Promote the leader

IN Media Watch Briefs | 26/05/2015

Rich pickings for media houses on May 26. The Indian Express has three full pages from the Tamilnadu government on the achievements of the honorable chief minister, minus her photograph, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling. Competing with her is the prime minister's half-page message on the completion of a year, a letter to fellow citizens from their Pradhan Sevak. Followed by another half-pager, greeting him, from the MP chief minister. Not to be outdone, there is also a quarter-page ad felicitating Vilasrao Deshmukh on his 70th birthday. This is the only one for which the tax-payer is not picking up the tab, some sugar cooperatives in Maharashtra are.

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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.