Hindi to English sub-titlers for television serials and Hindi films.

I have received the following requirement. This seems to be an off-beat and interesting opportunity for ex-students of media schools. Please spread the word around: 

Hindi to English sub-titlers for television serials and Hindi films

Zibanka Media Services Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai requires competent Hindi to English sub-titlers for television serials and Hindi films. Computer savvy persons having ability to translate from Hindi to English are required on immediate basis. Kindly email your CV to manoj.gupta@zibanka.com or swati.agrawal@zibanka.com  and/or contact Mr. Manoj Gupta – 09978526778. 

Did TimesNow Producer Arm-twist Kerala Tourism?

Mahesh Vijapurkar forwarded the following blog post with this comment: Nothing new, except the channel intervened and stopped it.

http://www.mediacrooks.com/2012/09/did-timesnow-producer-arm-twist-kerala.html#.UE3UYLJlQmU

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Did TimesNow Producer Arm-twist Kerala Tourism?

For almost a week now Arnab Goswami & TimesNow have been reporting and screaming about a foreign junket by Karnataka MLAs. These MLAs seem to have gone on a trip to Argentina and other places on a ‘study tour’ on drought when Karnataka itself is reeling under drought conditions. The irony is stark and at a cost of 6-7 Crores is atrocious. Arnab is right in hauling them over the coals. (Oops.. did I just mention coal?). But why in the face of massive scams like Coalgate and Thoriumscam does this issue deserve reporting for five consecutive days on TimesNow? You report once, twice and then wait to report the follow up action. Justice Arnab seems to be in a hurry to hang them. I wonder if he would care to report similarly demanded junkets by his own team. To his credit and that of TimesNow they have not condoned such demands but there shouldn’t be any doubt such demands pervade the entire media. Well, we will get to that in a minute. Before that I recommend you read the paragraph below. And I mean read it very carefully:

The ‘backpresent’ concept at the end of a press conference that certain business houses seem to have perfected – whether in the form of an expensive pen or even better, a holiday for the family in a resort, or best of all, company shares – is only a reflection of how corporate journalism can be compromised… It’s no different with corporate houses who have select journalists on their payroll. Again, there are state govts which will ensure that certain journalists are given properties from the state quota even if the journalist has already acquired a property from the same quota. There are journalists too who will flaunt their farmhouses with great relish, though just where a journalist saves enough cash to acquire prime farm land remains a mystery….A journalist can get close to a political party, business house or an individual in a manner that compromises his independence. Having acquired that proximity, the journalist can then use his clout on a larger scale, playing kingmaker in cementing political alliances at the centre, or in providing the link between a minister in the Union cabinet and a business house in need of a favour…. Perhaps, it suits the newspaper owners and channel bosses to keep the status quo since they have been prime beneficiaries of a corrupted system.Certainly, none of the so-called media watchdog bodies, be it the Press Council or the Editors Guild, have chosen to focus on media corruption – political, ideological or financial….There are no rules or regulations that govern media ethics…

That little blast you just read was written a million years ago. 2001 to be precise! Does it all seem familiar? Does it make sense of Radiagate? Does it also explain why the Supreme Court, in the Kasab verdict, slammed the TV media in particular and suggested a regulatory watchdog can’t be from “within”? This was written by a prominent media celeb who hates the term ‘Paidmedia’. But I will leave it to you to guess which one. So whatever Justice Arnab finds abominable in those Karnataka MLAs is equally in abundance in our news media. An incident in Kerala should have shocked the entire media mafia but the report is buried in some corner in a Malayalam website.

I was sent this report through mail by an observant reader of this blog with an English translation. To be absolutely certain I had it translated by two more people from Twitter to verify if the website’s report was what I was mailed. Thanks to all three who did the translation (@Nidheeshn @ArunGanesh1203 and the one who sent the mail, for their contribution). Here’s the report from the website ScoopIndia:

Channel head looking for freebies: Controversy beamed live

The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) rejected the request from a top officer of a leading news channel to provide free accommodation at their hotel. An officer from the personal staff of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who intervened on behalf of the person and this officer were reprimanded by the CM for his intervention. This incident has created an explosion in Offices of both the CM and the channel.

