On another note.

I just love this line.

At their heart, most pseudonymous identities are collaborations between the author, who provides the outline of a persona, and the audience, which fills in the blanks. The result is a sort of virtual superhero, an oracle more accurate than any mortal could hope to be. Compared to the elusive mastermind of the collective imagination, the real author inevitably disappoints.

From this month’s Wired.

Back to regular programming now. Which over here usually means clearing up masses of spam comments placed by guys who run Search Engine Optimisation firms. Other than that what news? Well, some Undies have been left out to dry as Undie is getting rid of Imagine – which should actually be known as the Sameer Nair family show (with Rakhi Sawant on the side). With Turner exiting Real, effectively the second flop channel after Peter and Indrani Mukerjea’s INX whatever, they’ve decided to get into used Undies. Not that I watch much of what are termed as General Entertainment Channels, though I must admit I did see a bit of Rakhi’s show and I will watch bits and pieces of ‘Who wants to be beaten up by an abusive husband?’ where Rahul Mahajan fritters away whatever little is left of his father’s legacy.
But good for him, everybody has the right to make money. And abuse substances. Even Andre Agassi. Listen the guy did drugs at a low-ebb of his life and I don’t know why the entire contrite moral brigade – hypocrites that they are – are condemning him. I actually found myself agreeing with Rick Reilly’s assessment of Agassi on his blog and I will buy the book. I liked Andre Agassi as a kid, his was a player with heart and not like a robot – both the one Agassi played against and the other one today. The robots are good but dull. And Agassi is the one that married Steffi Graf!
In other news, well it seems that the media’s horrible tradition of personal life destruction continues. And we stick with the same network, I’m not surprised at marriages breaking up and the fascination for older people, but the cast involved sometimes baffles me. To take a guess, there is a reason why some people call the evening prime time talking-head shows on NDTV (other than the 9PM news itself) the ‘boyfriend’ shows. I won’t be a hypocrite and pass comments on the lack of stability in people’s lives, but the sooner that both media bosses and HR inside the companies realize that, particularly their ace reporters/anchors, in both print and television do not have healthy and/or steady personal lives, that is a problem. This is worse than alcohol, well and in many cases it is pretty much responsible for alcohol abuse.
People can call journalists names, accuse us of biases and you know what, we all have biases. I try my utmost to not let my opinion of something affect something I’m working on, but any journalist, even the dumbest ones would be lying if they said that their biases did not impact them. The fact that some of us have been brought up the way we have comes through in the way we write or present. The fact remains that this is a job, and if you are good at what you do, and this is the sad part, you are usually asked to do more than you can handle simply because you are good.
The fact is that most journalists in most organizations would be what club football calls squad players, average for lack of a better word. If you are ‘an International’, and sorry for the football analogies here, you life is destined to be a horrible one. Yes, you will enjoy great professional success, meeting some really important people and your phone-book will bulge, or in some cases your mobile is so full of numbers that it pretty much stops functioning properly. It is a great feeling believe me, but man that completely screws up your sense of priorities and in many cases your life, because above all else it gives you a tremendously inflated opinion of yourself and sometimes you just can’t see clearly of who does matter. This is not about cracking a sale or becoming a General Manager, you really have access to power.
I should know, believe me. Thankfully, most of those closest to me in this profession, other than one notorious hold-out have managed to piece together their lives. Somewhat. But, honestly unless some action is taken, and taken soon things will only get worse. And the action should start from an organisation that needs it more than any other. The one in a disused cinema hall.

End of INX?

You know I did have plans to leave early today. Get stoned and go to sleep. But it seems that the INX war is over - the Mukerjea's have lost everything. Their reputation is in shreds. I wonder if the Audi TT that IM bought will remain with her. But the Bongs are having a hard time in Bombay it seems - first Kunal Dasgupta gets turfed out (and almost 50 people, all of Dasgupta's chelas have been booted out as well, in this an extremely horrible market for jobs) and then Peter is left with nothing on his shirt. Though, the irony is that the Bong who was turfed out first is the one coming back to right the INX ship, but as they say in Bangla, "Dhongsho Hoye Gache", I don't think there is much to save. I know some media reporters drank the Mukerjea Kool-Aid as did the WSJ (most powerful women in India - Please!), and this blog was always on the ball. This is just the beginning of the end, at least one or two more media bosses might see it all fritter away. The thing is that with the chaos and the bad blood that ensued following the NewsX fiasco a year ago, you can't really wish them very well either.

