How to pass IAS: read newspapers & magazines

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/17/2013 6:31:05 AM

'It is not often these days that news consumers have something good to say about newspapers. And magazines. And TV stations. And blogs. And websites. Individual and institutional transgressions—paid news, private treaties, medianet, Radia tapes, shrieking anchors, sensationalism, jingoism, corruption, etc—have all contributed enormously to the cynicism of the media among the consuming classes. How […]'

Read full article

Just between You and Me, a ‘Time’ special

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/15/2013 11:32:37 AM

'What goes around comes around in the world of magazines*. Six years ago, Time magazine hailed you, yes You, as the person of the year: “You control the information age. Welcome to your world.” In circa 2013, it bemoans the “Me, Me, Me” generation addicted to phones, tabs and notebooks: “Millennials are lazy, entitled […]'

Read full article

So, how many journalists cracked CAT 2012?

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/15/2013 5:57:57 AM

'Serving warm, uplifting news first thing in the morning is an integral part of The Times of India‘s sunny credo, a point which comes up over and over in presentations made its managers, and on the pages of the paper. Today, the paper serves it up by the bucketful with the story of N. Shiva […]'

Read full article

How a newspaper gave an 11-year-old a future

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/13/2013 10:39:19 AM

'The newspaper world has found its own Kalawati. On April 25, at a traffic light in Bhopal, Kaushal Shakya, an 11-year-old newspaper boy, had a life-changing experience when his potential buyer turned out to be Rahul Gandhi. Writes Rasheed Kidwai in The Telegraph: “Akhbar kyon bechte ho? (Why are you selling newspapers?) Do you go […]'

Read full article

New Yorker carries TOI response, 7 months later

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/11/2013 8:28:15 AM

'Exactly seven months after The New Yorker carried a nine-page profile of Samir Jain, Vineet Jain and The Times of India by its acclaimed media critic Ken Auletta, the magazine has carried a response from TOI’s executive editor, Arindam Sen Gupta, in its May 5 issue, on medianet, private treaties and other subsidiary issues. Image: courtesy […]'

Read full article

How Praja Vani reporters tracked Karnataka poll

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/8/2013 5:30:45 AM

'On the day politicians count their seats in the Karnataka assembly elections, the 65-year-old Kannada daily newspaper Praja Vani, from the Deccan Herald group, has a page one, colour-coded graphic that chronicles the journeys undertaken by its reporters to bring the poll to its readers. The final score: over 27 days, 10 reporters (including three [...]'

Read full article

Headlines Today claims it’s overtaken Times Now

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 5/7/2013 6:03:41 AM

'In a non-stop season of scams, you would expect television watchers to switch on private TV stations to get the plain, unvarnished truth? Well, think again. Hindustan Times once again reports that the most-watched news shows between 8 pm and 10 pm are those on the state-owned Doordarshan News. The paper reports that the 8 [...]'

Read full article

2,450 journos lost jobs in Chitty Chitty Bong Bong

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/27/2013 6:51:56 AM

'Mail Today, the tabloid daily owned by the India Today group, reports that an astonishing 2,450 journalists (including non-editorial staff) may have lost their jobs after the meltdown of Bengal’s chitfund driven, politically backed newspapers and TV stations. Employees of Saradha group owned 24-hour TV news station, Channel 10, are reported to have filed a [...]'

Read full article

How Bengal’s chit fund crooks exposed the media

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/26/2013 12:16:43 PM

'The 16th week of the year of the lord 2013 has been a gruesome one for Indian journalism in general and Bengali journalism in particular. In the space of just a few hours every conceivable cliche and charge about modern media folk—that we are corrupt; that we can be bought over; that we have become [...]'

Read full article

Congratulations. We have the worst job on Earth.

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/25/2013 11:08:16 AM

'Worse than a lumberjack, if you know what it means. Worse than a dishwasher. Worse than a garbage collector. Worse than a dairy farmer. That’s the job of a news reporter. The worst job on earth. That’s the finding, if you believe that kind of thing, of Career Cast, an American human resource consultancy firm. [...]'

