Dangerous
Portents for Freedom of Expression
Teesta Setalvad
Refer
Reporting Gujarat @ http://www.sabrang.com/cc/
Shadows and Silences at http://www.sabrang.com/cc/
Over
the past few months since the generated hysteria of Modi as PM has gained
ground, sinister links in this chain can be found. There appears to be a
clearcut, powerful and monied effort to manufacture consent and stifle critical
comments in the media.
Freedom
of expression is clearly a threat to those who back Modi.
Recent
examples
1)
On
or around December 4, 2013, an
article critical of Modi’s serial blunders authored by Dheeraj Tiwari was
published online on Economic Times website and later, strangely, deleted. The
article was published sometime around 4th December 2013. Titled Is Modi
Our Palin? by Dheeraj Tiwari, the article was available
when I downloaded it at http://economictimes.
2)
On
January 6, 2014, again, after months
of speculation, PR Ramesh, a journalist considered close to general secretary
of the BJP Arun Jaitley, joined the magazine as managing editor leading to the
resignation of Manu Joseph as Editor.
3)
On January
7, 2014, the day before yesterday, an innocuous comment by advocate
Patrawala on the Times of India website was removed as “offensive” (Attached
below is the comment etc)
4)
On January 8,
2014, SUN
TV sacked a senior journalist and political
analyst from his job. Veerapandian for the last 17 years, succumbing to
pressure from the BJP. Activists have alleged that Sun TV had taken the
decision to stop the program following a letter from the BJP’s state office
secretary Sarvothaman to its MD on the 23rd of last month stating that no BJP
representative would take part in Veerapandian’s programs on the channel. (See http://www.theweekendleader.
http://kollytalk.com/tn/
http://kollytalk.com/tn/
Individually
these developments are bad and sincerely challenges the freedom of expression
essential to a vibrant democracy. Reports of paid professionals trawling the
internet to blot criticism have been many as much as agencies like funded by BJP
bigwigs with the assistance of Foreign Firms like APCO wordwide.
Together they
are sinister attempts at manufacturing consenta head of, or in preparation for
2014.
Teesta Setalvad
Articles in
Question
Is Modi Our Palin? by Dheeraj Tiwari
Insulting the
intelligence of voters is could be suicidal in an election year. In the 2008 US
Presidential elections, Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for the vice
president’s post, committed that offence. In 2013, is Narendra Modi following
in her footsteps?
When Palin
started her campaign, commentators gave the ‘hockey mom’ a real chance. After
all, she was folksy, which America loves, good looking and a would-be
grandmother to boot. The concoction was deadly and Republicans lapped it up. A
war veteran, John McCain as the head and a mommy as his aide fell in line with
the American dream.
Modi’s team has
also created a similar aura around him. Decisive, incorruptible and earthy –
are the characters which largely define Modi’s campaign. If BJP is to be
believed, Modi is the underdog of Indian politics, a ‘chaiwala’ who through his
sheer hard work has managed to rise in the political hierarchy. In his own
words, he is not a ‘shehzada’ but a ‘sevak.’
Till this point,
the script runs perfect. But the American dream crumpled when the mommy started
getting her facts wrong. Palin was ridiculed when she claimed to have an
insight into American foreign policy because Russia is the next door neighbour
to her state of Alaska.
Back home, Namo
replicated that feat in his Independence Day speech at Bhuj. He almost took the
same neighbourhood line as Palin and while lambasting Pakistan claimed that his
voice reached Pakistan first and Delhi later. This came from the same man who
some months ago had offered Sindh province in Pakistan, the ‘Gujarat model’ to
overcome its power crisis.
While Palin
called Afghanistan a neighbouring country, Modi brought Taxila from Pakistan to
Bihar. There is an uncanny resemblance between these two politicians in getting
their facts wrong, again and again. Their supporters may term this as
unpretentious behaviour.
Perhaps, voters
could have forgiven Palin, the winner of the Miss Wasilla pageant for not knowing
what lie beyond the American shores but the crowd booed her when, at a public
rally, she said that the state of North West Hampshire is in the Northwest of
Americas. Modi so far has been spared this public ignominy.
