Views On News, July 22, Edition

Governance Section
LaMogate
YOGA
GA
VIEWS ON NEWS
STILL WIDE OPEN
MODIS NEW HINDUTVA AGENDA

DA
44
50
www.viewsonnewsonline.com
JULY 22, 2015
`50
On The Chopping Block

Iconic paper stares at imminent closure: Whos responsible? 10
Nihal Singh, Raghu Rai speak out
MURDOCH
EMPIRE:
Sons Rise Over
Horizon
26
OUTLOOK:
Sexist
gossip
boomerangs
42
CHOCOLATES:
How to make
fake research
into news
16
EDITORS NOTE
THE SCOURGE OF
DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING
THE NESTLE-MANUFACTURED Maggi noodles
story has social and economic ramifications that
go way beyond the controversy of their suitability
for mass consumption and whether lead and other
poisonous substances were added to the product
for taste enhancement and shelf-life longevity.
What is at stake is the very concept of advertising. Nothing sells or spreads without advertising
projecting the value of a message, a sermon, a
product, a technology, a method. Advertising is as
old a method of reaching out to others as the
Sermon on the Mount or Buddhas discourses at
Sarnath. Nothing wrong with the use of a pulpit. But
its misuse for spreading disinformation deserves
punishment either by the gods themselves or, in the
modern era, by specific laws designed to protect
the susceptible from the
devilish ways of snake oil
salesmen.
One such defensive
tool fashioned to safeguard children and susceptible audiences from
the deluge of disinformation in the so-called Information Age is loosely
known as the Consumer
Movement which began
gathering momentum in
the 1960s in the US under
the banner of the intrepid
crusader, Ralph Nader. He
saw the rapacity of unbridled corporations, working hand-in-glove with
4 VIEWS ON NEWS July 22, 2015
politicians and the media to dupe vulnerable patrons

and clients into buying unsafe and unreliable products, as the greatest threat to Americas freedom
and entrepreneurial spirit.
His book, Unsafe At Any Speed, took on the
mighty US automobile industry head on, exposing
how it deliberately cut corners and endangered
public safety for naked profit.
As a famous blurb for the book says: The book
has continuing relevance: it addressed what Nader
perceived as the political meddling of the car industry to oppose new safety features, which parallels
the debates in the 1990s over the mandatory fitting
of air bags in the United States, and industry efforts
by the industry lobby to delay the introduction of
crash tests to assess vehicle-front pedestrian protection in the European Union.
Naders crusade ultimately led to the introduction of seat-belts in all American automobiles, a
practice that spread across the world. But the main
lesson from Naders Raiders, as the followers of
his movement were called, was that as the Information Age and Consumer Age were spreading
with ferocious rapidity, consumers, in order to keep
abreast with the misuse of advertisingincreasingly through the electronic medianeeded to be
protected from predatory corporations and dangerous claims and products.
Even as the reach and power of advertising
broadened, so did the skepticism and caution of the
consumer. The introduction of seat belts was followed by landmark decisions such as banning cigarette advertising on TV and controlling violence in
TV programming for children. And the US political
system and Congress struck a delicate balance
between freedom of speech and opinion, as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution
and the right of the individual not to be bamboozled
by false and deceptive advertising.
The major regulatory blow against false advertising was struck by the Federal Trade Commission,
which started a special cell to monitor deceptive
advertising, a term used for describing claims
made by products on the basis of falsehoods or
without scientific evidence.
The federal government, through the Federal
Communications Commission which ensures fairness in spectrum allocation as well as broadcast
content, armed itself with the powers to cancel
broadcast licenses of TV channels if challenged by
citizen petitions on the grounds of misleading ads
or the failure of channels to uphold the highest standards of fairness and probity.
All this may sound draconian, but in practice, it
is not. Industry associations, consumer groups and
regulatory agencies work in close concert to ensure
that the media remains free from political interference and control as well as free from deceptive
advertising.
But this issues ProPublica story on chocolates
shows that it is not difficult to manufacture scientific evidence and make some outrageous
claim about the safety and efficacy of a product.
The Indian regulatory framework for consumer protectionexcept for the mostly dysfunctional MRTP
has not reached any real level of sophistication.
Actors wearing white gowns and posing as doctors make any claim they want to for medicinal
products. Scientists cite statistics to sell curealls. Milk additive makers claim Horlicks will fortify
Anil Shakya
The ProPublica story on chocolates

shows that its not difficult to
manufacture scientific evidence
and make an outrageous claim about
the safety and efficacy of a product.
milk without warning consumers that the product
is a carbohydrate enhancer which could add to the
Indian diabetes epidemic. Paint companies claim
weather-proof colors and cement companies guarantee walls against earthquakes. Actors sell skinwhiteners. Do we know if these creams contain
poisons? Do they whiten the skin? Do they exacerbate societal tendencies towards Aryan racism?
Even the benefits of yoga can be hyped!
The Nestle Maggi noodle controversy is a necessary, awareness-enhancing development in an
India that hurtles into the universe of consumerism,
unprotected from the accompanying specter of
deceptive advertising.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 5
VOLUME. VIII
ISSUE. 20
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 Editors
Prabir Biswas
Niti Singh
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
Sons Rise Over
Ruperts Kingdom
26
Rupert Murdoch hangs up his boots,

handing over the top jobs to his two
sons. MR DUA reports on the change
and profiles the media baron
Vice-President (Ad-Sales)
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Whats The
Whole Truth?
Media circles are
abuzz over Prabhu
Chawlas removal
as editorial director
of The New Indian
Express
Governance
35
YOGA INITIATIVE
Universal Panacea?
44
The media asked few questions

about yogas claims nor warned
about pitfalls, observes
DINESH C SHARMA
MODI CONTROVERSY
BOOK REVIEW
Dark Days of Excess
Chief Editorial Advisor

Inderjit Badhwar
CFO
Anand Raj Singh
VP (HR & General Administration)
Lokesh C Sharma
Circulation Manager
RS Tiwari
SPECIAL REPORT
LEDE
Unstately Burial?
RAJENDRA BAJPAI
reviews Coomi Kapoors
book on the Emergency,
where she recounts how
dictatorship in 1975
steam-rolled all
democratic institutions
10
The possession of Statesman House in Kolkata by SBI portends the demise

of a newspaper that was once the pride of the city, reports SUJIT BHAR
MEDIA MONITORING
I Fooled Millions Into Thinking

Chocolate Helps Weight Loss
16
CONTROVERSY
Outlook In A Soup
OBITUARY
A Passionate Crusader
32
A Pro-Publica exclusive report by JOHN BOHANNON on how sensational

headlines and smart presentation can dupe lazy journalists
The passing away of Praful Bidwai was a

huge loss to journalism and the leftist
movement. SEEMA GUHA writes a
moving tribute
FOCUS
SPOTLIGHT
Its A Womans World
23
VON team visits Bibipur village in Haryana where a unique selfie contest with
daughters has grabbed the nations attention
38
WSJ says goodbye
34
The global daily shuts down its Indian

edition, reports SHANTANU GUHA RAY
42
The magazine courts controversy by

calling a lady IAS officer eye candy
and is slapped with a legal notice. A
VON TEAM report
LaMo Juggernaut
Rolls On
48
The government has belatedly sent

ED officials to Singapore to probe
money laundering by Lalit Modi,
reports SHANTANU GUHA RAY
How deep is the rot?
50
Despite clumsy
damage-control, the
Modi government has
survived the first
round of the LaMo
crisis, reports
ABHAY VAIDYA
R E G U L A R S
Edit..................................................04
Grapevine........................................08
Quotes.............................................09
Design Review.................................36
Anchor Review.................................40
Breaking News.................................41
Cover design: Anthony Lawrence
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 7
Grapevine
U O T E S
Beti Bachao Campaign

ONE OF the Modi governments
primary campaigns is Beti Bachao.
However, the slogan seems to have
slightly gone off-track and is now
mostly applicable to the majority
party in parliament, the BJP, with
four of their betis, Sushma
Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje, Pankaja
Munde and Smriti Irani, under
fire. The BJP is doing all it can to
save the betis. The prime minister
mentioned #SelfieWithDaughter
It (drinking) is ones fundamental right. Drinking is a social

status symbol these days.
Alcohol does not increase crime.
People lose their consciousness
after consuming alcohol and
that's how it causes crime. The
person who drinks within
control, does not cause crime...
one should not overdrink.
campaign in his radio address,

Mann Ki Baat. Meanwhile, the
One Year No Scam slogan to
celebrate the completion of a
year in power, also seems to
have hit turbulent waters. Everything started moving in the
wrong direction as soon as the
slogan was publicized. Is it just a
coincidence that women are
involved in the so-called scams.
More power to women?
Babulal Gaur, Madhya Pradesh

Home Minister
Tamtams for Lalu
Party Politics
THE IRREPRESSIBLE Lalu

Yadav has decided that his party
will bank on tamtams
(tongas) to counter the main
rival BJP, in the upcoming
Bihar elections. He feels
that while the BJP moves
on big wheels on highways,
the RJD will move on
tamtams, on smaller lanes and
bylanes, carrying the message to all. So, the plan is to roll out 50
such horse-drawn carriages in each assembly constituency,
with RJD candidates carrying the message of Lalu, from houseto-house. The tamtams are to be hired for `500 per day. The
campaign will generate employment for drivers as well. Lalu
certainly hopes to ride to glory on horsepower!
AT A SOCIAL gathering in Delhi recently, BJP MP

Rajiv Pratap Rudy was describing how Bihari
politician Pappu Yadav had maltreated a stewardess
of a private airline. No FIR was launched
or any action taken, he complained. He said that he kept
wondering where India was
heading. Obviously, he was
talking animatedly because
the audience comprised
Bihari politicians and
bureaucrats, and he wanted
to score political brownie points. A bystander was
tempted to ask him why he was complaining when
his own party was in power at the center. There was
no answer from Rudy.
Jaya bats for Doordarshan

RECENTLY, MEMBER of Parliament Jaya
Bachchan, in a parliamentary committee
meeting, took up cudgels on behalf of
Doordarshan (DD). There are still
people in India who believe Doordarshan News to be the most authentic
news, she said. Does the extended
Bachchan family watch DD? She said
the main problem that afflicted DD
was that the presentation was not
attractive. She suggested that a
consulting agency be hired for the improvement required. One wonders if she had
herself or anybody from her family in mind.
And the option would work wonders for DD!
I think the law minister

was misquoted. Our
party position has been
that homosexuality is a
genetic disorder.
Subramanian Swamy, BJP
leader, on scrapping of Section
377 of IPC
Compiled by Roshni Seth

Illustrations: UdayShankar
Ok BJP, can u please stop sending

spokespersons on tv debates who
want us to answer our (media)
silence on scams during UPA
regime ! Really?
Shekhar Gupta,
Editorial Advisor,
India Today
23rd witness dies in #VyapamScam,
1 accused dead too. Is it keeping
pace with Asaram Bapu case dying
witnesses? & we call #lalitleaks
scam!
Nitish Kumar,
CM, Bihar
Bihar is too wise to be lured by BJP
attempt to mask its failures with
cocktail of brazen caste politics &
rhetoric of Modijis global image.
Subramanian Swamy,
BJP leader
History books were mostly written

by rulers, so one must do a fair
research and find out what had
historically happened. They
should be written by people of
excellent academics.
Secret Visitor
A RECENT reply from the PMO said that business
tycoon Gautam Adanis visits to the PMs Race
Course Road residence in Delhi are exempt from
disclosure under the RTI Act. The PMO said that
the PM met people from all walks of life, not necessarily upon formal request, and
often, guests want their meetings to be kept secret. Before
this, we knew there were
some politicians and ministers whose visits to the PMO
were kept under the radar.
But anybody can guess as to
why Adanis visits are secret.
Rana Ayub,
Journalist
Abdul Kalam Azad, former president,

in The Economic Times
All BJP leaders who

are above the age of
75 were declared
brain dead on 26th
May 2014.
What right has Congi to ask for Smriti to resign ? In NH case Sonia and
Rahul did not resign even after
Summons was issued. Hypocrites.
Nikhil Wagle,
Journalist
Congress has no credibility to accuse
Pankaja. The blacklisted NGO is supported by their leaders from Konkan
region n favored by their govt.
P Chidambaram,
Congress leader
PIO who criticized #AFSPA deported.
Will citizens who criticized be
deported as well?
Yashwant Sinha,
ex-finance minister
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 9
Lede
The Statesman
UNSTATELY
BURIAL?
It was once the pride of Kolkata. But a July 24
possession notice by SBI has put the final nail in
the coffin of a venerable paper and showed how
even a great institution can sink if left to drift
BY SUJIT BHAR
HIS is the archetypal story

one hears about an institution in decline. One afternoon, a couple of years
back, two former Statesman
journalists were walking
down the Esplanade in Kolkata. They stopped
briefly, almost by force of habit, at the gate of The
Statesman House building on Chittaranjan Avenue
and peered in. This had once been their hallowed
place of worka beehive of activity and regal ancestry with history virtually written on its walls.
But on that day, it unfortunately looked unkempt
and in a messall its glory had to be recounted in
the past tense.
Even as the two were reminiscing the good old

days, a passerby stopped and shared his thoughts.
Do you know what a great paper used to come out
of this building? It is in a shambles now. What a
shame! The journalists were speechless. The gentleman who had interrupted their conversation
seemed to be voicing a sentiment that most
Kolkatans would endorse.
Shame, probably is the appropriate word to describe the fall of a tradition and a brand as close to
a Kolkatans heart as possibly Colgate toothpaste and
Durga Puja. The Statesman was a paper on the very
plinth of which a Kolkata kids future would be built.
Children would be virtually ordered by parents to
read The Statesman if they were to be any good in
English. This was the paper that was respected as

second only to the London Times during the heydays of the British Raj. Its editorial content was an
example to follow for its style, substance and objectivity. And it continued to hold its sway much after
the British gave up ownership in 1963. Remember
how The Statesman did itself proud by standing up
against the Emergency, much like how it refused to
buckle to the diktats of the British government
before Independence?
Those were the days... But what of now?
WHAT A FALL
A July 24, 2015, advertisement says it all. A Possession Notice, issued by the State Bank of India (SBI),
Technically, The Statesman has 60 days

