Google is trying to be this weird thing: an unassailable behemoth with a conscience. But what if you don't want the 'beautiful, intuitive experience' being promised?
SEVANTI NINAN on free speech and privacy challenges. Image: Google's privacy policy video.
Student research on the Hoot: With their dismal coverage of child development issues, Odisha editions of major English newspapers fail to sensitise in the state with the highest infant mortality rate. NEHA BHANDARKAR says children constitute 12% of Odisha's population; and their exclusion from the print media is a matter of concern. Pix: child labour in Orissa from orissadiary.com
A parody twitter account of the PM says he has appointed Rajinikanth to look into the brand war issues between the Hindu and TOI. T S SUDHIR on the kolaveri taking place between the Mahavishnu of Mount Road and the Old Lady of Bori Bunder.
Congress MLA Venod Sharma has the advantage of being the proprietor of a newspaper his family has started, Aaj Samaj. He gets generous coverage in his own newspaper. And his paper is now campaigning against paid news. THE HOOT desk
The Salman Rushdie controversy at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 has stirred the hornet's nest. NOOR UL HAQ sees a paradoxical contrast in the approach of support groups.
Even as journalists are busy getting the inside story, there are others who are keeping a close watch on their every move. MIR UBAID reveals that it has now become incumbent on media persons to employ secure communication tools.
A Pakistani morning show turns to moral policing on couples, stirring major outcry against media's "vigil-aunties" in the country, reports BEENA SARWAR on her blog.
The use of Twitter has seen a significant rise among the journalists in India since 2007 as they find it helpful to assimilate, disseminate, and spread news to the people. But in Odisha the trend is yet to catch up among the media persons. SAMATA KUMAR JOSHI's study shows that the scribes in the State still consider the site complicated.
Vinod Mehta publishes a long, unflattering anecdote about Shobhaa De in his book Lucknow Boy. India Today gives the book to De to review and she trashes it without mentioning the personal angle upfront. IT giving the book to De to review was the act of a rival magazine being petty. Imagine if Outlook had given the book to De to review. Now that would have been a sassy thing to do, in keeping with Vinod Mehta’s tradition of playing up criticism of the magazine, in the magazine.
Recent figures show Indians are increasingly putting their trust--in the media. The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer findings say that people's trust in the media has grown the fastest in India, from 50% to 70% so far this year. It was an online survey with more than 30,000 respondents which included 1000 general population respondents from each country. Despite complaints of 'frivolous' reporting and a mad rush for TRPs on TV, in India, trust in the media increased by 20 points, while in US it rose 18 points, 15 points in UK and 12 points in Italy--the first time trust in the institution of the media has risen above 50%. (HT)
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