Ramanisblog

Category: Media

  • Indian Govt proposal to muzzle bloggers-Respond.

    Government is probably irked by Bloggers coverage of CWG Scam,2G,Radia Tapes,ISRO affairs.
    Going  Tinpot Dictators’ way?
    Bloggers in and from India should put a stop to this non sense.
    Forward your views .
    We shall pettiton first The President India( hope she remembers she is the President)
    Simultaneously ,represent to Human Rights organization and International Civil Rights Groups.
    NEW DELHI: A government proposal seeking to police blogs has come in for severe criticism from legal experts and outraged the online community. The draft rules, drawn up by the government under the Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008, deal with due diligence to be observed by an intermediary. 

    Under the Act, an ‘intermediary’ is defined as any entity which on behalf of another receives, stores or transmits any electronic record. Hence, telecom networks, web-hosting and internet service providers, search engines, online payment and auction sites as well as cyber cafes are identified as intermediaries. The draft has strangely included bloggers in the category of intermediaries, setting off the online outcry.

    Blogs are clubbed with network service providers as most of them facilitate comment and online discussion and preserve the traffic as an electronic record, but equating them with other intermediaries is like comparing apples with oranges, says Pavan Duggal, advocate in the Supreme Court and an eminent cyber law expert.

    ‘This will curtail the freedom of expression of individual bloggers because as an intermediary they will become responsible for the readers’ comments. It technically means that any comment or a reader-posted link on a blog which according to the government is threatening, abusive, objectionable, defamatory, vulgar, racial, among other omnibus categories, will now be considered as the legal responsibility of the blogger,” he explains.

    Even Google, the host of Blogger, among India’s most popular blogging sites, expressed displeasure at the proposal. “Blogs are platforms that empower people to communicate with one another, and we don’t believe that an internet middlemen should be held unreasonably liable for content posted by users,” a spokesperson told TOI.

    Blogs, which are typically maintained and updated by individuals, have showcased their political importance in recent times and the internet community views these rules as a lopsided attempt to curtail an individual’s right to expression.

    If individual blogs are an intermediary, then why can’t Facebook and Twitter also be classified as such, as they too receive, store and transmit electronic records and facilitate online discussions,” retorts the spokesperson of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bangalore-based organization, which works on digital pluralism. “These rules will not only bring bloggers and the ISP provider on the same platform, but the due diligence clause will also result in higher power of censorship to the larger player. Imagine your ISP provider blocking your blog because it finds that certain user-comments fit these omnibus terms,” the CIS spokesperson added.

    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-proposal-to-muzzle-bloggers-sparks-outcry/articleshow/7668026.cms

  • Barka Dutt and Niira Radia exchanged Favors?Audio.

    Click Links below for audio and transcripts.

    http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/tell-me-what-should-i-tell-them

    Also read my blogs under Radiaa tapes for 140 Tapes.

    Not only Burka Dutt and VirSanghvi.

    You also have Rajjdeep SarDesai.

    For that matter look at Arnab Goswami of Times Now.

    He will pillory every one ,but will not,even by a remote hint,say a word about Sonia Gandhi while exposing recent scams, be it CWG,2G,ISRO-Antrix.

    (read my blog under media/corruption)

    Why has not NDTV filed a case against’ Open’?

    Why can’t they file a case against’ OutLook’ which has released the Audio tapes of Radia and Burkha?

    They could have at least denied that the voice in the Audio was not that of Burkha.

    Tamil Poet Bharatiar said Demons were to Rule ,Moral Codes shall eat Corpses’

    ”பேய் ஆண்டால்,பிணம் தின்னும் சாத்திரங்கள் ‘

    There have been unconfirmed news reports about big payoffs to two journalists through Radia [ Link : The rise and rise of Niira Radia ] for services rendered (no names mentioned yet). Radia herself is said to have fled to London earlier this year when the news of her meddling around and batting for A. Raja broke. However, she apparently reached out to her vast network of powerful contacts, arranged that she won’t be unduly hassled or arrested on this account and returned to India about two months later. Apparently, recently she has been interrogated at length by the ED [ ED grills Niira Radia for 8 hours in 2G scam ]

    After several days of silence, hoping that a collective blackout by the self-proclaimed mainstream media will ‘kill’ the story, Barkha Dutt first came out and tweeted a rebuttal. This singular fact alone should make many wonder about her level of maturity and her standing as a credible, balanced and ethical journalist, leave alone a News Editor. Subsequently, ND TV & Barkha Dutt have also threatened to initiate legal action against OPEN magazine    [ Link ] for carrying the leaked ‘audio’ clips. One wonders why OUTLOOK, which also carried them, has not been threatened similarly.

