[Goanet] quart for april 29

[Mayabhushan]

APRIL 29
Inflation's gone up and how
You're charged two bucks to pee
You see these four lines that I write now
Even they seem, a luxury


  

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[Goanet] QUART FOR MAY 1

[Mayabhushan]

[input]   [input]   [input]   [input]   
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political gravy   *
 http://www.esnips.com/doc/0c7ce342-8333-4ae3-8d39-0dac97e5d807/ranesBe a 
better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile" }, 
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http://www.esnips.com/doc/0c7ce342-8333-4ae3-8d39-0dac97e5d807/ranesBe a 
better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now", 
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"97546169";  YAHOO.Shortcuts.hostSpaceId = "97546168";Hi Bosco, 
Could you also include the url below, it puts the quart in perspective. 
Regards
Mayabhushan


Quart* for  May 1 

God, his padres and priests, 
Like bread seduced by leavening yeast, 
Until It's soft, fluffy and has enough savvy 
To be dipped and savoured in political gravy 

* http://www.esnips.com/doc/0c7ce342-8333-4ae3-8d39-0dac97e5d807/ranes
   
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[Goanet] QUART FOR MAY 1 (RESENT)

[Mayabhushan]

Quart* for  May 1 

God, his padres and priests, 

Like bread seduced by leavening yeast, 

Until It's soft, fluffy and has enough savvy 

To be dipped and savoured in political gravy 


* http://www.esnips.com/doc/0c7ce342-8333-4ae3-8d39-0dac97e5d807/ranes

   
-
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[Goanet] Quart for May 3 (corrected)

[Mayabhushan]

QUART FOR MAY 3 

After a while, even blood
Dries and flakes like rust. 
Angst and tears once Fiona did shed
Now, its just tricks from a spin doc’s head

http://groups.google.com/group/goajourno/browse_thread/thread/2630b91649a6f2c3


   
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[Goanet] BIGGEST DISCLOSURE YET, ON THE GOAN MEDIA... DROP BY PENPRICKS AT NOON ON WEDNESDAY SEPT 12

[Mayabhushan]

  http://www.GOANET.org 


 TRI Continental Film Festival - Dona Paula, Goa, Sep 28 - Oct 2, 2007
   http://www.moviesgoa.org/tricontinental/tricon.htm

  Online Media Partner:  http://www.goanet.org

Hi,

On Wednesday noon, Penpricks will make its biggest
disclosure yet.
It's a big story on the media in general and the Goan
media in particular. This is not just a sneak-peek at
what's plaguing the media, Penpricks gives a section
of the Goan media, a thorough endoscopic examination.
Penpricks has been around for almost six months now.
And we've finally mouthed our first syllable. We're
thankful to all the readers who've been to
http://www.penpricks.blogspot.com for their support. A
warm hug to all the guys, who've left the wisecracks
behind in the comments section… Hope you guys, do
check our big story around noon on Wednesday.
Do pass this around, to folk who you think would be
interested.
Sorry bout the bother

Thanks
PENPRICKS



   

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[Goanet] New book by former journalists reveals volumes of slime in Goa's media

[Mayabhushan]

 Hello

Goa-based journalist Sanjeev Verenkar's swansong, is his memoir on the
goings-on in the media fraternity as he saw it through decades. He also
writes about editors, what they do and what they do not. It is worth a
read. Here in this video, he speaks a bit about his book.

https://youtu.be/mS97Cm2N3VM

[Goanet] Join me on this petition! Stop accreditation of PTI Journalist accused of Sexual Harassment

[Mayabhushan]

Hi,

Mumbai-based Kamayani M. has floated this petition. You cannot be a
fence-sitter vis a vis this sort of an issue. Please do read the content
and take a few minutes to sign the petition, if you agree with it or if you
care.

best regards
Mayabhushan


Stop accreditation of PTI Journalist accused of Sexual Harassment
To: Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi

Stop accreditation of PTI Journalist , Rupesh Samant accused of Sexual
Harassment. He was arrested and is currently facing investigation and
judicial proceedings for multiple crimes of sexual harassment . Giving him
accreditation will be in danger  of violating Constitutional values and the
rule of law . Given Samant's dubious employment history with PTI, granting
him accreditation could amount to violation of the Central News Media
Accreditation Guidelines , whereby only full time bonafide correspondents
 can obtain accreditation.


The petition is really important and could use our help. Click here to find
out more and sign:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Women_and_Child_Development_Minister_Maneka_Gandhi_Stop_accreditation_of_PTI_Journalist_accused_of_Sexual_Harassment/?kgIkklb&utm_source=sharetools&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=389748&utm_term=gIkklb%2Ben&utm_content=

Thanks so much,

[Goanet] #GoaMediaLeaks: TALK OF BRIBES AND BRAND CONSULTING

[Mayabhushan]

#GoaMediaLeaks
<https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/goamedialeaks?source=feed_text&story_id=10154372884842224>

TALK OF BRIBES AND BRAND CONSULTING


It’s been a while since I put out the first note about this story. Took me
a few days to tighten my guard. What to do? One doesn’t suffer a hacking
attempt everyday!
Poor sods perhaps believed these documents (unfortunately, there’s no video
this time :( ) came to me via email.
Here’s what I believe.
It’s the same story with most leaks really. Some guy quits an organisation,
disgruntled, with a chip on his shoulder and leaks information to someone
who can broadcast it.

Perhaps this was how I landed this information.
Anyway, enough about the potatoes, let’s get back to the meat and the gravy.

Five documents were leaked to me, presumably by a former employee of the
organisation. There was no note along with these sheets of pages, which
seem to be self explanatory.
Lets deal with the one-pager first.

This letter written in June last year by Datta Shetkar, who along with
Abhay Mishra ran/runs a brand consulting firm Brand Mentors and were
associated with the Herald newspaper for a few eventful years.

Datta, the author of the letter in an email to Herald General Manager
Michael Pereira, appears to be summarising an offer made by one Raja
Shukla, a business development consultant with a media industry background,
vis a vis implementing a central government scheme in Goa.

What’s significant here, is the open reference to corruption and cuts,
which Datta so non challantly describes in his email, which according to
him could be necessary to factor in, if the offer from Shukla is to be
accepted.

Datta explains the bribes to be potentially paid in great detail.

He refers to them as “local bribes” and “cuts to panchayat secretaries”.
Like a masterful tailor, who knows how to snip and stitch a pair of
trousers, Datta goes on to explain even the ‘depth’ and ‘width’ of the
'cuts'.

Another significant point made by Datta, is a reference made to the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa, which he claims would want to corner a
lion’s share of scheme’s benefits and also expresses a fear about the BJP
possibly arm-twisting them by blocking the scheme-related funds.

At the bottom of the letter, Datta also says, that these are personal
views.
Here are some key questions which this disclosure raises:

- Can those in the employ of a newspaper, which likes its readers to
believe, that it is at the front-lines of anti-corruption crusading, coolly
refer to ‘local bribes’ and ‘cuts to panch secretaries as ‘significant
upfront investment’?
�
How did the management respond to the author of the letter, who has
suggested, albeit as a personal view, a virtual a la carte listing of
bribes to be paid, in order to avail the benefits of a central government
scheme?

Datta did telephonically respond to my questionnaire which I sent him in
the wee hours of Thursday.

He said, that he had never in his career asked or recommended to any of his
clients to offer a bribe to get things done. Datta also said that in the
past, he has had to let go of business, because he refused to indulge in
corruption.

Datta also suggested that I may have interpreted this letter wrongly and
that he was only advising his client against the perils of the proposal.

He also suggested that the project discussed in the email came a cropper.

Now, the letter, comment and Datta's response is before you. Make your own
opinions.

--

Questions to Datta

Dear Datta,

I am in the process of writing a social media story about suggestions made
by you, as part of Brand Mentors, to Herald, about paying bribes to obtain
government funding.

Would appreciate if you could respond to the queries below, which I will
incorporate in the story.

1) Did you ever suggest to your former associates, the Herald, about paying
of bribes to avail a government scheme and the funds it comes with?
2) While payment of bribes is not a rarity in government businesses, do you
think it is right to weave in payment of bribes, as part of an upfront
investment? Do you think this amounts to an attempt to institutionalise
corruption and a corrupt corporate governance practice?
3) Could you tell us what happened to the summary of the offer sent by you
to the Herald management in June 2015, where you made the bribery
suggestion? Was it accepted or ignored by the addressees?
4) What exactly does the 'depth' of a cut and a 'width' of a cut mean in
the context of a letter?

Would appreciate your response by around mid-day on Thursday.

best regards

Mayabhushan

P.S. For those who may have forgotten. The Louis Berger scam was all about
a private agency, Louis Berger, paying bribes to officials of a government
agency, in that case the Government of Goa, to lay its hands on a
government project and the funds which come with it.

[Goanet] #GoaMediaLeaks part 2: So who’s politician ‘P’ who’s taken 460 crore, a hemorrhaged vision and Et tu Claude Alvares!

[Mayabhushan]

#GoaMediaLeaks part 2

So who’s politician ‘P’ who’s taken 460 crore, a hemorrhaged vision and Et
tu Claude Alvares!

The second and the last leak from this batch of emails is a communication
from August last year addressed to Herald Editor Sujay Gupta, general
manager Michael Pereira and Datta Shetkar, who co-owns/ed Brand Mentors, a
brand consultancy firm in the employ of the newspaper.

The email is a compilation of minutes of a meeting held at Herald managing
director Raul Fernandes’ residence. According to the matronly acronym MoM,
those who were also present at this meeting were renowned environmentalist
Claude Alvares, artiste Subodh Kerkar and one Pravin. The meeting was
intended to draw up a skeleton for Vision 2022 for Goa. (Vision 2014/15 was
perhaps articulated by Herald marketing manager Adwait Desai’s
video-graphed pitch to the casino honcho)

While it is the duty of a newspaper is to keep its readers informed,
exposure to inter-office memos such as these, often offer a window to the
inner functioning and thought-processes of an organisation and people at
its helm.

You can see for yourself, if there are any lines of similarity between the
content published in the newspaper and the information cached in these
internal documents.

Many of the 77 points listed in the MoM are factual and no-brainers like
the issue of communal harmony, ground water, dilution of Goan identity, etc.

But there are several positions taken by those holding top positions in the
media house and others present, could do with a bit of scrutiny.

For example, when these gents agree on formation of a core team to achieve
‘Vision 2022’ and commit to choosing their own candidates (#10 of the MoM
says ‘no people’s candidates), should newspaper readers not know the
identity of these budding candidates, the media house is backing? How will
the media house decide on coverage of the pool of other candidates, which
the 2017 elections throw up, when political parties make their nominations
and independents throw their hats in the ring?

The Vision 2022 also reveals an insight of the members in this core group,
including the media bosses, about the ruling BJP government and Defence
Minister and former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar.

In one instance, there is a reference to Parrikar in #77, which says that
the former Goa chief minister was utilising government monies to corner
votes.

There is also a reference to a political leader, whose name starts with a
‘P’, who, the Vision 2022 document alleges, has ‘taken’ 460 crore to be
released just before elections. Although the leaked document contains the
name, I have consciously chosen to blank it out, because it makes a direct
graft charge against ‘P’ the politician. Perhaps, the Vision 2022 document
guys possess evidence to suggest the exact quantum of corruption, I
unfortunately, do not.

The Saligao dump site, says the document, has been given to a BJP
contractor to operate, while also adding that the Make in India campaign is
an eyewash.

Lastly, where does Claude Alvares, a green activist, who enjoys a more than
significant amount of goodwill and regard in Goa and around India, fit into
this Vision business?

This question is most perplexing and I hope Claude does give us some kind
of explanation for his choice, especially when his last known association
in 2008 with Sujay Gupta, a journalist with terrific craft, ended up with
the environmentalist writing an article ‘Mining blues and its many hues:
when PR gets it badly wrong’ and summing up with this paragraph.

“At the end, Gupta asks for a "mature" debate on mining. Mature debates can
only be held with mature journalists, not immature hacks,” Claude says in
the conclusion of his interesting article which you must, I repeat must,
read here .

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/goajourno/NrRBdqyjQ-Q

Incidentally, Gupta had also filed a Rs. 500 crore defamation case against
fellow green activist Sebastian Rodrigues in 2009, during the former’s
association with the Timblo Group.

This passage makes interesting reading now, in retrospect, especially when
Claude along with Herald, editorially headed by Sujay, are working on a
vision for Goa: Vision 2022!

Excerpt...
I confronted Gupta on the street outside the GUJ (Goa Union of Journalists)
office after the press conference he had organised. (Miguel and a few of
the brethren from the media were also present.) At this point of time, he
flatly denied any involvement in the press conference "except for sending
out two or three SMS messages."
I got one of those messages, like many other journalists.
Fortunately it has remained un-erased on my cell and so I can recall it
here verbatim: "People of colomb, who were shown films by sebi rodrigues
depicting the killing of policemen by naxalites will meet the press at the
GUJ hall. They will also spk abt the activities of sebi and his group from
jharkhand in the mining ar

[Goanet] NEWS ANCHOR-CUM-PRINT MEDIA JOURNALIST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT FOR SECOND TIME IN FOUR MONTHS....

[Mayabhushan]

NEWS ANCHOR-CUM-PRINT MEDIA JOURNALIST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT FOR
SECOND TIME IN FOUR MONTHS

By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
A top anchor working at a cable news channel, which also runs a popular
newspaper, has been accused of sexual harassment, for the second time in
the last four months.

The victim, a part-time newsreader has complained to the management that
she has been bombarded with sexually explicit content, both images and
texts, by the very senior editorial staffer, who had in the past been
accused of sexual harassment by a maid working in the same organisation.

The victim has also accused the anchor and a senior print media journalist
of demanding sexual favours.

Not at liberty to name the media organisation, because a complaint has not
yet been filed by the victim, but a meeting has been called at the news
channel's office today evening to 'compromise' the matter.

The sexual harassment complaint had been made to the management on
Wednesday along with images of the explicit images and texts.

The victim had been working at the news channel only for a few weeks. The
accused had threatened to sack her if she did not respond to her overtures,
she has said in her complaint.

EOM

[Goanet] An update on the sexual harassment case in a popular cable news channel....

[Mayabhushan]

An update on the sexual harassment case in a popular cable news channel

No formal enquiry as mandated under the Vishakha Committee, has begun at
the news channel, whose top news anchor has been accused of sexual
harassment by a woman staffer three days ago.

For now, aggressive overtures are being made to the victim, by the anchor
to not formally complain to an external agency, even as the victim could
not report to work today. Sources in the news channel, which also operates
a newspaper, said that the accused has been 'given' one more day to
'compromise' the case with the victim and to ensure that she does not
pursue the case legally.

Sources close to the victim have alleged that the anchor, also a senior
print media journalist has threatened to commit suicide, if she comes
forward with a formal complaint.

In the past too, the anchor, who has been accused of sexual harassment on
more than one occasion in the past, has used the ‘suicide’ route to weaken
the resolve of his victims. And it has worked to his advantage.

Meanwhile, the victim’s contact details have been forwarded to the Goa
State Women’s Commission by the undersigned so that she could be contacted
independently by the Commission.


ends

[Goanet] Sexual harassment case at Goa Cable News Channel takes a 'Tehelka' turn

[Mayabhushan]

Sexual harassment case at Goa Cable News Channel takes a 'Tehelka' turn

Today's development in the sexual harassment case involving a top anchor of
a popular local cable news channel, somewhat puts the episode alongside the
Tarun Tejpal incident of a couple of years ago.

Like Tejpal allegedly confessed to his colleague (in the former Tehelka
editor's case, it was in writing*) and apologised for his alleged
misdemeaour, the top anchor, also a senior print media journalist, on
Saturday, tendered an apology to the management vis a vis sending sexually
explicit messages to the victim, a woman employee at the news channel.

The apology was tendered to the members of the management and a senior
editorial staffer and not to the victim, who has had to quit her job, after
complaining about the sexual harassment by the top anchor earlier this week.

And in what appears to be a sham of a procedure conducted by the channel's
management, the top anchor was let off with a 'final warning' against such
committing such sexual advances in the future.

Several aspects emerge from today's development.

1) The apology tendered by the anchor, virtually confirms the guilt and
validates the complaint of the victim.

2) In Tejpal's case, the former editor in chief's allegedly 'confessional
note' -- in writing -- to the victim and his management colleague, is
believed to have paved way for his arrest. Back then the Goa Police acted
with rare alacrity and suo moto conducted a preliminary enquiry based on
media reports. A First Information Report subsequently followed. His was a
case of alleged sexual assault, rape.

In this express case, the only evidence which is currently in possession of
the channel's management for now, are the sexually explicit messages sent
by the top anchor to the victim. And the apology has been tendered to the
management and not to the victim.

3) It is also clear that the channel's management did not abide by the
Vishakha guidelines, prescribed by the Supreme Court, while dealing with
sexual harassment cases at work place. The management according to the
Vishakha guidelines, has no power to condone or accept apologies because it
has no authority to arbitrate such cases. So by asking the top anchor to
apologise and issuing a final warning in a case of sexual harassment, they
have violated the directions of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit and
can also be held accountable.

4) Like in earlier sexual harassment cases at the news channel, which also
has a print wing, in this case too, the victim has quit the job given the
circumstances. Sources close to her insist that she wants the job back, but
there has been no move by the management to facilitate that.

5) From the manner in which the management chose to 'settle' the sexual
harassment episode, it appears that it is 'case closed' from their end,
citing, what they claim is lack of a formal complaint by the victim.

The news channel's management has refused to acknowledge the explicit
messages as a complaint by itself.

So guys, what do you think this ought to be the end of the story here?

ends


*

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/the-complete-email-trail-of-the-tarun-tejpal-sexual-assault-case-653191.html

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/the-complete-email-trail-of-the-tarun-tejpal-sexual-assault-case-653191.html

[Goanet] Update III: Sexual harassment by top anchor at a local cable news channel - August 20

[Mayabhushan]

Update III: Sexual harassment by top anchor at a local cable news channel



Over the last three days, me, along with a couple of other journalists have
managed to track down or have been reliably informed about seven cases of
sexual harassment in the same local cable news channel involving the same
top anchor (mentioned in earlier posts). All the seven cases have occurred
over the last one year and more.

The seven victims, several of whom we spoke to, have been subjected to
sexual harassment, do not include others who have been abused before the
above-mentioned time period or those who have been abused outside the
organisation.

The list of seven victims includes the latest sexual harassment case in
which a part-time anchor was targeted and who eventually had to quit the
organization. The accused anchor, also a senior print media journalist,
however, was allowed to stay on in the same cable news channel with a
‘final warning’ and continues reportage and interviewing guests for the
channel, which also runs a popular English newspaper.

Three out of the seven victims landed up at the local cable news channel,
as interns or fresh mass communication graduates from a Mapusa-based
college, keen on starting their journalistic career.

The unfortunate part is that none of the victims are willing to put their
complaint down in writing. Their ground is that journalist in question,
with his seniority and clout, will “finish of their careers”. This is the
unfortunate fact of the matter for now, young journalists cowering in fear
at the very start of their careers. Not a great sign for the profession as
far as the state is concerned. There are a couple of victims, who have
however, promised to think about filing of a formal sexual harassment
complaint. We hope they do muster the courage.

The lack of a complainant, unfortunately, also implies that no legal action
will be taken against the harasser, at least for now, and the steady supply
of interns from mass communication colleges, like the one in Mapusa, who
are also interviewed for the job by the same anchor, will be open to abuse
at news channel’s office premises located in central Panaji. FYI, we have
also been informed of a sexual harassment case involving a mass
communication post graduate diploma institution in Panaji.

There are some commonalities as far as the modus operandi used by the
anchor, when it comes to snaring his victims. The notes below on modus
operandi are derived from victims’ stories, heard in first person and in
some cases where the sexual harassment narrative has been recounted by the
victims’ friends and colleagues.

As far as the professional part goes, in the early, softening phase, the
interns or young journalists are offered ready made news stories filed by
the top anchor himself and an array of sources with promises for more help
as and when required, which includes editing of their work and sundry. A
very tempting proposition for young kids who are finding their way around
their respective beats or work chores. It also creates a sort of incestuous
dependency, which is exploited later.

In many of the sexual harassment cases that we came across that occurred
over the last one year and more, a cameraman who also works for the cable
news channel is used as an ally, in this case a partner-in-crime. In one
specific instance, the cameraman even advised a victim, his friend, to
respond positively to the anchor’s sexual overtures claiming that it was
the best way to move ahead in journalism.

The personal approach is cornier and begins with stories about the anchor’s
wife, who according to most of the victims, has been consistently described
as a mentally challenged person, who beats him up often. This bleak family
landscape is supplemented intermittently raunchy messages and ‘permission’
to send across vulgar videos.

In most cases, attempts to grab and actual physical advances have followed
the initial attempts to soften the victim.

Rejection and attempts made by the victim to expose the anchor after the
sexual harassment crosses a point, results in defensive threats of suicide
made by the anchor as strategy.

While I am sure these are standard tactics used by the aggressor in such
cases, it is important to mention them, in the hope that the anchor’s
prospective victims wise up.

NOTE: The last time I posted an update on this subject, the headline and
the content was changed without my permission or knowledge. If you see the
above content posted by another user, in another form please disregard the
same.

[Goanet] Update IV: Serial sexual harassment by a top anchor at a local cable news channel

[Mayabhushan]

Update IV: Serial sexual harassment by a top anchor at a local cable news
channel

The serial sexual harassment case at the local cable news channel has taken
a very disturbing turn over the last 48 hours.

In response to posts on the serial sexual harassment in the cable news
channel, I have been abruptly taken off a WhatsApp group run by the state
BJP for journalists called 'BJP Goa' by the group's administrator.

Following posting of similar messages on a WhatsApp group operated by the
Goa Congress called 'Spokesperson GPCC', its administrator Sunil Kawthankar
put out message saying such off-topic posts were unwelcome. This was the
first caution made on the group against off-topic posts.

Yet another group, 'Salcete Media Friends', knocked me off without an
explanation to the members on the group on Thursday. I was called by the
administrator Dinesh Sakhalkar on Thursday night, to strike a compromise
with the anchor in question. I was dropped within minutes after I
discouraged his drift. I was reinstated only after more than a score
members on the group questioned Dinesh about why I was dropped and to fit
me back in, which he eventually did late on Saturday. But he still has not
explained why.

What is top of the mind for me, this moment, is the manner in which the
political class in Goa, across party lines, have, for now, chosen to close
ranks behind a sexual pervert lurking in the sheltered shadows of the Goa
media; a print media journalist and an anchor whose predatory instincts
have affected as many as seven young women journalists since 2013. On whose
instructions and at whose behest?

And there are sexual harassments before that period, which haven't been
delved into yet.

How does the BJP explain why I have been dropped from the group?

