Friday, March 29, 2024

India Today suffers a horror expose: ‘Blackmailers’¦Editors are fixers’





They are blackmailers. Have nexus with judges. Their editors are fixers. Rajdeep Sardesai is just a dalla (pimp). And much, much more.

A twitter thread by a former journalist of Living Media Group, the media house which has reputed brands such as India Today, Aaj Tak and Business Today in its stable, has taken the media world by storm.

Rakesh Krishnan Thiyya, once an assistant copy editor with the media house, has spilled the beans in public domain and his allegations are startling—and embarrassing to perhaps the most prestigious media group in the country.

“…The Editors who were fixers rather than writers…Many editors used their power to blackmail politicians. Stories by investigative journalists were killed to protect corrupt judges such as Sumit Mukherjee,” tweeted Thiyya.

“Justice Mukherjee not only took bribes from property developers, he would also ask for call girls. The code word for girls was “leg piece.” Despite CBI giving the case (including tapes of the judge talking to dalals) as an exclusive to India Today, the story was killed.”

Thiyya could’ve misspelt the name of Shamit Mukherjee, a former Delhi high court judge, who was arrested by the CBI for his alleged involvement in a landscam in 2003.

The next tweet is about “fake” electoral polls.

“Electoral polls. These were fixed from the get-go to suit their narrative. Once I met the head of one of these polling firms. I said, you guys are complete fakes, why do you do this, he replied: India Today pays us and we give them the results they ask for. Simple economics.”

The next tweet is about the mythical circulation of India Today which Thiyya alleges bears no relation to the actual number of copies sold.

“…India Today at one point claimed they had a circulation of 250,000. Or maybe 400,000. I was quite proud to be part of this magazine…An insider told me their paid subscription was no more than 25,000. In fact, their print run was 40,000 tops.

“This guy worked at Thompson Press which is owned by Living Media. Only the people at Thompson Press knew the real story. The circulation was inflated to hoodwink advertisers…”

The most pathetic, and hilarious expose, is on the “Letters to the Editor.”

“Every week the copy editor used to ask the desk team to create fake “Letters to the Editor”. The reason was that for a magazine with a claimed circulation of 2-4 lakh and a readership in the millions, we got at most 5-6 letters. Sometimes zero!…Even those 5-6 letters were from nutcases. We suspected that 2-3 of these letters were by the same person. Anyway, I really enjoyed writing these fake letters and would give funny names such as “Toofan Ghosh, Calcutta” or “Banduk Chatterjee, Asansol…”

Thiyya alleges that Best States of India surveys were fixed from the word go.

“…These annual surveys were a sham. The chief minister who bought the biggest chunk of advertising supplements would be the best CM and his state would get ranked at the top. We used to laugh even as we edited these pages.”

However, Thiyya reserves his most vitriolic diatribe against the high-profile editors of the group.

“Editors hired were those who could influence the govt so the company could get FM and satellite TV licences.

“One editor Raj Chengappa wrote a book which was touted as a best seller. Books Today couldn’t hide the figures from us—the book had sold 900 copies. Chengappa claimed he was India’s leading strategist. Again, lots of mirth for us lowly copy editors.

“I had grown up reading India Today when it had giants like Inderjit Badhwar. But by the time I got in, it was a place where fixers ruled. It is therefore not surprising that Rajdeep Sardesai was hired by Living Media because he fits the description of what they need.

“Sardesai has no morals or scruples. The fact that he danced on screen when the Congress party won a state election shows he does not even pretend to have scruples.

“His interview of Sonia Gandhi in which the hardest question he asked was about her cooking, shows he is ideal for hatchet jobs like the Rhea interview. He is no journalist. He is just a dalla, fixer of whom there are hundreds in Delhi.

“Who knows how much money changed hands for the Rhea interview. Only time will tell.

“…outfits like Living Media are not media companies any more than Osama is a Buddhist monk. They are influencer peddlers and fixers. They don’t care about the truth or justice or creating a better world. They just want cash at all costs.”


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