(from the date of the notice) to cough up
the `35.14 crore, plus interest, to have the
attachment notice vacated. Any relief at
this stage will be temporary.
and released in all major dailies of Kolkata, confirmed the fears of many in the city: the venerable
Statesman is on its deathbed and the very symbol of
all that it stands forThe Statesman House buildingwould be attached to the bank. In short, as
things stand, if the paper manages to operate from
the premises from where it currently does, then it
would do so as a tenant. Not an enviable situation
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 11
Lede
The Statesman
The bosses killed The

Statesman
Well-known photo-journalist Raghu Rai looks back

on the time spent in this iconic paper
RICH LEGACY
The Hall of Fame
(Clockwise from
above) Robert
Knight, the founder
editor; CR Irani, at
the helm during
Emergency; Pran
Chopra, the first
Indian editor of the
publication;
Ravindra Kumar,
the current editor;
Sunanda K Dutta
Ray, noted
commentator
ROBERT KNIGHT was the founder editor who was also
associated with The Times of India. Ian Stephens made news

when he carried detailed accounts of the 1943 Bengal
Famine although there was a gag order from the British
government on graphic descriptions of the tragedy.
Evan Charlton responded to a Times London advertisement
and was selected as a trainee journalist for The Statesman. He
later became the last British editor of the daily.
Pran Chopra was the first Indian editor of the paper.
S Nihal Singh, Amalendu Dasgupta and Sunanda K Dutta
Ray are all noted commentators associated with
The Statesman.
CR Irani was the editor known for having taken a strong
anti-government stand during the Emergency.
Ravindra Kumar is the current editor.
to be in for a paper which was established in 1875

and has occupied the building since it was inaugurated by Sir John Anderson, then governor of Bengal,
on January 18, 1933.
Technically, The Statesman has 60 days (from the
date of the notice) to cough up the `35.14 crore, plus
interest, to have the attachment notice vacated.
According to a source, the management of the daily
has gone to court for a stay on the order. Even if that
is granted, it will be temporary reliefthe debt will
remain and the credibility of the iconic daily would

have taken a hit. As Nikhil Mookherjee, once a senior editor of The Statesman puts it: The structure
(of The Statesman) remains, but the soul has
drained out.
The debt that The Statesman owes to SBI is
huge. Putting the building up for sale could provide
the finances to clear the debt and start afresh. But
selling the building may be easier said than done.
Several tenantsthe Calcutta Electric Supply Cor-
poration, for instancemay not readily vacate.

Added to that is the possible debt burden (apart
from the SBI loan) that the management is burdened with. Once those are cleared, it will leave the
publication with limited credit-worthiness in the
market to generate immediate funds. So what is the
other option? There is a possibility of a friendly
business house willing to take over. But will The
Statesman be the same again?
HERITAGE STRUCTURE
As things stand, if the banks control of the Statesman House is confirmed by the court, there would
be a statutory auction of the property. Whether the
paper would be allowed to stay and function within
the premises would be decided by the court.
However, there is one saving grace. The building
has been declared a heritage structure, and its facade and basic structure cannot be changed. So the
Statesman House is likely to remain intact although
under a new ownership.
To get an idea of the institution that The Statesman once was, one has to dip into history. For the
record, the paper was the direct offshoot of two
publications, The Englishman and The Friend of
India. They were both published from Kolkata
(then Calcutta) and started in 1811 by Robert
I feel sad, I am crestfallen.

The Statesman was my
alma mater, I started my
career with some old cameras and lenses from that
red-colored building in the
heart of Delhi.
We had some of the
finest editors in India shaping the paper like Evan
Charlton, Desmond Doig,
who were fearless and
made the daily fearless. They were not
worried about their owners like present-day
editors. They spoke the truth, walked the truth
and were revered by the staff and readers.
They ensured that the newspapers
loyalty was to its readers. That was the red
line for them.
I sincerely feel that ever since CR Irani
started taking an interest in the management
of the paper and eventually took over it, the
daily started declining. It went down, down
and down.
I had some infamous brushes with Irani.
My repeated attempts to tell him that we
needed new cameras and lenses always fell
on deaf ears as he would skirt the issue every
time by saying: We will talk.
Once, after returning

from London, he called me
to his room to offer a small
gift, a pair of cufflinks. I
expressed my gratitude, but
still asked for new cameras
and lenses.
Irani was furious. He
argued that he was the MD
and had many pressing
engagements and could
not be only bothered about
cameras and lenses. I threw the packet on his
table, told him to keep it and walked out.
Irani complained to the editor, S Nihal
Singh, who asked mevery, very gently
that evening: You could have avoided that
showdown, Raghu.
After that, Irani started acting funny with
me, pushing me out of some real good
assignments. I resigned eight months later. It
was 1977, when India saw a new government
and also a new Cola that did not last.
I told Irani in my resignation note: I will
be a cameraman without The Statesman. But
you cannot be an MD without the paper.
I could foresee the papers death in 1977.
As told to Shantanu Guha Ray
Raghu Rais photograph of refugees from East Pakistan, published in The Statesman in 1971
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 13
Lede
The Statesman
Statesman Snippets
Rag in a city that once

called it a Bible of news
The stories that emanate from The Statesman

are the stuff of legends. Here are a few that
still do the rounds
S Nihal Singh, former editor of The Statesman,

expresses his sorrow at the decline of the newspaper
I AM shocked to hear the news of the State

Bank of India acquiring the Statesman House
building.
Some years ago, I was in Kolkata and was
standing close to the building when a fire
gutted the first floor and the entire editorial
team was shifted to the top floor.
A rubble collector had brought his van
and was loading all that had become black
ARCHIVAL VALUE
(Above right) A 1947
Statesman
broadsheet,
mounted in a
Delhi museum
and distasteful after the fire swept through

the building. I walked right into the room
where I had worked as editor and nearly
broke down. It was my room and now, all the
books, clippings, furniture, were reduced to
rubble and handed over to the collector.
The Statesman was not a paper; it was a
part of Indian history. When the Calcutta
Famine took place, the daily kept India and
the world updated about the horrific
incident. I spent 25-and-a-half years with
that newspaper.
The editors, the ones from England,
were brilliant, and cared only about journalism. Kids in Kolkata would be told by their
parents to read the newspaper to improve
their English.
And then, the decline started, mainly
because of an over-ambitious management
which did not know how to grow, and when
to grow. Today, it is a pity that the paper is
considered a rag in a city that once called it a
Bible of news.
As told to Shantanu Guha Ray
Knight, who was later the principal founder and editor of The Times of India. It was on January 15, 1875,
that The Englishman and The Friend of India were
merged into one brand called The Statesman.
The Times of India may have started in 1838
much before The Statesman, but the formers domain
was restricted to the Bombay Presidency for a long
period. The Statesman, however, started its Delhi edition as early as 1932 (The Times got to the national
capital only in 1950) and therefore enjoyed tremendous clout at the seat of the Raj.
Though it wielded influence, it was to the credit
of its top management and editors that they never let
An editor with Oxbridge antecedents (it would be unfair to name him here)
wrote his edits on paper napkins at the bar and sent it back to the office
through a peon. The spirited edits were known for their quality.
Hamdi Bey, a senior and reputed journalist with the daily was an enigma.
Not because of his drinkingthat never seemed to affect him anyway but
because of the sheer length and breadth of knowledge and his ability to
write articles off the cuff at very short notice. In those pre-internet days, he
was a wonder.
Dharani Ghosh headed a special obituary section called the Morgue in
The Statesman. Ghosh used to painfully update himself with the lives of all
important people around the country. Not only that, he had files on people of
racist and colonial bias creep into its reportage. In

fact, the paper was critical of several anti-India policies of the Crown and was the only mainstream Indian paper to go against the British government
diktat to refrain from graphic coverage of the Bengal famine of 1943.
The Statesman continued its good work much
after Independence. It was only in 1963 that its
British owners decided to transfer ownership to Indian hands. But they decided that no individual
should own the paper. So a consortium of respected
business houses, among which the Tatas were understandably in the lead, were chosen. The papers
broad policy was outlined in a charter signed by the
new and old owners which underlined editorial
freedom. A board of trustees was set up to ensure
that the editor was protected from undue interference by the management. It was a unique arrangement that lasted a while, adding to the dailys
already humongous reputation.
SLOW DECLINE
But this changed after the board was disbanded and
CR Irani was appointed editor and managing di-
rector. Though he is credited with the strong antigovernment stand he took during the Emergency,
there is a view that he also presided over the decline
of the paper (See Raghu Rai interview).
In 1982, under the editorship of MJ Akbar (the
then editor of the weekly magazine, Sunday), the
Anandabazar Patrika Group (ABP) started a new
English daily, The Telegraph. Akbar was given 11
months to prove that the new publication would
find its place in the market. He took up the challenge and delivered. Many years later, when The
Telegraph had overtaken The Statesman in circulation, a huge hoarding facing the Statesman House
declared: Salaam Statesman. It was a quirky salute
to the once-leader for allowing an upstart to pass.
According to Mookherjee, the difference
between the old paper and its young competitor
was stark. The Statesman was more of a desk-driven paper, unlike The Telegraph, which was
reporter-driven and aided by a strong desk as well.
Young readers soon switched allegiance to the
modern, snappier and better-designed Telegraph.
The times were obviously changing but The Statesman refused to move from its stodgy ways. With
circulation dipping, so did advertising and conse-
advanced age, or those critically ill. In the case of a late night death, even if
Ghosh was not around, a sub-editor would be able to easily find the files and
compose a fine obituary out of the information gathered by Ghosh. He was also
a famous drama critic.
The Statesman canteen was no ordinary one. Neither was its lunch or dinner.
Liveried waiters were in attendance to serve what could be described as a meal
fit for the sahibs. Old timers, such as Nikhil Mookherjee, would compare it with
the best available menu served in any star restaurant or club in the city.
During one Durga Puja immersion ceremony, a photographer was instructed
to click a fresh photograph. He, in his laziness, passed on an old picture and it
was prominently printed on the front page. The following morning, a few
people turned up at The Statesman office. Reason: Amid the crowd in the
photograph, they had spotted a relative, who had been missing for a few years.
They wanted to know where and when the picture was taken. The photographer was caught out.
The Statesman Vintage Car Rally was possibly the best such rally in the country. It became a tradition every February. And being seen in that event, in your
old reconditioned car, was a matter of immense pride for many.
NEW ORDER
The swanky structure
which has
replaced the red old
Statesman Building in
New Delhi
quently, revenues.
Very clearly, the complacency that set in was
never arrested. The Statesman went on a downward
spiral and those in command simply watched the
decline mutely. Many insiders say the alarm bells
had begun to ring some two decades ago as the
debts began to pile up. But it took time for the realization to sink in that even a great institution can
sink if it is left to drift.
Today, there is gloom within Statesman House.
Many fear that the end is near. Only a miracle can
save what once was the pride of Kolkata.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 15
Media Monitoring
Health Research
A Pro-Publica exclusive
report on how sensational
headlines and smart
presentation can dupe
lazy journalists
BY JOHN BOHANNON
S
Anil Shakya
I Fooled Millions Into