Many of my colleagues have expressed their support to me on the group
seeking an explanation why the action was taken. Some have quit the BJP Goa
group in protest, because no explanation has come by for nearly 7 hours. I
called up state BJP president Vinay Tendular seeking an explanation at 1:37
pm today. He said it was “not an official group” and that he would check
with the administrator and get back to me on the subject. He still hasn't.

When I asked Sunil Kawthankar, the administrator of the 'Spokesperson GPCC'
WhatsApp group, about the timing of his post where he requested that
off-topic issues should not be discussed, soon after my post on the serial
sexual harassment episodes and if he was pressurised by someone to do it,
he categorically denied the same.

Political parties choosing to back tainted media representatives, whose
services are 'invaluable' in times of elections or other crises is not new.
But rarely have political parties here have so brazenly backed a sexual
pervert in face of outrage from the more healthier and rational section of
the media.

While the backing from a section of the media fraternity has been a good
thing and indicative of a still existing spine in the fraternity, several
senior journalists continue to hold their cards close to their chest. Those
riling and thriving on the regional language discourse, have still to
speak; in their mother tongues or otherwise.

While the Goa Union of Journalists has issued a notice through its general
secretary for a meeting on the issue of sexual harassment in media offices
here, its president Sadguru Patil, has not for once, come out in the clear
about his position on the issue. His commitment to the issue needs to be
seen and heard by the members of the organisation, as well as those
victims, who still totter on the brink of uncertainty as far as
registration of a complaint against the anchor is concerned. Sadguru and
the senior editors also need to speak because colleagues who are sharing
these posts or liking them are being asked by reporters from the same
organisation lay off.

What needs to be underlined here, is that the case has moved from being one
isolated case of sexual harassment, to one which has multiple victims who
have had to suffer similarly unchecked for more than one year. In the last
post, we mentioned that seven young girls were subjected to this by one
anchor in one organisation. This is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg.

So if the media fraternity do not close ranks and fight this ill, we might
as well drop our pants and offer our bottoms collectively.

Mayabhushan


P.S. One of my updates was altered without my permission or knowledge. Pls
disregard if this piece is reproduced with alternations elsewhere

P.P.S If anyone on this list wishes to discountinue future updates on the
subject, pls do send a note across. Will ensure it does not happen so in
the future.

[Goanet] Update V: Sexual harassment at local cable news channel by a top anchor

[Mayabhushan]

he trying to interfere
unnecessarily? And why am I getting phone calls from journalists?
Anchor: (mishears) No no listen to me.
Victim: Calls from journalists...
Anchor: Who's calling?
Victim: Journalists are calling me.
Anchor: Ago (term of endearment in Konkani)... What do I tell you! Have you
been liking the posts in the Facebook campaign? Are you tick-marking them?
You are liking the posts, liking the posts regularly?
Victim: So what happened?
Anchor: Ok. One thing is, you have to decide, whether you have to get out
of this or you have to be part of this... When you like the post means...
(trails off)
Victim: So you are trying to...
Anchor: One day... first day when I met with your dad, I told you, there
would be a problem if it reaches the media. I am suffering now. You are not
suffering. You are just accepting phone calls, but my entire media this
thing is gone
Victim: hmm
Anchor: OK. If you try to understand that my entire credibility is gone to
dogs
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: You are... no one is pointing fingers at you because no one knows
which is the anchor OK.
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: And those phones which you are getting from are not from my side.
As far as I know, I made the first call, then a call from Agni and this is
second...
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: The rest are from (names another victim of sexual harassment).
Bhushan is trying to rake this up.
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: Tomorrow they have organised a big meeting of Goa Union of
Journalists OK
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: Wherein they will raise your issue. Saying that er... sexual
exploitation...
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: Tomorrow twelve o'clock is the meeting
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: Have they contacted you for the meeting?
Victim: No.
Anchor: No? What I was suggesting... I am a guy, OK. This Odette is a good
friend of mine. She fought with Bhushan also today (refers to an argument
on a Whatsapp group earlier that day. Odette, as the administrator of the
group, had questioned the version of young women journalists who recounted
sexual harassment encounters with the anchor in the past on FB). She runs
a... she has one (WhatsApp group)... OK
Victim: Hmmm
Anchor: Where she fought
Victim: She is a good friend I know, but what is her designation in this
(names the cable news channel)?
Anchor: No, she is not in (names the cable news channel)... she is not in
(names the cable news channel).
Victim: So why is she trying to interfere unnecessarily, for what reason?
Anchor: Because she is my friend no and I want a girl to (inaudible)
Victim: She is your friend, she has to safeguard your position. I don't
want to get (inaudible)
Anchor: Sorry sorry, she has to?
Victim: She has to safeguard you, right?
Anchor: Not safeguard me. No one is going to safeguard me or put me in
trouble or nothing. Tuzhe te hetech (This thing about you)...Because of
this behaviour only no, things are getting dragged. You have to sit with
cool mind and if you are trusting (names a very senior woman journalist who
has been trying to encourage and embolden victims to speak out about sexual
harassment by the anchor) kind of animal and (names another victim,
likening her to an animal) kind of animal no... Ok then kindly try to trust
some human beings down here.

Ends...

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

P.S. One of my updates was altered without my permission or knowledge. Pls
disregard if this piece is reproduced with alternations elsewhere.

[Goanet] APPEAL TO GOA UNION OF JOURNALISTS IN RUPESH SAMANT INFLICTED SERIAL SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE

[Mayabhushan]

Pls circulate as much as possible

APPEAL TO GOA UNION OF JOURNALISTS IN RUPESH SAMANT INFLICTED SERIAL SEXUAL
HARASSMENT CASE

We, the undersigned urge the Goa Union of Journalists' Executive Committee,
which has done a commendable work so far as doggedly pursuing the serial
cases of women sexually abused by senior journalist and former PTI bureau
chief Rupesh Samant, to take up the case of Samant masquerading as a
journalist representing the news agency once again, with PTI.
What is of concern is how Rupesh Samant, who is being probed by PTI,
following the four First Information Reports filed against him by his
victims, claims to represent the national news agency on his own or by
proxy.
We have been informed by PTI officials that Rupesh Samant has ceased to be
a formal employee of the news agency and that he is sending across stories
as 'contributor' by proxy.
GUJ must bring to the attention of the PTI management that Rupesh Samant is
on conditional bail, which requires his presence at the Goa Women's Police
Station. Samant has not been given a clean chit in connection with the four
sexual harassment FIRs by any authority and is the subject of a live police
investigation.
The police have said that his case is still in the investigation stage and
would soon file a chargresheet against him with the evidence the police
have gathered during the probe.
In these circumstances, GUJ, by way of creating awareness must urge its
members, politicians, bureaucracy, police, business leaders and others to
not associate with Rupesh, vis a vis professional journalistic engagements
until he is cleared of the extremely serious, multiple charges.
GUJ should make this appeal as a mark of solidarity with the safety and
security of working women journalists in Goa and elsewhere, because several
of Rupesh Samant' victims have been women journalists, namely his
colleagues and others he contacted by virtue of being a journalist.
best regards and all the best in countering this predatory threat to women
journalists in Goa and around.

Prakash Kamat (former GUJ president)
Pandurang Gaonkar (former GUJ president)
Kishor Naik Gaonkar (former GUJ president)
Vithaldas Hedge (former GUJ general secretary)
Bindiya Chari (former Executive Committee member)
Sanjeev Verenkar (former GUJ executive committee member)
Devika Sequeira
Rajtilak Naik
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

[Goanet] Black magic and Sexual Harassment

[Mayabhushan]

Hello,
So, this is what happened on the night when the Goa Union of Journalists
are implored to get take a firm stand against the serial sexual harassment
accused Rupesh Samant's questionable re-emergence as a journalist,
especially a time when he is no longer a PTI employee.
Black Magic!
GUJ president Sadguru Patil on Wednesday morning opened his door to find a
lemon with a pin inserted in it and kum kum scattered on his sandals
outside the doorstep of his home in Altinho.
We are not making any connection yet, but the coincidence is shocking.
Why should this happen on the same night that such a public request is made
to Sadguru, as GUJ president, to urgently follow up on matters related to a
serial sexual harassment case? The answer lies out somewhere in the open
for all to judge.
According to Sadguru, this is the first time that such a thing has occurred
to him. He is going to file a police complaint against this bizarre act!

best

[Goanet] NWMI requests PTI to prevent alleged sexual harasser from representing it

[Mayabhushan]

NWMI requests PTI to prevent alleged sexual harasser from representing it

*January 7, 2016*

M K Razdan
Editor-In-Chief
Press Trust of India
4 Parliament Street
New Delhi 110 001



*Sub: Stop Rupesh Samant from masquerading as PTI representative*



Dear Mr Razdan,

This concerns the representation of your organisation, Press Trust of India
(PTI), by Rupesh Samant as Goa Bureau Chief. You are no doubt aware that
inquiries are underway regarding several complaints of sexual
harassment filed by women journalists working under him.

As you are aware, these complaints were in the nature of four separate FIRs
filed by women journalists between September and October 2015 at the
women’s police station in Panaji in Goa, and involved physical and verbal
acts of a sexual nature that are crimes under the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and
Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (Criminal Law Amendment, 2013).

Pleas for anticipatory bail filed by the lawyers of Rupesh Samant were
dismissed by a court in Mapusa, Goa, on October 14, 2015, and the Bombay
High Court in Goa on October 30, 2015.

Subsequently, Rupesh Samant went into hiding for nearly one and a half
months, but finally surrendered to the police, following protests by the
Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) who went on a relay dharna for several days.
After spending five days in police custody, he is currently out on
conditional bail.

As matters stand, the police are in the process of preparing a chargesheet
on the basis of information gathered through their probe, and Rupesh Samant
has yet not received a clean chit.

However, he has been sending out news and representing your organisation as
a “contributor” by proxy, even though, as has been made clear by PTI
officials to the GUJ, Rupesh Samant has ceased to be a formal member of the
organisation.

For a respected organisation such as yours, which represents the fourth
estate of our democracy, it is indeed a shame if persons like Rupesh Samant
continue to thrive as journalists while inquiries into accusations of
serious crimes like the sexual harassment of women colleagues at their
workplace are still ongoing.

We, members of the Network for Women in Media in India, appeal to you to
take immediate action and prevent Rupesh Samant from masquerading as a
representative of PTI, and tarnishing the name of your organisation. A
public announcement distancing PTI from Rupesh Samant would demonstrate
your commitment to ensuring a safe workplace for women.

Sincerely,

*Network of Women in Media in India*

[Goanet] Rupesh Samant's Serial Sexual Harassment case on Newslaundry with response from PTI

[Mayabhushan]

Hello,

Please find below story on Newslaundry.com with a response from PTI. That's
the update for now.

rgds





http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/01/12/network-of-women-in-media-asks-pti-to-act-against-its-journo-accused-of-sexual-harassment/

07 January, 2016
M K Razdan,
Editor-In-Chief,
Press Trust Of India,
4, Parliament Street,
New Delhi 110001

Sub: Stop Rupesh Samant from masquerading as PTI representative

Dear Mr Razdan,

This concerns the representation of your organisation, Press Trust of India
(PTI), by Rupesh Samant as Goa Bureau Chief. You are no doubt aware that
inquiries are underway regarding several complaints of sexual harassment
filed by women journalists working under him.

As you are aware, these complaints were in the nature of four separate FIRs
filed by women journalists between September and October 2015 at the
women’s police station in Panaji in Goa, and involved physical and verbal
acts of a sexual nature that are crimes under the Sexual Harassment of
Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and
Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (Criminal Law Amendment, 2013)

Pleas for anticipatory bail filed by the lawyers of Rupesh Samant were
dismissed by a court in Mapusa, Goa, on October 14, 2015, and the Bombay
High Court in Goa on October 30, 2015.

Subsequently, Rupesh Samant went into hiding for nearly one and a half
months, but finally surrendered to the police, following protests by the
Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) who went on a relay dharna for several days.
After spending five days in police custody, he is currently out on
conditional bail

As matters stand, the police are in the process of preparing a chargesheet
on the basis of information gathered through their probe, and Rupesh Samant
has yet not received a clean chit.

However, he has been sending out news and representing your organisation as
a “contributor” by proxy, even though, as has been made clear by PTI
officials to the Goa Union of Journalists, Rupesh Samant has ceased to be a
formal member of the organisation.

For a respected organisation such as yours, which represents the fourth
estate of our democracy, it is indeed a shame if persons like Rupesh Samant
continue to thrive as journalists while inquiries into accusations of
serious crimes like the sexual harassment of women colleagues at their
workplace are still ongoing.

We, members of the Network for Women in Media in India, appeal to you to
take immediate action and prevent Rupesh Samant from masquerading as a
representative of PTI, and tarnishing the name of your organisation. A
public announcement distancing PTI from Rupesh Samant would demonstrate
your commitment to ensuring a safe workplace for women.

Sincerely,
Network of Women in Media in India

This article is made possible because of Newslaundry's subscribers.CLICK
HERE AND PAY TO KEEP NEWS FREE



PTI has responded to NWMI. Its response is produced below:

Dear NWMI Colleagues,

We are in acknowledgement of the communication received from some members
of the Network of Women in Media in India regarding Mr Rupesh Samant.

At the outset, I would like to state that we take complaints of sexual
harassment very seriously and we have taken strong action in proven cases.
We have an in-house Committee to go into such cases and I happen to chair
that Committee.

Coming to the case of Mr Rupesh Samant, we are aware of the serious
allegations made against him. Those who have made the allegations are not
members of PTI staff which would have enabled us to do an in-house inquiry
by the Committee which I head. We have taken note of what you have said and
we are closely monitoring the case. The allegations are serious but we
cannot prejudge an issue till the court pronounces in the matter. We do not
need to “demonstrate” our commitment to ensure a safer place for women just
because you have written to us to do so. It is our duty legally and
otherwise. I am a media professional myself and have worked in PTI for more
than 30 years now and I am fully aware how seriously PTI takes such
complaints.

Samant did not respond to Newslaundry’s multiple calls and text messages.

[Goanet] 'The Goan' daily plagiarises editorials

[Mayabhushan]

'The Goan' plagiarises editorials

Cash-starved 'The Goan' now also appears to be talent-strapped with those
at the helm appearing to plagiarse online content in its editorials.
Below are four editorials published in the newspaper, which appear to be
plagiarised from articles published in the Scroll.in, The Guardian, AP,
Khaleej Times, etc.
The Goan's sports writers appear to be taking a lot of liberty with 'cut
and pasting' from articles published on international websites. Clearly
they set their sights high. Hope people in-charge at the newspaper take
note and stamp this out, before they are stamped out for coming out with a
sensationally poor newspaper, threatening to beat even The Navhind Times at
mediocrity.



Rathore's mandate
http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=36363

Rajyavardhan Rathore as Sports Minister is great but don’t expect miracles
in short term
https://thefield.scroll.in/849503/rajyavardhan-rathore-
as-sports-minister-is-great-but-dont-expect-miracles-in-short-term
-- 
City must fire
http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=35866

Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola ponders pluses and pitfalls of attacking
riches
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/aug/20/pep-
guardiola-manchester-city-everton
---
The final bolt
http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=35350

World Championships: Usain Bolt’s legacy untarnished despite defeat to
sporting bad boy Justin Gatlin
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/athletics/world-
championships-usain-bolt-s-legacy-untarnished-despite-
defeat-to-sporting-bad-boy-justin-gatlin-1-8689405

Usain Bolt, in farewell race, finishes third to Americans Gatlin, Coleman
http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/08/
usain_bolt_in_farewell_race_fi.html

The Neymar fix
http://englishnews.thegoan.net/story.php?id=35072

Neymar gets China red-carpet treatment as speculation grows
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4745522/
Neymar-China-transfer-rumours-grow.html

Neymar arrives in China as PSG transfer rumours grow
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/neymar-arrives-in-china-as-
psg-transfer-rumours-grow

[Goanet] Plagiarised editorials in 'The Goan'... a follow up

[Mayabhushan]

Hello,

Appears that some of the links weren't functional when accessed on phone.

Pls find attached four PDF files. Each one contains one plagiarised
editorial and the original piece, from which parts were pinched. The
plagiarised bits are in red.

best
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] More about sexual harassment at the Goa Writer's Group

[Mayabhushan]

More about sexual harassment at the Goa Writer's Group
I was lucky, however, that when I was in that writing group, I was surrounded 
by 30-somethings with a low tolerance for misogyny. What we shared, besides our 
intuition towards language, was this common abuser. It was time to ‘out’ him to 
the rest of the group. We strategised so as to be as sensitive as we could. Our 
basic message was that someone like him ought not to be moderator, because he 
was using his position to prey on unsuspecting women. He had to be divested of 
power. There was an established pattern. We had proof of cyber harassment. What 
followed was a couple of harrowing weeks. Instead of extending empathy, the 
abuser’s friends, and many other women in the group, too, defended him and made 
us out to seem like liars, like co-conspirators out to break up the group and 
disrupt its laconic cohesiveness. It was suggested by the more powerful members 
that the group be dissolved, especially since many of the male writers had 
begun to leave, out of solidarity with their abuser friend. But the real reason 
was so that the email archive could be deleted so no trace would exist of our 
rebellion. Our characters were besmirched, and, eventually, unable to face the 
hostility, one by one we exited even the new-old group.
https://www.vogue.in/content/me-too-hashtag-against-sexual-abuse-in-india/

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

[Goanet] Resignation under protest from Goa Union of Journalists

[Mayabhushan]

Dear Goa Union of Journalists President/General Secretary,


I have been a member of Goa Union of Journalists for the last several
years. However, never have I seen this institution and a majority of its
opinionated individuals betray the profession in the way it/they have in
the case of Harish Volvoikar, who operates Goa Junction.



The manner in which GUJ has compromised and is silent on issues related to
arbitrary targetting of a journalist by political appointees and the
Speaker’s office, issues related to right of access of a journalist to a
constitutional office, is shameful. There has to be resistance from
journalists to this excessive show of power.



Volvoikar, who is not a member of the GUJ, but is a journalist whose
credentials have been endorsed by the Department of Information and
Publicity, in his news service messages, has erred in the present and past. To
the best of my knowledge he has retracted those messages.


I have erred too. I think so have several journalists, who are members of
GUJ.



Some errors by journalists have pulled down governments, others have
referred to then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat as a Great Indian bison.
There have been journalists clearly implicated in paid news stories too and
photographers on political payrolls peddling photos of certain political
personalities to their own papers and serving as conduits to push those
photos to other news media.



If erroneous reportage results in barring journalists from government
offices, imagine the consequences it could have.



The same could happen to anyone in the future at the pleasure of the
government of that day and its functionaries.



Also the conversations on the GUJ Whatsapp group, where journalists with
questionable credentials hold forth and

'well-meaninged' journalists cower and maintain a meek silence, is not an
atmosphere I want to be part of. Its most revolting that corrupt and
incompetent rabble of the worst kind control the chorus and slants of a
journalists’ union and its stated noble intentions.



GUJ, in the way it is functioning right now, does not appear to be as an
institution which is capable of looking after the interests of journalists,
especially in face of political oppression, as can be seen in the case of
Harish Volvoikar. This is the reason I am exiting the Union. I am aware it
is not a wise decision, vis a vis me personally and professionally, but it
is a necessary one. If and when the organisation shows resolve to correct
itself, I may reconsider re-joining.


Please accept this as my resignation as a member of GUJ until then.


best regards

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

[Goanet] JACKPOT JOURNALISM: HARDCORE HERALD AND IT'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS

[Mayabhushan]

Goa Newspaper offers 'positive' news coverage deal to offshore casino
industry. The Price: Rs. 1 crore advertising per month. All this and more
on spycam video



Journalism’s pen and ink
Have begun to stink
And sold
For casinos’ pot of gold


The video link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2UxMKy7pTg&feature=share

JACKPOT JOURNALISM: HARDCORE HERALD AND IT'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS

BY MAYABHUSHAN NAGVENKAR
The goings-on in this 38-minute long video, shot on a spy cam, may have
just placed a section of the media in Goa on a new summit of spectacular
depravity.

The video, shot sometime in early 2015, shows how a leading media house in
Goa promises to stop ‘negative’ reportage and instead write positive news
stories on the state's infamous casino industry in return for either a
hefty advertising package of Rs. 25 lakh per casino per month or by simply
forking over Rs. 1 crore a month “just like that”.

They call this dubious modus operandi something else in modern crime
classics like Ram Gopal Verma's ‘Satya’ and ‘D’.

Herald Group’s assistant general manager (Sales) Advait Desai is seen and
heard conveying the message from the newspaper's management (Advait names
general manager Michael Pereira on several occasions in the video, at times
on his own volition and sometimes on being asked) to a casino operator in
the video as the person on whose alleged behalf, he's relaying the message
to the casino industry.

The sum of the Advait's message is a promise of 'positive' news coverage of
the casino industry in return for an advertising package of Rs. 25 per
lakh, per offshore casino, per month or forking out the money "just like
that" as the casino operator puts it.

There were four operational offshore casinos in Goa, at the time the
conversation was shot on spycam in the office of a casino operator, who
from the brief glimpses of his side profile, appears to be the head honcho
of the Casino Pride group Srinivas Naik.

The deal basically works out to Rs. 1 crore a month from casino operators;
the price for "positive coverage" of news related to the offshore casino
casinos in Goa, primarily sired by the Congress party and later adopted
with glee by the BJP.

The contents of the video leaves me with very little to say. What can one
say when the casino operator in the video, refers to the tactics employed
by the newspaper's bosses as “extortion” and “bribery” and yet the
newspaper's deputy general manager (sales) not only not protests, but
actually acknowledges the insinuation in the video.

I am not even saying that the contents of this video reminds me about an
incident in 2012, when an editor and editorial director of Zee News were
arrested after a sting caught them demanding Rs. 100 crore worth ads to
drop news stories which linked the Jindal Group to the Coalgate scam.

But it is something else to witness an act like this unfolding in your own
backyard and to see for yourself how a regional, organic newspaper
seemingly crusading against the particular cash-rich, but tainted casino
industry, is actually keen on allegedly cracking backend deals for
‘positive' news coverage and in the process selling out their none-too-wise
readers lock stock and barrel.

A candid Advait, unaware that he is being taped by the casino boss, also
mentions how stories filed by reporters against questionable real estate
projects were dropped from the newspaper allegedly at the instance of
general manager Michael Pereira. The sales manager also blames Herald’s
reporters, claiming they allegedly extort money by filing damning news
reports, as can be heard in the video.

As a disclosure I would like to mention, that while the conversation
appears to have happened sometime in early 2015 (the properties of the
video file suggests the video was made in February last year), I landed a
copy of the video by a stroke of

chance last month. I am taking the liberty of putting the same in public
domain so that news readers can see for themselves what factors drive news
content in the times we live in.

It took me a few days to process the contents, transcribe it and cut the
video into segments.