A closer look at
their campaign and one gets a feeling that perhaps the fates of Palin and Modi
are intertwined. Days after being nominated for the Presidential elections, the
Republican supporters were shocked that Palin’s unwed daughter was five months
pregnant. Palin, who by then had projected herself as ‘Bible-believing
Christian,’ ultimately lost out on the traditional conservative Republican
base. Modi, too, is now embroiled in a snooping scandal as his aide Amit Shah
has managed to score a self goal against his ‘saheb’.
In the midst of
this jamboree these down-to-earth leaders and their supporters forget that the
voter cannot be fooled, or at least for long. So, when Palin described that the
Iraq War is ‘a task that is from God,’ voters knew that she was making no
sense. Unfortunately for his supporters, Modi is catching up with Palin.
After historical
blunders such as calling Gandhi Mohanlal instead of Mohandas, and claiming that
Nehru did not attend Patel’s funeral, Modi is now treading on more difficult
terrain. In a Jodhpur rally, Modi claimed that he may not be as educated as the
country’s finance minister but he knew that buying gold is not leading to
inflation. His first lecture in economics may have got a thunderous applause in
the rally but he might have lost the faith of voters who till then would have
bought into his image as the deliverer of Gujarat’s vibrant economy.
It is time that
Modi should learn from the mistakes which Palin committed. After all he would
not like to be remembered as Palin, who finally had to be told that there was
no tradition of concession speeches by running mates, and that she would not be
speaking. Not anymore.
Manu Joseph’s
resignation: The perils of editorial surrender
by Hartosh Singh Bal Jan 7, 2014
http://www.firstpost.com/
http://www.firstpost.com/
Manu
Joseph, my former boss at Open Magazine, announced yesterday that he had quit
the magazine. While he did not state his reasons, they are evident to all those
who have been associated with the magazine. I was sacked from the magazine in
November, and while Manu had opposed the decision he had let matters rest at
that. But in the three years we had worked together we had managed to put
together a reasonable body of stories, including most importantly, the Radia
Tapes. This became possible, in great measure, because Manu allowed a
considerable degree of independence to those working for the magazine. Manu
Joseph. Image courtesy IBNLive Manu Joseph. Image courtesy IBNLive Shortly
after I left, he had sent out a mail, in fact, it was the last mail to be
forwarded to my account before it was terminated, stating: Just to keep you
informed -- we have shortlisted candidates to head politics and news, and are
in talks. Naturally, the next political editor of Open will be someone who fits
in the magazine, someone who reflects its vibrant, credible, unbiased and what
is widely known as 'secular' character. I had long conversations with Sanjiv
Goenka from here and we updated each other on matters concerning the magazine.
People expect high standards from us, so let's keep going.
On
January 6, after months of speculation, PR Ramesh, a journalist considered
close to general secretary of the BJP Arun Jaitley, joined the magazine as
managing editor. Manu had opposed this decision and he chose to resign once it
was forced upon him. I personally feel Manu has himself largely to blame for
the tame end of his term at Open. Evidently if the management can sack a
political editor without the editor’s consent they can appoint a managing
editor without the editor’s consent. Manu had already conceded the journalistic
principle, now he had only been negotiating for personal pride. He was not even
granted that. Given that I am legally contesting my own termination with the
Open management I do not want to belabour the point. All that really matters in
this episode is that the reason an owner can bypass an editor in this fashion
is that over several decades editors in the Indian media have been willing to
let their position be undermined, and the few editors such as Manu, who
recently made their mark, have been unwilling to stand up to pressure when it
really matters. Surprisingly, as I have found out in the course of mounting my
legal case, the law does provide a reasonable degree of safeguards for an
editor, and, in fact, every journalist. Unless a journalist has undermined his
or her own case by gross misbehavior or obvious professional mistakes the
management cannot fire a journalist without stating a clear and defensible
reason. Neither can any management enforce the provisions of any contract on a
permanent employee that do not subscribe at the minimum to the standards set
out in the Working Journalist Act. An editor thus is protected against the whim
of a management and in the worst case is assured of six months of full wages.
