‘Fake news’ directive withdrawn on Modi’s orders

Faced with severe criticism from the media and the opposition, the Prime Minister’s office has directed the Information & Broadcasting ministry to withdraw the ‘fake news’ directive. The ministry had, last evening, issued a statement that envisaged provisions to punish journalists who reported ‘fake news’. According to the press release issued yesterday, action — including […]

No FIR against Tribune reporter over Aadhaar leakage story – Govt

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said no case has been registered against reporter Rachna Khaira or The Tribune newspaper in relation to the January 3 story on how Aadhaar details were available for sale at Rs 500. The report had claimed that ‘agents’ were providing Aadhaar verification solutions for as little as Rs […]

Stock Exchange seeks clarification from NDTV on Ajay Singh’s stake-buy

The National Stock Exchange has again sought a clarification from NDTV after the Indian Express reported that SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh was now the biggest shareholder in the media company. UPDATE: NDTV has denied the rumors. According to the newspaper, Singh has acquired a 60% stake in the media company, restricting existing promoters led by […]

Arnab Goswami teases the launch of Republic TV

Arnab Goswami, arguably the most talked about Indian journalist in recent years, has released a teaser video on the upcoming launch of his new television channel Republic TV. The video shows Goswami writing a letter to Mr Gandhi — perhaps a reference to Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi — informing him that ‘he’s coming […]

Kerala Police file FIR against journalists after sting goes awry

Kerala Police have filed a first information report against the head and eight members of the ‘investigation team’ of a newly launched TV channel for a botched up sting operation targeting a minister. The FIR has been filed under sections of the Information Technology Act, sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with conspiracy and […]

Reliance Jio Impact: Online Advertising rates decline in India in November

4G operator Reliance Jio’s trial services, which started in earnest about three months ago, has disrupted the online ad industry by massively increasing the total inventory without a commensurate increase in ad budgets. INTERNET EXPLODES Today, Reliance Jio has 50 mln users who, on average use about 1 GB of data per day. This creates 50 mln […]

Youtuber blows whistle on paid gadget news and reviews in India

Youtuber Gaurav Chaudhary, who goes by the name of Technical Guruji, has set off a minor storm in the gadget reviewer circles by accusing many of his peers of passing on paid reviews for the real thing. Chaudhary dons the mantle of the whistleblower and warns his fellow reviewers and Youtubers not to cheat their audience […]

Finally, Kerala CM takes a stand on Lawyers vs Media fight

Almost three months after the tussle between various lawyers associations and journalists first hit the headlines, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today took a stand on the issue, urging lawyers to let the media do their job. “The lawyers should realize that they do wrong in blocking journalists from accessing the court premises,” Vijayan said […]