Welcoming India's first newspaper ombudsman
The Hindu editor N Ram ysterday announced that his paper will soon have a Readers' Editor, also known as inhouse ombudsman, on the lines of Readers' Editor at the Guardian. He made he annoucement after a talk by Ian Meyes, Readers' Editor at the Guardian. It is really refreshing for an Indian newspaper to have taken such a bold step. The work of the ombudsman (external) that the Times of India had appointed some years ago, remains shrouded in mystery though the person was very eminent - retired chief justice of India. As Meyes said, there is no point in having an ombudsman if he or she is not visible. Meyes' weekly column on readers' feedback as well as daily dose of corrections appear on the edit page. (Gurdian had 1600 of them last year) And the feedback mechanism has reduced the burden of legal department of the paper, he said.
The respect the Hindu commands among its readers was very much visible at the elite gathering at the Teen Murti auditorium. Seated in the front row was K Natwar Singh, who had to resign from the govefrnemnt recently following publication of the Volcker committee report - first reported by the Hindu.
Link to Meyes' speech:
http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/11/stories/2006011107101200.htm
BPO public relations in top gear
The fallout of BPO stories in HT and other papers continues. The pink press is all out to help BPO and Nasscom in their damage control exercise. Sample this front page anchor in ET of Oct 28, 2005:
"Non-voice in BPOs gain ground over voice processes with 75 % growth"
The opening para says that non-voice business in ITES sector is SET TO OVERTAKE the voice business......has ALREADY SHOWN an overwhelming growth of 50-75% over the last year.
Couple of paras down we are told WIPRO PLANS TO INCREASE THIS NUMBER (NON VOICE BUSINESS) TO 40 % IN A YEAR'S TIME. Then there is quote from HCL BPO , whose current non-voice business is 30 % - THIS WILL INCREASE IN FAVOUR OF NON-VOICE PROCESSES OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.
The headline talks of 75 % non-voice growth, the lead brings it down to 50 to 75 %, and quotes to substantiate the story talk of
40% (Wipro) in a year's time and HCL (no figures given) over a period of time. Then from where did the 75 % figure come, on which basis the reporter saw it a sign of growing maturity of Indian BPO. ( as per the report, Global Vantedge is pllaning to increase non-voice business to 75 % in one year's time - in that case the story should have said so - This one wants to increase to 75% in one year's time, while others will scale up over a period of time)
Will the mandarins of Nasscom and BPO industry, who were trying to teach media a lesson or two in ethics only the other day, object to such "misleading" reports? What is the basis of saying the non-voice segment has seen 75% growth?
The real motive of the story is tucked in the third para, which tries to educate ET readers that non-voice processes are less stressing, workers can work in day time, and attrition rates can come down!!!!
Was wondering if I was reading newsletter of the BPO Forum or front page of India's most rspected biz broadsheeet.....
More on BPO report, business press
The issue continues to rage. Got a call from an ex-colleague from CNBC TV on Tuesday. "Why did you write this up now when the report came out last year?" , "Is'nt it sensational to say BPOs are sweatshops?", "Dont you think that surviellance is necessary for the critical work they are handling?", "How can you say it is repression of labour?" - I was bit perplexed. Am talking to a journalist from a television channel (with long years of print experience, that too in HT) or a CEO of a BPO from Gurgaon who thinks that call centres are the best things to have happened to Indian youth and economy!
Having worked in a pink business paper and a buiness television channel, I can say that most business journalists tend to think and react to situations like businessmen or so-called corporates. They forget that their primary job is to inform their audiences and not to protect interests of Sector A or Sectyor B, or to boost India's image for FDI investors. This friend of mine asked me: "why this refernce to Roman salve ships?" I said that was part of the report and to leave it out because it would create an image or perception problem for BPO industry, would be journalistic dishonesty. Business journalists have to be constantly reminded that they are in the job of news, and not public relations or advertising.
It is not as if journalistic spirit is dead - a few have told me that they would have written it exactly the same way had they laid their hands on the report. As AKB pointed out in last night's CNBC discussion, as newspaper can not publish any research report in full, selection has to be made and it was done in this case. I still fail to understand why the CNBC and others following up the HT reports are targeting the media or the paper, instead of discussing merits of the issues raised! It is a classic case of shooting the messenger.
Of Roman slave ships, Kiran Karnik and call centers
I did not expect this kind of reaction to my story on call centers in Hindustan Times (Oct 24 and 25). The mighty information technology industry of India appeared rattled on Monday evening press conference.
"Have they gone and seen how a Roman slave ship looks like?" thundered normally-cool looking Kiran Karnik, the boss at Nasscom at a hurriedly called press conference of 'select' journalists to clarify the position regarding my report in Hindustan Times on labour practices in call centers.
"How can they write such things, when we have contributed so much to the real estate boom in the country?" reasoned another bigwig of the BPO industry. "We are getting invitations from presidents of Romania, South Africa, come and do the same thing here. And within the country, we are being criticised", argued yet another IT ceo specially called to brief the friendly press. Most of the house - barring the reporters from the Hindu, ToI, IE and myself - nodded in silence, taking down quotable quotes from their hosts.
"We follow law of the land", declared Karnik. I interjected "you have been expempted from following labour laws of the land, so how can you say you follow law of the land". But, Karnik said, that is legal. We have been legally allowed not to follow labour laws of the land!!!
"Tell me do media houses have better working conditions?" was another gem from Karnik, which the 'press' gladly took and responded.
