Terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Media reports. Bloggers blog. Twitterers tweet. People don’t like media’s coverage. Bloggers opine and report on media’s role. Media sues blogger for libel and defamation. Blogger forced to withdraw ‘offensive’ post.
Regularly Updated Post. Scroll down for updates
Unfortunately for NDTV, other bloggers continue to blog. In strong protest of such intimidation.
What’s appalling is the very bodies who owe their survival to free speech, the very organizations that used free speech to report on the Mumbai attacks, and defended their content as necessary for information dissemination are now against a blogger’s right to free speech.
Shripriya finds this behavior by NDTV unacceptable and accuses them of “violating some journalistic ethic”.
“Mom, tell me, is all criticism libelous? When news channels criticize politicians, is that also libelous? What about news analysis, which is opinion mixed with fact – is that libelous too?”
“No, it is just freedom of speech. ”
Lekhni shares a bedtime story that would perhaps help NDTV sleep better at night if they listen carefully for the moral of the story.
However it pisses me off totally when they indulge in sensational journalism that potentially puts people’s life in peril and then arm twist their way out when a concerned blogger mentions it in his blog.
V.P.Jaiganesh is maha-pissed at NDTV for such strong arm tactics against bloggers who merely are expressing their opinion; just like any other aam aadmi.
The Comic Project channels Ice T in defense of Chetan’s right to express himself.
And here is the clincher: In his rant against the media, Admiral Sureesh Mehta directly alleged that Barkhta Dutt was responsible for death of three Indian soldiers in Kargil operations. Has Admiral Mehta been sued for what Barkha Dutt criticizes as ”defamatory” remarks? No! In fact, all that remark has elicited from NDTV and Barkha Dutt is an advice to read V.P Malik’s book on Kargil war and an ”official complaint.”
Rohit is not surprised by NDTV’s conduct and wonders why other media outlets that have criticized Barkha Dutt and NDTV’s coverage have not been targeted.
How does a Barkha Dutt reconcile her stated respect for criticism with the suggestion that those who don’t like what you do and the way you do it can say it with the remote? What the latter statement reveals is the hypocrisy inherent in the former—no more, no less.
Prem Panicker provides clarifications and highlights the primary issue here concerning Barkha Dutt and NDTV – “lack of grace, this intolerance for criticism, this tendency to the notion that you are immune to the searching examination you subject others to”. Trying to silence bloggers with an opinion with heavy-handed legal stunts doesn’t bode well for their brand.
Which takes us back to the same question: why do they hate us so much? From India Today to TOI to Outlook and now NDTV, the media has on numerous occasions ranted against bloggers with undisguised contempt, which stems from their appalling ignorance of what blogging is all about.
Sandeep asks if the media’s simmering anger against the blogger is somehow responsible for this mess. He has created a Facebook group to express his solidarity with Chetan.
You won’t achieve anything by getting one blogger to withdraw what he typed in the heat of anger. Just like the government of India wouldn’t have achieved anything by blocking one TV news channel. The ‘have lawyers will sue’ attitude won’t help. It will make things worse. For you, me, and everyone else. ‘We the people‘ are pissed. Do you care?
Vijayendra Mohanty reminds NDTV and Barkha Dutt where and why they are wrong in this drama.
Can you imagine if what would have happened if any of the politicians had dared to sue NDTV for libel. Not only NDTV but everyone in English media would be crying fascism like it was Third Reich. This despite the fact that not only a politician has as much right to redressal as NDTV but also he probably has a stronger case for libel against Barkha Dutt (and English media) than Barkha Dutt has against Chyetanya.
Gaurav wonders if Barkha Dutt knows that she too can easily be at the other end of the barrel.
Barkha has earlier covered topics like “regulating blogs” but I sincerely hope that she would also consider making this latest issue a topic of discussion during her next “We The People” debate on NDTV.
Amit Agarwal at Digital Inspiration has a great suggestion – why not debate this issue on Barkha Dutt’s program – We the People – if she thinks it is such a serious issue. I’m sure that’s all what we want – a lively and constructive debate.
This isn’t the first instance of bloggers getting into legal trouble with media companies over their content: as far back as 2005, Mediaah!, a media blog by Pradyuman Maheshwari who recently joined the Exchange4Media Group as the Editor in Chief for Exchange4Media and Impact was forced to shut down after being served a legal notice by the Times of India group. Someone then launched Mediaha, with some of the deleted content.
MediaNama remembers the previous case when a blog was forced down by a media organization. Dragging bloggers into court or threatening to only makes matters worse when things can in fact be amicably settled.