Despite these safeguards, the reason that editors so rarely take on the
management or ownership is simple, they need another owner or management to
give them their next job. I realized how successful some editors have been in
this pursuit only in the course of a television program I was part of a couple
of years ago. After the Radia Tapes, published as they had been without the
knowledge of the owner or the publisher, some of us at Open were required to
appear on television to defend our story. I found myself on Headlines Today,
part of a show where Vir Sanghvi made an appearance, characteristically from a
balcony in a hotel somewhere in southeast Asia, and refused to take any
questions. After Sanghvi, who first became editor of Sunday in 1986, spoke, a
discussion followed involving Prabhu Chawla, who also figured prominently on
the tapes and had been editorial director of India Today since 1986; MJ Akbar,
who became editor of Sunday in 1976, and N Ram, who first became editor of
Frontline in 1991. Some of the discussion centred on the state of journalism in
the country and how things had been allowed to reach their current state. I did
then think that the answer to this most crucial of questions lay around me.
Every person in the room had already been an editor by the time I began my
career in journalism in the early 1990s. Not all of them were equally culpable,
but between them they had a century worth of cumulative experience of
editorship. I have found over much of my time in journalism that owners
preferred to have editors who had already shown a degree of pliability in their
previous jobs. This keeps the editors' jobs circulating among a pool of largely
pliant journalists. While all of the usual reasons hold – the ownership
patterns in media, the lack of transparency in funding, the linkages between
owners and politicians – for the current crisis in journalism, it also remains
true that journalists entering the profession today have to make their
compromises with ownership and management at a much earlier stage of their
career because they have been largely deprived of the protective shield of a
good editor. For a brief period of time a Tarun Tejpal had created the illusion
that this could change, we all know how that has turned out. In any case the
journalistic story at Tehelka had already run its course long before the
current episode. Now as things unravel at Open, we can add one more cautionary
tales, or perhaps a footnote, to the long list of journalistic disasters that
unfold when editors forego their responsibilities. That still leaves unanswered
the question of how a young journalist today goes about being true to the profession.
(Hartosh
Singh Bal is a consulting editor at Firstpost.)
Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/
Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: A. Patrawala Advocate <akpsurat@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Subject: Fwd: Offensive comment deleted
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Times of India <mailerservice@timesofindia.
Date: 7 January 2014 14:07
Subject: Offensive comment deleted
To: akpsurat@gmail.com
From: A. Patrawala Advocate <akpsurat@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 10:00 PM
Subject: Fwd: Offensive comment deleted
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Times of India <mailerservice@timesofindia.
Date: 7 January 2014 14:07
Subject: Offensive comment deleted
To: akpsurat@gmail.com
Dear Reader,
Your comment has been taken off the website as
our user community did not approve of it. We encourage you to participate in
conversations on the site while refraining from posting obscene, defamatory, or
inflammatory comments and not indulging in personal attacks, name calling or
inciting hatred against any community.
Comment Removed: Modi has brought the Indian
democracy to the level of Hall Mark of corruption, be it the Constitution or
rule of law. System be it legislature, executive or judiciary have utterly
failed to curb the historical menace of Modi culminating into the dire
frustration and helplessness of the common man.
Best wishes,
Team TOI
A. Patrawala
Advocate Supreme Court,
G-3&4, Vighneshvar Estate,
Nanpura,
Surat-395001 Gujarat India
+919825949066
akpsurat@gmail.com
G-3&4, Vighneshvar Estate,
Nanpura,
Surat-395001 Gujarat India
+919825949066
akpsurat@gmail.com
Modi critic loses job in Sun TV: Activists
08-Jan-2014
Chennai
Posted 08 Jan 2014
Chennai
Posted 08 Jan 2014
Political and human rights activists have
strongly condemned Sun TV for stopping a popular Tamil talk show anchored by
political analyst Veerapandian for the last 17 years, succumbing to pressure
from the BJP.
They allege that Sun TV had taken the decision to stop the program following a letter from the BJP’s state office secretary Sarvothaman to its MD on the 23rd of last month stating that no BJP representative would take part in Veerapandian’s programs on the channel.
