on an index of press freedom report by the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders which says that journalists are less free under the Modi government due to.. ??
The Sahara-Birla papers: such reluctant coverage!
BY SEVANTI NINAN| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |07/01/2017
Now that the Express has turned up some hard evidence, will Google searches on this story continue to yield spectacularly sparse results,
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |12/10/2016
P Chidambaram in The Indian Express about NDTV's censorship-- "I am asking the media: why are you guys falling like nine pins to unjustified demands, if any, from the powers that be? I don't know if the powers that be made any demand. But why are you guys falling like nine pins?" ..
Is NDTV’s censorship hypocritical?
BY AJAZ ASHRAF | IN MEDIA PRACTICE |10/10/2016
Is the channel suggesting that the army should not be held accountable
BY PRASHANT REDDY THIKKAVARAPU| IN BOOKS |09/06/2016
Sue the Messenger is a breezy read by Subir Ghosh and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta of recent SLAPP cases in India.
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |24/04/2016
The Delhi govt takes three TV channels to court for airing allegedly doctored footage of the Feb.9 protests at JNU. The hearing will be on April 25. The Indian Express has it on page 1 and names the channels--Zee News, NewsX and India News. The Hindu puts the news on page 1 but does.. ??
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |16/02/2016
PTI and others report that “a TV channel has been directed by a Delhi court to pay Rs 20 lakh damages to three sacked police officials, including former ACP S S Rathi, who are serving life terms in the 1997 Connaught Place shootout case, for harming their reputation by showing defamatory contents.”..
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |07/12/2015
Reporters from outside Tamil Nadu covering the floods are discovering the self censorship that prevails in the state. Officials won't answer questions at press conferences, they read out statements invoking Amma every now and then. Journalists say their papers will have defamation cases filed against them if they are critical..
Pulling their punches on Manmohan Singh
IN OPINION |17/03/2015
Among the editorials on the former PM's arraignment, two newspapers chose to keep totally mum.
The army is totally out of line
BY THE HOOT| IN CENSORSHIP |14/11/2015
“Would the Assam Rifles dare extend the same order to ‘national’ media houses?”
BY SN| IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |11/11/2014
The CBI now says there is enough evidence to prosecute chairman of Aditya Birla Group KM Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh, in the Hindalco case. The Hindu, TOI, Indian Express and others carried it on page one. The Hindustan Times played it down to a tiny item on..
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |01/11/2014
Is the media self-censoring on PM Modi’s more bizarre pronouncements
| IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |27/10/2014
On October 25, The Times of India posted an article with a headline “5 months in power sees increase in crorepatis in Union Cabinet: ADR”. After a while, though, the article was taken off the website. Meanwhile, the information in the ADR press release was used by several non-mainstream news..
Media silence over Tripura scam
BY SUBIR BHAUMIK| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |08/09/2014
An order to Tripura schools to use their funds to buy books written by Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and former bureaucrat Sanjoy Kumar Panda is a scandal.
'Serious fraud' and self-censorship
BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN SPECIAL REPORTS |07/11/2013
Fraud in RIL's links with INX (9X) Media four years ago, and the role played by multinational private equity firm, New Silk Route.
Ownership, self censorship, etc
IN OPINION |18/10/2013
Some media owners are people in public life and will be in the news, for good or bad. How should they be covered? How much self censorship should there be if the news is bad, how much publicity if it is good
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |16/10/2013
Kumar Mangalam Birla does not own the Hindustan Times. But his loyal relatives there have ensured that the paper completely blacked out a story which everybody else had as a first lead--the filing of an FIR in the coal scam against Birla. Or was it some loyal senior staffer who.. ??
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |15/10/2013
India Today's website carried a PTI story on the fact that the CBI filed an FIR on Tuesday naming Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla in a criminal conspiracy regarding a coal block allocation. But on Headlines Today, despite double decker news headlines scrolling away, the news could not..
IN OPINION |19/10/2013
TV news went delirious with delight. Programming for three days was assured. But a large part of the print media firmly stuffed a handkerchief into its mouth.
Advertisers fear Mamata's wrath: refuse to run anti-rape campaign ads
IN MEDIA FREEDOM |30/08/2013
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has found a new target for her censorship drive: advertisers!
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |21/07/2012
A reader writes, "Most pieces on Rajesh Khanna kept a decorous silence on his relationship with a certain Tina Munim. Khanna and Munim were in a live-in relationship for several years. But did many of the media reminiscences say this? Some coyly referred to her as his heroine, some said they..
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |08/01/2012
Karan Thapar’s show The Last Word says it is the first of its kind weekly show on Indian television which debates issues related to the media. It is on CNN IBN, which is part of the Network 18 Group. Last week the big media story of the week was the..
BY sevanti ninan| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |23/11/2010
The great media blackout on the Radia tapes is finally ending. Maybe editors and others who said that they could not use the tapes or transcripts for lack of authentication are waking up to the the fact that there have been no statements of denial from..
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |25/08/2010
The TOI, New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle mentioned that it was a ruling party affiliated union which caused the disruption. The Hindu did not…
IN MEDIA PRACTICE |22/08/2010
The censoring of art and attacks on artists like M F Husain appears to have had a chilling effect and several artists and art galleries have opted for self-censorship,
CNN IBN explains why it did not telecast the tapes
BY cnn ibn| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |31/07/2008
Since the speculation is based on hearsay, conjecture and mere guess-work, we at CNN-IBN, feel that it is necessary to set the record straight
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |23/07/2008
Why did CNN IBN not telecast the footage of the cash for vote sting, which it is supposed to have possession of? Two theories are doing the rounds. One, that there was no conclusive evidence in it and the material was not good enough to use, and two, that Anil..
| IN OPINION |20/06/2005
An avidly followed soap opera ends and draws very cautious comment
IN DIGITAL MEDIA |14/03/2005
The thing about free speech though, is that it does not come for free. Its price, at the very least is a lawyer’s fees..
