Today's anchor in ET mentioned their awards which were postponed by the tragic events in Bombay. But the person who called me with the News X information asked me why ET's coverage of the Satyam scandal was weaker than the coverage in the sister paper (maybe because ToI has a better team in Hyderabad?), which got me thinking. And look what I found (OK, so it was his megalomaniac corporation where he gave his non-existent money, but still)! Just in case the page is taken down, I've saved a copy - but Byrraju Ramalinga Raju was nominated by The Economic Times for 'Corporate Citizen' of the year 2008. He did not win, but imagine if he had and had the awards taken place in November. That was a close shave for ET. Very close.
Coming back to the Satyam fiasco, honestly we should have all smelt something was up given that Satyam's standard defence during the Upaid case was to pull the jingoistic heartstrings of Indian business reporters. As well as their habit of short-circuiting the system by going up in case things did not work out. Heck, they even some papers to criticise Sreedharan of the Metro when he questioned the Hyderabad Metro project being undertaken by Maytas. The Hyderabad media crucified the man, while the Delhi media could not because they do love Sreedharan. I know Udayan wants him hanged, but I'm sure he will run away to the Caribbean or something, but after all the finger pointing, I guess one finger will have to be pointed at the media. All of us screwed up, we should have seen through some of this bullshit sooner. Collectively. We may demonise Raju for the Devil he is, but we're gargoyles ourselves at times.
Satyam employees have set up a blog and they can't seem to read bylines - they're going after ET and ToI for a PTI story. And they're pissed with NRNM, Satyam vs. Infy catfight! Sigh!
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3 comments:
Whether they sourced the story from PTI or XYZ, the editor is responsible. We surely understand the byline.
I'll defend the online editor here - PTI stories are treated by the press as the gospel truth. If PTI has made a mistake crucify PTI - all the telly channels also carried the story as did several other websites. There is a serious question mark over satyam's ability to pay salaries for Jan, and while the PTI story might well have been wrong, the question is not being answered by management.
And add to that Satyam got the Golden Peacock award for corporate governance in 2008! It makes me go Hmmm...
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