[Reader-list] Shouldn¹t Vir, Barkha step down now?

[SJabbar]

Check out the Outlook website for more dirt.  Here's just one of the
sickening audios.

http://business.outlookindia.com/view.aspx?vname=16-CongApniDukan20090522-17
0040.wav


On 19/11/10 4:10 PM, "Aditya Raj Kaul" <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:

>    Shouldn¹t Vir, Barkha step down now?
GN Bureau | November 19 2010

Nira
> Radia, a PR professional ­ or to put it plainly, a lobbyist ­ dictated
what
> goes into senior editor Vir Sanghvi¹s column and what NDTV anchor
Barkha Dutt
> should tell the Congress ahead of cabinet formation, going by
the telephonic
> conversations authorities tapped (read the
> transcripts
here<http://www.openthemagazine.com/>or read a report
here
> <http://epaper.mailtoday.in/epaperhome.aspx?issue=19112010>).

There¹s much
> more here than merely consulting an expert before writing a
column or
> anchoring a story. Veteran and iconic journalists purportedly took
brief from
> a corporate lobbyist and purportedly coordinated the backdoor
wheeling-dealing
> of a cabinet formation on behalf of business tycoons, if
these tapes are
> authentic. While we are in no position to endorse the
content, wouldn¹t these
> opinion-makers have asked a politician to resign
pending an inquiry?

The
> tapes reveal the ugly side of two of our venerable four estates.

As for the
> media, a veteran editor who plays a role in helping millions of
readers form
> opinion (we are being charitable here), stands compromised.
This is only an
> extension of the business of paid news (read our analysis
and the Press
> Council¹s unpublicised
> report
here<http://governancenow.com/news/regular-story/paid-news-press-counci
> ls-sham-report-hide-indian-medias-shame%29>.
While the other three estates
> have a degree of public accountability,
the
fourth estate goes scot free. A
> voter can question an MP once in five years,
but as a reader she has no way to
> question the editor.

As for the polity, the tapes raise the spectre of
> Œcorporate democracy¹, for
the corporates, by the corporates and of the
> corporates. To stem this trend,
as a small step, shouldn¹t the guardians of
> the public interest ­ Hindustan
Times and NDTV in this case ­ ask Sanghvi and
> Dutt to step down and face
inquiry?

   --
Aditya Raj Kaul

India Editor
The
> Indian, Australia

Web:
> http://activistsdiary.blogspot.com/
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