Media and Corporate India

Adanis sue The Wire

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |05/01/2018

The Adani group has filed a Rs 100 crore civil defamation suit against The Wire for an analysis published on November 11, 2017 which asked if it made economic sense for the state-owned  Indian Oil Corporation and Gail India to pick up stakes in the Adani group-promoted LNG terminals in Odisha and Gujarat...

 

Thou shalt not mock an Ambani

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |06/01/2018

Alt News reports that eight websites deleted their stories on Ambani junior, Anant Ambani's speech at Reliance Industries' 40th anniversary event. His speech apparently took social media by storm, with lots of memes surfacing on Twitter. Stories on that trend which appeared on sites like ScoopWhoop, Storypick and DailyO were soon taken..

 

The Sahara-Birla papers: such reluctant coverage!

BY SEVANTI NINAN| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |07/01/2017

Now that the Express has turned up some hard evidence, will Google searches on this story continue to yield spectacularly sparse results,

 

Why the fuss?

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |08/09/2016

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani thinks the controversy over Reliance Jio’s launch ad using a picture of the prime minister is baseless. “He is as much your prime minister as he is my prime minister. He has given a Digital India vision which  I am personally inspired by…there is nothing political..

 

Country-wide control

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |08/06/2016

The Mukesh Ambani owned news network is expanding. This article describes how. Network 18's ETV network has just soft launched 3 more news channels in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam under the News18 banner...

 

Keeping the veil on Reliance down

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |25/09/2015

By and large, coverage of the Sheena Bora murder has excluded a 2013 official report suspecting fraud in Reliance’s links with the Mukerjea-owned INX/NewsX group.

 

BSES vs ToI: a defamation biggie

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN DEFAMATION |08/09/2015

BSES Limited, a company in the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), has sought a stupendous Rs 5,000 crore as damages from BCCL for a series of stories in August based on a draft CAG report.

 

Network18's Reliance effect

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |14/06/2015

After Reliance took over Network18, how have its TV channels fared as compared with rivals

 

Who controls NDTV?

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |09/06/2015

Did an Ambani group entity give an interest free loan to Prannoy and Radhika Roy and their private holding company RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd. in 2009,  which was actually a bailout and takeover in the guise of a loan? Moneylife  has published today the details of a loan agreement under..

 

The rot in the media

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |18/03/2015

The media has plunged into infamy in recent years because of paid news at election time and journalists working as the paid agents of corporations.

 

Powerful media man

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |16/02/2015

Talk about the nexus between politics, business and the media. Rajat Sharma epitomises it all. A detailed profile of one of India's most high-profile television anchor-owners  by the Economic Times highlights how individuals and firms associated with the corporate conglomerates headed by Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have been generous..

 

Celebrating Rajat Sharma

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |08/12/2014

Who is the most influential media person in the country? If you judge a journalist-entrepreneur by his power to draw the powerful to celebrate his success it should be Rajat Sharma. His 21st anniversary of Aap ki Adalat had the president, the prime minister, most members of the cabinet, chief..

 

A special exclusive

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |05/12/2014

CNBC TV18 was running an hour long exclusive interview on December 4 with Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries  (who owns the channel) on growth in the different sectors Reliance is in. It was repeated at night. The Economic Times meanwhile was saying on its website that comments made by Ambani during..

 

Not blacked out but...

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |11/11/2014

The CBI now says there is enough evidence to prosecute chairman of Aditya Birla Group KM Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh, in the  Hindalco case. The Hindu, TOI, Indian Express and others carried it on page one. The Hindustan Times played it down to a tiny item on..

 

'The negative media campaign just crushed us'

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |27/06/2014

Yogendra Yadav tells PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA and MOHAMMAD GHAZALI in the second part of their interview with him.

 

Batting for Mukesh, Nita and Modi on Twitter

BY The Hoot| IN DIGITAL MEDIA |24/06/2014

Tweets from the Reliance crowd populate Twitter. Theirs is another take on the service this company and its owners do the nation.

 

Ownership blues

BY sevanti ninan| IN OPINION |12/06/2014

The past fortnight has underscored the triumph of media proprietors over media stars.

 

Raghav Bahl: felled by his own philosophy?

BY VIVIAN FERNANDES| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |31/05/2014

That he did not expect Mukesh Ambani to formalise control is evident from the Think India Foundation set up last year and his plans for it.

 

The owner strikes back

BY hoot| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |30/05/2014

One of the recent irritants in the run up to RIL's formal takeover of Network 18 and TV 18 has been the coverage of AAP by its news channels.

