This piece by Pratap Mehta - led me to this open letter provided by the TOI.
TOI gives positive reviews to companies it invests in. Yet there is no conflict of interest! - and the rascals cry for transparency in government all day. It confirms my theory Indian mainstream media cannot be held to account because of low Internet penetration in India - unlike the LA Times which is dying by drying up classified advertisements.
Having said that - Mehta's contention that readers in India are not willing to pay for good news content needs to be challenged. I think that Tata Nano-like Gandhian Engineering can be applied to produce low-budget, high quality media content provided on a subscription basis. I have long argued for a C-SPAN type operation in India. Simply tape all kinds of speakers on every kind of topic and play it on the air - uncut and unadulterated. As long as people get to hear/ see / read quality content they will happily pay a small subscription which can cover the cost of production. Note that the journalist in question will have to work for ideals and very little money.
3 comments:
Some very high quality posts from you today.
Some random thoughts:
1. If I have to choose between our politicians and our journalists, I would prefer the politician with no hestitation.
2. On globalization being war, this is what Makarand Paranjape says in 'Svaraj and Postmodernism'
The raison d'etre of globalisation is to simplify the process of economic exploitation. There is no need any longer to actually colonize the country to be exploited; all the extraction of surpluses can be effected by remote control, as it were. The transnational corporation is now a more stable and economically viable an entity than the nation state. A banana republic here, a sub-tropical dictatorship there may easily disappear from the face of the earth, but Coca-Cola and MacDonald's will go on forever.
- from Svaraj and Postmodernism
by Makarand Paranjape
3. I like your use of 'Gandhian Engineering' and 'Chirabia'.
OT but funny!
http://us.rediff.com/news/2008/jan/23jews.htm
Arun Gandhi tried to appease muslim by ruffling jews... Jews are not hindus to take every thing lying down when it comes to their sect. I know they are, some times, too powerful, but Jews don't like people making fun of holocaust at any cost.
I hope self respecting Hindus across the world become 1% as powerful as Jews, we won't be pushovers any more!
Anoop
about the open letter by TOI
Kauwa chala hans ki chaal (Crow struts around like a swan)
Chale they Rajesh Khanna bannane, ban gaye Gautam Adhikari
Chale they New York Times bannane, ban gaye Times of India
Adaab;)
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