Real world advice

IN Media Watch Briefs | 27/05/2016

Independent journalist Rana Ayyub  launched her self-published book,"Gujarat Files, Anatomy of a Cover Up"  in Delhi on May 27. It  is an account of her undercover investigation of those culpable in the Gujarat 2002 riots.  Ayyub said that when she came back with the sting after eight months, a senior editor at  Tehelka (where  she worked) dismissed it as the stuff of  coffee table books. She was later told to destroy the tapes. Other publications whose editors she subsequently met also declined to publish these stories. She had this advice for journalism schools: don't teach young, aspiring journalists about ethics and justice.  Better to prepare them for stories getting dropped because  of political pressure. 

 

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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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