Letters to the Hoot: news trivia and irresponsible journalism

BY salil| IN Opinion | 05/06/2004

News channels freak out over Shahrukh Khan and the Gandhis and the Hindustan behaves irresponsibly

Khan meets Sonia

Dear Editor,

Shahrukh Khan meets Sonia Gandhi for ten minutes and invites the Gandhi family for his movie. Rahul and Priyanka go for the screening and the media clamours like crazy to get a sound-bite.... is this what is news ?

No wonder starvation deaths are reduced to 5-line obituaries, MIG crashes get cursory mentions... no wonder at all, as our media-persons are busy covering `important issues`.

Salil Deshpande
Wilson BMM
Mumbai

May 30, 2004

Amazing Hindustan

Dear Editor,

I wish to point out a blatant case of irresponsible journalism. On 10.05.2004 the Varanasi edition of Hindustan carried a story on its front page in box saying that the Question Paper of B.Ed.examination of VBS Purvanchal University has been leaked. According to the report by a Azamgarh correspondent the paper was out about seven hours before the examination. It said that a fax of the leaked paper was send to the Chief Secretary of UP. Strangely, the normal practice of printing the question paper with the report was not followed.

As the exam was conducted on 09.05.2004 the report was of much significance for about 82,000 candidates in eleven districts of UP, and a lot of people coming from other places to appear in the exam. The next day i.e. on 11.05.2004, all newspapers including Hindustan carried on their front page, a statement from the Vice Chancellor of the University saying that no question paper was leaked.

As the university is headquartered in Jaunpur (UP) I checked with a senior person here who said that upon being asked by the Varanasi editorial office on 09.05.2004 he had confirmed that no question paper was leaked. But still that report was published, that too on front page as a box item. Hindustan has not even taken pains to clarify to its readers that in what circumstances the story was carried.

In an age when Press is out to point a finger at everyone, who is to check this kind of blatant case of sensationalising the news and misleading the public at large? If there was no leak then the report should not have been published, and if there was a mistake then the paper must publish its clarification and apologise.

Sachin Agarwal
Jaunpur
May 16, 2004

TAGS

irresponsible journalism

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.