Media -Time to do away with Q & A interviews and redefining News

Following Jayalalitha’s death, Karan Thapar’s interview with J Jayalalithaa done in 2004 has been shared and discussed in social media and other media. Karan Thapar himself had written about that interview and how some questions just slipped from his tongue and made him miserable. Those who have analysed the interview will understand that the questions were a bit shallow and it was preceded by the statement- the’ press says’, or ‘press alleges’ or ‘the media said.’ This is the way most interviews are conducted on TV and also other media.

Perhaps, it is time to rethink about how to conduct interviews not only for the print media but also for broadcast media and online.

1.Why not stop Q & A: The traditional mode of interview is for the journo to ask questions- it may be factual questions, questions on policy, controversial questions. Although a minister, MLA or MP represents the people and has an upper hand or authority, he or she still is not the single source for all the answers related to an issue.  On the other hand, if it turns into a dialogue where the interviewer uses his knowledge, insight gained from the field to express his comments or allow viewers to send their views and get it aired, it makes sense. Party’s or coalitions views on specific topics can always be send as press release and published if it is so important.

However, this requires considerable reading and research by media and it is not that easy. However, if you go back to the Karan Thapar-Jayalalitha interview- both of them had sheets of paper before them but what was the information or data she wanted to tell. Was there any hard numbers or achievements she wanted to highlight?

Ultimately, a politician’s success should not be just confined to analyzing their victory, defeats in elections or even how people view them but by what changes they made to the State or the country. Is Tamilnadu better off than it was in the 1980’ and early 1990’s? Was Amma’s popularity due to the free sarees or subsidized rice she provided?  Has there been real industrial and economic growth and do investors feel happy with the State Administration? If the media has hard numbers or evidence related to this, it would have given any Chief Minister-whether it is Jayalalitha or Karunanidhi facing the camera a really tough time.

2. Going for TRP and popularity

Media being another business, news has also become a branded commodity. Each programme or a section in a news page may be designed in such a way as to attract maximum readership or TRP rating.

Thus Hard Talk may have a particular pattern of tough questions and answers that may put some leaders in a spot but most often as Jayalalitha says it doesn’t add any value to the viewer.

3.Looking at unusual patterns

The media makes news by pointing out something unusual somebody does. It has to find something unusual in people, events, leaders whether it is negative or positive. The doc who popularized ‘lateral thinking’, Edward de Bono,has pointed out this uniqueness of the media. That perhaps make them celebrate successes rather than find out why the majority fail.

4. Redifining News: News is not the traditional North-East-West-South concept of information coming from different directions. But it should try to answer questions that are relevant to the common man-whether it concerns the banking system, utilities, economic growth, performance of a government or a minister.

Remembering a 'sallapam' with Manju Warrier

By Sreekumar Raghavan
Last week,  Malayalam cine stars Dileep and Kavya Madhavan surprised many with their wedding held at Kochi which many close to them came to know only in the 11^th hour. There after social media was populated with supporters of Manju Warrier, who couldn’t digest the news of Dileep uniting in marriage with Kavya. Manju is yet to comment on the Dilip-Kavya wedding.

I remember the only interaction I had with Manju in 1998 along with my journalist friend Ashik who was freelancing for some publications. He was assigned to do a piece on Manju for a Bombay tabloid. I used to help him edit his copy and rework his intros as he was more comfortable with Malayalam than English. He requested me to accompany him for the interview with Manju at Pankaj Hotel. She had come there to perform at the Soorya Dance Festival and the meeting was arranged by Surya Krishnamurthy himself.

I remember going there at 8 am and Manju was dressed in a churidar looking more like a college girl. Her parents were there in the adjoining room. My friend plunged straight into the controversies in her career including the elopement from the sets of a film with the assistant director. He asked whether it was part of a move to give pre-release publicity to the film as some people claim. Manju was not surprised or taken aback by such questions. But her father intervened and said such questions can’t be allowed.