Thinking Chocolate
Helps Weight Loss
LIM by Chocolate! the headlines blared. A team of German researchers had found
that people on a low-carb diet
lost weight 10 percent faster if
they ate a chocolate bar every
day. It made the front page of Bild, Europes largest
daily newspaper, just beneath their update about the
Germanwings crash. From there, it ricocheted
around the Internet and beyond, making news in
more than 20 countries and half-a-dozen languages.
It was discussed on television news shows. It appeared in glossy print, most recently in the June
issue of Shape magazine (Why You Must Eat
Chocolate Daily, page 128). Not only does chocolate accelerate weight loss, the study found, but it
leads to healthier cholesterol levels and overall increased well-being. The Bild story quotes the studys
lead author, Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D., research director of the Institute of Diet and Health: The best
part is you can buy chocolate everywhere.
I am Johannes Bohannon, Ph.D. Well, actually my
name is John, and Im a journalist. I do have a Ph.D.,
but its in the molecular biology of bacteria, not humans. The Institute of Diet and Health? Thats nothing more than a website.
Other than those fibs, the study was 100 percent
authentic. My colleagues and I recruited actual
human subjects in Germany. We ran an actual clinical trial, with subjects randomly assigned to different diet regimes. And the statistically significant
benefits of chocolate that we reported are based on
the actual data. It was, in fact, a fairly typical study
for the field of diet research. Which is to say: It was
terrible science. The results are meaningless, and the
health claims that the media blasted out to millions

of people around the world are utterly unfounded.
Heres how we did it.
THE SETUP
I got a call in December last year from a German
television reporter named Peter Onneken. He and
his collaborator, Diana Lbl, were working on a
documentary film about the junk-science diet industry. They wanted me to help demonstrate just
how easy it is to turn bad science into the big headlines behind diet fads. And Onneken wanted to do
it gonzo style: Reveal the corruption of the diet research-media complex by taking part.
The call wasnt a complete surprise. The year before, I had run a sting operation for Science on
fee-charging open access journals, a fast-growing
and lucrative new sector of the academic publishing
business. To find out how many of those publishers
are keeping their promise of doing rigorous peer review, I submitted ridiculously flawed papers and
counted how many rejected them. (Answer: fewer
than half.)
Onneken and Lbl had everything lined up: a few thousand
Euros to recruit research subjects, a
German doctor to run the study,
and a statistician friend to massage
the data. Onneken heard about my
journal sting and figured that I
would know how to pull it all together and get it published. The
only problem was time: The film
was scheduled to be aired on German and French television, so we
really only had a couple of months
to pull this off.
Could we get something published? Probably. But beyond that?
I thought it was sure to fizzle. We
science journalists like to think of
ourselves as more clever than the
average hack. After all, we
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 17
Media Monitoring
Health Research
have to understand arcane scientific research well

enough to explain it. And for reporters who dont
have science chops, as soon as they tapped outside
sources for their storiesreally anyone with a science
degree, let alone an actual nutrition scientistthey
would discover that the study was laughably flimsy.
Not to mention that a Google search yielded no trace
of Johannes Bohannon or his alleged institute. Reporters on the health science beat were going to smell
this a mile away. But I didnt want to sound pessimistic. Lets see how far we can take this, I said.
Onneken and
Lbl were
working on a
documentary
film about the
junk-science
diet industry.
They wanted
me to help
demonstrate
just how easy
it is to turn
bad science
into the big
headlines
behind
diet fads.
THE CON
Onneken and Lbl wasted no time. They used Facebook to recruit subjects around Frankfurt, offering
150 Euros to anyone willing to go on a diet for three
weeks. They made it clear that this was part of a documentary film about dieting, but they didnt give
more detail. On a cold January morning, five men
and 11 women showed up, aged 19 to 67.
Gunter Frank, a general practitioner in on the
prank, ran the clinical trial. Onneken had pulled him
in after reading a popular book Frank wrote railing
against dietary pseudoscience. Testing bitter chocolate as a dietary supplement was his idea. When I
asked him why, Frank said it was a favorite of the
whole food fanatics. Bitter chocolate tastes bad,
therefore it must be good for you, he said. Its like
a religion.
After a round of questionnaires and blood tests to
ensure that no one had eating disorders, diabetes, or
other illnesses that might endanger them, Frank randomly assigned the subjects to one of three diet
groups. One group followed a low-carbohydrate diet.
Another followed the same low-carb diet plus a daily
1.5 oz. bar of dark chocolate. And the rest, a control
group, were instructed to make no changes to their
current diet. They weighed themselves each morning
for 21 days, and the study finished with a final round
of questionnaires and blood tests.
Onneken then turned to his friend Alex DrosteHaars, a financial analyst, to crunch the numbers.
One beer-fueled weekend later and... jackpot! Both
of the treatment groups lost about 5 pounds over

the course of the study, while the control groups average body weight fluctuated up and down around
zero. But the people on the low-carb diet plus
chocolate? They lost weight 10 percent faster. Not
only was that difference statistically significant, but
the chocolate group had better cholesterol readings
and higher scores on the well-being survey.
THE HOOK
I know what youre thinking. The study did show
accelerated weight loss in the chocolate group
shouldnt we trust it? Isnt that how science works?
Heres a dirty little science secret: If you measure
a large number of things about a small number of
people, you are almost guaranteed to get a statistically significant result. Our study included 18 different measurementsweight, cholesterol, sodium,
blood protein levels, sleep quality, well-being, etc

from 15 people. (One subject was dropped.) That
study design is a recipe for false positives.
Think of the measurements as lottery tickets.
Each one has a small chance of paying off in the
form of a significant result that we can spin a
story around and sell to the media. The more tickets you buy, the more likely you are to win. We
didnt know exactly what would pan outthe
headline could have been that chocolate improves
sleep or lowers blood pressurebut we knew our
chances of getting at least one statistically significant result were pretty good.
Whenever you hear that phrase, it means that
some result has a small p value. The letter p seems
to have totemic power, but its just a way to gauge
the signal-to-noise ratio in the data. The conventional cutoff for being significant is 0.05, which
means that there is just a 5 percent chance that your
result is a random fluctuation. The more lottery
tickets, the better your chances of getting a false
positive. So how many tickets do you need to buy?
P (winning) = 1 - (1 - p)n
With our 18 measurements, we had a 60 percent
chance of getting some significant result with p <
0.05. (The measurements werent independent, so
it could be even higher.) The game was stacked in
our favor.
Its called p-hackingfiddling with your experimental design and data to push p under 0.05and
its a big problem. Most scientists are honest and do
it unconsciously. They get negative results, convince themselves they goofed, and repeat the experiment until it works. Or they drop outlier
data points.
But even if we had been careful to avoid p-hacking, our study was doomed by the tiny number of
subjects, which amplifies the effects of uncontrolled
factors. Just to take one example: A womans weight
can fluctuate as much as 5 pounds over the course
of her menstrual cycle, far greater than the weight
difference between our chocolate and low-carb
groups. Which is why you need to use a large num-
The key is to exploit journalists

incredible laziness. If you lay out the
information just right, you can shape the
story that emerges in the media almost
like you were writing the stories yourself.
ber of people, and balance age and gender across
treatment groups. (We didnt bother.)
You might as well read tea leaves as try to interpret
our results. Chocolate may be a weight loss accelerator, or it could be the opposite. You cant even
trust the weight loss that our non-chocolate lowcarb group experienced versus control. Who knows
what the handful of people in the control group
were eating? We didnt even ask them.
Luckily, scientists are getting wise to these problems. Some journals are trying to phase out p value
significance testing altogether to nudge scientists
into better habits. And almost no one takes studies
with fewer than 30 subjects seriously anymore. Editors of reputable journals reject them out of hand
before sending them to peer reviewers. But there
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 19
Media Monitoring
Health Research
are plenty of journals that care more about money

than reputation.
THE INSIDE MAN
It was time to share our scientific breakthrough with
the world. We needed to get our study published
pronto, but since it was such bad science, we needed
to skip peer review altogether. Conveniently, there
are lists of fake journal publishers. (This is my list,
and heres another.) Since time was tight, I simultaneously submitted our paperChocolate with high
cocoa content as a weight-loss acceleratorto 20
journals. Then we crossed our fingers and waited.
Our paper was accepted for publication by multiple
journals within 24 hours. Needless to say, we faced
no peer review at all. The eager suitor we ultimately

chose was the the International Archives of Medicine. It used to be run by the giant publisher BioMedCentral, but recently changed hands.The new
publishers CEO, Carlos Vasquez, emailed Johannes
to let him know that we had produced an outstanding manuscript, and that for just 600 Euros it could
be accepted directly in our premier journal.
Although the Archives editor claims that all articles submitted to the journal are reviewed in a rigorous way, our paper was published less than 2 weeks
after Onnekens credit card was charged. Not a single
word was changed.
THE MARKS
With the paper out, it was time to make some noise.
I called a friend of a friend who works in scientific
PR. She walked me through some of the dirty tricks
for grabbing headlines. It was eerie to hear the other
side of something I experience every day.
The key is to exploit journalists incredible laziness.
If you lay out the information just right, you can
shape the story that emerges in the media almost like
you were writing those stories yourself. In fact, thats
literally what youre doing, since many reporters just
copied and pasted our text.
Take a look at the press release I cooked up. It has
everything. In reporter lingo: a sexy lede, a clear nut
graf, some punchy quotes, and a kicker. And theres
no need to even read the scientific paper because the
key details are already boiled down. I took special
care to keep it accurate. Rather than tricking journalists, the goal was to lure them with a completely
typical press release about a research paper.
(Of course, whats missing is the number of subjects
and the minuscule weight differences between
the groups.)
But a good press release isnt enough. Reporters are
also hungry for art, something pretty to show their
readers. So Onneken and Lbl shot some promotional video clips and commissioned freelance artists
to write an acoustic ballad and even a rap about
chocolate and weight loss. (It turns out you can hire
people on the internet to do nearly anything.)

Onneken wrote a German press release and
reached out directly to German media outlets.
The promise of an exclusive story is very
tempting, even if its fake. Then he blasted the German press release out on wire service based in Austria, and the English one went out on NewsWire.
There was no quality control. That was left
to the reporters.
I felt a queazy mixture of pride and disgust as our
lure zinged out into the world.
THE SCORE
We landed big fish before we even knew they were
biting. Bild rushed their story outThose who eat
chocolate stay slim!without contacting me at all.
Soon we were in the Daily Star, the Irish Examiner,
Cosmopolitans German website, The Times of India,
both the German and Indian site of TheHuffington
Post, and even television news in Texas and an Australian morning talk show.
When reporters contacted me at all, they asked perfunctory questions. Why do you think chocolate accelerates weight loss? Do you have any advice for our
Heres a dirty little science secret: if you

measure a large number of things about
a small number of people, you are
almost guaranteed to get a statistically
significant result.
readers? Almost no one asked how many subjects
we tested, and no one reported that number. Not a
single reporter seems to have contacted an outside
researcher...
These publications, though many command large
audiences, are not exactly paragons of journalistic
virtue. So its not surprising that they would simply
grab a bit of digital chum for the headline, harvest
the pageviews, and move on. But even the supposedly rigorous outlets that picked the study up failed
to spot the holes.
Shape magazines reporting on our studyturn to
page 128 in the June issueemployed the services of
a fact-checker, but it was just as lackadaisical. All the
checker did was run a couple of sentences by me for
accuracy and check the spelling of my name. The
coverage went so far as to specify the appropriate cocoa content for weight-lossinducing chocolate (81 percent) and even
mentioned two specific brands (available in grocery stores and at
amazon.com).
Some dodged the bullet. A reporter
from Mens Health interviewed me by
email, asking the same sort of non-probing questions. She said that the story was
slated for their September issue, so well
never know.
But most disappointing? No one dipped
into our buffet of chocolate music videos.
Instead, they used vaguely pornographic
images of women eating chocolate...
THE KNOCK
So why should you care? People who
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 21
Media Monitoring
Focus
Health Research
Reporters
asked
perfunctory
questions.
Why do you
think
chocolate
accelerates
weight loss?
Do you have
any advice for
our readers?
Almost no
one asked
how many
subjects we
tested. Not a
single
reporter
seems to have
contacted
an outside
researcher.
are desperate for reliable

information face a bewildering array of diet guidancesalt is bad, salt is
good, protein is good,
protein is bad, fat is bad,
fat is goodthat changes
like the weather. But science will figure it out,
right? Now that were calling obesity an epidemic,
funding will flow to the
best scientists and all of this noise will die down, leaving us with clear answers to the causes and treatments.
Or maybe not. Even the well-funded, serious research into weight-loss science is confusing and inconclusive, laments Peter Attia, a surgeon who
cofounded a non-profit called the Nutrition Science
Initiative. For example, the Womens Health Initiativeone of the largest of its kindyielded few clear
insights about diet and health. The results were just
confusing, says Attia. They spent $1 billion and
couldnt even prove that a low-fat diet is better or
worse. Attias non-profit is trying to raise $190 million to answer these fundamental questions. But its
Bibipurs Selfie Contest
hard to focus attention on the science of obesity, he

says. Theres just so much noise.
You can thank people like me for that. We journalists have to feed the daily news beast, and diet science
is our horn of plenty. Readers just cant get enough
stories about the benefits of red wine or the dangers
of fructose. Not only is it universally relevantit pertains to decisions we all make at least three times a
daybut its science! We dont even have to leave
home to do any reporting. We just dip our cups into
the daily stream of scientific press releases flowing
through our inboxes. Tack on a snappy stock photo
and youre done.
The only problem with the diet science beat is that
its science. You have to know how to read a scientific
paperand actually bother to do it. For far too long,
the people who cover this beat have treated it like
gossip, echoing whatever they find in press releases.
Hopefully our little experiment will make reporters
and readers alike more skeptical.
If a study doesnt even list how many people took
part in it, or makes a bold diet claim thats
statistically significant but doesnt say how big the
effect size is, you should wonder why. But for the
most part, we dont. Which is a pity, because journalists are becoming the de facto peer review system.
And when we fail, the world is awash in junk science.
There was one glint of hope in this tragi-comedy.
While the reporters just regurgitated our findings,
many readers were thoughtful and skeptical.
In the online comments, they posed questions that
the reporters should have asked.
Why are calories not counted on any of the individuals? asked a reader on a bodybuilding forum.
The domain (for the Institute of Diet and Health
website) was registered at the beginning of March,
and dozens of blogs and news magazines (see
Google) spread this study without knowing what or
who stands behind it, said a reader beneath the story
in Focus, one of Germanys leading online magazines.
Or as one prescient reader of the 4 April story in
The Daily Express put it: Every day is April Fools
in nutrition.
Photos: Anil Shakya
A unique selfie contest in a

small village in Haryana
has shown the way forward
to the rest of India as to
how daughters should be
respected and loved
BY VON TEAM
N a state with the lowest sex

ratio, Bibipur, a nondescript village 10 km from Jind, Haryana,
stands out as a shining beacon of
hope. For not only is the girl
child loved here, its inhabitants
actually want one and have increased the sex ratio
through sustained efforts.
Even the entrance to this Haryana village displays
this sign: The Womans World. It came into national
prominence on June 9, when in a novel initiative,
Bibipurs sarpanch, Sunil Jaglan, started a unique
selfie contest with the tagline: Beti Bachao, Selfie
Banao. Parents were asked to take a selfie with their
WORLD AT HER FEET

