The 62 hours that will pass between the end of polling on the 13th and the start of counting on the 16th will see some of the most lucid comments from political analysts and spokespersons. Nobody knows what will happen, they have some estimations, right or wrong but right now there is no horse-trading and no politicking. The calm before the storm. But what a nice feeling even though the news channels are desperately trying to create news. Should make for interesting manufacturing over the next few days.
You stay off the comments section for a few days and you should see the vitriol that flows out - someone has threatened to sue me for calling someone 'inept'. Erm, to the best of my knowledge 'inept' isn't abusive and please sue me, I need the plank. Ineptitude is what we've been saddled with for the past five years and I have a bad feeling no matter what combination comes to power in a few days we'll be saddled with ineptitude for five more years (at least I voted, unlike a single memner of the Indian cricket team). Anyway, to the others who think I'm a lying twat, I don't tend to embellish my stories. Just, FYI.
Anyway, I got a link from a friend for something that is seriously wrong with journalism in India. Now, I don't know how true these allegations are (see, how like ToI, I used 'allege' in italics, but that said that is the right thing to do) but they sound with some merit. The problem lies not so much in plagiarism but in non-attribution. Ideas and stories are stolen and passed off as 'original' or 'exclusives' when they're not. Critics will cite pressure, but I'll just cite a poverty of ideas from editors and reporters. Generating ideas ain't easy but it ain't that difficult as well. OK, so I work as a Features writer and things are relatively easier, but c'mon...
And if something has come from someone else don't pass it off as your own by saying 'Our Bureaus' - and this is aimed at a paper that likes taking stuff from FT and WSJ and pretending it didn't. No harm in admitting that you couldn't get something. Some things work out and others don't. But to pass off something something else as 'exclusive' - in a world that operates with timestamps. C'mon that is almost as inept as threatening to sue a blogger for calling someone 'inept'. I mean c'mon even Appam C***iya won't sue Fake IPL Player for making him an Appam. But that said, I feel really sorry for Appam, uska career ek-dum khatam.
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2 comments:
It has become easier than ever before to plagiarize what with wikipedia. There is no ethos regarding plagiarism anymore. I see it even in J-schools. No one bothers stopping them or complaining. 'Judicious Plagiarism' is in fact encouraged - plagiarism where it's not possible for people to find out what you've done. I know of many features that are ripped directly off of blogs. But writers shouldn't be so indignant as photographers have had to suffer this for even longer. We don't have a culture in our education system of promoting or fostering originality - the almost bulimic desire to eat and then puke everything out without any kind of insight or comprehension is what is encouraged.
I hope you have read this:
http://barbarindians.blogspot.com/2009/05/economic-times-rips-off-american.html
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