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Governance Section

RSS
& BJP
GROWING SCHISM

EDIT:

VIEWS ON NEWS
52

PORN AND THE NETIZEN


03

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

AUGUST 22, 2015

`50

Intellectual

TERROR

BIKRAM VOHRA
EXPLAINS HOW SOCIAL
MEDIA HAS BECOME THE
FORCE MULTIPLIER FOR
JEHAD IN THE
INFORMATION AGE
12

NOOSE AS
NEWS:
Yakubs story
was infused
with rhetoric
18

FINEPRINT:
Kaloms
dubious
links and
Didis
patronage
26

MASAAN:
A brave
take on life,
love, fate
and hope
48

BBC WATCH:
Will the
grand
broadcasters
wings be
clipped?
30

EDITORS NOTE

PORN AND THE NETIZEN


PROBABLY no social issue has divided societies all
over the world as much as principles of public
morality, sartorial propriety, double standards for
male and female conduct, obscenity in literature,
theater, films, televisionand pornography, its depiction and definition.
In medieval Europe, women were burnt to death
as witches for violating social norms or even for
brazen behavior as defined by religious preachers
and moral crusaders. They still suffer death by
stoning for conducting affairs within or outside
marriage. They are derogatorily dehumanized by
the nomenclature, item girls, if they shake too
much of a leg even in the avant garde and promiscuous Bollywood culture.
Women are dragged into
prostitution as children in
brothels and in the streets.
Women writers adopt pen
names or male monikers if
their novels were even a
trifle racy.
Is it not paradoxical,
then, that the only milieu
in which women flaunt
their bodies and exhibit
unconventional sexual
mores, is the pornography
industry in which they are
not derided as sluts, hussies and tarts, but conferred, paradoxically the
title of pornstars and

pornoqueens. And this, despite the fact that for


all intents and purposes, they, along with their male
counterparts (who are also called pornstars
rather than gigolos) indulge, technically, in prostitution which is often described as paid sex.
Whether performed in a sleazy motel room, a brothel or in a studio, paid sex by any other name is
paid sex.
Despite all the laws in the world banning prostitutionoften called the oldest professionit has
proved an impossible task across the world. The
difference between prostitution and porn is that in
the first case, one pays to participate, while in the
other one pays or turns on the mobile phone or
DVD to watch it. One is participatory, while the
other is vicarious.
I will at this point not get into the morality of
porn and obscenity on which there have been
Supreme Court pronouncements in India (upholding the right to privacy) and public trials of writers
like DH Lawrence, Jean Genet, and William Burroughs. Nor will I get into the arguments about double standards in which women are held to strict
codes of public behavior while Konark and Khajuraho depict artistic, sexual images to the world.
Feminists, too, are divided on the subject of
pornography. Most women condemn pornography
as a disgusting spectacle of demeaning women as
automated objects of male lust. There are also other
feminists who argue equally vociferously that porn
promotes sexual equality because it also shows
women as sexually aggressive and challenges ages
of stereotyping them as lacking sexual autonomy

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 3

Editors note

and enslaved by the theory of biology as destiny.


Personally, I would keep my own children as far
away from porn as is possible. And so would most
of my friends and colleagues. I am not against
steamy scenes in movies or literature where passion and human emotion collide and artistic freedom needs free reign. But pornography lacks
passion. It is a mechanical manifestation of makebelieve lust and can pervert, in the mind of a child,
the significance of human touching and caring and
the significance of mature, long-lasting, male-female relationships and compassionate sexuality.
But porn is a multi-billion dollar industry. Its accessibility through the internet, pen drives, DVDs
and tablets makes it impossible for parents to keep
their children away from it. Who knows whether

Pawns of Porn

How a PIL triggered the ban on porn:


April 2013: Kamlesh Vaswani files a PIL in the Supreme
Court. Wants internet laws to be altered so that watching
pornography becomes a non-bailable offense. Court asks
center to respond.
November 2013: Apex court wants to know from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) how porn websites,
especially those related to children, can be blocked.
January 2014: The association of Internet Service
Providers (ISP) seeks a proper definition of porn and tells
court it cant block access to child porn sites unless there
are orders from the court or govt.
April 2014: Supreme Court wants clarity from DoT on the
issue. Government says it is not possible to totally ban internet pornography in India.
July 2015: SC refuses to pass interim order on blocking
porn sites in India as demanded by the PIL. Clarifies that
anybody can watch porn in private. Ask the center to arrive
at a conclusion on porn sites within four weeks.
Aug 2, 2015: Center issues order for blocking 857
porn sites.
Aug 4, 2015: Government retracts order, but ban on child
pornography remains. ISPs directed to identify such sites
and block them.

4 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

What the law says


In India
 Under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000,
electronic publication of any obscene content is an offense.
It forbids transmission of obscene pictures or images to any
person electronically. The onus is on the intermediary service
provider to guard against its portal being used for such
purpose. Any violation invites a maximum imprisonment of
three years.
 Section 67A of the Information Technology Act 2008 man-

dates a jail term of five years if the material in question contains a sexually explicit act or conduct.

decades down the line, mass exposure of children


to porn will produce some mutant called the Pornhead. After all, it took generations before we realized
that cigarettes cause cancer and heart disease.
Some people make the argument that males
watching porn turn into rapists because they feel
sexually inadequate and begin to believe that
women actually enjoy the enslavement. There is
nothing to prove this. In fact, the other argument
goes that it is better for Alpha males to deaden their
cravings via a DVD medium than accosting a woman in a dark alley.
But there is no gainsaying that porn is exploitive.
In Indiaand elsewhere in the worldchildren are
kidnapped as part of the flesh trade and sold to the
porn industry. Child porn is a hideous display of
barbarity and a total negation of the ethical evolution
of the human species. It is rape. In fact, much of
the porn that passes off as consensual sex is often
a product of the flesh trade or an episode of brutal
rape in which the victim is bullied and beaten into
mimicking free will.
But how does one police these evils? Surely,
there is also exhibitionist porn where couples actually post intimate material on closed websites or
videograph selfies and sell them to porn sites?

This means that watching porn on the internet is not illegal


within the confines of homes or on any personal device, but
publication and transmission of pornographic content online
or through any other electronic medium is an offense.

an offense under the IT Act. Even downloading, collecting or


storing such content is illegal under Section 67B.

In the US
 Watching online porn is legal.
 What is obscene and objectionable has been left to states.
 In the case of adult pornography, websites must clearly
mention that the content is strictly for adult viewing.
 Producing or disseminating child pornography is a serious
crime and invites heavy penalties and long imprisonment

In the UK
 Child pornography is illegal and no porn content can be
passed to children less than 18 years.
 The government has laid out a list of obscene acts that
cant be produced or sold.

 New guidelines in the IT Act in 2011 offered relief to the


intermediary if it was found that adequate precautions had
been taken.

In China

 Creating or viewing cyber pornography featuring children is

 A concrete definition of porn is yet to evolve.

Banning 857 porn sites, as the Indian government just did, and then unbanning them within 24
hours because of a backlash in which the DVD and
pen drive porn market soared, and issues of censorship, freedom of the net were publicly raised,
hardly did much for the governments reputation.
It showed, once again, that hasty action and
whimsical decisions produce a reaction that often
defeats the very purpose of the original intent. This
may be a clich but preventive action and education
and enforceable rules may be the answer.
Take the case of cigarettes. Banning them was
impossible as a massive black market and public
corruption would thrive, just as in the case of liquor.
Only a steady and rigorous campaign by world bodies, media, parents, teachers and scientists has
been able to convince smokers of the hazards. At
one time, advocating restraint on sexual behavior
was seen as a means of preventing AIDS. Today,
the approach is one of education and the use of

 Nobody can produce, sell, distribute or have porn material.

condoms. Similarly, banning prostitution is impossible, but we can at least deal with some of the evils
by cracking down on sex slavery, cross-border
flesh trade, creating counselling and rehab centers
for women who have broken out, education and
health care for children of prostitutes and preventing
the spread of venereal disease.
Perhaps the best weapon to attack the evils associated with porn, especially the destruction of
children, flesh trade and perverted messaging,
while preserving the freedom of the net, is to use
the most effective weapon used by the pornsters
themselvesthe internet itself. If netizens can create an Arab Spring, they can certainly create, and
thereby obviate governmental interference and censorship, a reasoned and well-calibrated pornawareness drive.

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 5

VOLUME. VIII

ISSUE. 22
Editor
Rajshri Rai
Managing Editor
Ramesh Menon
Deputy Managing Editor
Shobha John
Executive Editor
Ajith Pillai
Business Editor
Shantanu Guha Ray

Political Editor
Bhavdeep Kang
Associate Editor
Meha Mathur
Deputy Editor
Prabir Biswas
Art Director
Anthony Lawrence
Deputy Art Editor
Amitava Sen
Graphic Designer
Lalit Khitoliya
Photographer
Anil Shakya
News Coordinator/Photo Researcher
Kh Manglembi Devi
Production
Pawan Kumar

C O N T E N T S
LEDE

12

Cyber way to terror

The new-age terrorist need not necessarily be a gun-toting militant. He might be


a computer geek, effectively mobilizing funds through social media for the cause
and we may be inadvertently fuelling it, writes BIKRAM VOHRA

MEDIA MONITORING

Kalom and its clout

26

SUJIT BHAR probes why Mamata


Banerjee favors the newspaper, despite
the allegedly dubious links of its former
owner, Ahmed Hassan Imran, a TMC MP?

BOOKS

On Islam and peace

37

SHOBHA JOHN reviews The


True American, a moving book
about an ordinary Muslim and
how his life epitomizes
forgiveness and love in a world
swirling with hatred

EDITORS PICK
FILMS

Theres hope amid


despair

Chief Editorial Advisor


Inderjit Badhwar

48

RAMESH MENON reviews Masaan, a


gripping story of love, death and fate

CFO
Anand Raj Singh
VP (HR & General Administration)
Lokesh C Sharma
Circulation Manager
RS Tiwari

POLITICS

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40

SHOVON CHOWDHURY presents


to the government a long list of
obscenities that should also be
banned, if porn websites are
being targeted

Governance

Vice-President (Ad-Sales)
Vivek Mittal-09810265619

Published by Prof Baldev Raj Gupta on behalf of EN Communications Pvt Ltd


and printed at Amar Ujala Publications Ltd., C-21&22, Sector-59, Noida. All
rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in
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correspondence should be addressed to EN Communications Pvt Ltd .

Our wishlist, for


your perusal

GLOBAL MONITORING
SPOTLIGHT

The media
verdict 18
Far from taking a
reasoned stance on
Yakubs hanging, TV
channels and social
media went ballistic,
whichever side they
supported.
AJITH PILLAI analyzes
the media coverage

BBCs new avatar

Uneasy partners

30

The British media giant is likely to get a


makeover, but this could give a fillip to
other channels and newspapers, writes
MR DUA

TRENDS

Kodaikanal Wont

34

A new rap video exposing


harmful mercury dumping by
Unilever in Kodaikanal goes viral,
grabbing global attention. A
report by RAMESH MENON

52

Schisms between the RSS and BJP


have grown over the lack of
consultation in the decision-making
process, writes BHAVDEEP KANG

R E G U L A R S
Edit..................................................03
Grapevine........................................08
Quotes........................................10
As The World Turns...........................17
TV Review...........................................36
Media-Go-Round..............................42
Breaking News.................................44
Design Review.................................50
Vonderful English..............................54
Cover design: Anthony Lawrence

6 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 7

Grapevine
Subsidized Food

Bigger House for Pratibha


INFORMED
SOURCES tell us that
ex-president Pratibha
Patils 2,906 sq ft
bungalow on Pashan
Road in Pune has
undergone huge
renovations and is now
as large as 6,000 sq ft!
Is another Rastrapati
Bhavan coming up in
Pune? Or, is the
additional space meant
for all the gifts she
allegedly did not put

AFTER MUCH discussion,


opinions and charchas, the Parliament Food Committee has decided to continue with the
canteen subsidy and serve ridiculously cheap food to those in parliament. The justification from
MPs has been ridiculous. Some
of the arguments put forth are
that MPs hardly use canteen
services. The food is eaten by the
staff, officials and media persons.
This has left many people wondering why outsiders are not so

back in the governments Toshakhana?


