Tag: Kailashnath Adhikari

Indian media powerful but suffers perception issues - Alok Mehta, senior journalist and Padma Shri awardee
Business World

Indian media powerful but suffers perception issues – Alok Mehta, senior journalist and Padma Shri awardee

Jun 25, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Kailashnath Adhikari, #MD Governance, #Padma Shri awardee Alok Mehta, #Senior journalist

Mumbai: Lamenting the fact that to catch eyeballs with sensational news, tabloid journalism has got mixed up with serious journalism, senior journalist and Padma Shri awardee Alok Mehta has said that despite criticism, Indian media is free and powerful but its credibility perception has gone down.

“Tabloid journalism which was very strong earlier has got mixed with serious journalism today in newspapers as well as TV Channels. Entertainment and sensationalism have got mixed up with news and headlines have become sensational to increase sales. Despite the fact that Indian news media is very strong, powerful and enjoys huge freedom it suffers from perception issues and its credibility has gone down over the years” said Mehta.

He was speaking to with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD Governance Now, during the webcast of Visionary Talk series held by public policy and governance analysis platform.

Adding that even though Indian news media is very strong and enjoys huge freedom, the veteran journalist and editor said that it suffers from perception issues and its credibility has gone down over the years.

“While it is not correct to say things are completely bad, today media is not able to do what it should be doing. Editors/media owners must shun arrogance and objectively accept constructive criticism.”

Mehta observed that since independence over the last fifty years media has grown and the no. of newspapers and news channels across the country has increased and news readership and consumption has increased over the years. Inspite of this, media is not able to do what it should be doing because it is competing with each other.

“As against earlier, today the difference is that media has expanded and people are able to express their views through YouTube or social media. Despite that, competition and the race to be one up against the other is damaging the media. It is not so much political interference but competition amongst themselves and criticism against their own colleagues that is damaging the media. We are not ready to accept our shortcomings but competing to be ahead of each other in the race” he said.

Recalling many instances when mistakes made by earlier editors led to closure of some publications and problems exacerbated after with many of their colleagues and contemporaries made several complaints he said, “Still there was camaraderie. Today the mentality in media is that either you are with me or you are against me. Competition must be healthy.”

Speaking on reporting around Covid -19, Mehta, who is also a recipient of several national and state awards said that media must self- regulate while reporting on pandemic and keep in mind the impact of their stories on the minds of children and elders at home who are facing depression due to huge negative reporting on covid.

Responding to question if authenticity of news has come down, Mehta added that people relate to brands for credibility of reporting and that credibility has been tarnished. News analysis should be left to editorial.

“News reporting has to be based on facts. Today in India everybody wants to comment along with news. Analysis of news should be left to editorial. But in India that demarcation is broken. Today everyone is commenting on news. Reporters are giving commentary on news and demarcation between news and analysis is broken”

“TV not in the business of news; it is in the business of polarization” Vir Sanghvi, senior journalist, columnist, and author
Business World, News

“TV not in the business of news; it is in the business of polarization” Vir Sanghvi, senior journalist, columnist, and author

Jan 20, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #and author, #columnist, #Governance Now, #Kailashnath Adhikari, #MD, #Senior journalist, #Vir Sanghvi

India: Senior journalist, columnist, and author, Vir Sanghvi has said that television news these days has a loose relationship with truth, is not telling truth and polarizing opinions.

In a live webcast with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now during the Visionary Talk series held by the public policy and governance analysis platform, the senior editor has said that news television does not tell the truth nor it has any interest to do so.

“News has always been driven by people with narratives. It is in the business of polarizing opinions and sensationalizing news. It has a very loose and relaxed relationship with truth. Sometimes when the truth is convenient it broadcasts it, other times it plays it up. Unfortunately the truth these days is a scarce commodity” said Sanghvi.

While speaking on fierce competition between news channels and hiking up ratings, Sanghvi said that competition within and between channels is not a new phenomenon and the nature of news since he was an active part of news has now changed. “The argument then was that you are only as good as the news you cover. There would be a discussion of 10-15 mins to illuminate the issue the package had set out for. That model of TV is dead” Sanghvi said .