The segments will be uploaded to YouTube over the next couple of days. The
segments are shorter clips and make for convenient viewing. The entire
unedited video will also be uploaded on YouTube in a few days.

So here's the first video segment. The conversations get 'richer' as the
days go by and new video segments hit YouTube.

I have already sent across a questionnaire to Herald related to this
business with the casino industry and the contentious issues which surface
in the video. As and when and if they respond, I will publish their
response on the social media too.
ENDS... for now

[Goanet] BUSTING ADWAIT’S CLARIFICATION AND UNTRUTHS IN HERALD’S FRONT PAGE EDIT

[Mayabhushan]

ere on instructions
by your general manager. But if courtesy is your strength, you must request
your management to re-designate you as assistant general manager (courtesy)
with immediate effect.
You have also been kind enough to allege that the videos could be a product
of doctoring aimed at putting you and your management in bad light, to
damage reputations, etc, etc.
Yes, it is actually an honest attempt at doctoring. According to The Oxford
Dictionary doctoring also means informally treating someone medically.
Releasing this video was an attempt at 'doctoring' newspaper readers and
showing them the none-too-nice machinations which go on behind the scenes
in a section of the media. That everything they read as news, need not
necessarily be true and how important it is to evaluate what they read.
I would however thoroughly disagree with the "bad light" charge, because
there seems to be enough light in the video to show a smart-looking guy
wearing a french beard, telling us all the gory nitty gritty about how an
extreme school of paid news and media extortion works.
About reputations, I don't know man. They've agreed to sell editorials in
the past, they've sold space for political interviews in election time and
now this. So I am not so sure about the reputation part.
Anyway, I am glad you published a clarification nevertheless. The lies and
inconsistencies in it, will only help me present my premise in better
perspective for the readers.
Ideally, you should have responded to the questionnaire I sent you and your
general manager and editor, answers to which I could have incorporated in
my first Facebook post itself.
And listen, I must confess something. I suspect you may not have been a
sole author of this clarification. The writing seems to have some traces of
your editor Sujay Gupta. He has good copywriting skills, but he should have
been more thorough when he shadow-wrote this for you. The inconsistencies
in this clarification are similar to the one's in his editorials.
Oh and BTW speaking about editorials. It’s around 3:11 am as I write this
and Herald's July 8 edition just went online. And it's front page editorial
dedicated to the #JackpotJournalism story says this: "The marketing manager
basically was making a sales pitch and making very tall promises to solicit
advertisements. We admit that making such promises, made in such a manner
was not correct. But this incorrect route was taken by that individual and
not the organisation".
Your own newspaper says you were overselling mate, in a manner which was
not correct. Looks like they have already burnt you mate. Your own
newspaper does not believe what you have said in your clarification. Where
does that leave you?
FYI, the main crux of the front page editorial of Herald's July 8 edition
'Judge Herald by its fearless journalism, not malicious video footage'
apart from all that shoo-shaa about being a people's paper, also claims
that "since the founding day, the editorial policy has been clear and there
has been no compromise. That is why the editorial team is delinked and
separated from the rest of the staff, especially the marketing team and
sticks to its job of reporting".
It also says that Herald's marketing manager, in this case poor you Adwait,
"has absolutely no role in defining or following editorial policy of the
paper".
I think and you will agree Adwait, that the attached inter-offic memo
issued by you and in which editorial staffers including Sujay is CCed, the
one where you are clearly seen dictating and defining editorial limits of
the Herald's content, clearly smashes the tall claims made in the front
page edit to smithereens. Or was the memo a case of “loose talk” too?
So there you go. This is it. Write back if you have some time and a turn of
conscience. You are a Britto boy, so I can still trust you to have traces
of conscience.
This battle isn't with foot-soldiers like you, but with the mercenaries in
the background who have strapped that "paid news" suicide jacket to you,
and with the phenomenon itself.
Lots of love and in the words of Rajan Narayan, one of Goa's most yellow
editors of our time, Dev Borem Korum...

Mayabhushan

P.S. M sorry man I wrongly spelled ur name all through
P.P.S. Part five of the #JackpotJournalism series is coming out tomorrow.

[Goanet] #JACKPOTJOURNALISM PART V - HARDCORE HERALD'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS

[Mayabhushan]

#JACKPOTJOURNALISM PART V - HARDCORE HERALD'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS

#JackpotJournalism #Goa #GoaMedia #PaidNews #IndianMedia

https://youtu.be/XX1xW08V8Bo

Part V of #JackpotJournalism begins with an eczema moment.
The casino honcho reminds Adwait of a conversation at a meeting with Herald
general manager Michael, where the latter is supposed to have said "you
scratch my back, I scratch yours".
Adwait nods and admits he was present at the meeting. Adwait the pitches
for another meeting between the casino honcho and Michael.
The casino honcho explains his advertising pattern to Adwait and wants the
latter to give him a hint of how much money should be paid, while also
promising the sales assistant general manager, that his name will not be
disclosed to his bosses.
The casino honcho continues with his moral spiel claiming they do not want
to promote casinos to locals. Ya Right.
Adwait then suggests that the casinos buy sky buses (not the failed Konkan
Railway project!), which a form of an ad at a higher premium in Herald's
supplement 'Cafe'. Adwait then suggests to the casino honcho contribute to
events (organised by Herald). The honcho says that the cumulative cost of
both the sky buses and event sponsorship would still be five lakh and not
Rs. 25 lakh a month as demanded by Herald.
Adwait then says Rs. 5 lakh would be more than enough (bargaining at work),
but says Michael needs to be convinced.
Adwait then concedes that the demand from Herald is arbitrary.
To this, the casino honcho says he doesn't like arm-twisting, Adwait says
"nobody likes it" or something like that and says he is caught in the
middle.
Adwait admits, that he would wonder about ways to pacify the casino honcho,
when the negative articles used to be published on Herald.
At this point Adwait and the casino honcho swap points about the casino
industry and businesses in Goa.
While the casino honcho claims what's happening is unfair, Adwait ridicules
the BJP government and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for their flippant
policy on casinos. Adwait also mockingly remarks about how Parrikar used to
protest against casinos by demonstrating with lit candles (Parrikar used
mashals actually) and about how the Defence Minister keeps quiet now.
The casino honcho then complains about how the media is writing constantly
about U-turns by the government saying there should be an end to this (yes,
you wish!)
Adwait then gets some of his confidence back and claims that Herald's
anti-casino news coverage has toned down to a large extent from June (2015)
onwards... (Just keep your headphones away from your ears, when Adwait says
'large extent' the second time).
Adwait says that the coverage is toned down to a "large extent because we
are intervening every time". (And yet Adwait and the Herald Front page edit
claims sales and marketing does not interfere with editorial and news
coverage? What a crappy lie)
Adwait also says that there were a couple of consultants working for the
Herald who used to help his sales team intervene in news coverage, which
Adwait says, was mostly about writing "bad bad bad all the time".
The educated class, Adwait says, does not like such cynical coverage, which
he says is fit only for taxi drivers and tiatrists, clearly damning and
running down his own newspaper's readership.
He then says, if Herald needs to penetrate the upmarket households which
own BMWs and dine in five star restaurants, the coverage should not be so
cynical.
One second, now I wonder to whom was the Herald front page open edit
addressed to yesterday? The taxi drivers and tiatrists or the BMW owners or
five-star diners. Someone needs to clarify this, no?
Now follows another interesting part of the conversation, where Adwait
claims that Herald's coverage of Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik was
over-the-top, claiming Herald is playing Muthalik's hands.
To this, the casino honcho claims Muthalik hails from a village short
distance from his ancestral home near Hubli and that no one cares a whit
about him. Part V comes to a close with the casino honcho claiming that
Muthalik's 'coming to Goa' was being treated like "Osama bin Laden" is
coming to Goa in the media.
Adwait then says that he has constant arguments with Herald Editor Sujay
Gupta over such issues. "We point that out, then he doesn't like it that we
are stopping it. 'You should give me a free hand and all that'" says
Adwait, quoting Sujay
NOTE: Part V was delayed a bit because of the time I had to devote replying
to Adwait's clarification and responding to Herald's front page open edit.
Apologies for the same.

[Goanet] JACKPOT JOURNALISM PART VII- HARDCORE HERALD'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS

[Mayabhushan]

JACKPOT JOURNALISM PART VII- HARDCORE HERALD'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS


#JackpotJournalism #PaidNews #Goa #GoaMedia #Herald #casinos #GoaCasinos
#IndianMedia

https://youtu.be/-_3SLrhs0tg (video link)

In the concluding part of the #JackpotJournalism series, Herald’s assistant
general manager (sales) Adwait Desai confesses to the casino honcho, that
his heart was pounding as he walked into this meeting and the latter
reassures him, saying there's nothing to worry about because in business,
one should be open to everything.

Adwait says, he has never been in such a situation in his life and suggests
that the casino honcho should ask the Herald bosses for a meeting.

The casino honcho insists, that forget the demand for Rs. 25 (lakh) even
giving a Rs. 5 lakh advertising support for the Herald, would be difficult
and suggests that so much advertising in one newspaper by the casino
industry, would make the other media platforms in Goa nervous.

The casino honcho then goes on to show Adwait, phone messages allegedly
sent to him by The Navhind Times general manager Pramod Revankar. The
honcho then goes on to read out aloud the message allegedly sent by
Revankar: 'Inspite of repeated anti-casino news, advertisements still
continue to appear in English daily, not a single news in NT,’ (what a
'novel' way to pitch for ads)

He also reads out a sequence of phone messages, allegedly sent by Revankar,
mentioning the time and the dates on which the messages were sent. The
messages basically gripe about how, despite anti-casino news being
published in the Herald newspaper, they still get ads from the casino
industry.

The casino honcho and Adwait, then go on to discuss in detail the coverage
of a press conference, which the former claimed was wrongly headlined in
the newspaper. (It’s a fun conversation)

Adwait then goes on to say, that writing about casinos is the flavour of
the season for the media in Goa, just like writing about Arvind Kejriwal
is, whether the AAP leader is of concern or not. Such coverage, Adwait
says, is the hazard of the media industry.

The Herald sales manager then switches back to issues at hand and says that
another meeting would be necessary to bring sense to the advertising deal
they were discussing about. The casino honcho then says, if he calls for a
meeting with the Herald bosses, it could imply that he is under pressure
and asks Adwait to fix the meeting.

And then he makes a critical point, that following the consultation with
his over phone (as seen and head in Part I) the figure of Rs. 25 lakh was
too high and “too heavy” and that “this is too heavy and we can't get into
this kind of extortion”. Adwait, despite his seniority in the organisation,
does not contest this charge.

Then, the casino honcho goes on to caution that it is not just his
reputation, but also suggests that the reputation of Herald which is at
stake, if information about this deal leaks.


The full length, unedited video, as received by me will be uploaded to
YouTube tomorrow


-- 
Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Goanet] Post paid news expose, Goa newspaper tries to strangulate whistle-blowers, files police complaint

[Mayabhushan]

HERALD, THE 'VOICE OF GOA' NOW STRANGULATES WHISTLE-BLOWERS

After its paid news and shady advertising tactics were exposed thanks to
the #JackpotJournalism story, Herald has now filed a complaint with the Goa
Police Crime Branch Cyber Cell, in which they have tried to implicate me in
a data theft and hacking case.
>From a media organisation which uses terror unleashed by negative reportage
as an advertising strategy, I did expect a shady turn of events like this.
The last time I exposed a paid news network at the Herald ahead of the 2012
state assembly elections, where paid political interviews were masked as
news and sold for over Rs. 80,000 a piece, they had responded by filing a
defamation suit against me.
Anyway, facing this expected backlash is a rite of passage and must be
weathered and I am willing to fully co-operate with the police as and when
they choose to probe the case.
But my fear is that the real motive of the Herald's complaint is to track
down my sources there who have provided me vital clues and information
which helped to execute the #JackpotJournalism story.
While the bosses run riot at the Herald, there are several folks who have
worked in the organisation and are not happy with the unethical practices
adopted as routine there, as brought out in the story #JackpotJournalism.
The leak of an internal memo written by Herald's deputy sales manager
Adwait Desai, where he admits that news articles published in the newspaper
have to be cleared by the sales department, seems to have particularly
irked the Herald (pls read the story attached).
My sources tell me, that Herald wants to identify and punish these unsung
heroes and whistleblowers in their own set up, who have shown their dissent
against such unfair journalistic practices in their organisation by sharing
information with me.
I am completely committed to protect the identity of these sources of this
vital information precisely the information they shared with me is in
public interest. It is in public interest to know what backend deals
eventually end up defining media coverage, which is unsuspectingly lapped
up by thousands of readers of a newspaper.
It is ironical that the newspaper management has taken no action against
its own staffers who walk into casinos and demand advertising to the tune
of Rs. 25 lakh per casino per month in return for "positive reportage" of
the industry.
I once again unequivocally state that I have not unethically or illegally
hacked any data for procurement of the information used in the
#JackpotJournalism story or any media-related story filed by me in the
past.

Best
Mayabhushan

P.S. The entire paid news story sequence can be accessed on FB by searching
the #JackpotJournalism hashtag




-- 
Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Goanet] #JackpotJournalism deveIopments: I have been summoned by Crime Branch in hacking, data theft case

[Mayabhushan]

Hello,

I have been summoned on Monday morning by the Goa Police Crime Branch in
connection with a case filed by the Herald management which implicates me
in offences like data theft and hacking.

Below is a letter I have written to the local media body, the Goa Union of
Journalists, complaining of harassment by the media organisation for
bringing out a story on media corruption in public interest via social
media.

Best regards
Mayabhushan






Dear friends in the GUJ executive committee

You may have been aware of the developments surrounding the
#JackpotJournalism story, which I had filed on social media earlier this
month.
You may also be aware, that the Herald management in a complaint filed
before the Crime Branch's Cyber Cell, has tried to implicate me as having
had a hand in hacking and data theft which led to the leak of an internal
memo. As a result, I am required to be present at the above stated office on
Monday at 10:30 am.
The memo, which I had also uploaded on social media, confirms that chunks
of editorial news in the Herald newspaper, have to be pre-approved by the
sales department, unlike the tall claims made in the newspaper's front page
Open Edit.
Incidentally, the very fact that they filed a complaint with the Crime
Branch, also proves the authenticity of the memo. It proves that news in
the Herald, indeed, is shackled by sales processes and decisions.
Our job as journalists, is to source information from public and private
enterprises and place what's important and in public interest, in the
public domain. Our job requires us to tell readers and viewers, about how
the piece of sourced information affects or could affect their lives.
Today, the Herald has tried to 'fix' me with this criminal complaint for
publishing a leaked company document. Tomorrow and henceforth, any company
or government agency could file a complaint under the IT act, accusing a
journalist of hacking their database to obtain the data, if he or she files
a story in public interest based on such  document/s.
Hope you understand the perils and dangers that such a precedent could set
for sincere and genuine reportage.
At this stage I would like to (like I have in my FB post) unequivocally
state that I have not hacked any email or committed data theft. I was given
the information by people who are unhappy (and there are many) with the
unethical practices at the newspaper which were exposed by the
#JackpotJournalism story.
To refresh your collective memories, the #JackpotJournalism story shows how
deputy general manager (sales) Adwait Dessai attached to the Herald
newspaper and his colleagues use strong-arm tactics to muscle through a Rs.
25 lakh-per-casino-per-month 'advertising' deal from a representative of
the casino industry.
Desai also alleges how management pressure has ensured that several news
stories related to the real estate lobby and the casino industry were
killed there.
One thing of particular interest to GUJ, could be how Adwait goes on to say
in a sweeping statement, that reporters indulge in extortion.
Anyway, the reason for my writing to you is to complain about efforts made
by Herald, a newspaper which boasts of investigative journalism, to silence
genuine Whistle Blowers.
Instead of trying to initiate corrective measures institutionally, they
have, with the criminal complaint, tried to cower down their own
whistle-blowers and tried to implicate me, a member of GUJ, into the
affair.
My complaint is that, with the filing of the criminal complaint, attempts
are being made to harass me (as a whistle-blower myself in this case),
solely because I placed sensitive information, as exposed in
#JackpotJournalism and on other occasions, in the public domain and in
public interest.
When someone buys a newspaper for Rs. X, there is an unspoken contract
between the buyer and the newspaper, that the information given to the
reader is genuine and editorially processed. What #JackpotJournalism
exposed was a blatant violation of that contract with back-end news
compromising deals.
GUJ should also back the cause of the unsung whistle-blowers who have
helped me obtain the information and who are now being unfairly targeted by
their employers for being selfless servants of public interest.
I leave the choice of honouring this request to your good sense.

Best regards
Mayabhushan


P.S. In case you would like me to stop sending this mailer across, please
do let know. No hard feelings.


-- 
Sent from Gmail Mobile


-- 
Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Goanet] #JackpotJournalism #Goa Crime Branch quizzed me today, sought information about source who unearthed media malpractice

[Mayabhushan]

FYI
Kept my appointment with the Crime Branch, Cyber Cell today afternoon.
The thrust of the enquiry officer's questions, was primarily about asking
me to reveal the identity of the source, who could have given me a copy of
an inter-office memo issued by Herald deputy general manager (Sales) Adwait
Desai (memo attached), which more than adequately shows that chunks of
editorial content in the Herald is subject to screening of the sales
department.
In response, I said on more than one occasion, that I was not in a position
to reveal the name of the source who gave me the memo, citing journalistic
ethics, according to which revealing the identity of the source, who has
helped to unearth a malpractice, is sacrilege.
I also explained that if in the future, reporters were asked to name their
sources and were subject to complaints filed by public institutions and
private companies for 'stealing' or 'hacking' data, every time a story was
filed on basis of leaked documents, it would be impossible for bonfide
media to report on issues in public interest.
I also said that the case against me filed by Herald amounted to harassment
and aimed at targeting whistle blowers in its own organisation who had
unearthed a journalistic malpractice.
It's ironical that a media house itself is gunning for a journalistic
source.
That's it for now. And thanks to all those guys who turned at the the Crime
Branch in solidarity.
Mayabhushan


-- 
Sent from Gmail Mobile

[Goanet] #JackpotJournalism aftermath -- Source protection emerges as key issue

[Mayabhushan]

Reveal your source
IN MEDIA WATCH BRIEFS  <http://www.thehoot.org/media-watch-briefs>|
26/07/2016
<http://www.thehoot.org/story_popup/reveal-your-source-9520>
<http://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehoot.org%2Fmedia-watch-briefs%2Freveal-your-source-9520&t=>
<http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehoot.org%2Fmedia-watch-briefs%2Freveal-your-source-9520&text=Reveal+your+source>
<https://plus.google.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehoot.org%2Fmedia-watch-briefs%2Freveal-your-source-9520>

In the unfolding saga of the extortion sting
<http://www.thehoot.org/media-watch/media-practice/an-extortion-sting-implicates-goas-herald-9490>
which
exposed blackmail by the* OHeraldo* newspaper in Goa,  and the retaliatory
case of data theft filed by the paper, the latest is that the police are
pressing the journalist who uploaded the sting to reveal his source. On
July 26 Mayabhushan Nagvenkar  was questioned about this by the Goa police
crime branch cyber cell’s enquiry officer. This could become  a test case
for  source protection.


http://www.thehoot.org/media-watch-briefs/reveal-your-source-9520

[Goanet] #JackpotJournalism Impact - Goa Crime Branch books Herald newspaper's general manager, others for extortion

[Mayabhushan]

Hello,

After conducting a preliminary enquiry, the Goa Crime Branch has booked
Herald publications general manager Michael Pereira, deputy general manager
sales Adwait Desai and other sales, marketing and editorial department
personnel in an extortion case.

Please find links and clips about the story published in the local media
today.

best regards
Mayabhushan

FIR in casino case against local English daily’s officials (TOI)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/FIR-in-casino-case-against-local-English-dailys-officials/articleshow/53470453.cms




-- 
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[Goanet] Is Parrikar going soft on ruling Goa Congress?

[Mayabhushan]

Is Parrikar going soft on ruling Goa Congress?

Panaji, Feb 24 (IANS) Goa Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manohar
Parrikar seems to share the predicament of party stalwart L.K. Advani when
it comes to stopping short of landing a killer punch on the Congress.

Advani last week apologised and distanced himself from the claims of a party
task force, which suggested that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had money
stashed in foreign bank accounts.

The situation could seem somewhat familiar to the politically savvy in Goa
where Parrikar, who heads the BJP's good governance cell, has failed to pin
the responsibility of the illegal mining scourge on Congress Chief Minister
Digambar Kamat, who is also the state's minister for mines.

Parrikar, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) product, has instead
vigorously accused a police inspector and other mines department officials
for the plunder.

Parrikar's fatal flaw is already being talked about openly by the party
cadre who have blamed it on his obsession for the 'politics of compromise'.

When BJP's secretary in charge of the Goa desk Arti Mehra was asked -
shortly after she took over the organizational position -- to comment on why
the party leaders in the state had failed to make the scam taint stick on
local Congress leaders, she first said the issue would be looked into.

'I discussed it with my leaders here and they say the local media is not
naming the ruling politicians in their reports even when our leaders are
exposing scams,' she said during a subsequent interaction.

Very few people have been able to clinically dissect the scams in Goa's
mining sector better than Parrikar, who has proven that nearly 18 percent of
the 40-million-tonne ore exported from the state was illegally extracted.

Instead of going for Kamat, the BJP leader has vigorously accused a police
inspector and other mines department officials for the plunder.

Parrikar has also been reluctant to name Kamat (also the state's finance
minister), in a multi-million rupee excise scam, wherein consignments
carrying millions of litres of alcohol have disappeared into thin air.

He, instead, chose to zero in on a state civil service officer and Excise
Commissioner Sandip Jacques for the scam. Jacques is now posted as an
officer on special duty to the chief minister.

Parrikar's silence on a panel of municipal corporators backed by Education
Minister Atanasio Monserrate is telling. While the BJP leader has voiced the
alleged corrupt practices of the ruling corporators in the Corporation of
the City of Panaji (CCP), he has rarely attempted to drag Monserrate into
the controversy.

Once Parrikar abruptly wound up a press conference when reporters questioned
him on Monserrate's possible involvement in CCP-related scandals.

Monserrate has a chequered past, having been booked for arson, forgery
(forging his educational qualifications) and assault.

A senior party functionary said the party cadre was largely flummoxed by the
party's 'go slow' against several Congress legislators and minister, namely
Kamat, Monserrate, Forest Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues and Health Minister
Vishwajit Rane.

'The cadre is confused. Parrikar's inability to take on the battle to these
ruling MLAs in their bastions, despite our repeated exposes in the
ministries run by these people is sending wrong signals to our cadre,' said
a senior BJP leader.