NDTV probably sent the legal notice. Kunte, probably satisfied that the post had done its job by raising awareness, must have agreed to take the post down. But NDTV lawyers, or maybe even Barkha Dutt herself (I don’t know for sure) might have insisted that unless he issues a sniffling apology, they will take him to court and demand crores and crores. And who knows, since they seem to have been following the IIPM playbook so closely, maybe they even tried to contact his employers to pressure him (again, I don’t know if this is true…. just speculating).
Gaurav Sabnis who knows a thing or two about being stifled by large organizations thinks that NDTV and Barkha Dutt made a huge tactical error by making Chetan grovel for forgiveness regardless of what he wrote was right or wrong. As he points out, things are not beyond reproach even now. The fact that a news organization gets so hot and bothered about opinions they don’t like is especially galling.
This post has simply been set up to convey your thoughts to Burkha Dutt and NDTV in a peaceful and respectful manner. The email is not meant to offend Ms. Barkha Dutt but to simply express your displeasure hence the body of the email is non-editable.
Aditya has set up a simple un-editable message that can be emailed to Barkha Dutt. If you agree with the content, fill in your details and hit send.
Media organizations need to accept that bloggers will watch them and criticize them, whenever they make a mistake. Many journalists, some of whom are bloggers themselves, welcome this reality and even see the blogosphere as a realization of Habermas‘ public sphere. Some journalist disagree. Shobhan Saxena at TOI has called blogs “rubbish” and Barkha Dutt herself has previously wondered if blogs should be regulated. The point is that, irrespective of which end of the spectrum they are on, journalists and media organizations will need to accept that blog surveillance is here to stay.
Gaurav Mishra once again underlines the core issue here and also warns bloggers to be aware of libel laws that they may be subject to.
No one creates heroes better and faster than old media. Sometimes, they do it inadvertently. Like in the case of blogger Chetan Kunte (Chyetanya Kunte), who ‘dared’ to question the work of a mainstream media journalist Barkha Dutt of NDTV news channel.
Pramit Singh highlights the irony in this drama that ended up making Chetan Kunte an hero in spite of his inactions against NDTV.
Barkha Dutt and NDTV simply failed to learn from the groundswell of opinion against their coverage and instead chose to intimidate a lone blogger using legal tactics. That is the core issue here. How does this affect their brand and bottomline? Check out Placid Freedom’s post on his disillusionment with NDTV after this incident.
Tell me again, if taking action against Chetan for his so-called libelous statements has now enhanced Barkha Dutt’s reputation. In fact, the opposite may be true now. Especially so as Amrutha says, when NDTV themselves have been guilty of transgressions that they accuse Chetan of and yet no apology has been forthcoming as yet.
you may want to know that the author of this email- a certain Mr. Kunte who lives in Holland.. has been sent a legal notice by NDTV for the rubbish and lies peddled in this email.
From the horse’s mouth. Rohit discovers on a Facebook group that Barkha Dutt admits that NDTV has in fact sent a legal notice to Chetan Kunte. Feel free to join in the discussion with Barkha.
Bloggers value their opinions, but do not always feel obliged to back up those opinions with the necessary rigour to support and substantiate them. It is time that this obligation was picked up and applied to blogposts in the same way as columns and news reports do.
Sumant wants bloggers to be more careful about what they write. But if NDTV really wanted Chetan to be a better blogger, they would have asked him to remove the offending statements [quoted from Wikipedia] and let him retain the rest of the post that expressed his opinion. It is not just the ends but also the means that indicate the intent of their actions.
One day, when Her Shrillness was out playing in the garden, she spotted a globber lurking in the shrubbery. Quick as a newsflash, she had the globber captured by her guards, and brought him before the High Council. When the High Council told her that no, she couldn’t have his head cut off (only her cousin, the Red Queen, could use that head line), she proceeded to whine and pout until the poor globber agreed to issue a public apology for the things he’d said about her
Falstaff weaves a ‘fictional’ tale about the oh-so-almighty Hark! DaButt and her quest for conquering the truth. He even has a voluntary notice to prevent Hark! DaButt from suing him.
Feel free to send us your posts if you choose to write on this issue.
Comments
72 comments. Leave your comment »
Dilip Muralidaran
Jan 28th, 2009 at 11:03 pm | #
What a shame on NDTV. Looks like you can get away with stuff if you have money.
