It happens here too...

I have too many feeds coming into my Bloglines RSS reader (and here is a tip for people in places where they've banned Blogspot domains or can't other popular blogs - use Bloglines or Google Reader, I prefer the former because I've been using it longer - desktop RSS readers still access the site directly) and many posts just get a cursory read through - which means I see the headline - mentally mark the post as 'boring' and carry on. Now the ideal solution to this would be for me to clean up the number of feeds I get, but you discover weird things everyday on the unlikliest of blogs.
But, on that front I think banning your employees from reading blogs in office is very stupid. I mean internet penetration isn't that bad, and I can read all sorts of shit anyway. What makes trhis surprising is that a person many consider to be fairly level headed has done this - you can get why Times reacted the way it did - it has a 'we must control the flow of information' sort of attitude to things, which is why that group is doomed in the long run until someone with some brains enters management. I've made this point over and over and over, while the blog reading population in India is still limited blogs are quickly becoming an unique modicum for transmitting opinions and views.
On average, this blog gets over 300 visitors a day, 150 of whom have come here searching for some sort of information of the other. Anything negative that I write on this blog can potentially snowball into something bigger. Yeah sure, if Rajdeep TV or EchTee were to break something big it would snowball a lot faster, but blogs are growing, and retrogade steps like banning them will not work. Corporates, and that includes media houses will have to come out with clearly defined 'blogging' policies - firing people or banning blogs is not the key. And engaging blogs is always a better bet than 'attacking' them.
So, back to the point now that I have finished my soliloquy of sorts. Damn, I still get nightmares from the lines "Hath not a Jew eyes..." (long story that goes back to Class XI and First Year). Whats wrong with me? I'm getting distracted too fast nowadays. Now, finally back to the point. I was reading the Freakonomics Blog and discovered this post which I found very interesting. Now, why did I find it so interesting - because it happens in India all the time. I am not insinuating that ALL such columnists are so corrupt, but a gossip columnist or reporter with perfectly upright morals. Joke of the year. But, I do know that there were reporters who worked for the gossip pages who did live quite large - one particular reporter used to take clothes from boutiques in exchange for any coverage. And the other stories get even funnier - forget casting couches - photogs in some of the gossip pages took 'full advantage' of their position. And I've written for these supplements also and I've seen them at work. Boy, oh boy.
This isn't about just free meals, even though those are still consumed in great quantities (as was free wine and thus almost every food review was quite off the ball - and woefully written to boot). Of course, some media groups realised that they themselves could keep the money instead of their woefully underpaid reporters, making it easier for PR agencies to just pay the required amount and get the great story. But the fact of the matter is that many gossip columnists/reporters are on the ball, when it comes to their own pockets. Sometimes they're so busy keeping themselves up, that their products end up reading like... well, you seriously gotta be mental if you read that sort of stuff.
Anyways... One must work right now. I think my work is going to involve driving a German car very fast very soon. The money might suck (well compared to TV at least), but the job is fun and who can give up writing. Plus, I'm not a PYT.