Girls of Bibipur village are
empowering themselves
through education
Its a
WOMANS
WORLD
daughters and send it to the sarpanch through
WhatsApp. The results surprised everyone, as not
only did it get an overwhelming response794 entriesbut people participated from all over the
country. On June 19, three selfies were adjudged the
best and awarded `2,100 along with a trophy.
Jaglan, naturally, is pleased as punch over how
his small initiative left such a large social impact.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought it
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 23
Focus
Bibipurs Selfie Contest
I didnt want my daughters to face discrimination

The sarpanch of Bibipur, SUNIL JAGLAN, says that his women-centric
initiatives were born out of a wish to see his daughters get equal
opportunities. Excerpts from an interview with VON:
PRIDE OF PLACE
(From left) A two-km
road in Bibipur has
been named Lado
Marg. Lado means
girl in Haryanvi
A woman taking a
selfie with her
daughter
LEADING FROM
THE FRONT
(Below from left) Sunil
Jaglans wife with her
two daughters
One of the
winning selfies
up in his recent Mann Ki Baat, where he said: Because of this (contest), every father wanted to get a
selfie clicked with his daughter. I really liked this
concept. Since it comes from Haryana, where the
gender ratio is the worst, it raises hope.
And this initiative did have a poignant effect.
Jaglan says: After the contest was announced,
many parents who didnt have a girl child, called to
say how sorry they felt. Mindsets too have started
changing. Kavita Khan, a mother of two, says: Previously, I used to think educating daughters was a
waste of money, but now I want my daughter to become a doctor. I am not scared of sending her to
Jind. This shift in attitude came about after 2010
when Jaglan took over as the sarpanch. Before that,
parents were reluctant to let their daughters take up
higher studies, forget about sending them to Jind.
his change should be lauded

considering Haryanas pathetic
sex ratio. In the 2011 census, it
was 834; Bibipurs was even lower at
832. But with sustained efforts by
Jaglan and the panchayat, the skewed
sex ratio has changed for the better.
This year, 41 boys and 51 girls were
born, says Sheela Devi, member of the
committee against female feticide.
But then, Bibipur is no stranger to
such initiatives. In July 2012, it shot to
fame when it held the first-ever khap
panchayat led by women. Launching a
campaign against female feticide, it
passed a resolution to slap murder
How did you think of this unique selfie with

daughter idea?
I have been working on womens issues for the last
five years. I didnt want my daughters to face
discrimination when they grow up. Every year, I
celebrate my birthday (June 19) by highlighting
womens issues. This year, I thought that since
everyone is crazy about clicking selfies, why not
start a selfie with daughter contest. I didnt expect
such an enthusiastic response, and on June 19,
instead of one, three best selfies were awarded. I
gave the prize money from my own pocket, not
from gram panchayat funds.
How does it feel to be mentioned by the
prime minister in his Mann ki Baat?
It was a proud moment, not only for me but for my
village and my state. I want to thank all those who
sent their selfies, because of which it got noticed by
the prime minister.
Panchayats generally site scarce funds for

lack of development. Do you expect more
assistance to flow in now?
We are tirelessly working against female feticide,
we dont want to divert from this cause just for the
sake of funds. The previous government gave us `1
crore, which we have utilized for development.
So it is not that the government does not give
us funds.
Will you join any political party?
Not presently, as I want to focus on my work. I
would like to work on a bigger scale later though.
There are many MLAs and MPs who do not visit
their constituencies, so it is not necessary to be a
politician in order to do social work.
In March 2015, you were suspended by the
Jind deputy commissioner for installing a
submersible pump at friends house instead
of in a public place.
charges against anyone indulging in it. Last year, the

panchayat announced that the all-women gram
sabha would have rights to decide how to spend
half the development funds allotted to it. Soon, a
two-km road was constructed through the village
and named Lado Marg. Lado means girl in
Haryanvi. Similarly, a lake, Lado Sarovar, was dedicated to the women of the village.
The panchayat has also formed a number of
committees for womens upliftment. The one
against female feticide has seven members; four
women and three men. It looks after pregnant
women and makes sure they arent forced into sex
determination tests. Another is the shiksha committee, which gives financial assistance to underprivileged students, looks after teachers attendance
and sees that teaching standards are maintained.
There are also surprise visits to the school. This
That was political agenda. Eighteen inquiries were

initiated but no irregularity was found. A day after
my suspension, I got stay from the court as I had
complete faith in the judiciary.
has improved the quality of education significantly,

says Jai Bhagwan, a committee member. And after
the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, even a
Swachta committee has been formed.
Bibipurs women-centric initiatives can set an
example for others. To discuss issues pertaining to
women, a Mahila Shakti Sthal (meeting place for
women) has been set up. Plaques listing all laws related to womens rights have also been put up. Decisions taken here are forwarded to the panchayat,
thereby helping them frame policies for women.
The village has a library with more than 450
books and is open round-the-clock for girl students.
Employment opportunities are also given to
women. Ritu Jaglan, a womens activist, says: A girl
who completes a diploma in knitting is provided
with a kit. These initiatives are worth emulating in
the rest of the state. Whats lacking is the will.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 25
Focus
Murdoch Empire
Sons Rise Over

Ruperts Kingdom
As this media baron hangs
up his boots, he hands
over top jobs in his over
100-year-old empire to
his two sons
BY MR DUA
HEN media tycoon,

founder, chairman
and CEO of the
globally-renowned
News Corp and 21st
Century Fox, Rupert
Murdoch, 84, announced that he was retiring and
handing over the reins of his 100-year-old empire,
spanning three continents, to his two sons, from
July 1, 2015 onwards, the corporate world was taken
aback. Murdoch is known for his pragmatism, ruthless business acumen, incredible toughness and
relentless ambition.
HANDING OVER CHARGE

Rupert Murdoch
(centre) with sons
Lachlan (left) and
James
Murdoch has been variously

described as media mogul,
media baron, mass media titan
and media titan. Keith Rupert
Murdoch (his rarely known full
name) was 21 years old when he
plunged into the newspaper business after taking over his father,
Keith Arthur Murdochs, shaky
daily, The Melbourne Herald. He
made a success of it within a short
period. Having tasted the joy of
journalism, as well as the prosperity and respect that the business of
news inspires, Murdoch never
looked back. Married and divorced
thrice, Murdoch is the father of
six children.
HIS REACH
Total Revenue In Financial Year 2014 : $31.87 billion
$12.27 billion Fox networks -News, Sports, Business, International, FX, National
Geographic, YES networks
$9.68 billion 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox 21, Blue Sky Studios, Shine group
Film
Satellite television
$6.03 billion British-Sky-Broadcasting
Television
$5.30 billion Fox Broadcasting networks, Fox Sports, Fox Television group. MY Network
The New York Post, Dow Jones The Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Market
Watch, Factiva.The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times
News and Information
News Corp AustraliaThe Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday
Services
Telegraph, Herald Sun
Cable
Book Publishing
HarperCollins
Market stock ownership: market cap $67.69 billion
Murdoch family stake

Others
Voting power - Murdoch
Others
THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH

He has played a number of games to win all kinds
of favors from the high and mighty to stay in business. But now, after prolonged deliberations, Murdoch has realized that it is time to call it quits, so
that he may witness how well his two sons, Lachlan,
43, and James, 42, steer the hitherto one-manowned, worlds sixth largest media conglomerate.
A media critic at The New York Times pointed
out matter-of-factly: James and Lachlan are being
pushed and positioned to fill the shoes of a largerthan-life media titan, known for following his instincts and taking bold strikes in the course of
building Fox into a $67 billion behemoth, spanning
broadcast television, cable-news channels like FX
and Fox News, and the film television studios.
Under the new arrangement, Murdoch will assign the two distinct media segments of his empireprint consisting of News Corp, and electronic,
comprising 21st Century Foxto his two sons.
Thus, as he relinquishes charge, he expects the business operations to expand and win new laurels.
He has placed a three-fold agenda for
the incumbents:
14.8%
85.2%
39.4%
60.6%
(Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times)
He has played a number of games to win

all kinds of favors from the high and
mighty to stay in business. But now,
Murdoch has realized that its time
to call it quits.
One, boosting the sagging television ratings;
Two, building future strategies in the fast-moving television threat to cable channels;
Thirdly, keeping the print units competitive.
Murdoch shall continue as the companys executive chairman; his eldest son Lachlan will be the
executive co-chairman; and the Harvard drop-out,
former cartoonist, James Murdoch, will be the chief
executive officer of the company from July 1.
According to a company statement, currently
21st Century Foxs holdings include: Fox, Fox News
Channel, Fox broadcast network-business, 20th
Century Fox film studio, Fox Searchlight, Fox
international cable and the satellite television
operation BSkyB.
Getty Images
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 27
Focus Profile
Focus
Murdoch Empire
Robert
Thomson,
one of the
editors of
Murdochs
business and
financial
newspaper,
The Wall
Street
Journal, had
once said:
Rupert is
not going to
die.
TRACKING NEWS
The Fox TV
newsroom
Murdoch Empire
THE NEW MANAGEMENT

Rupert Murdoch, 84, chief executive officer, takes
over as co-executive chairman

Son Lachlan, 43, co-chairman, takes over as
co-executive chairman
Son James, 42 , co-chief operating officer, takes over
as chief executive officer
Chase Carey, 61, president and chief operating officer
takes over as advisor to Rupert Murdoch. He retires on
June 30, 2016
(Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times)
The News Corps holdings comprise New York

Post and The Wall Street Journal in the US; The
Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun in the UK and
The Daily Mirror and The Australian in Australia.
The book publishing company, HarperCollins, also
forms part of Murdochs print media set-up.
DAILY BUSINESS
The day-to-day operations will be under the
current president and chief operating officer, Chase
Carey, 61, who has been designated as advisor
from July 1.
According to a 21st Century Fox announcement, Rupert, Lachlan and
James will be the overall bosses of the
sprawling Murdoch media empire, and
assume new leadership roles. This
means that the control of the company
shall rest with the family only.
Murdoch will stay as executive
chairman and the largest shareholder of
Fox. Interestingly, the legendary Hollywood Studios and the broadcast television network, Fox News Channel, are
virtually the source of American political power, with the Republicans
providing permanent backbone.
Robert Thomson, one of the editors
of Murdochs business and financial
newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, had
once said: Rupert is not going to die.
He doesnt enjoy sharing ownership of media units,
and eventually kicks out his partners, as happened
in the case of London-based weekly, News Of The
World, in 1969, and later with the telecom company,
BSkyB.
As one of his many biographers recorded,
Murdoch owns some 150 newspapers across the
globe, but earns more from Fox television channels
and by film companies.
No matter what happens to him, he has shown
that there will always be a market in the US for tendentious, right-leaning cable talk shows, state-ofthe-art coverage of cowboys vs Redskins and
genre-crushing big budget movies. he said.
Finally, as one senior WSJ journalist has written:
One of the jobs of the editor of The Wall Street
Journal is to keep Rupert Murdoch happy with what
hes doing, because were reliant on News Crop for
resources at a time when newspapers may not be
the worlds greatest investments.
The statement appropriately and amply reflects
the current state of the newspaper industry in
the US.
Plots and
Gameplans
IKE Murdoch, like his journalism. It is difficult to ignore

media czar, Rupert Murdoch.
With some 150 newspapers
and news entities across the
globe, he influences life in a
major way. STARs numerous channels in India are a
living proof of this. He has been called an empire
Scandalous news
coverage and unethical
practices have rocked
the moguls boat more
than once
BY MR DUA
David Shankbone/wikimedia
builder and a political kingmaker.