He had agreed to the interview only because Surya Krishnamurthy recommended and that no personal or controversial questions will be asked. The total time allotted was 30 minutes and Ashik still persisted with the questions concerning her affairs and rumors of marriage. Her father called me and said such personal questions should be avoided and the media should focus on her career. At this point of time marriage and all these affairs will only harm her career, he said. He felt her acting career would be totally upset by marriage.

After some time Ashik seemed to give up because of the frequent interventions and he also did not see any story in writing about her films and dance performances. I intervened once or twice to ask about her forthcoming films and also the dance performances. Very soon, her father announced that our time was up and they had to move on.

I had also not asked my friend what questions he would be asking but I felt the concerns of her parents were quite genuine. They had taken lot of pains to groom the artiste in Manju right from school days when she became Kalathilakam. The same year we interviewed Manju, she got married to Dileep.

I helped my friend write a short piece based on our meeting with Manju where the focus was on her upcoming films although we may have just mentioned about the controversies and her refusal to comment on it.

I forgot all about it until the other day when she began to be featured in the media following Dileep’s second marriage. What her father said has turned out to be true. She decided to marry when her career was at its peak and the Malayalam film viewers many times pleaded for her come back.

As I take my little daughter Diyah for various dance, music and sports performances, I realize a lifetime of hardwork and care Manju's parents took to groom a talented actress. She is back to the big screen again and let’s not put the spotlights again on her personal life but help her make it big again.

Chicken Puffs for Rs 250, the Economics Actor Anusree doesn't know

Some news sites reported about Actor Anusree’s shock and anguish over paying Rs 250 for chicken puffs, black tea Rs 80 and Rs 100 for Coffee at a restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. When she posted this on her Facebook, several netizens protested against the Kitchen Restaurant that charged such high rates for snacks and beverages.

A Member of Parliament (MP) from Kerala is expected to raise the issue of this fleecing at the airport in Loksabha.

Actress Anusree's profile pix in FB and below her post related to Chicken Puffs

Those who have read Freakonomics, the best seller by Stephen J Dubner and Steven Levitt will understand that such premium pricing in some locations is not unusual and is quite universal. The places where you may have to shell out such premium prices for mineral water, food, beverages  are in cinema theatres, railway stations, airports, on flights,  beaches, tourist centres and five star hotels.

In these places, the seller has a monopoly, there won’t be any other seller offering at a competitive rate and the nearest seller may be a few kilometres away. Those who are thirsty or hungry need to pay higher rate at such places but if they can hold on and take the trouble to go a few kilometres they’ll get more variety fare at cheaper rates. It’s your choice.

There may be other factors behind the higher prices. The vendor who runs the restaurant at airports or railway stations may have paid a huge license fee to get a space there and may be paying higher rent compared to a similar place in the town or city. Remember, not many people will buy huge quantities of snacks or beverages in airports or five star hotels or inside flights.

In a flight you may have to shell out Rs 500 for a sandwich supplemented with ketchup or assortments whose actual value may be hardly Rs 50 or 75/-. Once a co-passenger in a Kingfisher flight from Bangalore told me he never thought food is not given free in budget flights but he chose not to buy despite being hungry as he was not willing to shell out Rs 500 for a small pack of food.

In Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, if the particular restaurant sells 100 pieces of puffs daily (quite unlikely), their earnings would Rs 25000 and sells hundred 100 cups of coffee(Rs 10000).  A business outlet in such a place needs to have atleast such volumes to justify their existence there – after all they need to meet A/c, higher rental, employee costs, raw material costs and their potential is limited to number of passengers who may choose to buy at this rate.

My wife who checked in at Taj Hotel in Chennai the other day said Idli, Vada and Tea for breakfast costs Rs 500 and she chose to go to a nearby local restaurant and got it for less than Rs 100. In fact, many people who stay in five star hotels don't eat from there unless it is sponsored by their company or somebody else.Why pay more if you can get better quality at very reasonable price from a way side dhaba?

