Living With Technology

Snapchat to launch Real Life, an online magazine which will feature essays and narratives about living with technology, on June 27th. Having complete editorial independence from Snapchat, Real Life will focus on “how we live today and how our lives are mediated by devices”. The online magazine will have social theorist Nathan Jurgenson as Editor-in-Chief. » After The Indian Express and Outlook exposed the story of the ‘Essar tapes’ leak on Friday June 17th, only a handful of newspapers and TV channels gave it due coverage. The Essar tapes indicate corruption in houses of the most powerful, the allegedly tapped conversations are said to involve politicians like Jaswant Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Mulayam Singh Yadav, industrialists Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Subroto Roy, and many more. Read Newslaundry’s detailed report on media’s subdued reactions here. » Zee ties up with DISH and Sling TV to expand its presence in the US market. The ZEE channel tally available in the US goes up from 10 to 37, with a combined reach of 52 million homes. Zee’s premium on-demand library will also be exclusively available on DISH and Sling TV. The new channels will be available in varied languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Odia, Rajasthani and Urdu. » After tracing the history of Asia’s oldest newspaper – Mumbai Samachar, The Hoot explores the story of Asia’s second oldest newspaper – Jam-e-Jamshed in their special series ‘Living Legends’. » Aiming to strengthen education in the state, Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema announced the government’s plans to launch Vidya TV soon. A dedicated educational channel, mostly for the benefit of school students preparing for competitive exams, Vidya TV will present recorded lectures by experts, initially focusing on Class X and XII students. The channel is likely to be launched in a month’s time, said the minister.

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.