Best served cold?

I don't get the IPL connection in the story and let me assure you not too many people bought tickets to watch IPL games - at least I bought none, but still watched five of seven games in Delhi. And believe me, I was not alone. Anyway, this is a Sidewinder missile at 9X, makes for entertaining reading though. Won't get into the financial plans of General Entertainment Channels though, because I don't watch them and therefore have no frikkin' clue!
But to add to the point, the IPL is more than just ticket sales - I was told by an extremely reliable source, who cannot be named because of Ramadoss - that while the Royal Challengers Bangalore were godawful last year, sales of RC climbed some 30 per cent afterwards. C'mon even KKR dropped off after their amazing start, but because SRK managed to sell KKR as a Bong team rather than a 'Kolkata' team, it got the entire diaspora excited. Sales of other stuff certainly increased and the teams made money from selling lounges and general gobbledegook. But then again, in reality only Kolkata, Punjab and Rajasthan made any money last year. And while the first season was a ratings success and I'm sure that season 2 will be a ratings success, it remains to be seen if the IPL will make 'money'. Money does not guarantee success of more money - just look at Chelsea Football Club.
So how successful has the IPL really been? Maybe, we'll answer that once the elections are over. What will be really interesting this time is that the IPL and the General Elections, or least the campaigning will definitely coincide, and that should lead to interesting news bulletins. So for eight weeks, half the paper will be politics and half the paper cricket. But newspapers can still run larger editions, can you imagine the chaos in the news channels. Nobody will watch the news because everyone will be busy watching cricket. Dang, what an absolutely brilliant move by Lalit Modi!

Cost Cutting?

I was at a bar last night (or tonight if you're reading this in the next few hours) along with quite a few people from Undie TV and around midnight some of them were all getting frantic calls, it seems a late night mailer went out from Radika and Prannoy Roy. It contained the dreaded word - 'cost cutting'. What it said along with the fact that all NDTV senior management are taking 20% pay cuts are some rather ridiculous things - including advising employees to mind phone calls. Now call me a penny pincher - but there are better ways of doing things. I understand that travel budgets need to be cut at every major news organisation and trust me I work at one and we are trying hard and thankfully doing rather well, or so I'm told. At least my business division is. I understand that cost-cutting is a reality, but the best part of the NDTV mailer was about 'floaters' - some people work very hard but there are many people who 'float'. Now I wonder what that means?

Given that Metro Now is probably shutting down, I have received a couple of mails from panicked employees about what is going on, and not just with interns, but even full-time staffers, I don't think the next three months are going to be great. In fact, the media industry, particularly listed companies have been great practitioners of 'creative' accounting and might indirectly suffer the fallout of the Satyam saga. even though Ramalinga Raju surrendered so that he could avoid SEBI questioning, and I think he seriously underestimated the media fallout, but the media fallout might be rather bad both for him and the listed media industry.

More tomorrow, when the Grey Goose wears off.

On the INX affair, please read this post.

Breaking

Naiduniya's Vijay Chhajlani and Jehangir Pocha of Editor of BusinessWorld have formed a JV that has just bought out News X. Guesses as to who the real owner is anyone? More later.

EDIT: Read the snakeman's latest post on the matter here. It sheds a lot of light light on the matter, or non-matter as the case may be.

Return of 'The V'

Read this interview, the last few questions of it. Given that Rajeev Chandrashekhar is a drinking buddy of the man and all this talk of his triumphant return to News X suddenly doing the rounds. In the furore of the past few days, a lot of this got buried, just like VP Singh's quietly unnoticed death. Has the deal already happened? And what does this mean for the several people who quit News X or in one high-profile case were physically removed from News X? I mean, that is, if the news is correct. And given Rajeev Chandrashekhar's tie-up with Star recently, would this, in some form or the other mean that Star might suddenly have an English news channel in India, albeit one with a slightly different ownership from the MCCS-controlled Star News (though 'The V' is very close to Aveek-babu also). It is all seeming very peculiar, but after the traumatic events of early-2008 (actually just read the entire January archive of posts), I cannot rule out anything. And after the hatchet job on Mike yesterday, Bunty and Babli are next in line for the Man. You read it here first!
Though, I still have my original question? Do we need yet another English news channel?