Price is not cost + reasonable profit

Many people think, price of a product is just cost plus reasonable profit. But most often that is not the case. It is basically about how much the customer will be willing to bear and uniqueness of the product. Value rests in the mind of the buyer. You are the king, not the seller. 

Pricing (Price theory)  is an important topic in micro-economics and it is difficult to go into the nuances of it all in this blog.  I don’t expect Anusree , a talented actress of Diamond Necklace, Mahashinte Prathikaram and Oppam fame to know all these things related to economic theory but going by the huge number of shocked people who reacted to her FB post, I am worried a large majority doesn’t understand it at all- despite the fact that we are all consumers in one way or the other. 

Tailpiece: Anusree comes from film industry where super stars get crores of rupees from a single film and ordinary people who earn below Rs 500 per day queue up to watch them do all sort of stunts and drama!

  

Stray Dogs: Are we barking up the wrong tree?

I remember in my childhood in Thiruvananthapuram where I used to be chased by stray dogs when I went cycling near my house. Then you have no way out but pedal as fast as possible so that it won’t catch up with you. There is a famous joke which appeared in Reader’s Digest at that time. Someone sees a neighbor rushing and he says he has to catch the 4.30 Mail.  “If you see my bulldog you will catch the 4.15 express.”

How much adrenalin is pumped during such times when we face a ‘fight or flight’ situation?  Now the newspapers, television and social media is full of news about stray dogs and how it is becoming a menace to society.

(Photo Courtesy: www.kochousephchittilapilly.com)

These are the people fighting the issue out in the streets:
1) Maneka Gandhi , a union minister (for women and child development and nothing to do with animals!), animal lovers and ofcourse,Ranjini Haridas, a leading TV personality.

2) Kochouseph Chittilapilly, successful industrialist and philanthropist who believes a man’s life is more precious than the canine’s.

Most of the majority including the government seems to be onlookers in this fight.

There is some truth in what Kochouseph Chittilapilly’s argument that a powerful lobby led by pharma companies producing anti-rabies vaccine may be in the forefront supporting the animal rights group. Recently, our pet dog Zoe (Dasch) while playing bit my daughter Diyah’s fingers. We had taken Rabipur injection of one year validity for the pet and our Vet assured that there is nothing to worry. But since there was a wound we took her to the nearest private hospital and there the doc suggested we take five doses of Rabipur and also Human immuno globin which costs Rs 7000 or more. He said vaccines are not stored properly and there is a chance that my pet dog may have rabies.

Imagine if it were a stray dog that bit my daughter, how much will these hospitals extract from you capitalizing on our fear?

But Maneka Gandhi and people like Ranjini Haridas whether they are funded by any lobby or not are out of sync with reality. There are people who have been bitten once by a stray dog and perpetually in fear of the canines.  How gruesome it is to be bitten by a dog? How many of these animal lovers have suffered it?

The Solution

Some suggest sterilization of stray dogs, but that doesn’t address the issue of rabies. Some others advice killing them mercilessly whether infected or not.

The solution lies in setting up more animal shelters, killing only those badly infected and letting people adopt them after proper medical examination and certification. Not all people like the canines but if one in hundred homes adopted one dog, most of the bad news you hear on the streets would be a thing of the past. I need not emphasize all the good things that come with keeping pets more over dogs are good security guards keeping watch over you 24/7 365 days of the year.

(I welcome comments and opinions on this issue and will be glad to share in my blog-write to sreekumsree@gmail.com)

Handicap no hindrance for amazing feats

Anish Mohan based in the South Indian state of Kerala had high hopes when he attended an interview at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after completing a diploma in instrumentation with top honors. However, fate had something else in store for him. On his way back home from the interview, he was run over by train losing his right hand and left leg.

Most people going through such setbacks lose all hope in life and become totally disappointed. Nothing could stop the dogged determination and will power of the 26 year old Anish who with the help of an artificial leg and hand managed to undertake the difficult Sabarimala Pilgirmage walking several kilometres and climbing 18 steps apart from driving a car on his own. He is now engaged in several activities for handicapped people or differently abled. He has urged the State Government to have separate parking lots space for differently abled people in public places.