Could Parrikar be suffering from a condition similar to the 'Stockholm
Syndrome'? The three top leaders of the ruling coalition were once a part of
a BJP-led coalition government in Goa. In fact, Kamat was until 2004 a BJP
member and virtually the second-most powerful minister in the Parrikar-led
cabinet. Does this make it difficult for Parrikar to take them on?

Parrikar had outrageously likened Advani to 'rancid pickle' a couple of
years ago. Venerated by a cross section of the educated elite of Goa as
their articulate and cavalier political messiah, Parrikar's recent inability
to take the fight to the political opposition now, however, stands out
conspicuously.
(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhusha...@ians.in)

http://in.news.yahoo.com/parrikar-going-soft-ruling-goa-congress-20110223-202846-427.html


-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Dainik Lokmat's amazingly 'special' coverage of the CCP polls and Babush Monserrate

[Mayabhushan]

Dear all

Please visit the link below to sample some of the amazing journalism 
which is being dished out for the forthcoming CCP polls. The coverage of 
the Goa edition of Dainik Lokmat has been so fascinating, it should be a 
lesson to all journos in Goa, young, old and everyone.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/

So committed and focused is the reportage of the CCP polls, that even 
Vijay Sardesai – whose mug was such a regular on the newspaper, staring 
back at you on multiple occasions every day, from a party to a funeral 
-- seems to have taken a temporary hiatus from the pages of the Marathi 
newspaper. It’s all about the CCP and Babush now. Perhaps Babush first 
and CCP next. Whatever the sequence… does it matter?


When you visit the flickr links do read the portions which have been 
ringed by a black circle.


The scan titled, Lokmat 1 for instance is a brilliant story on the CCP 
elections and how poor Babush is being made a target both by the BJP and 
the Congress. I almost sobbed a tear.


Lokmat 2 has another heartwrenching story liberally quoting Babush, 
which shows that the Taleigao MLAs vision and heart is in the right 
place. It’s filed by a ‘khas pratinidi’, which means special 
correspondent. Special story this.


Lokmat 3 brings out another facet of the magnanimous, but tad stoic (may 
not be stoic exactly, but the report leans towards that human quality) 
character that Babush is blessed with. The brilliantly crafted story 
tells you about how Babush’s candidate is all set to win the contest 
against rebel candidate Uday Madkaikar and how Babush will not 
compromise on any count vis-à-vis Madkaikar. Again a special story from 
a special correspondent, who reads Monserrate so well, that there almost 
seems like a telepathic connection between the two.


Lokmat 4 is yet another story which speaks volumes of the farsightedness 
of Dainik Lokmat reportage. Kudos to them for being so radical in the 
way they approach their stories. Most newspapers report a development 
first and then go for reactions. But not Dainik Lokmat and the special 
correspondent. Here, on a day when the CBI officials told a local court 
that Babush had not been beaten up and his house not been ransacked (as 
Babush had hollered everytime, since the attack on the Panaji police 
station by him and his ‘supporters’. The CBI had exposed Babush by 
calling his bluff), Dainik Lokmat chose to run the main story inside on 
Page 2 and ran Babush’s reaction on Page 1, where Babush now wants a 
judicial enquiry into the affair. I must admit, this story has a very V 
V S Laxman kind of finesse… Special Correspondent is now a Very Very 
Special correspondent.


Lokmat 5, a scan of a turn over page for the VVS story.

There’s more to this journalistic treasure trove for sure… Hopefully, 
the guys who are digging this out aren’t too stunned by these beauties 
already and will pull out more special masterpieces…


And please guys do read Dainik Lokmat, it costs only one buck. Don’t 
think there’s any other newspaper which comes in that cheap.


The link again for those who read on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/

Warm regards
Mayabhushan

P.S. Per kind favour John Aguair for the comprehensive media-related 
email address resource he has generated over years now



--
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Ashram plans of Osho 'disciple' spark protests in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

Ashram plans of Osho 'disciple' spark protests in Goa
Panaji, March 12 (IANS) An ashram started by a self-proclaimed follower of
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, more popularly known as Osho, in Goa's Barcem
village has triggered opposition from the villagers.

The ashram, started by Swami Rajneesh, is still in its nascent stage and is
modelled as an Osho co-owned commune.

At a recent gram sabha -- general body meeting of the village council -- at
Barcem, about 40 km from here, villagers expressed reservations about the
ashram and demanded that the no objection certificate (NOC) required for the
project should not be issued, until more details were made available.

"We will not give any permissions or NOC to the project until they tell us
exactly what it is about. Whether it is an ashram or a hotel, is not clear,"
said Dattaram Gaonkar, sarpanch of the Barcem village panchayat.

According to Swami Rajneesh's website, the 45-acre project envisages 40
resident cottages, a 40-room guest house, kitchens, bakery,
massages/wellness spas, a swimming pool, mystery schools, martial art
schools, medical and banking centres and even a silence zone, among other
amenities.

Talking to IANS, Soiru Velip, a resident of Barcem, said: "This is exactly
what we are worried about. We need to know what kind of a project this is.
Why does an ashram need a swimming pool and a massage centre? What kind of
an ashram is this?"
When contacted, Swami Rajneesh said that he was bringing to Goa, the fruits
of knowledge and wisdom gleaned from the great master Osho himself, of whom
he had been a discipline for over 30 years.

"This ashram is a free place. I am going to impart the teaching and wisdom
of my guru here. But, it is all going to be free. I am not going to charge a
rupee from anybody, unlike the Koregaon Park ashram," he said, referring to
the Pune-based ashram started by Osho himself.

"Although I am Bhagwaan Rajneesh's disciple, my way of life is different
from his. I don't believe in the material aspects which my guru was fond
of," Swami Rajneesh said.
He said the Barcem project was an ashram and not a boutique hotel.

"I am a responsible person. My ashram will teach classical arts, including
dancing and music, for free. I am going to incorporate the local community
in my project," said Swami Rajnessh, who is currently residing in the
coastal resort village of Colva, 40 km from here.
-- indo Asian News Service
maya

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

Re: [Goanet] CECO Circulating Library Will Be History Soon

[Mayabhushan]

Are they closing or relocating to some place near Alankar cinema hall? 

Ceco = Its a combination of the first two characters of their sons' names

'Ce'dric and 'Co'ndrad

Bhushan




--- On Mon, 10/25/10, augusto pinto  wrote:

From: augusto pinto 
Subject: [Goanet] CECO Circulating Library Will Be History Soon
To: "goanet" 
Date: Monday, October 25, 2010, 1:01 AM

Frederick Noronha wrote on the subject:  Re: [Goanet] CECO Circulating
Library Will Be History Soon

(I'll comment onportions of his letter below)

FN: Hi Augusto, Your post did interest me a lot, and almost tempted me
to comment earlier.

Me: Well Frederick thanks, but I think I should start my reply with an
apology of sorts. I came to know about CECO's closing down because
Leroy Veloso of Moira tipped me off about this.

A day after your response to my letter, I was accosted by Leroy Veloso
who is one of the richest (if I heard him right when he spoke to a
group of friends earlier today - the second richest (!!) Moidekar),
and who is certainly one of the cleverest, certainly more clever than
me - see - SEQC blog.

Leroy said that it was unethical on my part to write about CECO
library without his permission as it was Leroy who gave me the 'tip'.

He said that he did not want any publicity but it was the principle of
the matter that he was agitated about. Apparently he felt that since
it was Leroy who gave me the 'tip' I was obliged to ask his permission
before writing what I did on this topic.

I wish to acknowledge that I did not seek the permission of Leroy when
writing my post. I hope Leroy accepts this as an apology.

FN: I have heard so much about CECO (is CECO an
abbreviation, or is it just Ceco?)

Me: Dunno. CECO's books are stamped as CECO Circulating Library.

FN: However, I did visit the Athaide (whom is it named after anyway...
?... bless his soul) municipal
library at Mapusa...

Me: The Athaide library like the St. Xavier's library have a lot of
treasures which have been bequeathed to them by old rich families the
collections of which need someone knowledgeable to study and annotate
as many are in Portuguese and perhaps Latin. Otherwise the Athaide
library is sad.


FN: Anyway, I think your musings on Ceco and Shibbir and the written
word in the Goa of the 1970s would be interesting enough for a
full-fledged article!

Me: Offhand I think I am not the right person to do such an article
because the subject is one where one must interview people - and I'm
not so good at this.

However, I could interview Raymond who owns Ceco and is an ex-Kenya
guy, who used to play football along with my brother for the Cruzaders
in Nairobi in the 1960's, but the other inputs required are responses
from readers of Ceco and Shabbir in Mapuca and also the reminiscences
of those from other towns in Goa who used to frequent these lending
libraries.

Maybe we could do this as a collective enterprise. Willing goanetters
- could you please write in with your recollections regarding lending
libraries whereever you may be from. Then I, or dare I say FN, would
string them together into a long article.


FN: In fact, I would have surely not ended up as a journalist, had it
not been for the sparse library at the Saligao Institute

Me: Such village libraries are sorely needed although I am not sure
about the inclinations of the e-teen generations.

I had tried to help re-start the library in Moira's Associacao
Academica de Moira by donating them a slew of fiction and other stuff
to which Floriano Lobo also responded by sending the stuff he did not
want to the club, but unfortunately I suspect that the management of
the club does not believe that the club should be a community centre
where Toms, Rashidas, Dikshits and Haris can congregate, and so these
books are awaiting white ants to devour them.

Incidentally Leroy Veloso had once said that he would help in the
setting up of a government assisted library but there again the
management of the club shot down the idea as apparently it does not
believe  that the club should be a community centre  where Toms,
Taslimas, Dikshits and Haris can congregate.

Cheers
Augusto


On 21 October 2010 23:58, augusto pinto  wrote:
> I had written:
> "CECO Circulating Library Will Be History Soon
> Do you, my frends, know that CECO Circulating Library in Mapusa will
> be shut soon.
> It used to be one of the two main ones that were very popular in the
> 70's and 80's (Shabbir's was the other). I used to frequent them in
> those days but then I lost touch. Shabbir's closed down long ago, and
> now it seems people's book habits have reduced so drastically that
> they are not capable of sustaining these libraries.
> They are disposing off many of their books for about Rs 40 ?- 50. Much
> of it is pulp fiction, but there may be some things that you are
> looking for. For the younger readers there are a lot of Nancy Drews
> and Hardy Boys and Louis L'Amore and such like stuff; as well as
> comics and magazines. So it might be worth pay

[Goanet] TICKETGATE II AT INDIA - AUSTRALIA ODI IN GOA? DUMMY TICKETS OR PRINTER'S DEVIL?

[Mayabhushan]

TICKETGATE II AT INDIA - AUSTRALIA ODI IN GOA? DUMMY TICKETS OR PRINTER'S
DEVIL?

By GoaTNT Writer
Panaji: It’s the same India - Australia encounter. It’s the same Fatorda
stadium. It’s the same Goa Cricket Association (GCA).
But here’s the operative part. Do the match tickets have 2001 written over
them all over again?
The Goa Cricket Association (GCA) has summoned the Pune-based printer of the
25,000 odd tickets for Sunday’s washout India-Australia match at the Fatorda
stadium, after a potentially damning duplication of tickets have started
tumbling out in the open.
GoaTNT <http://www.goatnt.com> has in its possession copies of two combos,
of a ticket and a complimentary pass each which, have the same seat number
on them.
In one set, a south upper stand ticket with serial number 09173 costing Rs
2,500 shows F-0028 as a designated seat and a south upper stand
complimentary pass with serial number 32663 with the exact same seat number
F-0028.
The other set is also a combo of south upper stand complimentary pass and
ticket.

(for more of the story, log on to www.goatnt.com or
http://www.goatnt.com/full_story.php?id=103


regards
Mayabhushan

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com
tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original art, writing, music, 
news and commentary from and about the smallest state in the subcontinent. 
check out the newest member of the Goanet family daily at 
http://www.tambdimati.com.

[Goanet] PRUDENT MEDIA BOSS SAYS 'MINISTER BRIBED US'; TAKES NO NAMES

[Mayabhushan]

PRUDENT MEDIA BOSS SAYS 'MINISTER BRIBED US'; TAKES NO NAMES

Panaji: Sandesh Prabhudesai, editor in chief of Prudent Media, a local TV
news channel has claimed that a minister in the Goa government had tried to
bribe two of his employees by offering them a Diwali present in cash.
In a post on his Facebook wall, Prabhudesai has said: “We at Prudent
celebrated Diwali in real sense by killing a corrupt evil of Narakasur
within us”.
It further adds: “a minister offered our reporter Devidas (Kambli) and Omkar
(Falari) Rs 15,000 as Diwali gift. They flat refused it and warned him not
to attempt such things in future”.
Interestingly, neither Prabhudesai’s post nor Prudent Media on its
television news channel have run a story on the attempted bribery.

for more please log on to 
http://www.goatnt.com/full_story.php?id=127


-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/
_/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original
_/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the
_/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest
_/ member of the Goanet family daily at
_/ http://www.tambdimati.com.
_/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

[Goanet] (updated story with Sandesh's inputs) PRUDENT MEDIA SAYS MINISTER OFFERED BRIBE*, NO NAMES TAKEN

[Mayabhushan]

PRUDENT MEDIA SAYS MINISTER OFFERED BRIBE*, NO NAMES TAKEN (updated story
with Sandesh's inputs)

Panaji: Sandesh Prabhudesai, editor in chief of Prudent Media, a local TV
news channel has claimed that a minister in the Goa government had tried to
bribe two of his employees by offering them a Diwali present in cash.
In a post on his Facebook wall, Prabhudesai has said: “We at Prudent
celebrated Diwali in real sense by killing a corrupt evil of Narakasur
within us”.
It further adds: “a minister offered our reporter Devidas (Kambli) and Omkar
(Falari) Rs 15,000 as Diwali gift. They flat refused it and warned him not
to attempt such things in future”.
Interestingly, neither Prabhudesai’s post nor Prudent Media on its
television news channel have run a story on the attempted bribery.
Sources told GoaTNT that a journalist attached to another local English news
channel had approached the Prudent Media reporter with a packet containing
Rs 15,000 cash, claiming to have been sent by the minister.
And later, the same English news channel journalist too refused to accept
the cash (also given to him) and reported the matter to his Editor.
Barring the oblique mention on Prabhudesai’s Facebook page, Prudent Media is
yet to come out openly with their take on the issue.

* FRESH UPDATE: Sandesh Prabhudesai called up GoaTNT after the story was
published online. According to Sandesh, it is unfair of GoaTNT to call a
Diwali gift a 'bribe'. (contd)

to read continuation please log on to
http://www.goatnt.com/full_story.php?id=127
-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/
_/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original
_/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the
_/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest
_/ member of the Goanet family daily at
_/ http://www.tambdimati.com.
_/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

[Goanet] FOR SANATAN, THE 'DEMON' WAS IN A BJP-MAN'S DIWALI FUNCTION (GOATNT)

[Mayabhushan]

 FOR SANATAN, THE 'DEMON' WAS IN A BJP-MAN'S DIWALI FUNCTION (GOATNT)
Panaji: The Diwali-eve improvised explosive device (IED) blast carried out
by members of Hindu right wing group Sanatan Sanstha (SS) targeted a popular
festive gathering organised by a local Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader,
a local trial court heard.
Rupesh Mahatme, the president of the Goa unit of the Bharitya Janata Yuva
Morcha (BJYM), a youth wing of the BJP, told a special trial court
instituted to try the 2009 Diwali-eve blast in Margao, 35 kms from here,
said that 15,000 persons had gathered at a narakasur effigy competition (a
mythological demon slaying event held in Goa on the lines of Ravan vadh in
other parts of the country) organised by his ‘Solid Party’ Trust and was
attended by chief minister Digambar Kamat, who is the local legislator and
Damodar Naik, a BJP legislator.
“For the last six-seven years the members of Sanatan Sanstha used to object
to our holding the narakasur effigy competition and they used to complain to
the Collector of South Goa,” Mahatme told the trial court. (CONTD...)
for more of the story please log on to
http://goatnt.com/full_story.php?id=146


-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/
_/ tambdimati: the Goa review is a community blog of original
_/ art, writing, music, news and commentary from and about the
_/ smallest state in the subcontinent. check out the newest
_/ member of the Goanet family daily at
_/ http://www.tambdimati.com.
_/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

[Goanet] Photo journalists summoned over snapping president on Goa beach

[Mayabhushan]

---
 http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Goa Sudharop Annual Awards
January 5, 2011 - 3:45 - 6:30pm
   Hotel Mandovi, Panaji, Goa

  Details at: http://bit.ly/GoaSudharop2011

---

Photo journalists summoned over snapping president on Goa beach

Panaji, Jan 5 (IANS) Three photo journalists were Wednesday summoned by the
police for taking photographs of President Pratibha Patil on a Goa beach. A
photo journalists association here, however, called the move an attack on
media freedom.

In the photographs, taken Tuesday afternoon, Patil is seen wearing a
colourful sari and sitting on a beach bed at Benaulim beach, 40 km from
here, as a white couple wearing swimwear passes by. These photos were
published in local newspapers Wednesday.

 Around Wednesday noon, three photo journalists - Ganadeep Sheldekar working
for local English daily The Navhind Times, Soiru Komarpant who works for
another local English daily Gomantak Times and Arvind Tengse, a freelance
photojournalist - were summoned by the Margao police. The police recorded
their statement on how and why they clicked photographs of the president's
beach trip.

 Patil is on a four-day private visit to Goa since Monday.

 'The president's security officer had told us that this was a private visit
and that no photographers would be allowed to take pictures. Accordingly we
had asked them to stay away from the president and her entourage,' said
Deputy Superintendent of Police Umesh Gaonkar.

 He said that the photo journalists were allowed to leave after their
statement was recorded. 'We wanted to know how far they were from the
president,' Gaonkar said.

 Rajtilak Naik, president of the Photo Journalists Association Goa (PJAG),
told IANS: 'This is an attack on media freedom. We photo journalists are
just doing our jobs. A beach is a public place, we have every right to take
photos.'

 'We took the photograph with a 400 mm zoom lens. We did not transgress any
security barriers. This is harassment of journalists on duty. The president
is a public person, why should there be a problem,' he added.

 Sources at the Raj Bhavan, where President Patil is put up, however said
that the presidential entourage was embarrassed by the sight of the
sari-clad president sunning herself, along with the white couple, where the
male tourist was bare-chested and his woman partner was wearing a bikini
swim suit.

 'The photographers were not allowed and the photos are not in good taste.
According to members of the entourage, the president did not like the way
the photos appeared,' a Raj Bhavan official said.
http://www.sify.com/news/photo-journalists-summoned-over-snapping-president-on-goa-beach-news-national-lbfq4mafgca.html

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com
---

NEW BOOK:  'PATRIOTISM IN ACTION: Goans in Indias Defence Services'

Copies now available at:

GOA: Literati (2277740), Other India (2263306), Broadway (6647038),
Mandovi (2427904), Noel DSilva & Associates (9823120454 / 9096781714),
Confidant / Golden Heart Emp (2732450), David & Co (2730326),
Vardaan (9527463684) SERV / RETD Def Offrs in Goa: O/o Sainik Co-op Hse
Bldg Sty, Def Col, Porvorim (2417288)

MUMBAI: David & Co (22019010)

PUNE: Manneys (26131683), Popular (25678327)

BENGALURU: Narayan (22865800)

DELHI: Ritana (24617278)

ONLINE (worldwide delivery): http://www.ritanabooks.com/booksdistri.htm,
http://goa1556.goa-india.org

---

[Goanet] Herald's marketing manager files criminal defamation case against journalist in Goa "paid news" story

[Mayabhushan]

Herald's marketing manager criminal defamation case against journalist in
Goa "paid news" story
 Hi,

Finally an update on the Goa paid news story. An interesting one. A
criminal defamation complaint under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code
has been filed against me at a trial court in Goa following the paid news
expose in October.

A source was kind enough to give me a copy of the complaint filed against
me. Interestingly the defamation case has been filed by Tulsidas Dessai,
Herald's marketing manager, who struck the paid news deal with me on phone
and email, while I was posing as fictitious budding politician 'Bernard
Costa'.

Please find the nine pages of the defamation case below, which was
incidentally filed on 11/11/11. ;)

A legal source gave me a copy of the complaint a couple of days back.

The complaint Tulsidas accuses me of doing the paid news story "out of
sheer frustration" by using "the facilities of the internet to start
publishing his own fanciful ideas, which were basically 'anti' in nature.
His famous (or rather notorious) blog for some time was titled
'penpricks<http://penpricks.blogspot.com/2008/07/nazi-gate-guys-its-time-we-killed.html>'
where he freely indulged in mud slinging against one and all".

This blog www.paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com has also been described a a
'nefarious activity' by the complainant.

Tulsidas also claimed in his complaint that the conversation about the paid
news deal never happened.

For more untruths, you could read the scans themselves on the
blog<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/12/criminal-defamation-case-against.html>.


This criminal defamation complaint amounts to clear intimidation of a
whistle blower, exposing an unethical practice, in this case the phenomenon
of paid news.

I will contest this bullshit.

Thank you for all your support and look forward to more of it. Watch this
space for more updates as they happen.

Mayabhushan


P.S. If you need more clarifications or queries or need to merely convey
your sentiments about the complaint filed by Herald's marketing manager,
you could contact

*Herald Board numbers *
0091-832-2224202, 2224460, 2228083/ i...@oheraldo.in
*Editor-in-chief and owner* Raul Fernandes 0091 9822100188
*Editor *Sujay Gupta 0091 9923057937
*General Manager* Michael Pereira 9822122304
*Marketing Manager *Tulsidas Desai 9822568376

<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SSVKqtvwRuE/Tuckz3tFZxI/AUc/qYSNfBM4f0Y/s1600/9.jpg>
<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SSVKqtvwRuE/Tuckz3tFZxI/AUc/qYSNfBM4f0Y/s1600/9.jpg>

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---

[Goanet] Goa Media Union reiterates support in Herald Paid News case and CEC Quraishi on paid news in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

Hi...
Please find below an update on the Goa 'paid news' story.
And thank you for your support

warm regards
Maybhushan


Goa Media Union reiterates support in Herald Paid News case and CEC
Quraishi on paid news in Goa
http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/12/goa-media-union-reiterates-support-in.html

Chief Election Commissioner Dr S Y Quraishi on Friday said that the Herald
'paid news' complaint had been forwarded to the Press Council of India
(PCI) for action.
Quraishi was responding to a query from media persons during an interaction
at the Goa International Centre, where Quraishi along with other members of
the Commission were conducting pre poll preparations.
Both the author of this blog and the Goa Union of Journalists had submitted
a complaint to the ECI vis a vis the 'paid news' expose in Goa.
The CEC also said that political parties in Goa had complained about “paid
news” and told the Commission that many politicians were releasing birthday
advertisements expecting quid pro quo for favours during elections.
Incidenally, the latter fact was reported by none of the local English
dailies available here, barring The Hindu.
Earlier last week the Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) representing more than
200 working journalists in Goa issued a media statement, it received a
communication from the PCI to submit all evidence available with them.
Please find the relevant portions of the press note printed below.
* PRESS   NOTE*
PANJIM: The Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) has decided to furnish all the
required information sought regarding Paid News complaint by Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar pertaining to Herald, to the Press Council of
India (PCI), New Delhi, for appropriate action.
The meeting of GUJ executive committee chaired by its president Pandurang
Gaonkar on Wednesday, deliberated upon the letter made by the PCI seeking
all information regarding Paid News complaint.
The GUJ decided to pursue the complaint and to extend all possible support
to the complainant till the matter is taken to its logical conclusion.
The GUJ has also decided to raise the issue of Paid News before the
Election Commission of India during its visit to Goa on Friday, December
16...