"We have not seen the report. But we know it is bad" - it is surprising that Nasscom with all the resources at its command could not get a copy of the report from the labour institute. It was clear that the labour issue has touched raw nerve of the IT industry. Even when there were highly damaging sting operations on identity theft, they did not call a press conefernce but only issued a brief statement. Not even there was half a million dollar fraud in Pune. That time Ramadorai, who was heading nasscom at that time, did not even consider it an industry issue.
One thing is clear - the IT industry likes a friendly press, a press that keeps feeding the same old story of India being an IT superpower in the making. Clearly, PR agencies of all hues are doing a roaring business in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi. Anything that is unpalatable is not only rejected by the industry but also by the "kept" press. I know news values have changed a lot, but did not know that the new equation is news =pr =advertising!
More than the industry response, the press reaction has saddened me.
Redefining news values in India
Here are some new definitions of news ralted jargon, courtesy P Sainath of The Hindu:
Special Investigation: This means the reporter actually visited the place.
Breaking news: Means we saw it on the other channel and had to move real fast to claw our way back into the game.
Exclusive: It has not ever been carried before on this channel.
.....On television, the sun rising in the East is `breaking news.' Rising in the West would make it `a controversy.' If a building collapse draws the same passion as the tsunami, you have problems. And yet, the intensity can be quite superficial. Very dangerous proposals have been approved for buildings that could truly cause mega-deaths. Not to mention mighty traffic snarls. These have received poor attention. Some papers have not covered them at all.
.........There was also a deluge of Tarannum coverage. Where the issues involved are far less important than who got to Tarannum first. Who got an `exclusive' with her, never mind what she said. (For some channels, even the rain falls `exclusively.') It's a kind of yah-boo competition that can destroy lives. The more so if the target is a soft one. Nothing stokes media bravery more than a target that can't hit back.
Read the full piece here:
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/14/stories/2005101402261000.htm
Thaksin Shinawatra trying to muzzle press freedom
It appears Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra can not tolerate any criticism of his government or any of his cronies, particularly when it comes to the showpiece airport, Suvaranabhumi. A number of corruption charges, including against his sister, have been made in the Thai press recently.
Media groups decry legal blitz on 'Post' Govt's damages claim 'harassment of media'
International and regional media advocates and leading local English-language dailies have decried the government's decision to sue the Bangkok Post over the airport runway crack report, calling it harassment and intimidation of press freedom.The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa) denounced the government for bringing a criminal libel lawsuit despite the Post's offer of amends in its publication of a front-page apology and retraction of the story.
In an Aug 16 statement on its website, Seapa said the government's suits and threats go beyond seeking to rectify the mistake. ''It is clear that the government's course of action is to harass the press.''This heavy-handed tactic will have a chilling effect on press freedom in Thailand,'' the alliance said. ''The course that the government has seized on, to send a threatening message to the Post and the rest of the Thai media, may signal the government's growing discomfort with the amount of questions and scrutiny this project [the Suvarnabhumi airport construction] is drawing,'' Seapa added.
The government says the report caused damage to the country's reputation and it plans to seek one billion baht in compensation in a separate civil suit.It is also seeking global clarifications on international media networks with the bill to be footed by the Bangkok Post.Seapa praised the Bangkok Post for displaying responsibility and professionalism in recanting its story and admitting to its mistake. ''This shows the value and power of self-regulation in a free press environment, and demonstrates how crude and obsolete criminal lawsuits are as a recourse for disciplining the media,'' said Seapa executive director Roby Alampay.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the libel charges filed by the Airports of Thailand and New Bangkok International Airport against the Post. ''Using criminal charges to retaliate against the press is deeply disturbing and wholly inappropriate, particularly when it is done by state-owned companies. This case reflects the alarming recent trend in Thailand toward the use of disproportionate legal action against journalists,'' CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said. CPJ is an independent, non-profit organisation which attempts to safeguard press freedom worldwide.The organisation added that prosecuting journalists would only backfire and do more harm than good to the country's name.
On the home front, The Nation questioned the merit of the government filing suit. ''The staggering legal offensive by the Thaksin government is bad news for the entire media community,'' wrote its editor Tulsathit Taptim on the opinion page in an article entitled ''Libel Suits Being Used to Intimidate''.He went on to ask: ''Should false alarms keep ringing, or does everyone prefer the silence unless the real fire breaks out?''
Thai Day newspaper, meanwhile, said in its commentary ''No Cracks Does Not Mean There Is No Corruption'' on Wednesday that the press was only doing its job as a watchdog.The writer of the commentary, Xiang Xao Long, a pseudonym, said he took the side of the press ''not because I want to ruin Thaksin's reputation or that of his government, but because I'm opposed to corruption, particularly in mega-projects like Suvarnabhumi airport.''
Environment journalism and corporate media
This is an excellent piece by a Guardian journalist,George Monbiot, on the state of environment journalism in the West. Unfortunately, the situation here in India is much the same.
"A journalist who is concerned about the destruction of the environment will by definition find herself at odds with the prevailing media culture. This is because the interests of the men who own the media don't end with the media. Many of them have a direct financial involvement in dozens of different kinds of business. And as the quote about Conrad Black suggests, even if they don't, they associate with those who do. And multi-millionaires who run, for example, extractive industries or public utilities, want exactly what the multi-millionaires who run the media want: complete freedom to swing their fist, whether or not your nose is in the way. They want, in other words, deregulation."
Read full text at:
http://nuclearfree.lynx.co.nz/monbiotSA.htmThanks Gopi Sunder for sending this!
