-First Post A lot has been written in recent weeks about crony capitalism, but an important issue for the media to introspect over is this: can this happen without significant amounts of crony journalism? When media companies begin to think they can run coal plants, surely this compromises them (Lokmat Group, DB Corp). When political parties think they ought to own media houses or be aligned to one (YSR Congress’ Sakshi, the...

-Frontline The NDTV suit against a media research firm highlights the need for an independent, neutral system of monitoring TV viewing.  AS a legal battle between NDTV and TAM Media Research is about to take off in the New York Supreme Court, broadcasters and advertisers in India are going all out to voice their criticism of the methodology adopted by TAM. NDTV filed a suit in the New York State Supreme Court...

-The Hindu ‘Security forces’ positions were being watched by collaborators across border’ Slamming the electronic media for its live coverage of the 26/11 terrorist attacks, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that by doing so the Indian TV Channels did not serve the national interest or any social cause. A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K. Prasad, while confirming the death sentence on the prime accused, Ajmal Kasab, said the “reckless coverage…...

-The Business Standard An industry capable of bringing down governments has chosen to keep quiet about the creeping corruption in its own backyard You can pay newspapers to get any kind of article published, ditto for news channels. You can fix TV ratings or readership numbers. You can even fix the box-office figures for your film. And if nothing works, you can always entice a media buyer with a cutback to...

-Mid Day Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had filed 67 complaints at police stations across the state under various sections of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable advertisements) Act, 1955. These include complaints against advertisements of products such as 'Sandhi Sudha plus', 'Step up herbal oil' and 'Power Prash', which are promoted by leading Bollywood stars. The FDA had lodged complaints, demanding action against the drug manufacturers, scriptwriters and...