    Link

    During 26/11, Barkha Dutt and some of her colleagues were thought to have endangered the lives of some of the victims through their thoughtless, insensitive and unprofessional ways, all for the sake of sensationalism and a jump in TRPs apparently. When this was blogged about by an individual [ Link about Cheytanya Kunte’s blog piece after 26/11 ], he was threatened similarly with a defamation lawsuit, forcing him to issue an apology on his site and withdraw the ‘piece’ (naturally he must have felt that it was way beyond him to take on NDTV and its news editor Barkha Dutt singlehandedly). There were hardly any murmurs from the rest of the mainstream media about this episode.

    Contrast this with the fact that Barkha Dutt and NDTV have, time and time again, mounted sting operations and let loose volleys of innuendoes and allegations against various personalities, based on hearsay and little tidbits of information, often without detailed corroboration and ratification, merely to spice up their news, sensationalize the item and as a result achieve consistently high TRP ratings. News Channels on Indian TV are generally packaged commercial products, surviving and thriving on ad revenues and attracting mass viewership nationally by playing to the lowest common denominators of political gossip, Bollywood and cricket.

    http://mitraroger.wordpress.com/2010/11/25/the-case-against-barkha-dutt-and-the-management-of-ndtv-india/

    Related:

    Niira Radia taped conversation has been a talk of the town, and has become a byword for journalists lobbying the ministry for personal benefits. It is needless to say, how outstandingly this amoral act has tarred the image of the Fourth Estate that the masses bank upon for the truthful representation.

    Radia tape evinces the fact that journalists now act from expediency, not from principle, though they are reckoned to be a watchdog of governing agencies. They have forgot their social responsibility and shunned their obligation to serve the society by putting up and doing what is right & true and what is for the interests of the masses.

    http://rexzameer.wordpress.com/2010/12/27/media-turns-mercenary/

  • New York Times withholds information on Raymond Davis.

     

     

    Would US have let off  a spy caught in the act(CIA)  ?

    Seems that US administration thinks that the world did not know of CIA/Cons Ops . and only by gagging the Press it can suppress this  information.

    Probably Obama might have been the last one  to know that Raymond Davis works for CIA.

    Normally CIA would have washed its hands off the spy.

    Why such concern?

    Raymond might have been in possession of some serious and embarrassing information,

    Sad that New York Times wilted under pressure.

    Did NYT think the ‘suggestion’ by authorities  was in the national interest and involved National Security?

    So much for Free Press!

    The New York Times had agreed to temporarily withhold information about Mr. Davis’s ties to the agency at the request of the Obama administration, which argued that disclosure of his specific job would put his life at risk. Several foreign news organizations have disclosed some aspects of Mr. Davis’s work with the C.I.A.

    On Monday, American officials lifted their request to withhold publication. George Little, a C.I.A. spokesman, declined to comment specifically on the Davis matter, but said in a statement: “Our security personnel around the world act in a support role providing security for American officials. They do not conduct foreign intelligence collection or covert operations.”

    Since the United States is not at war in Pakistan, the American military is largely restricted from operating in the country. So the Central Intelligence Agency has taken on an expanded role, operating armed drones that kill militants inside the country and running covert operations, sometimes without the knowledge of the Pakistanis.

    WASHINGTON — The American arrested in Pakistan after shooting two men at a crowded traffic stop was part of a covert, C.I.A.-led team collecting intelligence and conducting surveillance on militant groups deep inside the country, according to American government officials.

    Working from a safe house in the eastern city of Lahore, the detained American contractor, Raymond A. Davis, a retired Special Forces soldier, carried out scouting and other reconnaissance missions as a security officer for the Central Intelligence Agency case officers and technical experts doing the operations, the officials said.

    Mr. Davis’s arrest and detention last month, which came after what American officials have described as a botched robbery attempt, have inadvertently pulled back the curtain on a web of covert American operations inside Pakistan, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A.

    The episode has exacerbated already frayed relations between the American intelligence agency and its Pakistani counterpart, created a political dilemma for the weak, pro-American Pakistani government, and further threatened the stability of the country, which has the world’s fastest growing nuclear arsenal.

    Without describing Mr. Davis’s mission or intelligence affiliation, President Obama last week made a public plea for his release. Meanwhile, there have been a flurry of private phone calls to Pakistan from Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all intended to persuade the Pakistanis to release the secret operative.

