Kalmadi’s arrest

IN Media Watch Briefs | 25/04/2011

Pending a 4 pm official announcement that Suresh Kalmadi was arrested, minutes after noon TV channels were racing to claim credit - 'Impact’. CNN-IBN said it was the first to break the story of the contract to a Swiss company, and the Times Now took credit for the AM Cars scam. At that point it was not known for which part of the major web of scams he was taken into custody. Times Now also went ballistic at other channels for "giving Kalmadi opportunities to speak his side of the story without asking a single incisive question" in the past and now claiming credit for his arrest. That was Arnab Gosh at his sternest, and had his reporter from Delhi saying "Times Now investigated and got all the details within a week and CBI took nine months!". But a media probe is different from an investigation by an official agency, is it not?

Subscribe To The Newsletter

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.