News Analysis India

Tag: The Wire

  • Media associations condemn police searches at The Wire

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Media associations on Tuesday condemned searches carried out by the Delhi Police at the offices of news portal The Wire and the houses of its editors on the basis of a complaint filed by BJP leader Amit Malviya.

    In a joint statement, seven media bodies including Press Association, Press Club of India and Digipub News India Foundation said the manner in which the Delhi Police has acted on the complaint of a BJP spokesperson “smacks of sheer vendetta”.

    “It is surprising that even after the news portal issued a detailed retraction for its editorial lapses, putting out the same in the public domain, the Delhi Police, based on the complaint of the BJP leader which includes a bevy of charges including criminal clauses under the IPC, registered an FIR and chose to proceed (with) investigating the matter with uncharacteristic promptness,” the statement said.

    Delhi Union of Journalists, Working News Cameraman Association, Indian Journalists Union and Kerala Union of Working Journalists are also signatories to the statement.

    Earlier, in a separate statement, Digipub News India Foundation claimed that the searches “mainly serve the purpose of criminalising and creating a chilling effect against the profession of journalism in India”.

    “A journalist or a media organisation that publishes a false report ought to be held accountable by its peers and civil society,” the statement said.

    “But for the police to carry out an immediate and arbitrary search of the media house’s office and its editors’ homes, based entirely on a private complaint of defamation filed by a spokesperson of the ruling party, smacks of malafide intentions,” it added.

    It noted that Malviya’s complaint was regarding a series of stories published by The Wire about social media company Meta, claiming that he had special censorship privileges through an Instagram programme called “X-Check”.

    The Wire had retracted the said articles last month, claiming that it was deceived by a member of its investigative team.

    The Delhi Police carried out searches at the houses of the portal’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and deputy editor M K Venu on Monday.

    A senior police officer said searches were conducted at The Wire’s office as well and all electronic devices relevant to the probe were seized.

    NEW DELHI: Media associations on Tuesday condemned searches carried out by the Delhi Police at the offices of news portal The Wire and the houses of its editors on the basis of a complaint filed by BJP leader Amit Malviya.

    In a joint statement, seven media bodies including Press Association, Press Club of India and Digipub News India Foundation said the manner in which the Delhi Police has acted on the complaint of a BJP spokesperson “smacks of sheer vendetta”.

    “It is surprising that even after the news portal issued a detailed retraction for its editorial lapses, putting out the same in the public domain, the Delhi Police, based on the complaint of the BJP leader which includes a bevy of charges including criminal clauses under the IPC, registered an FIR and chose to proceed (with) investigating the matter with uncharacteristic promptness,” the statement said.

    Delhi Union of Journalists, Working News Cameraman Association, Indian Journalists Union and Kerala Union of Working Journalists are also signatories to the statement.

    Earlier, in a separate statement, Digipub News India Foundation claimed that the searches “mainly serve the purpose of criminalising and creating a chilling effect against the profession of journalism in India”.

    “A journalist or a media organisation that publishes a false report ought to be held accountable by its peers and civil society,” the statement said.

    “But for the police to carry out an immediate and arbitrary search of the media house’s office and its editors’ homes, based entirely on a private complaint of defamation filed by a spokesperson of the ruling party, smacks of malafide intentions,” it added.

    It noted that Malviya’s complaint was regarding a series of stories published by The Wire about social media company Meta, claiming that he had special censorship privileges through an Instagram programme called “X-Check”.

    The Wire had retracted the said articles last month, claiming that it was deceived by a member of its investigative team.

    The Delhi Police carried out searches at the houses of the portal’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan and deputy editor M K Venu on Monday.

    A senior police officer said searches were conducted at The Wire’s office as well and all electronic devices relevant to the probe were seized.

  • ‘The Wire’ files complaint against ex-consultant over fabricated story against BJP leader

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: News portal ‘The Wire’ has filed a police complaint against its former consultant Devesh Kumar in connection with a “fabricated” story related to the BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya, a senior police officer said on Sunday.