When he entered journalism, the profession was
not only highly respected, it was immensely paying
as well. It was only around the end of the 20th century that the media scene transformed, with scandals, sex, juicy and sensational stuff changing the
spirit of news journalism altogether. Murdochs numerous publications have uniquely contributed
POWER COUPLE
Rupert Murdoch with
his former wife
Wendi Murdoch in
happier days
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 29
Focus Profile
Murdoch Empire
to serve the people. At the launch of his daily newspaper, The Australian, in July 1964, in Sydney, he had
outlined his mission: impartial information, independent thinkingspeak fearlessly, outspoken,
vigor, truth, and information without dullness, new
approach to national journalism.(sic)
However, Murdochs journalism, as practiced in
the UK or the US, did not exactly pursue the path of
high journalistic ethics that he had vouched for. In
over 65 years that his media establishments worldwide have operated, almost all of these edicts have
been compromised.
When Murdochs mass-circulation Londonbased weekly, News of the World (NOW), was caught
resorting to fraud, untruths, sexual sensationalism
and other scandalous reportage through voicemail
hacking, the fraudulent practices came to light.
Murdochs mass-circulation
London-based weekly News of the World
was caught resorting to fraud,
untruths, sexual sensationalism and
scandalous reportage.
to this trend worldwide: The New York Post and The
Village Voice in the US; News of the World and The
Sun in the UK, for instance.
In the process, Murdochs publications have
multiplied in circulation and his cash registers
have been constantly rising.
THE SCREECHING HEIGHTS
When he started, Murdoch was brimming with ideas
STORM TOSSED
The matter catapulted to a big scandal when 14-yearold Miley Dowlers voicemail was breached; she felt
humiliated, and committed suicide. The unfortunate
incident resulted in a high-level probe by a British
parliamentary panel.
The panels report leveled unprecedented and unparalleled reprimand and censure against
NOWs staff.
Murdoch, along with his eldest son Lachlan, and
all of NOWs reporters and editors, were in hot water.
They not only abundantly apologized, the paper paid
millions in damages to all others whose voicemails
were hacked; some of NOWs journalists were put behind bars to serve long jail terms, and some were
fined. NOW was shut down for good.
The investigators discovered that Lachlan,
in-charge of NOW, didnt exercise strict vigil on what
was appearing in its columns. The parliamentary
committee censured Lachlan for willful ignorance
and astonishing lack of curiosity regarding
the criminal behavior of his subordinates. He later
quit and went to New York.
Murdochs Fox Television News channel is notorious for its patently biased, prejudiced, one-sided
MURDOCHS RISE
1952: Joins father Keith Murdochs newspaper, The
News, at 21 years.
1969: Enters Britain, purchases the Sunday tabloid,
News of the World.

1973: Comes to the US, buys two dailies, including
The San Antonio News. Purchases, sells, and repurchases

The New York Post,The Chicago, Sun-Times, Village Voice
and The New York magazine.
2005: Purchases website Myspace for $850 million,
sells for $35 million.

2007: Buys Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The
Wall Street Journal, for $5 billion.

2011: After alleged voicemail hacking of a British
schoolgirl by his London-based Sunday tabloid, News of

the World, faces a British parliamentary investigation
team. Paper shuts down; pays millions as damages to
the girls parents after the girl commits suicide.
2014: Withdraws bid to purchase British-SkyBroad-
casting cable for $ 80 billion

June 2015: Announces retirement and hands over his
media empire to sons, James and Lachlan.
talk shows and news coverage of the opposition

Democratic Party, the White House, and even the
2016 presidential nomination hopefuls such as the
former First Lady and Secretary Of State, Hillary
Rodham Clinton. In addition, daily talk programs
anchored by Sean Hannity, Bill OReilly, morning
news coverage, and weekly shows like Mike
Huckabee and Ann Coulter dole out endless
acrimony, sowing the seeds of racial upheaval and
social dissatisfaction.
TEETERING EMPIRE ?
Meanwhile, rumors are rife in the US that at The
Wall Street Journal (WSJ), major reorganization is on
the agenda, as the paper is passing through a rough
period. It will cut 100 editorial jobs and shift resources to the digital media and core coverage areas.
Also its blogs and overseas bureaus would close
to effect full transformation of the newsroom with
a bold, simple aim: to become the premier digital

news organization in the world. WSJ, however, plans
to beef up hiring in mobile offerings, interactive
graphics and data driven journalism, and invest in
top newsroom executives with core coverage
strength of economics and markets.
Murdoch was also in the news in India recently,
though for not very pleasant reason.
The Murdoch-owned STAR television channel
reported email leakages that led to the controversy
involving former cricket baron Lalit Modi and
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj involving
the IPLs T20, and its $975-million broadcast
commercial rights to the Murdoch-owned,
ESPN Star sports.
Murdochs business practices and journalistic
ethics have rarely been above board, though his
versatility in the news business has never been in
doubt. While his media enterprises have touched and
expanded to almost every nook and corner of the
globe, and he has undoubtedly earned loads of
money everywhere, he has hardly won a solid
amount of reverence or spontaneous respect or
sincere praise from his audiences, readers or clients.
How the enterprises will fare managerially,
journalistically and financially in the coming crucial
years, only time will tell.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 31
Obituary
Praful Bidwai
LEFTIST TILT
A passionate
crusader and
a true friend P
Bidwai was close to

the Left Front,
though he was
upset about their
apathy towards
environment
concerns
The passing away of Praful

Bidwai was a huge loss to
journalism and the leftist
movement. Here is a moving
tribute by a close friend
BY SEEMA GUHA
RAFUL Bidwai was in a happy
frame of mind before he left for
Amsterdam. I had not seen him like
that for years. Much of this was relief at completing his book on the
Indian Left. He had worked hard to
meet the deadline, and the day he finished it, he called
to say that he was in a mood to celebrate and we should
meet for dinner.
He suggested Oh Calcutta, the South Delhi restaurant which serves authentic Bengali food. Unfortunately, we did not make it that evening and promised
to do so another day.
Praful was a foodie and loved to discuss the many
herbs and spices he would pick up on his travels. He
was forever badgering me about Assamese recipes and
loved to have tenga and fish, a traditional dish from
Assam. And as everyone knows, he loved his drink.
ASSAM AGITATION
I first met Praful when he came to Assam to report on
the anti-foreigners agitation led by student leaders. This
was in the early 1980s. I think he was then an assistant
editor with The Times of India in Mumbai and had not
yet shifted to Delhi. He came with two other journalist
friends: Ivan Fera (Ivan later worked for The Illustrated
Weekly and died of cancer a few years later) and Yogi
Agarwal. I was in my first job with The Telegraph, and
had no idea that an assistant editor in TOI was a big
deal. Giri came up in his conversation quite often. I
had no idea who Giri was. It was much later that I realized that Giri was none other than Girilal Jain, the
editor of TOI.
Unlike many journalists who flew in to Assam to do
the story that was grabbing eyeballs and got overwhelmed seeing mass protests where women,
including traditional housewives, took to the
streets, Praful realized very quickly the anti-Muslim overtones of the movement. Left leaders of
Assam were also targets of public anger. The fact
that top BJP leaders frequently came to Assam to
lend their support convinced him that it was not
an issue which deserved his support.
Though Praful remained at heart a supporter
of the Left (he was a Trotskyite in his student
days), he was deeply disappointed with the CPMs
dyed-in-the wool ideology. The fact that the Indian Left did not pay any attention to the crying
issues of environment and global warming frustrated him no end.
NUCLEAR PLANTS
He was passionately anti-nuclear, and one of the
few issues about which we argued was the IndiaUS nuclear deal. I felt it was good for India and
Manmohan Singh had done well to bring India
out of its nuclear isolation. Praful would bombard
me with facts and figures and try and convince me
that nuclear power plants were dangerous.
Like many liberals, he was wary of Narendra
Modi, worried about the rise of right-wing forces
Praful was wary of Narendra Modi,

worried about the rise of right-wing
forces under the BJP and anxious about
the future. But mainline Delhi papers
were reluctant to give him space.
under the BJP and anxious about the future. This
was reflected in a hard-hitting piece he wrote
about one year of the Modi government. Unfortunately, mainline Delhi papers were reluctant to
give him space. They possibly found his anti-business stand inconsistent with company policy. It
was a pity, because even if you did not agree with
Praful, he always argued his case well.
While Praful could be scathing in his criticism
of politicians and those he felt had sold out to the
authorities, he was a loyal friend. I have never
heard him say a bad word about anyone whom he
considered a friend, though they could have
parted ways later.
His birthday was earlier this month, and he
hosted a small dinner for a few of us. I did not get
time to buy him a present. I was waiting for him
to return from Amsterdam and take him a belated
birthday gift. That was not to be.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 33
Spotlight
Special Report
Wall Street Journal
Express Group
WSJ SAYS GOODBYE WHATS THE WHOLE TRUTH?

The global daily shuts down Indian edition
BY SHANTANU GUHA RAY
I
Insiders in
the dailys
Delhi office
said the
management
was keen to
reduce
output that
generated
little traffic.
N the last three years, The Wall

Street Journal has made three important announcements, all pertaining to India. In 2013, its Asia
Editor, Paul Beckitt, called the
Indian media market among the
most fascinating in the world; the following year, the
daily snapped its content deal with Mint, produced
from the stable of Hindustan Times and last month,
The Wall Street Journal announced it will be downsizing its India operations and pull the plug on its
Indian edition.
The India website, http://www.wsj.com/india,
will be merged with its global website though its
blog, India Real Time. Its operations will be scaled
down considerably. It will continue to function
along with the Hindi edition of the blog, India RealTime Hindi. The Delhi operations of the daily will
be scaled down and the Bangalore operation closed.
Interestingly, New York Times also shut down its
India-specific blog, India Ink, in July last year after
running it to target Indians and those who follow
news about India from abroad, for a little over twoand-a-half years.
On the contrary, WSJ has kept the blogs but
scaled down its India operations.
Along with India, the daily closed its Bahasa
website in Indonesia and bureaus in Prague and
Helsinki, cities not synonymous with tremendous
business growth, or for that matter, business

news reporting.
Dow Jones & Company, which publishes The
Wall Street Journal, said in a note the changes were
a part of the groups global restructuring.
These closures and realignments do not reflect
on the quality of the work done by these teams, but
simply speak of the pressing need to become more
focused as a newsroom on areas we believe are ripe
for growth, Gerard Baker, Editor in Chief at WSJ,
said in a signed note in June.
REDUCED TRAFFIC
Insiders in the dailys Delhi office said the management was keen to reduce output that generated little
traffic. A freelance researcher, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said there were chances that regional stories in the dailies would be trimmed
considerably and the daily could even move into a
single edition.
The researcher said an estimated 15 people
could lose their jobs in the scaling down. The researcher did not elaborate. WSJ and Dow Jones wires
have a little over 40 people in India.
Early June, WSJ had said it would launch by
mid-September a new global newspaper in
Europe and Asia, with regionally-relevant content.
The dailys main target would be key financial
capital cities, such as London, Frankfurt, Hong
Kong, Paris and Shanghai.
A notable absence from this list was Mumbai,
Indias financial capital.
No one commented whether it was a signal for
India as a nation or for its blue chip companies
aspiring to be global giants.
Media circles are abuzz over Prabhu Chawlas removal as editorial director of
The New Indian Express and the likely takeover of Express by the Ambanis
BY VON TEAM
OR more than 48 hours,

from July 1 to July 3, the
rumor mills worked overtime among Delhi journalists. And all of it emanated from The Indian
Express and The New Indian Express, both
dailies known for top-class news reporting
and run by family members of the late media
baron, Ramnath Goenka.
The first buzz started after The New Indian Express, which also prints a broadsheet,
The Sunday Standard, dropped Prabhu
Chawlas name as editorial director, along
with that of V Sudarshan, the executive
editor. The printline has GS Vasutill recently the resident editor of the Hyderabad
editionas the new editor of the paper,
along with that of the chairman, Manoj
Kumar Sonthalia.
However, Chawla, in an interview to The
News Minute, said he was still the editorial
director and had not quit. It is not just my
name which has been taken off, even executive editor V Sudarshans name is not there.
The paper did not have an editor, and now
we have a person in that full-time role so his
name will appear. If a person in the organization is doing well, we have to encourage
him. So GS Vasu has been appointed the
editor. He further added: Look at the website, my name is still there. I am still the edi-
powers-that-be to ease out Chawla, who was

recently named among those defending
Modi in a London court?
Chawla has not responded to the Twitter
rush; he is equally silent on his name not
being on the printline. To a few friends, he
said he was looking to re-designate himself.
torial director.
Hoot, a portal which focuses on Indian
newsrooms, mentioned the movement but
did not specify the reason. Chawla is seen as
part of the Rajnath Singh camp. In BJP politics, this means you are in the opposite camp
of finance minister Arun Jaitley.
It is rumored that Chawla could be on his
way out or may even be joining another
news organization.
Hoot even speculated that Chawlas
removal was triggered by a top cricket administrator, whose proximity to Sonthalia
and hatred for disgraced cricket honcho Lalit
Modi is clearly known in the market.
So would it be safe to presume the cricket
administrator spoke to Sonthalia and the
THE FINE LINE
(Below) The July 4 online version of The New
Indian Express Chennai edition (Page 10)
clearly shows editorial changes in the paper
eanwhile, things are brewing in

