Fellow journos to the rescue

IN Media Watch Briefs | 28/12/2017

Though freelance journalists without press cards are vulnerable everywhere in India, the experience of Bombay journo Priyanka Borpujari shows that being part of an urban network of other journalists who can mobilise social media instantly, helps. She was roughed up by the Mumbai police, had her phone snatched away and was detained while filming a slum demolition drive in the Santacruz area on Dec 26. But the news got out very fast on Twitter thanks to fellow journalists she contacted, evoking a response from the police Twitter desk. Journos also landed up at the police station in solidarity, and after about four hours she was released.

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Media Watch Briefs

Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

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 resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.