    According to the officer, the news portal filed the complaint late on Saturday through e-mail.

    Earlier on Saturday, the Delhi Police had filed an FIR against ‘The Wire’ and its editors based on a complaint by Malviya, who accused it of “cheating and forgery” and “tarnishing” his reputation.

    “A case has been filed. Investigation will be initiated and necessary action will be taken,” the officer said.

    Malviya had on Friday said he will pursue criminal and civil proceedings against the portal over stories, since retracted, which insinuated that he enjoyed a special privilege on Meta platforms through which he could get any story taken down if he believed it was against the BJP’s interests.

    Malviya’s complaint was filed with Delhi Police’s special commissioner (crime) against ‘The Wire’, its founding editors Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M K Venu, deputy editor and executive news producer Jahnavi Sen, the Foundation for Independent Journalism and some unknown people.

    The complaint was filed for various offences punishable under sections 420 (cheating), 468 and 469 (forgery), 471 (fraud), 500 (defamation) r/w 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (criminal act) of the Indian Penal Code.

    Though ‘The Wire’ has apologised to its readers and withdrawn the stories, the BJP leader had noted that the news portal did not offer him an apology despite “maligning and tarnishing my reputation and causing serious harm to my professional career”.

    The Wire, in a statement on Thursday, said journalists rely on sources for stories and do their best to verify material they receive.

    “Technological evidence is more complicated and the usual due diligence may not always reveal the fraud perpetrated upon a publication. This is what happened to us,” it said.

    NEW DELHI: News portal ‘The Wire’ has filed a police complaint against its former consultant Devesh Kumar in connection with a “fabricated” story related to the BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya, a senior police officer said on Sunday.

    According to the officer, the news portal filed the complaint late on Saturday through e-mail.

    Earlier on Saturday, the Delhi Police had filed an FIR against ‘The Wire’ and its editors based on a complaint by Malviya, who accused it of “cheating and forgery” and “tarnishing” his reputation.

    “A case has been filed. Investigation will be initiated and necessary action will be taken,” the officer said.

    Malviya had on Friday said he will pursue criminal and civil proceedings against the portal over stories, since retracted, which insinuated that he enjoyed a special privilege on Meta platforms through which he could get any story taken down if he believed it was against the BJP’s interests.

    Malviya’s complaint was filed with Delhi Police’s special commissioner (crime) against ‘The Wire’, its founding editors Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M K Venu, deputy editor and executive news producer Jahnavi Sen, the Foundation for Independent Journalism and some unknown people.

    The complaint was filed for various offences punishable under sections 420 (cheating), 468 and 469 (forgery), 471 (fraud), 500 (defamation) r/w 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (criminal act) of the Indian Penal Code.

    Though ‘The Wire’ has apologised to its readers and withdrawn the stories, the BJP leader had noted that the news portal did not offer him an apology despite “maligning and tarnishing my reputation and causing serious harm to my professional career”.

    The Wire, in a statement on Thursday, said journalists rely on sources for stories and do their best to verify material they receive.

    “Technological evidence is more complicated and the usual due diligence may not always reveal the fraud perpetrated upon a publication. This is what happened to us,” it said.

  • Media trials curse or boon for democracy? The jury is still out

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Are media trials a curse for democracy? Or are the pillars of India’s democracy best served by the trials being conducted by the country’s media? Media personalities, politicians, legal luminaries and eminent physicians debated whether “Trial by the Media is a Curse of our Democracy,” at an annual debate organised by the nearly two-century-old Bengal Club here Saturday.

    Eminent journalist and Editor of The Wire Siddharth Vardarajan pointed out that failure of the other three pillars of the “Taj Mahal of democracy” has made the task of the fourth estate even more difficult.

    “Can any of us doubt that these pillars are crumbling?” Vardarajan asked as he pointed out that passing of laws by legislatures without adequate debate, cases of judicial delay in important federal issues, and bureaucratic overreach were undermining democracy.

