Scribe spats

IN Media Watch Briefs | 15/09/2016

The News Hour Debate on Times Now is not for the fainthearted. High decibel shouting, verbal duels and an abrasive anchor are par for the course. But senior woman journalists turning on each other may be a first. Sept 13th's raging primetime debate was on the missing AAP leadership during the current dengue and chikunguniya crisis in Delhi. Battling it out were Saba Naqvi, who is writing a book on the AAP, and Padma Rao, a frequent commentator on the network. While Rao claimed that Naqvi was a representative of the AAP party and did not have an independent voice, Naqvi aggressively refuted the allegations calling them 'crap'. She had already been taunted by the BJP spokesperson, Sambit Mahapatra, before that. The master of ceremonies was pleased to let them fight it out.

TAGS

Times Now AAP Padma Rao

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Media Watch Briefs

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.