MEDIA WARS: THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH AND SUPREMACY BEGINS Its not for nothing that even an abstract thing as your conscience can decimate you leave you in agony. All this restless tormenting can devour you and the slightest aside can turn you into a raging bull. This is what exactly what happened to the Navhind Times, when not only both the vernacular and the English media press but even the public at large caught them on the wrong foot. When they came down from their penthouse and were leisurely strolling along the gutters of Panjim, they realized they had not worn their boots and a gutter rat bit their toes. Actually, the rodent they consider insignificant gnawed at their flesh with just a brush of a few lines. It wasn’t the size of the wound that they were aghast with, the exposure and bleeding was more humiliating, their invincibility claims debunked. When a self attested giant is unable to swallow its pride, the result is severe indigestion. Relief comes when the offending material is expelled though a long passage, a diatribe that in journalistic parlance is solemnly called an edit. Their image seriously battered they had to swing into crisis control, requiring round the clock intensive, palliative care by their best shrinks.with a nurse in tow. And who better to summon for the job to tend to his master’s injuries than the placid, former Herald news editor Derek Almeida who as Navhind Times’s executive editor been ostracized to a cabin where he’s been instructed by the Bihari dean never venture into the nurse’s quarters. Because the nurse, Roger Figueredo, who is also a Herald drop out, by virtue of his inimitable ability to pander, promptly rose to the ranks to become news editor and is still his master’s tuning fork. No matter how hard the editor Arun Sinha hits him, the condescending nurse will always silently vibrate to his frequency. With his head bent over a corner, the good old, footloose doctor from Assolna consulted his therapeutic care footnotes to proceed with his diagnosis. What followed was not a prescriptive cure but a placebo that was played out repetitively where the patient was convinced that the Campal Trade Centre plague which had caused him such consternation had been segregated and eliminated and the people were praying for his speedy recovery. As is the case with all run-for-government organizations, the Navhind Times too flushed out the wrong virus and are beating their trumpet that the patient has been sterilized. Actually the virus who started this media war epidemic is still leisurely floating in the Bhavan bloodstream and its name is Abdul Rauf Beig. Beig has been known to wag his tail for a few crumbs thrown by the Ranes and those inimical to GPCC John. The rest is for anyone to decipher. But just as the US never liked to admit that bin Laden was comfortably housed by their own friend Pakistan, the Navhind Times never likes to admit it has its own bacteria. Beig has reportedly been stripped from his position as chief reporter. But that’s the internal image The external image is to never show your warts or your wrinkles and coat it with layers of mascara, face creams, dyes and toners by proclaiming to readers that you are a serious newspaper, even when you are neck deep in shit. Sinha’s policy has always been as consistent as his entry and exit to his cabin: Never ever issue an apology or clarification, even if the error is glaring . Remember our skin is silky smooth. Almost every allegation that the Navhind Times has smeared at the Herald can be discarded. Almost, because both dailies have vices that they both accuse each other of. Bringing up an issue and pulling up those who matter does not amount to muck chucking. Because the Herald always has the audacity to circle shortcomings, its receptionists have been flooded with denial releases and a string of defamation suits. Extremely terrified of the serious press as a serious press?. Is this for real? When they heard that Sujay Gupta was to head the Herald team, the dean, the shrink and the nurse were huddled in a cabin on how to bear the onslaught. In their endless barrage, the following lines in lines are testimony to their stupidity. “For journalism means getting to the truth and nothing but the truth. It is not always possible to get to the truth quickly. But that should not mean writing and publishing stuff based on hearsay, rumours, suspicions and speculations every morning, just because it sells.” Damn right, they were in such a tearing hurry to splash the news of GPCC’s John Fernandes expulsion that they omitted chasing the truth because they couldn’t get it as quickly. The absence of documents and sources made the report highly speculative. The spicey tickle and sizzle is a ploy all newspapers use these days, only the Navhind Times has realized that it is sagging in a number of places, that no one will cast a second glance at it. Even the Goan led by Ajay Thakur invites more stares. The pompous assertion that they “have been breaking stories that the gutter press has been missing for a long time is ridiculous.” The Herald has been known not only to break stories but even bones. It’s done this by being criticial and not merely narrative. Its editors have done this now and then too. To cover up their first lie that John was sacked, they fabricated another one, namely that Luizinho Faleiro was appointed GPCC president. It was truly a scoop for Navhind, because all newspapers and websites had missed such crucial news It was Beig who dislodged Fernandes, appointed Luizinho and wrote his (not Beig’s) resignation letter too. Getting the drift? The report was so blatantly factual that some in the Congress were contemplating awarding them the Nobel Prize for defamation. Please stay tuned for more news from the shores of Australia, where I have ventured and attracted jealousy among some of my fraternity back home. Of course for consideration of fair play it is just to mention that the Herald too has many times faltered on the news front but it has never sold itself as immune. Both newspapers feed on titillation and the reporters do a thankless job which their lackadaisical news editors, whose job it is to smell something obnoxious in a story, are loathe to recheck. The one in Herald, Sergio Caldeira has been known to be so laid back that even captioning a photograph is painstaking effort for him. His assistant Joel Afonso runs an advertising agency and is said to be more agreeable to his clients than his colleagues. Both clandestinely take turns in following alternate weeks of rest and recreation among themselves and are handsomely remunerated for doing so while their colleagues toil overnight in a broken chairs and plywood environment, without an yearly bonus or any incentives. They enjoy, by default, designations commensurate with their seniority, but not their superiority Why is this of any relevance? The corollary of a bad management that keeps on promoting craftsmen merely by their years of service, and not by knowledge of their trade is that you end up with heaps of ramshackle furniture. The truth in there is that both are guilty of the same transgressions. HERALDS EDIT epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=7638&boxid=15256156&uid&dat=8%2F30%2F2014 NAVHINDS RESPONSE navhindtimes.in/pompous-packaging-empty-boxes/
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 07:52:19 +0000
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