    “We in the media are trying to shine a light on topics that those in authority would not like light to be shone on,” he said, pointing to among other issues, media reportage on the alleged Pegasus phone surveillance.

    Jawhar Sircar, former civil servant turned Rajya Sabha MP pointed out that media trails were usually tempered by a sense of mission, such as reportage on Jessica Lal murder, Nirbhaya killing in Delhi or the killing of Rizwanur in Kolkata, which in turn helped unravel those cases and brought culprits to book.

    “People get demoralised when nothing happens. Someone has to shake them (system) out of a stupor, to get justice done,” Sircar said, adding that he felt it was the “incumbent duty of the media to take up trials to clean up the nation to serve democracy.”

    Defending the motion, eminent neuro-surgeon Sandip Chatterjee pointed out that the media at times lowers its standards by passing judgement “on everything and everybody”, causing an unevenness of the platform of democracy.

    “There is one thing worse than an uninformed person with power and that is an uninformed person with power who does not know when to stop using his power,” Chatterjee said.

    He warned that the race for TRP rating as well as media bias was a cause for concern which could undermine the country’s democratic polity.

  • David Simon, George Pelecanos heading back to HBO for limited series

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Writers David Simon and George Pelecanos, known for acclaimed shows like “The Wire” and “Treme”, are set to reunite with HBO for their latest project “We Own This City”. The show, billed as a limited series, from the frequent collaborators will delve into the story behind the Baltimore Police Department’s infamous Gun Trace Task Force.

    It is based on journalist Justin Fenton’s book “We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption”, published by Random House. According to Deadline, Simon and Pelecanos are writing and executive producing “We Own This City”.

    HBO’s former President of Miniseries Kary Antholis also executive produces through his Crime Story Media. The show will revolve around the Gun Trace Task Force, which was designed to get firearms and violent criminals off the streets of Baltimore amid a rising murder rate in the city.

    The unit ended up functioning as a criminal outfit of its own, with officers stealing money from people they claimed were suspects, conducting illegal searches, planting evidence and skimming cash from drug busts.

    A federal Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into the task force yielded indictments against eight members of the unit. Six pleaded guilty, and the two who didn’t were sentenced to 18 years in prison. “We Own This City” will be Simon and Pelecanos’ next show at the premium cable network after “The Deuce”, whose third and final season aired in 2019.

  • FIR against ‘The Wire’ editor Siddharth Varadarajan over tweet on farmer’s death

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Uttar Pradesh Police has filed an FIR against founding editor of news portal ‘The Wire’ Siddharth Varadarajan for tweeting a news report that said, quoting farmer Navreet Singh’s family, that he had died due to police firing during the Republic Day tractor rally. 

    The Delhi Police had released CCTV footage showing the farmer’s tractor had overturned after it hit a police barricade.

    The story reported on Friday said the deceased’s family had refused to accept the police claim. The report  quoted Singh’s grandfather as saying, “The doctor even told me that even though he had seen the bullet injury, he can do nothing as his hands are tied.” 

    The FIR has been registered under Sections 153-B and 505(2) of the IPC is Rampur district, where Singh came from. Reacting to the move, Vardarajan tweeted alleging the UP Police was indulging in “malicious prosecution”.

    Speaking to this newspaper, he said, “The case against me and will not stand, but what the government really wants to ensure is that the dead man’s family does not repeat is questions and is silenced. Singh’s family’s doubts about the post mortem and the role of the police may or may not be valid, but denying them the right to air those adds to their grief… The message is that if you even quote people accusing the police of having done something they deny, you can be jailed on serious charges.”

    Earlier, on Vardarajan’s tweeting the report, Rampur district magistrate had said, “We ardently request you to please let’s be sticking to facts and facts only. We hope our request will be sincerely taken up by you.” 

    He also attached an ‘official declaration’ in his tweet that said the doctors involved in Singh’s post mortem had denied speaking to the media or any other person.

    Vardarajan replied, “Story has already been updated to include the official declaration by the three doctors.”