Tag Archives: journalist

Mainstream Media: Unable to grasp digital trends

Leave a reply
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - FEBRUARY 23: Co-Founder/...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

This post, was in part motivated by Shyam’s incisive commentary on FirstPost. It is promoted by Network18.

First Post primarily remains an “aggregator” of news; perhaps the underlying motivation is SEO tricks of identifying the trending topics and create topical interest by paying “journalists” to create blogs around it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like this. Trying to covert the traffic into “unique visitors”, cross promoting it on other media channels and identifying the “trends” to write on issues smacks of Huffington Post‘s tactics.

I personally believe that much of criticism that stems for Huffington Post comes from the mainstream media; possibly they are unable to comprehend the huge gains that this site has made in a short span of time. The owner has been able to do a web alone business, “aggregate” or scrape content, pay out dimes for it’s star bloggers and more important, get the advertising $$$. Hence, it tends to get the ire of the “purists”.

Indians, of course, wish to replicate a proven model. No one, wants to adapt to a new order or invest serious resources in building up a web property that has a lasting value proposition. Top of the mind recall is Techmeme and is my first

Image representing Google Reader as depicted i...

Image via CrunchBase

stop everyday in Google Reader to identify the breaking stories as it happens (it utilizes RSS feeds in the background; you could search for it’s leaderboard OPML file on their site to read the stories). A simple implementation (e.g. Webmeme) would have sufficed and promoted it’s journalists to blog independently of the constraints of “mainstream media”.

How is this really concerned with the ethos of the blog? Well, for starters, social internet is all useless hype. Twitter and Facebook are not here to stay; Orkut was a huge failure and Twitter is growing without a service model. It still doesn’t know about advertising nor is

Free twitter badge

Image via Wikipedia

there any reasonable model to influence it’s evolutiton. Nevertheless, in this internet access challenged country, this is a huge let down.

Perhaps the people behind the product are blissfully unaware of mobile access dominating the landscape (I doubt whether they have a mobile interface optimized) or of the “niche audience” that would be attracted to something like this. However, a cursory glance at the written articles leaves a lot to be desired.

(Highly recommended write up).

Related articles

Media, Telecom and Fall of Business Standard

Leave a reply
Image representing TechCrunch as depicted in C...

Image via CrunchBase

This post was actually motivated by Tech Crunch write up my Arrington (now under AOL) about the biases in Tech Media. In a no holds barred salvo against the tech journalists, he has laid bare the dirty secrets of “journalism”. Of how the mainstream media is subservient to deep pockets.

Arguably, it holds for India too. We have our own Radia hooking up with the journalists to fix up the system. Of course, it cannot be generalized but barring a few who provide some sauce for thought content, most of them are brain dead dodos. More on that later.

Arrington lambastes:

AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher, the chief whiner about our policy, is married to a Google executive. This is disclosed by her, but I certainly don’t see it as any less of a conflict than when I invest in a startup. And yet she whines. One of her writers, Liz Gannes, is married to a Facebook consultant. She covers the company and its competitors regularly. She discloses it as well, but it isn’t clear whether or not her husband has stock in Facebook. That’s something as a reader I’d like to know. And regardless, it’s a huge conflict of interest. I think someone will think twice before slamming a company and then going to sleep next to an employee of that company. Certain adjectives, for example, might be softened in the hopes of marital harmony.

This is not all. He squarely puts it up here:

I have little hope for this industry until the last of the old guard have finally been put down. They do NOT control the news. They do NOT control opinion. They do NOT get to say who gets to write content and who doesn’t. And they do NOT get to rant about their ethics when they constantly fight against simple transparency.

The central issue is about conflict of interest and bias in reporting. We all have biases and opinions about everything. Heck, this blog is full of rants and sometimes useless opinion. However, these biases (in my opinion) are targeted towards a greater common good. Because if companies can swindle away thousands of crores in 2G scam and pay the same amount upfront for the 3G (described euphemistically as “price discovery”), the same could have been easily rolled for laying state of the art fiber to home networks. Or roll out community Wifi’s even on a pilot basis. But it hasn’t been done.

