Pressure from the board

IN Media Watch Briefs | 19/07/2017

The facts emerging about the departure of the  EPW editor suggest that  eminent academics don't believe in giving an  editor full functioning freedom. Former DU Vice Chancellor Deepak Nayyar,  historian Romila Thapar, sociologist Dipankar Gupta and Ambedkar University Vice-Chancellor Shyam Menon were among those board members of the Sameeksha Trust who told editor Paranjoy Guha Thakurta that he should not have hired a lawyer without consulting them, that he was not to take a byline any more, and that they would appoint a co-editor to run the journal along with him. All prompted by a legal notice from the Adani Group. All of which amounts to forcing a self respecting editor to resign.                                                     

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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.                   

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.                 

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