Alexis Leon is now a familiar name for computer engineering students as most of them may have read atleast one of his best -selling books. After a brilliant academic career, Alexis got a good break in India’s premier IT company Tata Consultancy Services where he was blossoming as an ace software programmer when he was involved with a major road accident that crippled him for life. He was on his way to meet his fiancé and mother who had come Chennai for shopping for the wedding which was hardly a few weeks away. He was confined to the wheel chair for life but doctors helped him move his hands all the while this accident couldn’t dent his indomitable spirit. Now living with his brother, Alexis Leon continues to write amazing books which are a delight to read for IT students and enthusiasts. According to Alexis Leon, if he hadn’t become a paraplegic such good books may not have seen the light of the day.

We have any number of examples of people who have fought courageously a handicap which could have crippled their ambition and hopes but decided to fight courageously with a never-say- die attitude.
Sudha Chandran, a dancer who lost her leg in a car accident continued to dance using the Jaipur foot (artificial leg) became a household name with the release of the film Mayuri featuring her in the lead role as the dancer. In the film, Mayuri’s lover leaves her on seeing her handicapped after an accident but thereafter returns once she becomes famous. But Mayuri rejects her lover keeping her self respect intact. The film produced by the legendary South Indian film maker Ramoji Rao went on to become a success at the box office and remade in to several other languages.

In my childhood I was inspired by a former military employee who lost a leg while on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala. Using crutches he learned to walk with one feet and also climb on a bicycle and ride fast. It was a delight to see Appu Pillai cruise along with other cyclists on busy roads  and on steep roads he took the help of autorickshaw drivers who allowed him to hold the side bar of the rickshaw to enable him to overcome the steep road easier. He also started his own small shop selling sweets, juices, biscuits and fruits.

Lessons to live by
When an unfortunate incident makes you differently disabled,  not many people are able to overcome the adversities and get ahead  in life. Most often they had decided not to remain idle so that they are not dependent on somebody else either physically or financially or as Alexis Leon said if he had confined himself to bed for life, his parents and brothers who loved him dearly would have become crippled at heart.

Secondly, technology has made amazing strides to make life easier for differentl y disabled. But it takes determination, enthusiasm and courage to make use of these innovations as they may not be easy to use in the beginning. In the case of artificial Jaipur foot, it requires months of practice and also the user needs to undergo lot of pain before it can be adjusted for their requirements.

The handicapped people themselves have been in the forefront of making policy changes to help these public user public services such as buses and trains. Now many public transport buses have special seats reserved for such people and has lowered the height of floors. In many public places and commercial establishments, convenient parking space is reserved for different disabled. Most often the same people who required it had to lobby for it to get the facility mandated by government.

In many countries, government establishments have special quotas for these talented people to jobs according to their skill and talent.  If you look around, you can see healthy people giving lame excuses for not doing a job properly or blaming the government or  others for not able to become an achiever. It is most often our mindset that determines our future not our disability.

There is a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna in Mahabharatha on how to get ahead in tough times- ‘always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing’.  According to Stephen Covey, only 10% of what happens is in our life is beyond our control – for eg. a bad behavior from someone, an accident, a setback in career or life, but the rest 90% is in our hands, how we respond or manage that determines things to come.

Fighting on the streets, TV & social media: Journos & Lawyers setting a bad precedent

For the past two weeks, the fight between lawyers and journos in Kerala High Court and District Court in Thiruvananthapuram is being discussed and analysed widely in social media, newspapers, TV and in public forums. I don’t have all the facts related to the incident but from what ever has appeared, I think much of the opinions expressed have been one-sided, negative and not useful to create an atmosphere of trust and goodwill between the warring factions.
If this trend continues the situation would be like the India-Pakistan dispute which never ends because some people never want it to happen.