The controversy started when a Production Controller from the Times Now news channel owned by the Times of India group decided to visit Kerala during the Onam season. He planned to use the services of KTDC for his stay at Thekkady and Trivandrum. For this he called up the MD of KTDC Mr Prashanth IAS over phone. Happily, Prashanth invited him to Kerala. Only later on, Prashanth realised that the luxury resorts and services were requested to be provided free of cost basis recommendation by the channel. The MD replied that this was not possible and offered a maximum of 30% discount on the services. But the Production Controller from the channel was not satisfied and repeatedly contacted the MD for providing the services free of cost. The MD did not bow down to his demand.

Subsequently, one Malayalee who was the reporter of Times of India in Kerala contacted a personal staff of the CM of Kerala. The reporter raised the same requirement with this person that was raised by the Production Controller to the MD of KTDC. Based on his personal rapport with the reporter, the staff of the CM’s office intervened and took up the matter with the MD of KTDC, but the MD refused to compromise on the stand that he had taken earlier. The MD of KTDC escalated this matter to the Special Private Secretary of the CM, Mr R.K Balakrishnan, when he was no longer able to withstand the repeated pressure from the staff member. Mr R.K. Balakrishnan informed the matter to the CM after studying the issue in detail.

It is reported that CM Oommen Chandy reacted angrily. He took the stand that nobody should be allowed to misuse his office. Immediately, the CM called the MD of KTDC directly to enquire full details of the issue. Later, the CM sent a mail to Arnab Goswami, Editor in Chief of Times Now channel with all details of this incident. Arnab replied that the incident has happened without his knowledge and expressed regret for the same. The matter did not end at this. The Times management has asked the Production Controller and the reporter to clarify their actions when there was a ban on reporters from the Times Group accepting gifts even when they are on a business meetings, and why they tried to misuse and involve the CM’s office to get benefits. The CM did not seek an explanation from his personal staff, but has sent out a stern warning that such requests and recommendations should not be made in future.

Now what if the TimesNow guy had been from some political party or someone media wishes to tar? The headlines on our channels would have probably been: “Member seeks special favours from KTDC”, “Errant son of top politician demands freebies from KTDC”, “Modi aide threatens Kerala Tourism”, “Chief spokesman bullies KTDC and CM’s office”. Yes indeed they would carry those headlines. Naturally, I’m tempted to ask where’s the headline that says: “Did TimesNow Production Head Arm-twist Kerala Tourism”?

Okay, that little blast from the past that you read in the second paragraph was written by none other than Rajdeep Sardesai. Must have been written in a “fit”of conscience.

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KT's suggestion: Read also:

Why the fall of Xerox Zakaria is unthinkable in Indian media

http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-the-fall-of-xerox-zakaria-is-unthinkable-in-indian-media-430088.html/2

As an honour to women, we must not subscribe to India Today!

I was not aware of Justice Katju’s blog Satyam Bruyat until Vinita Viswas Deshmukh mailed the following about his comment on India Today’s article on Women’s cleavages:

Dear Friends,

I completely agree with Justice Katju - it is humiliating that a national magazine like India Today should have carried a pompous article on women's cleavages and states that breast surgery for enlarging them cost only 1.5 lakh to 2.5 lakh rupees. I was not aware. Shame on such kind of journalism. How come there was no social uproar? Pl forward this to as many to know the low depths that a leading national magazine like India Today has steeped to! As an honour to women, we must not subscribe to India Today. 

(Emphasis mine)

Please visit http://justicekatju.blogspot.in/2012/05/i-protest.html and also go through the comments of visitors to the blog.

kt

Singapore’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information has seven faculty positions at Assistant Professor/ Senior Lecturer Levels

I received the following notification. Please consider applying, or circulate among your acquaintances who may be interested:

Singapore’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information

     has seven faculty positions at Assistant Professor/ Senior Lecturer Levels

The Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore was founded in 1992 and has grown to become the region’s leading institution providing world-class education, and producing top-notch research in communication and information studies. In 2006, the School established an endowment fund of S$30 million to support a wide range of educational and research activities. Extensive research, teaching, and production facilities help to keep faculty and students at the leading edge of their disciplines.