She had earlier
reportedly demanded
huge funds to settle
down post-retirement.
And now she wants
the government to pay
for her car fuel and
provide an all-paid
car for all her travels
out of town. And to
think she replaced
the humble
Dr Kalam!

privileged in other offices? A


suggestion from the uber suave
NCP member Praful Patel is to
open a food court with top
brands. Well said, Mr Patel!

The Real & the Unreal FM


Quick Update
on Kejriwal
AAP WORKERS are a confused lot these days. A
worried group recently met
their beloved leader, Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal, to raise an issue
most dear to their heart (and
till recently, to his as well)

Kalams Message Ignored


PEOPLES PRESIDENT
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had
said: Dont declare a holiday
on my death, instead work
an extra day if you love me.
While the rest of the nation
heeded the advice, including
Dr Kalams favourites
school and college
studentsthe ones who got a
holiday were our esteemed
Members of Parliament.
Rajya Sabha MPs got a
day off as a mark of respect
8 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

to the former president,


while Lok Sabha MPs had it
even better, with two days off
and plentiful time to physically show their respect, at
Dr Kalams residence,
a stones throw from
parliament!
This is certainly not called
leading by example. But the
real reason seems to be that
the governing party wanted a
break from the perpetual
parliament logjam.

that of the formation of the


Lokpal. They wanted to
know what was to be done to
expedite the matter.
Surprisingly, the demand
agitated Kejriwal no end.
Admonishing them, he said
that stuff like Lokpal was for
the opposition to raise.
The issue has been a
nightmare for the
governing party!

A WALK in the corridors of the


finance ministry will reveal officers
hurrying up and down, preparing
notes/presentations/meetings for the
Prime Minister. All their principal
activities are PM-centric. It seems it is
only the PM who gives all the
directions and takes a call on all issues
related to the finance ministry, say the
officers. So what does Arun Jaitley do?
Well, he is the Finance & I&B Minister
a big job indeed!

No Sex Please!
THE BRITISH government recently
released data stating that pornographic
content was accessed inside the UK parliament almost 700 times a day last year,
despite blockades. Almost 850 attempts
to click on pornographic websites were
blocked each day in the British parliament. An MP here remarked that Indian
legislative members are clearly not the
only ones guilty of this vice. One wonders, if working in legislatures is indeed
so stressful that one needs diversions?

Surgery Time
IF GOSSIP in Lutyens Zone is to be
believed, another top politician is all set to
undergo bariatric surgery. Already top
ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and
Venkaih Naidu have gone under the
scalpel for this surgery with visible results.
Obviously yoga is only the common mans
cure. For the high and mighty, the Ministry of AYUSH has no solution. The elite
rely on the power of modern medicine
which is that much sweeter when financed by the common taxpayers money!

PMs Speech Writer


Serial Defaulter
AN RTI query has revealed that
the Rural Development and
Panchyati Raj Minister, Birender
Singh, has been defaulting on his
house and car loans to the tune
of `24.23 lakh. While a large part
of his house loan of `25 lakh,
taken in March 2007, remains to
be re-payed, he got another loan
of `10 lakh for a car in 2009,
which he has to pay back. Now a
legal notice has been sent to him
by the Haryana government.

Ironically, he is the same person,


who once proudly displayed his
watch, and said, that he, a
farmers son, could afford a `9
lakh watch and `45,000 shoes.

WE ARE on the lookout for the PMs


speech writer, to find out who inspired
him to write his Bihar speech. When
there will be no electricity, how will you
charge mobiles, how will you see serials
like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi?
the PM had remarked. Are these the most
important uses of electricity? More
importantly, was the speech writer
alluding to the HRD minister, or else
why was the reference made to the
popular TV serial?
Compiled by Roshni Seth
Illustrations: UdayShankar
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 9

U O T E S

Today's Mumbai is transformed, polarized, divided,


hostile, suspicious, angry.
Writer and columnist Shobhaa De,
on how Mumbai has changed
drastically over the years, in
The Times of India

The greatest competitive advantage of a politician, in these


media-saturated times, is to
know where the camera is.
Manas Chakravarty, consulting
editor, Mint, on how politicians these day
are clamoring for media attention, in
Hindustan Times

Raman became a victim of Lima


Syndrome. It is the exact opposite
of the Stockholm Syndrome,
where you start loving your
captor.
Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta,
referring to the support rendered by the
late B Raman of RAW for Yakub Memon, in
The Huffington Post

I dont know if I can really


connect to so many people at the
same time. It requires a certain
kind of personality and I am not
sure if I am that kind of person.
Actress Tabu, on not being active on
social media, in Hindustan Times

Baijayant Jay Panda,


Biju Janata Dal leader
No, no, Tagore & mishti doi we concede! But Netaji (born & grew up in
Cuttack) & Jayadeva + Gita Govinda
are ours.

Rahul Kanwal,
anchor, IndiaToday
I asked @NitishKumar before Lok
Sabha polls, why he wasnt on social
media. Arre chidiya se thodi na kuch
hota hai. 180 degree turn now.

Minissha Lamba,
actor
Maybe soon, we can expect #Twitter
ban, #Facebook ban, #YouTube ban.
Will be back to reading books. Oh
no! They may be banned too.

Manish Tewari,
Congress leader
Happy 2 Indians released in Sirte
Libya pray for others. Ques--since
Sushma Swaraj claiming credit--is
India doing business with IS in
Libya?

--Kabir Bedi, actor


Well done, Speaker Mahajan, for
suspending 25 disruptive Lok Sabha
MPs. Parliament must function.
Enough is enough. Work!

Tarun Gogoi, Assam


chief minister

If Delhi government is given full


freedom over security, beautiful
women will be able to go out even
after midnight without any fear.
Somnath Bharti, AAP leader and former
home minister of Delhi, in the assembly
10 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

I appreciate peace in Nagaland n


welcome settlement of Naga issues.
But I will oppose tooth n nail any
move that affects Assams interests.

Lede New Media


Terrorism

The intellectual terrorist can get


funding directly or by proxy. He can
recruit with consummate ease. He can
sit at home and generate a campaign
over the long haul.

WHATS THERE TO BE
PROUD OF?
A photo of 11 Kashmiri
terrorists posted on
Facebook

The
Intellectual
Terrorist

Terrorism has become a commodity. It is being advertised and


sold like a brand by dangerous, intellectual terrorists through
social media and we are falling into their trap unwittingly
BY BIKRAM VOHRA
12 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

will confess that I am not a computer expert. I use mine as a glorified typewriter. But I am smart
enough to recognize the fact that
in the right hands, it is a highgrade weapon, powerful enough
to make TNT obsolete.
I read a book the other day in which the author
says that one day we will long for the scruffy terrorist with the used AK-47 as opposed to the intellectual terrorist who is now in our midst. He is erudite,
educated, urbane, holds a responsible post in a
working hierarchy and his mindset is more devious
and dangerous than a thousand foot soldiers.
The gun-toting caricature of the current militant, regardless of which part of the world he is in,
will be vanilla compared to what a handful of such
people can do by way of tearing apart the social

fabric If the IRA and their armed Sinn Fein, the


German Baader-Meinhof gang, Indias Maoists, the
PLO and others had such access to information and
the convenience of driving their cavalcades down
the information highway, the world would have
been very different...if anything had survived.
It got me thinking that either the author had a
fertile imagination or that society was in peril now
and we are hurtling, sans geographical boundaries,
into a new world where the terrorist per se is being
aided and abetted by you and I, thanks to our servile
surrender to social media. Put it into perspective.
If Stephen Hawkins can speak of the possibility
of artificial intelligence going berserk and taking
over our world because we created it but could not
control it (and this happening in our time), why
cannot the extremist use the same tools to wreak
havoc?
EASY TARGET
Take this urbane terrorist. He or she shares exactly
the same priorities as the college student on the
couch, texting madly to a friend. The depressed
housewife making 4,752 friends across the world
and feeling wanted or more meaningfully, needed.
The overnight success reflects his lack of self-esteem
through photos of himself on the Costa del Sol or
in a first class airline seat. Boasting of his achievements indicates that the single largest spur to becoming a slave to QWERTY in its many debasing
forms is unbridled narcissism.
In 2012, psychologists in the US produced a
paper that said: Narcissism is excessive self-love,
inflated self-importance and unjustified feelings

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 13

Online recruitment

Lede New Media


Terrorism

world can hire hackers, why cant threat and coercion be used to enlist such geniuses by the cells? It
is a no-brainer.

Law enforcement agencies are


defeated by the population that is now its
biggest adversary. It is sworn to protect
those that let them down. This bitter
irony is not yet visible to the majority.
VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE
(Above) IS has attracted
youth in droves,
despite the mindless
bloodshed it has caused

of entitlement. Along with electrons, it is the primary


active ingredient in the internet.
It is you. The executive sharing insider information in cryptic code, confident that it cannot be
broken. Hackers wearing a mantle of romance as
they inveigle themselves into your lives as insidiously
as HIV.
EVIL DESIGNS
In fact, there could be five legs on the evil toadstool.
The computer-savvy extremist: Texting madly, he
would send his messages to create awareness, build
tension, generate a daisy chain, provide knowledge
to his cohorts, a knowledge that we would so unstintingly volunteer and keep updating.
The depressed housewife: Who are those lonely
people, where do they come from, where do they belong? People living lives of lonely despair are perfect
recruits for the good fight. Eleanor Rigby has a mil-

14 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

lion facsimiles and they are cannon fodder so easily


led astray by blandishment and flattery. They will
flock to the recruiter and his cause. Somebody understands them.
The overnight success: Spewing data about himself and his wealth, he will give any half-witted terror cell leader information. The amount of
information we so freely dispense in these public
forums underscores an ignorance that, for the evildoer, is pure bliss.
The executive playing the odds: He is an ideal
choice for tracking and since he is already cheating
and breaking the laws, what better person to
befriend? So dramatically are we all brain-washed
into seeing a terrorist in a Brooks Brothers suit
using his Ipad to play Candy Crush, that we cannot
possibly see him plotting mayhem. You better
believe it, we are getting there. The inherent narcissism and the need to show off offers the clever
extremist great insight into the weaknesses of his
target.
Hackers: They target the ones they need for specific reasons and the lonely people, the misled and
the easily swayed are all marked for mental slaughter...which could then lead to the worst case scenarios of violence executed by self-imposed
martyrdom. If law enforcement agencies of the

INTELLECTUAL TERRORIST
A few weeks ago, over a billion android mobile
phones were made vulnerable to malware that
would access personal data, including photographs,
messages and private correspondence. I know who
you are and what you wrote. So easy is it to obtain
data that the image of a sacked employee carrying
away his personal effects in a brown cardboard box
and not being allowed to check his computer is ludicrous. He probably has a hundred copies already.
Up in the cloud, seeded with information.
So there is no difference between the 21st century spawning of the intellectual terrorist and the
student on the couch.
He can spread the message in real time. He can
get funding directly or by proxy. He can recruit
with consummate ease. He can sit at home over
breakfast and generate a campaign over the long
haul, provide a chat room for the truly deranged
and by bouncing his signals and using cut-outs, can
be reasonably confident that he will not be traced.
There is no doubt that Twitter, Facebook and
their other cousins were started with benign intent.
To communicate with one another in a networking
environment that broke the barriers of caste, color
and creed.That turned malignant a long time ago
and with every new addition to the information
surge, the most benefited are the ones with violence
on their minds. Armed with cyber-weaponry (and
this is no joke), this growing army will not look at
suicide vests and a dozen victims, but will seek the
pleasures of mega-deaths.
LIKE SCI-FI
The defense is riddled with more holes than Swiss
cheese. The law enforcement agencies of the world
are defeated by the population that is now its
biggest adversary. Ergo, it is sworn to protect those
that let them down. This bitter irony is not yet visible to the majority and it is all too surreal for us to