Even leading newspapers such as the Malayala Manorama reported that the fights erupted with media men because of the reporting of the arrest of a government pleader for allegedly trying to molest a woman on the street.  Later discussions in TV have revealed that there has been simmering discontent among lawyers and journos that boiled over after the arrest of the government pleader. Media men have said that lawyers are not pleased when coverage of a case or about lawyers is not favorable to them.  Politicians, policemen and businessmen all have grudges against media when they are not happy with a report concerning them but it can’t be helped.

Some recent incidents that may have disrupted the good relations between media-men and legal fraternity :

1) Media reporting of government pleader’s arrest and its live coverage shown in TV. The Deccan Chronicle news about differences of opinion in High Court Advocates Association over how to handle the government pleader’s case which turned out to be false and subsequently apologies tended by the paper.

2) Media reporting over the controversy of a legal advisor position given by the government to a senior advocate Mr Damodaran.

3) Media men getting access to details of a case and publishing judgment before lawyers get to know it.

4) Abuse of three senior women journalists at the Media Room including Preethy of Mathrubhumi.

5) Senior Advocate Ramkumar stating in Mathrubhumi News Super Prime Time that it was three women journalists who started the issue leading to fight between media and lawyers in High Court.

Soon after the open fight between journos and lawyers in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, Facebook was filled with posts that used the most derogatory language with both sides abusing each other blissfully forgetting that they are part of Judiciary that represents the third estate and press that is the fourth estate. Several people were eager to share the videos and photos that appeared in the press and social media – having a sadistic joy in discussing and spreading it.

Among the various opinion and analyses that came up after the incidents—Adv Jayashankar, Sebastian Paul, Adv Sivan Madathil, Adv Kaleeswaram Raj, Adv CP Udayabhanu, and Babu Bhaskar, veteran commentator- columnist (Read his column in Edit Page of Malayala Manorama dated June 25, 2016) stood out but not to forget the lone female voice from the legal fraternity- Adv  Sangeetha Lakshmana who took exception to the boycott call by High Court Advocates Association boldly stating that she would appear for her clients when the name is called.

The relevance of Third and Fourth Estate
The Indian Constitution has provided the framework of judiciary to examine disputes related to laws passed in Parliament and legislatures, and to try civil, criminal, and governmental cases. Freedom of the press is derived from Article 19 (1) of the Indian Constituition which gives the freedom of speech to citizens of India. The executive consisting of council of ministers and officials runs the government administration and are accountable to legislature and Parliament.

All new laws and constitutional amendments are passed by Parliament which is then sent for approval of the President and in State assemblies to the Governor.  Then we have the Police which is responsible for maintaining law and order again subject to rules and laws of the land. All the four estates have a meaningful role to play and what they do have an important bearing on the common man. Therefore, it goes without saying that our elected  legislators (members of parliament, assemblies and local panchayats, municipalities), ministers and officials, judiciary (judges and lawyers, supporting officials) and media (tv,radio, online, newspapers and magazines) should maintain the highest professional ethics and decorum in their day- to- day activities and when disputes arise between the estates.

Relevance of Media Relations Committee
The Supreme Court Chief Justice and Acting Chief Justice of Kerala High Court were quick in appealing to the warring factions to calm down and seek a solution through dialogue. Kerala Chief Minister also used his good offices to set up a Media Relations Committee in High Court having representation from legal and media fraternity although Babu Bhaskar pointed out that fewer members are there from the media. If you look at the Press Council- it’s mostly headed by people from the legal fraternity and not seasoned journalists.

The setting up of media relations committees is a welcome step and in future if all disputes between media, police and lawyers were first referred to it and settled there a war-like situation can be averted. Many media men doubted the utility of a committee as Police Media relations committee is dysfunctional for a long time.  It’s true that journos work under daily deadline pressure and some of them also face constant threats from politicians, government officials, businessmen, police, legal fraternity for exposing some misdoing. At the same time, it is the responsibility of newspaper managements to ensure that journos doing court reporting are of of high caliber who are capable of understanding and analyse the court rulings and procedures. The alleged violation of laws in reporting the arrest of government pleader could have been avoided if norms were adhered to by the Police and media men.

