Hat tip to KVSarma for identifying this unholy alliance and appropriately coining the phrase FWB.
The rooted silence on the barkhagate scandal, stoic defense of A.Raja, denial of any existence of Nira Radia, all leads to one question why? Simple answer the cHindu NDTV alliance. Its akin to 'Honor among thieves'. NDTV is the media "Godfather" and has collected many chips and its collecting them by means of total blackout (barring few non-consequential discussions) into this issue. In all likelihood it will provide some information to the JPC or whatever committee and in return be promised some minor slap in the wrist (no impacts to Government advertising).
Alternative Theory by Pilid (Which I have shamelessly copied from the comments)
The alternative explanation for cHindu's silence is the involvement of senior DMK figures. Perhaps it is some of both. Also senior folks in The Hindu have themselves acted as "conduits of information"; in fact Malini Parthasarathy defended accused journos on twitter on this ground. So the sympathy is understandable not to mention accusations would have amounted to the pot calling the kettle black. Also, the censorship is not unusual for The Hindu; most other major media outlets have not carried the item either. So the explanation for silence may lie in their loyalty to the broader fraternity of powerbroker/journalists.
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11 comments:
cHindu removed the 14 page document provided by AIADMK from their website they are not able verify the contents. now the audio tapes are out in public. but still cHindu does not carry BarkhaGate on their website or paper.
Thanks. Do you have a link to the document?
The alternative explanation for cHindu's silence is the involvement of senior DMK figures. Perhaps it is some of both. Also senior folks in The Hindu have themselves acted as "conduits of information"; in fact Malini Parthasarathy defended accused journos on twitter on this ground. So the sympathy is understandable not to mention accusations would have amounted to the pot calling the kettle black. Also, the censorship is not unusual for The Hindu; most other major media outlets have not carried the item either. So the explanation for silence may lie in their loyalty to the broader fraternity of powerbroker/journalists.
girish nikam had put up on his site enough information to implicate the journalists without an iota of doubt. and this info has been there since may 2010. http://indiasreport.com/magazine/data/the-radia-papers-raja-tata-ambani-connection/
from page 9 of the published documents are the following lines:
4. On Mrs.Radia's and Kanimozhi's behalf Barkha Dutt & Vir Sanghvi were negotiating for ministerial berth DMK members especially Raja with Congress members.
6. Some close associates of Mrs.Radia in relation to this work are, (i) Tarun Das, (ii) Vir Sanghvi & (iii) Sunil Aurora IAS officer Rajasthan cadre.
document 11 says:
... were handled by Neera Radia and her associates. This included "managing" important CPI(M) leaders; (Neera apparently has an independent very good relationship with certain left front and CITU leaders).
with cpm also involved, chindu has one other reason to hide the story.
Media Watch The Hoot editorial on this topic.
http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=4954&mod=1&pg=1§ionId=10&valid=true
More interesting is this analysis of the media behavior by Sevanti Ninan (Which ones blacked it out and which ones carried the news).
http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=4959&mod=1&pg=1§ionId=1&valid=true
thanks, rr for the link. chindu made no mention of it today also. so this story too has been moved into the cabinet of skeletons, carefully hidden along with amar singh's tapes.
the express buzz editorial is fairly forthright:
http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/editorials/the-spectrum-of-corruption/224475.html
In the era of Indira Gandhi, the Lefty Block Heads often talked about Committed Bureaucrats and a Committed Judiciary. Actually, they were asking for bureaucrats like Naveen Chawla, who would carry out any order of the despots, without bothering about ethics or rule of law, and about a Judiciary, which would turn a blind eye to the blatant corruption & high-handedness of the Executive.
Now, almost two decades later, we have got Committed Journalists also, who enthusiastically act as pimps for the politicians and businessmen. N.Ram, Pranoy Roy Burkha Dutt,et al, belong to this class.
I don't believe that DMK took away all the money Raja made from the 'Spectrum Scandal'. Congress should have taknen the lion's share. That is why they they have appointed P J Thomas, who saw through the scandal, as the CVC, despite strong opposition.
The Business Line (sister of chindu) does it again.
Please read "Those Living In Glass Houses...", by Rasheeda Bhagat
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/11/23/stories/2010112350760800.htm
vardharajan has tweeted that chindu story coming on wednesday
From Kuttychatan's link, Rasheeda Bhagat quoting a blogger:
Did you guys notice how the entire Indian mainstream media has been totally silent about the revelations…? They take care of their own, obviously. (But) citizen journalism is blowing their cover.”
Watch this interesting conversation about the BarkhaGate in CNNIBN hosted by Karan Thapar and Ram providing his 'expert' viewpoint!
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/135950/radia-tapes-probing-journalists.html?from=tn
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