Amitabh Bachchan's clout over the Media

Let's analyse how it all began? Amitabh Bachchan, after suffering incredible torture at the hands of the Indian media for 40 long years, finally decided to fight back. He chose blogging as the method to counter all kinds of allegations and malicious reporting indulged in by the Indian media. But it was important that fans realized the existence of Amitabh Bachchan's blog in cyberspace.

Who would launch the publicity campaign for Mr Bachchan's blog? The answer to the question lay at the doorstep of the Indian Media! Yes, it was the Indian Media who unintentionally became the unofficial publicity agent for Amitabh Bachchan's blog.

How did it happen?

This is what Amitabh Bachchan had written(excerpts)in some of his earliest blog posts:

Day 3: "Last night as i scrolled through the channels on TV, i came across Headlines Today, under their Entertainment programme giving a report on my Blog and its formation. I want to thank them for their generosity in providing me and my Blog the much required publicity of its existence. Though i found their comments laced most subtely with sarcasm ! They gave their reason for my Blog as an escape from ‘political attacks’ on me. Thats laughable. For a non politician it does not qualify me for political attack."

Day 4: "I am surprised at this observation, especially since, during the time of the National Award selection for Best Actress in one of the past years, when the Award went to Raveena Tandon, it was alleged that Mr Shatrughan Sinha’s wife, the lovely and graceful Poonam, a great friend of Raveena’s mother had recommended the appointment of MacMohan, the brother of Raveena’s mother, on the board of the Jury ( structured by the Govt., in power - in this case the BJP, of which Mr Sinha was a Minister of State ) in order that he may cast his vote in favor of Raveena Tandon."

Day15: "Fresh queries pour in. Now its the Health Minister, Mr Ramadoss, asking film stars to stop drinking scenes in their films. First the smoking, then the drinking. Hola !! What next ?

I shield myself behind the pages of our revered Constitution and Law and the Censor Board. Bring in a law to ban such participation and we shall follow it diligently Mr Minister. We fake it on screen. Diluted tea, honeyed water, an aerated drink, soda watered to match the color of champagne. Thats what we are actually drinking on set to simulate the whisky. Our intoxication, Minister, is in the credibility we bring to a drunken scene without being literally drunk, not to propagate alcoholism."

Growing Clout

Then there was a piece comparing KBC with SRK's Paanchvi Pass. The Indian media lapped it all up and highlighted it for the benefit of public consumption. They had no idea how it was eventually going to backfire. The media wanted to sensationalize everything that Mr Bachchan wrote in his blog about SRK, Shatrughan Sinha and others. But in the process Amitabh Bachchan's blog became hugely popular and that gave him an ever-growing clout over the Indian Media.

The Sudden Aloofness

The Indian Media no longer seems interested in talking about Mr Bachchan's blog and the reason is not too difficult to understand. They have realized that it was a mistake to have sensationalized his blog. Amitabh Bachchan can now take apart the Indian Media and do it in a justifiable manner. Make no mistake about it, Amitabh Bachchan's blog is here to stay and will repeatedly expose the incompetencies of the Indian Media.

Had the Indian Media not got carried away by the blogs on Paanchvi Pass, Shatrughan Sinha and Ramadoss, a lesser number of people would have been aware about the existence of Mr Bachchan's blog. Thankfully, that did not happen and now we know where to go to get Amitabh Bachchan's viewpoint.

I'll write one more post regarding what the Indian Media could possibly do to tackle Mr Bachchan's blog.

Amitabh Bachchan's Blog and the Indian Media

Over the last month or two, I have been visiting Amitabh Bachchan's blog on a regular basis. It's surely interesting to observe the evolution of Mr. Bachchan's blogs. The actor took to blogging with a specific purpose in mind, that of countering all kinds of accusations leveled against him and his family. He has been greatly successful in achieving that purpose.

40 Years of Tolerance

For the last 40 years, Amitabh Bachchan had been maintaining a stoic silence over all kinds of accusations made by the Indian media. But now he has decided to give vent to his feelings and has chosen the medium of blogs to answer all his critics, particularly journalists from the Indian media. The Indian media has not stopped accusing him of malpractices, but Amitabh Bachchan has managed to convince his fans of the media's indulgence in false reporting and spreading rumours about him.

Bharati Dubey

Bharati Dubey of the Times of India has failed to stand up to the power of Amitabh Bachchan's pen. She's not alone. Many of the other reputed, Indian media journalists had to meet a similar fate. What has made Amitabh Bachchan's blog so popular with the Indian fans? The answer to that question, I'll discuss in my next blog!

Finally, a lecture on Editing?

Journalism Lectures, Day-8

Finally, I attended a lecture on the topic of Editing! The lecturer has been working with "The Statesman" for more than 30 years now! Started off his career with the newspaper in the capacity of a sub-editor.

Like most of the other lecturers at the institute, he's tremendously energetic. Anyone belonging to the Indian Media has to be full of energy and vibrancy, though not necessarily intelligent and well informed.;-)(There! I blew my chances of getting an internship! LoL)

On a more serious note, the class room lectures on Journalism are so different from what I have gone through doing my school and college days. There's so much to learn and enjoy. A real pity that I have to rush off to work, right after the lecture hours end. Don't get much time to interact with my classmates and lecturers at the institute.

The lecturer for today, talked about "newsworthiness". He provided a not- too-dissimilar version of "what is News" from what the lecturer on Reporting had provided.

A classmate was disgruntled with the state of affairs of the Indian Media. She talked about principles, ethics and morals associated with the noble profession of journalism.

"Why does the Abhi-Ash wedding appear on the front page of a national daily?", she inquired.

"Because, that's what the Indian readers wanted to read about! That's what they were keenly interested in, at that point in time", answered the lecturer.

But my classmate wasn't convinced. "Then the Print Media is all about popularism and making lots of money. A business, not a mission." she argued.

"Times have changed and we must learn to adapt to the changing circumstances.", the lecturer continued.

"Yes, times have changed. But at what cost?", the girl grumbled.

"We'll discuss how to balance the principles, ethics and morals side of journalism with the business aspect of it, in my next class", the lecturer assured us and took his leave.

I rushed off too; was getting late for work!