There should be a high level discussion between Chief Editors of newspapers , TV channels, Online portals with judges and lawyers , police representatives on the ethics to be followed in Court reporting and the code of conduct to be followed by all the stakeholders in the four estates or pillars of democracy.  Each pillar cannot do without the other and therefore why this unnecessary fighting. Let each member of these estates make use of the privilege to serve society rather than misuse it and cause trouble to common man which in turn lowers their esteem and public image.


Tailpiece:
Justice Abraham Mathew of Kerala High Court observed that the new laws  (probably passed by legislatures and Parliament) in vogue create the impression of a blind men seeing an elephant. It is because of ignorance of existing laws related to the new law that is creating problems, he said. (So now we know the need for strengthening all our pillars of democracy) if the citizens are to gain anything from them!

Vista: When talent meets opportunity at Rajagiri School

School children have a heavy load of books, assignments, assessments to go through from day one of every academic year- no matter whether it's dark clouds, rain, lightning or thunderstorm. No doubt their career fortunes are impacted by the number of A+, A’s in their report cards.

Globalisation has brought a new challenge to our school and college education. New job opportunities are now more in private sector than in government and more people may need to start new ventures rather than seek jobs as technically qualified and skilled people.



Children who finish school need to have multiple skills (sports, games, art, culture) apart from good academics to emerge successful in their career. Traditional school festivals that only assess singing, dancing or music skills may not suffice in such a scenario.

It is against this backdrop, that some institutions have come up with novel cultural festivals that bring out the best talent in children to fore front  and give them the much needed confidence regarding their capabilities. One such cultural event is Vista organized by Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery.  Individual talent does matter but more importantly team building, leadership, sports man spirit will decide the true winners.Here's a peep at what is going to happen at Vista 2016:

Dance, Drama, music….puzzles, quizzes and more…

-How about enacting a character from Vaikam Mohammed Basheer’s literary works or a sing a folk song with harvest, festivals and Kerala tradition as the theme and test your knowledge of the state’s rich art, culture and films through MUTHUCHIPPI. These are not for the big boys though. Only Classses I & II are welcome.

-For slightly older students (Class III-V)- WORDSMITH gives the opportunity to test their competency in words, spellings, anagrams…authors, and if you are kid is fond of grammar rules, this is for you.

-Get the fear of mathematics out from your kids with PROBLEME DE MATHEMATICA- it’s filled with puzzles, riddles, quizzes and you need not be a tiny Ramanujam to take part in this though. Again only for Classes III to V).

-Heard of decathlon, marathon, biathlon … . if cycling, running and swmming is your forte, TRIATHLON would be ideal . All that you need bring is shorts, tees, canvas shoe, swimming and plenty of energy and enthusiasm. The bicycles are parked here.

- Chefs and needle masters have the FRILLS and THRILLS to prepare a tasty falooda with the ingredients provided and give that extra punch with the surprise ingredient provided.

- ALCHE MYSTERY- if reading the biographies of scientists are your passion, this game is for you.  And a good working model for making our surroundings greener would clinch you the prize.

For the big boys/girls:Classes IX to XII

-Do you mean business? Do millionaires, billioinaires excite and motivate you. You must be adept at marketing as well. What is your Profit Quotient is for the budding entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow.
-Then for the artistic there are the street play –Theruvarangu and  La Symphonie D’Emotion for the rhythm, melody and harmony conscious.
-Save the Earth---that’s the only one we have. Use hip hop, contemporary dance to depict the challenges facing our planet in Bhumikkoru Kuda.

When and Where
With hardly a two weeks to go, kids should gear up fast-call 0484-2911202, 2911230 or www.rajagiri.ac.in for registration. Venue: Rajagiri Public School-Kalamassery. Organised by Rajagiri Public School, Parent Teacher Association.
 

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