Erm...

The Naval Chief had a presser today before the start of Navy Week. That in itself wasn't surprising nor was the public admonishment of two TV channel reporters for breaking an embargo (CNN-IBN and Headlines Today) but the way heNavy Chief recounted events surrounding a senior female journalist in Kargil.
No really! The man recounted the incident blow-by-blow, and if anyone of you attended please send in details. And some channels carried this live. This is the same reporter who is facing hell for her pro-Jihadi reportage in Mumbai. I'm sure the print guys will be a bit circumspect with the news, but then again, I didn't say anything, Admiral Mehta did.
In other news, Rajeev Chandrashekhar has been offered the Mukerjea stake in News X, and this is only supposed news. What is also 'supposed' is that he refused to buy at the price quoted, which apparently was Rs 200 crore for half the channel. Athere might be some details regarding UndieTV disposing some of its entertainment channels very soon, despite a convoluted ownership structure. Watch this space.

Happy belated birthdays!

To Papermint (Mint, for the rest of you) and MetroNow (in Delhi), both papers have surprised some by their very survival and I must admit, it has been a steep learning curve. can't really do a year in review, since I cannot claim to have read the papers on a very regular basis, but lets start. MetroNow's biggest story of the year was the Gitanjali Nagpal aka 'Babe on the streets case', this was the year's highlight which the rest of the media picked up. But nothing else that metroNow really did was spectacular. Yes, it reprints some stuff that comes out in Mumbai Mirror, but somehow it seems to lack the irreverance of the Mumbaikar. MM is bindass, like the city, MetroNow is, well... Sadly, the paper suffers because of its rather weird parentage (where Bennett and HT Media both have 50 per cent stakes in an attempt to make sure the India Today-dail Mail paper didn't do too well) - so weird in fact that Metro Now does not have a website which works (two internet organisations with equally clueless plans). Not in the sense of paid or free, there is nothing beyond a billboard.
And you can't really have that criticism about Papermint, their website is fantastic and now registration free. Pity, EchTee's website is still irritating, given that they are in the same group and all. But, what about the paper itself? Like the size, like some of the stories and Papermint has the penchant for nice soft stories, even though the one they launched - shit on the railway tracks or something was pathetic then and it still is - it is as if these guys want to out-Express the Express. But, somehow Papermint is, as a rather famous dot-com entreprenuer who is a fan of the paper told me, 'A great way to read WSJ content for the low price of two bucks.' But when it comes to great news content, while Papermint is a not bad, it still is the 'Mint with a hole' as they might say.
However, there is also 'Lounge', Mint's saturday section, which is very interesting to read at times, not always, but definately at times it is fantastic to read. Pity that they have a sanctimonious old man who keeps on trying to tell us that the Beatles and Led Zepplin rocked. Yes, they did, but get off the pot man! Oh wait, he never did pot - as was admitted in a sanctimonious food article written sometime ago! But, it isn't just this one column in Lounge, while I like most of the columnists in Mint, some of them are truly batty and out of the planet. Anyway, these are just my thoughts on these papers, if you work here, don't take anything to heart and get offended and throw eggs at me while shouting racial obscenities, I mean what can you say, "Bong's are all pricks." Thanks but I already know that.
Back, to everybody's favourite topic on this blog, NewsX. Well, Arup Ghosh has joined them as Newsroom Head, and there have been rumours linking Karan Thapar, Vasu, Rahul Srivastava, Bhupen Chaubey and G-Ban. Strange! In other news, it appears that people have already started to dig through the channels sources of funds and in the coming days, certain nwspapers may print details of this. Keep in mind, that Peter is a British citizen, so ownership issues could be very muddled here. Comment moderation stayed enabled for the time being, though most comments do get cleared and moderation just keeps everything relatively clean.

Enough aleady...

