Leave victims alone

IN Media Watch Briefs | 16/04/2013

Sunday's accident on a Jaipur Road -- a hit and run involving a truck which killed a woman and her six-month son, leaving her husband and a 4-5 year-old boy screaming for help-- was gut-wrenching. Caught on CCTV camera it came alive on news TV on Monday afternoon with anchors stressing the roadside apathy of Indians. Times Now however took the cake: it had the victim on the phone and kept interviewing him over 7-8 minutes, asking how he felt, what he had to say while all the time stressing that others were callous. They had phone lines open for calls from viewers and asked the victim to stay on line. And this was not callous? CNN-IBN too got them to be interviewed but only for a brief minute.

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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.