Kima
Jan 28th, 2009 at 11:47 pm | #
I just read the Google cached copy from Comic Project (Thanks dude!) and after reading the “banned” post, I must say I am extremely shocked and appalled with NDTV’s reaction, especially Barkha Dutt who I used to admire for her “We the People” management.
The main criticism about Barkha that Chyetanya made regarding National Security is a freaking QUOTATION from wiki, so how is Chyetanya liable for that??? (oh by the way, this current incident is already there in wiki!)
Maybe from NDTV’s point of view, they didn’t like the fact that Chyetanya believed NDTV’s responsible for the death of… “you-know-who” (just in case), but then, that’s what he BELIEVES and he was not accusing the channel in any way. Hey, forget FREEDOM OF SPEECH, you mean to say we don’t even have FREEDOM OF THOUGHT anymore???? To be more precise, Chyetanya didn’t even say he believes NDTV’s responsible… he said he’s WILLING to believe NDTV’s responsible…. And to be penalized for that???????????? Ridiculous!
sonaljhuj
Jan 29th, 2009 at 12:29 am | #
I’ve held NDTV and Barkha Dutt in the highest regard (inspite of hearing about how she made life difficult for the army in kargil). But this is really the pits.
I don’t think they realise that the ‘unconditional apology’ on ckunte’s blog is doing them more harm than his earlier so-called ‘offensive post
Anand Muglikar
Jan 29th, 2009 at 4:23 am | #
This ‘end’ was like the one in RDB…
We cant accept ‘ends’ like these anymore!
No more!!
Never!!!
Himanshu
Jan 29th, 2009 at 6:58 am | #
When someone demands something of you, you do have the option of refusing the demands.
Rajtilak Bhattacharjee
Jan 29th, 2009 at 8:25 am | #
It seems that both Ms Dutt and NDTV had underestimated the unfathomable power of blogging. What they don’t understand is that we don’t need any political backup to bring about a change (seesh! am talking like Obama), came up over here from The Comic Project blog. Did my level best to spread the word cause it seems that media has surprisingly turned a blind eye to this incident. I wonder what the NDTV blogs are all about! I guess they are there for advertising. Both Ms Dutt and NDTV have made a big mockery of themselves, that’s all.
Soulberry
Jan 29th, 2009 at 8:27 am | #
Shame on NDTV!
Rohini
Jan 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm | #
Can anything be done about it? To protect bloggers rights in the future?
Varun
Jan 29th, 2009 at 1:38 pm | #
Blogger News has a PDF version of the Google cache page with Chyetanya Kunte’s “Shoddy Journalism” post – http://www.bloggernews.net/119566
Arby K
Jan 29th, 2009 at 2:59 pm | #
Was going thru “The Hindu” article that wikipedia cites as the source for her “Kargil escapades” [ http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/03/stories/2008120360861300.htm# ] , it apparently doesn’t name her in the article. Maybe ckunte need to have seen that all his bases were covered before quoting wikipedia. Will have to have a better look at what I see on wiki frm now on, I guess.
Patrix
Jan 29th, 2009 at 3:29 pm | #
Arby, I agree and probably quoting Wikipedia for a dubious claim wasn’t the right thing. But wouldn’t it have served everyone best interest if they had merely requested Chetan to remove that statement from his post and allowed him to keep the rest? But by threatening legal action, they wanted to not only remove a dissenting voice from the blogosphere but also send a strong message. Well, if anyone had not read Chetan’s post before, they surely did today and are discussing it even more. How did that restore Barkha Dutt’s reputation that they claim was besmirched by his post?
Kiran P
Jan 29th, 2009 at 6:30 pm | #
More power to Indian bloggers. The Indian Media is corrupt and anti-national.
Arby K
Jan 29th, 2009 at 9:22 pm | #
@Patrix : I agree with u completely. NDTV and Barkha Dutt could have handled it better, but they went for an overkill and now facing the backlash for that.
But that doesn’t mean we ignore it completely. Some of the comments and the follow up posts (mentioned here and otherwise) have been in the line that quoting wikipedia should leave u home free, but as u mentioned on ur blog, it doesn’t.
btw, I think The Comic Project has edited his post. I can’t find the quote “Here’s the clincher ….” on it now.
Prasoon
Jan 29th, 2009 at 10:40 pm | #
This is now shoddy journalism indeed and with people if her reputation doing such a thing, I am sure she won’t be seen as an idol anymore. Arindam Choudhary is hated in the intellectual segment of bloggers and other wise gangs who atleast value freedom of speech. and now she joins the cadre.
Aparna
Jan 29th, 2009 at 10:42 pm | #
Is Barkha Dutt actually proving that the post has element of truth?