WKWSCI has over 50 full-time faculty members with diverse backgrounds and coming from renowned universities. The School enrols more than 500 graduate students and 700 undergraduates who are among the best from Singapore’s competitive educational system, and internationally. The School is committed to a collegial environment that brings out the best in both students and faculty.

We invite outstanding candidates to apply for seven faculty positions for the 2013/2014 academic year in the following areas:

Multimedia Journalism: We are seeking a dynamic leader for Newsplex Asia, a centre of innovation, training and research for newsrooms of the future. Newsplex Asia is an exciting initiative that will link the WKWSCI and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), and ensure that the school’s teaching and research related to news media is at the leading edge of technological and industry developments. The successful candidate should have either a PhD and a strong record of published research, or a Masters Degree in Mass Communication or Journalism, and at least 10 years of experience in online journalism, digital media, multi-media news delivery, and social media. Duties will include teaching courses in multimedia and online journalism and engaging in ongoing professional development through research, publication and curriculum development. This is a tenure track position for those possessing a doctoral degree and an active program of research, or a non-tenure track position for those with a more practical orientation at the rank of Senior Lecturer.

Communication Research: We are seeking an outstanding junior scholar to develop a vigorous program of research in one or more of the following areas: popular communication, cross-cultural communication, international communication policy, and/or cultural studies. Although candidates may come from a variety of methodological and intellectual traditions within the fields of communication research or media studies, preference is for those with a critical/cultural orientation and strong grounding in qualitative research methods. A Ph.D. is required for this tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor.

Digital Humanities: We are looking for an innovative, collaborative, and forward-thinking teacher-scholar to serve as a key contributor to the Singapore Centre for the Study of the Moving Image, a newly proposed research centre bridging the WKWSCI and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. The successful candidate should have a Ph.D. with an active research agenda and teaching experience in the emerging field of Digital Humanities. Areas of preference include: virtual collaboration in the humanities; design of interactive humanities-related media, credibility and authority of digital content; history of digital culture and curation of digital resources. Preference will be given to scholars with expertise in moving-image media and clear potential for future research accomplishment. This is a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor.

Knowledge Management: We are seeking a creative, energetic, forward-thinking junior scholar interested in research and teaching in the areas of knowledge sharing, communities of practice, storytelling, knowledge assets and social network analysis. The successful candidate for this tenure track Assistant Professorship will have a Ph.D. and an active programme of research in knowledge management.

Journalism Studies: We are looking for two outstanding candidates with a strong interest in and capacity to conduct high quality scholarly research on Journalism in Asia in the areas of media management, new media, and emerging issues in Journalism. Experience in supervising student publications and working across media platforms are a plus. A Ph.D. is required for these two tenure-track Assistant Professorships in the Division of Journalism and Publishing.

Radio and Audio Media: We are seeking an innovative and forward-thinking teacher-scholar in radio and audio media who is capable of teaching in such areas as Audio Radio Production, Radio Broadcasting, Radio Practicum, Audio Recording, Audio Editing, Audio in Media and other areas. The candidate will serve as faculty coordinator for Radio Fusion, a student-run campus radio station in NTU. A Ph.D. is required for this tenure track Assistant Professorship.

For further information about the School, please refer to the website: http://www.ntu.edu.sg/sci

To apply, please refer to the Guidelines for Submitting an Application for Faculty Appointment(http:/www.ntu.edu.sg/ohr/Career/SubmitApplications/Pages/Faculty.aspx) and send your application package (consisting of cover letter, curriculum vitae, personal particulars form, teaching and research statements, names of three potential referees, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and writing samples) to:

The Search Committee

Nanyang Technological University

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information

31 Nanyang Link, WKWSCI Building

Singapore 637718 Email: faculty-recruit@ntu.edu.sg

To ensure full consideration, applications must reach by 15 September 2012. Positions are open until filled. Only short-listed candidates will be notified

 --

PhD theses synopsis of Indian scholars for students and teachers

I intend to try to provide abstract/synopsis of doctoral theses in Communication, Journalism, and other related domains. The idea is to help to doctoral scholars and media teachers to know what is being studied elsewhere in India.