How social media has become the biggest headhunting platform


for some terror outfits

TO recruit members, terrorist groups employ


an us-against-them narrative and usually
show images of injured children in Syria to
entice them to break away from their family
and community. Recruiters then cultivate an
alternative worldview with targeted messaging. To entice women, they idealize the life of
the caliphate, in juxtaposition to the isolation
and loss that the potential recruits might have
felt in the West. Recruiters then express the
desire to meet the candidates in person.
The Islamic State
The IS has been active on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Internet memes and other social media. According to a report by Brookings
Institution, by the end of 2014 there were at
least 46,000 Twitter accounts linked to the IS,
which have helped spur pro-IS hashtags like
#AllEyesonISIS or #CalamityWillBefallUS.
Twitter has tried to counter the IS, suspending
more than 1,000 suspect accounts.
Amateur videos and images are being uploaded daily by its foot soldiers, which are then
globally shared both by ordinary users and
mainstream news organizations to spread the
propaganda. There are e-books on Scribd and
Tumblr blogs that give detailed instructions on
how Westerners can travel to Turkey, and make
their way to Syria. Once they successfully
recruit a foreigner, they use him to recruit
others though social media.
Indian Mujahideen
IM across the border keeps an eye on the activities of youth who respond to religious posts
on social networking sites. They open a chan-

nel by chatting. Soon, the process of


indoctrination starts. This was revealed last
year by two IM operatives, Zia-ur-Rahman and
Tehseen Akhtar who were arrested in Jaipur.
Al Shabaab
An analysis published by the Institute of Security Studies has identified the internet as a
major tool to radicalize and recruit youth to
join Al Shabaab. The report cites the case of
three young women two Kenyans and one
from Tanzania who were arrested in March by
police as they allegedly headed to Somalia to
join this group. The youth were allegedly
recruited through social media platforms such
as Facebook and WhatsApp.
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda certainly has a presence on social
media, but the group still relies heavily on
older platforms, like websites and digital magazines. Its leaders communicate regularly
through video and audio messages, which are
posted on its websites and disseminated on
the internet.
A Twitter account @alqaeda has around
40,000 followers but it is not clear whether it is
handled by the Al Qaeda. Al-Qaedas online
magazine, Inspire, aims to build an army of
lone-wolf terrorists to carry out attacks in
Western countries with articles like Car Bombs
Inside America and Why Did I Choose AlQaeda. The digital magazine gave the Boston
Marathon bombers instructions to build the
pressure-cooker bombs that exploded at the
marathons finish line. Al-Qaeda readily
claimed credit for it.

really take it seriously. This is sci-fi with popcorn


and cola.
No, it is not. Chris Nerney wrote in Network
World: Social media platforms are increasingly
being used by enterprises to engage with customers, build their brands and communicate information to the rest of the world. Spot on. Terrorism
is a commodity. It has to be advertised and sold.
Indeed, it is a brand and brand-building is what is
done through these platforms.
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 15

S THE WORLD TURNS

Lede New Media


Terrorism

BLIND FOLLOWING
Kashmiri youth wave
the IS flag in Srinagar

The anonymity of not just the sender but even


the camouflaged content makes it ideal as the spearhead of knowledge. You can lie with elan and nobody
will be any wiser. Often, exactly the opposite
can occur.
There is no need to soften the message or edit the
offensive videos. You can put it all up and the devil
take the hindmost. There will always be takers and
for the others to be intimidated, fear is the key.
Since we, the people, are integral to the problem,
is there a solution? Lets be very clear. These are precarious times. There is no silver bullet. There have
been several scenarios, including upgrades in surveillance, sharing of international databases and eye
in the sky activity, coupled with tailing suspects on
the information highway. But it is a very large terrain
for an unequal battle.
BIG BROTHER
One of the more bizarre suggestions has been to
grade every single human being for his threat-level
based on data in the personal file. While such control
would need an army of controllers, the thought of
Big Brother grading you is scary.
Unless there is some global awakening, we will
feast at the banquet of consequences. At present,
there is very little correlation or evidence that one
can input to shore up these concerns. Why should
there be? Any par hacker would have enough backdoor brooms to obliterate his tracks.

16 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

Let us make another comparison. It has been said


that the net is a good servant but a vicious master.
We have rendered it so much space that even Caesar
would be teed off. To say it runs our lives is an
understatement. Take a corporation, a multi-national
or a bank. For all such organizations, there are real
risks to using social media, ranging from damaging
the brand to stealing secrets, exposing proprietary
information, inviting lawsuits for copyright infringement and shoveling huge sums of money into building firewalls.
The militant has no such fears. Everything falls
in his favor even if it goes off track temporarily. To
him, all exposure is publicity and he thrives on it.
And yet, what makes it all so insidious is that he is
also the head of an organization, with a functioning
hierarchy. So how can we but lose to him. We have
given him all the cards.
TERRORISM BY TELEPHONY
For people at large, the biggest fear is the ability these
elements are obtaining to dismantle, freeze, turn
rogue or confuse the computerized grids. Malfunctioning computers can bring cities to a halt.
Yes, we have all seen those movies but we cannot
get away from the fact that the fault lies not in our
stars but in ourselves that we let it get so far. We never
realized that from petty crime and seamy chat rooms,
it was a small, very small step to full-blown terrorism
via the net.
From silly little six-digit passwords being our personal security to the mountain of data processed and
available, we are vulnerable. Perhaps the first step is
to individually exercise caution in sharing and giving
those who might harm us undue publicity by passing
on their written ideology or photographs. The frightening part is we do not even know we are doing it.
Just as a slew of TV crime shows have given criminals insight into forensic medicine and made them
that much wiser, we do much the same to the
professional killer. We feed him the road-map to
disaster.
Every minute of every day.

Daily Mail
sued over
baby pictures

Hollywood couple
Mila Kunis and
Ashton Kutcher

Google pays
tribute to Kalam
GOOGLE PAID tribute to the peoples president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam,
after he passed away on June 27,
following a heart attack in Shillong.
The scientist collapsed while giving
a lecture. Google displayed a black
ribbon on its home page. The mark
of respect on the Google India
homepage testifies to the universal
appeal of the former president, especially among the youth. Google,
known for remembering past icons
and marking important occasions
and anniversaries through its characteristic doodles, has in the past
paid tribute to several Indians, including filmmaker Satyajit Ray,
maths genius Shakuntala Devi and
cine icon Raj Kapoor.

HOLLYWOOD COUPLE Mila


Kunis and Ashton Kutcher filed
a lawsuit over the wrongful publication of photos of baby
Wyatt, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The couple
started proceedings in the London High Court against The
Daily Mail and the publisher, Associated Newspapers, over two
articles about their baby girl.
The actors objected to the

wrongful publication of paparazzi photographs of family


outings accompanied by shopping links to promote clothing
products by the Mail. The
tabloid often features shopping
suggestions for readers who
want to mimic a celebritys style
but this couple found this practise to be a breach of privacy.
The tabloid has a long history of
similar incidents. Last July, Angelina Jolie reportedly took legal
action against the paper for reporting on a video that The Mail
claimed showed Jolie under the
influence of heroin.

Russias
photo app to
counter Instagram
RUSSIAS POPULAR social networking
site VK, also known as Russias Facebook, has launched Snapster, a
photo-sharing mobile application to
rival Facebooks popular Instagram.
Snapster, which is available on Android and Apple phones, allows users
to share pictures modified with digital
filters. The service automatically
deletes pictures after a certain time
and the photoscan be linked to the VK

Apple loses
top spot in China
ACCORDING TO RESEARCH firm
Canalys, Apple is no longer king of
the smartphone market in China.
Local mobile phone-maker Xiaomi
has stolen the top spot from Apple,
with a market share of 15.9 percent.
Huawei grabbed second place with
15.7 percent of the market share. In
2014, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus
made Apple garner the top spot for

account. Unlike Facebook, VK did not


have a picture sharing service, forcing
Russias selfie enthusiasts to use Instagram.

the first time in China, according to


Canalys, leaving behind both Xiaomi
and Huawei. The competitive pricing
by Xiaomi and Huawei gives them the
advantage over Apple.

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 17

Spotlight Yakub Hanging


Media Reaction

T
When Noose
Became News
Primetime TV discussions on Yakub Memon were infused with
jingoistic fervor and deep biases which justified his hanging
BY AJITH PILLAI

18 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

O hang Yakub Memon or


not to hang him was the
question. But unfortunately,
the discussions on primetime and in certain sections
of the media plummeted to
such depths of jingoism that it turned the debate into
a farcical verbal duel. If you were on the side opposed
to the death penalty, you were defending terrorists
and if you supported the hanging, then your heart
went out for the families of the 257 victims who died
in the serial blasts in Mumbai 22 years ago. It was as
simple as that.
Under normal circumstances, the issue would have
been fairly one dimensional vis-a-vis the media. It
would have been a face-off between those who oppose
the death penalty because it is murderous to snuff out
a life, and those who feel that anyone responsible for
heinous crimes deserves the gallows.
However, the Yakub Memon case became tricky
because of a new elementa posthumously published
article by B Raman, who headed RAWs counterinsurgency wing in the 1990s. According to him, not
only did Yakub voluntarily surrender in 1994, but he
also willingly cooperated with the investigations and
thus did not deserve the death penalty. What Raman
clearly implied was that the man on death row
returned from Pakistan, where he was under the watch
of the ISI, on certain informal promises. These were
not later honored or even factored in during his trial.
So there was seemingly a breach of trust.

PERIPHERAL PLAYER
The Raman effect added a new dimension to the
debate. There emerged a section which felt that Yakub
had been tricked by the investigating agencies and
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 19

Spotlight Yakub Hanging


Media Reaction

Who (B Raman) is no more. There is no


corroboration to what he has said...Why
havent other officials come forward...?
Zakka Jacob of CNN-IBN questioning senior
Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal during
a TV debate
that itself was a good reason for his mercy petition
to be accepted. They found ready support from those
who believed that he was a peripheral player and
had no major role to play in the blasts conspiracy and
that he was being targeted because the real
conspiratorshis brother Tiger Memon and
Dawood Ibrahimhad so far eluded the law with
Pakistani support.
Into these two groupings were clubbed those who
opposed the death penalty on principle and those
who were of the view that many guilty in the
communal riots which targeted Muslims and
preceded the blasts had either been spared or not
been punished adequately.
News channels and social media responded to
this multi-layered story by attempting to cast these
complex issues into a simplistic For death penalty
vs Against death penalty format so typical of school
debates. By doing so, a veritable boxing ring was
created on which hyper-nationalists waged war
20 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

against pseudo secularists. In this battle, the


referees (read TV anchors) clearly showed their bias
towards the former. For and against labels were
handed out to panelists. Any subtler classification
would perhaps have diffused the debate. But TV
thrives on sharp divides.
Interestingly, the Raman factor was countered
with vague arguments, questioning the timing and
credibility of his revelations. Others brushed it
aside with a nationalistic plea of not sparing
a mass murderer.

but only the quantum of sentence given to him. I


oppose the death penalty awarded to anyone, she
said. But Jacob had to keep the focus on Yakub and
argued that since our fathers, mothers, brothers
and sisters did not die, our empathies are not with
the relatives of the 257 who were killed in the blasts.
When Jaiswal brought up B Ramans article,
Jacob dismissively interrupted her. Who (Raman)
is no more. There is no corroboration to what he
has said...Why havent other officials come
forward...? Jaiwal said she was in no position to
answer that question although she believed that
there was a God above and those who lied and have
hidden the truth will have to finally answer to their
maker. With a smirk Jacob clinched the argument
saying that the lawyer was taking the argument to
a philosophical level. Of course you will face your
maker, I will face my maker, Yakub Memon will
face his maker, he said. The debate was won hands
down as far as the anchor was concerned.
Primetime news is all about taking editorial
positions and then having discussions, so that one
point of view is given precedence over the counterview. The more experienced news presenters and