The Goa paid news story also finds
mention<http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Sevanti_Ninan/article2723261.ece>in
media critic Sevanti Ninan's column 'Media
Matters'<http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Sevanti_Ninan/article2723261.ece>in
the Hindu Sunday (Dec 18).



-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---

[Goanet] Goa paid news story makes "Press Gazette" UK

[Mayabhushan]

Hi...

An update.
The Goa paid news story made it to the Press Gazette UK, this week...

You could read the entire story below, or just press the link below.

Thank you for your support.

warm regards

Mayabhushan


http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2012/01/goa-paid-news-story-makes-uk-press.html

12 January 2012

By *Jennifer Norton*

A Goa-based journalist is facing trial for libel in India today after
publishing details of a sting in which he claims a newspaper offered him
media coverage for cash.

Writing on his blog Paid News in Goa, Mayabhushan Nagvenkar says he
contacted a leading regional daily pretending to be fictional local
election candidate Bernard Costa in October 2010 and asked for coverage in
return for money.

That paper is now suing him for defamation, with the first hearing due to
take place today.

He claims to have exposed the practice of ‘paid news’, where politicians
are granted favourable media coverage for financial payment, which he
believes is widespread in the Indian press.

A series of emails and telephone transcripts on the blog appear to show the
newspaper granting “Bernard Costa” a campaign interview with pre-agreed
questions in return for $1700 and a television appearance on the
organisation’s cable channel for $1000.

Writing on Nagvenkar’s blog, the editor of the paper concerned said that
allegations of corruption against his title were false: "As editor, my
stated position both within and outside the organisation has been that paid
content cannot be disguised as news.”

Nagvenkar’s story has attracted widespread attention in India and was
featured on the front page of leading national newspaper The Hindu.

He is being backed in his legal fight by the Goa Union of Journalists, who
have said they will pay his legal fees.

Nagvenkar said: “The paid news phenomenon is not new in India. And in Goa,
which is a state in the western part of India, the media is swamped with
news articles, which are so obviously paid for.

“My story was aimed at pricking this trend,” he said, “which virtually
renders the very spirit of journalism useless.

“It has gotten people here talking about an evil in the media, which had
always been lurking silently in the backdrop. Hopefully similar efforts
will result in some kind public pressure on the media and make it think
twice before indulging in such corrupt malpractices.”

A report published by the Press Council of India in August 2010 said the
practice of “paid news” in the country was “pervasive, structured and
highly organised” and that it was “undermining democracy in India”.
Nagvenkar has submitted evidence of his investigation to the Council.


-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---

[Goanet] The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-sting-operator-who-gave-up-anonymity
The Sting Operator Who Gave Up Anonymity

*The multiple exploits of Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, the journalist who exposed
Goa’s paid news racket, pulled off a prank by planting a fake Nazi story in
several well-read dailies, and has held up a mirror to the media in other
ways
*
*By Aimee Ginsburg*

The ambience at Clube Nacional is perfect, and one immediately envisions
the film version of this story: lone journalist, snubbed by (many of) his
peers for his collegial exposés, sits at a table in a dimly-lit tavern,
sipping his glass of milky *feni*. He stares out the second storey window,
past the oldest building in Panaji, to where the Mandovi river twinkles in
the rainbow lights of yachts and stars. Below, the streets of this business
quarter are quiet. Most people have gone home by now, certainly all the
women and children; dogs are looking for dinner in the gutters. The man,
slightly burly in a plain sweater, is reading a piece of paper. Is it a
document proving his claims of corruption against one of Goa’s premier
daily newspapers? Is it a copy of the criminal defamation suit filed
against him last week? Just then, the proprietor comes over, looking like
the Portuguese have never left, and puts a plate of Chicken Cafreal and hot
fresh pao on the table. “I saw you on TV, man,” he tells the journalist,
whose name is Mayabhushan Nagvenkar and is obviously a regular, “I saw you
on TV!” As he turns to go, he rests his hand, ever so briefly, on the
journalist’s shoulder.

“Normally there would be more journalists here, for their after-work
drinks,” says Nagvenkar, known in Goan media circles as Bhushan, or The
Bush, “but at election time, they are busy with all kinds of extras.” One
of the extras for journalists in the past week was a meeting with the chief
electoral officer on the topic of paid news. In the course of the tutorial,
it was explained politely and with simple, easy-to-understand charts that
it is not allowed for journalists, editors or management to take money or
favours from political candidates. (“It is absolutely normal,” says
Nagvenkar, “to go to a press conference for political candidates and be
handed press releases with Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 notes attached. Many, if not
most, of these guys pocket the notes as if nothing happened. I have never
heard of a journalist being disciplined for it, or for any other similar
transactions.”)

One of the topics mentioned at the paid-news tutorial was a complaint filed
by Nagvenkar, veteran investigative journalist, to the Press Council of
India and Election Commission, against *Herald*, one of Goa’s leading
English dailies. Nagvenkar, in an elegant sting operation, seemingly showed
that *Herald* is open to paid-for, self-promoting interviews with political
candidates that appear in print as authentic editorial content. Nagvenkar
is not new to sting journalism—in 2005, he and partner Jamshed Khan had
stung six MPs, Shakshi Maharaj and Paras Nath Yadav among them, showing
that they were taking kickbacks. All six were suspended from a session of
Parliament as a result. In this current sting, Nagvenkar pretended to be
the fictional Bernard D’Costa, a first-time candidate for Parliament. Over
the course of four phone calls, he negotiated a deal with the paper’s
marketing manager, Tulsidas Desai. It was agreed in the end that D’Costa
(alias Nagvenkar) would pay Rs 86,400 for an interview, 15 inches x eight
columns long, and that there would be no label marking it as an
advertisement—the crux of the matter. D’Costa was invited to submit the
questions he would like asked. For another Rs 50,000, three similar
interviews would be broadcast on the newspaper’s TV channel. Nagvenkar
asked if this is how it had been done with an interview of another
candidate, published several days earlier (without any advertorial label),
and if that candidate had paid the same fee. The manager said, “Ya, ya, ya,
ya, ya.” Nagvenkar’s account on his blog is a darkly amusing, strangely
satisfying read. All conversations were recorded by Nagvenkar and published
here: paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html
.

With the publication, all hell broke loose. For a moment, at least. Then,
everything went back to normal.The complaints with the PCI are pending; no
one has lost a job; the paper comes out every day as usual (Sujay Gupta,
editor-in-chief of *Herald*, declined answering any questions for this
story). One thing that has come out of the sting so far: Desai, the paper’s
marketing manager, has sued Nagvenkar for criminal defamation. Nagvenkar,
whose day job is with one of India’s national news agencies, is well
prepared for the battle.

“It’s not as if paid news only happens at *Herald*,” says Nagvenkar,“it
happens everywhere. There is as much corruption in the media as in any of
the institutions it covers. In the big metros, you can cover your tracks.
In a small place like

[Goanet] Goa's Manohar Parrikar no longer riding pillion

[Mayabhushan]

http://in.news.yahoo.com/goas-manohar-parrikar-no-longer-riding-pillion-150319687.html

Goa's Manohar Parrikar no longer riding pillion

By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

Panaji, March 7 (IANS) First elected chief minister after a dramatic coup
Oct 24, 2000, Manohar Parrikar was expected to arrive that night at the
state secretariat, where journalists, bureaucrats and other usual suspects
jostled about.

As the white luxury sedan rolled in under the porch, a sentry
ritualistically opened the rear door to allow the new chief minister to
alight, only to find a personal security officer stepping out. Clad in a
crumpled shirt and trouser and wearing a chappal, the salt and pepper
haired Parrikar had hopped out of the front seat adjoining the driver and
was already under the archway to the corridors of power.

In 2012, however, the 56-year-old Parrikar is no longer riding pillion.
With a simple majority of 21 in the 40-seat assembly and the added buffer
of a three-member alliance partner and two Independents, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) helmsman in Goa is very much in the driver's seat of
power.

The Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai (IIT-M) graduate in metallurgy
has been the BJP's face in Goa for nearly two decades now. A father of two
sons, Parrikar, a widower, gives you the impression of being one of the
most-easy going chief ministers of Goa.

Whether it's eating a fruit salad at a street stall, spontaneously
directing traffic on busy roads or committing an earthy fashion faux pas by
wearing chappals with a formal blazer, the public perception of Parrikar
here is that of the man next door who only happens to be chief minister.

Parrikar's easy-going image, however, took a battering a couple of years
into office thanks to a power-induced arrogance that he acknowledged and
promised to correct during an interaction with the media in the run-up to
the just-concluded polls.

Parrikar's time in power from 2000 to 2005 was marked by two major events,
each of which are indicative of the nature of governance he provided:
creation of infrastructure for the International Film Festival of India
(IFFI) in record time and the controversial notification converting three
religious public holidays - including Mahashivratri and Good Friday - to
restricted holidays.

While the former brought him praise, the holiday call, especially Good
Friday, fuelled talk about Parrikar heading a government which was
insensitive to the minorities. Interestingly, Parrikar, who claims to have
mellowed down some, also apologised for this decision last month and wished
that there was someone who could have advised him against it then.

This time around, the BJP has six Christian legislators and the support of
two Christian Independents, perhaps just for such kind of "advice".

The poster boy of efficient administration in Goa has also "suffered" from
constant comparisons to his good friend and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi; an icky political simile, especially in a state where Christians
account for nearly 23 percent of the 14 lakh population.

Comparison's to Modi had also been fuelled by Parrikar's attending a
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) parade on Dussehra in Panaji, wearing the
customary attire, during his first stint as chief minister.

While a massive anti-incumbency wave and an anti-corruption plank propelled
Parrikar's BJP to power Tuesday, former BJP governments have shown promise,
but have not delivered consistently enough to curb corruption.

Tainted politicians like Atanasio Monserrate, Francisco Pacheco, Mauvin
Godinho, Pandurang Madkaikar and Digambar Kamat have all been members of
Parrikar's cabinet at one time or the other from 2000 to 2005.

Parrikar has also been accused by his critics of pandering to a coterie of
caste elite and ignoring genuine grievances of the rank and file that
firmly support the party.

A nervous bundle of energy, Parrikar has often fallen prey to the
foot-in-the-mouth syndrome.

One that cost him dearly was when, in a television interview a couple of
years back, Parrikar, who was in the running for the BJP's top post,
likened outgoing party president L.K. Advani to "rancid pickle" while
commenting on personalities, performance and ageing.

The comment possibly cut short his ride to the party's top slot.


-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---

[Goanet] Like Mayawati like Manohar: Social engineering redux in Goa (Goa Newsletter)

[Mayabhushan]

Like Mayawati like Manohar: Social engineering redux in Goa (Goa Newsletter)

By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Panaji, March 11 (IANS) If Mayawati stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh in
2007 riding on the electoral shoulders of Brahmins and Dalits, Manohar
Parrikar has similarly rewritten the 'social engineering' primer for Goa.

For the last four years now, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP<http://www.prokerala.com/topics/Bharatiya_Janata_Party>)
has been desperately reaching out to the sizeable 23 percent-strong
Christian community here, which has played a potential but hesitant suitor,
thanks to the party's 'infamy' inherited from states like Gujarat and
Karnataka.

The party even offered six out of the 28 seats it contested in the March 3
polls to Christian nominees and backed two other independent
Christianscandidates.

On Friday, the BJP gave a clear positive signal to the minority community
after coming to power in Goa - two Christians were inducted in the
six-member cabinet headed by Parrikar, while one Christian independent is
expected to be given a berth soon.

If Mayawati stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007 riding on the
electoral shoulders of Brahmins and Dalits, Manohar Parrikar has similarly
rewritten the 'social engineering' primer for Goa.

For the last four years now, the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP<http://www.prokerala.com/topics/Bharatiya_Janata_Party>)
has been desperately reaching out to the sizeable 23 percent-strong
Christian community here, which has played a potential but hesitant suitor,
thanks to the party's 'infamy' inherited from states like Gujarat and
Karnataka.

The party even offered six out of the 28 seats it contested in the March 3
polls to Christian nominees and backed two other independent
Christianscandidates.

On Friday, the BJP gave a clear positive signal to the minority community
after coming to power in Goa - two Christians were inducted in the
six-member cabinet headed by Parrikar, while one Christian independent is
expected to be given a berth soon.

The pro-active overtures have brought in rich returns for the BJP. Not just
in terms of winning a simple and slender majority of 21 in the 40-member
state assembly but also in the unprecedented breaking of tentative ice with
the main minority community in Goa, which is key to electoral fortunes here.

"Ever since I took over as secretary in charge of Goa, our main focus was
to reach out to the 23 percent vibrant Christian community here. It was my
endeavour to meet fathers (Catholic priests) and teachers and members of
the community all over Goa during my visits here," according to Aarti
Mehra, BJP's secretary in-charge of the state.

Mehra's brief was to engage with the key stakeholders and members of the
minority community and create a sense of confidence about the party, which
was kept at an arms distance by the minority community.

Mehra's efforts to dispel the doubts that Goan Christians had about the
party formed stage two of the BJP's minority overdrive.

Stage one was a long-drawn exercise called 'Mission Salcete', a Christian
dominated sub-district in south Goa.

With seven rural constituencies, Salcete has been considered a
Congress<http://www.prokerala.com/topics/Indian_National_Congress>bastion.
Barring the Fatorda constituency represented by the BJP for two
terms now, dethroning the Congress from other constituencies in Salcete
like Velim, Benaulim, Navelim, Nuvem, Curtorim and Cuncolim seemed
virtually 'Mission Impossible' for the BJP.

This time the BJP proved cynics wrong. The Congress managed to win only one
out of the seven rural Salcete seats (Curtorim), while the others were
bagged by the BJP, independents and the Goa Vikas Party (GVP), all of which
have pledged support to the BJP-led coalition government.

Constituency management apart, lead chief ministerial candidate Manohar
Parrikar's apology early in the campaigning phase about eliminating 'Good
Friday' from the list of public holidays struck a chord with the minority
community here.

"Let me assure you that these things were never intentional and will never
be repeated," Parrikar told a media conference earlier.

Of significance also is former cabinet minister Churchill Alemao's rant
Thursday that "80 percent of the clergy worked against the Congress" in the
2012 polls.

The church's subtle messages to its flock in the two weeks before the polls
to consult their conscience before voting for corrupt candidates took its
toll on the Congress, which in public perception appeared to have slipped
into an arrogant resonance. Earlier pre-poll advisory messages had
invariably cautioned the electorate against voting for "communal forces".

Father Eremito Rebelo of the Goa archdiocese told the Catholic news service
Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) that Goa church's exhortation 

[Goanet] The Navhind Times get Goa's archbishop Rev Filip Neri Ferrao hitched!!!

[Mayabhushan]

Navhind takes newspaper matrimony to a newer level...
Please check the attachment and the Bishop's quote on Matanhy's demise.

In verbatim...
"I along with my wife and other family members condole the death of Matanhy
Saldanha" Rev Filipe Neri Ferrao... Archbishop, Patriarch

Sadly, the newspaper does not name his wife though.. aw :(

Do read the attachment...

Mayabhushan


-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com
---

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  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---

[Goanet] GOA'S PAID PIPER -- POLITICAL 'PAID NEWS' IN GOA'S HERALD NEWSPAPER

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

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NOTE: THE STORY HAS BEEN EXTENSIVELY BLOGGED ON
http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html>

From:
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Doxoxxir, Anjuna
Bardez, Goa
403509
# 9420976862
mayabhus...@gmail.com <http://www.paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/>
www.paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com

Oct 25, 2011

To,
The Secretary,
Press Council of India,
Soochna Bhavan, 8-C.G.O. Complex,
Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
Email : p...@alpha.nic.in, pc...@vsnl.net


Sub: Complaint regarding paid news in a local English daily

Dear Sir

Please find attached four audio files and their transcripts which establish
the ease with which ‘political paid news’ deals are being struck in the Goan
media ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections scehduled for early 2012.

I am a journalist based in Goa and have been working in the print media for
over twelve years now. It is necessary to mention here, however, that
despite being a journalist, I have undertaken this whistle-blower exercise,
solely in capacity of a reader of the newspaper ‘Herald’, which I subscribe
to at home.

Over the last few weeks, I have felt let down by the editorial content,
which regularly contains seemingly dubious ‘political’ interviews of
aspiring candidates, in the Herald, which is Goa’s leading English language
daily, and is temporarily being published from Panaji (Campal Trade Centre,
Panaji, 403001) and edited by Shri Sujay Gupta.

I was informed by friends working in the newspaper sometime back that the
political interviews, which have been appearing as news content were being
published as ‘paid interviews’ in exchange for money.

The four telephonic conversations below with Herald’s marketing manager
Tulsidas Desai, three of which I recorded on October 20 and the other one on
October 22, clearly indicate that the newspaper and its personnel regularly
indulge in paid political news as matter of routine.

Herald’s marketing manager Tulsidas Desai told me, (I was posing as Bernard
Costa, a fictitious person seeking to contest elections from the Velim
assembly constituency in South Goa), that I could get a political campaign
interview (less than half page, 15 inches by eight news columns to be exact)
in the daily newspaper for Rs 86,400 and for an additional Rs 50,000, I
could be interviewed on the Herald Cable Network (HCN) which is a local
cable news channel operated by the same media group. None of the paid
content even carries an ‘advertorial’ tag, as can be seen in the copies of
the suspected paid news articles I have submitted alongwith.

Tulsidas also explained at length about an interview of a potential
electoral candidate Raymond D’Sa whose paid interview was published in the
Herald newspaper on October 20 had cost Rs 2 lakh.

In publishing such interviews I believe that the media organization has
breached the recognized ethical canons of journalistic propriety and taste
and has acted in a mercenary like fashion unbecoming of a journalistic
enterprise.

I am also apprehensive of the fact that the top management hierarchy of the
newspaper as well as senior editorial functionaries may be involved in the
paid news practice and hence have opted to write directly to the PCI.

I am aware of the fact that I have recorded conversations between myself
posing as Bernard Costa and Tulsidas Desai, without informing the latter,
but I am of the belief that I was in pursuit of a broader good, which was
bringing to light an instance of the ‘paid news’ nexus in the Goa media.

It is my humble prayer, that you probe this express incident of ‘paid news’,
which has been put before you Sir, and also set up an enquiry to probe
several other instances of paid news in Goa which are increasingly coming to
light, in view of the forthcoming assembly polls.

Please find attached alongwith:

1) Four audio files containing conversations with the Herald’s marketing
manager Tulsidas Desai

2) Transcripts of the four audio files

3) Scanned photo copies of already published suspected paid news
content/interviews in the Herald newspaper

4) A PDF file containing an email sent by Herald's marketing manager with a
paid political news quotation.

In hope that the complaint is investigated
Regards
Mayabhushan


P.S. I have also dispatched a hard copy of this email to your office by
courier.
P.P.S. I've also blogged about it on http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com
-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anj

[Goanet] GOA'S PAID PIPER: Follow up of the Herald paid news story

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Hi...
Thank you for the co-operation in publishing the story on paid news in Goa,
something which the local media has dithered from publishing for reasons
best known to them.

Herald editor Sujay Gupta had issued a written statement yesterday after the
story broke. Please find my response to the statement. You can also pick it
up from the blog http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/

Thanks again and
warm regards
Mayabhushan
GOA'S PAID NEWS STORY: FOLLOWING UP THE GOA'S PAID PIPER
STORY<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/goas-paid-news-story-following-up-goas.html>



Hi,

Thanks to all those guys who wrote back in support and appreciation of the
story<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html>GOA'S
PAID PIPER -- Paid political interview in Goa's Herald newspaper for
Rs 86,400' .

Thanks specifically to my senior colleagues in the media like P Sainath who
promised to take up this paid news case on the national forum and to noted
media critic Pradyuman Maheshwari for running it on his newly launched media
portal<http://www.mxmindia.com/2011/10/press-council-cracks-down-on-paid-news/>
and to Outlook editor Krishna Prasad for featuring it on his
blog<http://www.wearethebest.wordpress.org/>
(a url I have frequented in earnest often over the years).

Incidentally, only Goa related web portals like goanet<http://www.goanet,org/>,
targetgoa<http://www.targetgoa.com/newsd-GOA-S-PAID-PIPER-Paid-political-interview-in-Goa-s-Herald-newspaper-for-Rs-86-400-3129>
nizgoenkar <http://nizgoenkar.net/newsDetails.php?id=1505> and
goachronicle<http://www.goachronicle.com/goa/expose/18693-is-herald-marketing-selling-editorial-space>ran
the story; a fact that I really appreciate, considering the fact that
no
print newspaper has done so. Perhaps… I should have paid for publishing this
story … Joking of course…

Nevertheless… Herald editor Sujay Gupta has issued a written statement on
the subject to www.mxmindia.com which I am taking the liberty of reproducing
here. Please find my response to it below.



* Sujay's statement*

This is with reference to the complaint to the Press Council of India, by
our esteemed and senior colleague in the profession for many years,
Mayabhushan Nagvekar. *(Para 1) *

Since the matter concerns issues of editorial and journalistic propriety
even though the conversations and interactions Mayabhushan, posing as one
Bernard, has with our marketing Manager Tulsidas Desai, I have chosen to
respond to this. *(Para 2)*

Firstly, I wish to emphatically deny that any editorial content which has
appeared in the Herald, without the “advertorial” tag line has been paid
for. In his complaint, the complainant has attached newspaper clippings of
several interviews we have conducted as part of our kins and kinship series
of prospective new candidates in the fray.* (Para 3) *

The only exception was that of Somnath Zuwarkar, whose interview we carried
after his return to politics. To even suggest that these interviews were
part of a paid news package is hugely defamatory. Herald will respond to
these allegations urgently and appropriately in a proper forum. *(Para 4) *

I wish to emphasize that I have been informed by my management that Desai’s
remarks, (as heard on the audio) file in relation to any assurances given to
“Bernard” for disguised editorial favours is absolutely incorrect. *(Para 5)
*

As Editor, my stated position both within and outside the organisation has
been that paid content cannot be disguised as news. Whenever politicians
have sent out messages, statements of their achievements and other such
information, through a paid route, we have prominently stated that they are
advertorials. A case in point is the birthday of Deputy Speaker Mauvin
Godinho where there were more than 2 pages of “news” items about Mauvin’s
career and achievements. *(Para 6)*

Recently there was a four page advertorial supplement Vision 2015 where the
Chief Minister’s interview was carried along with information on other
departments. However, Herald has not softened its attack on this government
on several issues, making a clear distinction
between advertisements/advertorials and editorial. *(Para 7)*

Herald is the only newspaper which used the tag “advertorial” on top of
their news pages so that the difference between editorial and advertorial is
clearly established. *(Para 8)*

Coming to the proposed interview of the fictitious “Bernard

[Goanet] Goa paid news story follow up on NIZ Goenkar

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Hi,

Thanks to all those guys who wrote back in support and appreciation of the
story *GOA'S PAID PIPER* -- Paid political interview in Goa's Herald
newspaper for Rs 86,400' .

