Still Going Strong

193, going on 194, The Hoot tells the story of Asia’s oldest newspaper – Mumbai Samachar. Now published as a Gujarati language daily, the Mumbai Samachar was born as a weekly in 1822 to disseminate need-based information, mostly to the trader community of Gujaratis and Parsis. » Check out Newslaundry’s detailed report on how NewsX Editor-in-Chief Rahul Shivshankar totally ignored the basic definition of ‘raw footage’ while tweeting. He claims NewsX carried the raw footage (proved authentic) in the JNU case. » I&B Ministry has put in place a new policy for advertisement in print media. Aimed at the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), the policy focuses on three main objectives – promoting transparency and accountability, incentivizing all categories of newspapers, and ensuring equity and fairness in release of government advertisements. Read details here. » DD to use the Swiss challenge method to invite bids for the kids’ entertainment slots on DD National – 3-4pm Monday to Saturday. The SC approved method encourages transparency and will give an equal chance to all interested proposers. The last date for bid submission is 30th June. » The Andhra Pradesh government’s blockade of broadcast for Sakshi TV was met with protest and criticism. Opposition leaders termed the TDP decision as “highly objectionable” and accused CM Chandrababu Naidu of violating press freedom. Protests were staged Srikalhasti, Madanapalli, Chittoor and Tirupati, with various journalist associations joining in.

Panama Nets Big Fish

Over 500 Indians outed in the Panama Papers list. Big names on the list, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Indiabulls’ Sameer Gehlaut, and DLF promoter K P Singh have been discove
red in the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm in Panama. All names on the list paid the firm to set up offshore entities in tax havens around the world. Read more on the 8 month long investigation by The Indian Express here. » A series of tweets from an unverified account @AarSee (Raghav Chopra) of a CNN-IBN news editor, caused quite the stir in social media. The tweet , with a photo-shopped picture of PM Narendra Modi touching Saudi royalty’s feet, was accompanied by bigoted comments inciting hatred in extremists. Raghav Chopra was unavailable for any clarification after the Twitter account status was changed from public to protected. » DD goes mobile. Digital Terrestrial Television, DD’s digital arm, has started mobile TV for users in 16 cities. The free service can be used without an internet connection but requires a separate dongle to catch DD signals. DD National, DD News, DD Bharati, DD Sports, and DD Regional are currently being relayed on this service. » National Geographic partners with MM Publications of the Malayala Manorama Group for the Indian edition of the Nat Geo Kids magazine. Hitting the stands with the April 2016 issue, the photo-driven publication will also be available for subscription.N

Alpha Club

Based on subscribers’ feedback BARC has introduced Alpha Club, a monthly bulletin for insights and analysis of Indian audience measurement data for the preceding four weeks. The communique’s first edition, rolled out on November 17th, contained two sets of analyses for Week 37-40 and 41-44. » DD National was bumped off  the TV ratings leaderboard for Hindi General Entertainment Channels. According to BARC data for Week 44, the top spot was bagged by Star Plus, followed by highest gainers Zee TV and Colors jointly at the 3rd position. » After issuing a joint statement, leading newspaper editors in Nagaland published blank editorial pages as a sign of protest against an army diktat. Read what the editors told the BBC about accusations they face. » Only AAP HoDs allowed to speak to the media. A recently issued circular by the Delhi Government clearly prohibits all other bureaucrats from talking to the media without prior approval from the concerned minister. The directive from Deputy CM Manish Sisodia might have been called for by several HoDs seeking proper guidelines for media interaction. » The search for Indian innovators begins. Mint, in collaboration with MIT Technology Review, has launched the India chapter of ‘EmTech’. The top 10 under-35 innovators in business and technology will present at the high profile event in New Delhi in March 2016.