The Indian Express too. Ever
since its chairman, Viveck
Goenka, sent a mail to employees that he
would do a podcast at 1600 hours on July 3
and asked all of them to be present (including members of the companys printing press
in Vashi in Mumbai), rumors have flown
thick and fast of a possible merger of the two
groups, or even a takeover. And the buyers,
high on the imagination of journalists and
non-journalist staff, were the Ambani
brothers, Mukesh and Anil.
The two remained silent. The duo, claim
those in the know, are looking at various
media acquisitions.
Strangely, in his podcast, Goenka talked
about a new advertising film that the group
had made for Indian news channels and announced the launch of its Jaipur edition. But
the rumors have not died down. After all,
you do not need a podcast to talk about a
film and a new edition, right?
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 35
Design
DESIGNS THAT MADE IMAGINATIVE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS,

FONTS, COLOR AND WHITE SPACES TO LEAVE AN IMPRESSION
By ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Its red card for former FIFA boss Sepp

Blatter on The Week cover. An imaginative
illustration and caricature.
The Economists cover

brings most world
leaders and statesmen
together, of course as
a great cut-paste job,
with some faces in
black and white. Their
beliefs, icons and key
agenda are brought to
you in an interesting,
playful manner. If any
sinister messages
are sought to be
conveyed, the playful
icons dont really bring
it across. We wish the
world were as
harmonious a place as
depicted here.
A contestant at a book jacket competition to

mark the 50th anniversary of Roald Dahls
James and the Giant Peach in 2011 came up
with a great combination of paper cutting and
photography. This contestant highlighted some
of the high-points from the book using
different materials, shapes and textures. Aptly
captured mood.
Brazilian artists Janiana Mello and

Daniel Landini are known for their
rope installations like this one. Its
open to ones own judgment, as to
what the overall emptiness of the
space connotes.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 37
Book Review
The Emergency A Personal History
and magazines at India Coffee House in Connaught Place, New Delhi, was arrested because he
sold copies of the weekly, March of the Nation, edited by Piloo Mody, an MP and one of the
founders of the Swatantra Party.
Mamchand was illiterate. He could not read
the newspapers and magazines he was selling and
did not know who Piloo Mody was. But officials
and policemen were not bothered about that and
they kept the unlettered Mamchand in jail for
more than a year.
DARK DAYS J
OF EXCESS
Coomi Kapoors timely book on the
Emergency recounts how
dictatorship in 1975 steam-rolled all
democratic institutions
BY RAJENDRA BAJPAI
OURNALIST Coomi Kapoors

book on the Emergency, perhaps
the darkest period in the history
of independent India, is a timely
reminder of events that terrorized the country 40 years ago.
Coomi was personally traumatized by the Emergencyher husband Virendra was arrested and
other family members, including her sister,
Roxna, and brother-in-law, Subramanian Swamy,
were hunted and haunted by policemen taking
orders directly from the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhis son, Sanjay.
Public memory is notoriously short and those
under 50 years probably know nothing about a period when people were thrown behind bars at the
slightest excuse and often, for no rhyme or reason.
For instance, Mamchand, who sold newspapers
HATED FIGURE
Villagers in most of northern India, mainly UP,
hated Sanjay for his much-despised family planning and forced sterilization program. People
were being rounded up and forcibly vasectomized.
They often slept in the open on their agricultural
farms to escape arrests for sterilization.
Both Coomi and I worked together at The Indian Express when Emergency was imposed. The
newspapers owner was Ramnath Goenka, a foxy
old man, who kept testing the limits of the governments patience. In the summer of 1976, he
took ill and VC Shuka, then I&B minister, tried to
pressurize him to sell The Indian Express to his
nominees. Goenka, who was recovering from a
heart attack, told us he agreed to sell the paper, but
insisted he wanted `2 crore by cheque. Then he
had a hearty laugh and said he knew nobody had
`2 crore in the bank in those days.
Newspapers were being censored and there
was little to do except rehash official press releases. I took to flying gliders to while away my
time, while Coomi spent her time visiting her husband, Virendra, in jail as often as she could and
bringing up her newborn baby.
IN THE DARK
In the autumn of 1976, I quit The Indian Express
to join Reuters where I found far greater freedom
to write. Within weeks, several opposition leaders
were freed from detention and it became clear that
Indira Gandhi might call elections, still unaware

how resentful people were of her Emergency as
well as her sons unpopularity.
How angry people were became apparent as
soon as she called elections the following year.
Soon enough, it began to dawn on her that things
were not hunky-dory and she began to apologize
for the excesses of the Emergency although that
did not help.
In the run-up to the elections, I visited the
constituencies of Indira Gandhi and her son, Sanjay. The visit was an eye-opener. A day earlier,
newspapers reported that unidentified gunmen
had fired at Sanjay in Amethi, his constituency.
There was no evidence that any such incident had
taken place. I stopped at roadside tea shops and
found that anger against Indira and her son was
so great that even those who were their die-hard
supporters were not willing to say so openly.
BANG ON
I came back and told my colleague Bernard
Melunsky that Indira Gandhi and Sanjay had no
chance of winning. Reuters carried the report but
Bernard refused to believe me. He said he was
willing to bet a bottle of champagne that they
would win. He lost the bet. Indira Gandhis party
lost all 90 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.
The opposition was united under the banner
of the newly created Janata Party, but there were
far too many aspirants for the prime ministers
post. Morarji Desai became the prime minister,
but it did not end the squabbles and Indira
Gandhi was back in power in the early 1980s.
Coomis research has been consummate and
she has interviewed all key Emergency players
who are still alive. Forty years after the event, it
was easier for people to discuss all that happened
during 19 months of Indira Gandhis oppressive
rule. It is a book all those below the age of 40
should read to know what dictatorship is all about
and what would happen if Emergency was imposed again.
THE EMERGENCY
A PERSONAL HISTORY
By Coomi Kapoor
Publisher: Penguin Viking
Price: `599; Pages: 389
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 39
Anchor Review
Karan Thapar
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.
DATE
THE REAL TRUTH BEHIND
22/6/15
EMERGENCY
By being restrained, Karan Thapar extracted

much out of RK Dhawan in To The Point
BY VON TEAM
H
Kudos to
Thapar for
his ability to
keep the
audience
glued to the
program
despite the
topic being
four
decads old.
ISTORY has been unfair

to Mrs Indira Gandhi.
Leaders are trying to denigrate her for their selfish
ends. She was a nationalist to the core and loved
the people of the country. These were the remarks
made by Indira Gandhis aide RK Dhawan in an interview to Karan Thapar. Dhawan was the personal
secretary of Indira Gandhi during the Emergency.
Thapar introduced Dhawan as the political
heart of Emergency and presented him as the only
person who could thread together incidents and decisions taken during and prior to the Emergency in
a comprehensible manner.
Did Indira Gandhi impose Emergency because
the Allahabad High Court judgment went against
her and the Supreme Court put a conditional stay on
the judgment? Who played the central role in declaring Emergency and influenced the PMs decision?
What kind of relationship did Sanjay Gandhi maintain with her mother? Did Indira Gandhi know
about Sanjays five-point agenda, which included
mass sterilization? These were some of the pertinent
questions raised by Thapar.
Dhawan revealed many interesting facts. The reasons behind the Emergency, he said, had nothing to
do with the Allahabad High Court judgment;

rather, the PM was ready with her resignation as
soon as she came to know about the verdict. But
before she could do that, senior ministers, including Jagjivan Ram, started thronging 1, Safdarjung
Road, pleading with her not to resign, as the
Supreme Court had stayed the High Court judgment. He revealed that PN Haksar, who later became a prominent critic of the Emergency,
had drafted the statement that she was not going
to resign.
The mood in the country was slowly becoming
anti-government. The opposition had created an
atmosphere of hatred against her. These were
the actual reasons behind the proclamation
of Emergency, Dhawan revealed.
Throughout the interview, Thapar was controlled and let Dhawan do the talking. He would
raise a point and steer the discussion to another
point without irritating the guest. Unlike his other
interviews, Thapar gave ample time to Dhawan.
This episode of To the Point was to the point in
the real sense.
Thapar deserves credit for his ability to keep
the audience, especially the youth, hooked to the
program, despite the topic being four
decades old.
29/6/15
29/6/15
1/ 7/15
1/ 7/15
1/ 7/15
2/7/15
2/7/15
NEWS
MS Dhoni says he is ready to step down
as captain and play as a team member,
following the one-day series defeat
in Bangladesh.
NEWS
CHANNEL TIME
10:00 AM
Congress levels fresh charges against

Vasundhara Raje and Lalit Modi; says Dholpur not a private property. Jairam Ramesh
says Rajes son Dushyant Singh too involved.
12:32 PM
Indian team announced for Zimbabwe

one-dayers. Ajinkya Rahane to lead in
three one-dayers, two T-20s. Rohit, Virat,
Raina, Ashwin rested. Harbhajan returns.
11:33 AM
12:36 PM
12:40 AM
1:04 PM
1:05 PM
1:06 PM
Lalit Modi tweeted Varun Gandhi visited

him at his home and assured that his aunt
could set things right, and Sonias sister
wanted `360 crore. Varun denies charges.
9:23 AM
9:43 AM
Congress slams Modi govt over hacking of

Nehrus wikipedia page. The page claims his
grandfather was a Muslim. A deliberate attempt to show him as a Muslim: Congress.
11:02 AM
11:20 AM
11:25 AM
PM launches Digital India. Digital India

week commences. E-voting, improved
governance, more work opportunities, free
wi-fi and rural connectivity on the anvil.
4:17 PM
4:18 PM
4.19 PM
Minister Rijiju under fire for offloading of

three passengers from AI flight from Leh to
accommodate him and two others. Minister claims he had no knowledge about it.
10:08 AM
10:15 AM
10:17 AM
10:23 AM
10:45 AM
11:06 AM
Kejriwal government hikes funding for

publicity. `520 crore earmarked. Congress
attacks AAP for 21-fold hike, calls it
unfortunate.
9:59 AM
1:10 PM
10:02 AM
4:21 PM
11:06 AM
4:28 PM
11:25 AM
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 41
Controversy
Outlook Legal Notice
Outlook in a soup
The magazine courts controversy by calling
a lady IAS officer eye candy and is
slapped with a legal notice. The media
would do well to keep away from scurrilous
and sexist reports
BY VON TEAM
T is not often that a snippet in

a gossip column comes to
haunt a publication. Last week,
Outlook magazine found itself
in the news for all the wrong
reasons after its July 6, 2015,
issue carried an item: No Boring Babu, in its weekly
Deep Throat column, for which it was sent a legal
notice. The 160-word piece in question targeted
Smita Sabharwal, additional secretary to Telangana
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. She was portrayed as a junior bureaucrat who made it to an
important posting only because of her good looks
and her habit of making a fashion statement with
her lovely saris and serving as eye candy at meetings.
The accompanying caricature showed her on the
ramp in tights and a skimpy top being photographed
by the Telangana CM and winked at and cheered on
by politicians in Gandhi topis and khadi whites. The
Sabharwal has an impressive track

record as a bureaucrat. One of her
initiatives in the health care sector
in Karimnagar was nominated for
the Prime Ministers award.
IN THE EYE OF STORM