They allege that Sun TV had taken the decision to stop the program following a letter from the BJP’s state office secretary Sarvothaman to its MD on the 23rd of last month stating that no BJP representative would take part in Veerapandian’s programs on the channel.
|
|
A joint statement issued by a group of
journalists, writers and activists stated, “A few weeks ago Veerapandian
participated in a meeting in Chennai wherein a Human Rights organization
released its fact finding report on the Muzaffarnagar riots.
“While speaking on the occasion Veerapandian made certain critical remarks on the BJP and its Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendera Modi. Some persons had uploaded his speech in the social media.”
“While speaking on the occasion Veerapandian made certain critical remarks on the BJP and its Prime Ministerial Candidate Narendera Modi. Some persons had uploaded his speech in the social media.”
Below is
the link where the interview can be heard
http://kollytalk.com/tn/
They said that in his letter Sarvothaman had stated that ”Veerapandian’s speech was divisive and could create problems between two groups, and his programs on Sun TV has never been impartial.”
They alleged that the BJP leader had also requested for action to be taken against Veerapandian.
The statement further added that “consequently from last Saturday, Sun TV has stopped telecasting Veerapandian’s programs,” and appealed to Sun TV to allow Veerapandian “to resume his duties as an anchor person.”
“India is a Democratic Republic. To express one’s opinions freely and without fear is one of the basic rights accorded to its citizens in the constitution. This right is fundamental to all citizens of India including Press and Media people,” the statement said.
http://kollytalk.com/tn/
They said that in his letter Sarvothaman had stated that ”Veerapandian’s speech was divisive and could create problems between two groups, and his programs on Sun TV has never been impartial.”
They alleged that the BJP leader had also requested for action to be taken against Veerapandian.
The statement further added that “consequently from last Saturday, Sun TV has stopped telecasting Veerapandian’s programs,” and appealed to Sun TV to allow Veerapandian “to resume his duties as an anchor person.”
“India is a Democratic Republic. To express one’s opinions freely and without fear is one of the basic rights accorded to its citizens in the constitution. This right is fundamental to all citizens of India including Press and Media people,” the statement said.
Following are the signatories to the statement:
K. Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam
M. Sudarsana Nachiyappan, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry
Tha. Pandian State Secretary, CPI
Gnanadesigan State President, TNCC
S. Peter Alphonse, Ex. Member of Parliament
Thol. Thirumavalavan, MP and President, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi
M.H. Jawahirullah MLA and Legislative Party Leader, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi
K. M. Kader Mohideen Ex. MP and General Secretary, Indian Union Muslim League
Viduthalai Rajendran, General Secretary, Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam
Senthamilan. Seeman, Chief Coordinator, Naam Thamizhar Katchi
Suba. Veerapandian, President, Dravida Iyakka Thamilar Peravai
Tamil Selvan, State Secretary, Progressive Writers & Artist Association
Peter Fernando, Archbishop of Madurai
Kaviko Abdul Rahman, Poet & Writer
Henri Thiphange, Executive Director, Peoples' Watch
A. Marx, Human Right Activist
Kavingnar Manushya Puthiran, Publisher
Thirumurugan Gandhi, Coordinator, May 17 Movement
J.S. Rifayee, President, Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam
Abdul Rahman, Member of Parliament, Vellore Constituency
Kovai Ku. Ramakritinan, General Secretary, Thanthai Periyar Thi.Ka
M. Ezra Sargunam, Bishop,Evangelical Church of India and Founder, Indhiya Samuga Neethi Iyakkam
Pe. Maniyarasan, President, Tamildesa Podhu Udamai Katchi
A. Kumaresan, Cheif Editor, Theekhadir
Devasagayam, Bishop CSI, Chennai
Gnani, Writer & Journalist
V. Suresh, National General Secretary, People's Union for Civil Liberties
Ko. Sugumaran, Makkal Urimai Kootamaippu
TSS Mani, Journalist
Senthil, Coordinator, Save Tamils Movement - TWL Bureau
See more at: http://www.theweekendleader.
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