This rant by Arrington does not place him above the pedestal; rather he is little upfront about the investments he has made in the start ups and his staff covering it. Of course, it would be the next big thing whipping up a hysteria on the blogosphere or in the mainstream media. It may not be work always.

Hence, we are talking of a contentious issue that has no easy solution placating everyone, namely the bias. I have spoken out against the Indian media and anyone sane enough can easily pinpoint it’s dumbing down. The statistics are loud and clear. The print media thrives on numbers and reach. Curiously, the Government has allowed massive inflows in the cross holdings which means that a newspaper also runs television networks as well as the radio or any other vehicle to disseminate “information”. It has made them to grow into huge dinosaurs swallowing up any dissenting opinion.

The same goes for their “web properties” as well. With aggressive cookie based targeting of it’s “customers”, this media is slowly building up it’s online profiles of it’s consumers. While this may sound like a paranoid looney, fact remains that my privacy is violated.

Nevertheless, this brings me to the fall of Business Standard. It has done nothing to raise anyone’s heckles about it’s questionable policies. However, again, in my opinion, it seems to have been hijacked by “research firms” and multitude of “analysts” jumping in the fray.

The mainstream media has “cornered” the “news”. They don’t generate the news. But then how do they put a “spin” on the news? How do they “dress” it up ? The more important question: Why do they do what they do?

This (from Dave Weiner) is very apt explanation.

(The image is used without “permission”; in case of copyright claims, please contact me from the form above).

This “circle of trust” from the people who send out selective leaks tends to grow the mainstream media’s stature “organically”.

Insiders get access to execs for interviews and background info. Leaks and gossip. Vendor sports. Early versions of products. Embargoed news. Extra oomph on social networks. Favors that will be curtailed or withdrawn if you get too close to telling truths they don’t want told.

Of course, most of the conferences organized by mainstream media ends up as a jingoistic farce. With awards given for “best coverage or best advertising spin” as well. It helps to scratch their backs and gain “mileage”. Well, unlikely to be mentioned in bold letters that they have a conflict of interest.

This brings me to the last part of the article. I had been in touch with two journalists from Business Standard. I took pains to upload my RTI application, picture them and send them across. I was also told that they would keep me abreast of any developments following the write up on Broadband (I am too lazy to link to the crap). From what I could make out was that it was a juvenile write up from a person who had no fucking clue about what “domain specialization” really is. Nevertheless, most of the mails have gone unanswered; as if in a dark hole, to their email ids.

Does this signal the fall of Business Standard? Nope. Because it would still make money on it’s print circulation. It does not understand the web as a medium and has gross incompetent people to make it stay afloat. But it’s fallen in the trap of the “circle” that has been alluded to above.

A sad day for a brilliant newspaper; because I owe a lot to it.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

2G Telecom Scam India: Excerpts from PAC Report

Leave a reply

2G Spectrum scam is huge; to the tune of thousands of crores cheated from public money. The specifics are still sub-judice; however, I am linking to the the “leaked report” which has been extensively reported in recent times by the lay press.

The entire article can be viewed here; although I don’t wish to skip over the juiciest parts (and something that I have always mentioned in this blog that is patently wrong with the auctions and the way it has been handled).

On First Come First Served Basis:

The Committee note that the First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) basis for the issue of Licences and Allocation of Spectrum has been followed by the Department on the argument that the announced UASL guidelines have made it open for new licences to be issued on continuous basis. The Committee’s scrutiny of the records reveal that in the Basic Service Licences guidelines, there is a reference to FCFS but nowhere in the UASL guidelines, the term FCFS has found a mention implying thereby it has no sanctity. In fact, on 24th November, 2003, the then Minister of Communications and IT had approved the Department’s proposal to give licence Spectrum on FCFS basis, but it was not codified in the UASL guidelines. Thus, there has been no such legally established principle as ‘FCFS’, at best it can be termed as a prescription to be followed for grant of licence/Spectrum…….