Let me be completely dispassionate about the entire NewsX/INX affair, neither party is going to end up smelling like roses over here. The events at the channel where the management went after people seemed something a paranoid management scared of losing control would do. However, as the point has been raised, people who were fine about the ownership pattern (no matter how dubious) of NewsX were quiet until now. getting vindictive, and trust me, the amount of emails doing the rounds about a person at NewsX who has been promoted following the events and also about AS are crazy. And even though I would like to draw a line on the affair, I doubt it has played out completely.
sadly, given the people and the monies involved, I also believe that a lot of reputations - of managers and journalists both will be ripped asunder, if they haven't been already. Also, before I get accused of bias, let me be very clear, I think what the management did was unprecedented for a major media company in the spotlight, though these sort of incidents do often take place across the country in many language news channels. Nobody raises a noise about the way the media in Andhra Pradesh is treated for example, not even our 'Dear Minister'.
Also, I do not think very highly of all the journalists involved, one in particular who is being deified does not exactly make it to my list of 'best' or even for that matter 'decent' journalists - we all know the Champions Trophy which England won according to The Hindustan Times once upon a time. Were the London and Paris bills obscene? Yes, but c'mon for god's sake.
But that said, was what happened correct? I don't think so. Should the minister get involved? No. But in case financial irregularities have taken place, the finance ministry should get involved, but a witch-hunt, which this government is very capable of doing will only sully the name of self-styled food critics.
Many people had a bad feeling about this news channel, but nobody expected it to go down in a flaming pile of crap. Because that is what this is. And for now, we must move on, so the next post will look at one year of Papermint. Something I personally find a lot more interesting than this.

Drama

Yes, the epic story of NewsX does not end just yet, after getting rid of The V, it seems that the the rival faction has decided to get rid of The V's people. With the help of a person described as a 'snake in the grass', a theory I can concur with with knowing how said snake treated his ex-girlfriend who is a close friend. Anyway, the sequence of events according to a source, which has been corroborated by several other people, went with a meeting being called by wife with several anchors. The snake (not Snakeman, UPDATE : READ THE LETTER ATTACHED AT THE END OF THE POST mind you who also was targeted by the wife) suggested several names who have to be removed, including Avirook and Arunda.
Later on, the wife sent an army of acolytes and security guards to take away Avirook's computer, at which point all hell broke loose in the newsroom. Supposedly names were called and some people were roughed up in the newsroom, and the party ended with not just a few bruised egos, but some bruises. Anyway, the day ended with five people being fired and a further nine quitting. More people were fired today morning and according to one person over fifty people have quit after organising jobs at other channels. Members of the newsroom are wearing black armbands and are looking for jobs.
This has gone from being a televised drama to full-fledged Bollywood tear-jerker. Given the incestuous and friend nature of the media,. events at INX Media are the talking point of every media office today morning and will be for a while. Further updates to come through the day and comments by those who witnessed the events, from 'either' side are welcome to comment.

UPDATE : We have the text of Nag's resignation letter which I have cut-and-pasted from his website.

My Resignation Letter
from: Narendra Nag to: Vynsley Fernandes cc: nick pollard, saubhik chakrabarti, Dhruva Sen, Indrani Mukerjea, Peter Mukerjea date Feb 1, 2008 12:49 PMsubject My dismissal
Dear Vynsley,
In a meeting with anchors on Thursday, January 31, 2008, NewsX chairperson Indrani Mukerjea told some of my colleagues that I, along with others like Executive Editor Avirook Sen, Head of Domestic News Rajesh Sundaram and Editorial Adviser Nick Pollard would be asked to leave NewsX "very soon". My email was blocked soon after -- around 6.30 Thursday evening.
That I had to find out my services are no longer required in this manner has left me shocked and disappointed -- especially, considering the email you sent me just last week praising my good work since I joined here April 1, 2007. In the same email you told me I was up for a raise.
As you may appreciate, these events have made my position here untenable. That you would not know about my dismissal -- as you and Dhruva indicated in our conversation late Thursday evening when I returned the laptop issued to me -- is difficult for me to believe.
In recent times I have seen, with increasing dismay, the manner in which this organisation has been run: the scant regard for journalists is only the tip of the iceberg -- the manner in which senior management has chosen to operate leaves me with the firm conviction that professionalism is a word to be bandied about but disregarded in every activity -- that respect and dignity are alien concepts -- that NewsX has become an organisation few would want to work for and almost no one would hold as an example of how a world class news channel should be created, or run. You may, of course, choose to disagree.
As one of the first few employees of this place, it pains me greatly that I have been summarily dismissed in so cavalier a fashion -- I can only hope for the sake of those people who continue to work at NewsX that Thursday's dismissals -- Avirook Sen, Arun Roy Chowdhury, Kailash Menon, Rajesh Sundaram and myself -- are exceptions rather than the rule.
I am writing in protest against the complete lack of professionalism of Mrs Indrani Mukerjea and the way she has ridden rough shod over all journalistic ethics. The last straw was the mistreatment of the channel's Executive Editor by a band of security guards and junior managers acting at the behest of the top management Thursday evening.
Such an incident is unparalleled in the history of Indian journalism. Not only do I question Mrs Indrani Mukerjea's credentials to run a channel, I am also perturbed by questions about the source of her funds. She has told the press that she owns over 60 per cent of NewsX. Is this her own money, or is she fronting for somebody? I believe an investigation is called for.
Please let me know my earliest date of release as per the terms of my contract.
Warm regards,
Narendra Nag

