Source: The Free Press Journal | By FPJ Bureau
May 05, 2014
New Delhi : With the controversy surrounding Doordarshan's Narendra Modi-interview refusing to die down, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar has said the issue related to the autonomy of the public broadcaster is in the public domain and added he and his team had been trying to put the house in order for the past two years.
"Our job is to put our house in order first, which the board and my team are trying so hard for nearly two years", Sircar said.
Prasar Bharati supervises the functioning of Doordarshan and All India Radio. "Regarding autonomy, the issue is in public domain now and.............
Source : bestmediainfo.com | BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi
May 6, 2014
DD National is bringing a slew of new programmes in its mid-primetime slot, from 12 noon to 3 PM. Under the leadership of Director General Tripurari Sharan, DD National has begun its revamp with a dedicated slot for afternoon shows of all colours, genres and emotions, called 'DD Dopahar…Aapke Ghar', which kicked off on March 31, 2014. 
These serials are produced and directed by bigwigs from television fraternity, like Harry Baweja, Karan Razdan, Paintal, Sudhir Pandey, Maninee Dey, to name some. The shows have some well known names and faces from the television industry. Forming an attractive bouquet, the serials are being showcased by DD National back to back, leaving no space for the content hungry viewers to even take a breath in between.
Sharan said about the new programming strategy, "We are bringing in good programmes that are entertaining as well as socially relevant. With these new mid-primetime shows, Doordarshan is.........
Read more at http://www.bestmediainfo.com/2014/05/doordarshan-primes-up-mid-day-primetime/
Source: Time of India | Himanshi Dhawan,TNN
May 6, 2014
NEW DELHI: Under fire for editing out politically controversial remarks of BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi's from an interview, Prasar Bharati on Monday expressed helplessness at taking action against erring officials and sought an assurance from the information and broadcasting ministry that it would abide by a neutral inquiry.
Escalating the war of words between the public broadcaster and its parent ministry, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar said, "As several of Prasar Bharati's earlier recommendations on DD and AIR's news wings have not been honoured by the ministry, leading to complications, we have asked the ministry to tell us clearly whether they would abide by a neutral enquiry or not. PB has no control over the top officials in news division and ministry has refused to part with even operational supervision. So, let ministry assure us first and we'll set up a fair inquiry by external professionals, not by officials." Sircar was responding to a query whether the national broadcaster was setting up an inquiry.
When asked about Sircar's letter, I&B secretary Bimal Julkha said...........
Read more at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Home/Lok-Sabha-Elections-2014/News/Sircar-escalates-war-of-words-with-information-and-broadcasting/articleshow/34700061.cms
Source: The Indian Express | Express News Service | New Delhi
May 6, 2014
Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar on Monday launched an extraordinary attack on the way his organisation is run, and said it was possible he would not have accepted the job had he known more about it.
Sircar, who has been forced to explain the editing of a Doordarshan interview with Narendra Modi from which bits about Priyanka Vadra and Sonia Gandhi's close aide Ahmed Patel were left out, compared the "issue of autonomy" of Prasar to a child stricken by polio.
He said the government did not "interfere" with the running of the public broadcaster, but cast a "shadow" over its functioning, which was...........
Read more at http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/prasar-autonomy-a-polio-child-says-its-ceo-sircar/
Source: The Economic Times | By ET Bureau
6 May, 2014
Much of the debate on Doordarshan autonomy goes on as if it is a crime for the government to have a broadcast outlet that faithfully reflects its views. This kind of thinking in this country where hundreds of private news channels strive for viewer attention and act as more than a check on misuse of the public broadcaster by the government stems from a narrow view of the world. Now, everyone respects the BBC. Does this mean that when BBC reports on west Asia, Afghanistan or the Falklands, Britain's venerable public broadcaster would reflect any worldview apart from the British government's? There is a strong case for India to have a BBC-equivalent of its own.
But this does not mean that the public broadcaster should be a channel that acts as the partisan mouthpiece of the ruling party. Certainly not. But it does mean that the broadcaster would articulate the spirit and values of the Constitution and stay away from the shrill path of competitive sensationalism that private.................
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/34706390.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Source: CableQuest.org Monday, 05 May 2014 11:32
With the controversy surrounding Doordarshan's Narendra Modi interview refusing to die down, Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Jawhar Sircar on Sunday said the issue related to the autonomy of the state broadcaster was in the public domain, adding his team had been trying to put the house in order for the past two years.