Subho
Jan 29th, 2009 at 11:47 pm | #
I feel Barkha Dutt lately behaves like an auntijee in a muffassil junior school during her show “We The People”. I feel she made a fool of herself in speculating a “Kandhahar like negotiation theory” in her coverage during the Mumbai attacks. In my opinion, there are as much instances of “irresponsible” behaviours in Indian regular journalism as in citizen journalism.
I am a citizen of this country where I have freedom of expression as much as Barkha Dutt & NDTV has, I vote during elections, I pay my taxes and I am entitled to my opinion.
Subho
ekaling
Jan 30th, 2009 at 6:18 am | #
A blogger’s freedom
To puke whatever undigested
In the free servers of froogles and whatsitsname
Gets muzzled suddenly
By the reality which comes in a piece of paper
Followed by the image of khaki and dim light bulbs
And of course a Red Tapeworm
Beautiful prose in adrenalin does lead to misery sometimes
As digital evidence screams for everyone to see
Who’s gonna fight for the cause?
The fifth pillar’s war with the fourth has started
Who’s got the guts to recruit?
It’s recession, depression whatsitsname no?
alfresco_0101`
Jan 30th, 2009 at 12:24 pm | #
In India first the Politicians should be thrown in to gutter and then followed by the Media persons and finally we need to do away with the indian legal system. All these three sucks. I would rather prefer a corporate culture in running the Government Of India.
Nisha
Jan 31st, 2009 at 12:51 am | #
How outrageous! Can we do something about it?
May be NDTV should send their journalists to courses in Human rights and Democracy as part of their training.
Free Speech
Jan 31st, 2009 at 12:57 am | #
You can email your rants to Barkha Dutt at barkha@ndtv.com
Wanderer
Jan 31st, 2009 at 1:14 pm | #
Barkha’s actions smack of hypocrisy. The entire media is a cabal.
BTW, the blogger’s name is Cheytenya (Pronounced as Chaitanya), and not Chetan.
Wanderer
Jan 31st, 2009 at 1:17 pm | #
Also, NDTV themselves had quoted Mr.Kunte’s views on their news website yes. blogger Retributions discovered this fact. NDTV has actually QUOTED Mr.Kunte on their own news site!
Here is the link: http://retributions.nationalinterest.in/so-who-else-should-ndtv-sue/
This the NDTV link that no longer works after it was exposed by Rohit at retributions.
http://ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Story.aspx?ID=NEWEN20080075340&type=News
Here is the PDF of the NDTV webpage captured by him
http://retributions.nationalinterest.in/wp-content/uploads/ndtv_com__call_to_regulate_media_coverage_of_terror_strikes.pdf
Patrix
Jan 31st, 2009 at 1:49 pm | #
I’ve known him as Chetan and he doesn’t mind it. As some would say, Cheytenya is his ‘good’ name
chandra
Feb 1st, 2009 at 11:07 am | #
I don’t understand what NDTV actually wanted to achieve by removing the post and asking to put a public apology. In no way it has helped neither NDTV nor Bharka.
http://webgeekblog.com/2009/02/01/barkha-dutt-vs-chyetanya-kunte/
Hypocrat
Feb 1st, 2009 at 11:34 pm | #
Check this one, BTW NDTV also runs a enviroment campaign
http://penpricks.blogspot.com/2008/10/la-nd-tv.html
Rajan
Feb 2nd, 2009 at 3:25 am | #
One wonders what the media will do about the PIL they face on Thursday. Probably learn that the TV is not the only way we raise our voices.
http://smallchange.in/
B Shantanu
Feb 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm | #
Some of you may find this interesting:
I Hate Bloggers*
Sumit
Feb 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 am | #
Agreed, that there may have been lapses on the part of the journalist, even Barkha.
But, the BIG question is, is the army or the police or the NSG not aware of the consequences of the information being broadcast, the proximity they give to the journalists and general public from the scene or war, crime or catastrophe, and do they not have sufficient rights or powers to stop sensitive broadcasts being made while the battle or whatever I mentioned above is still on?
Media will try it’s best to cover stories. They may not even be aware of the harm they might be doing in the process, as has been indicated in the blogs and comments, but are the people who are actually involved in solving the problem dumb, or do they not follow any protocol?
Naavi
Feb 4th, 2009 at 6:20 pm | #
I have sent the following mail to Secretary Press Council of India. (pcibpp@gmail.com)
I wish others may also send similar mails.