Bureaucrat Smita
Sabharwal
cartoon was inspired by Sabharwals appearance at a

recent fashion event in Hyderabad, where she was
photographed dressed in smart, presentable casuals.
(Outlook called it a trendy trouser and frilly top.)
YELLOW JOURNALISM
The general consensus among right-thinking people
is that Sabharwal has reason to be upset. She has
dashed off a legal notice to Outlook, in which she has
alleged that the magazine had indulged in yellow
journalism and accused it of defaming her and undermining all the good work she had done in her 14
years in service merely because she was attractive.
To quote from the notice sent by her lawyer:
...my client invites you to act like a journalist and investigate my clients job profile before indulging in
cheap and mindless caricatures and storytelling,
satirical or not, that are completely disrespectful, demeaning, distasteful and more importantly extremely misogynist and sexist in nature where my
clients hard work, dedication and her excellence in
her profession are washed away by the mere fact of
her being an attractive young woman who has accomplished quite a lot professionally, owing to her
dedication and perseverance.
By all accounts, there is no denying that Sabharwal has an impressive track record as a bureaucrat.
Her work in the districts of erstwhile Andhra
Pradesh has been appreciated. In fact, one of her initiatives in the health care sector in Karimnagar district was even nominated for the Prime Ministers
award for excellence in public administration. She is
seen as an upright and conscientious officer who deserved better than the uncharitable manner in which
she was portrayed by Outlook.
MAGAZINE APOLOGIZES
The magazine has already withdrawn the offending
write-up and caricature from its website and carried
an apology. But since the print edition has been circulated, it will probably have to apologize in its next
issue as well. On its part, Outlook has clarified that
the said piece was part of satire carried by the mag-
azine in the usual course and was not

intended to be derisive or derogatory,
and was meant to be received in lighter
vein. It pointed out that it did not cite
names or specifics. However, it must be
noted that the Telangana strap line to
the snippet and the fact that there is
only one woman bureaucrat in the chief
ministers office was a dead giveaway
that the reference was to Sabharwal.
This is not the first time that Outlook has come
under flak for its sexist observations. A little over
three months ago, the magazine carried a cover story
against HRD Minister Smriti Irani. One story in the
five-part package was about bureaucrats fed up with
the ministers style of functioning. It began with the
rather meaningless opening line: How an actress
who has faced the biggest of television cameras of all
sizes and shapes could get rattled by a pinhole CCTV
eye, we will never know. The reference was to Irani
registering a complaint about a CCTV camera in a
Fabindia outlet in Goa which, she alleged, was placed
to look into the trial room.
Meanwhile, many have come out in support of
Sabharwal. Noted lawyer Indira Jaising tweeted:
Shame editor Krishna Prasad. Outlook 6th July
refers to IAS officer Smita Sabarwal PA to Telangana
CM as eye candy. Journalist TS Sudhir tweeted:
Shocked to read an extremely sexist & offensive
piece abt a lady IAS officer in the latest edition of
@Outlookindia. Not expected. Bad taste Another
tweet tellingly says The article on Sabarwal in
@Outlookindia is the lowest point in journalism. Im
sure @vinodedmehta wouldn't have appreciated it
Unfortunately, Outlooks Hyderabad correspondent, Madhavi Tata, who wrote the offending snippet
has been receiving threatening emails, calls, SMSes
and tweets. She has also been subjected to sexist
abuse. The magazine has written to the DGP and the
chief minister, among others, to ensure her safety.
Is there a lesson for journalists from the latest controversy? Well, you cant always get away with scurrilous and sexist writing in the garb of gossip.
Notice sent
to Newshour
IN this season of legal notices to the media,
Dushyant Singh, son of
Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Raje, reportedly sent a legal notice on
July 2 to Times Now, accusing the channel of
making false and defamatory statements. The notice refers specifically to
the Newshour debate on
June 29 anchored by
Arnab Goswami, in which
it alleged that that the
City Palace of Dholpur in
Rajasthan belonged to
the state and not to Singh
as claimed by him.
The notice demanded
a retraction by the channel on Newshour, failing
which Times Now would
be sued for Rs 100 crore.
Criminal charges under
Sections 499, 500 and 505
of IPC would also be filed
against the channel, its
editor-in-chief Arnab
Goswami and director of
Times Group, Vineet Jain.
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 43
Governance
Yoga Initiative
HE declaration of June 21 as International

Yoga Day by the United Nations and the
Indian governments decision to celebrate
it on a grand scale has provided the media
an opportunity to focus on this ancient
form of physical and mental exercise. The
coverage began almost a week prior to Yoga Day and continued for a few more days after the event was over. For about a
fortnight, yoga grabbed headlines in all kinds of media, be it
TV, print, online or social.
However, there has been a controversy over making yoga
compulsory for all, chanting of Om while performing certain asanas and the likely inclusion of surya namaskar during
the June 21 function. Spokespersons of political parties, religious leaders, yoga teachers, gurus and political commentators participated in television discussions and were quoted
widely in print and online media.
RIGHT PRESCRIPTION?
A large chunk of the coverage focused on yogas health benefits, which were touted as the main reason why people
should embrace it. Yoga was projected as the right prescription for lifestyle diseasesdiabetes, hypertension, obesity, hy-
Universal
PANACEA?
Has media hyped the PMs initiative? There are legitimate questions about
the ancient practice and the science behind it. It neither asked questions
about yogas tall claims nor gave warning about its pitfalls
BY DINESH C SHARMA
perthyroidism, spondylitis and cancerswhich are

on the rise in India.
But it is here that one runs into a problem
some of the coverage was blind faith. Barring a few
exceptions, the media went out of its way to project
yoga as a panacea for all health problems. The real
reason for the UN dedicating a day for yoga was
overlooked completely. The UN resolution establishing June 21 as Yoga Day notes the importance
of individuals and populations making healthier
choices and following lifestyle patterns that foster
good health. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
said: Yoga is a sport that can contribute to development and peace.
The purpose of Yoga Day as declared by the UN
was three-fold: Yoga as one of the means to reduce
physical inactivity and thus reduce the risk of
lifestyle diseases; yoga as a sport that can promote
peace; yoga helping people make healthier choices.
No media discussion cared to highlight this.
AYUSH MINISTRY
The Ayush Ministry is largely to blame for this
oversight as it set the agenda for public discourse.
The ministry stated that yoga is not about exercise
but to discover the sense of oneness with ourselves,
the world and nature. In other words, it rejected
the UNs and WHOs focus on yoga as a means of
tackling physical inactivity which is recognized as
a key risk factor for non-communicable diseases.
Instead of offering yoga as a motivation for people
to undertake physical activity, the government and
the Ayush Ministry projected it as a solution for the
holistic well-being of people. The exclusion of the
Ministry of Health from the inter-ministerial expert panel to oversee Yoga Day celebrations also
made it clear that the government did not wish to
highlight the public health angle as suggested by
the UN. Media accepted this skewed projection
without asking any questions.
The format of studio discussions on yoga was
also different. Some channels had yoga teachers
and exponents discussing yoga and also demon-
strating different asanas. It was during these programs that sweeping statements about the health
benefits of each asana were made by yoga teachers.
Ill-informed anchors further generalized sweeping
statements to exhort viewers to take to yoga. No
questions were asked about the claims being made
or about the side-effects of yoga being taught
through television. Yoga was freely confused with
meditation, spirituality, breathing exercises and the
like. Exponents like Baba Ramdev and new age
gurus like Jaggi Vasudev, as well as BJP leaders like
Uma Bharti, participated in such programs. One
media house, India Today, organized a special event
on yoga which was televised. While teaching the
anchor yoga postures, Baba Ramdev claimed that
yoga can cure hypertension, hyper thyroidism
and even hepatitis, and professed that research
studies had published this in international
research journals.
THE FITNESS MANTRA
DANGEROUS CLAIMS
TV channels which could not get celebrities like
Baba Ramdev or Shilpa Shetty did the next best
(Facing page) Shilpa

Shetty lends
Bollywood glamor to
yoga;
(Below) Baba Ramdev
performing an asana
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 45
Governance
Yoga Initiative
the laughing exercise we do every day. I practice

yoga for 45 minutes a day," he says. Parikh said he
eats everything, but recommends only water and a
banana before yoga. Parikhs guru, Atul Modi, says:
Babubhai couldn't even walk or speak properly.
Now, he is active and can take two rounds of the
whole park. Breathing exercises helped him a lot.
NewsX channel had this headline: Did you
know that yoga helps you fight obesity, diabetes,
blood pressure and even cancer? The story goes
on to say: Scared of chemotherapy, radiation treatment, immunotherapy? Are these terms boggling
your mind and giving you goosebumps? Heres a
simple treatment to answer your cancerYoga!
For cancer recovery, try gentle yoga therapy,
restorative yoga, yoga for healing, and yoga for beginners.Adequate exercise of the arms can help
prevent breast cancer.
THE FITNESS MANTRA

(Above and facing
page) Yoga on Rajpath
thingthey got beneficiaries of yoga to give testimonies. For instance, India News channel spoke to
ten people who had been cured of nothing less
than cancers, brain tumors, diabetes, hypertension
and so on through one particular type of yoga taught
at Patanjali Ashram of Baba Ramdev. Minor benefits
such as lower dependence on drugs and pain relief
were not touched upon.
Newspapers were not far behind. Ahmedabad
Mirror published a testimony of Babubhai Parikh,
69, under the heading: Yoga is my pacemaker. He
said that before he started yoga, only 20 percent of
his heart was working, his liver had failed and his
body had turned black due to the absence of blood.
He claimed that he was asked to be put on a pacemaker. But his neighbor, a professional yoga teacher,
introduced him to a laugh club in Joggers Park.
Soon, his health improved. Parikh claimed that for
the last nine months, he hadnt visited a doctor or
undergone any medical tests. My favorite asana is
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS
Words like cure were frequently used, while some
stories quoted research studies but did not bother
to give vital information. For example, if the study
was published in a peer-reviewed journal, few
asked how many people participated in it, what
factors other than yoga were studied and were
these studies case-controlled or randomized clinical trials?
Thus, ill-informed, imbalanced and unscientific messages about yoga spread through mass
media. This could have a deleterious effect on public health, given the fact that India has a huge burden of non-communicable diseases and equitable
access to health services is still a huge problem. The
rising cost of private health services, especially for
chronic diseases, could drive people to cheaper options in alternative medicine and to Indian systems such as Ayurveda and Siddha. While these
systems offer different treatments, they have to be
practiced by trained and qualified practitioners. In
the absence of any robust system of education, accreditation of practitioners and an opaque system
of quality control of indigenous drugs, gullible people are being subjected to quackery.
Dr Anil Bansal, chairman of the anti-quackery
cell of Delhi Medical Council says: Already regional and local television channels are full of advertorials and sponsored content about miracle
cures for cancer and everything else. Now, mainline
channels have also started doing this, as they did
with the yoga coverage. This will definitely encourage quackery. He said it was an offense to claim any
miracle cure for cancer and other such diseases
listed in the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.
Yoga is good for health, just like any other physical activity such as brisk walking. Instead of highlighting such messages, media has put yoga on a
pedestal as a cure for everything. We need to motivate people to change sedentary lifestyles, Bansal
added. We have seen yoga teachers posing as doctors. We caught one such teacher in Delhi recently;
he was giving his disciples allopathic drugs in high
doses. High decibel media coverage is acting as an
advertisement for such people.
NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
The situation is particularly dangerous when it
comes to cancer cases. Yoga and such techniques
have a role before and after cancer

treatment. But to project yoga or
meditation as a cure for cancer is
Newspaper headlines on yoga:
grave, said Dr Manoj Sharma, proThe Times of India: Yoga session lined up
fessor of radiotherapy at Maulana
for cancer patients
Azad Medical College. At time,
The New Indian Express: Yoga Can Help
cancer cases become severe beKeep Heart Disease, Cancer, Dementia Away,
Says Study
cause people leave the treatment
The Hindu: Yoga Therapy for cancer patients
midway for some cure from a baba.
Business Standard: Embrace yoga to
By the time they come back, the
check
disease
disease has progressed further,
Deccan Herald: Yoga and diabetes
he added.
Asian Age: Yoga helps cancer patients live
The coverage of Yoga Day
longer
points to larger maladies. Yoga fits
with soft coverage of health (fitness,
wellness) on TV channels. The trend of advertorial
health programs to peddle questionable remedies
for ailments like cancer is the larger issue. Media
houses need to rethink their coverage of health-related subjects. If Baba Ramdev claims on TV that
he can cure hepatitis, he should be asked to substantiate it, and the views of medical experts must be
taken. Mumbo-jumbo should not be allowed to pass
off as health communication. After all, we are dealing with lives of people. Lets do it responsibly.
The writer is Fellow at the Centre for
Media Studies.
Tall Claims
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 47
Governance
Modi Controversy
ED Action
LaMo
JUGGERNAUT
ROLLS ON
T
Even as the
government is
diving for cover
over the Lalit Modi
issue, it has
belatedly sent ED
officials to
Singapore to
probe money
laundering by him
BY SHANTANU GUHA RAY
HEY are calling it The Emperor

Strikes Back, the line drawn
from George Lucas Star Wars
series to explain Delhis latest
move to silence fugitive cricket
czar Lalit Modi. The latest to
jump into the fray is his father, tobacco tycoon KK
Modi, who said his company had offered a lawyer's
retainership to Swaraj Kaushal for looking after the
company's interests. We did it at the request of
Lalit, the senior Modi told media.
And then, it was the start of another round of
blitzkrieg across all news channels and newspapers.
Ever since the former IPL commissioner triggered
a storm involving external affairs minister Sushma
Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, the
NDA government has drawn considerable flak.
WASHOUT SESSION
Political analysts have even predicted a washout
monsoon session when parliament convenes on
July 21. I do not think there will be any concrete
work, remarked CPI's D Raja.
Probably aware of the impending crisis, the gov48 VIEWS ON NEWS July 22, 2015
ernment has now sent Enforcement Directorate

