"BarkhaGate" Scandal

DigitalDude said:
I think one statement that perfectly describes the situation is 'Shit hit the storm' lol :p
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I don't know about that, she does bring a bias to her shows, if you do not like it you're free to watch anything else. Every anchor, every news media has its bias, everywhere in the world. There is no such thing as neutral. The only way you figure it out is by discussing it with ppl whose views may be completely at odds to your own.

All this means is ppl will be more aware and question what she says :)
 
blr_p said:
I don't know about that, she does bring a bias to her shows, if you do not like it you're free to watch anything else. Every anchor, every news media has its bias, everywhere in the world. There is no such thing as neutral. The only way you figure it out is by discussing it with ppl whose views may be completely at odds to your own.

All this means is ppl will be more aware and question what she says :)
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@bl_p

it's not just simple bias bro. it's very disgusting most of the times. and her arrogance which is matched only by rajdeep sardesai and sagarika. they forget that they are journalists and just because they have big stakes in the network they think they are the CJI.

but the solution you are offering is not acceptable. it's like saying if you don't like the politicians of this country then go out of India. if we don't like a programme in TV we can change channel but news is not entertainment.

there is a thing as being 'neutral' that's the whole essence of journalism. the opinion should be formed by the public.

I used to be a religious follower of all these mainstream news channels :ashamed: and I can say many others were/are also. thats why all the pent up frustration is being released during hard hitting issues like this.

anyway nothing much will happen at the end of the day except for minor bruises to the egos of the people involved :(

_
 
forget the barka tapes, the tapes in outlook gives in a far more insight into the politics and business of this nation , amazing !!
 
The barkha-radia transcripts can be found in this post.

This is a summary of the 5 tapes
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The conversation is right there and it is very explicit. What is so arbitrary about at?

The conversations are sometime after the 2009 elections and before the formation of the UPA coalition. Radia has good contacts who update her about every little thing.

Tape 1: Radia and barkha are talking about a fresh rift between DMK and UPA. This rift was caused by DMK member baalu who revealed to the media that DMK has withdrawn support to the UPA. This has angered manmohan singh. Barka asks radia for some suggestions to proceed further wrt congress. Radia tells barkha to convince the congress to talk to karunanidhi directly but in private because she claims that k-nidhi is intimidated by his party-men like baalu and maran. She suggests expulsion of baalu. The two then talk about cabinet seats. In the side, congress has said something about maran which radia points out. Barkha tells radia that NDTV has stopped airing that particular footage.

Tape 2: Radia tells barkha that congress(particularly, the PM) doesn't plan to give infrastructure portfolio to maran or baalu and that those two have been informed about it. But the two have withheld that particular info from k-nidhi. Radia tells barkha to instruct the congress to convey this withheld info to k-nidhi through kanimozhi. Barkha assures radia that she will meet gulam nabi azad(congress leader) at the PM's residence and tell him about what needs to be done. Kanimozhi tells radia that DMK party-men are no longer updating k-nidhi on the day to day events.

Tape 3: Barka has had long chats with unknown congress leaders. She tells radia that the congress is now ready to take maran, raja or whoever. The congress has promised barkha that they will send ghulam nabi azad to talk to the DMK men. Meanwhile, the DMK men are undermining k-nidhi orders again. K-nidhi's daughter, kanimozhi is the only one that follow his orders. She has been isntructed to leave the city @ 5pm. In tape 2, ghulam nabi azad is supposed to meet kanimozhi. Barkha calls azad and informs kanimozhis plans to leave the city.

Tape 4: Navika kumar on timesnow thinks that congress will not give anything to maran, raja and baalu. Barkha asks radia whether navika's assertions are true. Radia tells barkha that navika is wrong. They then talk about maran, raja and baalu on which cabinets they demand.

Tape 5: K-nidhi previously instructed dayanidhi not to attend the swearing in ceremony. Dayanidhi claims that congress leader ahmed patel had specially requested him to attend. Barkha privately enquires with patel about it but patel says that he never forwarded such a request. K-nidhi tells dayanidhi in his face to join congress. Dayanidhi does not attend.
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If someone wants to correct, go ahead.
 
Darthcoder said:
And here is Vir Sanghvi taking dictation from a Broker (The same Radia as above) on what to write in his column
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Err...where..am I missing something here?