The more experienced news presenters and


hosts like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt,
Nidhi Razdan and Karan Thapar tried to
maintain a balance but others, by and
large, made it into an ugly slugfest.
hosts like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt, Nidhi
Razdan and Karan Thapar tried to maintain a
balance but others, by and large, made it into an
ugly slugfest. By the end of the day, Yakubs hanging
was justified. Arnab Goswami of Times Now was
in his usual shrill elements, making the most out
of wearing his nationalism on his sleeve. Other
anchors followed in his lead. Rahul Shivshankar
(NewsX) and Rahul Kanwal (India Today Televison)
seem to be consumed by the story.
SPLIT WIDE OPEN
Senior TV journalist Nupur Basu said in her
column in media watch website The Hoot: The
final countdown showed a nation split down the
middle and the TV debates seemed designed to

STEERING DEBATES
(From left) TV presenters
Nidhi Razdan,
Karan Thapar,
Rahul Shivshankar

SLANGING MATCH
As July 30 the date set for the executionneared,
the debates reached fever pitch. Zakka Jacob (CNNIBN) is normally restrained, subtle and moderate
in his presentation. In fact, a profile describes his
USP as a combination of finesse, in-depth research
and seriousness. But the hang or not to hang
discussion seemed to have got to him too. Having
set the agenda and shown his bias against those
anti-death penalty folks, activists , abolitionists or
whatever you choose to call them, he went on a
slanging match with senior Supreme Court lawyer
Kamini Jaiswal, who is opposed to the death
penalty. She made it clear at the outset that she is
not questioning the conviction of Yakub Memon
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 21

Spotlight Yakub Hanging


Media Reaction

NEED FOR BALANCE


TV journalist Nupur Basu
pointed out the farcical
nature of the debates

sharpen this divide all the more. All sides seemed to


revel in this poisonous atmosphere, egging one
another on, working themselves up into a froth and
giving no quarter to opposing views.
With hashtags like Ready with our khuda hafiz
for you, See you in Hell and Have a blast on your
Bday Yakub, social media also turned predictably
frenetic. And this mood was reflected in the taglines
on TV: 93 Archer To hang, Yakub to Hang
Closure, Justice for 257, and the like. Those

pleading against the death penalty were dubbed as


Muslim sympathizers, Pakistani agents and enemies
of the country. Some of the expletives used on social
media do not even deserve repetition.
Hindi channels, too, added to the jingoistic
frenzy. In addition to the heated one-sided
discussions, some of them carried detailed
infographics on the hanging. These included how the
rope used was being tested for tensile strength to
ascertain whether it could take Yakubs weight for a
sufficient length of time. Clips were shown from
Black Friday, Anurag Kashyaps film on the 1993
blasts to show the horror of the day when the 13
bombs shook Indias commercial capital. And live
reports came from outside Nagpur Central Prison
where the execution would take place. A macabre
atmosphere celebrating Yakubs end was built up.
Once the hanging was over, the coverage died.
But this was on account of a Mumbai police gag
order on video and visual coverage of Yakub
Memons funeral in Mumbai. It was ostensibly
imposed to maintain peace and order. But there
was more to it. The media coverage and the ultranationalism that it provoked in the last few days had
woken up the government to the fact that a counterview had slowly built up and an
opinion was forming within a section
of the people that some injustice had
been done. That Yakub Memon, an
informer and a bit player in the blasts
case, was being handed the severest of
punishment because the key
conspirators were never apprehended.
Visual coverage of his funeral,
reportedly attended by thousands of
people, would further fuel the
misgivings and even make a martyr
out of Yakub.
That was the last thing the
authorities wanted. Therefore, a wellattended last farewell and a quiet burial on TV was what the archer of the
1993 blasts was finally given.

ONLY THE STORIES


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EVERY FORTNIGHT INDIA LEGAL WILL BRING YOU NEWS, ANALYSES AND
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34

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August 15, 2015

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22 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

Spotlight Yakub Hanging


Analysis of Media Coverage

Yakub 24X7
Number of special programs

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

25

23
20

20

15

15

15
10

Aaj Tak
ABP
India Today
Times Now
APN
Samachar Plus

Monitored between July 24 and July 30, 2015

SOUND BYTES

100
100

Aaj Tak
ABP
India Today
Times Now
APN
Samachar Plus

Number of bytes

80

50

60

44

49

40

18

20

15

Monitored between July 24 and July 30, 2015

BREAKING STORIES
30

Number of breaking stories

HE media spent an inordinate amount of time in the


run-up to Yakub Memons
hanging on July 30, 2015.
After all, it was 22 years after the Mumbai
blasts that one of the main accused was
being brought to justice.
But this hanging sharply polarized the
media, with many supporting the hanging,
while others were against it, saying that
Yakub should be pardoned.
As expected, every channel had this
story on prime time, and was suffused with
animated discussions and special programs
on Yakub.
Various channels such as Aaj Tak, ABP,
India Today TV, Times Now, APN and
Samachar Plus, were monitored by The
Media Monitor (TMM) from July 24, 2015
to July 30, 2015, and threw up some interesting findings.
In the special programs category on
Yakub, Aaj Tak led with 23 special programs in that week, followed by India
Today with 20. Similarly, in the number of
bytes on Yakub category during the same
period, Aaj Tak again led with 100 bytes,
followed much lower down by ABP with 50
and closely followed by Times Now with 49.

26
23

25

22

Aaj Tak
ABP
India Today
Times Now
APN
Samachar Plus

20

20
15
10
5

Monitored between July 24 and July 30, 2015

PERCENTAGE OF PROGRAMS ON YAKUB


11%
11%
15%
15%

24 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

25%

23%

Aaj Tak
ABP
India Today
Times Now
APN
Samachar Plus

In the special programs


category on Yakub, Aaj
Tak led with 23 special
programs in that week,
followed by India Today
with 20. Similarly, in the
number of bytes on
Yakub category during
the same period,
Aaj Tak again led with
100 bytes.
In the breaking news category, again Aaj Tak won
hands down with 26 breaking news, followed by
ABP with 23.
In the final analysis, Aaj Tak led the Yakub
news bandwagon. Out of its total programming
between July 24 to July 30, 25 percent was
devoted to Yakub. Following closely at 23 percent
was ABP and then, at 15 percent were both India
Today and Times Now.
In all the three categories where Aaj Tak was
ahead of other channels, it was its Halla Bol
(6pm-7pm) and Saza e Maut shows that were
hugely popular. Halla Bols anchor, Anjana Om
Kashyap, was professional. Among the speakers
were Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP), Manisha Kayande (Shiv Sena), Akhilesh Pratap Singh (Congress), Ujjwal Nikam (senior advocate), Waris
Pathan (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen),
Sanjay Rawat (senior advocate) and Rajdeep
Sardesai (consulting editor, TV Today Network).
While the discussions also veered towards
Rajiv Gandhis assassination and the killing of
Beant Singh, Punjab CM, the questions asked
were:
 Will Yaqubs hanging control terrorism?
 Is terrorism taking advantage of the long legal
process in Indias judiciary system?
 Will the main accused, Dawood and Tiger
Memon, be caught?
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 25

Media Monitoring
Kalom

is one daily that is mired in mystery.


Mamata inaugurated the daily edition of
Kalom in 2012 (it was initially a monthly, before
becoming a fortnightly). She had it promoted to
her list of prioritized dailies that would be kept at
all government-run and funded libraries, thereby
giving it huge legitimacy. This special nod from
the chief minister also allowed Kalom to get
government advertisements.

Something
Murky Here

Why does Mamata


Banerjee favor Kalom
despite the allegedly
dubious links of its
former owner,
Ahmed Hassan Imran, a
TMC MP? And why
have investigations
suddenly gone slow in
the case?
BY SUJIT BHAR
26

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015

HEN West Bengal Chief Minister


Mamata Banerjee nominated Ahmed Hassan Imran, founder of the
West Bengal branch of the banned
Students Islamic Movement of
India (SIMI), to the Rajya Sabha
in February last year, it generated
furious debate. That more than one investigating agency had
their radar on Imrans past associations did not go down well
with the withered opposition. All opposition, though, was shot
down by Mamata.
However, warnings about Imran being an alleged conduit
of funds to Bangladeshi terrorist cells operating in West Bengal
may have come back to haunt the CM. Added to that is the
issue of the survival of Imrans controversial daily, Kalom. This

POWER OF PEN
(Above) Ahmed
Hassan Imran, former
owner of Kalom

SARADHA CONNECTION
Imran had sold Kalom to Saradhas discredited
boss Sudipta Sen. The Saradha bouquet of publications died a natural death with the fall of this
empire, but not Kalom. This was carefully protected with the help of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and resuscitated. It is believed that
though Imran no longer owns or edits it, he remains the de facto head of the publication.
So what lies between the lines? Recently, the
Enforcement Directorate interrogated Imran for
the second time and asked pointed questions
about his involvement in the daily, with Saradha
group and the huge scam. What they found was
this: he used to get a salary of `70,000 per month
as editor and that he had sold the daily to Sudipta
Sen for just `2 lakh. However, these puny figures
failed to cut ice with the investigating agency and
many questions remained.
When Kalom was saved
from the crumbling Saradha
empire, immediate funds were
reportedly pumped in by TMCs
Uttar Pradesh observer Asif Khan,
a close aide of Mukul Roy. Roy was
said to be dealing with the Saradha scam
issue. How much was paid is not known, but
the daily was later transferred to the Kalom Welfare Association. It was a way to avoid debtors
barking at the publications heels.
The question is, why was it so imperative for
the TMC to save this Bengali daily (as well as television channel Tara Music and Urdu publication

According to a report of the District


Intelligence Bureau of South 24
Parganas, Imran was named as the
mastermind behind a communal conflict
at Naliakhali village in the district.
Azad Hind) when the rest of the bouquet of
Saradha publications was allowed to crash. This
included an English daily, Bengal Post; a Bengali
daily, Sakalbela; and a Bengali periodical, Paroma.
These left nearly 1,000 journalists and technicians
out of jobs.
One has to remember that Imran was in the
rival faction of the TMC to which Asif and Roy
belonged. Roy and Asif had a falling out thereafter
(Asif is in jail in connection with a fraud), but that
is not part of this debate.

DUBIOUS AFFILIATIONS
Why did Mamata
Banerjee nominate Imran
for the Rajya Sabha
despite his terror links?

COMMUNAL CARD
We need to travel back to join the dots. Last
year, the then District Intelligence Bureau of
South 24 Parganas prepared a secret twopage report and sent a detailed note to the
district police superintendent (case no: 84
dtd 19.02.2013 u/s 394/302/307/153A
IPC and 25/27 Arms Act).
According to the document, Imran
was named as the mastermind

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 27

Media Monitoring
Kalom

It is funny how slowly investigations have


proceeded in the Saradha and Imran cases.
Even with the central agencies coming into
the picture, these issues have not been
pursued with vigour.
Arunava Ghosh (left), lawyer and former
Trinamool MLA

ROT RUNS DEEP


(L-R) Saradha group
chairman Sudipta Sen in
police custody
Mukul Roy was
dealing with the
Saradha issue when he
was in the TMC

behind a communal conflict at Naliakhali village


in the district. It said that Imran was involved in
instigating youths and sending them to the area
with bombs and other firearms that resulted in
over 100 huts being set ablaze and several houses
ransacked.
More curiously, these facts were available for
Mamata to scan and digest as she prepared to
nominate Imran to the Rajya Sabha, the opposition
claimed. Though it is not the first time that parliament has seen MPs with a criminal background
striding its corridors, secret reports have claimed
that Imran was a front man for the Jamate-Islami, Bangladesh (JIB), attributing terror links
to him. This is an extreme case, and political circles
say that it is not plausible that Mamata had no
inkling of these allegations before the nomination
was made.
NEFARIOUS LINKS?
Now a link seems to have been found between
such allegations, the secret reports and Kalom.