This, I presume, will help them offer ‘Indian’ references in their studies/research papers. I request all of you to please mail softcopy of synopsis in MS Word file (Times New Roman, 12 point, single space) with the PhD scholar’s photograph, Guide’s name, the name of the University and date of award of PhD degree by the University.

I have already posted the first post at http://mediasceneindia.blogspot.in/2012/09/what-makes-news-in-indian-media_4.html  

Let me please know if this effort is worthwhile. Will it be useful?

Kiran Thakur

What Makes News in the Indian Media? A recipient point of view of political news in India.

I intend to try to provide abstract/synopsis of doctoral theses in Communication, Journalism, and other related domains. The idea is to help to doctoral scholars and media teachers to know what is being studied elsewhere in India. This, I presume, will help them offer ‘Indian’ references in their studies/research papers. I request all of you to please mail softcopy in MS Word file (Times New Roman, 12 point, single space) with the PhD scholar’s photograph, Guide’s name, the name of the University and date of award of PhD degree by the University.

Here is the first post of a thesis:  

Synopsis of the doctoral thesis by

What Makes News in the Indian Media? 

A recipient point of view of political news in India.

Dr. Sanjay Ranade

Associate Professor

Department of Communication and Journalism,

University of Mumbai

Under the guidance of Dr Venkatesh Kumar,

Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

August 2012

The broad issues

If journalism is seen as the process of investigating the use of power by individuals and institutions then an academic and a journalist must combine their forces. The research was driven by this desire. It addressed the following questions.

The news media are an important feature of civil society and the scope of their contribution to the process of democratisation is a matter of debate as well as concern, especially as commercialisation adds the dimension of profit making to an otherwise social institution. This has made it necessary to promote a public dialogue of democracy. How much of this dialogue on politics is happening between readers and their newspapers?

Why is it that some people follow the news while others don't?

Has the press-politician-public news triangle led to a dysfunctional communication order where everyone is dissatisfied with the other?

With respect to political news, are consumers able to separate fact from fiction, are they able to evaluate the news facts and are they able to create an alternative interpretation of the reality presented to them? Is news credible?

What makes news? If news is the outcome of organisational politics and the output of organisational routine what is the participation of the reader in this? Especially given the situation that the reader is not organised as media organisationsand the State are?

Are pressures of high costs and complex organisation forcing media organisations to reach out to similar organisations like the State for news?

The specifics addressed by the thesis

The thesis proposed to test the following hypotheses:

·    Political news represented by the Mumbai print media through the daily newspaper matches its readers' perception of what makes news.

·    That this is true of both the English language broadsheet newspapers as well as the Marathi language newspapers published in Mumbai.

In this regard, the proposed research probed the following questions:

1.      Do readers of political news view news critically and a) separate fact from fiction, b) evaluate the news facts and c) create an alternative interpretation of what they read.

2.      What, according to the readers, are the political issues being represented in the Mumbai print media?

3.      What are the political issues that readers expect their newspaper to represent?

4.      Are these political issues represented by the newspapers?

5.      Do the readers set their own political priorities based upon what makes political news in the newspaper or do they follow a different set of parameters?

The methodology and method

The research began with the analysis of the content of the following newspapers - The Times of India, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, DNA, Maharashtra Times, Loksatta, Lokmat, Saamna, Bahujanratna Lokanayak and Vruttaratna Samrat. These newspapers represent the broadest possible spectrum of English and Marathi language newspapers and their readers in Mumbai.

The researcher next employed multi-stage sampling that included forming clusters, non probability random sampling and snowball sampling of newspaper readers of ten newspapers in Mumbai. The researcher surveyed 30 readers of each of the ten newspapers taken for analysis.

