These recordings have been at the eye of a storm with everyone accusing Ms. Dutt of corruption on an epic scale and NDTV and the ladies involved trying to brazen it out in a typically Indian fashion.

I just realised what the furore was about because in the past month I noticed a huge surge in traffic to this site that was looking for actual Barkha Dutt news and not just the regular wierdos looking for ‘Barkha Dutt Nude, ‘Barkha Dutt Boobs’ or other Barkha Dutt related pornography (I understand fetishes you guys but please, get a life!)

So I read Open magazine’s articles and listened to the recordings and call me cynical but I wasn’t shocked in the least. This is how the media has operated forever and anyone who is surprised by the level of complicity and just pure corruption for lack of a better word is truly clueless.

Listen to the audio recordings here and try to see if you can tell at which moment exactly the line of journalistic integrity has been crossed.

Also worth watching is Karan Thapar’s interview of Arun Shourie, a grand old man of Indian news who still makes more sense and has more dignity than anyone else in the fourth estate today can ever hope to achieve. I think it is very telling when the ex-editor of two of the leading newspapers in India encourages everyone to be highly sceptical of everything they see and read on or in the news.

Also, I said the words ‘Journalistic Integrity’  and ‘Barkha Dutt’ in a single sentence. Funny! Let’s try another one. ‘NDTV gives you balanced news and unbiased editorial.’ Bwaaa Haaa Haaa! Am I a comedian or what?

Some previous commenters on this blog have asked me why I despise the fine lady and my answer is the terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26th of November in 2008.

I watched a television in horror as everyone in charge seemed to be paralysed with inaction but also as Ms Barkha Dutt interviewed the distraught families and friends of the people hiding inside the Taj Hotel in Mumbai that the terrorists had laid siege to and in which they held an unknown number of people captive.

When the captives called their families pleading for help and told them which rooms of the hotel they were hiding in to save their lives, Barkha Dutt announced this information on live television to the world and I’m sure to the terrorists inside who were certain to have a television tuned to NDTV or at the very least have radio contact with someone who did.

The same thing happened when commandos tried to storm Nariman House during the same attacks to try and free the Jewish hostages. In her enthusiasm to get LIVE NEWS out not only did Barkha make a fool of herself by constantly contradicting the news she had just announced, she also gave the rescue team’s every move away.

Needless to say, NDTV got immense ratings for those two days and most if not all of the people hiding in those rooms at the Taj Hotel died and everyone in Nariman House save for an infant, met the same horrible fate. Wait, allow me to rephrase that.

MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO BARKHA DUTT RATTED OUT IN THE 26/11 ATTACKS WERE SLAUGHTERED.

Since Ms. Dutt was not put on trial for treason back then these new accusations are totally pointless and shall go nowhere in a hurry. Shut up slaves and go back to your televisions.

P.S. There are absolutely NO nude pics of Barkha Dutt on this web site.

(A thousand guys just read this and went awwwwwwww! )

Be good, eat fruit.

Hi all (four of you). It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a proper post (the BS Youtube video posts don’t count) but sickness and a recce that keeps getting postponed over

BTW if you’re wondering what my affliction was, I had/have a runny nose, a fever and the nerdiest of them all, an asthma relapse. That’s right ladies! They call me Sexx-Y! (Just like that catchy/crap song by ‘The Ting-Tings‘ that I can’t get outta my head, MP3 Here.)

So, the screenshot on the right with my retarded digital scrawl on it. Let me explain. I’ve posted about Google Analytics before. If you let Google put a bit of code on your web pages they will give you all kinds of interesting information about people who visit your site. For example, a listing of all the search terms people have keyed into Google that led them to this website.

So, the other day I was looking at the Google Analytics app on my iPod Touch (BTW, that app is so well made that I’ve stopped looking at the site on a computer) and amongst the many search strings that included the name of NDTV’s most famous anchor was the one you see here. Needless to say, my nose instantly wrinkled, my face contorted into a potty expression and a loud, involuntary EEEWWWWWWW! escaped my lips before I remembered that:

a> It isn’t nice to comment about how people look.

b> Specially for someone with a mug like mine.

c> Beauty is in the eye…  etc. etc. It takes all sorts to make up this planet and after all, people actually read this site, so there’s obviously no accounting for taste.

Anyway, I’ve walked around with that image in my mind for four days and now it is my gift to you. Enjoy!

Hell! At least it leads some credence to the frankly quite unbelievable stories that friends from NDTV have told me over the years.

So, in closing I shall say “Good for you Ms. Dutt!”

