Scare mongering

IN Media Watch Briefs | 27/04/2015

Nobody has ever said earthquakes can be, or have been predicted. And yet, when worries of aftershocks prevail, the Times of India on Monday ran this scary headline: VERY SEVERE QUAKES LIKELY TO OCCUR ANYTIME across 8 columns on page 9 of its Mumbai edition. The story quoted an official of the National Institute of Disaster Management who talks of the "probability" of that in a"relatively short span of 50 years". But "anytime" could mean the next moment as well. Stop scare mongering, ToI.

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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.