Findings

Political news represented by the Mumbai print media matches readers' perception of what makes news. Sophisticated news requires sophisticated readers and to become a sophisticated, readers need sophisticated journalism. The demand for political news from readers of newspapers and the representation of political news in the Mumbai print media would see a rise in the coming years. This also signifies that Mumbai's newspapers are contributing to the building of social capital

The research demonstrated that the newspaper is a significant tool for all round engagement with the State, the market as well as the civil society for the citizens.

News is being consumed critically and news facts are being evaluated carefully by the readers of the newspapers. There is a high degree of positive congruence between what newspapers are representing as political news and what the readers perceive. A significant number of readers believe that this news makes them think.

These overall impressions are different when language of the newspaper is taken into account.

The media universe of the reader of the English language newspaper reader is much broader in terms of content than that of the reader of the Marathi Language newspaper reader. The English readers are accessing other media including TV, Internet and mobile phones whereas the Marathi readers are combining newspaper with TV. Engagement of the Marathi newspaper readers with politics is higher than that of English readers. Readers of Marathi newspapers are following political news more than any other category of news, are shifting towards television for both news and entertainment, appear more uncritical of news, are more engaged with civil society and at the same time are more cynical about the political system and distrustful of politicians compared to English language newspaper readers.

English language newspaper readers are consuming a wide variety of media. Their interest in political news is less compared to the Marathi language newspaper readers.

Readers are consuming media more for curiosity and surveillance, for social and psychological development and as a learned behaviour rather than for entertainment and escape. Constraints of time and the influence of TV are the two important reasons for people not keeping up with the news.

While the press-politician-public triangle appears to be operating well now it appears that this situation will be upset leading to a dysfunction in the communication order.

In conclusion we can say that readers of newspapers are in a stage of liminality - they have not tuned out news nor newspapers but at the same time are increasing their consumption of other media. A new universe where newspaper readers will build parallel relationships with other media and where newspapers will have to engage with other media to grab the attention of and reach out to readers is in the making in Mumbai.

Future study

Are readers able to create an alternative interpretation of their own about the version of political reality handed down to them by their newspapers?

Is political news shaping the political reality of the readers?

Would TV be the biggest hurdle in the way of the newspaper revolution predicted by Robin Jefffrey?

 --

Dr Sanjay Ranade can be contacted at sanjayvranade@yahoo.com

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MPs' report refutes TOI's BT Cotton stories

The following is sourced from http://thehoot.org/web/MPs--report-refutes-TOI-s-BT-Cotton-stories/6226-1-1-1-true.html.

MPs' report refutes TOI's BT Cotton stories

Buried in a parliamentary committee report is a refutation by villagers of TOI’s controversial stories on BT cotton’s virtues, published in 2008 and reprinted in the paper as paid news in 2011. PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA revisits the saga

Posted/Updated Friday, Aug 31 23:16:00, 2012

Allegations leveled by Palagummi Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu newspaper that its competing daily, the Times of India,published an article at the behest of Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech without disclosing this fact to its readers and subsequently gained financially from its publication, have been endorsed by a committee of Parliamentarians in a recently-published report. Whereas the report, prepared by a panel of MPs belonging to different political parties, does not mention the ToI by name but merely describes it as a “national daily”, the inferences are all too apparent.
The 37^th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture tabled in both houses of Parliament on 9 August 2012 runs into 506 pages, including scientific and technical studies, ands international conventions and protocols that have been annexed. Among the 50 individuals and representatives of various organizations and government ministries who deposed before the committee, the last-named is P. Sainath.
In his introduction to the report, Committee Chairman Basudeb Acharia says the panel of MPs sought to take into account the “serious differences of opinion among various stakeholders and controversies surrounding the cultivation of transgenic crops”. 

Here is a verbatim account of what the report stated on pages 346, 347 and 348:

“While interacting with the villagers, the committee got first hand information about the plight of the farmers of Maregaon. The farmers very candidly blamed the policies of the government which they felt was responsible for their plight. In particular, their ire was targeted towards Bt cotton. The committee (members) were informed that with the inception of Bt cotton, input costs had gone high resulting in farmers falling into the debt trap. Further, the falling price of cotton in the international market resulted in farmers not getting remunerative price for their produce. They also stated that in the absence of a buffer zone, those wanting to cultivate non-Bt cotton were not able to do so. Bt cotton was pushing the farmers into the vicious cycle of debt and being unable to repay the debt due to decreasing earning farmers were under severe stress and developing a feeling of loss of their self-respect which was ultimately pushing them to commit suicide. ..