The End?

At every second bar where they play rock in this land of ours, The Doors' The End is the anthem song to end the night. That is the song that some people must have been listening to as the sordid tale of NewsX came (temporarily at least) to a screeching halt. Whatever happened there over the past few weeks might never come out in a no-holds-barred book. Well, you never know, I still think it would make a great made-for-TV drama. Of course, if one side does 'fictionalise' it, you could end up with something like 'Star Stories'.
Anyway, as Deccan Chronicle goes all out to launch their new business paper, they are making what it seems to be some very strange recruitment decisions. But then again, 'paragon' of journalism, that group is not. In fact, the person they seem to be tapping up to head their Delhi operations has barely three years in the profession and according to those who know him well, he takes instructions (read: stories) over the phone from PR reps.
Also interestingly, tomorrow will see the last of the 'Indian of the Year' award shows and the person will be a fairly suitable, non-controversial person whom everyone can hug. Like the Prime Minister, who was awarded by UndieTV. But, lets be honest, you give Manmohan Singh, who has been the most ineffectual Prime Minister in India's history (including that 1979-vala PM) the award? Shouldn't the Indian of the Year go to the guy who got the most headlines? Or the most SMS votes? Well, about SMS votes, the votes are 'weighted' so that a certain Chief Minister doesn't end up hogging all the awards. At a leading newspaper, NM managed a huge number of votes, much more than anyone else and they were so scared of declaring him the winner, they 'weighted' the votes.
My right-wing sympathies are not a secret, but for crying out loud! But, as a senior editor at a news channel told me, this is just a way for the marketing types to figure out a way to make more money and a chance for the reporters and editors to get drunk at the post-awards show ceremony. As he said, 'Who cares?' Because as another person told me recently, 'All news is entertainment and all entertainment is news.' After all, who gives a flying f?

Updates v10.1

Somebody should tell the folks at INX that if they made a soap opera about themselves, ratings would probably soar. At least inside this incestuous industry, it may not necessarily work in muffasil towns where designer bindi's worn by the K-serial vamps are in vogue, but in the media world, full of overpaid and oversexed, the serial would be a superhit. And did I hear someone say 'Target Demographic', can you beat a demographic of people like yourselves!
I should start charging a commission, because I'm tired of the story otherwise. The latest update is like that of a couple which are saying that, 'Yes, we hate each other, but we are staying together for the kids!' This is Charles and Diana in the Indian media world. Mint I think hits the nail on the head with this story.
So is this the end? Nope, I don't quite think so.

X Update and more.