 

The Ambanis and the freedom of expression

BY ARUNODAY MAJUMDER| IN BOOKS |28/04/2014

While the near ban on 'The Hindus' was widely reported, that on 'Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis' by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta was barely covered by the media..

 

The Ambanis step up pressure

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |28/04/2014

As the book 'Gas Wars: Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis' gets a third legal notice the message goes out that just doing a solid journalistic job is not enough protection.

 

Not quite the whole story

BY PRANATI MEHRA| IN BOOKS |31/03/2014

The 'innovative' ideas of Medianet and Private Treaties are discussed with some generosity and without examining what it did to journalists and their trade.

 

Surrogate media ownership

BY sevanti ninan| IN OPINION |13/11/2013

Just how much surrogate ownership is there in media? The intricacy with which this is done is fascinating in the latest case to come to light..

 

A 'sham' transaction?

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |12/11/2013

"Thus, it can be seen that the buyer and seller were one and the same group, that is, Reliance. The maze of companies and web of fund movement was created only to hide the identity of the group"

 

'Serious fraud' and self-censorship

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN SPECIAL REPORTS |07/11/2013

A government agency is investigating possible fraud in RIL's links with INX (9X) Media four years ago, and the role played by multinational private equity firm, New Silk Route.

 

Bal, Open and the perils of political journalism

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |15/11/2013

"What Manu has verbally communicated to me is that Sanjiv Goenka told him that because of Hartosh, I am making a lot of enemies...political enemies."

 

Gunga Din, FIR likho

IN OPINION |19/10/2013

TV news went delirious with delight. Programming for three days was assured. But a large part of the print media firmly stuffed a handkerchief into its mouth.

 

Total blackout?

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |16/10/2013

Kumar Mangalam Birla does not own the Hindustan Times. But his loyal relatives there have ensured that the paper completely blacked out a story which everybody else had as a first lead--the filing of an FIR in the coal scam against Birla. Or was it some loyal senior staffer who.

 

Not news for us

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |15/10/2013

India Today's website carried a PTI story on the fact that the CBI filed an FIR on Tuesday naming Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla in a criminal conspiracy regarding a coal block allocation. But on Headlines Today, despite double decker news headlines scrolling away, the news could not..

 

Ownership, self censorship, etc

IN OPINION |18/10/2013

Some media owners are people in public life and will be in the news, for good or bad. How should they be covered? How much self censorship should there be if the news is bad, how much publicity if it is good

 

Pink slips at Bloomberg TV

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |31/08/2013

 Now it's the turn of Bloomberg TV India. On Friday more than 30  people were sacked by the business channel. Those who lost their jobs included directors, camera persons, editors, producers and an anchor. Each one was given three months' salary, in addition to  the August salary.  Anil Ambani is..

 

For Reforms or for Reliance?

BY sevanti ninan| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |01/07/2013

Welcome step in the reforms process, or a concession to benefit Reliance Industries? Major newspapers could not agree, or chose not to comment.

 

Exits over ESOPs attract attention 

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |10/06/2013

The Forbes India departures highlight how vulnerable even senior journalists have become in a media environment that has become increasingly uncertain and volatile.

 

Reliance's pre-emptive legal notices

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |20/05/2013

Can legal notices be deployed to prevent a publication from coming out with an article

 

Does owning media help?

BY sevanti ninan| IN OPINION |02/05/2013 ?

It is difficult to get too sanctimonious about media ownership. Family owned media have also had proprietors who were occasionally up to no good. ??

 

Self correcting, but not on ethics

BY sevanti ninan| IN OPINION |27/12/2012

The industry is set to self correct where its financial viability is concerned. On cleaning up its ethics, it is going to need a lot more prodding.

 

Current costs and future prospects. Decoding BCCL, Part IV

IN MEDIA BUSINESS |18/11/2012

"We were a content company that used technology. Now we are a technology company that uses content."

 

Coverage equals publicity?

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |30/10/2012

While Ravi Dhariwal, CEO of BCCL, was busy praising his newspapers (TOI & ET) at a CII seminar in Delhi, Amit Khanna, chairman of Anil Ambani’s Big Reliance Entertainment told Dhariwal that he had once approached one of his newspapers to cover a film festival but was asked to contact BCCL’s Medianet team, which..

 

Punching corporates

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |26/09/2012

Some companies have strongly disapproved of a song from Prakash Jha’s film Chakravyuh, to be released soon. The song called 'Mahangai' takes a dig at big corporate houses like the Aditya Birla Group, Batas, Tatas and the Reliance group by saying that these groups have “exploited the nation for their own..