On Role of Media:

The Committee note that the brazen irregularities in the allotment of 2G spectrum and UAS licences were unravelled by some investigative journalists much before the Radia tapes came into the public domain. A journalist who played a stellar role in exposing the irregularities, on being asked about the sources of his information, replied that the information was collected through the RTIs and from some public-spirited insiders…..

Presumptive Loss:

….Intriguingly, neither the DoT nor the TRAI has quantified the precise loss. Unfortunately, the DoT instead of admitting an unconscionable act, advanced the plea that theoretical exercises based on economic modeling are fraught with simplistic assumptions and that no methodology can be suggested by them to calculate the loss…..The Committee feel that giving dual technology licence to the CDMA operators and new UAS licences in 2007-08 at a price determined in 2001 was not only imprudent but also smacks of a design.

Shortcomings in the Implementation aspect:

….While the first phase was implemented, the second phase was conveniently and intentionally, as subsequent events substantiate, overlooked. In the process, devising an efficient allocation formula for Spectrum alongwith an appropriate price remained unachieved as delinking the price of Spectrum from the issue of licences was given a go bye, disregarding the Cabinet decision. The Committee are deeply distressed that due to violation of the Cabinet decision and as a consequence of such deliberate omission, the issue of UAS license and allocation of Spectrum in 2007-08 at the price discovered in 2001 caused a staggering, but wholly avoidable, revenue loss…..

The Committee also desire that the price of Spectrum be delinked from the issue of licences without further delay and seek explanations as to why this important decision has not been implemented as yet…..

Role and Responsibility of TRAI:

The Committee note that the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are not binding upon the Central Government. But it is mandatory for the Government to seek recommendation of the TRAI in respect of matters pertaining to the need and timing for introduction of new service providers and terms and conditions of licence to a service provider. But the Committee are surprised to note that while seeking TRAI’s recommendation on 13 April, 2007 on various issues, the DoT did not seek recommendations on grant of new licences despite the mandatory requirement. Even though the decisions of the Government is final whether to accept or reject the TRAI’s recommendation, not seeking such recommendations at all speaks volumes for the DoTs malafide designs to circumvent the established provisions in the TRAI Act..

So now we know that TRAI basically is a useless toothless regulator.

But TRAI is not above all. So read the following:

Besides, the Committee find TRAI’s flip-flop in its recommendations also contributed towards the Department’s arbitrary and unilateral decisions. For example, in 2003 TRAI recommended that as the existing players have to improve the efficiency of utilization of Spectrum and if Government ensures availability of additional Spectrum, then within the existing licensing regime, they may introduce additional players through a multistage bidding process as was followed in the case of introduction of the fourth cellular operator.

The bad news:

One aspect that engages the attention of the Committee is the fact that worldwide, especially in the developed countries, the licensing and Spectrum related functions are actually performed by the Regulators and not by the Government unlike in India. The Committee consider such a practice as one of the main reasons for the DoT’s arbitrary decisions in dealing with the consultation process with the Authority.

The big players have engaged the Department of Telecom and the TRAI executives get exemplary post retirement benefits as fancy board members. Of course, they are there to liaise with the existing bureaucrats setting up huge questions on conflict of interests. I really don’t know whether these clauses are in built in their “rules” but if you look at the RTI applications to make their assets public, these faceless bastards need to be more accountable. Not all of them are like that but the blackest of the black sheep are bringing a huge shame to rest of the community.

Pathetic. Ours is totally a banana republic.

On 3G Spectrum (Which I personally feel has been “over-inflated”):

The Committee are happy to note that the auction of 3G Spectrum through an open and transparent bidding process has established the true value of the finite scare resource. However, as apprehension has been raised at many quarters that by paying such hefty amount to get 3G Spectrum, the successful bidders might pass on the burden to the consumers, the Committee impress upon the TRAI to keep a watch on the development in this regard and protect the interest of the consumer in tandem with the DoT.

Hope you are feeling bad enough by reading this sorry state of affairs.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta