Two news reports,  both  Page One,  in The Hindu,  about ongoing BJP crisis in Karnataka. The one displayed below the fold  is evidently definitive and more informative – Dissidents want six ministers axed.  But it  is the New Delhi datelined news report, a non-story,  that gets the top slot in the newspaper.

Question:  Do dateline  and  stature of the reporter,  rather than substance,  determine the display of  a  given news report gets in the newspaper ?

Q:  Why couldn’t The Hindu put together information obtained from both Bangalore and New Delhi to publish a consolidated report as Deccan Herald has done ?

A Mumbai-based tech media reporter and spare time satirist started (Oct 6) Twitter account ‘Shashi Tharoor Fake’. Why ? Because, she says, satire enriched her soul. Besides, doing it at Shashi Tharoor’s expense gave her media mileage. But Mr Tharoor wasn’t amused with her initiative for soul-enrichment . He had her Twittered out within weeks. Someone else who mimic tweeted Nandan Nelekani had the account – www.twitter.com/nandannilekani suspended.

‘Techgirl’ who authored the short-lived ‘Tharoor Twitter’ (not to be confused for the real one maintained by the ‘cattle-class’ minister himself) was evidently on to something that had been tried out some five years back in the UK through blogs. Twitter wasn’t around then. Tim Ireland, a web marketing guy,  sought to get elected representatives in Britain to interact online with their constituents.

He wanted to initiate MPs into blogging.   Not many bought his line – “It’s not easy getting people off their arse”.  To tackle MPs who didn’t have their own blog or seem to care for one Tim  evolved the concept of running ‘proxy’ blogs.  He persuaded some proactive constituents to blog on behalf of their MPs.

Before he set up his own blog,  Keith Vaz,  a Goa-born MP from Leicester, a constituent ran  an unofficial blog in the name of the MP.  The blogger put it on record, “I’m not Keth Vaz, nor am I a member of his staff; not in anyway associated with him”. Aim of the Keith Vaz proxy blog was to let his constituents know what their MP was is up to.  “This is a job he (MP) should be doing himself”,  said the blogger, adding that he would be happy to close shop,  if Mr Vaz chose to run a blog on his own.

Tim’s proxy blog sought to encourage politicians to take to the web; help them see the value of maintaining a blog,  as a resource material,  as a portal to inform constituents about their work on an ongoing basis.  With the frequency of posts the blogger politician has  potential to reach a wider audience.

A constituent of Labour MP Jim Cousins ran a proxy blog that declared: “This blog is not run by Jim Cousins; nor does he endorse it.  Maybe Cousins doesn’t even know of it;  if he ever finds out, he can have it”.  Far from trying to shut out the blog, the MP’s aides got in touch and  offered resource materials for the proxy blog in the form of FAQs on Jim’s views and copies of other materials on various matters.  This led to a meeting between Cousins and the blogger. While agreeing  the blog would be a very useful means to communicate with his  constituents Jim wasn’t prepared to take the blog over yet.

The Guardian wrote a number of bloggers took to Tim Ireland’s  proxy blog model . Besides Jim Cousins,  there were blogs  dedicated to six other British MPs,  most of them ,  not friendly.  The moral is:  if you don’t launch your own blog, someone might do it for you.

With newspapers reminding us of the 25th  Indira Gandhi death anniversary this is as good an occasion as any other to plug in this  vintage photo, dating back to early 70s. She is seen addressing members of the Delhi Reporters Guild on the lawns of the PM’s official residence on Race Course Rd., New Delhi.

Mrs Gandhi wasn’t particularly media friendly. In fact, many of us who went  through the Emergency days in Delhi found ourselves treated by the authorities with a little more respect than they would give to a doormat. But then  we have been accused of caving  in to intimidation  by Indira Gandhi’s media handler V C Shukla. As BJP’s L K Advani put it, the media under the Emergency regime ‘crawled when they were expected to bend’.

The photo here predates the Emergency.  New Delhi-based Journalists those days belonged to two distinct classes – 1) Press Association members, who were accredited to the central government ; and 2)  lesser beings in the reporters guild, accredited to the Delhi Administration.

The first was the favored class , entitled to official perks, notably, allotment of government flats in Sundernagar,  Pandara Road, Chanakyapuri and other prime government residential localities . When we took this up with the then I & B minister I K Gujral, he was candid enough to admit a quid pro quo in the arrangement. Press Association journalists were the ones ministers and senior officials dealt with. They  did the government’s bidding; published faithfully all official handouts. “They deliver,” said Mr Gujral, while humble reporters like us were not so amenable.

Mr Gujral, however, offered to set up meeting for us with Mrs Gandhi. And that was how the PM came to address the Delhi Reporters Guild.

In normal course actor Hrithik Roshan wouldn’t have made it to The Hindu Page One, and that too, this big ;  even if he were to pick up an Oscar. Here we have him playing music and dancing to the tune set by Reliance Mobile.

Not every newspaper reader appreciates such loud advert. display.  Nor, on an unrelated note, did everyone in his neighbourhood appreciate Hrithik’s  music. As a web report put it,  the Bollywood actor was recently warned by the police  not to play  music loud at his suburban Juhu residence.  No complaint was registered against the Roshan family, as the police didn’t find any violation of rules.

Must thank  the Sunday Herald for the story on the coming TED-India meet in Mysore. It was on TV the previous evening. But then we had power shutdown at Devaraja Mohalla for much of last evening,  and for nearly seven hours on Sunday morning.  Unscheduled,  and extended powershut down  has been a routine in Mysore these days.   And there hasn’t been a word by way of explanation  or   ‘regret for inconvenience’ from the state  electricity  board.  Nor has the local media found it worthy of a story.

Anyway,  the Herald story on TED meet ,  though informative,  doesn’t give  us the basics, such as  the venue,  specific issues to be addressed; nor does it make a mention of the more widely known speakers  such as Kamala Hasan, Shashi  ‘Tweets’ Tharoor,  Mallika Sarabhai ,  Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev,  C.K. Prahalad,  Romulus Whitaker and Shekhar Kapur.

The venue:  Infosys campus.  Which makes the conference a fairly  exclusive affair,  to which the interested  Mysore residents would not have access, without the right connections.  The web-page giving details of the event  doesn’t say whether entry is ticketed or by invitation.

Among issues to be  addressed  are:
*  Which local innovations are destined for global impact?
* Who are the young thinkers and doers capable of shaping the future?
* Can there be economic advancement without environmental destruction?
* Can a pluralistic democracy survive in the face of rising fundamentalism?
* Can we make money and be good? Really?
* What should we learn – or fear? — from China’s investment in Africa?
* Do we have enough water for everyone?
* How do we keep our youth challenged and our aged healthy?
* How can anti-poverty solutions be brought to scale?
* Is there wisdom to be found in traditional medicine??
* Which other ancient traditions can illuminate modern life?

Four-day TED-India conference to be held in Mysore (Nov.4-7) is reportedly sold out. The meet is expected to attract people from 46 countries, according to a media report. With some 40 speakers on the card, drawn from varied fields – scientist, artist, playwright, photographer, marine biologist and sports commentator – the event promises to be a mela (marketplace) for ideas.

As a resident of the host town, my concern, or rather my poser to organisers, is: Shouldn’t local residents be allowed to benefit from the proceedings ? In a global event of this nature local enthusiasts tend to get crowded out by those from elsewhere. And, understandably, the organisers face severe space constraints, however big the venue.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the they could arrange to have the conference proceedings screened through closed-circuit network in another hall – Kalamandira or some other place – for the benefit of local audience ? Or they could tie-up with the city TV channel for live-telecast of TEDIndia, as they do with Dasara concerts held at the Mysore palace grounds.

Would local residents be interested? How would TED proceedings be of local public interest ? I can’t answer this question better than TEDIndia co-host Lakshmi Pratury. She says she would like those attending the Mysore conference to take back three things:
1) No one who sits through a talk or seminar is with it all the time, a hundred percent. Even if they stay focused on what they hear, for a brief moment , they should feel it is a moment when they would rather be here than anywhere else;
2) Her expectation is that on gatherings like this one meets at least one person who becomes a friend for life; and
3) Her hope is that those who sit through the proceedings would pick up an idea or two that is not necessarily related their prime interest.

Cross-posted from Giving It A Shot

It is not uncommon for our political leaders to  flout regulations.  But, when challenged,  it is not leader-like  to  blame the violation on lesser mortals.  BJP chief Rajnath Singh,  with a few other party leaders took off   in a chartered eight-seater plane from an unlit airstrip in Jharkand  after dusk. The airstrip where no nightlanding/takeoff is allowed,  was lit up with the headlights of jeeps and other vehicles on VIP convoy  that were lined up along the runway.

A clear violation of safety norms,  the BJP leadership has passed the buck,  saying that the night take-off was  ‘entirely the pilot’s decision’.  Admittedly,  the pilot has some explaining to do.  But can his VIP passenger be allowed to get away with it ?  Maybe the bright idea for taking off under jeep lights was the pilot’s,  but there was no way he could have acted on it without the concurrance of his VIP passengers.   BJP’s denial of any responsibility for the incident doesn’t enhance the image of its leader.  Isn’t Mr Singh accountable for whatever happened ?  Isn’t leadership about owning up,  instead of abdicating,  responsibility in such sticky situation ?

Seven dead,  two rescued when  a three-wheeler carrying them plunged into  Tungabhadra  canal near Bellary.  An obvious question that springs to mind is,  how come there were so many travelling in that autorickshaw ?  We don’t get an answer in this 12-para news report.  In fact,  the question remained unasked by the reporter, even in a subsequent report.

Notably,  the media report refers to a gallant rescue of the two women struggling in water.  A passer-by promptly removed his dhoti and held it out as the lifeline that saved the two women from drowning . Rescue workers  later recovered five bodies,  four of which from inside the submerged autorickshaw.  It was so over-crowded that,  perhaps,  they couldn’t get out ,  and tragically went down with the sinking vehicle.   Maybe overcrowding was a factor that caused  the accident.  Maybe the driver lost control of the vehicle  that plunged into the canal. Passengers,  all women,  were farm workers.  The driver was among the dead.