Read full article

POLL: The biggest news story of last 175 years?

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/23/2013 8:56:39 AM

'The Times of India, formerly known as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, has kickstarted its 175th anniversary—its dodransbicentennial—celebrations. Editorial director Jaideep Bose aka JoJo has a signed piece in the paper, and there will be a full page of archival material in the paper each week for the next one year. Writes JoJo: [...]'

Read full article

ET Now anchor to wed ex-cricketer’s son

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/22/2013 4:22:09 PM

'From the gossip columns of Pune Mirror, glad tidings on former CNBC TV18 and current ET Now anchor, Ayesha Faridi: “Marriage bells are ringing for Dilip and Manali Vengsarkar’s son Nakul. Your diarist has learnt that the 31-year-old architect and interior designer will be tying the knot with TV anchor Ayesha Faridi on April 27. [...]'

Read full article

When a politician’s wife goes to college, it’s news

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/22/2013 9:41:49 AM

'The BJP leader Arun Jaitley is widely speculated to contest the next general elections from Amritsar, causing much grief to the three-time sitting BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu. And as naturally as night follows day, newspapers and news agencies show that the schmoozing has begun in right earnest. Links via J.G. Krishnan Filed under: A [...]'

Read full article

Learning photography 10,000 feet above sea

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/21/2013 7:45:42 AM

'What can two photojournalists with enviable CVs do when the bug to do something away from the straight and narrow of daily and weekly deadlines, bites them? T. Narayan and Sanjay Sharma provide some inspiration to their kinsmen with a photography workshop 10,122 feet above sea level. The first batch will be held from April [...]'

Read full article

Learning photography from lensmen in the hills

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/21/2013 7:34:10 AM

'What can two photojournalists with enviable CVs do when the bug to do something away from the straight and narrow of daily and weekly deadlines, bites them? T. Narayan and Sanjay Sharma provide an idea to their kinsmen. Filed under: Jobs and Opportunities, People, Photography Tagged: Asiaweek, Churumuri, Hindustan Times, India Today, Outlook, Sans Serif, [...]'

Read full article

When an owner passes, nothing else is news

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/20/2013 6:34:14 AM

'The front page of the Tamil newspaper, Dina Thanthi (The Daily Telegraph), the day after its proprietor, B. Sivanthi Adithyan, passed away in Madras at the age of 76. On the bottom-half of the page is a picture of Adithyan being honoured by the then President of India, Pratibha Patil. Also the owner of a [...]'

Read full article

Shekhar Gutpa storms into India Today powerlist

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/19/2013 11:35:38 AM

'Thirteen out of India Today magazine’s 2013 ranking of the 50 most powerful people in India have interests in the media, but only two of them (former Indian Express editor Arun Shourie, Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta) are pure-play journalists. The chairman of the press council of India, Justice Markandey [...]'

Read full article

Will Indian readers pay to keep their money safe?

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/19/2013 7:19:23 AM

'For all the talk about the future being digital, the truth is no Indian newspaper or magazine (or website) is making money at the speed and in the quantum that publishers and promoters feel they are entitled to. Worse, no Indian newspaper or magazine (or website) has been able to generate the kind of content [...]'

Read full article

A new life for a newspaper title—and its editor

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/18/2013 12:36:59 PM

'The front page of the launch issue of Qaumi Salamati (National Security), the Urdu newspaper re-launched by S.M.A. Kazmi, the journalist who was arrested and jailed last year for his alleged involvement in a plot to blow up an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi. He is currently out on bail after eight months of [...]'

Read full article

Will TV channels lose out to newspapers by 2050?

Author : churumuri      Blog : sans serif      Date : 4/18/2013 3:04:24 AM

'Before the reforms of 1991 prised open the doors of Indian journalism (and the minds and wallets of publishers and promoters), “Gulf” was the El Dorado journalists and editors chased. In Bombay and Bangalore and Delhi, dozens of journalists and editors attended road shows and group-interviews in the banquet halls of five-star hotels. Khaleej Times, [...]'

Read full article