CNN-IBN MEDIA MANIPULATION: CAUGHT RED HANDED WITH INCRIMENATING EVIDENCES
I was watching the programme ‘Should Lobbying be Legalised’ a debate chaired and moderated by Rajdeep Sardesai in CNN-IBN’s website. The Programme was aired on 16/12/2010 and was available in the CNN-IBN website. Customarily in such programmes they run Twitter comments to reflect from social media supposedly to show what the public believe and say. I was appalled to find that these comments were manipulated, i.e. ghost created and run by IBN’s own team, all those dubious comments seem to reflect the sentiments and to show and thrust the fact that people are for ‘LOBBYING’ and they support ‘LEGALISING LOBBYING’. Please see and read the comments yourself from screenshots of the programme. On suspicion, I crossed checked the twitter handles that were shown in the programme and none were authentic or existing.
The twitter handles were with the following comments.
Twitter Handles: Selective comments, and no public profiles visible!
@t_mayank - “The Government should recognise and organises lobbyist in India” http://twitter.com/t_mayank
@bhumika_14 - “Why don’t we simply institutionalise lobbying!” http://twitter.com/bhumika_14
@maira_t12 - “There is nothing wrong in lobbying it is like selling your product” http://twitter.com/maira_t12
@harish_p – “Lobbying should be just like anyother profession, just make them accountable” http://twitter.com/harish_p
@kala_s - “Many developed nations have organised lobbying why don’t we also do it” http://twitter.com/kala_s
The following images are of the Twitter ID’s profile at the time of finding this offence. (*It is possible that the IBN team could still manipulate these ID’s but one could easily find this if they would do this with timestamps! Be vigilant)
Incriminatingly of the five Twitter ID’s shown, three does not exist and even the two that exist (kala_s, and harish_p) looks like a dubious profile with no tweets in their page nor with any worthy followers.
If they are as perceived to be, this is a clear breach of trust and honesty and a clear evidence of Media manipulating and directing Public opinion, which is illegal, dishonest and unethical and could be a scam by itself, this is a dangerous trend clearly a propaganda strategy for deception and should never be encouraged in any civilised democratic society where public opinions constitute a great deal for reforms, growth and governance that shape policy and help in progress, unless strict punishments are not enforced for such offence and creepy behaviour by the Mainstream media India would never be able to achieve an healthy society. The debate show thus seem to have an agenda and could be directing the viewers in the line. They should definitely explain this.
Update:
CNN IBN news channel and Rajdeep tendered an apology to this here http://t.in.com/ccba. On behalf of bloggers and twitters, we all shall appreciate their efforts for accepting some responsibility on this, though we should say we see the apology more as their corporate gesture and indication of some practice changes. What we as consumers of media and those with a need for unbiased news would like to see is a real change in the policy of both the company and the individuals in it who conduct and report news. It is a request from us all the conscious and patriotic citizens to the creed of journalist to maintain an upkeep of ethics and work conscientiously, you will definitely be rewarded for this. We are all striving together to create an India that is not only economically developed but also would serve as an epitome of values, ethics and culture as it used to be for centuries.
supplement to update:
1. Many twitters have pointed out that the said apology still has some discrepency in that the conversations that are aired are nowhere to be seen in the weblink that is posted on the apology letter.
2. One twittizen also pointed to the fact that he could still register an ID that is shown in the respone in the IBN's own website negating the fact that these id's could have sent messages as a private conversation, as they could have never excisted in the first place, even if the media house would like us to buy the theory that the id's were not of twitter but from visitors on IBN site (which itself is an acceptance of bias).
3. A cursory check on the weblink responses also indicate that most of the responses were against legalising lobbying, however the programme featured an impression that the alternative was the favoured case, which did not show or reflect a standard of reporting.
4. Some twittizens who have been asking for a just cause and a responsible media with ethics have also tried and registered the id's shown in the show just lately and they report that they could and have registered some id's so if you are checking these id's now they could have been taken and hopefully will also be reflecting the same issues covered here.
More : Claims by IBN refuted