Thanks specifically to my senior colleagues in the media like P Sainath who
promised to take up this paid news case on the national forum and to noted
media critic Pradyuman Maheshwari for running it on his newly launched media
portal and to Outlook editor Krishna Prasad for featuring it on hisblog (a
url I have frequented in earnest often over the years).

Incidentally, only Goa related web portals like Goanet, Target Goa Niz
Goenkar and GoaChronicle ran the story; a fact that I really appreciate,
considering the fact that no print newspaper has done so. Perhaps… I should
have paid for publishing this story … Joking of course…

Nevertheless… Herald editor Sujay Gupta has issued a written statement on
the subject to www.mxmindia.com  which I am taking the liberty of
reproducing here. Please find my response to it below.


http://nizgoenkar.net/newsDetails.php?id=1513
-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Goa's paid news scandal on kafila.org

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
‘This is like a editorial kind of things no, I can’t mention on the paper
you know’

Goa-based journalist *MAYABHUSHAN NAGVENKAR* posed as a politician planning
to contest the Goa assembly elections 2012, and called up a marketing
executive of the Goa newspaper, *Herald <http://www.heraldgoa.in/>, *asking
for an interview to be published in the newspaper, for a price, as editorial
content rather than advertisement. He has posted online four conversations
he had with the executive, one of which you can hear below.


http://kafila.org/2011/10/27/goa-paid-news-herald-elections-mayabhushan-nagvenkar/--
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Mayabhushan: Why have newspapers and channels not reported the Paid News expose?

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Bevinda writes...

Why have newspapers and channels not reported the Paid News expose?
The arguments begin following the unfolding of arguments after Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar's sting op exposing Herald's "Paid News" management and editorial
policy, one reality sticks out much like Mukesh Ambani's Antilia on the Goa
media skyline - none of the newspapers reported the story. This can only
mean that all follow the same policy and are reluctant to cast the first
stone. One can also infer that they pay scant respect to the reader's right
to news in Goa. It also means that huge monies are paid out to the media to
refrain from printing one little word above the headline - Advertorial.
There is no other reason for the deafening silence of mainstream print media
and television channels who have done yeoman service in the recent past to
expose multiple scams in Goa.

New media have splashed this story all over cyberspace. Websites like
goachronicle, goanet, nizgoenkar and targetgoa have taken on this story as a
cause to be celebrated. Paid news is as ugly a monster in the corruption
landscape of Goa as are its MLAs, Cabinet and bureacracy. Again another nail
is rammed into the coffin of the aam aadmi. Again, institutions like the
media who should be on the alert, to serve and protect their readers are
doing the exact opposite.

As far as the legality of paid news goes. It is not a criminal act,
unfortunately, because essentially paid news is a massive confidence trick
on the reader and the electorate, who trust the word of the media as the
truth. All it entails is a breach of moral conduct and proof that
self-regulation just does not work.

There is hope though. The Election Commission has firmly stated that paid
news though unethical for the media is a little different for the candidate
paying for the news. That candidate can be barred from standing for
elections. Which is huge, if it can be proved. Mayabhushan Nagvenkar's audio
clips of the telephone conversation with the Marketing Manager of Herald
Publications is damning evidence.

It is to be hoped that Mayabhushan Nagvenkar lodges a formal complaint with
the Election Commission.

He has already received support from senior journalist P Sainath who
promised to take up this paid news case on the national forum and to noted
media critic Pradyuman Maheshwari.

*TARGET GOA *will be carrying follow up developments of the Paid News sting
operation. We hope you will spread the word and help us in the media to
clean up our act.

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Goa paid news story update: Goa Union of Journalists says sting in public interest; to take up matter with Press Council of India

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Hi guys

Thank you for your support in connection with the 'Paid News' in Goa story.

Here's an update you, in case you want to keep track of the story

You can also read this update on
http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/follow-up-of-goas-paid-news-story-goa.html



warm regards

Mayabhushan



Update:

 The Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ), which represents over 200 working
journalists in Goa during an extraordinary meeting of its committee Saturday
endorsed the ‘paid news’ sting operation, exposing the unethical and corrupt
phenomenon at the ‘Herald’, one of Goa’s leading newspaper.

Please find below a press statement issued by the GUJ general secretary
VIthaldas Hegde, where the GUJ has also decided to write to the PCI to
investigate the complaint and has directed the union’s ethics committee to
conduct its own probe expeditiously.

GUJ has also asked the Goa Editor’s Guild to step up and “take appropriate
action”.



Will keep updating the blog as and when developments happen…



Regards

Mayabhushan





GOA'S PAID NEWS STORY: Goa Union of Journalists endorses sting; demands PCI,
ECI probe




Thank you for putting up the paid news story on your blog early on. Here's
an update I wanted to share with you on the issue.

Update:

*The Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ), which represents over 200 working
journalists in Goa during an extraordinary meeting of its committee Saturday
endorsed the ‘paid news’ sting operation, exposing the unethical and corrupt
phenomenon at the ‘Herald’, one of Goa’s leading newspaper.  *

*Please find below a press statement issued by the GUJ general secretary
Vithaldas Hegde, where GUJ has also decided to write to the PCI to
investigate the complaint and has directed the union’s ethics committee to
conduct its own probe expeditiously. *

*GUJ has also asked the Goa Editor’s Guild to step up and “take appropriate
action”. *

*Will keep updating the blog as and when developments happen… *



*Regards*

*Mayabhushan*



* GUJ PRESS STATEMENT*

Following an extraordinary meeting of the executive committee held at its
office here on Saturday, the Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) has appealed to
its members as well as other journalists in Goa to report to its Ethics
Committee, any unethical demands if made on them by their management of
newspapers and news channels in the course of their professional duties.
This precaution is needed especially in view of the fast approaching Goa
Assembly elections.

The GUJ executive met to discuss a complaint forwarded to it for action by
journalist and GUJ member Mayabhushan Nagvekar pertaining to a complaint of
"paid news" he had lodged with Press Council of India (PCI) against local
newspaper Herald last week.

The GUJ executive discussed the issue and noted in its resolution that the
complaint about "paid news" was a serious issue as it pertains to ethics of
the profession and accepted Mayabhushan Nagvekar’s contention that the sting
was undertaken in public interest and in the interest of the professional
ethics.

The GUJ also noted that the malpractice of "paid news" had taken place
rampantly in Goa during the 2007 Assembly elections and as reader/viewer
continues to be unorganised there is no possibility of public check on the
same. Therefore, it is the duty of the journalists and GUJ members to stand
up against any such practices that will damage the credibility of the
profession. This is the part of self-regulation.

As has been its practice pertaining to complaints of breach of professional
ethics, the GUJ Executive decided to immediately handover the complaint to
Ethics Committee of the GUJ to thoroughly probe the same and report to the
Executive. Secondly, on its part the Executive decided to write to Press
Council of India to investigate the complaint speedily. A copy of the same
will also be forwarded to the Election Commission. It also decided to
forward the complaint to Goa Editors’ Guild to take appropriate action.

GUJ executive noted with concern complaints presently informally coming from
GUJ members regarding unethical demands from some organisations, for
instance, reporters being asked to collect advertisements for their paper,
which eventually compromises a
journalist’s professional integrity. These practices are equally dangerous
as the ‘paid news.’ Therefore, while appealing and encouraging members and
other journalists to approach Ethics Committee for any unethical demands on
them, the executive ha

[Goanet] Goa Paid News Story Followup: Hoot, Mediahive, Statesman talk about 'Goa's Paid Piper' story

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Hi...
Here's a few updates in the Goa's 'paid news story'.

Barring two newspaper Gomantak Times, Lokmat and the (brace yourself)
Sanatan Prabhat, no other news paper in Goa published the press note issued
by the Goa Union of
Journalists<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/10/follow-up-of-goas-paid-news-story-goa.html>which
has also demanded a probe by the Press Council of India, into the
'paid news' story featuring the Herald newspaper. Basically, the story was
largely blacked out by the media here.

Two media websites the Hoot and mediahive and a national newspaper
mentioned the Goa 'paid news'story in its editorial piece.

*Please find links to the stories here. *



Action demanded in Goa paid news case -- The
Hoot<http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5562&mod=1&pg=1§ionId=2&valid=true>


Paid political interview in Goa's newspaper for Rs 84,000  --
Mediahive<http://www.mediahive.co.in/news.html>


SLIPPERY SLOPE -- Difficult times for mass media   --
Statesman<http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=388145&catid=38>


As mentioned earlier, today (Monday Oct 31, 2011) I have filed a complaint
with the Election Commission of India (ECI) vis a vis the same story. I
have send across a copy to the ECI, Nirvachan bhavan, New Delhi by email as
well as by hard copy.

Thanks for listening in...

You can also read this on www.paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com
Mayabhushan

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 09420976862
http://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com
http://www.ganimikawa.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Goa "Paid News" story makes front page -- all editions -- of The Hindu

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Hi,

An update on the Goa Paid News story...

For the first time since the Goa 'paid news' story broke on October 25, a
mainstream newspaper has finally taken cognizance of the issue.

Credit to the dogged perseverance of the paper's rural editor P Sainath and
its local correspondent Prakash Kamat who have been co-ordinating and
patching together inputs for over a week. The story Goa daily stung by paid
news 
bug<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/2011/11/goa-paid-news-story-makes-front-page.html>
and
another related story which was also published on page 14 of today's
edition of The Hindu can also be found on the
blog<http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.com/>.


regards
Mayabhushan


*Goa daily stung by paidnews
bug*<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592365.ece>
Caught offering to publish scripted political interview as ‘news' for Rs.
86,400
“First we'll do one interview on TV on HCN [Herald Cable Network] and after
that episode next week, we can carry the same kind of write-up [in the
Herald] … how it appeared today, no ... for the HCN thing you have to make
a payment of 50,000 [rupees] … and this particular size for Herald, it will
be 86,400 rupees … Only you will have to prepare from your side which kind
of questions you will like to answer comfortably …”
Paid news is no stranger to Goa, only this time it's drawing unfriendly
attention. Those are excerpts from recorded conversations between Tulshidas
Desai, marketing manager of OHeraldO (the Herald) and Goa-based journalist
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar.
The journalist was pulling off a sting posing as Bernard Costa, a would-be
candidate in the State's Assembly polls to be held early next year.
Sales pitch
The Herald's marketing manager is making a sales pitch when the journalist
calls up and asks how much it would cost to have an interview of himself
dressed up as news. The Herald claims to be Goa's largest-circulated
English daily.
“Ya, but can you send me a quotation?” the journalist posing as a candidate
asks Mr. Desai. “A rough quotation [of what it costs]?” Mr. Desai knows an
ethical line is being crossed and is wary of leaving a trail. “This is like
an editorial kind of thing, no,” he says. “I can't mention on the paper,
you know … .”
Money for interview
In the conversations, the marketing manager appears to confirm that Raymond
D'Sa [an aspiring candidate from Cortalim in south Goa] paid Rs. 2 lakh to
get his ‘interview' carried in the Herald of October 20, the morning of the
conversation.
Mr. Nagvenkar: “So Raymond's interview was [for] two lakh [rupees].” Desai:
“Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya …” But “you are not going to say advertorial, [above
the interview], no? asks the journalist. No, Mr. Desai [who first mentioned
‘advertorial'] reassures him. It would be just like Raymond D'Sa's
interview. “Today how nothing is mentioned no? Like that only … .” However,
Mr. D'Sa, when contacted by The Hindu, flatly denied having made any
payment for the interview.
Since these audio recordings went public, all hell has broken loose. Except
in Goa's media, which remains stoically silent on a scandal which broke
just after the Election Commission of India handed out the first-ever
verdict in Indian electoral history disqualifying a sitting legislator for
improper accounts and indulging in “paid news.”


--

Herald denies ‘paid news’ charge but ball in Press Council court
now<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592371.ece><http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2592371.ece>
Armed with recordings, transcripts, emails and cuttings, Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar has taken the matter of what he calls “an open and shut case” of
‘paid news' against *OHeraldO* of Goa to the Press Council of India.
The Press Council defines ‘paid news' as “any news or analysis appearing in
any media [print or electronic] for a price in cash or kind as
consideration.” Mr. Nagvenkar backs his complaint with audios and
transcripts of four telephonic conversations with the Herald's marketing
manager, Tulshidas Desai, recorded between October 20 and 22. The
conversations, he charges, indicate that the newspaper regularly indulges
in such paid political news. He also alleges that Mr. Desai could not have
pushed a deal like this without the consent, “tacit or otherwise,” of the
editorial leadership.
Asked for his response, Mr. Desai flatly rejected the charges and asserted
he had only been 

[Goanet] Goa 'Paid News' story and the Goa Editors 'Guilt'

[Mayabhushan]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Hi update of the Goa Paid News Story
*
GOA EDITORS GUILT*
The Goa Editors Guild (GEG) issued a statement on November 1 (reproduced
below).
It’s a nice thing that editors to have finally taken note of the Herald
paid news story a ‘full’ six days after the story broke on this blog and a
complaint was filed before the Press Council of India on October 25.
But there’s something shocking inadequate about the points raised by the
GEG.
While all the points laid out in it are valid and true in a very academic
manner, the absence to any reference to the express incident – the Herald
paid news story -- robs the statement of every shred of sincerity. The
refusal of the small editorial community in Goa to even acknowledge the
‘paid news’ story in the statement is also a telling thing.
Their silence speaks volumes of the editorial judgement of the captains of
the media here. It also betrays a cynical talent, which makes you look
away, while the very roots of journalism being hacked a short distance
their thresholds. Or probably they have been deafened by the echoes of the
advertorial axe.
Here’s a fact.
While some newspapers have reported the pressnote issued by the Goa Union
of Journalists and the GEG, not a single newspaper ran the ‘paid news’
scandal as a news story, even as several independent Goa news websites and
national dailies have run the story on their pages.
While I am in complete concurrence with the GEG statement that there is
‘growing concern’ over the phenomenon of paid news and that it must be
encouraged, the GEG has made no mention of the procedures they have in
place to tackle ‘paid news’, nor have they condemned Herald for indulging
in paid news, nor have they even sought a probe into the revelations made
in the story.
What they have done instead is called on a person bleeding to death,
expressed concern about his condition and then left him to die.

P.S. The Mail Today, a Delhi based tabloid ran the paid story yesterday. Here’s
the 
link.
Check out the last line. That clinches it.


Goa Editor's Guild statement
The concern growing over the phenomenon of  ‘paid news’ in the media is
legitimate.
The media’s primary accountability is with the reader and viewer. With
publication of articles and features or television broadcast of materials
that are in reality advertisement and publicity for some individual as news
without any clear mention of them being advertisements, the reader/viewer
can be misled into believing that the publication/broadcast is truthful. It
amounts to deception of readers and viewers.
The media owes its credibility to independence and objectivity in the
gathering and ordering of the materials or TV footage to inform, educate
and enlighten the reader/viewer. The editorial space is entirely
reader/viewer’s space. There is a clear-cut allocation of space for
advertisements in newspapers and TV channels. With the publication or
broadcast of ‘paid news’ the dividing lines between news and advertisement
are blurred, deceiving the reader/viewer.
The practice of ‘paid news’ must be discouraged by the media and
mediapersons in the long-term interest of the credibility of the media. The
lines drawn between the editorial and advertising space must remain clear.
If the media allows these lines to blur it will lose credibility,
endangering democracy.

[Goanet] Photo Satire: Vishnu Wagh and the art of progressive suffocation!

[Mayabhushan]

The art of suffocation is not new to Goa's poliitics. After 'suffocating'
himnself in the BJP for years, Digambar Kamat joined the Congress a decade
ago to become chief minister in 2007. BJP MLA Vishnu Wagh has complained of
suffocation now. Here's a photo rendition of his 'ordeal'. Pls follow the
link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/9730797806/sizes/k/in/photostream/

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 7350131007

h <http://www.goastreets.com>ttp://www.penpricks.blogspot.com
h <http://www.goastreets.com/>ttp://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Photo Satire: Why Goa should legalise prostitution

[Mayabhushan]

Hi,

Here's to why prostitution should be legalised in Goa. Its a general
proposition, not exclusive to the local media.
Pls follow link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10017383363/sizes/o/in/photostream/

regards
Mayabhushan
-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 7350131007

h <http://www.goastreets.com>ttp://www.penpricks.blogspot.com
h <http://www.goastreets.com/>ttp://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Photo Satire: Parrikar celebrates Shripad's birthday and other satirical stories

[Mayabhushan]

For access to the photo satire pls click link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10097457463/sizes/o/in/photostream/

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 7350131007

h <http://www.goastreets.com>ttp://www.penpricks.blogspot.com
h <http://www.goastreets.com/>ttp://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com

[Goanet] Photo Satire: A Bridge To Spar

[Mayabhushan]

Read enough about the Calvim-Carona bridge?
Read some more then... :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10267929194/sizes/o/in/photostream/

-- 
--
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
1392, Anjuna, Bardez, Goa
pin code 403509
# 7350131007

h <http://www.goastreets.com>ttp://www.penpricks.blogspot.com
h <http://www.goastreets.com/>ttp://www.ardh-satya.blogspot.com

[Goanet] How our Netas handle the Nigerian stand off

[Mayabhushan]

Pls do follow the link for the latest photo satire

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10607567463/sizes/o/in/photostream/

rgds
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Hijras, Bhadwas and other interesting traits of Goa's lawmakers

[Mayabhushan]

And no this isn't satire. Its a post press conference report.


*Goa lawmakers slug it out; call each other hijras, bhadwas
*Panaji: The political heat generated by the bizarre public clash between a
Nigerian gang on the one hand, and police and locals on Thursday appears to
have had Goa’s lawmakers frothing at the mouth.

After an independent Opposition legislator Vijai Sardesai Thursday called
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalition, a government of
hijras (eunuchs) the BJP Friday responded by calling him a bhadwa (pimp) at
a press conference at the party’s state headquarters.

Seated on the dais in the conference room, surrounded by large images of
BJP’s prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi, party president Rajnath
Singh and aging party stalwart Atal Behari Vajpayee, power minister Mahadev
Naik took the political discourse in the state to a new level by saying
that Sardesai was indulging in “bhadwagiri”.

“He has been indulging in bhadwagiri all the time. That is how Sardesai has
made his money. If he calls us a government of hijras on a TV debate, our
response is that Sardesai is a hijra. He has spent a lot of time with
hijras,” Naik told the press conference.

BJP legislator from Sanguem Subhash Phaldesai even went on to give the
media an eloquent definition of the word bhadwagiri. “Bhadwagiri means
doing unethical dealings for money using political influence,” explained
Phaldesai.

Sardesai had in a TV debate Thursday night, attacked the police and the
government for not being able to react in time, after a gang of Nigerians
blocked National Highway -17 and held traffic to ransom for hours, after
one of their compatriots was murdered.
"We legislators are not hijras. But this is a government of hijras,"
Sardesai had said.

[Goanet] Photo Satire: Do you really know why Vishwajit deleted the 'Jyotiraditya for PM' comment?

[Mayabhushan]

To know bout it, pls follow link


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10667502694/sizes/k/in/photostream/

rgds
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Photo Satire: Kaun Banega Chapati and Amitabh quiz Goa's lawmakers

[Mayabhushan]

Hi
Photo-satire: Amazed and awestruck by the spectacular response of Goa's
lawmakers to the 'Nigerian' crisis, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan
dedicated a special edition of 'Kaun Banega Chapati' to Goa.
Pls read on. Click the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10705595533/sizes/o/in/photostream/

rgds
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Photo-Satire: How the Nigerian crisis taught Goa's politicians to apologise!

[Mayabhushan]

Dayanand Mandrekar's sorry to Nigerians triggered an avalanche of apologies
from Goa's politicians!

Click link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10741296453/sizes/o/in/photostream/

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] How the Goa media reacted to Manohar Parrikar's 'Nigerian' challenge

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

When was the last time a chief minister dared reporters to sign up for
actual sparring match?
Things like this happen in Goa.
So when Manohar Parrikar challenged reporters to take on burly Nigerians
one-on-one. This is how they reacted.
Read on.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10816550296/sizes/o/in/photostream/

best regards
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar



A couple of more photo satires on Goa's Nigerian crisis
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10705595533/sizes/o/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10741296453/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Goanet] Photo-Satire: How an ex Goa CM saved the day for Mumbai's Campa Cola residents

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10850657265/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Goanet] Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal triggers race riots in Goa again*

[Mayabhushan]

*Photo Satire: Last month's clash between locals and foreigners of
African origin repeats after Sachin Tendulkar's dismissal before his
century

To read on, pls click link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10882951195/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Goanet] Why Dilip Parulekar's Sunday meeting raised a stink and odour

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10923004545/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Goanet] 'Goans are literate but they litter most': Francis D'Souza

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/goans-are-literate-but-they-litter-most-113111901201_1.html

'Goans are literate but they litter most': Francis D'Souza

Panaji: Goans are literate, but they litter the tourist state with carefree
abandon, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza has said.

D'Souza has been criticised for a leading a 38-member waste management
"junket" to Europe that cost nearly Rs.1 crore.

D'Souza who returned Sunday after the nine-day trip also told the latest
edition of "Nave Parva", an official magazine published by the state
ministry for information and publicity that since garbage is generated by
the people, "therefore they should also take care of it".

"While they keep their houses spic and span, the state is being dirtied. So
what is the use of the high level of literacy if our people cannot do the
simplest thing of not littering," D'Souza said in the interview to the
state government's official magazine.

With tourism in Goa increasing nearly triple-fold in the last decade or so,
the state has been unable to handle the cubic tonnes of garbage, which the
industry generates every day, so much so that both tourism industry
stakeholders as well as foreign tourists have begun complaining about the
filth which dots the state's beaches and roads.

What has compounded the issue further has been the inability of the state
government to identify a single site big enough, to dispose garbage, both
organic and non-organic in face of localised opposition.