28 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

Anil Shakya

While it is generally maintained that Kalom was


a good way to keep in touch with minorities in
West Bengal (26 percent), there have been other
more influential dailies that do exactly that. According to a source, what was special to Kalom
was its ability to provide a face in the transfer of
fundswhether it was the parking of illegal funds
of Saradha across the border in Bangladesh or in
funding terror modules and sleeper cells that have
been found within West Bengal.
Two things are clear:
 Only a miniscule portion of the over `2,000crore (some say it is closer to `10,000-crore)
Saradha scam has been traced. The fate of the
remaining amount is unknown.
 It was not just about financial fraud; the destination of much of the fund flow was financing of
terror-linked outfits.

In both cases, the reach of Kalom could have


come in handy.
Another strange development is the pace of
investigations. Eminent lawyer and former TMC
MLA Arunava Ghosh told Views on News: It is
funny how slowly investigations have proceeded
in the Saradha and Imran cases. Even with central agencies coming into the picture, these issues
have not been pursued with vigour.
LARGER PICTURE
Explaining the possible reasons, Ghosh says:
One reason is Prime Minister Narendra Modis
Bangladesh initiative, which is a very important
part of the Eastern outreach program. For this,
Mamatas help is required. Also, with state elections next year, alignments have come into the
picture. And one should remember that the BJPs
organizational strength in the state has, of late,
been rather weak.
According to Ghosh, there seems to have
been a tacit arrangement to slow down the investigation to a snails pace. This will ensure that
people such as Imran effectively stay out of the
reach of the law with ease. Consider this. TMC

leader Asif Khan was the one who came out


loudly against a lot of ills that he had known from
inside. He had levelled charges against Imran too.
But he swore his allegiance to Mukul Roy. Asif is
behind bars now, and is quiet.
Also, the revelations of Mukul Roy to the investigating agencies remain in the dark. He had
clearly said that he was willing to fully co-operate
with them, says Ghosh. It is rumored that
Mukul had transferred `200 crore of Saradha
funds to the party, though I believe the figure may
not be that large.
Overall, the issues about Imran remain buried
deep in the files of the investigating agencies
the ED and the CBI. Above ground, Kalom still
enjoys the patronage of the ruling party. As long
as that continues, serious questions will remain
unanswered.

WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS


Modis Bangladesh
initiative and
Mamatas help for it,
may be linked to the
slow probe against
Imran

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 29

Global Broadcasting
BBC

A
new
avatar
for

BBC?

BC, Britains enormously popular television


and radio network, is
going through painful
financial times and a
highly stressful governance patch. The government is, reportedly, reviewing proposals for completely overhauling and
transforming BBCs structure so that it attains a
new avatar.
Close to a century-old, BBC needs a brand new
look. With the passage of time, new ideas have
emerged and new technologies have changed
broadcasting models. On top of that are BBCs innumerable shortcomings and technical flaws.
Some of its problems include shrinking audience,
dipping revenue, diluted credibility and flat artistic content.
These, along with the viability of current programming policies, has been causing concerns.
Affectionately nicknamed by mediapersons as

Beeb and Auntie, the BBC has also been derisively addressed by adversaries and critics as
Beast. This is probably due to its unwieldy size
and scale.
UNACCEPTABLE INNOVATIONS
Beeb has been held responsible for a number of
unpleasant and unacceptable programming innovations and diversifications in recent times. Consequently, BBCs controllers and regulators, the
board of trustees and audiences have reportedly
expressed dissatisfaction with its overall governance and programming.
The Times (London), meanwhile, said BBCs
purse controller, Chancellor of Exchequer George
Osborne, has launched a 650-million-pound
budget raid, forcing the Corporation to meet the
cost of free television licenses for the over 75s.
BBC charges a 145.5-pound annual license fee on
all households, barring those aged 75 and above.
It is believed to be running a deficit of about

POPULAR PROGRAMS
(Below left) BBCs crime
drama Silent Witness
(Right) The
legendary British science
fiction, Sarah Jane
Adventures, from BBC

The UK government
wants to slash the
broadcasters size
and scale with new
programming
policies. But is this an
attempt at curbing
the popularity of its
news programs to
protect newspapers?
BY MR DUA

DIFFICULT TIMES
(Top) Unwieldy size and scale have
crippled BBC; It did not
commission a third series of its
Saturday night show, Atlantis

30 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 31

Global Broadcasting
BBC

Since BBCs charter is up for revision by


2016-end, new measures need to be
drafted. Its finances should face sharp and
heavy cuts since free television licenses
will be bestowed on those over 75 years.
3.7 billion pounds. How should this colossal deficit
be made good is the weighty question troubling its
key functionaries.
Since BBCs charter is up for revision by 2016end, new measures need to be drafted. According
to the British Budget Office, BBCs finances are
likely to face sharp and heavy cuts since free television licenses will be bestowed on those over 75
years. Its current volume of subsidy of about 3.7
billion pounds will continue, though.
However, in a bid to affect savings, BBC had
earlier this year announced plans to shear over
1,000 senior positions, slash coverage and disband
some news bureaus in foreign countries. But, the
overall cut is not likely to exceed 10 percent.
REAL REASON
But the main provocation for slashing BBCs size
and scale lies elsewhere. These are said to be
the excellent and diverse 24 news
programs of BBC. Paradoxically, BBCs compre-

NEW PLANS
(Top) BBCs
director-general
Tony Hall
(Left) Britains
Chancellor of the
Exchequer
George Osborne

32 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

BBC needs a new look. New ideas have


emerged and new technologies have
changed broadcasting models. It suffers
from shrinking audience, dipping revenue,
diluted credibility and flat artistic content.
 Highly

hensive, timely and well-written commentaries


and investigative news analysis have impacted
heavily on the advertising revenue and circulation
of daily newspapers. In fact, it has profusely stifled them.
The Times explained it recently: The BBC
rolled a rival (news source) so fast that it beat the
morning papers to the hilt; many local (London)
and regional (British) established dailies and weekly publications have disappeared. The fact is that
print media are having a really, really tough
time. Many rival television channels, ITV News,
for example, have been reportedly flattened by
high-quality BBC shows.
Its commercial service has been an inordinate
success and has fattened its bank balances. But,
according to its mandate, the Corporation is not
only committed to earn money, but its responsibilities are more than just commercial. As Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman recently
stated: The BBC will be told to return to its public service roots and do away with highly commercial programs (mostly patterned on American
TV shows).

The government has, meanwhile, recently


published a Green Paper on BBC, where it
questions whether the entire mission statement
of BBC is correct or whether it should stop chasing viewers and provide more public service programs. An eight-member experts panel, set up
by British culture secretary John Whittingdale,
has been appointed with a brief to conduct
Root-and-Branch reform of BBC and set out a
new charter thatll come into force in 2017.
BURNING ISSUES
The panel will detail its future programming
strategies and spell out devices to tackle the following burning issues bedeviling it:
 Licence fee non-payment to be decriminalized.
As of now, non-payment leads to fine and prison.
 No license fee for people 75 years and above.

commercial entertainment programs


may be disbanded.
 Examining funding models: household tax;
subscription; means-tested license (ability to pay).
 Scale back website, as it has been completely
crowding out the national newspapers, as George
Osborne has said, adding: Its a good product but
its becoming a bit more imperial in its ambitions.
 Replacing the BBC Trust; setting up a new
broadcasting regulator.
 Figuring out the kind of BBC we want to have
in future.
Since BBC has expanded rather disproportionately, it felt that it should be of a smaller, modest size, providing public service broadcasting
and such programs that commercial sector
broadcasting cannot provide, ending purely entertainment shows. The panel, which includes
eminent broadcasters and former social media
executives, will scrutinize clues about the direction in which the government wants to take BBC.
Finally, since the broadcasting business is
being extensively digitalized, and latest technological gadgets are forming an essential part of the
key operations, new sources will have to be commandeered to fund spiraling operational costs. As
BBC is globally known to be credible, objective
and unbiased, itll have to maintain its essential
services to keep its image intact.
Befittingly, as Whittingdale underlined: No
one is seriously proposing the BBCs abolition.
One serious area of contention is the extent to
which the BBC manages to meet its impartiality
obligation and how best this should be achieved
and regulated.

CHARTING A NEW PATH


(Left) An eight-member
panel has been set up by
British Culture Secretary
John Whittingdale to
reform BBC

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 33

TRENDS You Tube Video


Kodaikanal Wont

Quicksilver Response
A rap song has garnered over 10 lakh views on social media and raised
public consciousness about mercury poisoning in Kodaikanal
BY RAMESH MENON

A
POP MUSIC FOR PROTEST
(Above) Sofia Ashrafs
rap, Kodaikanal
Wont, went viral,
raising cries of protest
across social media

song wrapped around a principled stand can make waves and


arouse public consciousness.
This was more than evident with
Kodaikanal Wont, a rap song
video that went viral and got over 10 lakh views.
The song highlights mercury poisoning that has
crippled the picture-postcard hill station of Kodaikanal and which has been allegedly caused by
a thermometer factory owned by Hindustan
Unilever Limited (HUL).
The song by Chennai-based rapper Sofia
Ashraf was generously shared, applauded and debated. Smartly put together with popular music

34 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

that the young relate to, the video exhorts listeners


to get Unilever to clean up the poisonous mess it
has created, endangering the life of residents
and tourists. Sofias rap talks about how the company dumped mercury in Kodaikanal and did
nothing to clean up the contamination. It also
talks of social responsibility and how Unilever did
not even compensate those who were affected.
FORMIDABLE TOOL
So powerful has the video become that even a
heavy duty advertisement campaign of a company
wouldnt be able to match it. Sofia shows how
music, combined with social media, can be a

formidable tool to attract public attention to an


issue. But this isnt the first time she has done this.
Earlier, she took on Dow Chemicals, the current
owners of Union Carbide Corporation, in a similar video.
The Kodaikanal video is a part of NGO
Jhatkaas campaign against Unilever. Its inspired
by Nicki Minajs hit number Anaconda. Minaj,
with 20 million Twitter followers, tweeted her admiration for Kodaikanal Wont, which immediately helped it go viral. In the first 48 hours, it
attracted three lakh views!
An online petition by Jhatkaa was signed by
over 12,000 viewers in the same time period. The
video was featured on The New York Times, The
Huffington Post, The New Indian Express, FirstPost,
the Newsminute, IBN Live, BuzzFeed, ScoopWhoop, VH1, Bitch Media, and many other Indian
and international publications.
RECKLESS DUMPING?
Unilever had acquired the thermometer factory
from Ponds India in 1987. There were a series of
complaints at the turn of the century that HUL
was recklessly dumping mercury waste in the
Kodaikanal region, which led to public protests.
Organizations like Greenpeace and Tamil Nadu
Alliance Against Mercury stepped up pressure on
the multinational.
HUL insisted it did not dump glass waste contaminated with mercury on land behind its factory. It said that scrap glass containing mercury
had been sold to a scrap dealer about three kilometers away in March 2001. This was a fact that
Greenpeace highlighted.
The company said there were no adverse impacts on the health of employees and it had been
confirmed by many studies.
HUL engaged URS Dames & Moore as
independent international environmental consultants to make an assessment of the site. URS concluded that the Kodai Lake and the workers had
not been affected in any way by the mercury.

