Swordarm » Entries tagged with "Media"
An Open Letter to Aakar Patel
Dear Mr Patel, This is in response to your piece published in today’s TOI under a presumptuously named column ‘AakaarVani’. I’m writing this to correct you on some factual and a lot of perceptual errors that seem to behind almost every sentence in the piece. I’m writing in the hope that you may correct these, unless of course these aren’t inadvertent, but deliberate spin that you want to give to bolster the argument you make in the title of the piece. Let me start by pointing out the irony in the title itself, since having written it yourself, you obviously didn’t spot it. That an article criticizing the army and saying a lot of things about the faujis is titled “Nothing can be said about our faujis, they’re above criticism”. If irony … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogitorial, Media, Military
Feeding the wrong dog will kill off Twitter
In an insightful piece in the Mumbai Mirror, @PritishNandy has highlighted the reasons why he feels Twitter is dying. Commercialisation, politicisation, and the emergence of the much maligned supra nationalist troll – all these have led to a sharp decline in the quality of discourse. This, he feels, is directly reflected in the fall in the evaluation of Twitter’s price in the eyes of prospective buyers. He laments the end of open, intelligent debate and … Read entire article »
Jaane Mat Do Yaaron
It wasn’t very long ago that media (or press, as it was better known as) enjoyed near universal public trust and respect as the fourth pillar of democracy (the legislature, executive and judiciary being the first three). This because of its onerous role of keeping the other three pillars honest. It was rightfully considered as people’s watchdog, representing their voice against corruption, injustice, malpractices and all other forms of exploitation that the people were otherwise … Read entire article »
Beyond the headlines
In today’s milieu of crisp sound-bites, newsbreak a minute and short attention spans, the struggle to capture eyeballs and mind space of readers and viewers has become fiercely competitive. We, as consumers of news have become increasingly laid back and lazy, preferring our brains to be spoon-fed thoughts and ideas the anchors or journalists find fit to feed us. On the other side of the fence, newspapers and television journalists have become more and more … Read entire article »
Don’t ‘Angry’ the Common Man
I wonder if Arnab Goswami has seen Chennai Express. If he has, he didn’t seem to have taken Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue, “Don’t underestimate the power of an ordinary man”, seriously. Or maybe its the other way around, and he overestimated his own and his channels ability to control and direct viewers minds. That’s possibly why Times Now moved from reporting the narrative to trying to script it. With provocative hashtags scrolling tantalizingly across the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogitorial, Media, Politics
Mango Shakes Politics
The turnout at the rally to launch Aam Aadmi Party at Jantarmantar, held on the 63rd anniversary of the adoption of our constitution, was an indicator of popular sentiment prevailing in the country. That it happened on a day when the major political parties were busy imparting spin to stories justifying corrupt acts by their leaders and minor parties busier making a nuisance of themselves in parliament and state assemblies only underscored the need for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Aam Aadmi, Agitation, Common man, Corruption, Democracy, Elections
Muzzling the Mango
Six and a half decades since we got our independence. For all intents and purposes, we are citizens of an independent democratic country whose constitution guarantees freedom of speech. But when the first son-in-law of the country calls it a ‘Banana Republic’, he definitely is speaking with the authority of an insider. And the grand old party which constitutes his sasural is hell bent on proving him right. Consider the following:- As per Google’s transparency report, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogitorial, Common man, Corruption, Cyber, Media, National Issues, Politics
Morale of the story
Just like honour, morale is a word that has been bandied about a lot in the recent past. Specially in context of the age row that has been dominating the front pages and prime time slots for an unbearably long time. It even prompted a leading national daily to commission a survey to gauge whether the morale of the armed forces has actually been impacted by the shenanigans of the very people charged with preserving … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogitorial, COAS, Media, Military, Values