India Uncut
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Monday, March 14, 2005
Non-Cricketing Cliche: Just Not Cricket
It's just not cricket, the cliche goes, and it would apply perfectly to the situation Pradyuman Maheshwari, the blogger behind Mediaah!, now finds himself in. I had met Pradyuman last month, and he had told about the problems he was having with with mainstream media (now known as MSM, the acronym of the year). A media house had just sent him a legal notice, asking him to remove a post from his blog, and apologise. He apologised, but was determined to fight on.
Well, this battle is over. The Times of India (TOI) sent him a legal notice recently, asking him to remove 19 posts. He chose, after much deliberation, to shut the blog down. His reasons are, for the moment, given here. It is a decision that has upset a lot of his fans, including me – but a man’s peace of mind is his most important possession, and only Pradyuman could have judged what he needed to do to maintain it.
A senior journalist I was speaking to recently told me that Mediaah! was doomed from the time Pradyuman took them on. “A chap called Vijay Jindal is now in charge at TOI,” he said. “He used to be in Zee, and is known to play dirty. He’s the kind of guy who, if he wants to mess with you, will go to Shillong and file a case against you. What can you do then? You’re fucked.”
What amazes me is why TOI took umbrage at Mediaah! As I told Pradyuman recently, it is testimony to the reach and influence of his blog that the giant should bother with this pesky dwarf. But it was rather silly for TOI to do so. Pradyuman was a reasonable journalist, always willing to represent both points of view on anything, and he never went overboard with his criticism. He barked, but he was a responsible watchdog. TOI should have been relieved that he existed, for criticism can get far worse on the internet. It can be anonymous, venomous, and libellous. Mediaah! was none of these things.
To judge for yourself, visit this site, set up by an anonymous wellwisher, and read the 19 posts that offended TOI, as well as the letter they sent him. Don’t trust me on this: make up your own mind. Is it libellous? Is it unfair? Wasn’t such a voice a good one for readers, journalists and publications alike?
Most bloggers put a lot more of themselves in their blogs than most journalists do in their day jobs, and Pradyuman must now be feeling that a part of himself has died. I know I’d be shattered if I had to shut India Uncut down.
(Thank you, Peter Griffin, for alerting me to what happened, and for fighting the good fight.)
Well, this battle is over. The Times of India (TOI) sent him a legal notice recently, asking him to remove 19 posts. He chose, after much deliberation, to shut the blog down. His reasons are, for the moment, given here. It is a decision that has upset a lot of his fans, including me – but a man’s peace of mind is his most important possession, and only Pradyuman could have judged what he needed to do to maintain it.
A senior journalist I was speaking to recently told me that Mediaah! was doomed from the time Pradyuman took them on. “A chap called Vijay Jindal is now in charge at TOI,” he said. “He used to be in Zee, and is known to play dirty. He’s the kind of guy who, if he wants to mess with you, will go to Shillong and file a case against you. What can you do then? You’re fucked.”
What amazes me is why TOI took umbrage at Mediaah! As I told Pradyuman recently, it is testimony to the reach and influence of his blog that the giant should bother with this pesky dwarf. But it was rather silly for TOI to do so. Pradyuman was a reasonable journalist, always willing to represent both points of view on anything, and he never went overboard with his criticism. He barked, but he was a responsible watchdog. TOI should have been relieved that he existed, for criticism can get far worse on the internet. It can be anonymous, venomous, and libellous. Mediaah! was none of these things.
To judge for yourself, visit this site, set up by an anonymous wellwisher, and read the 19 posts that offended TOI, as well as the letter they sent him. Don’t trust me on this: make up your own mind. Is it libellous? Is it unfair? Wasn’t such a voice a good one for readers, journalists and publications alike?
Most bloggers put a lot more of themselves in their blogs than most journalists do in their day jobs, and Pradyuman must now be feeling that a part of himself has died. I know I’d be shattered if I had to shut India Uncut down.
(Thank you, Peter Griffin, for alerting me to what happened, and for fighting the good fight.)