However, it said that remediation of soil was


needed at the factory site.
HUL CLAIMS
An HUL investigation, started after a public outcry, showed that 5.3 tons of mercury tainted glass
scrap had been sold in breach of its established
procedures. In June 2001, HUL said it had removed 7.4 tons of mercury bearing glass scrap and
the soil beneath the scrap from the scrap yard to
its factory premises for safe storage. It claimed to
have built five silt traps to prevent discharge into
the soil from the factory site to Pambar Valley, the
only direction where the water flows out.
HUL also sent 290 tons of material, which included mercury bearing glass scrap, semi-finished
and finished thermometers, effluent plant waste
and elemental mercury to New York for recovery
of mercury and recycling. Between February and
May 2006, the plant and machinery used at the
site were decontaminated and disposed of as scrap
to industrial recyclers.
Let us rewind to see how it all started.
Cheseborough-Ponds Inc in Watertown, New
York, closed down its mercury thermometer plant
in 1983 and relocated it to India. HUL later acquired the plant and soon, its thermometers were
exported to various countries.
Reports said that more than 45 people had
prematurely died due to the effects of mercury
poisoning and that workers and their families suffered from numerous health hazards as mercury
particles were carried home by the workers (as it
stuck to clothes). Workers went to court demanding compensation but a court committee said that
it had not found enough evidence to link the
health complications to mercury. As public
protests increased, Unilever decided to shut the
factory on June 21, 2001.
Jhatkaa says Unilever CEO Paul Polman has
remained silent after the rap video. But what matters is that it has got thousands talking about
something that was almost forgotten.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Former workers at the HUL
factory allege that mercury
poisoning has led to
premature deaths

Ashrafs is a
fascinating
way of fusing
the local
agitprop
politics with
the global,
sprawling
beast that is
the internet,
catapulting a
small
movement to
international
spotlight in a
matter of days.
DailyO

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 35

Book Review

TV
Review
Debates

The True American

FOUR Ps
SARTORIAL WINNERS
Gaurav Sawant, Rahul
Shivshankar, Sunetra
Choudhury

TV news
anchors
achieved the
impossible:
making
discussions on
pornography
boring.
Poker-faced
anchors drew
bland
responses
from deadpan
guests.

Lackluster programs, despite


the domination of pornography
and Priyanka, only led to a big
yawn and channel surfing
BY BHAVDEEP KANG

ARLIAMENT, Pakistan and


Pornography dominated TV
discourse. The drama in the
Lok Sabha, an increasingly
puerile game of one-upmanship
between Treasury and Opposition, was only partly enlivened by an indignant Sonia Gandhi fulminating before the cameras on the murder of democracy. Rahul
Gandhi was, as always when excited or feigning excitement, merely shrill. The confrontation, escalated by
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajans suspension of
25 Congress MPs, degenerated into the standard tu tu
mein mein between the BJP and the Congress.
TV news anchors, meanwhile, achieved the impossible: making discussions on pornography boring.
The governments decision to ban 857 porn websites
drew sententious disapproval from talking heads. Infringement of personal liberty was repeated ad nauseum. Overcompensating for a subject perhaps too
spicy for our sanitized drawing rooms, poker-faced anchors drew bland responses from deadpan guests. The
government was treading on dangerous ground, seeking to censor the er...private space. The clarification
that only sites featuring child porn would be blocked,
put a welcome end to the blah-blah.
News from Pakistan gave TV anchors their I-toldyou-so moment. Tariq Khosa, who headed the Federal
Investigation Agency probing the 26/11 assault on
Mumbai, obliged them by stating the plot was hatched
on Pakistani soil. Old footage of Ajmal Amir Kasab,
the only militant to have been arrested (and subse-

36 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

quently executed) was aired. Indian hawks bristled


at Pakistans blatant chicanery, moustachios vibrating, chins quivering.
To the three rather boring Ps was added a
fourthPriyankawith NewsX posing the rather piquant question of why the Gandhi-Vadras were so
secretive about their property in Himachal Pradesh.
The unfortunate boo-boo by AAPs Somnath
Bhartithat beautiful women should be safe in
Delhigarnered inordinate footage. Time would
have been better spent, perhaps, on RBI governor
Raghuram Rajans apparent entente with the Ministry of Finance (although not without a broadside
on mounting NPAs).
All in all, one big yawn and excellent exercise for
the channel-surfing thumb. The sartorial choices of
news anchors were more titillating than content.
India Todays Gaurav Sawant challenged the fashion
police in shiny suit and striped tie, while NewsXs
Geeta Menon charmed in a simple handloom sari
and understated earrings.
While on the subject, the nominees for the Most
Dashing TV News Anchor of the Year are: Rahul
Shivshankar of NewsX for his designer stubble and
sharp suits; Arnab Goswami of Times Now for his
geeky appeal and fearless choice of neckwear but
mostly because we didnt dare leave him out; Sunetra Choudhury of NDTV for her funtoosh fusionwear and (lets face it) adorable dimples. And the
award goes to...stick with us, well be back after the
ad break. Next week...Spot the Toupee contest.

ISLAMS MERCIFUL FACE


It takes love and forgiveness from one man to show that the
hate propagated by various groups in the name of Islam is
nothing but a sham. A moving book set in modern times
BY SHOBHA JOHN

VEN as major parts of the world


are subsumed by hate, violence and
brutal killings by terror groups such
as the IS, Boko Haram and Al
Qeada, here comes an uplifting
book about forgiveness and mercy,
love and compassion, patience and faithall that the
Koran propagates.
Americas war on terror has no easy answers. After
the 9/11 terror strike unleashed global repercussions, it
affected the common man in strange and piquant ways.
The True American by Anand Giridharadas is a heart-

breaking story about how the lives of two disparate men


from different backgrounds got interlinked. While one
is a right-wing, swastika-tattooed white chauvinist from
Texas, the other is a quiet Bangladeshi who comes to the
US looking for a new life. Instead, his life becomes a
whirlwind of pain and suffering, thanks to the American,
leading to a catharsis of sorts where he forgives the
American and moves on to improve the lives of others,
making us ask who is the true American.
MEANING OF AMERICA
The story moves back and forth between Raisuddin
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 37

Book Review
The True American

LEAP OF FAITH
(Left) Devotees at the
holy shrine at Mecca;
(below) author Anand
Giridharadas

Bhuiyan decides to
campaign for the
life of his
attacker because
Islam doesnt allow
hate and killing.
And that is what
makes this book so
relevant
today.

HATE BEGETS HATE


(Top and above) ISIS
militants
unleashing terror

Bhuiyan, the victim, and Mark Stroman, the accused, keeping the narrative interesting and alive.
Bhuiyan, a Bangladeshi Air Force officer, comes to
the US leaving behind a loving family and a pining
girlfriend. He starts by working in a mini-mart in
Texas and is a quick learner. However, one fateful
day, Stroman, an Amercian living on the fringes of
society with a love for guns, bikes, women and
drugs, walks in and shoots him, thinking he is an
Arab. Following 9/11, Stromans views on Arabs and
other races became quite pronounced and he is
seething with vengeance and anger towards them.
Yet, he wasnt sure what Arabs looked like. The book

38 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

says: He thought Americaought to be preserved


as it was, not perennially remade. He believed that
if you dont like America, you were free to leave it.
The shooting leaves Bhuiyan with one eye and
incapacitated for months. Even as he piles up a huge
hospital bill, Stroman is arrested. Both their lives
change forever.
As Bhuiyan struggles to get back to his feet, his
dream of marrying Abida, his childhood friend, is
dying a slow death as her parents are pressurizing
her to marry someone else. Initially, though he fell
back on the generosity and hospitality of his friends,
he starts seeing himself as a burden. Meanwhile, his
parents in Bangladesh are shocked and griefstricken over their son being shot and keep asking
him to come home.
Stroman, meanwhile, is sent to jail for shooting
three persons, including Bhuiyan. While the other
two die, Bhuiyan lives. As the trial gets under way,
the main question before the jury is: Should Mark
Stroman continue living? He was lucky to be staying
in Texas, where punishment for a hate crime could
be nothing more than a life sentence. But
if
implicated for capital murder, he could get the death
penalty.
Even as the trial continues, Stroman meets Ilan

Ziv, a documentary filmmaker, who takes a liking


to him and then, begins a poignant friendship between them through conversations, letters, email
and then, video camera. As Stroman gains increasing popularity and sympathy, he uses these tapes to
reach out to his children and leave behind a message
of hope and love. And he comes to a crucial realization: A person can have all the money in the
worldand still not know what true happiness is.
MECCAS DRAW
Bhuiyan finally manages to set his life on the right
track and goes home to Bangladesh. There, he is
shocked to find out that his fiance has had a change
of heart and has moved on. Heartbroken, he embarks on a trip to Mecca with his dear mother. Here,
among the swirling crowds, he feels the mesmeric
power of faith, of the enduring and transcendent appeal of Gods message. He realizes he has been saved
because God has a larger purpose for him and that
there was something good going to be done by me.
As he feels peace, love and forgiveness, there is a sea
change in his life.

When he gets back to the US, and attains citizenship, he resolves to work for his adopted country
and become a New American. He starts networking, attends community meeting, peace conferences, political fundraisers in fact, anything that
would enable him to bridge the enmity and mistrust
between Islam and America post 9/11. He asks:
And where this hate is taking us? Nowhere.
As he gets more and more popularity speaking
about his story, the date for deciding Stromans execution draws near. And then, in one of the most
moving acts of kindness, Bhuiyan decides to campaign for the life of his attacker because Islam
doesnt allow hate and killing, and forgiveness is the
best policy. And that is what makes this book so relevant todayit propagates an Islam so different
from that of various hate groups, be it the IS or
Al-Qaeda.
Does Bhuiyan succeed in saving Stromans life?
Well, we wont give the plot away. Read the book and
come away feeling uplifted, knowing that love and
forgiveness can indeed free this world of hate
and violence.

THE TRUE AMERICAN


By Anand Giridharadas
HarperCollins
Rs 599, 314 pages

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 39

Editors Pick
Shovon Chowdhury

To our
Porn-Again

Patriots

VON brings in each issue,


the best written commentary
on any subject. The following
write-up, published in The
Economic Times, has been picked
by our team of editors and
reproduced for our readers as
the best in the fortnight.

Amitava Sen

The author presents


his wishlist of obscene
things to be banned
from public life in a
letter to government
authorities
40 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

Dear Competent Authority,


Its good that you are taking action against porn sites. This is undoubtedly the biggest problem facing the nation. Only someone selected
through a rigorous process such as the IAS entrance exam could have
had the brains, the courage and the vision to see this.
Thanks to the efforts of you and your colleagues over the last 70
years, the nation has made giant strides in the fields of health, education and plumbing. You take such good care of us. Nothing escapes
your eagle eye. Your diligence and hard work are an example to us all.