“The committee (members) also interacted with a couple of widows who in the aftermath of their husband’s suicide were hard pressed to make both … ends meet. The villagers implored upon the committee to voice their request to the concerned central authorities to ban farming of Bt cotton in the country. They also voiced their unhappiness with the relief offered to them via the Prime Minister’s Relief Package especially in terms of milch animals. They were given exotic breeds like Jersey and Holstein who were unable to adjust to the local environmental conditions and as a result died. They wanted indigenous breeds instead.

 “During the course of their interaction, farmers from the village of Bhambraja requested the committee (members) to visit their village as well. The committee acceded to their request and visited Bhambraja village in Yavatmal district on 2 March 2012. This village has witnessed 14 cases of suicide by farmers post Bt cotton, i.e. from 2002. They also rubbished the claims of their village being a model village for Bt cotton as reported on 28 August, 2011 in the edition of a national daily under the caption ‘Reaping Gold through BT Cotton’ and other articles.”

At a time when the debate on the desirability or otherwise of the use of Bt cotton in India had intensified, on 31 October 2008, the Nagpur edition of the ToI published an article that painted a rather glowing picture of Bt cotton growing farmers in two villages in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district in the state’s economically backward Vidharba region. TheToI article had the following to state about the residents of these two villages, Bhambraja and Antargaon: “There are no suicides here and people are prospering on agriculture. The switchover from the conventional cotton to Bollgard or Bt cotton here has led to a social and economic transformation in the villages in the past three-four years.”

Almost three years later, on 28 August 2011, this report was reprinted in various editions of the ToI (and not just its Nagpur edition) as part of a full-page paid advertisement. This unusual practice did not go unnoticed. Writing for The Hoot on 6 September 2011, Manu Moudgil looked at what may have motivated MMB to get the story republished as an advertisement almost three years after the initial story was printed. Moudgil’s article entitled ‘Got a plant, will republish for a fee’ argued that in 2008, when the story was first published as a news report, as well as in 2011 when it appeared as a ‘Consumer Connect Initiative’, MMB had been on the receiving end of severe criticism. In 2008, the allegation was that the prices of Bt cotton seeds were too high and that consecutive failure of Bt cotton crops were contributing to farmers committing suicide while in 2011, its was being alleged that the company was involved in “anti farmer” and “monopolistic” practices.

Wrote Moudgil, “Also, the news report says ‘The trip to Yavatmal was arranged by Mahyco Monsanto Biotech’,  the company which has been selling Bt Cotton seeds to farmers since 2002. Around the same time in 2008…similar news reports appeared in the Economic Times and news feeds of UNI and PTI which indicates that the company had arranged the trip for a group of journalists to farms of Yavatmal district. The reason for such a PR (public relations) exercise seemed to be the flak it had been receiving from civil society groups in 2008 which blamed the high price of Bt cotton seeds and consecutive Bt crop failures for farmer suicides.

“So, why did the company get the extolling story republished after three years without any updates? Again, the trigger seems to be the bad press it has got recently. On August 9, the Association for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), a conglomerate of several civil society groups including Greenpeace, launched a ‘Quit India’ campaign against Monsanto for its ‘anti-farmer and monopolistic policies’. Also, the National Biodiversity Authority recently found Mahyco Monsanto guilty of violating rules in procuring local brinjal varieties for development of Bt Brinjal.

 “The fact that the original story was also fraught with errors is another important issue. The story has a blurb on the top saying: ‘Yavatmal district is known as the suicide capital of the state, but two villages -- Bhambraja and Antargaon -- are an aberration for the better. Not a single person from the two villages has committed suicide’. Yavatmal has 2,117 villages of which 1,845 are habited as per the information available on the website maintained by the district administration.”