 

Spotting the Astro Turf

BY ANJALI PURI| IN ARCHIVE |25/09/2012

A HOOT SPECIAL REPORT-close to two years after the Radia tapes emerged, media management remains a hardy industry.

 

Convergence implicit in consolidation

BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |15/08/2012 ?CONVERGENCE AND CONSOLIDATION - PART II. The three latest corporate investors in the media industry signal the entry of non-media players, two of them with telecom interests.

 

Ownership worries

BY sevanti ninan| IN OPINION |07/06/2012

Now that we are into a different season of need, the corporate acquisition of media is growing again.

 

Playing safe 

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |08/01/2012

Karan Thapar’s show The Last Word says it is the  first of its kind weekly show on Indian television which debates issues related to the media. It is on CNN IBN, which is part of the Network 18 Group. Last week the big media story of the week was the..

 

Big brother to the rescue?

BY sevanti ninan| IN OPINION |31/12/2011

Consolidation has begun. One by one, India's original TV entrepreneurs who grew at an impressive pace, are being bailed out by big business.

 

The Real Hero of Antilla

BY Padmaja Shaw| IN MEDIA PRACTICE |09/09/2011

On prime time news on Sept. 8 NDTV, CNN IBN and Times Now all chose in their synchronised wisdom to go after Mr Praful Patel. But lost steam when it came to the second CAG report on the Petroleum ministry and Reliance.

 

Media ownership: interesting indicators 

BY hoot desk| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |04/03/2011

Interesting indicators emerge from the mandatory March declarations. About the investments made by the Ambani brothers in media, and about the presence of companies registered in Mauritius in the shareholding of media companies.

 

Assiduous as ever

BY sevanti ninan| IN MEDIA BUSINESS |13/12/2010

As Outlook unveils more tapes, more Ambani connections to the media pop up.

 

 

Sparring tree

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |24/08/2009

When Anil Ambani writes a loaded piece about trust in the Speaking Tree column of the Times of India ("Trust is everything, nurture it" August 22) you wonder who will turn spiritual next for the benefit of the Times. Brother Mukesh? And how will they repay the paper for the..

 

Good for the media

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |19/08/2009

When the Ambani brothers are at war it is good for the media in more ways than one. It gives them news stories emanating from both sides to  live off, and it also yields advertising. On August 19 morning every newspaper in Delhi and doubtless other cities, had huge front..

 

Birthday present

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |06/01/2009

On the latest talk show "First Ladies" on NDTV¿s Good Times, Nita Ambani in her clipped accent exclaimed that the Rs. 250 crore luxury jet was not her birthday present. The real gift, she quipped, was a film on her life specially commissioned by husband dear.  Wonder what the other Ambani Bahu with a yatch worth Rs. 200..

 

Offering a platform

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |18/11/2010

The Open Magazine tapes also have Vir Sanghvi talking to Nira Radia about what he can do to give Mukesh Ambani a platform. 

 

 

Reliance Power sues Statesman for Rs 1000 crore

BY hoot| IN MEDIA FREEDOM |30/10/2007

A series in the run up to Reliance Power’s IPO has attracted a defamation suit. The Bombay High Court declined to order restraint on further publication and the series continues to run.

 

Wealthy owners

IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS |10/09/2007

That media has become immensely paying is borne out by the news that the second and third highest salary earners in India are Sun TV CMD Kalanithi Maran and Joint MD Kavery Kalanithi, whose annual remuneration was Rs 23.26 crore each in 2006-07. They are second only to Mukesh Ambani..

 

Performing cartwheels for Mukesh

BY Thakore| IN OPINION |27/06/2006

It is not the task of a newspaper to bring investment or be a partner in the progress of a state.

 

End of story

| IN OPINION |20/06/2005

An avidly followed soap opera ends and draws very cautious comment

 

Homage to Dhirubhai

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |07/07/2003

The President of India delivered the first Dhirubai Ambani memorial lecture and the media coverage was both riveting and revealing.

 

Dhirubhai And The Media

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |01/09/2002

Cast your mind back: which Indian in recent memory has so overwhelmed the media with his death

 

The Indian Media Takes On The Prime Minister¿s Office

IN MEDIA PRACTICE |31/08/2002

One newspaper, the Asian Age has taken to keeping up a daily barrage of investigations into the transactions of India’s most politically powerful industrial house, Reliance, owned by the Ambanis

Subscribe To The Newsletter
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.                 

View More