When it comes to moral behaviour, you and the officers reporting to you have always set the standard. Members of the public who are lucky enough to deal with the
government see this every day .
But you know that setting an example isnt enough.
This is why youve tirelessly defended the rules that
Britains Queen Victoria laid down for us in 1861. Since
she was a white person, she knew better. It is entirely to
your credit that you and your colleagues have ensured
that in over 150 years, not even a comma or a full stop in
that document has been changed.
The only exception was in 1950, when references to
the viceroy were removed. By rigorously implementing
these rules, you have ensured that our morals do not
decay. You have specified very precisely what we can do
in the bedroom, and whom we can do it with.
However, over time, you have realised that simply
policing our bedrooms may not be enough. The internet
is misguiding the public. Hence, you are now regulating
our fantasies. This is a big step. Only China is slightly
ahead of us and, hopefully , we will soon catch up.
In this way, you have struck a giant blow against
obscenity. This is right and proper. No one likes obscenity.
Obscenity corrupts the soul. Knowing how responsive
you are to the needs of the public, were providing a list of
some other obscene things, which we feel should also be
banned.
 Government officers gorging on kababs and biryani
while monitoring flood relief .
 Journalists being burned alive and everyone going
scot-free.
 Government positions being sold for cash.
 Government officers investigating each other, and
giving each other clean chits.
 IFS officers getting foreign passports for their children.
 Police abusing the public in the filthiest of language,
unless they own a car.
 Education department officers in swank offices, while
government school children go without toilets.
 Soldiers lacking ammunition, body armour and coffins,
because the files at the defense ministry are getting
slightly delayed.
 Government officers who flout all service rules

No one likes obscenity. Knowing how


responsive you are to the needs of the
public, were providing a list of some
other obscene things, which we feel
should also be banned.
and never actually retire, instead going on to become
authorities.
 Investigation of expense vouchers of the select few,
while catering bills for lavish public weddings are ignored.
 Lecturing us on swachhata, while providing the majority of citizens with neither plumbing nor water. Your
bungalows and your armies of servants, who are also government employees, paid for by the public to serve you.
 The rule that no government officer can be prosecuted
in a court of law without permission from the government, which due to pressure of work, you are frequently
unable to give.
All of these things seem to be extremely obscene. If
we are fighting obscenity , these things need to be banned.
Please do take time out from your busy schedule to consider our proposal. Apart from releasing the proposal in
mass media, which you are monitoring, we are also printing it out, putting it in a file held together by string, and
sending it to you by registered post. This will ensure that
it can move through the proper channels.
We hope you will take this suggestion in the right
spirit, and not send the enforcement directorate to our
houses. We are only trying to help. The truth is, the
current arrangement has a fatal flaw. Even without access
to porn sites, all we have to do to get our daily dose of
obscenity is watch the evening news.
Confident in your intelligence, commitment and
patriotism, we look forward to your very prompt action
on the above points at the earliest.
With regards,
Your obedient servant,
Shovon Chowdhury
Published in The Economic Times
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 41

EDIA-GO-ROUND

EVERY FORTNIGHT VIEWS ON NEWS WILL BRING YOU TELL-ALL


NEWS, ANALYSES AND OPINION FROM THE SHARPEST INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS AND MOST INCISIVE MINDS IN THE NATION

Zee Networks Lamhe fined


`25

lakh by UK media watchdog

ZEE NETWORKS Lamhe channel


has been fined `25 lakh by UK
media watchdog OfCom for a
program that claimed yoga was
helpful for treating cancer and
hernia. The show Yoga for You,
by Dr Pankaj Naram, could lead
cancer patients to delay treatment
and risk their life, claims OfCom.
According to The Guardian,

Cuss words

Paytm bags

ban withdrawn

sponsorship rights
for cricket matches

THE CONTROVERSIAL list of banned


words that was circulated by the
Central Board of Film Certification
(CBFC) soon after Pahlaj Nihalani
took over as chairperson, has been
withdrawn after a majority of members voted against it. The move to
ban all the words in the list met with
opposition from film-makers and
even the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting is understood to have
been not too pleased with the
controversy. Apart from the list
banning certain words, the ministry
is understood to have discussed
issues related to expediting the
online certification of films.

ONE97 COMMUNICATIONS, owner of ecommerce website Paytm, has acquired


the title sponsorship rights for India's domestic and international cricket matches at home.
This is for a four-year period. The bid was for
`203.28 crore. The decision to award the
rights to One97 Communications till 2019

OfCom said it found the claim made


by Dr Naram that he had successfully treated 75,000 cancer patients,
who had been living normally for 15
years after they were told by doctors
that they wouldnt live for over three
months, was dangerous. The
watchdog said there was an
appreciable risk of harm to patients
who followed such treatment.

An ENC Publication
If the media is leaving you behind, stay ahead of it by picking up yesterdays Views On News!

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was taken at the BCCI's marketing committee


meeting. Paytm will pay `2.42 crore for
every international match hosted by BCCI in
India. From now on, the domestic Ranji
competition will be known as Paytm Ranji
Trophy.

Gujarat govt to have social media platforms


GUJARAT GOVERNMENT department websites will shortly be
seen in a new avatar, with user-friendly content on new social
media platforms. This is a bid to deliver reliable, accurate and updated information to people. The state government has directed
its departments to ensure that the content of all its websites is in
both Gujarati and English. Apart from making websites more accurate, attractive and user-friendly, the government has planned
to make them more secure and participative.

Live coverage irks govt


THE MINISTRY of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) is
examining TV footages of the Punjab terror attack by certain
news channels, following complaints from the Union Home
Ministry about violation of its advisory that bars live coverage of anti-terror operations, The Times of India reports.
Several TV channels, including Doordarshan, telecast the
gun-battle, which began early July 27 morning, flouting the
governments guidelines that restrict the coverage of
anti-terror ops to periodic official briefings.
42 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

Views On News (VON) is Indias premier fortnightly magazine that


covers the wide spectrum of modern communication loosely known
as the media. Its racy, news and analysis oriented story-telling
encompasses current global and Indian developments, trends, future
projections encompassing policy and business drifts, the latest from
inside the print and electronic newsrooms, the exciting developments
in ever-expanding digital space, trending matters in the social media,
advertising, entertainment and books.

Governance Section

HYGIENE

ENVIRONMENT

VIEWS ON NEWS
WHAT HAPPENED TO
NAMOS TOILET PROMISE?

GLOBAL BUZZ
OVER BEES

52

48

www.viewsonnewsonline.com

AUGUST 07, 2015

`50

Bihar Elections:

UNLEASHING
UNL
UNPRECEDENTED
UNPRE
PR
BBLITZKRIEG
LI
State to get
carpet-bombed
carpet-bom
c
mb by
multi-crore
a multi-c
r
no-holds-barred
no-holds-b
b
d
Who are
campaign. W
c
a
behind
the people b
n
nd
mega
the meg
g
strategies?
s
strat
egie
e
12

AARUSHI MURDER RE-VISITED:


Avirook Sens book creates national furore.
Ajith Pillai analyzes medias role 18
NEWS ON
THE GO:
Your fingers
do the
walking 30

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DATE
21/7/15

21/7/15

21/7/15

22/7/15

22/7/15

22/7/15

23/7/15

NEWS
BSP opposes Land Bill; Mayawati calls it
anti-farmer, demands resignations of
corrupt ministers.

BJP supports all party meeting, does


not want to waste parliaments time:
Arun Jaitley.

Yakub Memons Curative Petition


dismissed; Supreme Court upholds
death penalty.

Mayawati targets Sushma Swaraj,


Vasundhara Raje in Rajya Sabha; calls
Vyapam scam a national issue.
Rajya Sabha adjourned after
opposition parties create furor over
Lalit Gate and Vyapam scam.
Sushma Swaraj to reveal the name of
Congress minister who pressured her to
issue diplomatic passport to coal scam
accused Santosh Bagrodia.

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

11.05 AM

11.05 AM

11.06 AM

11.06 AM

24/7/15
12.42 PM

12.42 PM

12.43 PM

02.52 PM

02.54PM

2.55 PM

2.55 PM

2.55PM

24/7/15
11.35 AM

11.36 AM

11.37 AM

2.06 PM

2.06 PM

10.38 AM

10.39 AM

10.40 AM

10.55 AM

27/7/15

44 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

11.22 AM

11.22 AM

11.23 AM

11.28 AM

27/7/15
11.34 AM

11.34 AM

11.34 AM

11.35 AM

11.35 AM

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

11.53 AM

11.53 AM 11.53 AM

11.54 AM 11.54 AM 11.55 PM

Rahul Gandhi raises land acquisition issue in


Anantapur rally; slams PM for anti-farmer
bill.

Yakub Memon challenges death


warrant in TADA court; plea hearing
to be held in SC .

10.30 AM

12.21 PM

1.35 PM

1.35 PM

12.22 PM

1.37 PM

12.23 PM

1.44 PM

Mumbai Sessions Court rejects Teesta


Setalvads anticipatory bail plea.
2.31 PM

2.31 PM

10.38 AM

10.39 AM

2.31 PM

PM Modi launches five new schemes


in Bihar ahead of polls; addresses
Muzaffarpur rally.

2:07 PM

25/7/15
10.38 AM

Rahul Gandhi slams PM for his silence


on Lalit Gate and Vyapam; calls
Sushma Swaraj a criminal for helping
an accused.

11.37 AM

25/7/15
2.06 PM

NEWS

12.46 PM

24/7/15

11.21 AM

23/7/15

DATE
23/7/15

Sonia Gandhi attacks government; alleges


opposition protest not shown on camera.

Virat Kohli to captain team India for


three-test Sri Lanka tour; Amit Mishra
returns to the team.

Here are some of the major news items aired on television


channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media
monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in
different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.

No alternative for development; growth


is mandatory to eradicate poverty and
unemployment, says Modi at the
Muzaffarpur rally.
Two policemen, seven passersby injured in
terrorist strike on a Gurdaspur police station.
Terrorists attack in army uniforms. Firing on.

10.39 AM

10.40 AM

11.00 AM 11.01 AM 11.02 AM

11.02 AM

11.03 AM

11.05 AM

07.15 AM 07.17 AM 07.18 AM

07.18 AM

07.19 AM

07.19 AM

Official announcement awaited. All


three terrorists killed. Eighteen,
including Gurdaspur SP killed.
05.30 PM

05.30 PM

05.31 PM

05.31 PM

VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015 45

DATE
28/7/15

28/7/15

NEWS
Judges fail to reach consensus on death
sentence for Yakub; final decision to be
taken by a larger Supreme Court bench
tomorrow.

NEWS

CHANNEL TIME

3/8/15
12.38PM

29/7/15

30/7/15

1/8/15

10:43AM

1.19 PM

04.31 PM

10:49AM

Lone convict in 1993 blasts in Mumbai,


Yakub Memon hanged to death.
Post-mortem being conducted. Body
to be handed over to relatives.
Last rites of Kalam in Rameshwaram
today. A sea of humanity pays tributes.
Cremation to be attended by dignitaries
from across India.

07.02AM

10.21 AM

10:49AM

Building collapses in Thane near


Mumbai. Six die, seven injured. The
structure was built more than 50
years ago.

07.04 AM

07.06 AM

10:50AM

3:49 PM

3:49 PM

07.04AM

Large-scale transfers in 27 districts of


Bihar. Transfers include 44 IPS, 49 IAS
officers, 27 district officers.

46 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

3:49 PM

07.05AM

10.22 AM

10.40 AM

Flooding brings traffic at Kolkata station to a


halt. Low-lying areas of the city affected.

5/8/15
09.52 AM

10.10 AM

5/8/15
3.15PM

3.18PM

10.05AM

11.01AM

5/8/15
10.20 AM

10.00AM

11.00AM

4/8/15
07.01AM

Congress Parliamentary Committee


meeting concludes. Sonia says PM is
not focused on work. Rahul insists on
resignations of tainted BJP leaders.

CHANNEL TIME

04.32 PM

4/8/15
3:49 PM

NEWS

Bedlam in Lok Sabha over pay issue. We


Want Justice slogans rock the lower
house.

SC decides on Yakub death sentence.


Hanging upheld.

09.34 AM

1/8/15

1.17 PM

4/8/15

3:49 PM

30/7/15

1.16 PM

3/8/15
4.30 PM

29/7/15

12.40PM

CCTV images found in Gurdaspur attack.


CCTV cameras were installed in the police
station.

Two Indians get Ramon Magsaysay.


Sanjiv Chaturvedi fought corruption as
CVO of AIIMS. Anshu Gupta is founder of
Goonj NGO.

DATE

3.18PM

3.22PM

Rajya Sabha adjourned for 12 hours. Both


houses of parliament see Opposition
protest.

CBI teams raids several properties of


former chief of NOIDA Authority, Yadav
Singh; interrogate many officers.

NEWS

11.00 AM

11.00 AM

10.07AM

11.02AM

07.10 AM

07.11 AM

11.02 AM

10.19 AM

10.20 AM

10.24 AM

Bogies of Kamayani Express and Janata


Express get derailed. 10 bogies fall into
river. 20 dead, more than 100 injured.

7.10 AM

7.10 AM

Terrorists attack Jammu-Srinagar Highway,


kill one BSF jawan. One terrorist killed; two
more could be hiding in forest.

