[Reader-list] Shouldn¹t Vir, Barkha step down now?

[SJabbar]

Actually the 2 cases are different.  Barkha Dutt just agrees to pass on a
message to Ghulam Nabi Azad asking him to contact Karunanidhi directly.
This in itself is not criminal.  Neither do we know whether she did indeed
pass on the message or was just humoring Radia.

Vir Sanghvi is on much shakier ground.  He actually has Radia dictate his
column on the Ambani feud to favour Mukesh Ambani while pretending to do so
in the national interest. Though not sure whether he ends up passing
messages to the Congress or indeed is just humoring Radia.
What's pretty clear from all these tapes is the entrenched nexus between
politicians, corporations and the media. Note that in her conversation with
Ratan Tata, Radia bemoans how greedy the media has become!


On 19/11/10 9:41 PM, "Samvit" <samvitr at gmail.com> wrote:

> This is such excellent stuff. It seems like a piece from a soap opera
> with all the masala of intrigue, deceit, backstabbers, etc. The dark
> and dirty side of the Congress and Barkha is so openly portrayed.
> Barkha who has/had this image of "holier than thou!!" comes out like a
> broker in the audio tapes. And there are people who call
> Karunanidhi..."us, buddhe ko bo do!!!" <tell that that old man(sic!)>
> 
> 
> 
> On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 7:04 PM, SJabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Check out the Outlook website for more dirt.  Here's just one of the
>> sickening audios.
>> 
>> http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=16-CongApniDukan20090522-17
>> 0040.wav
>> 
>> 
>> On 19/11/10 4:10 PM, "Aditya Raj Kaul" <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>>    Shouldn¹t Vir, Barkha step down now?
>> GN Bureau | November 19 2010
>> 
>> Nira
>>> Radia, a PR professional ­ or to put it plainly, a lobbyist ­ dictated
>> what
>>> goes into senior editor Vir Sanghvi¹s column and what NDTV anchor
>> Barkha Dutt
>>> should tell the Congress ahead of cabinet formation, going by
>> the telephonic
>>> conversations authorities tapped (read the
>>> transcripts
>> here<http://www.openthemagazine.com/>or read a report
>> here
>>> <http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=19112010>).
>> 
>> There¹s much
>>> more here than merely consulting an expert before writing a
>> column or
>>> anchoring a story. Veteran and iconic journalists purportedly took
>> brief from
>>> a corporate lobbyist and purportedly coordinated the backdoor
>> wheeling-dealing
>>> of a cabinet formation on behalf of business tycoons, if
>> these tapes are
>>> authentic. While we are in no position to endorse the
>> content, wouldn¹t these
>>> opinion-makers have asked a politician to resign
>> pending an inquiry?
>> 
>> The
>>> tapes reveal the ugly side of two of our venerable four estates.
>> 
>> As for the
>>> media, a veteran editor who plays a role in helping millions of
>> readers form
>>> opinion (we are being charitable here), stands compromised.
>> This is only an
>>> extension of the business of paid news (read our analysis
>> and the Press
>>> Council¹s unpublicised
>>> report
>> here<http://governancenow.com/news/regular-story/paid-news-press-counci
>>> ls-sham-report-hide-indian-medias-shame%29>.
>> While the other three estates
>>> have a degree of public accountability,
>> the
>> fourth estate goes scot free. A
>>> voter can question an MP once in five years,
>> but as a reader she has no way to
>>> question the editor.
>> 
>> As for the polity, the tapes raise the spectre of
>>> Œcorporate democracy¹, for
>> the corporates, by the corporates and of the
>>> corporates. To stem this trend,
>> as a small step, shouldn¹t the guardians of
>>> the public interest ­ Hindustan
>> Times and NDTV in this case ­ ask Sanghvi and
>>> Dutt to step down and face
>> inquiry?
>> 
>>   --
>> Aditya Raj Kaul
>> 
>> India Editor
>> The
>>> Indian, Australia
>> 
>> Web:
>>> http://activistsdiary.blogspot.com/
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