    Mr. Davis has worked for years as a C.I.A. contractor, including time at Blackwater Worldwide, the private security firm (now called Xe) that Pakistanis have long viewed as symbolizing a culture of American gun-slinging overseas.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html

    Related:

    It’s one thing for a newspaper to withhold information because they believe its disclosure would endanger lives.  But here, the U.S. Government has spent weeks making public statements that were misleading in the extreme — Obama’s calling Davis “our diplomat in Pakistan” — while the NYT deliberately concealed facts undermining those government claims because government officials told them to do so.  That’s called being an active enabler of government propaganda.  While working for the CIA doesn’t preclude holding “diplomatic immunity,” it’s certainly relevant to the dispute between the two countries and the picture being painted by Obama officials.  Moreover, since there is no declared war in Pakistan, this incident — as the NYT puts it today — “inadvertently pulled back the curtain on a web of covert American operations inside Pakistan, part of a secret war run by the C.I.A. ”  That alone makes Davis’ work not just newsworthy, but crucial.

    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/21/nyt/index.html

  • Israel Manipulates US Media,Declassified Files.Video

    Open secret Confirmed.

    Media is manipulated in India by Business Houses .

    Take the case of  the discussion Burkha Dutt , Vir Sanghvi and Prabhu Chawla with Radia.

    Also the discussion of Ratan Tata with Radia.

    Audio has been posted in Media/Radia tapes.

    “Files declassified in America have revealed covert public relations and lobbying activities of Israel in the U.S. The National Archive made the documents public following a Senate investigation. They suggest Israel has been trying to shape media coverage of issues it regards as important. You can download the files from the web-site of the Institute for Research on Middle Eastern policy. And we can cross to Washington now and talk to Grant F. Smith who is a director at that Institute.”

  • Burkha Dutt ,Radia and Barkha’s Reply,Audio.

     

    In her reply Burkha Dutt nowhere denies her part.

    She is angry as to why others have not been exposed!

    Barkha Dutt:

    • Barkha–18-188819-0-10-20090522-094851 
    • Barkha–33-188819-0-21-20090522-095845 
    • Barkha Dutt-02-188819-0-01-20090522-104733 
    • Barkha–11-188819-0-07-20090522-153129 
    • Barkha–09-188819-0-04-20090522-180916 
    • Barkha-14-188819-0-08-20090522-192357 

    To download the file, right click on: Barkha–18-188819-0-10-20090522-094851.mp3 and choose Save

    http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268327

     

    Barkha Dutt: Hi Niira

    Niira Radia:  Hi, did I wake you up?

    Barkha Dutt: No, no, no. I’ve been up, yaa, most of the night. The stalemate continues, yaa.

    Niira Radia:  Yeah. Listen, the thing is that they need to talk to him directly. That is what the problem is.

    Barkha Dutt: Apparently now, the message from the other side is, that why did he go? Why did Baalu [T.R. Baalu, former DMK minister] go public? They claim that at this point will they had offered him this formula and this guys said, “no”. This guys never told them they were going to withdraw support. Not withdraw support. But outside support. Apparently, PM was really pissed off ‘ cause they had went public.

    Niira Radia:  But that’s Baalu’s doing, naa… he was not instructed by Karunanidhi to do that.

    Barkha Dutt: Oh, he wasn’t?

    Niira Radia:  This is not. He was told to come away and tell Congress that.

    Barkha Dutt: And he went public

    Niira Radia:  Well, the media… media, the media was standing outside.

    Barkha Dutt: Oh God. So now what? What should I tell them? Tell me what should I tell them?

    Niira Radia:  I’ll tell you what it is—the problem and I have had a long chat with both his wife and with the daughter, right?

    Barkha Dutt: Haan, haan.

    Niira Radia:  The problem is if the Congress has a problem with Baalu, if they have no problem with anyone. They need and go talk to Karunanidhi. They have very good relationship with Karunanidhi directly.

    Barkha Dutt: Correct, haan.

    Niira Radia:  Because you see, in front of Baalu, in front of Maran, they can’t talk.

    Barkha Dutt: Yeah

    Niira Radia:  So they have to tell him directly, there [are] enough Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu. They need to go in and tell him exactly—the biggest problem is that the following of Azhagiri is saying that you cannot give Maran a cabinet post and keep Azhagiri in the MoS state.

    Barkha Dutt: That’s right. But will Karuna drop Baalu?

    Niira Radia:  He… look, if you tell him that Baalu is the only problem. I would imagine, he will drop him.

    Barkha Dutt: But you see the problem right now is also over the choice of portfolios, naa…

    Niira Radia:  No. They’ve not said anything. The portfolios have not even got discussed.

    Barkha Dutt: Congress claims, for whatever it’s worth, that the DMK wanted surface transport, power, IT, telecom, railways and health.

    Niira Radia:  Wo tho pehle se list gaya tha

    Barkha Dutt: Haa, abhi Congress has offered IT, telecom, chemical, fertilizer and labour

    Niira Radia:  Yes

    Barkha Dutt: So this is where it’ll stand off. Will DMK accept all (or both)?