9.00 AM

9.36 AM

9.32 AM

12.13 PM

12.15 PM

12.17 PM

12.10 PM

7.12 AM

Special PML Court issues Non-bailable


warrant against Lalit Modi.
12.18 PM

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 47

Film Review Masaan

A stirring film about fate


H

Based in
Varanasi,
it deals
with fragile
relationships,
daily
struggles and
eternal hope
just what life
is all about
BY RAMESH MENON

ERE is a film that shows


how Indian filmmakers are
bravely experimenting and
succeeding. The moment
Masaan starts, you can
gauge the tension and the emotional wringing
that is to follow. Set in Varanasi, the city where
many go to die as they believe that it will lead to
salvation, director Neeraj Ghaywans debut film
has won two awards at the Cannes International
Festival. It subtly deals with fragile relationships,
the daily struggle to confront reality and an eter-

STARRY EYED
Vicky Kaushal and
Shweta Tripathi s
portrayal of the star
crossed lovers will tug at
your heart-strings

48 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

nal hope that we all nurture. All this and much


more are wrapped in two heart-breaking stories
tied together by screenplay writer Varun Grover
who was an assistant to Anurag Kashyap.
It shows.
Masaan has it all: repression, rebellion, repentance, fear, guilt, love, longing and broken
dreams; all weaved in a seamless tapestry by cinematographer Avinash Arun. Varanasi, where
the film has been majorly shot, wrestles with itself as it is a theatre of life and death, hope and
despair, love and loss.

So we have some amazing shots of funeral


pyres being stoked by those in the Dom community who are from a lower caste and have
traditionally done this. Many, like lead actor
Vicky Kaushal (Deepak), hate doing it. He does
not want to follow in his fathers footsteps, but
there is little choice even though he is studying
to become a civil engineer. But hope and love are
eternal and he wants to get away.
So do many others like Richa Chadda (Devi)
who wants to get out of the trappings of a small
city and explore the world outside its narrow
confines and choti soch (small thought). If only
life was so easy.
Vicky is smitten by pretty Shweta Tripathi
(Shaalu), who also puts in a good performance.
As he dates her, his friends enviously watch him.
But everything cannot be hunky dory as he realizes latergetting married to a high caste girl
living in a posh area will not be easy. They live
fairly modern lives in a traditional setting, but
caste is a shackle they cannot shake off. As fate
has it, one day, many bodies come to the cremation ghat after a bus accident and Vicky is pulled
out of home to help cremate them. The one that
comes to him is of his love, who had changed
the way he looked at life, with hope and longing.
TRAGIC TWIST
On another plane, Richa who wants to sample
the world, checks into a seedy hotel with her
boyfriend, wanting to experiment with sex. But
it turns out to be horribly tragic as the police
raids the hotel, shoots a video of her and then
blackmails her. The boy, terrified that his father
will come to know as the cops threaten him,
commits suicide. The cops now threaten to
frame Richa for abetment of suicide. But if her
father coughs up `3 lakh, theyll ensure that the
video is not put on YouTube.
The father, played by Sanjay Mishra (Vidyadhar)
who is a retired Sanskrit teacher, is at his wits
end as he just sells religious trinkets on the

In the theatre of life and death,


Masaan has it all: repression,
rebellion, repentance, fear, guilt,
love, longing and broken dreams;
all weaved in a seamless tapestry.
ghats. He battles to save both his daughters and
his own reputation and dignity.
Richa wallows in pangs of guilt and works to
gather some money for her father while hanging
on to the pains of the past. All along, you want
to escape too as you watch the stirrings of the
characters. Even little Jhonta, played by Nikhil
Sahni, does all he can to help collect enough
money for the bribe to the police inspector.
Newcomer Vicky whips out a memorable
performance. He is a natural. We will be seeing
a lot of him in time to come. Beautiful film.

LUST FOR LIFE


(Above) Richa Chadda as
Devi involves the viewer in
her struggle to escape the
suffocating ghats of Varanasi

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 49

Design

DESIGNS THAT MADE IMAGINATIVE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS,


FONTS, COLOR AND WHITE SPACES TO LEAVE AN IMPRESSION

Graphics given new life.


The New York Times
has made a great visual
feast of statistics on
mortgage. On the first
look though, the
highrises convey the
impression of density
of urbanization,
or, alternatively,
property rates.

By ANTHONY LAWRENCE
As the country debates capital punishment,
heres a timely cover from Time. And with
a stunning, lasting impact.

Can the target audience of toddlers ever get


bored of jungle stories? Just the right cover,
with welcoming colors and characters.

Is this for real, or are we stepping into the world of 3D street art? German artist
Edgar Mller recently created this magic at the Festival of World Cultures in
Dn Laoghaire, Ireland. The painting gives the impression of camera angle. The
spectator, from whichever angle he views the painting, gets the feeling that this
would be the point where a camera must have been installed. Only, its the
strokes of a brush that have created this wonder.
50 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

This is not sheer magic. This is design template for a


new range of T-shorts by KharmaNYC.com, a new,
cause-driven lifestyle brand. Kharma had invited nine
artists to design on the theme This is What Matters to
Me, supporting a cause dear to them. In the design
below, designer and surfer Emil Kozak chose Surfing
4 Peace to foster unity in the water.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Cameroonian artist


Pascale Marthine Tayou certainly sees a lot of beauty in
poly-packs. He made use of thousands of poly-packs in his
art installation in the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome.
VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 51

olitcs
PSpotlight
BJP-RSS Ties

Cleared it
with Boss
Modi?
OUT OF ACTION
(Top left) The RSS is
unhappy over
the center keeping it
out of the decisionmaking process
(Right) Krishna
Gopal, the RSS joint
general secretary in
charge of BJP affairs

HE coordination mechanism between the RSS


and the BJP-led government is showing signs of
strain. The RSS is concerned at the lack of
vichaar-vimarsh (consultation) in the process of
decision-making. RSS leaders, party workers, MPs
and even ministers are often not in the loop on
government strategy in and outside parliament.
According to RSS sources, the matter came up
on the sidelines of the recent organizational meet-

52 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

In the BJP, one man calls


the shotsthe PM. No
wonder, party MPs and
ministers are clueless
about government
strategy. There is also a
growing schism
between the party and
the RSS
BY BHAVDEEP KANG
ing in Nainital. Although it was acknowledged
that the present political environment allows the
expansion and growth of the RSS, the fact that the
mann ki baat of the rank and file is not being
heard figured in informal discussions. The mishandling of the IPL and Vyapam scams was also
mentioned, the general feeling being that consultations may have led to a more adroit approach.
In the normal course, the organizing secretary
of the BJPalways an RSS pracharakserves as
the link between the party and the Parivar. He
works in tandem with the RSS joint general sec-

retary in charge of BJP affairs. The link between


the Sangh and the party was strengthened postgeneral elections by deputing senior pracharaks
like Ram Madhav and Satya Prakash to the BJP.
They were to assist party president Amit Shah in
coordinating and consulting with the joint general
secretary and the various echelons of government
under the general supervision of RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi. But party sources
say the lack of empathy between Shah and the current RSS joint general secretary in charge of BJP
affairs, Krishna Gopal, is palpable.
On some occasions, Shah is said to have intervened on policy matters at the behest of the RSS.
One instance is on the question of diluting provisions of the Forest Rights Act to ease acquisition
of land for infrastructure projects. Strong opposition from the key RSS frontal, Vanvasi Kalyan
Ashram, stymied that move. The government
proved obdurate on the Land Bill, however, despite protests from the Parivar. Only when the
combined opposition of RSS organizations and
the Congress became a roar, did it back down.
Ministers and BJP MPs, famously clueless
about party strategies and top-level deliberations,

now find themselves the butt of Congress jokes.


Every statement is being met with: But have you
cleared it with the Boss Modi?
The RSS officially maintains it is an apolitical
organization, equidistant from all parties, although it approves of those with a nationalist bent.
However, it played a critical role in the BJPs success in the 2014 general elections through its formidable cadre and pan-Indian organizations.
Unofficially, it influences government appointments and policy. This is particularly true of the
HRD ministry, as education is a critical area for
the RSS. The excellent understanding between
HRD minister Smriti Irani and Krishna Gopal has
facilitated its interventions in this field.
Despite the disquiet over the top leaderships
method of functioning, there is no sign so far that
the acrimonious confrontations that marked
NDA-I will be repeated. During Atal Bihari Vajpayees tenure, the RSS frontals, notably the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharatiya Mazdoor
Sangh and Swadeshi Jagran Manch displayed considerable belligerence. The then joint general secretary in charge of the BJP, Madan Das Devi, was
hard put to keep peace.

CROSSING THE LINE?


(Left) BJP president Amit
Shahs alleged interference
in RSS affairs has made
matters worse
(Right) HRD minister Smriti
Irani enjoys excellent
equations with Gopal

VIEWS ON NEWS

August 22, 2015 53

English is one of modern Indias twenty-two official languages, and is widely learned as the second language in
most countries. Enjoy it and avoid falling into some common error traps. BY MAHESH TRIVEDI

SMS LINGO FOR 21ST CENTURY

SPELLBINDING SPELLINGS

Use SMS, short messaging service, to your advantage.


No upwardly mobile executive or professional can do
without it. Some SMS abbreviations:
A3 anytime, anywhere, any place
ADN any day now
AFK away from keyboard
ATB all the best
BRT be right there
CB call back
Cul8r see you later
H2cus hope to see you soon
Kc keep cool
Pcm please call me

A wrong spelling can create a bad impression


about even good work. Master these
difficult spellings.
 Accidentally (..ally)
 Manoeuvre (oeu)
 Millennium (..llnn)
 Gauge (..au..)
 Necessary (css)
 Harassment (rss)
 Embarrassment (..rr..ss..)
 Minuscule (..nu)
 Connoisseur (.nnoisseur)
 Absorption (ption)

DID YOU KNOW?

WHEN YOU ARE SURPRISED

 Vicious circle, NOT cycle

Dont just say wow! when you are surprised...


 Crazy!
 Dont tell me!
 Jiggers!
 Go on!
 Jigs!
 Good golly, Miss Molly
 Like wow!
 Good heavens!
 Mercy!
 Goodness gracious!
 My goodness!
 Holy moley!
 No kidding!
 Holy smoke!
 Search me!
 Jeepers!
 Whammo!
 Jeepers-creepers!
 Wow!
 Jeez!

 Verbiage, NOT verbage


 Vocal cords, NOT chords
 Problematic, NOT problemsome
 Mothers-in-law, NOT mother-in-laws
 Equipment, NOT equipments
 Rarely, NOT rarely ever
 Expatriate, NOT ex-patriot
 Skittish, NOT skiddish
 Sliver of cake, NOT slither of cake
 Used to, NOT use to
 Heart-rending NOT Heart-rendering

ALL THAT BUREAUCRATESE!


Some people, especially bureaucrats, use long expressions
though the same can be said in simpler, fewer and better
words. Below is a list of some phrases babus are fond of, with
their easier alternatives on the right:
 In regard to.about, concerning
 In the event thatif
 At all time..............................always
 In accordance with.by, with
 As to whetherwhether
 In the majority of instancesmostly, usually
 Notwithstanding the fact thatalthough
 It is our opinion that.we think, we believe
 As per our telephonic discussionsas discussed
54 VIEWS ON NEWS August 22, 2015

SMARTEN YOUR TALK


Writers these days avoid sexist terms and prefer their neutral
equivalents:
 Salesman.sales representative
 Actressactor
 Manpower..staff, labour, workforce
 The common man...the average person
 Fireman..firefighter
 Cameraman.camera operator
 Man hourswork hours
 Mankindhumankind, humanity, people
 Authoress.author
 Hostess.host

RNI No. UPENG/2007/22571

Postal Regd. No. UP/GBD-204/2015-17


3ULQWHGRQ HYHU\PRQWK 3RVWHGDW6XE3RVW2IFH6HFWRU1RLGD

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