Is Decline of the Fourth-Estate Here and Happening?

lol, vrv, if you wrote all that about my friend slyder, I would agree. We Indians have known him for a long time on chowk, and have never doubted his taste. :)

waise, you got #4 quite right too.

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main38.asp?filename=hub150308goodbye.asp
The sacking of top notch editor MJ Akbar bodes ill for the fraternity. SHANTANU GUHA RAY reports

Sadna:

Thanks for posting this link.

India media has always lacked walls, which separate publishers, editorial, and even advertisement (revenue generation).

At Sahara TV, the owners even made newscasters change the greeting, with half way Nazi like raising of hand instead of traditional greetings.

English media, is mainly targeted at Indian middle class. Internet awareness and computer peneration is very high in this group. New media is more potent, and hopefully can stand up to answer to print media robber barons.

Consider where I got my news, through you to a link on Internet. It is New media. It can play an important role, as it is playing in the U.S. elections.

Even reality TV in India - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - is far more mature than the U.S. reality TV.

Like arjun said, MJ Akbar is not leaving poor. He must consider investing money, time and experience in new media, and start instant blogs, Internet talk shows, Youtube coverage to access and give access to middle class youth and let them voice their opinions. There is a lot more he can still contribute.

Thanks Kaalachakra.

Sadna,

I dont know too much abt the case but the way the author presented is wrong.

I wish all the best for future endeavors of Mr. Akbar who, from all accounts, appears to be a gem of a person and a credit to his profession.

This may be the end of one inning, but there is a lot of mileage left in that powerhouse, I am sure!

Why are the achoot & chamar hingboos so worked up? Its not like Mahesh wrote anything about bucket toilets.....

Mahesh, you shouldn't have washed the dirty shivalinga in public!

Abe Saaley, wash ur rear as it looks so red with the work of U Sam's linga, u sourass.

anil #19
You are welcome. I don't really disagree with you, but the Indian news market is so huge and diverse, I can't really say newspapers and TV news with their huge circulations/penetration don't rule. Corporate ownership and political influence is a reigning reality. I think the real problem is that the Congress Party has no strong effective opposition party to counter it nor does India have a strong "opposition" media criticising the govt(any govt), media which can have being anti-establishment as its business model(sort of like the leftist newspapers in the UK though I don't know too much about them) .

In 2005?, the Jharkhand Governor, an old Gandhi family associate, who was reportedly in constant touch with Sonia Gandhi during that period, asked the smaller political grouping(the Congress-led one) in the Jharkhand Assembly to form the govt. Rajdeep Sardesai of NDTV criticised the decision as did many others. But he directly mentioned Sonia Gandhi's name and perhaps named her as being responsible for the Jharkhand Governor's essentially unconstitutional decision. Sardesai left NDTV soon after he did that.

Just saying.

#25 isnt radjeep sardesai part owner of IBNnews now? good for him for leaving CNN..thanks to india shining, sacking is actually good for the talented

Re: # 26

Jang:

Firings truly are good for talent. String of successful ventures in Silicon Valley have been formed by the talent which was fired. That is why, what I said in my post to Sadna MJ Akbar should think out of box and go for new media to connect middle class youth to fountainhead of news.

Ref sadna #25

[In 2005?, the Jharkhand Governor, an old Gandhi family associate, who was reportedly in constant touch with Sonia Gandhi during that period, asked the smaller political grouping(the Congress-led one) in the Jharkhand Assembly to form the govt. Rajdeep Sardesai of NDTV criticised the decision as did many others. But he directly mentioned Sonia Gandhi's name and perhaps named her as being responsible for the Jharkhand Governor's essentially unconstitutional decision. Sardesai left NDTV soon after he did that.]

Syed Sibtey Razi is the Governor in question.

He probably consulted the Only Book that Needs Consulting aka -al-Quran and came up with the equivalent of Jinnah-bhai's reasoning. If Jinnah-bhai could ask to equate a 30% minority Muslim population with a 70% non-Muslim population, clearly 39 Congresswallahs are greater than 41 BJP-wallahs.

It is a sad fact of life that the world does not appreciate Islamic arithmetic.

So M J Akbar got fired?

Don't worry, there is an endless supply of journalists to sing the praises of pseudo-secularism and the Nehru family.

This may not be a very well-written piece but the point Mahesh makes is quite valid. There has certainly been a decline in the quality of news media in India; there is hardly a difference between spreadsheets and tabloids. Today's newspapers are all sizzle and very little meat. The job of the editor has been downgraded and it is the marketing manager who rules the roost; Akbar's firing, which would certainly be a hot topic of conversation in the media offices and cafeterias, does not make it to the news while a minor bollywood item girl visisting Delhi gets a big write-up. Even Blitz had more substance in the old days.

#29 Posted by harimau on March 8, 2008 4:04:28 pm

Farzana Versey writes, chowk's own NRI(not really indian), for the asian age. I just read one of her columns...same crap she writes here on chowk...

Arjun gadhey,

Why don't you direct some of your fire-power towards the Thackerey duo - who pose a REAL threat to the concept of India as we (or at least I) know it?