Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Stop this bak-bak about reader rules, Bachi. Times prostitutes content!

The blood boils when you have a seasoned and senior journalist like Bachi Karkaria talking about how the reader rules at Times. While Mediaah! went to town yesterday congratulating the newspaper and praising the good work done by its people and the vision of vc Samir Jain, we don't think the paper should be allowed to get away with all the bakbakaria doled out.

First, a bit of background. Bachi Karkaria, resident editor of The Times of India Delhi, was until recently editorial director of Mid Day Multimedia. She had a three-year stint there, and while at Mid Day, her weekly column would appear in Hindustan Times, New Delhi. Nothing wrong with all of that, except that it helps put things in perspective. Agreed, Bachi's track record in Times has been terrific, and even earlier at The Statesman, but all of that is too much in the past. Right now, she's RE of Times Delhi, and presiding over a newspaper that's the toast of the country.

However, while we concede that the newspaper was the first mainline national daily that befriended froth and features in a big way, it has also consistently not cared a damn about ethics. Other than near-rampant junketeering and no practised policy on accepting freebies, Medianet is a classic case of prostitution of journalism, and content that is sold at a price is being dished out as editorial as if it were produced by its editorial team.

We aren't acclaimed wordsmiths like Bachi, so we leave her to decide on how to explain Medianet to Times readers. Rather crudely, we'd call it prostitution of journalism. Hey, so what does this make the editor of the newspaper?