Muffling a Blogger
Why this tirade against violation of free speech principles? Because of this post. In the aftermath of the Mumbai Terror attacks, public opinion against the media was especially scathing as it clearly saw through the fourth estate’s blatant violation of journalism ethics and pandering to commercialism. The word ‘Exclusive‘ and questions like ‘aap ko kaisa laga raha hai?‘ were never so reviled. Opinions flooded the blogosphere and the Twitterverse so much so that the media finally acknowledged the usefulness of this new medium in spreading news and information.
But instead of introspecting into what did they do wrong, the media, in this case NDTV, did what they always do – use its influence and legal muscle to muffle the little guy. Chetan’s post titled ‘Shoddy Journalism’ (now removed but available on Google cache) was one of the well-written rants in the blogosphere that documented the Indian media’s failings and handling of this crisis.
One of the (three) primary complaints by NDTV against Chetan’s posts, as he cites in his withdrawal post, was the accusation that Barkha Dutt had revealed troop locations endangering their lives, was in fact cited and quoted directly from Wikipedia. So how can Chetan be sued for libel for stating an external source? Was Wikipedia sued? I bet not. Why not? [UPDATE: apparently, you can be held liable even if you cite an external source but malicious intent must be proven] Because it is simple to scare the little guy instead of taking on an influential non-profit that is responsible for creating an encyclopedia of human knowledge. The Wikipedia entry on Barkha Dutt that says the above still exists. Will NDTV sue me for pointing you to a source of contention? Hey, it is neither my opinion nor am I agreeing with it but merely stating that such a claim exists. Is this libel? I thought it was known in pop culture as gossip but what do I know after I’m just one of the We in ‘We the People‘. The first complaint was an opinion; not a stated fact and the second one, was a widespread consensus among the general populace.
The tactics of NDTV is simple – zero in on a small blogger and threaten him with a lawsuit for practicing the very same fundamental right that they earn their livelihood from. After all, the legal team must earn their retainer, right? And it works. Why wouldn’t it? An average blogger doesn’t want any pangas and just wants a digital record of his life, opinions, and memories. We don’t secretly plan on taking over your media business. I completely understand Chetan’s decision to back down but that doesn’t make what NDTV did right.
Mind you, they are not counting on the case going to court but employing tactics that the RIAA employed not too long ago to dissuade people from sharing music online. Not one case resulted in a conviction but plenty were settled outside the courtroom. Until of course, the RIAA ran out of money to sue (those retainers can add up!) and their strongarm tactics did not discourage others from doing what they thought was unlawful. So I ask NDTV to show if they have sued every single media outlet including their competitors and other bloggers who have reported on the allegations that Chetan is apologizing for? If not, why was Chetan singled out? Can he counter-sue for harassement? Questions questions…
This behavior is part of the larger malaise of Indian mainstream media who has inculcated the worst from their Western counterparts. Apart from the easily-fudged and legally-suspect sting operations, investigative journalism is virtually dead. I ask Barkha Dutt and her team at NDTV to pay close attention to their primary responsibility of news reporting toward the Indian people instead of going after poor bloggers who are merely quoting what they read and expressing their opinions. If they want in the opinion business, better stay away from reporter tag; you cannot have it both ways.
From a business perspective, you don’t go after your consumers and from a democratic perspective, you don’t turn against the people whose interests you claim to safeguard from the mai-baap government. When the reporter becomes the reported, it is usually time to take a closer look at your life and wonder what happened. I hope you understand and not sue me instead.
Other reactions: Shripriya, Lekhni, and V.P. Jaiganesh
“Muffling a Blogger” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=2839] was published Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 9:03 pm by Patrix, filed under 9rules, DesiPundit, India, Media, Weblogs, and tagged as blogging, censorship, free speech, Law, NDTV. Both comments and linkbacks are closed.
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Blogged about it at http://bit.ly/gghr
Isn’t it funny that Barkha Dutt anchors “We, the People”?
1 year ago replyNice article iPatrix.
The justice system is so skewed in India that big businesses can use it to threaten a small blogger like chetan & yet not a single civil suit against Raju of Satyam or the Ram Sena of Mangalore.
1 year ago replyOurs is a free India.People have liberty to say what they think and and also have liberty to muffle others. All are MASKS of intolerance. Now I quit as I do not want MORAL POLCE turning up at my place.
1 year ago replyhttp://www.thedynamicnature.com
Is there any way I can purposely put up the same text of the post again on my blog, but I am immune since I am in the US? can we create a awareness by chaining the post and keeping it sticky on multiple blogs that are hosted by people living in the US?