"Our job is to put our house in order first, which the board and my team are trying so hard for nearly two years," Sircar said when asked about the steps Prasar Bharati was planning to take in the wake of the controversy.
DD had on April 26 interviewed Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Modi in Gandhinagar, which was telecast the next day. Some of Modi's remarks relating to Priyanka Gandhi were edited out but became public through the social media.
Source link: http://www.cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4777-our-job-to-put-house-in-order-first,-says-prasar-bharati-ceo.html
Broadcasting ministry at arm's-length from Prasar Bharati: Tewari
Source: in.news.yahoo.com / Sat 3 May, 2014
New Delhi: The I&B ministry has an arm's-length relationship with Prasar Bharati and the public broadcaster's autonomy is guaranteed by an act of parliament, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said here Saturday.
"My attention has been drawn to the news reports which have appeared in the press. I have stated earlier and allow me to attribute and reiterate that the autonomy of Prasar Bharati is guaranteed by an act of parliament. It is an organisation run by a board and the ministry has an arm's-length relationship with it," Tewari told the media.
His comment came after Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar acknowledged in a letter Friday that certain portions of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's interview to Doordarshan "were apparently edited".
Sircar, also pointed a finger at Manish Tewari in the letter for failing to grant the public broadcaster "operational autonomy" that it has been seeking for years.
Tewari said it was at his initiative that the Sam Pitroda committee was constituted to examine and look into the government's relations with Prasar Bharati.
Narendra Modi interview row: CEO Jawhar Sircar, Congress quarrel over Prasar Bharati freedom
Source:
economictimes.com/ 3 May, 2014
NEW DELHI: The controversy over Doordarshan's news channel editing out portions of BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi's interview took a strange turn when the man at the helm of the public broadcaster decried 'political interference' and 'lack of credibility' of DD News. He slammed information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari for lack of autonomy.
The Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, Jawhar Sircar, attacked the minister for not snapping the umbilical cord between ministry and DD News and also for not changing PB's recruitment policies.
The chief executive officer made a scathing attack on the ministry saying that he has no control over the news division. But a But a Congress source claimed that SircarBSE -1.27 % was merely currying favour with the new dispensation as he had never raised the issue of autonomy earlier.
"Autonomy is not given by the minister, but the Prasar Bharati Act," the Congress source said.
Sircar in a letter to the PB board members on Friday tried to dispel doubts about Doordarshan doctoring and delaying the Modi interview.
He insisted that DD News was merely trying to seek a "balancing interview" from the "other side". Blaming the delay on Congress for not providing a "balancing interview", the chief executive officer said that for the last two years he has been seeking more autonomy to bring in professionals from outside but he failed to revise DD's recruitment rules.
Sircar lamented the lost opportunity to convince a "young minister to break this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the News Division, which has continued unabated long after Prasar Bharati was born and assigned its distinct role in 1997."
Pointing out that government control over transfers, posting and overall career trajectory of officials of the news division cast a long shadow over the department, Sircar said that he has no real powers over the news division.
Though Manish Tewari refused to comment, a government source insisted that DD News was very much part of PB and nothing had stopped Sircar from asserting his authority over the news division earlier.
"He is attacking Tewari because he knows that Tewari has not contested the elections and will not return to the ministry," a high-ranking government official said.
I&B Ministry at an arm's length with Prasar Bharati: Tewari
Source: moneycontrol.com/ May 03, 2014
On Friday, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had distanced himself from the interview editing row saying that Doordarshan lacks autonomy. He claimed that a "shadow" still looms over government servants posted at DD which is leading to lack of credibility of the public broadcaster.
The row over Bharatiya Janata Party Prime Ministerial Narendra Modi's interview with Doordarshan News has escalated. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari has hit back at the BJP and the national broadcaster saying that the ministry is at an arm's length with Prasar Bharati. "The I&B Ministry is at an arm's length with the Prasar Bharati. The autonomy of Prasar Bharati is guaranteed by the act of Parliament," Tewari said. Earlier, the BJP had claimed that under pressure from the government, Doordarshan had edited out certain key parts of Modi's interview. Modi himself had reacted to the row citing the emergency to call the editing out of portions of his interview a blot on democracy. "I feel very sad to see our National TV channel struggling to maintain its professional freedom. We have witnessed the horrors of Emergency when freedom of the Press and freedom of expression were suppressed. It is a blot on our democracy," Modi tweeted on Saturday. On Friday, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar had distanced himself from the interview editing row saying that Doordarshan lacks autonomy. He claimed that a "shadow" still looms over government servants posted at DD which is leading to lack of credibility of the public broadcaster. In a letter to the members of the Prasar Bharati Board, he wrote about the lack of operational autonomy from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. "A young minister didn't give greater autonomy," he reportedly wrote in his letter. However, denying any wrongdoing, Doordarshan in a statement said, "There was no deliberate editing or omission of any portion of the interview. Wherever editing was done, it was for technical reasons and during post-production. There was no interference or control from any authority in the entire process." DD also said that important portions of the interview were used in all the important bulletins of DD News and was even given wide pre-telecast publicity and was repeated the next day. The interview had created a storm with reports that Modi had referred to Priyanka Gandhi as her daughter. However, Modi's office on Friday released the full interview, pointing out that Modi never said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi is like his daughter. In his comment on Priyanka, Modi was seen saying that he will not be angry even if Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi hurls a hundred curses at him.