P.S. To the dude who keyed in the search term in question: I know who you are!

P.P.S. To Ms. Dutt: Mail me and I shall give you the dude’s contact info, you never know when you might need it….  and I won’t judge.

Also, on an unrelated note. I caught a glimpse of CNBC TV18 last night and some sardar journo had pitched a shoe at our honourable home minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram. I had/have two observations:

1> The surd in question throws like a girl. (But I shouldn’t talk)

2> Rajdeep Sardesai needs to switch to decaf. Seriously. For the entire three odd minutes that I could bear to watch, Mr. Sardesai looked and sounded like he had been given a chilli enema sometime between when he finished make-up and  when the bulletin started. I’m just sayin’

Recently a blogger, Chyetanya Kunte posted this retraction on his blog, an apology for an earlier post where he totally trashed NDTV and Barkha Dutt in particular for their coverage of the Mumbai blasts. NDTV obviously threatened to sue the poor bastard which shows the new depths this once venerable network has sunk to.

My own thoughts about the massacre in Mumbai and Ms. Dutt’s coverage can be seen here and here. Basically, a very large part of the infuriating, stomach-turning experience of watching the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year was the ‘journalist’ seen here with some BS award.

To put it very mildly Ms. Dutt and NDTV, sucked! Big-time. But then, the channel that I once had a lot of respect for has made it’s full-time job sucking for the past few years. But this is a new low.

Is NDTV so thick that it tries to sue a blogger? Do these stupid twats understand anything about freedom of speech? Personal opinion? How the internet works? Honestly. You can never, ever make someone take down a posting on the internet because once it is online it is in the wild, it will be around forever, even if the original poster takes it down.

As for the apology from Mr. Kunte let me just say this to the folks at NDTV. Your channel and news coverage sucked. Barkha Dutt sucked even harder. You idiots want to sue everyone who thinks so? There are thousands of people on Facebook in a group called ‘Make Barkha Shut the Fuck Up!” (Or some such shit to that effect) One of the more popular search terms people use to find this blog is (and I kid you not) ‘BARKHA DUTT BITCH’.

Get your head out of your asses NDTV. If it looks like shit, smells like shit and tastes like shit it probably is shit. You guys had a respectable channel. But somewhere along the way egos, ratings, political agendas and advertising money made you join in the race with every other news channel in a downward spiral into the lowest common denominator sort of news and guess what? You’ve won the race. There is no respect for you within the industry. Even normal household viewers who are essentially opinion-less sheep that you have dumbed down with Bullshit news about kids stuck in gutters and the US election now realise that the ‘news’ you air is essentially content-free filler between the ad breaks.

Read the full story for Mr. Kunte’s apology and the original post he wrote after the mumbai massacre.

So here is Mr. Chyetanya Kunte’s original blog post which he has since deleted but is cachéd thanks to the wonders of Google and the internet.

Shoddy journalism

Date: Thursday, 27 Nov 2008 20:39

Appalling journalism. Absolute blasphemy! As I watch the news from home, I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai mayhem. Take a couple of instances for example:

In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.

In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.

You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings.

Imagine you’re one of those sorry souls holed-up in one of those bathrooms, or kitchens. A journalist pulls your kin outside and asks about your last contact on national television, and other prying details. In a bout of emotion, if they happen to reveal more details, you are sure going to hell. Remember these are hotels, where in all likelihood, every room has a television. All a terrorist needs to do is listen to Ms. Barkha Dutt’s latest achievement of extracting information from your relative, based on your last phone-call or SMS. And you’re shafted—courtesy NDTV.1

If the terrorists don’t manage to shove you in to your private hell, the journalists on national television will certainly help you get there. One of the criticisms about Barkha Dutt on Wikipedia reads thus:

During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts, thus causing Indian casualties.

Looks like the idiot journalist has not learnt anything since then. I join a number of bloggers pleading her to shut the f⋅⋅⋅ up.

And here is Mr Kunte’s apology:

Unconditional Withdrawal of my post “Shoddy Journalism” dated November 27th 2008

Monday, 26 January 2009

I, Chyetanya Kunte, hereby tender an unconditional apology to Ms. Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor, English News, NDTV Limited and to NDTV Limited, for the defamatory statements I made regarding Ms. Barkha Dutt and NDTV Limited, in my post titled “Shoddy Journalism,” dated November 27th 2008, on my weblog at www.ckunte.com.