On popular demand, this is what we know. Meetings have happened at Jodhpur Mumbai and now a meeting is taking place in Delhi. Essentially the meeting is between The V and Pratim with a view to saving the marriage, but from all indications is marriage is beyond saving, and these talks are on essentially to ensure that the divorce is as amicable as possible. But with some is the News X camp upset at Pratim's wife's vitriol-laced attacks on them and their 'Dear Leader', they want their pound of flesh and it seems they are going all guns blazing to get it.
Talking about TV, it seems that certain builders with plans of starting a lifestyle channel with a soon-to-be-driving-an-Audi A4 channel head might have been pushed back a bit. But these guys intend to start a network of 18 channels in the next five years, all of them apparently showing off the virtues of their bungalows I presume. UndieTV's latest partner, NBC has sent over a group of Yanks to teach their senior reporters the art of American journalism. But you see, I do not think the problem is with UndieTV but such paragons of journalism such as News 24, which are so mind-bogglingly inane, I really worry.
Anyway, on yet another TV note, while everyone talks about the News X saga, another yet-to-be launched channel has been quietly building up an extremely solid team. The Govindraj Ethiraj headed yet-unnamed UTV Business has been getting some solid people, so much so that they have gotten CNBC TV18 scared and worse still, people at Undie Profit are dreading dropping off the radar to third spot in the business stakes. I don't believe Govind will manage to beat Udayan and Co, but I am pretty sure much like Mint became a #2 overnight in the business daily space, so will this channel in the business channel stakes. This news item about UTV buying out ITNation becomes rather relevant in this context as well, because I am sure Govind, a longtime blogger who is quite a tech-head too will leverage these purchases on teh channel. Should be interesting to track that too. Erm, I don't hold out much hope for Mint TV with their current staff, but is Mint TV an euphemism for the Fox Business channel in India?
What about NDTV Imagine? Well I get it on Tata-Sky, but I can't be bothered to watch it yet, but then again I haven't exactly had the time of late. But do make time to watch Star Stories on BBC Entertainment, fantastic show, and MTV's 'Meet or Delete' show I believe is doing quite well.

Another post.

The Indian edition of advertising publication Campaign (only click the link if you want to give them your details) did a hachet job on The V yesterday in a bad example of tabloid-ish reporting. The V today has written about the fact that he was born black and bald in an article arguing that Indians are racist, which happens to be a 'flavour of the month' topic following alleged 'monkey' stories. I would like to take this oppurtunity to point back to a post I had made in 2005 on the issue, where I argued that yes, we were.

Mint, again, has also seemed to follow up the issue (like they did on Times Private Treaties) I had raised in yesterday's blog-post talking about the soap opera that is happening over at INX where people are generally trying to distance themselves from each other. A NewsX insider told me recently that it was unfair to expect them to start the channel in six months, because it even took Rajdeep nine months to start his channel with a nationwide network and that is a benchmark, and if actual work started in July, March is the earliest the channel can possibly come out.

But, the NewsX and INX saga is getting a tad tedious now, even for me and we should move on to other more pressing issues, like why NDTV is sending out reporters for another one of their new channels in pink painted Ambassadors? No really. I saw this yesterday outside Palika bazaar. But, really, we will post an update on Monday following the Jodhpur 'meeting' but after that, we'll move on to other things!

More X-rated news!

My first post of 2008 has become the most popular post on this blog ever, thanks to a series of comments starting with this one and followed by this one. As was helpfully pointed out by other commenters later on in that post, the writer of this blog knows nothing about TV. Fair enough, but I did not write those comments. In fact, the information in some comments could only have come from a fairly close-knit group of people, five according to my knowledge and one of them will not implicate herself and a second does not understand how to hold a mouse.
Of course, subsequently, some random commenters from a distinct range of IP addresses have attacked me, calling me among other things 'Third-Rate', of course, Pawan C's underlings, or maybe himself don't understand certain technological innovations. My identity as was reminded to me today morning is not a state secret, though at the outset I must point out I have no connection with INX or NewsX other than the fact that I know a lot of people who work there.
So who startedrumours that 'The V' was quitting - UndieTV, RajdeepTV? Nope, it appears that the boardroom battle at INX Media has meant that almost all the scurrilous phone calls and text messages came from within.
Firstly it is no secret that certain people have fallen out at INX Media and that a certain woman has been turfed out at NewsX. This person who has been getting stories proclaiming her greatness written usually points to success of 9Xm, but with close to 40 crores spent on distribution which secured a '1+1' deal, 9Xm is currently riding on the prime band that is reserved for NewsX when it launches in March, if it launches.
Why if? Well, on Monday there is a Board Meeting for 9X in Jodhpur, where certain people will have to explain why the ratings and GRP's for the channel have been abysmal. With Sameer Nair and Karan Johar's NDTV Imagine starting on Monday too and despite my reservations about some of the programming, according to some sources Imagine has sold out inventory for over 18 months on some programming - Ramayana to be specific. Now advertisers have been complaining about 9X, which has led to the investors calling this meeting. I also know that 'The V' is not attending this meeting and according to a few people close to a particular group, this is because he is being turfed out, but as was pointed out me, this is a 9X meeting, not INX or NewsX.
Two things can happen at Jodhpur, either the investors pull out of INX or the investors turf out the husband and wife. If a third, and frankly unlikely situation where everybody is happy-happy-joy-joy after the meeting, it is very likely that 'The V' and his team might leave NewsX, because relations have completely broken down.
Pity that another great friendship between two blokes was ruined over buisness and a woman!