To
The Secretary
Perss Council Of India
Delhi
Dear Sir,
I am Naavi (Na.Vijayashankar), founder of http://www.naavi.org. I am also the
Chairman of Digital Society of India, Chairman of the Legal
Enablement Committee of NIC on G2C transactions and other Cyber Law
related initiatives in India.
I request you to kindly clarify on the following issues which confront
me as well as the Cyber Society.
1. As you are aware, Indian law recognizes electronic documents as
equivalent to written paper. Accordingly, what is published in the
Cyber space has as much relvance in law as a printed publication.
2. On the Internet, there are websites which are owned by somebody
while the contributions are made by others. There are also copies of
traditional press operating as an independent media. There are also
news letters and Blogs. Of these, Blogs are publications where the
author, editor and publisher may be the same person. In this context,
I would like to know if a blogger can seek registration of the Press
Council as a “Journal” and if so, what is the procedure.
3. I also draw your attention to the raging controversy in the
Blogosphere where a Blogger who wrote a comment critical of the
Coverage of the Mumbai Terrorist attacks on November 26th and 27th
(2008) by MS Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor of NDTV (Details available
here: http://www.bloggernews.net/119566), and was apparently silenced
by a threatening legal notice alleging defamation.
4. Most observers consider that the action of NDTV in launching a
legal action (as is apparent from the apology letter published by the
blogger) was an unfair assault on the freedom of expression of the
blogger.
5. I would like to know if it is within the scope of activities of
Press Council to advise its own members like NDTV that one of the
norms to be followed by journalists is to respect the freedom of
expression of others or come in support of the victim of such an
alleged oppression.
6. In many cases of publication of an article in the Press, whenever
there is a clash of opinion, the practice is to publish a counter view
in the same space as the original publication as a sufficient remedy
against alleged defamation. Withdrawal of an already published
material is not feasible and not expected. In the case of blogs
therefore, the appropriate remedy when there is a controversy is to
publish the counter view in the same blog and not demand withdrawal of
the blog post itself as NDTV has forced the blogger to do. I would
like Press Council to come out with a clarification on the same.
7. Additionally, I suggest that the Press Council take a suo motu
action of setting up a sub committee to address the issue of “Blogging
in India” and come up with suggestions for itself or the Government on
how Blogs can be regulated or provided normal freedom associated with
the Press along with the privileges.
I look forward to your reply at the earliest.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Na.Vijayashankar
Editor, Contributor, http://www.naavi.org
No 37, 20th Main, B S K First Stage
Bangalore 560050
+91 9343554943
Naavi
Salik Shah
Feb 5th, 2009 at 12:21 am | #
As we can see, Dutt’s decision to silence the blogosphere has only backfired — one more irresponsible act from our Global Leader of Tomorrow.
Salty
Feb 5th, 2009 at 1:40 am | #
NDTV’s action of picking out Kunte, among hundreds of bloggers who are critical of Indian television media’s weird coverage of 26/11, and subsequently”censoring” him with a threat of a legal suit smacks of a “planned” drive against the community of bloggers.
Deeply distrustful of any critical comment on her coverage, Barkha Dutt & NDTV, have done just what the Indian Police do when they want to chase away protesters. That is, pick out any soft guy in the crowd and beat him mercilessly with lathis till others get the message and run for cover.
While Mr. Vijayshankar’s letter to Press Council of India is applaudable, I don’t think anything will come out of it as the Press Council has always been conscious about the “rights” of press but not much about “responsibilities”. Whether it is the Arushi murder case or lynching of a woman teacher,the PCI did precisely nothing to censure the concerned channels for spreading “mis-information”. Imho, the only way , one can get at “NDTV”, is to galvanise a campaign to get advertisers reconsider their rupee-spends on NDTV.
shoism
Feb 5th, 2009 at 11:02 am | #
Original article is still in google cache..
http://www.blogbharti.com/bombay-addict/india/ckunte-vs-ndtv-in-the-matter-of-shoddy-journalism/
Farakka Butt
Feb 5th, 2009 at 10:18 pm | #
Read the original post content (copy here – http://bangalorebuzzz.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogger-silenced-by-ndtv.html ).
There was absolutely nothing wrong in what was said. What was NDTV thinking when they created this ruckus?
veerendher
Feb 6th, 2009 at 4:23 am | #
These journalists always feel insecure by good and bold writings by bloggers. Sorry NDTV, this is not the right way.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala
Feb 7th, 2009 at 3:33 pm | #
We’ve published the original censored letter here:
http://www.rakeshjhunjhunwala.in/2009/02/pigeon-heads.html