Demolishing the scoop

IN Media Watch Briefs | 30/08/2010

The Times of India and Ananda Bazar Patrika’s scoop of last week has been exposed by the Telegraph today, August 30, to be a police plant. The Maoist rape victim interviewed in a forest has apparently been in police custody since April this year. After the story came out police staged a surrender. Writes the Telegraph, "When she appeared before a few journalists days before her "surrender", she had, in fact, been taken under police escort from the Midnapore circuit house to the fringes of a forest in Salboni, the policemen said."

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Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.