He added that now nobody can afford to have bureaus and reporters and you now have studios. As against 12-14 guests on OB’s (outdoor broadcasting vans) earlier, now you have guests on Zoom so cost is zero. “You don’t worry much about news. You worry about opinion, creating excitement and you want people to shout in the studio and have a WWF element to it. It seems to be getting ratings. This is not a news channel in any significant sense of term and new genre half way between fiction and news.”

Adding that the definition and ratings of news and entertainment channels are blurring, Sanghvi, said, ‘‘if you look at the universe for English news as a proportion of total TV universe, it is in the proportion of 0.1%-0.2% which even in Hindi news is not so low. This is nowhere compared to entertainment channels.”

“In general news channels are on decline all over the world and eventually go the way of newspapers. In another two years the same will happen with news television. Why would you want to watch news TV for 1 hour when you can get it in real time, on demand, on your mobile phone” he said.

He also said that unlike the sophisticated measurement systems used in the US or the UK where they look for demographics like how many people are likely to stay with the channel or buy things, Indian advertising is number centric. FTA (free to air) channels do not get much revenue out of subscription and look for advertising.

On social media fanning false information Sanghvi said the government is always reluctant to regulate because no one knows how to regulate the new media but at some stage it will have to bite the bullet.

News

Supreme Court interim bail to Arnab Goswami proves political vendetta: Ashish Shelar, chief whip, BJP, Maharashtra Assembly

Nov 17, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Arnab Goswami, #Ashish Shelar, #Kailashnath Adhikari, #Kangana Ranaut, #Parambir Singh, #Supreme Court

Ashish Shelar, the chief whip, BJP, Maharashtra Assembly has said that the arrest of journalist Arnab Goswami, is a political vendetta by the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for investigative journalism in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput case and raising questions on the government.

“If you look at the happenings of the case closely it reeks of personal ego and political vendetta more than a criminal offence. While it can be debated if the method adopted for investigative journalism was correct or not it can also be debated on what type of language needs to be used in investigative journalism….and not everyone may agree on this” said Shelar while in a live webcast with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now.

The senior BJP leader pointed out that going by pure legal aspects of the case, after investigation, the police had filed ‘A’ Summary proceedings in the court. The magistrate accepted the case and thereafter closed the case. There was no appeal in the case because a journalist has raised the issue, questioned and criticized the government and the manner in which the home the minister used a threatening tone in the state assembly and said that govt will reopen the case this raises the question if the journalist is arrested and made an accused and denied bail it raises questions. The Supreme Court interim bail to Arnab Goswami today case clearly proves that there is no connection with any criminal case but a personal agenda and vendetta” said the BJP leader during the Visionary Talk series held by the public policy and governance analysis platform.

Criticizing Mumbai Police Commissioner, Parambir Singh, Shelar said that after taking instructions from the government if a police officer openly challenges a journalist “we will show you” and the happenings thereafter I don’t think there is any doubt that it is political vendetta.”

While responding to a question on the BJP terming Goswami’s arrest as the death of freedom and likening it to the state of emergency and if the statement was justified, the senior BJP leader said that ever since the MVA government came to power in the state, such incidents have been frequently taking place. He gave the examples of a retired naval officer who was beaten up after he forwarded the cartoon of CM Uddhav Thackeray on Whatsapp, registration of a criminal case against an ABP news channel journalist’s for questioning travel permission to Wadhawans during the lockdown, demolition of actress Kangana Ranaut’s office and added that the arrest of Goswami raises questions if there is any freedom of speech in Maharashtra.

While speaking on the arrest of a journalist by the BJP government in UP in Hathras gang rape and murder case, Shelar said that the entire leftist media made a tornado of the incident as if there has been no precedent of this case.

“When the victim must get justice, entire leftist media made a tornado of the incident as if there has been no precedent of this case and discredited the Yogi Adityanath and BJP government. As the government wanted to protect the witness in the case, it did not allow anyone to contact the victim’s family” he said.

Shelar also added that media organizations must respect counter views without making criminals out of people on the other side. “Fairness is paramount to news media. In that fairness, news should not be fake or disseminated wrongly. News organizations must use correct words and desist from character assassination of people whose ideology may be different than theirs and not hold them as if there is no bigger criminal than the person on the other side, otherwise, people will lose faith in media and politics and this will not auger well for both” he said.