    Niira Radia:  Maybe no, because they have to drop Maran if you want them to be accept… Maran is wishing coal and mine.

    Barkha Dutt: Who’s wishing?

    Niira Radia:  Now Maran is saying, you give me coal and more mine. If he.. my honest advice to… is that you need to tell them… tell him directly that we are happy because Kani (M.K.Kanimozhi, Karundanidhi’s daughter) got no issue about being even as independent but Azhagiri is now telling her that you cannot take an independent charge if Maran remains cabinet minister. And congress is sending messages through media and through various sources saying that… Maran is going around telling everyone that he is the only acceptable person.

    Barkha Dutt: Ya, ya, ya. That I know.

    Niira Radia:  But that’s not correct na?

    Barkha Dutt: No, I know and we’ve (NDTV) have taken that off… We’ve have taken that off.

    Niira Radia:  But also… Congress needs to tell Karunanidhi that we have not said anything about Maran

    Barkha Dutt: OK. let me talk to them again

    Niira Radia:  Yeah? The choice of candidate we will leave to you. We have some reservation about Baalu. And let them tell the reservation. And we have not said anything about Maran. We are not asking…

    Burkha Dutt’s Reply:

    Society, the monthly lifestyle magazine of the Magna group owned by Nari Hira, has a cover story on Vir Sanghvi andBarkha Dutt in its January 2011 issue.

    For the first time, the two journalists most affected by theNiira Radia tapes, appear on the same platform.

    In her one-page interview, Dutt states:

    “I can’t comment on why the leakage has been so selective. But clearly, the conversations have been cherry picked and, in the interests of transparency, I think all 5,000-plus conversations should now be made public.”

    “My viewers don’t need to be disheartened. The way the story has been presented is so caricatured and distorted that it is made to look in a certain way. I am still the same journalist that I always was. I strongly object to the way these stories have been written.”

    http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/vir-sanghvi-barkha-dutt-we-were-targete

    http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268327

    Burkhs Dutt’s Reply.


    As a journalist, whose work has been consistently hard-hitting and scathingly critical of the ongoing 2G scam and the former Telecom Minister, I am astonished, angered and hurt to see the baseless allegations against me in sections of the media this week.

    While there is no doubt that journalists must be held to the same exacting standards of accountability that we seek from others, the allegations in this instance, as they relate to me, are entirely slanderous and not backed by a shred of evidence. The edited conversations between PR Representative Nira Radia and me have been headlined to suggest that I misused my role as a journalist to “lobby” for A. Raja, a man I have never met.

    While this is completely untrue, I can understand the anger and anguish that such a misrepresentation can create, among viewers who rely on me to report honestly and impartially. And I would like to address some of the questions raised by these edited transcripts.

    The tapes seem to add up to hundreds of hours of conversations between Nira Radia and people from different backgrounds, including scores of well-known journalists and editors from all the major media organisations (TV and Print) in India. Despite this, much of the commentary has been strangely selective in its focus. And quite often, vindictively personal. Consider, for example, that online it is being dubbed “BarkhaGate.”

    I cannot speak on behalf of any other journalist on the tapes. Framed in the backdrop of a larger media debate, every journalist’s conversation on these tapes must, of course, be evaluated on its own merit. So, speaking only for myself, the insinuation made by the magazines are preposterous.

    By definition, the insinuation of “lobbying” implies either a quid-pro-quo of some kind or a compromise in how I have reported the story. As anyone who has watched my coverage of the ongoing 2G scam over the past year would know – to suggest either is entirely absurd. (ATTACHED BELOW ARE LINKS TO SEVERAL SHOWS HOSTED BY ME ON THE 2G SCAM OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS). In several different statements, I have already challenged two newsmagazines who first carried the allegations to establish any proof of a quid-pro quo or a bias in reportage. I know that neither charge stands the test of any scrutiny.

    For those perplexed by the ongoing debate, it could be useful to understand the context in which these conversations took place. The few, short conversations took place in the backdrop of cabinet formation in 2009, when the DMK had stormed out of the UPA coalition over portfolio allocation.

    In this instance, Nira Radia, was clearly plugged into the inner workings of the DMK, a fact we only discovered when she rang up to tell me that the news flashes running on different news channels were incorrect; the stalemate between the DMK and the Congress had not yet been resolved. She corroborated her claim by saying she was in direct contact with the DMK chief and was in fact with his daughter, Kanimozhi. We talked about news developments within the DMK and the Congress and nothing I said was different from what I was reporting on TV minute-by-minute.

    Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/page/?type=barkha-statement&cp