Rushing to be wrong

IN Media Watch Briefs | 08/10/2014

The golden rule of ensuring that you have the correct news and don't rush to go on air with speculation merely to be the first, was violated by the TV channels on Tuesday. Even as the Jayalalitha bail plea was being heard in the Karnataka high court, several leading TV channels started breaking the news that the former Tamil Nadu CM had been granted conditional bail. But right after beaming the celebrations by the AIADMK supporters in Chennai and Bangalore, the story changed and their breaking news started beaming the exact opposite news: she had been denied bail! It was time to then show the AIADMK supporters crying. A new low for TV?

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Jayalalitha~s bail plea

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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.