EDIT: Ah...oki, found it in the PDF.

Saala doggie Sanghvi, go back to writing about best places to eat and sh*t. You think HT Group will go ahead with Sanghvi's Sunday column after this?
 
DigitalDude said:
it's not just simple bias bro. it's very disgusting most of the times. and her arrogance which is matched only by rajdeep sardesai and sagarika. they forget that they are journalists and just because they have big stakes in the network they think they are the CJI.
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But these ppl are lead journalists of private networks. I support their privledge to spin things as they please. Otherwise its asking for govt interference in private enterprise, in regulating what can be said or not. That's a dangerous path to take. I support their freedom of speech, and do not support other's right to be offended.

I just watched Barkha's interview with Kapil Sibal and he completely finessed her. Did she hound them much ? no, not because she did not want to but because she is incapable. I spent half an hour listening and learnt nothing, my biggest gripe is she takes twice as long to get the point across than say others and sometimes never even gets there. If she's up against a wily politican or lawyer she is going to get owned. PERIOD.

Nidhi's show tonight was an absolute mess, both parties slamming each other, nothing to learn.

DigitalDude said:
but the solution you are offering is not acceptable. it's like saying if you don't like the politicians of this country then go out of India. if we don't like a programme in TV we can change channel but news is not entertainment.
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Ah, but you are talking about the lack of choice of news outlets here. If the existing ones do not serve the purpose then start more that do. Get the funding and link up with FOX. Let's have more options, i'm all for choice. In fact so long as this does not happen you will find these ppl will take advantage of their positions because they do not face much competition. This is the problem, the market for news isn't that competitive. Conservative views are in the minority.

DigitalDude said:
there is a thing as being 'neutral' that's the whole essence of journalism. the opinion should be formed by the public.
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I would love to live in a world where the above was adhered to but i've yet to find it anywhere. Ppl talk about BBC & CNN, they are liberal. You won't know what their spin is like unless you watch FOX and vice-versa. Or dicuss issues with ppl who have opposite views, this can be quite painful as but with more mature ppl it can be help find the neutral you seek.

DigitalDude said:
I used to be a religious follower of all these mainstream news channels :ashamed: and I can say many others were/are also. thats why all the pent up frustration is being released during hard hitting issues like this.
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Tell me did you stop or did you become smarter and more selective ?

Did you know when somebody was outright lying and found out the facts yourself.
 
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Sadly, all indian media houses work in a contingent. Timesnow won't air the barkka-radia conversations, neither will headlines today or any other news channel. Outlook will print some of the transcripts but how many actually buy the magazine?

Barhka and sanghvi have realised this and are hence offering those silly explanations claiming to be "victims".
 
Heh, so now that the politcans are getting hounded by the media, they have started their dirty tricks campaign against the media :)
 
hellfire said:
Err...where..am I missing something here?

EDIT: Ah...oki, found it in the PDF.

Saala doggie Sanghvi, go back to writing about best places to eat and sh*t. You think HT Group will go ahead with Sanghvi's Sunday column after this?
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wat PDF M8

Ps:are there any tapes available in public??
 
You know i was wondering why Barkha was being used as a go between between one party and its supposed ally. What was going through our minds ? she's all connected up and being a power broker etc....this was the perception. Not only her but other journalists as well...

Read sanghvi's rebuttal

The conversations recorded relate to the phase when there was an impasse between the DMK and the Congress. Ms Radia called several journalists, including me, to ask us to convey a message to any Congress leaders we met in the course of our work.

While gathering news, journalists talk to a wide variety of sources from all walks of life, especially when a fast-moving story is unfolding. Out of a desire to elicit more information from these sources, we are generally polite. I received many calls from different sources during that period.
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So are these journalists REALLY the party stooges we have been led to believe ;)
 
blr_p said:
You know i was wondering why Barkha was being used as a go between between one party and its supposed ally. What was going through our minds ? she's all connected up and being a power broker etc....this was the perception. Not only her but other journalists as well...