More news

This just in, to counter rumours that 'rivals' are spreading, The V recently held a meeting at NewsX to assure everyone that he is firmly in the saddle. Now, the question obviously is who have been spreading the rumours ? And what does this mean for the launch date of NewsX which is still set at March 15, or maybe earlier. Frankly, I don't care that much because yet another news channel won't make my life any better or worse, but I always thought this latest round of rumours which started over the past weekend were a bit off because NewsX has just hired a whole bunch of rather decent folks.
Anyway, Monday will see the launch of NDTV Imagine, and after seeing the promo's for the new Ramayana playing on Star Cricket while our awesome bowlers horsewhipped the Aussies today morning, I must admit I am really disappointed. The old serial two decades ago, was a great example of mid-80's production quality, but the new one could have been so much better. The graphics are horribly uninspiring, I mean look at the work that has gone into digital technology over the past two decades and it seems that it passed the Sagar's by. The show might still do well, but c'mon, I really expected a special effects bonanza, Indian epics are ready for a special effects bonanza, but no...
I must admit I feel a bit disappointed at the promos, and before you argue that these are just promos, the promos usually have all the cool clips anyway and these left me slightly cold.
And to those of you who say I'm a wannabe, shucks man, if you only knew... About me being a monkey, sure, but we all are, aren't we. Cheers. Not deleting comments just yet, but things have been said through comments and emotions are running fairly high and the IP logs on Google Analytics make for really interesting reading about where hits are coming from. Traffic has shot up to cross 400 hits a day over the past week, Week 2 of Jan had 2438 hits, quite a bit for a blog that potters along at an average of 1300-1600 hits a week.

Briefs!

After conquering the North-East with the launch of a Guwahati Edition (putting yet another peg in the coffin of The Telegraph), the Times of India is about to (finally) conquer the final frontier and launch a Chennai edition by the middle of this year. For those of you who think that this is just another time that the Times 'Cries Wolf', this time the group is serious. After all there are so many Chennai-based companies with which they have Private Treaties. OK, kidding, but they are hiring for this edition. Serious!

Just to ensure that they are not dead and buried, NewsX has gone on a second hiring spree and recently approached the (decidedly right-wing) Political Editor of a national daily. While this person has politely not decided as yet, and given that NewsX will probably be yet another Congress propoganda channel, like the Congress really needed another one, they have lured away some senior print types of late. So a launch date of March 15 seems highly plausible. Plus a giant PR mail went out announcing new shows for January on 9X which is still free to air on Tata Sky it seems. But, NDTV Imagine's new Flagship show's adverts are quite sad - what is it with music shows?

Facebook is getting quite scary with an extremely senior journalist climbing on board. I won't disclose whom, but his profile picture is a cartoon. No Really!