(ED) officials to Singapore to expedite the letter
rogatory (LR) sent there last week. Delhis move follows two years of virtual inaction by the ED, which
did not send a revised LR as demanded by the UK
in 2013. Modi has been staying in that country despite the Indian government revoking his passport
in 2010.
On June 29, 2015, the ED sent two LRsa request for assistance from an Indian court to a foreign court through the external affairs ministry
to Singapore and Mauritius under the Prevention
of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These pertain
to the EDs investigation into a deal between Sonys
Singapore-based subsidiary Multi Screen Media
(MSM) and World Sports Group (WSG), signed by
Modi in March 2009.
IN THE DARK
In the LR, the ED has asked for the banking transactions of both MSM and WSG to investigate their
links with Modi. MSM was given `470-crore media
rights for the IPL in 2009 and Modi allegedly entered into a back-end agreement with Sony to ensure a `125-crore payment to the little-known
WSG, which had been awarded a contract by him
earlier. The Indian Cricket Board, a guarantor to
the agreement, was kept in the dark about details
of the agreement, allegedly by Modi.
An investigation under the PMLA could provide grounds for a Red Corner Interpol notice for
Modis extradition.
In February 2015, the ED had issued a showcause against Modi under the Foreign Exchange
Management Act (FEMA) for not taking prior permission from the Reserve Bank of India before
standing guarantee for MSM in case of a payment
default to WSG. In this notice, Modi was charged
with heading the negotiation and being signatory
to the deal.
The ED had started investigations into the alleged `470-crore foreign exchange violations after
Modis ouster from the BCCI. He is accused of sign-
ing a sham contract with WSG

in 2009 when he was in-charge
of IPL.
SRINIVASAN COMPLAINT
The EDs investigation against
Modi under PMLA is based on
a complaint filed by former
BCCI head N Srinivasan in October 2010, following a showcause notice issued by the BCCI
to Modi.
In the complaint to the police, Srinivasan said: This
agreement was never placed before the governing council of the
IPL, nor the working committee
of the BCCI, and to our shock
we find that all along you
(Modi) have not only been
aware of payment of a commission of several crores to WSG
Mauritius but also have made
the BCCI practically guarantee
that such payment is made.
In India, FEMA is a civil offence. As a result, it cannot become a predicate offense for
extradition under international
norms. But in London, the former cricket tycoon sits unfazed and tweeted: I
want to know who are they protecting. I will continue to spill the beans. I will push Indians to seek
answers from corrupt politicians and equally corrupt cricket administrators.
His latest bombshell was about BJP leader
Varun Gandhi, who Modi claimed had visited him
in London with a promise of sorting out all problems with Sonia Gandhi.
Varun Gandhi rubbished the charges against
him saying they were patently untrue. It is beneath
my dignity to delve deeper into this ridiculous nonsense, he reportedly said.
MIND GAMES
(Facing page) Lalit
Modis fusillade of
disclosures have
forced the center to
act against him
(Above) The ED probe
against Modi is based
on a complaint filed by
former BCCI chief N
Srinivasan in 2010
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 49
Governance
Modi Controversy
National Fallout
HOW C
DEEP
IS THE
ROT?
ONFLICT of interest and crony

capitalism are the mother and
father of corruption in India.
They run so deep in Indian
public life and the body politic
that they are virtually laughed
off. A large number of people in high places do not
equate conflict of interest with corruption and treat
it as a matter of fact of Indian society. This then
leads to impropriety, unprofessionalism, unethical
conduct and, eventually, to corruption.
If our politicians are guilty of conflict of interest
leading to corruption, there are also instances of it
happening in other fields: media houses indulging
Conflict of interest is
not taken seriously in
India. This is why the
Modi government
survived the first
round of the LaMo
crisis despite
involvement of some
ministers.
BY ABHAY VAIDYA
in paid news journalism; doctors prescribing unnecessary tests, medicines and surgeries for the
sake of cuts and commissions; sports administrators and players hobnobbing with fixers and even
our scientists indulging in wanton plagiarism. Take
the case of top scientist CNR Rao, decorated with
no less than the Bharat Ratna, who was accused of
five instances of plagiarism by the Society for Scientific Values. Rao later issued an apology, describing one instance of plagiarism as an oversight.
CLEAN CHIT
Thus, it is hardly surprising that the BJP high command swiftly gave a clean chit to Rajasthan chief
minister Vasundhara Raje on the very day when it
was revealed that three former Supreme Court
judges, senior editor Prabhu Chawla and former
Mumbai police commissioner RD Tyagi had also
given testimonies to a British court in favor of Lalit
Modis appeal for immigration.
While the judges opined that Modis passport
had been wrongly revoked by the Congress government, senior Supreme Court advocate Indira
Jaising said in a TV debate that it was wrong on the
part of the judges to give that paid for legal opinion in the Modi case.
It was also wrong as it would weigh heavily with
brother judges of the Supreme Court in the event
of a case being heard in India, Jaising said.
What also helped ease the pressure on the BJP
was Lalit Modis revealing tweet that he had met
Congress icon Priyanka Gandhi and her husband,
Robert Vadra, in a London restaurant.
The BJP then defended Raje by stating
that (unlike Prabhu Chawla and RD
Tyagi), Vasundhara had not appeared in a
British court to stand testimony for
Modi. Secondly, while her signature was
verified on the last page of her statement, the rest of it could not be verified as it was with the British
authorities.
When asked for the govern-
ments response on Lalit Modis investment of `11

crore in Dushyant Singhs firm in 2008, Jaitley recently said: Its a commercial transaction between
two individuals...with all banking approvals in a declared loan transaction.
Theres been much smoke around this seemingly innocent transaction: Hindustan Times on
June 28 reported that between 2008 and 2009,
Modi acquired 815 shares in Dushyants Niyant
Heritage Hotel Pvt Ltd for `11.63 crore, valuing
each share at `96,000a hefty premium of 9,600
times. Raje held 3,280 shares in this company, valued at `10 each in 2013 years after Modi had
NAMO PREVAILS
The Modi government
has survived the
storm for now, despite
damning allegations
of proximity of BJP
leaders to former IPL
chief Lalit Modi (right)
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 51
Governance
Modi Controversy
National Fallout
Goswami appeared cocksure that his

aggressive campaign would result in
Vasundharas downfall. That didnt
happen because conflict of interest is
treated as a minor transgression.
ONE OF THE ILK?
Senior editor
Prabhu Chawla
(left) and
former Mumbai
police
commissioner
RD Tyagi (center)
gave testimonies
in a British court
for Lalit Modi;
Vasundhara Raje
(right) was keen
that her
support to Modi
be kept
secret
allegedly bought significant stake in the company

for an eye-popping `96,000 a share, the newspaper
reported. Thus, at the end of the first round of
Modigate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got to
keep face, albeit with some spots and blemishes;
Vasurandhara retained her seat as CM and Sushma
continues to be the foreign minister.
SUSHMAS FOLLY
However, it is Swarajs spotlessly clean image that
has suffered the most as she is now seen as damaged goods. Till last year, she was seen as PM
material and the Shiv Sena had even named her
as their choice for this post. She even had the best
media rating among all the ministers in the NaMo
It is Sushma Swarajs spotlessly clean

image that has suffered the most as she
is now damaged goods. Till last year,
she was seen as PM material and had
the best media rating among ministers.
cabinet in the one year review of the governments

performance. Was it an inside job of a snake in
the grass which got Sushma fixed through Modigate, as alleged by party leader and former cricketer
Kirti Azad? Swaraj may not have been punished by
the party, but has ended paying a high price for her
impropriety.
In the case of Vasudhara Raje and Sushma
Swaraj, the BJP asked: Where is the corruption?
In their view, it did not matter that Swarajs daughter Bansuri and husband Kaushal were LaMos
lawyers and that Swaraj had allegedly requested
Lalit Modi to help her nephew gain admission to
Sussex University.
Kaushal later denied this charge. It also did not
matter that Swaraj did not inform the finance ministry, which was pursuing cases against Lalit Modi,
before assisting him in getting travel documents
from the UK government.
In Vasundhras case, it did not matter to the BJP
that there were questionable financial transactions
and share transfers between Dushyant, Lalit Modi
and herself and in her signed testimony, she had
requested that her support to Modi not be revealed

to the Indian government.
What about the impropriety of this request and
conflict of interest issues? Were these quid-pro-quos
for favors done? Even a learned scholar and commentator like Surjit S Bhalla, contributing editor of
The Indian Express, is silent on this point in his June
27 editorial page essay: Is Lalit Modi a fugitive?
co-authored with Kirtivardhan Dave. In the essay,
Bhalla eruditely demolishes the medias charge and
that of BJP MP RK Singh that LaMo is a fugitive.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
A person of authority is guilty of conflict of interest
when he shows undue favors towards a person or a
company instead of serving and protecting public
interest. Thus, Sushma Swaraj should not have kept
the finance ministry, specifically the Enforcement
Directorate, in the dark while aiding Lalit Modi.
And given the business dealings between her son
and Lalit Modi, Raje should not have issued a testimony in Modis favor and then hidden it from
the government.
In India, politicians have always explained conflict of interest business deals as

purely commercial transactions between
their relatives and the concerned business
entities, even in cases of undue government
favors. This was how the Congress explained
the Robert Vadra-DLF deal. Sharad Pawar
gave similar explanation for the Lavasa
shareholdings of his daughter and son-inlaw, who also had links to 2G scam accused
Shahid Balwas DB Realty through Pune
firm, Panchshil Realty. Then, there was Maharashtra Sadan and other corruption or conflict of interest cases involving former Maharashtra deputy CM
Chhagan Bhujbal and his close relatives.
The media, this time, didnt give up on this
issue. On Times Now, at any given point of time,
there are three people shouting, one of them being
anchor Arnab Goswami (or his substitute). Since
shouting is the norm on this channel, BJP
spokesman Sambit Patra too has made it a point to
drown his opponents with his shrill interruptions.
This channel was at the forefront of the Modigate
story, repeatedly calling Modi a fugitive. Goswami
appeared cocksure that his aggressive campaign
would result in Vasundharas imminent downfall.
That didnt happen because conflict of interest is
still treated as a minor transgression in India.
SAD PRECEDENTS
Goswamis brand of journalism is often a onesided, no-holds-barred attack, where he plays to the
gallery and succeeds in boosting TRPs. But what
about holding him accountable when hes
VIEWS ON NEWS
July 22, 2015 53
Governance
Modi Controversy
National Fallout
GENTLE RAP
(L-R)
Barkha Dutt
and
Vir Sanghvi
didnt face
severe
consequences
of Radiagate
wrong? Bhalla opens his essay with the words:

There is a serious crisis in the media. This has to
do with presentationsorry shoutingof biased
opinion.
When the Radiagate dam burst, thanks to Open
and Outlook magazines, some top Indian editors
said that journalists like Barkha Dutt and Vir
Sanghvi would have had to resign had they been
working in an organization like the BBC. Sanghvi
got a rap on the knuckles with the discontinuation
of his popular column in Hindustan Times, while
Barkha was allowed by NDTV to defend herself in a
televised debate with two top editors.
CNR Rao, decorated with the Bharat

Ratna, was accused of five instances of
plagiarism by the Society for Scientific
Values. Rao, in his apology, described
one instance as an oversight.
This strange mechanism of dealing with a serious conflict of interest issue was criticized heavily
on social media. Barkha may have retained her job,
but what she and the channel lost was credibility.
The late Vinod Mehta has devoted 12 full pages
to Radiagate in his autobiography, Lucknow Boy,
saying that he turned down Prannoy Roys request
to be a part of the televised debate with Barkha and
was subsequently banned from NDTV.
India is still found wanting when it comes to
high professional standards and this is the reason
why conflict of interest violations are not dealt with
seriously. This culture has pervaded our politics,
bureaucracy, judiciary, journalism, academia and
many other sectors. This is not an issue restricted
to a Sushma Swaraj or a Vasundhara Raje. The rot
will be stemmed only when benchmarks are raised
and high professional standards are set and followed. Exposing instances of conflict of interest in
order to cleanse the system will remain an important part of this journey.
RNI No. UPENG/2007/22571
Postal Regd. No. UP/GBD-204/2015-17

3ULQWHGRQ HYHU\PRQWK 3RVWHGDW6XE3RVW2IFH6HFWRU1RLGD

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Governance Section

MODIS NEW HINDUTVA AGENDA

JULY 22, 2015

On The Chopping Block

Nihal Singh, Raghu Rai speak out

4 VIEWS ON NEWS July 22, 2015

politicians and the media to dupe vulnerable patrons

The ProPublica story on chocolates

July 22, 2015 5

Rupert Murdoch hangs up his boots,

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

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The media asked few questions

Dark Days of Excess

Chief Editorial Advisor

The possession of Statesman House in Kolkata by SBI portends the demise

I Fooled Millions Into Thinking

A Pro-Publica exclusive report by JOHN BOHANNON on how sensational

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WSJ says goodbye

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The magazine courts controversy by

The government has belatedly sent

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July 22, 2015 7

Beti Bachao Campaign

It (drinking) is ones fundamental right. Drinking is a social

campaign in his radio address,

Babulal Gaur, Madhya Pradesh

Tamtams for Lalu

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AT A SOCIAL gathering in Delhi recently, BJP MP

Jaya bats for Doordarshan

I think the law minister

Compiled by Roshni Seth

Ok BJP, can u please stop sending

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All BJP leaders who

July 22, 2015 9

HIS is the archetypal story

10 VIEWS ON NEWS July 22, 2015

Even as the two were reminiscing the good old

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July 22, 2015 11

The bosses killed The

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The Hall of Fame

ROBERT KNIGHT was the founder editor who was also

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to be in for a paper which was established in 1875

remain and the credibility of the iconic daily would

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I feel sad, I am crestfallen.

Once, after returning

12 VIEWS ON NEWS July 22, 2015

July 22, 2015 13

Rag in a city that once

The stories that emanate from The Statesman

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