Changing Times

Happy New Year to all.
This kind of thing has been going on for some time. The Times of India has simply brought it out into the open. The end of hypocrisy, perhaps?

Happy New Year Chowk Staff and Chowkis

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okay, what you said is right, aakar is the group editor of the mid-day group and he should know. in business there is no ethics. behind every fortune there is crime and you have to live with it -- though it so sad. but that doesn`t mean i retract from what have said in my article. amen. sunil poolani

Sunil:

…first a welcome to chowk:)

…you say …Aakar Patel, chief editor of Mid Day, which is the second-largest selling daily in Mumbai, is of the opinion that the owners of a newspaper are free to sell whatever space they see fit.

…this reinforces what we have said over the years… Shandy, SR and I have written about a wordsmith as nothing but a glorified word-prostitute…yes we were facetious to a degree…but poor aakar is not…

…and aakar is dead wrong again if your quote is correct ``India is the only market in the world where newspaper readers are subsidized by newspaper owners (Sri Lankan and Pakistani dailies, for instance, retail at Rs 15 or more per copy), and therefore the ethical right of the reader to determine how the product should be constructed is greatly reduced in the eye of the owner.``

one word to dismiss above quote? hogwash

detailed dismissal: newspapers costs do not cover the cost of paper alone in most major markets in the world…advertising subsidies a major portion of the per copy cost…

…aaker talks about ethics he should also look up integrity and credibility ;)

* * *

digression:

…in my experience racism is practiced all over the world...in our desi countries the garbs are different and less subtle than here in the west…

…likewise…

...the print media here is no virgin-mary…the editorial slant is subtle…but strong and reinforced and directed towards the management’s slant under the all blanketing guise of censorship and editorial policy…

two links if interested

FIRST LINK
SECOND LINK

…izzy asper of can-west dictated a unform editorial policy regardless of events…and the now disgraced conrad black made no bones about his slant…

…summing up: happens here too…just a tad more subtly and off-handed…

...in conclusion...as my friend haroon says HERE

It is but human that some advertisers would be tempted to penalize the medium that may bite the hand that feeds it. The bigger and the more economically stable the medium, the more likely it is to resist such pressures and be editorially independent—if it is so inclined, i.e. if its owner is so inclined. But with the owners’ right to own the press comes the obligation to guard the freedom of the press.

...when all is said, fairness to the readers should be uppermost

rgds

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