Bhambraja now figures, as mentioned at the beginning of this story, in the Standing Committee’s report.

On 10 May 2012, Sainath repeated some of these facts in an Op-Ed article in The Hinduprovocatively titled “Reaping gold with cotton, and newsprint”. The article quoted farmers of Bhambraja village telling members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture who visited them: “There have been 14 suicides in our village…Most of them after Bt (cotton) came here.”

Sainath wrote: “The 2008 full-page panegyric in the ToI on Monsanto’s Bt cotton rose from the dead soon after the government failed to introduce the Biotech Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill in Parliament in August 2011. The failure to table the Bill — crucial to the future profits of the agri-biotech industry — sparked frenzied lobbying to have it brought in soon. The full-page (advertisement), titled ‘Reaping Gold through Bt Cotton’ on August 28 was followed by a flurry of advertisements from Mahyco-Monsanto Biotech (India) Ltd., in the ToI (and some other papers), starting the very next day. These appeared on August 29, 30, 31, September 1 and 3. The Bill finally wasn’t introduced either in the monsoon or winter session — though listed for business in both — with Parliament bogged down in other issues. Somebody did reap gold, though, with newsprint if not with Bt cotton.” 

Responding to Sainath’s questions, an editorial spokesman for ToI claimed: “The reports (of 2008) were written very honestly and in good faith…”

He added that the reports were the outcome of “a field visit organised by Monsanto for journalists from Nagpur.” The spokesman held that “as is the practice on such paid trips, the report mentioned” that it was arranged by the concerned company. He said he was “clueless” as to how the same story appeared in the newspaper’s Mumbai edition nearly three years later as part of the “Consumer Connect Initiative” section, a euphemism for a sponsored advertising feature. On the article getting reprinted, the ToI spokesman claimed: “It must have been picked up by Response” -- referring to the newspaper’s advertising division. He also stated that he had no idea about the full page advertisement that appeared in August 2011 being “followed by several advertisements”.

The day the PSC report was tabled in Parliament, The Hindu reported that “the Maharashtra government has cancelled the licence of …(Mahyco) to sell 12 varieties of Bt cotton hybrids for allegedly giving false information to agriculture department officials on seed supply for this kharif season.” The company denied receiving “any official communication from the government pertaining to the matter of its licence to sell Bt. cotton seeds in the state”.

When contacted by The Hoot, Sainath stated in an emailed response: “Several members of the Parliament Standing Committee who came to Yavatmal district were people from rural or farming backgrounds --  and not about to be hoodwinked by anybody. They brushed aside attempts by the government of Maharashtra to divert them from visits to the villages that had been set up as models and miracles (for instance, in Times of India story-turned-ad). They spoke directly to the farmers in the two villages (including in the ‘miracle’ village of Bhambraja) and not via the media. They found what we had found when we did the May 10 report in The Hindu that shredded the claims of the story ‘Reaping Gold through Bt cotton’ which had appeared in the Times. Indeed, the villagers gathered in large numbers to tell them how dishonest the images being peddled of their situation were.” 

Relevant links:

  

Times of India, 28 August 2011:  http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-28/special-report/29937803_1_bt-cotton-cry1ac-bollgard-ii  

The Hoot, Manu Moudgil, 6 September 2011: http://thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5489&mod=1&pg=1&sectionId=&valid=true

The Hindu, P. Sainath, 10 May 2012: The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Reaping gold through cotton, and newsprint

The Hindu, ToI’s reply, 10 May 2012: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3401468.ece

The Hoot, Geeta Seshu, 10 May 2012: http://blog.thehoot.org/hindu-takes-on-toi/

Report of Parlimentary Standing Commmittee on Agriculture, 9 August 2012:http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Agriculture/GM_Report.pdf

Note that the first article on the subject that appeared in the Nagpur edition of the Times of India, dated 31 October 2008 is not available online.

Research assistant: Purav Goswami

(The writer is an independent journalist and educator.)

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Mr Sainath's earlier piece on this issue was carried in http://mediasceneindia.blogspot.in/2012/05/p-sainath-exposes-toi.html