I have come to the conclusion that my post contained untrue and defamatory statements and that I have expressed myself in a disproportional manner. As a result, I have agreed with Ms. Barkha Dutt and NDTV to publish this statement as a means of settlement. I did not have the right nor the factual evidence to accuse Ms. Dutt and NDTV of the acts that I alleged in my weblog.

Consequently, I hereby repudiate and withdraw my post dated November 27, 2008 titled “Shoddy Journalism” and, more specifically, the following allegations / statements made in the post titled “Shoddy Journalism” namely:

a lack of ethics, responsibility and professionalism by Ms. Dutt and NDTV Limited;

that Ms. Dutt and NDTV’s reporting at the scene of the Mumbai attacks during November 2008, resulted in jeopardizing the safety and lives of civilians and / or security personnel caught up in and / or involved in defending against the attacks in Mumbai in November 2008;

that Ms. Dutt was responsible for the death of Indian Servicemen during the Kargil Conflict.

In an effort to remedy the damage that my aforementioned weblog post has caused to the reputations of Ms. Dutt and NDTV, I have undertaken to send this apology and withdrawal statement to all the websites that reproduced my post.

I hereby undertake not to repeat the said statements or similar statements against Ms. Dutt or NDTV Limited in the future.

[26.01.09]

Chyetanya Kunte

All I can say is….

You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!

1. this is all gonna end in tears samreth

2. obama bush same clinton sheeple

3. barkha dutt bitch

4. dating love site lv

5. body searches

6. coz i’m cool

7. indian bitch

8. mighty mouse fucking piece of shit

9. obama is bs

10. satyam fucking company

11. happy singh.com

12. video footage of george w. bush waving to stevie wonder

This is a follow-up to my previous post. Bombay. How I loved you.

Lets start with the ‘media industry’. A lot of people raised a huge stink about Barkha Dutt’s grating coverage of the events and the huge cock-up about whether the hostage situation at Nariman House was over or not. There is even a group on Facebook called ‘Get Barkha off air’ or some such crap.

Please. Get Barkha off air? She may look like a dog, sound like nails on a chalkboard and ask the most inane questions but people who say that she used to be great but has sold out, ought to get a clue. Also, part of essential reading for all students of journalism and mass communication, especially all the wannabe Barkha Dutts doing piece-to-cameras for news channels ought to be this book.

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media – Noam Chomsky

Newspapers are hardly any better. My paper of choice is ‘The Times of India’ which has always been like toilet paper but worse. (At least toilet paper is honest about what it is). It has been  a couple of weeks and ToI has done its bit by covering the clueless fashion frat lighting candles at Jantar-Mantar in Delhi and some self-important dweebs in Mumbai fighting with the cops for their right to demonstrate at the Gateway of India.

So ToI has gone back to its regular drivel. Yesterday there was a full page picture of some old douche-bag with an expensive hair-cut astride a Triumph Rocket. Though, to put that into perspective TOI is part of Bennett and Coleman, the company that brought you the epitome of a double-think, mind-fuck: The Advertorial

Some thoughts about the politicians.

1. Narendra Modi grand standing in front of the Oberoi. – Why didn’t we trade that murdering rat-bastard to the terrorists for some hostages?

2. Priyanka Gandhi telling the press that her mother, Indira Gandhi would have handled the hostage situation better. -  Please, just get over yourself and your clan. All of you.

3. Raj Thackeray and the Thackeray ilk in general skulking furtively during the whole episode – Why can’t you Thackerays be like this all the time?

4. Manmohan Singh’s speech. – Mr Singh. You disappoint me.

Another Facebook group that I have been invited to join (and have also ignored) is one called ‘Dedicate your profile picture to the Indian flag’. There are a myriad reasons why I think the idea is repulsive, jingoistic BS but a friend of mine has described her feelings about our national flag and national anthem better than I ever could. Read Namrata Siviya here.

So. Facebook groups, candles at the Jantar Mantar, demonstrations at the Gateway of India, this is the best the middle and upper classes can do (besides writing self important blog posts like the one you are reading.)

There is one part of me that hopes Delhi’s notoriously thuggish cops lathi-charge the pompous twats at the Jantar-Mantar and Mumbai’s cops push the demonstrators at the Gateway into the Arabian Sea (It can’t possibly get murkier can it ?)

But then, what is the proper response? How do normal people express their outrage at the events? How about a dignified silence? Would that be better? Would it be more respectful to every single person who died an utterly pointless death? (Including the terrorists)

I was at a concert a few days after the attacks and before it started everyone stood up and observed a minute’s silence for the people who had died. I may be very wrong but that respectful silence seemed like a much better idea than anything else I have seen in the weeks since.