There should be some way to tackle this monster
Let me know if I can help
1 year ago replySuperb. Well written. What hegemony from NDTV. And Barkha Dutt once again proves why she’s losing it.
1 year ago replyYou know what I want to do? I want to make a couple of dozen anonymous blogs and post ckunte’s post on them. What would they do? Sue each one of them?
Don’t know if that would work…. But this entire episode is so infuriating!
Nice post, P!
1 year ago replyGreat post. For all the freedom that our media has, it seems they disdain others’ freedom to criticize them.
1 year ago replyhttp://musefree.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/chetan-kunte-and-ndtv/
Spread the word!
1 year ago reply@The Comic Project: Never seen her show but from what I’ve heard, it rather be called ‘I the Barkha’
@sriks7: whether Chetan deserved to be sued or not, the manner in which NDTV conducted itself was deplorable.
@subkal: You can but I wouldn’t suggest it. It is available on Google cache anyway so why bother?
@Trailblazer: guess she needed a reality check. But I doubt she realizes what she has done.
@Sampada: they expect the rest to get scared off and clearly hadn’t thought about the backlash. Need a new Web 2.0 PR firm to handle their business.
@Ashutosh: hypocrisy thy name, right?
1 year ago replyI, the Barkha – Awesome :-)
1 year ago replyI have never been an avid blog read or blogger but this incident has sparked my attention. As a seasoned blogger can you point to any reliable sources on the interpretation of Indian laws in the arenas of free speech, defamation and cyber laws which might be beneficial to bloggers.
kind regards,
1 year ago replyMustang
[...] http://www.ipatrix.com/muffling-a-blogger/ [...]
1 year ago replyApart from expressing your anguish on the blogs, it is necessary to send a requisition to Press Council of India which has the power and also the jurisdiction to take action against oppression of freedom of press. Though Press Council normally takes up cases involving print publications, there is no reason why they should not take up the cause of a blogger since a “blog” is an electronic publication recognized as equivalent to paper publication as per Cyber Laws in India.
I wish all of you send mails to the Secretary Press Council at pcibpp@gmail.com.
I have sent a mail as per copy below:
To
The Secretary
Perss Council Of India
Delhi
Dear Sir,
I am Naavi (Na.Vijayashankar), founder of http://www.naavi.org. I am also the
Chairman of Digital Society of India, Chairman of the Legal
Enablement Committee of NIC on G2C transactions and other Cyber Law
related initiatives in India.
I request you to kindly clarify on the following issues which confront
me as well as the Cyber Society.
1. As you are aware, Indian law recognizes electronic documents as
equivalent to written paper. Accordingly, what is published in the
Cyber space has as much relvance in law as a printed publication.
2. On the Internet, there are websites which are owned by somebody
while the contributions are made by others. There are also copies of
traditional press operating as an independent media. There are also
news letters and Blogs. Of these, Blogs are publications where the
author, editor and publisher may be the same person. In this context,
I would like to know if a blogger can seek registration of the Press
Council as a “Journal” and if so, what is the procedure.
3. I also draw your attention to the raging controversy in the
Blogosphere where a Blogger who wrote a comment critical of the
Coverage of the Mumbai Terrorist attacks on November 26th and 27th
(2008) by MS Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor of NDTV (Details available
here: http://www.bloggernews.net/119566), and was apparently silenced
by a threatening legal notice alleging defamation.
4. Most observers consider that the action of NDTV in launching a
legal action (as is apparent from the apology letter published by the
blogger) was an unfair assault on the freedom of expression of the
blogger.
5. I would like to know if it is within the scope of activities of
Press Council to advise its own members like NDTV that one of the
norms to be followed by journalists is to respect the freedom of
expression of others or come in support of the victim of such an
alleged oppression.
6. In many cases of publication of an article in the Press, whenever
there is a clash of opinion, the practice is to publish a counter view
in the same space as the original publication as a sufficient remedy
against alleged defamation. Withdrawal of an already published
material is not feasible and not expected. In the case of blogs
therefore, the appropriate remedy when there is a controversy is to
publish the counter view in the same blog and not demand withdrawal of
the blog post itself as NDTV has forced the blogger to do. I would
like Press Council to come out with a clarification on the same.
7. Additionally, I suggest that the Press Council take a suo motu
action of setting up a sub committee to address the issue of “Blogging
in India” and come up with suggestions for itself or the Government on
how Blogs can be regulated or provided normal freedom associated with
the Press along with the privileges.
I look forward to your reply at the earliest.
Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Na.Vijayashankar
Editor, Contributor, http://www.naavi.org
No 37, 20th Main, B S K First Stage
Bangalore 560050
+91 9343554943
Naavi
1 year ago reply