Vidya on Radia tapes

Easily one of the best articles written by her, Vidya Subrahmaniam demonstrates that she has the ability. I am not going to pick any particular sentence to highlight. I strongly urge you to read the article in full.

And to Vidya and the brigade at chindu, I hope you realize that you are committing the grassroots media version of the same mistake.
The Hindu : Opinion / Leader Page Articles : The cosy world behind the tapes

Rajdeep cries lynch-mobs

Rajdeep Sardesai seems to be unable to make up his mind on this issue. His loyalties force him to support Barkha and Sanghvi. He is trying the usual tricks by trying to deflect an introspection of journalism by pointing fingers at corporate corruption. He is also calling those not steadfastly standing behind Barkha and Sanghvi as lynch-mob.

I have often pointed out that the media has been beyond scrutiny. The result is visible in the corruption in media. They have set such high standards of corruption that the politicians and corporates are struggling to cope up. While politicians are forced to resign when accused in a scandal, there is no retribution for journalists. Did you see anyone being hanged for paid news? The story was quietly buried. Even with barkhagate, the stalwart journalists are trying to frame the question in terms of corporate corruption. If it were really about corporate corruption, I wonder how many breaking stories did we hear from these stalwart journalists on corporate corruption?
It is also funny to see Rajdeep Sardesai contradicting his own editorial policies on trial by media. He accepts that the he did not live by the dictum of innocent until proven guilty but now wants the whole world to follow this principle for these two.
The Hindu : National : Post-Radia, a fierce debate on media ethics

Mr. Sardesai also remarked that the response in the case of Ms. Dutt and Mr. Sanghvi had been lynch-mobbish, with their being judged guilty without any reference to their journalistic track records. “The fundamental principle of jurisprudence, that you are innocent until proven guilty, has been reversed here,” he said, adding there was an element of professional jealousy in the chorus of voices raised against them.

IBNLive : Rajdeep Sardesai's Blog : Rajdeep Sardesai: Trial by media stings journos

But they certainly do not justify the kind of lynch-mob outrage that has accompanied their disclosure.
In recent times, the media has lived by the dictum of guilty till proven innocent. Guess the concept of trial by media has now come back to sting the media itself!

You can watch Sardesai's speech here: Part 1 and 2. What brazenness to say that the focus should not be on media ethics and that Barkha has done no wrong. He also finds that the only corruption involved in the tapes is relating to BJP changing the speaker! Incorrigible.

Rasheeda Bhagat of The Business Line exposes media hypocrisy

During the whole #barkhagate or 2G scandal or Nira Radia imbroglio the Indian media has played it incredibly safe. Not wanting to move an inch against the key media members involved, most of the journalists perhaps held by some 'Omerta' or honor code or intimidation by higher powers have stone walled.
However in what is really a landmark initiative shown by vigilant citizens leveraging the power of social networking tools - Blogs, Tweets etc. have forced the media to cover this issue.
Props have to go to cHindu's Rasheeda Bhagat who writes for the the Business Line exposes the media hypocrisy in this article - Those living in glass houses….

Our TV channel debates are infamous for their high decibel levels and, on some channels, the anchors out-shout everybody else on the show. But all these channels, their anchors and expert commentators have gone into silent mode since the Radia tapes have aired in public the participation of some top-notch media personalities in animated conversations pertaining to the formation of the UPA-II government. The main hitch then, it may be recalled, pertained to the DMK demanding more than what the Congress was willing to offer. There were also issues pertaining to internal wrangles within the first family of the Dravidian party.

The entire article is written with a brutal honesty one looks for cHindu to provide. By giving more credit to Rasheeda here we would be praising someone for sticking up to their journalistic ethics which is wrong.
But it deserves to be recognized when her peers have chosen silence to exposing the truth.

cHindu-NDTV silence on barkhagate- Friends with benefits

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.