HNY 2008

Well, it seems like it was only yesterday that it was 2007! But Happy New Years folks and have a great 2008 and maybe this year, I could finally ditch 'K' even though it isn't exactly a state secret anymore.
On a media note, there have been two rather well-informed comments on this post of mine. The fact that the ratings have been abysmal for a Rs75 crore launch budget that 9X had is well known, also as of yesterday, 9X went onto Tata-Sky's ridiculous 'Lifestyle Gold' package which includes other gems like NDTV Good Times, which means wasting 30 bucks a month, which is incredibly bad value for someone who forgets to recharge his set-top box like me. Secondly, what will be interesting to watch will be the battle between Peter and Sameer, whose channel NDTV Imagine launches today or something. Not that I have watched either, but then again, I am not target viewership either. But I have this sneaking feeling that Sameer Nair, programming genius that he is will pull off NDTV Imagine, making Peter Mukerjea's predicament worse. Plus, as the comments pointed out, what happens when Viacom-TV18 channel starts?
What is interesting is that the crisis at INX have sparked off another rumour that Vir will return to vacant Editor's seat at HT. But if Mr Sanghvi goes back to HT Media, this time round he might have to return on Rajiv Verma's terms. Verma, CEO, HT Media has made investors quite happy and he has strengthened his position since Vir left, because VS and RV were supposedly not on very good terms earlier. Any which way, this is all pure speculation. But if News X does not take off it leaves a lot of people in the lurch, people who followed VS and Avirook to News X, thinking they would change the news world and that frankly is quite sad.
I'm not in any way implying anything about the viability or not of the channel, but with such a long gestation period, if I was an investor I would be worried. And if I had an incompetent person running the place I would be fairly worried too.
Comments!

Why do I get cynical?

Listen, I never said that nothing happened in Gujarat. There is and actually has never been much doubt that there was a systematic murder of individuals from a particular community. Yet, I still believe that the timing of the 'sting' is awful. Plus, back in 2002, soon after the riots there were elections too, and Modi was voted back into power. We get the leaders we deserve, unless of course, you're a communist where you can just win a JNU election once in your life and thus become an expert on global geo-politics, because Hu Jintao says you are.
Why did Manmohan Singh lose South Delhi in the Lok Sabha in 1999? After all, isn't the South Delhi LS constituency one of the more rich, urbane and better educated constituencies in India, next only to South Mumbai LS perhaps? Because he denied 1984 and tried to claim that the BJP caused 1984. I didn't vote for him, and I am pretty certain I won't vote for the Congress going forward either.
Yes, the awful truth in India is that we make leaders out of rioters. This isn't just true in Gujarat, look at Jagdish Tytler and that murderer who was given a life-term yesterday. Despite the case on him, the guy did win election to the Legislative Assembly. See, at the end of the day, no matter how 'explosive' and how 'shocking' any revelations are, if we keep on voting these people to power, we, as a people, only have ourselves to blame. I do not believe that the Tehelka 'sting' will have any impact, because the people of Gujarat will most likely vote Modi back. They care about the more money, nice roads and development (as do most voters), in Ahmedabad actually that depends on which side of the river one stays.
We get the leaders we vote for! he problem is that everyone who stands for election is a crook or a son/daughter of a crook, so we're in a damned if you do or damned if you don't situation. Anyway, this blog isn't supposed to be about politics, it is supposed to be about the crazy antics of the media and nothing will be crazier than the massively overhyped Fortune 'Global Forum' taking place at The Imperial next week. The only Indian journalist invited as a participant is Ms Dutt (she of the Kargil fame), I am pretty surprised that Mr Sardesai isn't there, because isn't Fortune part of Time-Warner and isn't CNN a part of that?
Anyway, India Today's and Daily mail's new paper - Mail Today is expected to hit stands sometime towards the end of next week and INX is also going to starting soon judging by the billboards... Weird advertising campaign though!

Monumental moments in graphic design!

Sorry, I was out of town over the weekend and I have been fairly snowed under with work after that, partially due to the fact that Monday was spent negotiating landslides in the hills. But, of course, sometimes you should just grin and bear it when it comes to work. Also heard my boss tell me something which got be a bit worried, "Start allocating work now, you're not a kid anymore!" Hmm, that will be a strange transition to make, but what the heck.
Anyway, this is a quick short post about the latest news channels to hit our TV's shortly - what you see on the side is their new logo - News X. And I must admit, all assertions of class that this channel will make will have to taken with a huge dose of salt if that is their logo. Well, it is because it came as an official mailer. Looks strangely inspired by Cingular's logo, but I'll go out on a limb and that NDTV's logo is still the classiest on Indian TV.
Anyway, there is a lot of weird gossip here and there, but I really haven't had the time to post it. I will do so pretty soon, but whenever I get the time that is. Enjoy the rest of the week while I murder my keyboard!