Oil spill? Yawn

IN Media Watch Briefs | 08/08/2010

Four tonnes of oil spilling into the sea by the hour from container ship MSC Chitra in the Mumbai harbour after a collision with another vessel, is a "minor leak" to Hindustan Times in its August 8, Mumbai edition. Carried on page 5. It is not a story at all for the Indian Express. But the Times of India gave it a full treatment, with a story on page 1 and a detailed account of how it happened and the potential crisis looming. For the DNA, it was a page 1 blurb of a single para, with a postage size stamp showing the spilt oil. Is an ecological disaster not news? Especially when it is so close home to its own Mumbai market?

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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.