A man, crawling on all fours, is searching for something under a tree on a hot summer’s day. A curious passerby stops and asks: “What are you looking for?” The man replies: “I’ve lost my watch.” The passerby asks: “Are you sure it fell near this tree?” The answer: “It’s cooler looking in the shade”.Governments work something like this. They do what they think is easier to do rather than...

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...

The great media blackout on the Radia tapes is   finally ending. Maybe editors and others who said that they could not use the tapes or transcripts for lack of authentication are waking up to the the fact that there have been no statements of denial from the principals, except for Barkha Dutt saying the conversation was misrepresented. She does not say it did not take place. Neera Radia has now...

The Hindu MEDIA FOCUS: "Perhaps because of the large number of journalists involved in the controversy, most Indian newspapers and TV channels have not covered the Radia tapes at all." The Niira Radia episode raises questions about the boundary between legitimate news gathering, lobbying and influence peddling. The publication of taped conversations between Niira Radia — a lobbyist for Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata with a keen interest in the allocation of...

Politicians, business persons, civil servants, a range of professionals, including doctors and organisers of sports events, and even the judiciary have been in the media spotlight on charges of corruption, nepotism, sleaze and worse. It was to be only a matter of time before the media and media professionals came under public scrutiny for similar acts of omission and commission. The expose on paid news content in the media was...