Modi interview: Prasar Bharati CEO targets 'young minister' Manish Tewari
Source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ May 3, 2014
Left red-faced over the controversial edits of BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi's interview, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar on Friday acknowledged that certain portions "were apparently edited" while indirectly pointing at I&B minister Manish Tewari for failing to give the public broadcaster the autonomy it has sought.
In a tersely worded letter, Sircar sought to distance himself from the DD news service division saying that editing portions of the Modi interview had been left to the discretion of the national broadcaster's news editorial team.
Sircar said "questions have been raised in the public domain about the impartiality and motives of the public broadcaster", and the Prasar Bharati board had "taken several resolutions in the last two years, seeking more operational autonomy from the ministry, but it has failed to do so".
He added the best option for Doordarshan news division was not to delay telecast or edit future interviews. The pubcaster has come under fire after it edited out 20 minutes of a 56-minute Modi interview that included the BJP leader's comments on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra where he refused to attack her saying she was doing her duty as a daughter.
Also to be excised were portions where Modi spoke of the close friendship he had enjoyed with Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Sources said the portions were removed to avoid a controversy though DD has denied such a motive, stating that edits were made for "technical reasons." The interview was delayed for nearly two days after recording before it was telecast.
In the first acknowledgement of criticism about a delayed broadcast and the editing, Sircar said "many... had felt that the subject was too current to hold on and further delays could only cause unnecessary controversies". He also said that he overrode concerns and asked for the interview to be aired even though there was no "balancing interview."
Regarding the edits, Sircar said, "It was left completely to the editorial team of DD news and it appears that while portions critical of Doordarshan were telecast, certain comments on other personalities were apparently edited."
Taking a swipe at I&B minister Manish Tewari, Sircar said, "In a way... the ministry lost an opportunity to convince a young minister to break this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the news division which has continued unabated even after PB was born and assigned its distinct role in 1997."
Sircar went on to say, "The mechanisms of appointment, transfers, career assessments and even punitive actions against senior officials of the news division are bound to cast a shadow in some form." Tewari declined to comment on the letter.
However, ministry sources said there was a need to revisit the role played by Prasar Bharati and if it was required at all. A ministry source said, "Sircar had been appointed by former I&B minister Ambika Soni who was far more experienced and he should have been able to convince her to break the shackles between the ministry and the DD news division."
Read More - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Modi-interview-Prasar-Bharati-CEO-targets-young-minister-Manish-Tewari/articleshow/34550830.cms
Prasar Bharati CEO points finger at minister for failure to get autonomy
Acknowledging that certain portions of the Narendra Modi interview on Doordarshan 'were apparently edited', Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar on Friday said the public broadcaster had failed to get the autonomy it was seeking and pointed a finger at information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari for the failure to break the stranglehold.
In a strongly-worded letter to the Prasar Bharati board, under which Doordarshan and All India Radio function, Sircar said 'It appears that while portions critical of Doordarshan were telecast, certain comments on other personalities were apparently edited' in the Modi interview telecast on 27 April.
Stating that 'since questions have been raised in the public domain about the impartiality and motives of the public broadcaster', the Prasar Bharati board had 'taken several resolutions in the last two years, seeking more operational autonomy from the ministry, but it has failed to do so', Sircar said.
He said that 'in a way, therefore, the ministry of information and broadcasting lost an opportunity to convince a young minister (Manish Tewari) to break this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the News Division, which has continued unabated even after Prasar Bharati was born and assigned its distinct role in 1997'.
Indicating the manner in which the ministry controls the Prasar Bharati, he said: 'The mechanisms of appointment, transfers, career assessments and even punitive actions against senior officials of the News Division are bound to cast a 'shadow', in some form'.
