Jagran tops IRS list, ToI at 10th

So, the list is out for people like us to relish.
Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran has retained its top position among top 10 dailies of the country whereas Times of India is the only English daily (though HT continues to say that it's readership is highest in northern region) to figure in the list on the 10th spot.
The readership for Dainik Jagran is 1.90 crore followed by Dainik Bhaskar with 1.4 crore. Daily Thanthi occupies third position with 1.02 crore readership. The top three dailies have registered some erosion in number of readers.Hindi daily Amar Ujala retains the fourth position with 98 lakh readers.There has been some reshuffle at the lower half where Malayala Manorama slipped from the number five spot to number six and Hindustan notching up to fifth position with 97.24 lakh readers.The other dailies occupying seventh to 10 position respectively include Lokmat, Eenadu, Mathrubhumi and Times of India (70.8 lakh readership).

It's only upwards from here

Hi guys,
I hope we all are as aware as we should be about the Jessica murder case trial and developments thereafter. It has been unprecedented (atleast in my lifetime) when Indian media took on the responsibility of being a crusader for a cause. It was mainly due to media backlash that middle class decided to up its ante and demand justice. Being always buoyed down by daily needs of survival, common men and women rose to the occasion and are ready to fight a battle for someone belonging to them. Most heartening facts are that newspapers, including Times of India and Hindustan Times (which are often market driven), taking up the cudgels along with ever-dependable The Indian Express. Another factor I would like to highlight is that we keep on lamenting loss of traditional news sense and qualities media used to uphold. But if we consider this case, if media would have followed the rules, they would not have been able to take the initiative as going against a court verdict and publishing stories like lapses in police investigation and overlooking of facts by the judge would have amounted to breach ( at least in moral sense if not political). And as I had said in one of my earlier posts, we were witnessing the darkest hour in media industry and it had to be morning ahead. Jessica case just proved to be that twilight. And now we are witnessing a whole new media which does not just focuses on page 3. The change is evident from the maturity shown by NDTV and CNN IBN channels. The channels, even after getting the CDs of Amar Singh's audio tapes, did not go ahead to garner TRPs. NDTV even interviewed Amar Singh and IBN said it can't let vested interests manipulate them. The verdict in Best Bakery case has also vindicated media's role, which kept on pursuing truth despite the victim backtracking. It feels much better now to be a part of this mileu.

Making a difference

It's amazing how media can change the way of thinking on a massive scale. Getting a thought process run full steam is not that difficult with tools of communication at an arm's length. How we would like to use it is just another question. But what I would like to talk about is how Rakesh Omprakash Mehra has used it recently.
Movies have always been our favourite timepass. That they double up as motivators is just a coincidence that's too rare.
Rang De Basanti is just another of those rare coincidences, which succeeds in inspiring, driving passions to the hilt and truly awakening a generation. Aptly handled theme with closer to life characters and use of colloquial tongue are some of the basic things a director need to incorporate for helping audience ingrain the message. I hope most of you have seen the movie. So, there is no need discussing how well-made it is. But I hope such adventures are attempted on a more frequent basis.

communication breakdown

Does advancement in technology lead to communication breakdown? Is it that because we have an overload of information, with the 24 hours channels, numerous newspapers with numerous pages, net connections and sundry media for communication, we forget to communicate in a face to face manner? When a group of people sit down for a chat, each seems to be chatting into a mobile phone rather than to the person sitting right in front of them. When we do talk face to face, all the theories of communication viz interpersonal , face to face etc. takes away the sponteniety from the conversation.

Some respite from glycerine

The blockbuster serial 'Buniyaad' is making it's way back into our bedrooms. To start telecast from January 26 on Sahara One, the 'baaps' of all serials would again entertain the whole new generation of Indians. I don't remember any of the episodes I might have watched when it was aired for the first time but I remember Alok Nath being called Haveli Ram since then. And then came an opportunity to see the magnum opus again on Siti Channel as the cable operator decided to rerun it. A few episodes I could catch seemed interesting and fast paced. I hope this time I won't miss the charm of a serial free from glycerine and special sound effects. And definitely a straight and simple script.
Another good news is that cartoon channels have again started going in for Indian folk tales with the likes of Akbar-Birbal (on Cartoon network at 10.00 am, Sunday) and Alaadin making rounds. Thank God, atleast kids are getting some good stuff to watch.

Crap on the roll

Hi guys,
U might have got the idea of what this post is all about from the heading. That's right I am talking about the personal lives getting sensationalised by the media crews. Every other day news channels intrude the privacy of unaware citizens. Merrut episode where the couples were beaten up by the cops did a good thing by putting police personnnel to scrutiny but the couples were also made an easy target of negative publicity.
Recently, I read in Indian Express about two adult women staying together in a particular town and a news channel giving them the publicity they thought would do some good. But fearing societal backlash, one of the women commited sucide and another had to escape from public eye. Another one on Star News was a footage of a husband getting a severe beating from his wife. Nobody heeded to his complaints so he installed a camera and recorded the whole scene. It's ok to record is as part of an evidence but showing it on a news channel doesn't make sense. And what was that obscure old man envisaging his death on a particular day and time? Instead of rubbishing his claims, the whole battery of mediapersons stood witness to his tale of life or death (whatever that was).
So, what kind of empowerment are we generating if at all we claim to?
People are calling for media attention and we are happy to give them that. No filters, no gatekeeping, nothing. We are diving head on into an open society where anybody can peep into anybody else's bedroom and another person does not feel bad until he faces the consequences.
I hope we are living in the darkest of times. So, twilight is not far now. There is no more limit of immorality we can stoop to. So, let's celebrate the death of news media and wait for its reincarnation.

CNN-IBN news

Hi guys,
I hope till now everybody must have seen the new channel. It's good and we have got a choice other than NDTV 24x7. But it still looks like a clone of NDTV. I don't have any problem with the same faces but the presentation and design also resembles NDTV. Anyways the programmes, like 'Good Evening India' are nice but the website is too cluttered with so many hyperlinks. Still let's celebrate the entry of new baby on the TV scene. We have got some choice.