Many of us  get excited  reading  about  innovative  ideas/practices  adopted by others, elsewhere.  Some  rush to blog about it. I usually sign off such posts with a stock query,‘why can’t we?’. We have a blog -  Giving It A Shot -  dedicated to why-can’t-we  posts.

We blogged about  California Youth Energy Services  that engages students  to visit homes in their communities  to conduct energy audits and offer simple energy-saving repairs.  Ashwin picked on the idea for trying it out in Mysore.  With help from some teachers,  he has initiated a training programme for students of  Vidyavardhaka school,Kuvempunagar, in conducting household energy audit .

While he is at it,  we would like to see  Ashwin  volunteer  his expertise in IT applications  for initiating his school contacts into  what they call  Edublogging. 

Teachers,  notably in some Kendriya Vidyalayas,  are familiar with web usage. Principal of a Trivandrum school is quoted in their website  as saying, “Blogomania has hit the portals of KV Pattom too!…I wish all the students and staff members to be part of this ‘techno’  milestone in the history of our Vidyalaya”.

But then school websites , as a teaching tool,  have limitations.  Website maintenance and updating  call for additional work by teachers. In blogs such labour is in-built. Working a blog is simpler and more straight-forward.  A blog,once set up, is sustained by input from  participant teachers and students.

As a teaching tool, a  blog can be used for keeping class-room discussions going  online,  beyond school hours. Teachers can build a blog or start a new topic for discussion by simply typing the text into a box and clicking  ’publish’  button.

Other benefits of a class-room blog:

1)   It facilitates feedback – a teacher can react to what his sutdents write on a given  topic;  and students can respond to each other leaving  comments online.

2)  Enables teachers to initiate  discussion among students on  issues and concerns of public interest; and to assign students projects that entail Internet search.

3)  Teachers and students are likely to put a lot more thought to what they blog,  when they realise that their writings are open to scrutiny by other students,  and parents as well.

4)  A blog facilitates networking with peers in other schools,  in other parts of the country and the world.

Scene-1

Canegrowers association in Mysore  and  neighbouring  districts  publish a  farm weekly – Raitha Dwani – to share information on farming,  notably,  cane and paddy.  The one-year-old publication plans to increase its subscriber base,  from 1,000 to 5,000 farmers  in six months. Much too modest a goal; and,  presumably, not cost effective either.

Scene-2

In  neighbouring Tamilnadu  they have a website –  Chandhai.com -  that seeks to bridge buyer-seller gap  caused by  lack of information on commodity prices,  poor marketing,  exploitative middle-men  and inadequate infrastructure.  Online market such as chandhai.com connects buyers and sellers for meaningful trade.

The website provides information pertaining to commodity prices,  cropping pattern,  seeds and fertiliser availability,  agro-based business opportunities,  veterinary,  organic farming,  self employment training,  herbal medicines,  value addition in farm produce and  farm credit. But then the digital divide and illiteracy limits the reach of cyberfarming  among  farmers in  our country.  An overwhelming majority stay untouched by cyberfarming.

Scene-3

A Tamil channel – Makkal TV –  runs a phone-in programme – Uzhavar Sandhai – that covers the same ground,  and,  given widespread TV viewership and extensive use of cell phone even in rural areas,  telefarming of the type adopted by  Makkal TV  has a reach among illiterate farmers.

At a recent Uzhavar Sandhai programme a  farming expert, responding  to viewers’ questions, came up such info.:

1) Fruit-growers in Cumbum (TN),  where they grow grapes on 2,000 plus acres,  should  come together to put up a  juice-making unit.  In the absence of such value-addition the farmers are constrained  to  sell their grapes  for  Rs.15 a kg .

2) A farmer seeking guidance  on  growing   lemon is advised  to visit Gudur (AP)  where they grow lemon of varied grades on a large scale.

3)  A retired army officer in Chennai has set up a unit that markets lemon concentrate in small sachets, with capacity to make  two glasses of juice.  The sachets have potential for retailing  at grocery stores,  pavement paan-bidi shops,  and platform vendors in railway stations.

4)  With ever-increasing vegetable prices,  people in cities take to roof-top kitchen gardening.  A variety of vegetables,  and spinach, can be grown on roof-top,  with no more than  two feet deep soil cover.  The expert on TV spoke of someone who has grown even  plantains on roof-top.

During an hour long programme  they can’t take very many questions  from viewers.  Besides, Makkal TV runs Uzhavar Sandhai only once a week,  Friday.  There may be a case for such interactive  programming on a daily basis;  even for a full-fledged farming channel.  We have channels dedicated to healthcare,  religious discourse and bhajans.  Why not a TV channel to address concerns of farmers -  about marketing their produce,  procurement of seeds, fertiliser, opportunities for agro-business,  horticulture,  livestock and farm equipment maintenence?

Ad. and sponsorship may be  inhibiting factors for  private channels.  Doordarshan, which apparently has no such concerns and is  not dirven only by ratings  coud think in terms of  a full-fledged channel for farmers.  A krishi channel  would get more ad. revenue for DD than the  Lok Sabha channel.