The Radia Tapes reveal the networks and routers, the source codes and malware that bind the corporate and political establishments in India. As squeamish schoolchildren know only too well, dissection is a messy business. Some instinctively turn away, others become nauseous or scared. Not everyone can stomach first hand the inner workings of an organic system. Ten days ago, a scalpel — in the form of a set of 104 intercepted...

Media-corporate links are structural. But journalists, certainly entrenched ones, can choose whether they wish to be stenographers or not. It was gratifying to have the head of India's most reputed business house confirm the existence of crony capitalism in the country. True, others have believed this for 20 years but it carries more weight when Ratan Tata says so. As he put it in a television interview with admirable candour: “Yes,...

The ethics of journalists involving themselves with corporate lobbyists, questions relating to the authenticity of the Radia Tapes, the motives behind the release of the phone recordings, the initial silence of the mainstream media, concerns of privacy, and the role of social and online media were among the issues that came to the fore during a colloquium, ‘Radia Media,' organised by the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) here on Wednesday. While...

In any democracy, the right to individual privacy is absolute. If what one citizen does in one’s personal life is splashed in a public arena, newspapers and TV channels for instance, the results are not only disagreeable, but also distasteful. Modern life, however, is much more complicated than life in ancient Athens. Very often, the mighty and the powerful abuse this right to hide facts that have a grave public bearing....

Notice to Centre, CBI and Outlook and Open magazines The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to examine industrialist Ratan Tata's petition, which alleged that publication of the tapes of his private conversations with corporate lobbyist Nira Radia had infringed his right to privacy, and issued notice to the Union government, the CBI and the Outlook and Open magazines, seeking their response in 10 days. A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K....