DesiPundit

Amrita is amused by an article about the great Khali. It also reminds her of the useless trading cards that boys were crazy about when we were kids!

I love the fact that it’s totally acceptable for the WWE to describe this guy as a jungle monster and get a Rupert Murdoch publication to excuse it because that’s what fake fighting is all about. I also love the fact that the crowd that watches the WWE in the United States is now even more confused about India: a technology behemoth that’s stealing jobs via computers located in dense forests where tigers roam and snakes hiss? Whoa!

Now Mr. Suraiya is a well respected columnist but he is not a climate scientist and his lack of science training shows. He opens his argument not by referring to real science contradicting warming but by pointing out that the writer Michael Crichton has written a science fiction book that questions the human influence on global warming. I kid you not!

The Times of India is not exactly the paragon of journalistic excellence let alone scientific accuracy. But still as Suvrat Kher found out, an anti-global warming argument by Jug Suraiya reeks of tabling an opposing viewpoint for the sake of it, is quite appalling. There is always space for a counter view but it is definitely not this one.

Did somebody tell you that Bush blamed us for finishing off food grains and creating a shortage? If you heard something like this, may be our media gave you the wrong picture. Gurmeet blames the media for all this.

The brainless and highly anti-American crew of aaj-tak seemed to be as angry and offended as the commies. In their narrative Bush is no different from the ogre who tortures kittens for fun and eats babies for breakfast.But again, this is understandable- this is the same channel that went into a hysterical fit when Saddam was hanged.

Rohit calls the Indian media dumb and takes a hard stand on Times of India.

The Times of India probably calculated that Indian politicians and policymakers would not even bother reading the speech before racing to express outrage. Unfortunately, the newspaper has been proved exactly right. In a rare show of political unanimity, politicians from Left and Right have criticized Bush for a crime which he did not even commit!

Mercury writes about growing up in Madras, when reading the Hindu in the morning was a daily ritual.  She writes evocatively about watching the creeping onslaught of the tabloids, and the changing face of Madras/ Chennai where newspapers are dumbing down and people are switching loyalties away from the Hindu.

Now the Indian Express is not a terrible paper, it isn’t even a bad paper. But when you encountered such dogged loyalty, as the english-reading masses of Tamizh Nad who are bound to find any alternative ersatz, one must expect it to be consumed with the faint, bitter taste of disdain? And true to form for a long while, I refused to read it, wondering why anyone would spend time with a newspaper that wasted it’s space on colourful pictures - what seemed to me at that time, a testimony of its need to capture readers that could not be attracted by the merit of it’s content.

Amrita has an interesting discussion on the controversial print ads of Hanes underwear. While here in the US, Hanes TV commercials are quite harmless (not to mention, boring), the print ads in India seem to be garnering attention, and not entirely for the right reasons. While the ads have found supporters, Amrita opines that those who don’t like the ads, have a point too:

Because [...] this is an ad that could possibly hoodwink some poor mentally challenged bigot into thinking that Hanes supports his/her bigotry. I’d like to think that we live in a world where people aren’t yet stupid enough to not put the words in context with the big picture, but I’m being constantly disappointed, so who knows? It’s entirely possible that someone might be so transfixed by all the pretty colors that they missed out on everything but the giant letters.

In a time where labels (or racial epithets) are entering into people’s vocabularies at an uncomfortable speed, such ads only add fuel to the fire. The words make up for a major part of the page, attracting the readers’ attention to the word, rather than the message. Advertising is all about taking risks, and even negative attraction might be good for the company, and that’s just a shame.

Print also has been one of the oldest forms that have been around. It has survived radio and television till date and I don’t see why it would not survive the onslaught of the internet. The Internet is more of a tectonic change that has consequences much beyond the little sphere of media, so it would be unnatural to assume that print would be left untouched by it. I think what will save print would eventually be technology.

Shyam shares a Q&A session for a journalism student’s project on the future of media.

Lakshmipathy Bhat tells us how the launch of TOI has heated up media wars in Chennai.
He traces the changing Chennai ,the shifting of Citibank headquarters to the sprouting of multi-cuisine restaurants, the Naarth Indians coming in to the emergence as a manufacturing hub.

Media and blog circles are abuzz with the launch of Times of India’s Chennai edition. The Hindu now has serious competition. While Deccan Chronicle and the New Indian Express do have Chennai editions, I don’t think they are as formidable as TOI when it comes to a fight. Deccan Chronicle played the price game and claims No.2 position and the Indian Express was light years behind in terms layout and presentation.

Yet another op-ed in the Indian mainstream media on the ‘Brand IIT’ and now I almost always expect some sort of reaction from our bloggers. And they don’t disappoint.

Mridula is surprised that the columnist would pit undergraduates against post-graduates within IITs. Confused is well, confused about what exactly about IIT makes the graduates proud when asked for a dance. Mind you, this is not about IIT-bashing but rather media bashing.

The BCCI says that media folks who take pictures at the games will not be allowed to use them anywhere without the BCCI’s explicit written permission. So let me get this straight. The photographer brings his camera, goes to the match, clicks a bunch of pictures, and then needs to ASK THE BCCI to publish them online?!?

Aditya is concerned about BCCI’s ridiculous policies regarding media restrictions that might make things difficult even for bloggers who wish to share pictures.

As per plan, the IPL was supposed to launch its website today; it has sold the rights to a company based in the US for a reported $50 million for ten years. What Modi is really saying through this final clause is this: Every media house in the country that covers the IPL visually will effectively be working for the ‘official’ website.

Prem Panicker has a detailed analysis of the ridiculous terms and conditions.

The MSM however has retained its monopoly in influencing and shaping opinions, the real source of its power and privilege. It may or may not influence electoral performance but it definitely affects public mood. Bloggers have challenged this intellectual hegemony by relentlessly questioning, probing, and critiquing journalists and columnists.

In Hum Blogistani Essay Series’ second offering, Confused wonders why the mainstream media in India continues to feel threatened by bloggers even though we number only in the thousands (much less in the political blogosphere) [hat tip: TGFI].

The Hum Blogistani Essay Series is a precursor to the Indibloggies Awards that honors the best of the Indian blogs. The first essay in the series by Bee and Jai featured the niche but immensely popular field of food blogging in the desi blogosphere.