Business World

“Governance cannot be lip service” says U GRO Founder, Sachindra Nath

Sep 17, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Governance, #Kailashnath Adhikari, #MD, #RBI, #Sachindra Nath, #SEBI

Mumbai, 17th September 2020: Entrepreneur Sachindra Nath, executive chairman and managing director, U GRO Capital has said that majorly, fall of financial institutions are a result of governance failures and company board members must ensure checks and balances for the larger ecosystem.

In a live chat with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now during the 11th Visionary Talk Series held by the public policy and governance analysis platform the founder of Mumbai based NBFC while speaking on governance, transparency and role of the board in corporate governance said that governance is a loaded word and it brings balance.

“Any company which is in the business of credit lending and has multiple stakeholders needs good governance practices to bring balance around borrowers, deposit holders i.e. lenders, shareholders and regulators. Failures happen when controllers of these entities want to build their businesses faster than the norm and their personal interest precedes interest of the company. Where the control of the promoters is not curtailed well and interest of stakeholders is not taken care of all FI’s are at risk of failure.”

Nath said that a framework needs to be created for a larger ecosystem and having checks and balances. He said that historically we have presumed that it is the job of regulators to provide a framework to operate. “The problem is regulation does not differentiate between controller and supervisor
and we believe it is the job of an RBI, SEBI or XTZ regulator.”

He said that the framework will provide the comfort that company board members do not have a conflict of interest, nor are they mere nominees of promoters but have the stature and depth of understanding to balance. The board and independent directors not only have to take care of equity shareholders but also simultaneously have checks and balances on issues that can affect the broader ecosystem.

Recalling his own experience of setting up U GRO, he said, we knew Governance cannot be mere lip service and had to be part of our chartered document. “To give an extra layer of governance I decided to list the company and raised sizeable capital largely from institutional investors. Upfront we created a framework within our articles. For example, it said, majority of the board will perpetually remain independent directors; as a promoter of the company I have relinquished my right to nominate more than two board members; we cannot lend more than 1% of our net worth; we cannot unilaterally fire our CRO or CFO and has to have the approval of audit committee chairman” said Nath.

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News

At Niti Aayog they have become Rai Sahabs”: Former bureaucrat Anil Swaroop to Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now

Sep 7, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Anil Swaroop, #Kailashnath Adhikari, #NITI Aayog

India, September 2020: Former bureaucrat Anil Swaroop has called for reforms in civil services with a focus on leadership skills and not analytical skills. He has said that expertise and analytical skills can be outsourced but the attitude has to be developed.     

Swaroop, who is the ex-secretary, School Education and Coal and founder chairman ‘Nexus of Good’ movement has said Swaroop, who is the ex-secretary, School Education and Coal and founder chairman ‘Nexus of Good’ movement has said while speaking to media that at present right from selection to the time of retirement handling of civil servants is not worthy of mention. ‘’In our manner of selection of civil servants, there are only accidental leaders. We select people who can write the exam in those three hours. The nature of questions is such that they test analytical skills but not leadership skills.” He was in a webinar with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now  

Responding to a question on if the government allowing lateral entry in bureaucracy and Niti Ayog bringing down the retirement age limit to 60 years at the state and central levels will help improve governance, Swaroop said, ‘At Niti Aayog they have become ‘Rai Sahabs’. The problem in civil services is not about expertise but about the approach and that is critical. The ethos has to change.  Because as you rise up the ladder you need to manage men and women so you need leaders, not experts. I am not against their lateral entry but if they are not brought in a manner that is objective and  transparent  in the process  there could be serious trouble.” He also criticized the fact that no thought is given before postings.   

Swaroop also said that technology must be implemented in government offices to weed out corruption. The unusual situation brought in by COVID has emphasized on the use of technology in all walks of life and the use of time to reinvent. I am talking of using technology and transparency..virtually eliminating corruption.. railways managed to handle corruption through technology.. both the departments of coal and education that I headed, I dispensed with old papers files. Everything was digitized ..what aren’t the ministries  digitizing  their processes and their files because much of the corruption  is on account of .. ….which we call speed money…. since I made the processes transparent the world knew which officer was sitting on which file for how much time.. I am convinced that with use of technology we can mitigate the ill effects of corruption substantially” said Swaroop who has authored two books, ‘Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant’ and ‘Not Just a Civil Servant.’