Scoop or Sting

#3 by amrita

[nb - as far as i know tehelka didnt use prostitutes in its sting.]

If you are only this sure about your knowledge of the Tehelka sting, then you could have as refrained from making this statement. Not that I feel it is wrong, but Tehelka did use prostitutes. The larger issue was the corruption in defense circles, which needed to be exposed, and that is what matters.

Just as in this case, the moral bankruptcy of some of our public figures was more important than the suggestive dressing or the seductive noises that the India TV reporter made.

I think it required great guts to do expose against powerful foes....I think Shakti Kapoor or Aman Verma were powerful enough.........and were accessible enough..............that made them the righ targets.......

As regards your ideas.I think Tehelka has lost its` ability and interest to take up any more serious expose....... something which IndiaTV does seem to have taken with aggression......and that would obviously show up in their ratings!!!

Now come on!! What are you guys afraid of??? Lets have another classy sting operation like you did ..........let`s have somebody from the PMO getting caught in these deals....or have you already chickened out!!!

aniruddha - :). With all the bellyaching people do about morality and ethics and stuff, how come nobody goes after the people who actually foster yellow journalism for commercial success? Tabloid this and tabloid that - but the moment Rupert Murdoch arrives, everyone is busy making kissy faces.

nb - as far as i know tehelka didnt use prostitutes in its sting. as for India TV and its boss Rajat Sharma (who i`m guesing is the deranged Allahabadi), he wrote a very whiny defense in the TOI which basically said he was saving the bahu-betis of India even though `his friends Govinda and Sanjay Dutt` have turned against him. Its rather funny if you want to look it up

Sorry, Aniruddha. You opened the Pandora`s box, and this is the result; and who is to say that exposing Shakti Kapoor is less worthy than exposing the BJP and defence leadership? Who decides? For all those small town girls hoping to make it big in Bollywood, the former is much more important.
I would have more trust in Tehelka, if it had not used prostitutes and it had treated all sides of politics in the same way. You are not in a position to judge other people`s morals ever again.

Aniruddha,

Nice take this! Though I did not think your story ideas were very hot...:)

That said, it is very funny, right now on chowk there is a piece on Justice Ranade facilitating a reasonable negotiation with modernity/ism in Hindu society, and you pointing out the ``unreasonable`` negotiation with moderity/ism , with technology abetting the attempt, that Indian media is doing with soft targets like Shakti Kapoor and aman Verma....

When the Tehelka sting operation had first stunned the nation, I had written a piece on chowk about how the event would modernise media morality in India.

HN