Read sanghvi's rebuttal

So are these journalists REALLY the party stooges we have been led to believe ;)
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I have to admit that it does seem like you are trying pretty hard to convince yourself that things are still hunky dory. I don't know about your political inclinations, nor do I care, but it does seem like darth and the others have a point here saar :)

Also, I find it super creepy how this is getting buried by EVERY major media portal from India
 
stalker said:
I have to admit that it does seem like you are trying pretty hard to convince yourself that things are still hunky dory.
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Hmm, hunky dory is not what i would have said, things are happening. The problem is all we have are snippets and they say 'you decide'. Hey, depending on what is said you can fool anyone with this.

stalker said:
I don't know about your political inclinations, nor do I care, but it does seem like darth and the others have a point here saar :)
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A point that was never ever made, just thrown out there with the implication 'you decide'. This is basically how you convey something without having any responsibilty about it. Its slippery. It's funny how ppl seem to miss that for something else.

The other thing i notice when ppl are questioned, they say you must be from the other side. That the very purpose of this 'evidence' is political to begin with isn't it. There is no tolerance for scepticism at all. That's fine because that only tells me that the story is not that strong to begin with. Why all the evasion otherwise ;)
stalker said:
Also, I find it super creepy how this is getting buried by EVERY major media portal from India
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Well you read about it from magazines and not some blog, last i checked they were still the media :)

If there was a smoking gun, heads would roll, and these stories are already a few months old. Repackaged to take advantage the anti-corruption mania currently doing the rounds here and of course ppl are open to suggestion now aren't they, there is much bigger things on the plate atm.

Given you're not resident here currently, let me give you an idea about what the talkshows have been hammering on about for the last week, EVERYBODY is talking about adarsh scam, 2G scam, CWG scam etc. EVERYBODY is hammering Congress on this. The faces of the congress spokesperson says a lot, too much strain over the last week and its starting to show, in the way they hog the mike. The media are talking credit for getting Chavan, Kalmadi & Raja sacked. There is a real blood lust about. Its been quite sustained.

Because they have a report, ppl can see the country got bilked, they are talking about cancelling licenses etc. this is the zeitgeist going on atm, not some crap about what journalists have said or been construed as talking about, which given that saghvi's rebuttal removes a lot of the 'suspicions' ppl here try to imply but never actually say.
 
I was referring to 'Major Media'.

By that, I'm talking about mainstream places.. like The Hindu, Trash of India, Hindustan Times, Deccan Herald.. and the likes. This story broke (I guess), in the Open Magazine.. then Tehelka carried it for a bit as well (and so did Outlook I guess), but then.. How popular are these.. when compared to the previously mentioned Major Media.. ??

While I've been out of India for only a short while, I still consider going to a College out of my city (7 years ago), for my undergrad a big deal.. I was in a hostel and the only time the television was switched on was for watching sports... I basically gave up on watching television news with all its sensationalistic trappings back then. It might be just my opinion but I feel that our print media manages to maintain a much more mature face when dealing with big stories such as the one flying around right now. The only TV talk show I ever remember watching was Hard Talk, and that wasn't even Indian..

Television does something to people.. It might seem that print journos probably have more power over people as compared to tele journos, given their reach and accessibility.. but at the end of the day, its the folks on the TV that the common man is going to be looking at.. it is their opinion that is going to be taken as gospel.

I definitely don't see how I could possibly trust the opinion of someone like Sanghivi especially after he is openly shown to be fixing his interviews and going so far as to practice off camera so as to not make any mistakes.. Lobbying and journalism should never be mixed and I feel that these tapes have openly shown that, that is exactly what has been happening in our country. What credibility does a Vir Sanghvi have left after claiming that he would avoid touchy topics.. Why does a journalist have to agree to pass a message.. whatever be their political leanings.. what business do they have doing any of this? I don't care if Vir Sanghvi is a die hard BJP supporter.. The second he agreed to pass a message at the insistence of some random person (Radia), he completely loses any trappings to being objective/neutral.

PS - Are you sure these stories are old? If the contents of the tapes were known beforehand, does that not add another twist to this already tangled tale? Why didn't any of this become public knowledge much earlier? I'm talking about the contents of these tapes here.. not just the knowledge of their existence..

Also, does anyone have a link to someplace that actually discusses how these tapes came to be in the first place? I mean, stuff like who was investigating whom under what suspicion? Who authorized these investigations/recordings.. and stuff.
 
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