The fate of Goa's only large-scale, but mismanaged garbage treatment plant
at Sonsodo in south Goa is a grim reminder of how a privately-run
government initiative can create havoc for residents in its vicinity with
complaints of foul smelling leachate spilling into the open and
contamination of ground water.

As a result, it is not unusual to find piles of garbage strewn along the
roads as well as near urban hubs in this beach tourism destination, visited
by 2.6 million tourists annually.

According to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, the key to Goa's garbage
solution lies in small, sanitised European towns like Kaiserslautern in
Germany, where he personally inspected the garbage management system in
place there.

D'Souza, who is also the state's urban development minister, said the Goa
government has already approved setting up of two fuel-generating dry
plastic treatment plants and that the Parrikar-recommended In-Vessel
Treatment (IVT) for mixed garbage plants was next in line.

D'Souza's much criticised 38-member educational tour that included
bureaucrats, ministers, panchyat members and journalists, visited Austria,
Italy and Germany to examine solid waste management technology in action.

The group visited garbage management sites in these European towns, but a
stream of photo updates on social media websites made by members of the
delegation posing at picturesque tourist hotspots have irked civil society
here, especially after ministers of the Goa government have been
complaining about lack of funds for development activities following the
ban on mining here.

"The 38-member Goa delegation is back in Goa. Rs.1 crore of our taxpayer
money spent. I have no grudge on money spent on site-visits to waste
management sites, but why did the delegation also visit Rome, the Vatican,
go on romantic boat rides in Venice, the leaning tower of Pisa, the
Colosseum and many other museums Was this a holiday? The people of Goa want
answers," said Clinton Vaz, a waste management expert himself on his
Facebook wall.

ends

[Goanet] Photo Satire: Tarun Tejpal and the story of his atonement

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

Tarun Tejpal on how he came up with the title for his latest book 'The
Story of my atonement'

Click to read on.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/10973595785/sizes/o/in/photostream/

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Photo Satire: How the articulate Shoma Chaudhury trolled the Goa Police!

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

Here's the real reason why the Goa Police cut short their stay in Delhi.

Read on.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/11029443854/sizes/o/in/photostream/

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Tehelka-gate as a Primer

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

High prose and verbal eloquence has been the sum of Tarun Tejpal’s defence
and Shoma Chaudhury’s defiance after the former was accused of raping a
junior colleague at Tehelka and the latter, of a cover-up.Please find below
a primer to help you understand Tehelka-gate and the reportage better.

A: Acquiescing
Last used in conversation in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ when Captain
Barbossa refuses to accede to Elizabeth’s request to stop battering Port
Royal.

for more follow the link

http://ardh-satya.blogspot.in/2013/11/tehelka-gate-primer.html

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Why Tarun Tejpal really hates Manohar Parrikar

[Mayabhushan]

To know why, click link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/5398854/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Goanet] My story on the Tarun Tejpal saga on The Associated Press newswire

[Mayabhushan]

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/indian-editor-faces-arrest-sexual-assault-case

Indian editor arrested in sexual assault case
By MAYABHUSHAN NAGVENKAR
— Nov. 30, 2013 11:07 AM EST

PANAJI, India (AP) — The editor of an Indian magazine known for
exposing abuses of power was arrested Saturday in a sexual assault
case that has fueled fresh outrage over the treatment of women in the
country, police said.

Police took Tehelka Editor Tarun Tejpal into custody within an hour of
Judge Anuja Prabhudesai rejecting his bail petition, said Sunita
Sawant, the police officer investigating the case.

The allegations against Tejpal by a female colleague have touched a
nerve in part because he is the face of a publication that has pushed
Indian society to vanquish corruption and confront the scourge of
sexual violence.

The journalist alleged that Tejpal cornered her in a hotel elevator
and assaulted her twice, on Nov. 7 and 8. Formal charges could be
filed when the investigation is complete.

Tejpal was sitting in the office of crime branch of the state police
when the court order came.

"We are already cooperating with the police in investigation," said
Geeta Luthra, Tejpal's attorney. Details of the court order were not
immediately known.

Indian media have chronicled every turn in the Tejpal case, which is
playing out through leaked emails, police reports and a resignation
letter in which the accuser says she is enduring "intimidation,
character assassination and slander."

"Tehelka's Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal sexually molested me on two
occasions in November this year," the woman said in the resignation
letter, which was printed in India media. "I am deeply traumatized by
the lack of support offered by the organization."

On Friday, the woman, whose name and job title have not been made
public, released a statement saying she was disturbed that her
complaint had been described by some as a political gimmick. "(I)n
this case, the law is clear: what Mr. Tejpal did to me falls within
the legal definition of rape."

Tejpal came under investigation after the woman told the magazine's
managing editor about the alleged assault. The woman had been working
at Tehelka Thinkfest, the magazine's annual conference at a coastal
hotel resort in Goa, where her duties involved escorting Robert De
Niro and his daughter to events.

A detailed account of the alleged attack, apparently written by the
accuser, was leaked to the media and posted on social media last week.
The police used that email in their investigation.

As the allegations became public, Tejpal apologized for "a bad lapse
of judgment, an awful misreading of the situation" and said he was
stepping down for six months, according to a staff email widely
circulated in Indian media.

But his words, seen to be downplaying the case, only fueled public
outrage. Tejpal then backpedaled and described the sexual encounter as
consensual and fleeting.

On Monday, the accuser resigned and criticized the magazine. She said
it over the years had defended women's rights and spoken out harshly
against the culture of blaming the victim.

"Given the sequence of events since the 7th of November, it is not
just Mr. Tejpal who has failed me as an employer — but Tehelka that
has failed women, employees, journalists and feminists collectively,"
she wrote in the resignation letter.

Another six senior magazine staff members have since resigned,
including the managing editor, Shoma Chaudhury, who said Thursday she
was leaving to spare the publication from being tarnished any further.
Chaudhury apologized for lapses in handling the woman's allegations of
sexual assault, but denied any role in a cover-up.

"Tehelka," which means upheaval or sensation in Hindi, is a weekly
investigative magazine closely followed by Indian journalists and the
English-speaking elite. Using sting operations and bruising exposes,
the magazine has taken aim at high-level corruption in India. In one
of the most famous examples, Tehelka in 2001 showed images of senior
politicians from then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's coalition
receiving cash from journalists posing as defense contractors.

The report led to the resignation of the defense minister and
president of the then-governing Bharatiya Janata Party.

ends

[Goanet] Photo Satire: How Tarun Tejpal beat Narendra Modi at his own game!

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

Click to read on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/11131809126/sizes/h/in/photostream/

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Tejpal, a Pinto and a sexpest in Goa Writers Group

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

Pls find below, article on Firstpost which talks about sexual harassment in
the Goa Writers Group

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/why-jerry-pintos-facebook-post-about-the-tehelka-case-made-us-angry-1263833.html

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Photo Satire: All that you missed on television in the Tarun Tejpal saga

[Mayabhushan]

Hi,
Click link to know about the yet hidden facets of the Tejpal story

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/11203246995/sizes/o/in/photostream/


regards

Mayabhushan

[Goanet] My story on BBC about a rising casino gambling addiction in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25180893

[Goanet] Photo Satire: After much introspection, Rahul Gandhi forms his own AAP

[Mayabhushan]

Hi

To know more. Click to read

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/11286235586/sizes/o/in/photostream/

regards
Mayabhushan

[Goanet] Dr. Manohar Parrikar and his tablets

[Mayabhushan]

Photo Satire:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/11462334324/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Goanet] Former Herald editor Ishan Joshi joins the Timblos

[Mayabhushan]

Rumblings in Goa media.  Former Herald editor Ishan Joshi joins as senior
media advisor to the Fomento Group as consulting editor. The Group controls
Prudent media cable news channel and The Goan on Saturday. What is it with
Herald editors and Avdoot Timblo? ...  In other news Shruti Pandit quits
Goa Times

[Goanet] Parrikar v/s Kejriwal: The 'Simplicity Chronicles' on News Laundry

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.newslaundry.com/2014/01/parrikar-vs-kejriwal/


Parrikar v/s Kejriwal: The 'Simplicity Chronicles' on News Laundry


Panaji: Days after a tumultuous series of events in New Delhi led to
the woolen muffler-covered, Maruti Wagon R-driving Arvind Kejriwal to
address India as the country’s most “simple”, “humble” chief minister,
the erstwhile claimants to the crown of “simplicity” appear to be
fighting back using the media and grandstanding.

First a leading pink paper ran a factually incorrect story extolling
Goa’s Chief Minister, ManoharParrikar’s simplicity last week.

This was followed by two TV news features on a leading Hindi and
Marathi news channel owned by the same media group. The first, lauded
Goa chief minister ManoharParrikar’s populist achievements against
newbie Kejriwal. The second was a full-fledged interview with the
thrust on, yes, simplicity and how it works for the Goa chief
minister. Finally, riding on this coverage, came a certificate of
endorsement from the BharatiyaJanata Party’s prime ministerial
candidate,NarendraModi. Modi used Goa as a backdrop and Parrikar’s
shoulder as the support to take his maiden snipe at the AamAadmiParty.

“Imagine what would happen had Manohar Parrikar been in Delhi. The
country would have known about his good work but what can we do, he is
in Goa and media can’t see anything beyond Delhi.” Modi’s remarks
strategically followed the print and television media coverage on the
Simplicity Chronicles.

In the complex war of perception fought between the savvy BJP and
eager AAP, the virtue of simplicity is emerging as one of the key
battle zones.

Before the advent of AAP and the touch of naive-seeming asceticism
they brought to politicking, Parrikar was seen as one of the original
Simple-Looking Simon amongst contemporary Indian netas.

The comparisons between Parrikar and Kejriwal, as far as appearance
and backgrounds are indeed similar.

The disheveled, invariably one-day-stubbledParrikar looks like a
slightly surly AmolPalekar, once the cinematic silhouette of the
quintessential common man of the 70s and 80s. Kejriwal, on the other
hand would have been an ideal inspiration for R K Laxman’s common man,
had the legendary cartoonist started his career around now.

Both are IIT graduates from humble middle-class backgrounds. While
Kejriwal was born in a baniya family, Parrikar was born in a Gaud
Saraswat Brahmin caste – a small, but powerful minority, which has
decided modern Goa’s fate both politically and economically over
decades.

As political opponents, both Parrikar and Kejriwal used electricity
department frauds to make their early mark in state politics.

A young-in-the-years Parrikar’s solid and dogged campaign against
alleged corruption by former Congress power minister MauvinGodhino  in
the early and mid-Nineties, is legendary in this part of the world.
Much like Kejriwal’s campaign against private power companies is in
New Delhi. Both IIT-ians effectively used their technical skillset to
split open and simplify the complex power scams, before exposing them
to an electorate, jolting voters out of their complacence.

Focused, disciplined and innovative, both electorally demolished the
ruling Congress in their respective states, reducing the party to a
single lame digit. In Goa’s 40-member unicameral legislature, the
Congress was reduced to 9 MLAs after the 2012 rout. In the
comparatively larger 70-member legislative assembly in Delhi, the
Sheila Dixit-led party was shrunk to an even smaller digit -8.

But in these times of competitive simplicity, comparisons between
Kejriwal and Parrikar end here. From here on, a relatively-untested
Kejriwalis far ahead ofParrikar as far as the race for simplicity
goes.

Apart from a string of in-your-face U-turns by Parrikar on critical
issues related to removal of casinos, nailing those mining magnates
responsible for the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, etc, the
BJP’s “Parrikar as Simple Simon” argument falls flat. The chief
minister’s brazen pandering to the casino, mining lobbies and real
estate lobbies in his third stint as chief minister has led to the
unmaking of Parrikar’s popular image in the state already. Facts which
the national media tends to gloss over consistently.

The article mentioned before is clearly a case of a myth which is in
the process of being manufactured with wrong facts. Take this
paragraph for example.

“Ever since Kejriwal’s conspicuous assault on VIP culture has been
hogging the headlines the BJP has rediscovered the virtues of its very
own ex-IITian chief minister, who drives himself to work in his own
modest small Maruti car, doesn’t use the red beacon and abjures
official accommodation.”

Fact: The Goa chief minister does not drive to work “in his own modest
small Maruti car”. Parrikar’s ride to work and home is a swanky white
Hyundai SUV, Santa Fe which costs upwards of Rs 23.60 lakh. As leader
of Opposition and later as chief minister Parrikar had a Toyota Innova
assi

[Goanet] NEWS CHANNELS INCLUDING NDTV FUNDED BY CONGRESS: PARRIKAR

[Mayabhushan]

*http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/news-channels-including-ndtv-funded-by-congress-parrikar.html

*

 NEWS CHANNELS INCLUDING NDTV FUNDED BY CONGRESS: PARRIKAR
Thursday, 23 January 2014 | Staff Reporter | Panji

*Rankled by negative publicity in the media on account of a physical
slugfest between two of his MLAs in Delhi, Goa Chief Minister Manohar
Parrikar went on a tirade against the fourth estate calling them
“beneficiaries of the Congress.”*

Speaking in a rural Goa township of Quepem located around 60 kms south of
Panaji, Parrikar even singled out NDTV for his coverage.“I want to ask
these channels in Delhi, where do you get their benefit from? …I know all
their money comes from the Congress. I will even name one channel. NDTV.
The whole world knows it is a Congress channel. Otherwise these channels
will not work. Financially, none of the channels are viable,” said Parrikar.

Interestingly, Parrikar himself was a recipient of a ‘National English news
channel’ and NDTV’s rival — CNN-IBN’s award for the best politician of the
year in 2012.The comments come barely days after the media, quoting
Opposition leaders, who vouched for the incident, reported that two BJP
MLAs had engaged in an alcohol-fuelled fight in the wee hours of Saturday
morning, while they were in New Delhi to attend their party’s recently
concluded national executive.

The incident in question, took place in Goa Niwas, located in New Delhi’s
plush Chanakayapuri area at 3am. The victim MLA who was allegedly at the
receiving end of the other MLAs power punches, was treated at Max Hospital
in Saket.Sanguem MLA Subhash Phaldesai, who was at the receiving end of the
alleged drunken slugfest at the New Delhi-based Goa Niwas in the wee hours
of January 18, has however claimed that his injuries are on account of a
fall from a flight of stairs at the Chanakyapuri-based State residency.

[Goanet] AAP broom has only bristled to deceive in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

My Story on IANS about Goa's tryst with AAP and how a good opportunity is
in the process of being squandered
Rgds

http://in.news.yahoo.com/aap-broom-bristled-deceive-goa-081004303.html

AAP broom has bristled to deceive in Goa

Panaji, Feb 9 (IANS) The AAP may just have to switch from a broom, its
party symbol, to a whip, if it wants to get its already demoralized house
in order in Goa.

Disillusionment, conmen and disreputable folks as members, no collective
will to fight the incumbent government and visible lethargy are threatening
to turn the Aam Aadmi Party in Goa all that the outfit has promised not to
be, in its more celebrated and successful Delhi model.

Rajashree Nagarsekar, convenor of the AAP in Goa, is candid enough to admit
that the party needed to take a reality check.

"Frankly we are facing problems. People of not very good (social) standing
have begun joining us. Some of our members are in fact life members of
other political parties. These issues have to be tackled, much before the
Lok Sabha polls," Nagarsekar said.

Just how lacklustre the AAP is in Goa can be gauged by the impact made
during the nationwide membership drive which Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal announced Jan 10.

While the nationwide target set by the AAP was 1 crore, Goa's contribution
was a measly 4,000.

The number, according to an AAP official, only accounted for ordinary
members who registered during local recruitment drives and doesn't include
those who could have signed up online.

Poor numbers apart, party sources said another basic glitch the AAP has
been unable to resolve until Friday was the election of a formal state
level committee.

"The committee was formed yesterday. Since last year we only had an ad hoc
committee in place," Nagarsekar said, adding that without a proper
organizational structure, it was virtually impossible to set and agenda and
get going.

More than a month since the political rekindling after the sensational
December victory in Delhi, what the AAP has in store for Goa is anybody's
guess.

Last year, an AAP member did say that casinos, real estate and mining would
be a key part of the AAP campaign portfolio. But the AAP's inaction on all
these fronts has stumped many, including those within.

"We were expecting some kind of guidance from the winning team in Delhi.
But it looks like they are so busy in Delhi that they hardly have any time
for Goa," an AAP active member told IANS.

While quantity is a key shortcoming for AAP Goa, sourcing quality members
is also a problem, admits Nagarsekar.

At first glance, AAP Goa looks like a consortium of folks who have been a
part of Goa's active civil society, including some spoken of in whispers of
compromising popular struggles and even indulging in blackmail.

According to Nagarsekar, weeding out such members has been difficult as
they have been recommended by some high-profile members.

Speaking of star recruitment, this is one block which the new party appears
to have blasted off from in quick time.

Recruiting well known activist-doctor Oscar Rebello and singer Remo
Fernandes not only got the AAP goodwill but mileage too. But in
Nagarsekar's own words, the party has not been able to cash in on it.

"A lot of time is lost. There has been confusion going on for sometime. We
are not getting enough people to commit time to doing the real ground work
for the party," she said.

The AAP is in power in Delhi and has stirred interest in places like
Haryana, Amethi and Mumbai.

But if urban Goa is the measure of the new political party's preparedness
for the bigger Lok Sabha picture, then Team Kejriwal's broom may bristle,
only to deceive.

[Goanet] Goa CM Manohar Parrikar's bitter taunt at journalists and after

[Mayabhushan]

Hi all


I have just Flipkarted a bunch of bangles to the Goa Union of Journalists
president and general secretary Kishor Naik Gaonkar and Ashley do Rosario
respectively for the organisation's less than adequate response to the
recent comments made by chief minister Manohar Parrikar against journalists
as a class. Effectively, the chief minister has branded us as a class which
is less than educated, without intellect, poorly paid and hence unable to
do our jobs right.

Please find below attached a Flipkart receipt for the purchase and dispatch
of bangles to the two GUJ officials. I wanted to send across two bunches to
them both, but just like Mr. Parrikar suggested I get paid less and
therefore could but only one.


Parrikar's comments made on Sunday


"What is a reporter's salary...How much does a news reader earn? Maybe
25,000 (rupees). They are mostly graduates. They are not great
thinkers...intellectuals. They write news how they understand it,"


For more


http://www.firstpost.com/politics/journalists-mostly-graduates-not-great-thinkers-goa-cm-parrikar-1405795.html



best rgds

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

[Goanet] PAID NEWS IN GOA: Finally a trail of emails expose Paid News in Goa newspaper

[Mayabhushan]

Hi.
Much has been said about paid news in Goa. Now's the time to read some
more. All journalists here have known it exists, some of my stories in the
past have even exposed the same over and over again. You can find links to
most of those stories on these links.
http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.in/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpaidnewsingoa.blogspot.in%2F2011%2F10%2Fgoas-paid-piper-paid-political.html&h=7AQGENKYV&enc=AZN1kIp3fI-iRvQNr-0foKCC_HA3V7_tZBTvy3EsRKE8KrurYMRG__1E3Bn2fncOHqaUwY-eUmZOMRDac7LNj1PaXTArMz07PqtHzaCnEewfJEdlK6M-VXPi5nc3SaGFEUntX5sCNinIIoWC5Ep9o3-F&s=1>
http://penpricks.blogspot.com/
But the scanned images below, give you an insight of how the phenomenon of
paid news has taken a vice-like grip in at least one of the news
organisations. The letters also indicates how one former journalist Julio
D'Silva, who now works in the chief minister's office and is on the
editorial board of a government periodical 'Nave Parva', was one of main
conduits for paid news as far as the Herald was concerned.
The emails were leaked to a few selective journalists by unknown persons
some days back. They were handed to me by a source who happened to get
these emails.
I tried to verify the emails for authenticity. I have also in a letter to
chief minister Manohar Parrikar requested him to examine the same, using
official cyber analysts and investigate the issue of paid news made out in
the email transcripts.

rgds
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar


Dear Mr. Parrikar
Greetings!

Please find attached copies of emails between former Herald editor Sujay
Gupta and general manager Michael Pereira, which have been selectively
leaked to some journalists by unknown persons some days back.
I came by the bunch of emails through a source, whose name I am not at
liberty to disclose. The emails need to be checked for their authenticity,
but in the way they are clearly make out a case for paid news in the Herald.
The emails are self explanatory, in the sense they not only expose which
politicians have indulged in paid news but also exposes the modus operandi
used by the named newspaper while indulging in paid news.
The emails list out a string of instances of how Herald indulged in paid
news, through the protestations of its editor. It also mentions specific
articles which were paid for and which were carried under protest by the
editorial section of the newspaper.
Incidentally, the letter also quotes Herald editor Sujay Gupta as saying
that Julio (D'Silva), who is presently working out of the chief minister's
office, has been a facilitator for paid articles during the 2012 assembly
election campaign. The question of what Mr. D'Silva is doing in your
employ, at a time when you have publicly expressed your concern about the
phenomenon of paid news both loaded and piquant.
Over the last few years, I have authored several news stories on paid news
in the contemporary media set up. You will find one such critical story on
media corruption in the 2012 polls parked at this link.
http://paidnewsingoa.blogspot.in/2011/10/goas-paid-piper-paid-political.html<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpaidnewsingoa.blogspot.in%2F2011%2F10%2Fgoas-paid-piper-paid-political.html&h=tAQHUcSSK&enc=AZNxd5mHT-oGhz7aACjs3fdTBfVm-VBiMPhchtdaqhLc7m1KvV_NL1c1fZ8d53WdM2tcwrW25D00K8bsboZES_XBokpIzMWEjDZxUehbbrRYpcnPzZg6aXoWgQvGR_zctyB9Cx5S76dabvUpAKm74Rnz&s=1>

These emails actually go a long way corroborating my expose in 2012. In
fact then Herald editor Sujay Gupta, in the first page of the email bunch
confirms that paid news was in fact common practice at the Herald.
My prayer to you is to use these emails (after officially verifying them
for authenticity), selectively leaked to me and a few other journalists, to
start an investigation into paid news, which is a scourge as you yourself
have mentioned. These emails make a clear case for paid news in the Herald,
but I am sure that a proper investigation will bring other newspapers in
the loop too.
I am sure you will find a lot more dirt when you dig the paid news scam in
Goa if there is a desire and will to do so.
I am sure journalists, who have been speaking against the paid news malaise
would be happy if you could get to the bottom of Goa media's paid news
scandal.
I may be contacted on mayabhus...@gmail.com or 7350131007 for further
clarifications.
Best regards
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

P.S. Scanned copies of the email are attached below

NOTE: The complaint to Mr. Parrikar was sent on March 1 at 7:23 pm.
Coincidentally, Herald has run editorial today on paid news and how it
needs to be stamped out. Near lyrical irony this. You can read the
editorial here.
http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=14337&boxid=1539437&uid&dat=3%2F3%2F2014
I have contacted Mr. Pereira, Mr. Gupta, Mr. D'Silva for comments last
night, but no responses have come through so far. Will upload them the
moment they do come in.

[Goanet] Demand for Judicial Probe in Goa's Paid News nexus

[Mayabhushan]

Letter to Goa Union of Journalists sent today at 2:27 pm

Dear Mr. Kishor Naik Gaonkar
(President: Goa Union of Journalists)

Thank you for upping the ante on the issue of paid news in Goa. Your
continued pursuance of the protest path has finally forced the chief
minister Manohar Parrikar to express regret for his unfortunate and blanket
comments damning the journalist fraternity here.

As you may recall on Saturday, I had written to the Goa chief minister and
tagged along documentary evidence which showed that paid news has indeed
taken root in at least one leading newspaper, namely Herald.

The letter to Mr. Parrikar was accompanied by email transcripts between
former Herald editor and the newspaper's general manager Michael Pereira,
which clearly indicates that paid news was commonly practiced by the
Herald. This was perhaps the first time that a paid news-related paper
trail has surfaced.

The same documents, which held identify paid news practices during the run
up to the 2012 assembly elections have been uploaded on Facebook and have
also been attached along with this email for your reference.

As you are aware, the phenomenon of paid news is slowly taking a vice-like
grip on the functioning and decision-making in several newspapers,
published in both English and vernacular languages. If attempts are not
made soon to combat it, sincere journalists plying their trade may find the
going difficult to even survive in the profession.

My request to you as the head of the only organisation in Goa which also
acts as a custodian of journalists' interests, is to ensure that my
complaint to the chief minister is collectively pursued to ensure that the
highest authority in the land gets to the bottom of the matter. I would
appreciate that GUJ, with the resources and manpower it has at its
disposal, follows up the complaint with the chief minister.

I am also requesting you to impress upon Mr. Parrikar to initiate a
judicial probe into the practice of paid news in the Goan media. The email
transcripts have enough material in them to serve as a starting ground for
such a probe by a retired judge, which could once and for all help identify
those black sheep in our profession and expose them to their readers. It
would be an honourable first for the GUJ to become the journalistic body in
the country to demand for such a probe on the basis of documentary
evidence. A judicial probe in Goa's increasingly corrupt media scenario
would also send a signal to journalistic fraternities across the country to
follow suit.

GUJ should also take the responsibility to use its offices to formally
complain to the Press Council of India and the chief electoral officer for
Goa, mentioning the specific instances of paid news which are made out in
these email transcripts. This would only be in sync with your public appeal
on Monday (March 3), where you implored to journalists and the public at
large to approach GUJ with specific complaints about paid news, which you
assured would be taken up with the relevant authorities.

I hope you will seriously consider the requests I have made in this email
and take up the challenge to weed out or thwart the influence of paid news
within the Goa media.


best regards

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

[Goanet] Demand for Judicial Probe in Goa's Paid News nexus

[Mayabhushan]

Letter to Goa Union of Journalists sent today at 2:27 pm


Dear Mr. Kishor Naik Gaonkar
(President: Goa Union of Journalists)

Thank you for upping the ante on the issue of paid news in Goa. Your
continued pursuance of the protest path has finally forced the chief
minister Manohar Parrikar to express regret for his unfortunate and blanket
comments damning the journalist fraternity here.

As you may recall on Saturday, I had written to the Goa chief minister and
tagged along documentary evidence which showed that paid news has indeed
taken root in at least one leading newspaper, namely Herald.

The letter to Mr. Parrikar was accompanied by email transcripts between
former Herald editor and the newspaper's general manager Michael Pereira,
which clearly indicates that paid news was commonly practiced by the
Herald. This was perhaps the first time that a paid news-related paper
trail has surfaced.

The same documents, which held identify paid news practices during the run
up to the 2012 assembly elections have been uploaded on Facebook and have
also been attached along with this email for your reference.

As you are aware, the phenomenon of paid news is slowly taking a vice-like
grip on the functioning and decision-making in several newspapers,
published in both English and vernacular languages. If attempts are not
made soon to combat it, sincere journalists plying their trade may find the
going difficult to even survive in the profession.

My request to you as the head of the only organisation in Goa which also
acts as a custodian of journalists' interests, is to ensure that my
complaint to the chief minister is collectively pursued to ensure that the
highest authority in the land gets to the bottom of the matter. I would
appreciate that GUJ, with the resources and manpower it has at its
disposal, follows up the complaint with the chief minister.

I am also requesting you to impress upon Mr. Parrikar to initiate a
judicial probe into the practice of paid news in the Goan media. The email
transcripts have enough material in them to serve as a starting ground for
such a probe by a retired judge, which could once and for all help identify
those black sheep in our profession and expose them to their readers. It
would be an honourable first for the GUJ to become the journalistic body in
the country to demand for such a probe on the basis of documentary
evidence. A judicial probe in Goa's increasingly corrupt media scenario
would also send a signal to journalistic fraternities across the country to
follow suit.

GUJ should also take the responsibility to use its offices to formally
complain to the Press Council of India and the chief electoral officer for
Goa, mentioning the specific instances of paid news which are made out in
these email transcripts. This would only be in sync with your public appeal
on Monday (March 3), where you implored to journalists and the public at
large to approach GUJ with specific complaints about paid news, which you
assured would be taken up with the relevant authorities.

I hope you will seriously consider the requests I have made in this email
and take up the challenge to weed out or thwart the influence of paid news
within the Goa media.


best regards

Mayabhushan Nagvenkar


For scans of the email trail, pls click here.
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[Goanet] Paid News, Extortion, Blackmail, 'study tours' and other forms of Journalism in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

Hi
For a story on the above subject please refer to link below.

best regards
Mayabhushan

http://www.newslaundry.com/2014/03/18/whats-going-on-with-the-media-in-goa/

[Goanet] Paid News, Extortion, Blackmail, 'study tours' and other forms of Journalism in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

Hi
For a story on the above subject please refer to link below.

best regards
Mayabhushan

http://www.newslaundry.com/2014/03/18/whats-going-on-with-the-media-in-goa/

[Goanet] Minority effect: The BJP is keeping Modi under wraps in Goa

[Mayabhushan]

Hi
Pls click link to read the article
Rgds

http://m.firstpost.com/politics/minority-effect-the-bjp-is-keeping-modi-under-wraps-in-goa-1460131.html

[Goanet] RSS, BJP battles for Goa's beating Catholic heart

[Mayabhushan]

http://www.firstpost.com/politics/bjp-parrikars-bold-plan-to-uproot-congress-in-goas-amethi-1475517.html


Parrikar's bold plan to uproot Congress in 'Goa's Amethi'
by Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
Apr 11, 2014
On the surface the BJP's campaign for the South Goa seat is just like any
other. But there is much more than just an electoral war at play in this
constituency, often referred to as Goa's Amethi, because it has
traditionally always voted Congress. South Goa, especially the
Catholic-dominated Salcette, a coastal sub-district, is the backdrop for
one of BJP's most audacious experiments to win Goa's beating Catholic
heart. It is a socio-electoral experiment that is quietly being conducted
by the BJP and personally monitored by chief minister Manohar Parrikar
himself.
The Mission: Getting avowed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member Narendra
Savoikar elected from a constituency which has historically favoured a
Catholic candidate and where the mood of the minority community has always
mattered in the final analysis. After 'successful' experimentation in
Gujarat (Muslims form nearly 10 percent of the state population), where the
BJP has fine tuned the art of electoral supremacy, Goa with its 27 percent
odd Catholic population is the next challenge for the saffron party's
electoral laboratory. And the party is closing in on the South Goa minority
formula. But it's not going to be an easy ask, when one takes these
statistics into account. Barring one exception in 1999, South Goa has voted
on predictable lines, much like the Gandhi bastion of Amethi in Uttar
Pradesh. Out of the 14 general elections Amethi has returned a Congressman
on 12 occasions, which makes it such a safe launchpad for the Gandhi clan.
But South Goa hasn't done badly either, returning a Congress candidate 10
times out of 14. In 12 instances the candidate was Catholic. Little wonder
then, that when Congress president Sonia Gandhi was scouting for another
safe seat to contest from more than a decade ago, South Goa was on the
shortlist. She eventually chose to contest from Bellary in Karnataka.
Wresting the South Goa constituency has now become a matter of prestige and
strategic significance for the BJP and more expressly, Parrikar himself.
The Goa chief minister is in the process of projecting himself as a
minority-friendly, acceptable face. "He has ambitions. Goa is too small a
place for someone of his capabilities. A win in Christian-dominated South
Goa with one of our own RSS cadre soldier as a candidate will certainly
boost his credentials," says a BJP state executive member on condition of
anonymity. Party leaders in Goa candidly say in private, that Parrikar has
a long shot at emerging as a consensus candidate for prime minister after
the results are declared, should a number-starved BJP be forced to haggle
with NDA allies. It was a mixture of Parrikar-inspired social engineering
and chronic anti-incumbency which had helped the BJP to rout Congress from
Salcette during the assembly polls, which comprises of the Velim, Fatorda,
Benaulim, Nuvem, Cuncolim, Curtorim, Navelim legislative assembly segments.
In most of these constituencies, the Catholic vote is pivotal. The BJP's
best performance in state assembly elections here has been one seat. The
social engineering mentioned earlier, involved the BJP conceding an
unprecedented 25 percent of seats to Catholic candidates and the party
backing several other Catholic candidates contesting as Independents. The
benefits were reaped in full by the BJP, who for the first time in its
history, won a simple majority in the forty member Goa legislative
assembly. And in Salcette, the Congress was reduced to one seat, while the
BJP now has one MLA and four legislators who are supporting the BJP-led
coalition government. The role played by the Church, which subtly backed
the BJP in several constituencies in 2012-- a first in Goa's politics --
also played a role in sealing the Congress' fate there. The BJP's
calculated obsession with Salcette began more than six years ago. It
started with an initiative which was informally called 'Mission Salcette'
within the party. It was a sustained, long term plan to 'evangelise' the
Catholic vote. This constituted increasing the footprint of minority
friendly leaders in Salcette, giving issues related to the region and its
minority inhabitants airtime during party meetings and public interactions,
reaching out to young Catholic political leaders with potential, and trying
to engage the Church and the clergy. According to BJP's state vice
president Dr. Wilfred Mesquita, Parrikar has invested so much time and
energy in the Catholic-dominated Salcette region, it is practically his
'second home'. And it looks like things could be falling in place for the
BJP in South Goa ahead of these general elections, despite hiccups like the
sudden decision of th

[Goanet] Sex, lies and Goa's massage parlours

[Mayabhushan]

Sex, lies and Goa's massage parlours

By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar


*Mapusa:* What V. More (name changed), a tourist from Mumbai, was
fantasizing about was soft, feminine hands kneading his shoulderblades and
his back, slick with aromatic oil.

Instead, what the 27-year-old tourist, one of many thousand single visitors
blinded by Goa's cheap booze, drugs and sunbathing white women, got were a
few tight slaps and punches to the ear and stomach from a roughneck fraud
massage parlour operator in Mapusa, a town located 15 km north of Panaji.

"We were hanging out on the beach when a young boy came to us and offered
us a full massage for Rs.2,000. We bargained for Rs.1,500 per head. We were
seven of us," More told IANS.

More and his friends perhaps thought they had lucked out on their Goa trip.

A promise of a "full massage" in Goa's coastal belt more often than not
translates into a covert sexual proposition or at least a "happy ending"
for the many groups of single male domestic tourists who form a large
component in Goa's tourism arrival figure. The state attracted three
million tourists last year alone.

 more on

http://www.abplive.in/india/2014/04/23/article299400.ece/Sex-lies-and-Goas-massage-parlours#.U1d75KJWq8g

[Goanet] Despite mining ban, Rs 35, 000 cr scam, Parrikar learns no lessons

[Mayabhushan]

FYI

Goa's mining mess. Going back to square one. My story on FirstPost

best regards
Mayabhushan


http://www.firstpost.com/politics/despite-mining-ban-rs-35000-cr-scam-parrikar-learns-no-lessons-1501255.html


*Despite mining ban, Rs 35,000 cr scam, Parrikar learns no lessons*
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar

Apr 29, 2014

#Claude Alvares #Goa #Goa Foundation #Illegal mining #Manohar Parrikar
#Politics #Supreme Court

*Panaji: *'Once bitten, twice shy' is a dictum which doesn't cut much ice
with the Goa government, especially when there's mining involved.
Here's why.

The successive state governments' sucking up to Goa's notorious mining
lobby has resulted in a Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam. It also
resulted in a 19-month ban on all mining in the state, putting the jobs and
businesses of a little less than 10 percent of the state's 1.5 million
residents at risk.

But days after the Supreme Court lifted its ban and asked the BJP-led Goa
government to form new mining guidelines, investigate and punish the
guilty, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar appears to be already singing
to the tunes played by the multi-billion dollar mining industry.

His opponents accuse him of lacking in spine and more than willing to rejig
the scales in favour of the same mining lobby which orchestrated the scam,
once again.

In his couple of interactions with the media, Parrikar has lambasted both
the Justice MB Shah Commission report and Goa Foundation.

The Commission had exposed the Rs 35,000 crore illegal mining scam, while
the latter had petitioned the apex court, which resulted in the ban.

But when it came to the mining magnates, Parrikar appeared to be at his
chivalrous best.

In fact, Parrikar is not only creating 'legitimate' ground for mining in
the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats, it is becoming evident (by
Parrikar's own statements) that the guilty mining companies may well get
away by paying a mere penalty for illegally mining millions of tons of iron
ore five years from 2007-2012.

"We will impose penalty on the mining firms which have encroached upon the
revenue (government) lands," Parrikar has said when asked about action
against mining firms indicted in the Justice MB Shah Commission report.

Parrikar, whose proximity to the State's key families, who by heredity,
controlled the majority of Goa's mining legacy since the Portuguese days,
has been unwilling to give a serious thought to auctioning of mining
leases, claiming auctioning was not mandatory.

"The process of renewing leases will be transparent. All options will be
considered," Parrikar told a press conference last week.

Even BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's public endorsement
of public auctioning of national resources during his recent Vijay Sankalp
rally in Goa appears to have no effect on Parrikar.

When asked why auctioning of natural resources was not being seen as a
chosen route, despite Modi's advice, Parrikar told Firstpost: "I do not
remember Modi saying it should be auctioned... But if he has it will be
considered."

The last time Parrikar promised to "consider" all options before policy
formation, was when the state government surprisingly allowed offshore
casinos to transfer licences, enabling the sale of the Casino Carnival to
Casino Pride.

As an Opposition leader, Parrikar had been a vocal opponent of both the
casino industry and the transfer policy, even publicly threatening to drown
casinos in the Arabian sea.

Such flip flops and lobby-play has forced greens like Claude Alvares to
give up even a semblance of hope that the BJP-led coalition government will
do justice to the mining lease renewal process.

Alvares' Goa Foundation had filed the petition in the apex court,
eventually resulting in the ban on the state's mining industry for nearly
19 months.

Alvares says, he will be forced to knock on the SC's doors again if
Parrikar does not take the public auction route. "I do not trust him
(Parrikar) to do the right thing," Alvares told reporters.

Goa's mining multi-billion dollar mining industry has been in the hands of
a few families, who had been bestowed the concessions virtually free of
cost, some years before liberation from the over 450 years of colonial
Portuguese rule.

Through the Goa, Daman and Diu Mining Concessions (Abolition and
Declaration as Mining Leases) Act, 1987 passed by Parliament, all
Portuguese concessions were deemed to have become leases under the Indian
Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act.

These leases have now been declared as expired on 22 November 2007 and will
have to be allotted afresh according to the Supreme Court in its 21 April
order.

Parrikar has outright refused the option of setting up a state
government-run mining corporation to take over the mining industry.

Corporations, according to Parrikar "provid

[Goanet] Goa: Facebook user faces jail term for anti-Modi comments

[Mayabhushan]

Sign of things to come?

Goa: Facebook user faces jail term for anti-Modi comments
by Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
May 23, 2014 08:53 IST
#BJP #Devu Chodankar #facebook #Goa #India #Lok Sabha #Narendra Modi
Panaji: Before Narendra Modi is sworn in as prime minister on 26 May,
a young shipbuilding professional may well be behind bars, for
slamming the now former Gujarat chief minister on Facebook during the
Lok Sabha election campaign.

A trial court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail application
moved by Devu Chodankar, a shipbuilding diploma holder working in
Mumbai, clearing the way for his possible arrest, even as the police
want to probe if Chodankar had broader plans to "promote communal and
social disharmony" in Goa.

During the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, Chodankar, in a post on
Goa+, a popular forum with over 47,000 members, had claimed that if
elected to power, Modi would unleash a 'holocaust'. He deleted his
post subsequently.

However, justifying his post subsequently on another popular local
Facebook forum, Goa Speaks, Chodankar while apologising for his choice
of words had stood by the sum of his argument, calling it his crusade
against the "tyranny of fascists".

He also claimed that some elitist right wing elements were in the
process of filing a first information report with the Goa Police's
Cyber Cell. The police came into the picture when former chairman of
the Confederation of Indian Industries Atul Pai Kane filed an FIR
against him in March this year under sections 153(A), 295(A) of the
Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 125 of the People's Representation
Act and 66-A of the Information Technology Act.

Some of the sections are non-bailable in nature.

Kane in his complaint said Chodandkar had threatened Facebook users
from voting for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Opposition parties at
that time had protested the FIR calling it an attempt by the BJP to
muzzle criticism.

"The complaint is against Devu for making inflammatory statements and
trying to create communal disharmony, not comments against the BJP,"
Kane had explained in his online post.

Police, in their plea filed before the District and Sessions judge,
more than agreed with Kane and now want custodial interrogation of
Chodankar "for recovery of cyber forensic evidence at his instance"
and the motive of the crime. Critically, police inspector Rajesh Job
of the Cyber Cell in his say claims: "Custodial interrogation of the
accused is very much essential to find out any motive of a larger game
plan to promote communal and social disharmony in the state".

Job claims that the delay in response by the Facebook legal cell
forced the investigating police to resort to alternate means to
confirm Chodankar's identity. Subsequently, two summons have already
been issued to Chodankar. Facebook is still abuzz with comments on the
incident.

Writes Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai alumnus Dr Samir
Kelekar, who has been campaigning to drop police action against Devu
for his post. "No one is justifying what Devu wrote, but it is
draconian to put someone behind bars for a mere FB post which has had
no affect on the society-at-large," he says. Chodankar's legal counsel
Jatin Naik says the next step would be approach the High Court for
relief.

Read more at: 
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/goa-facebook-user-faces-jail-term-for-anti-modi-comments-1538499.html?utm_source=ref_article

[Goanet] Gujarat-based Catholic priest spreading religious discontent: Parrikar

[Mayabhushan]

Panaji, May 28 (IANS): Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday
accused Gujarat-based Catholic priest and human rights activist Father
Cedric Prakash of trying to spread religious and social discontent based on
"falsehoods" in Goa before the general election.

Equating the priest with controversial Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik,
Parrikar, justifying police action against Facebooker Devu Chodankar
following his anti-Narendra Modi posts, said action should have been taken
against Prakash too.

"Father Cedric Prakash has said much more serious things which were not
true," Parrikar said, while addressing a press conference here

Ahmedabad-based Prakash, a Jesuit priest, made a whirlwind tour of Goa with
the support of the Roman Catholic Church in Goa, during which he accused
Modi of religious intolerance and attacked the Gujarat model of governance.

He further alleged that in Gujarat every one lived in fear.

"The voice of the media has been throttled and muzzled. People in Gujarat
are living in fear. IAS officers are living in fear. The lives of their
families have been ruined," Prakash claimed at a meeting at the Grace
Church hall in Margao, in south Goa March 20, a few weeks before Goa went
to polls.

Parrikar also said that he despised those who "used religion for politics"
and clubbed both Prakash, as well as Muthalik, head of the notorious
right-wing Sri Rama Sene, in the same bracket. Muthalik has often triggered
controversy in the past by attacking patrons of pubs in Mangalore for
adopting "Western culture", and exhorting Hindus to arm themselves with
swords.

"I count Father Cedric and Pramod Muthalik as the same. People who use
religion as a tool for electioneering are dangerous," said Parrikar, whose
government is being accused by the opposition as well as civil society of
carrying out a witch hunt against Chodankar.

In Goa, where the Catholics account for nearly one-third of the population,
Prakash's whirlwind pre-election lecture tour and a circular by the Church
imploring voters to cast ballots in favour of a secular candidate did dent
the BJP vote tally, even though the party managed to win both the seats
from the state in the Lok Sabha election.


http://www.ianslive.in/index.php?param=news/Gujarat_based_Catholic_priest_spreading_religious_discontent_Parrikar-425325/NATION/1

ENDS

[Goanet] Parrikar snubs reporter for 'activism' at press conference

[Mayabhushan]

Parrikar snubs reporter for 'activism' at press conference

Panaji: After first publicly running down journalists for their poor
education and salary, Goa
 Chief
Minister Manohar
Parrikar
Wednesday
snubbed a television reporter for mixing "activism" with journalism.

Parrikar, during a press conference at the state secretariat, was picking
holes in two voluminous reports on the Western Ghats compiled by Padma
Bhushan awardee ecologist Madhav Gadgil and renowned scientist K.
Kasturirangan, and how they spell disaster for Goa, when a freelance
television journalist Anil Patil, who strings for Times Now and Zee News
questioned his criticism.

"You are behaving like an activist. Press conference is not a place for
arguments like this. Others present here will not understand what we are
saying. I will not answer your question here. We can argue separately,"
Parrikar said, nipping queries in the bud about why the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP)-led state government had been rubbishing the two green reports.

Parrikar also advised journalists to keep their activism aside at media
briefings.

Patil had disputed Parrikar's contention that all development activity,
including transportation of iron ore would have to be stopped, if existing
eco sensitive zones around wildlife sanctuaries were maintained and the
state government would have no powers if the reports were implemented.

Gadgil has already accused the Goa government of hiding information from
the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel which he had headed and also blamed
the MoEF of suppressing data in order to "facilitate the continue
proliferation of polluting industries" in the ecologically sensitive
Western Ghats region.

The ecologist had also accused the Goa government of colluding with the
mining industry.

In March this year, Parrikar had triggered controversy by snubbing
journalists in Goa on account of their low salaries and lesser education.

"What is a reporter's salary... How much does a news reader earn? Maybe
25,000 (rupees). They are mostly graduates. They are not great thinkers...
intellectuals. They write news how they understand it," he had said at a
public function.

The chief minister later issued a statement of regret, after his comments
sparked controversy and a local journalists' union demanded an apology from
him.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/parrikar-snubs-reporter-for-activism-at-press-conference-114061101011_1.html
ends

[Goanet] Photo Satire: What really happened a day after Goa's junket story broke

[Mayabhushan]

For photo satire pls click link below


https://www.flickr.com/photos/8028002@N03/14225138770/sizes/o/


best regards
Mayabhushan