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Read the "censored" report on "paid news" in the Indian media

The Press Council of India (PCI) has decided not to forward the detailed report on “paid news”, prepared by its sub-committee, following divisions within the Council, with some members objecting to the fact that specific media houses had been identified as offenders in that document. The sub-committee, consisting of journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and K. Sreenivas Reddy, prepared the report after meeting a cross-section of society in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad and also went through many letters and representations that were sent to the Council. But some media houses, particularly those in Hindi, English and Telugu publishing industry, objected to their names being mentioned as practitioners of 'paid news' in that report. We have the full report of the sub-committee on our site. Visit this link: http://www.newswatch.in/paid-news/

Newswatch completes five years today

Newswatch completes five years today. The site started small, and still is. There is precious little to offer readers / visitors except for a more navigational layout. This was the reason the site had to be kept offline on July 30 and 31, 2010. If you have suggestions/comments to make, please use the contact form here: Contact Us.

Newswatch will remain offline on July 30-31

The Newswatch site will be down for some necessary upgrades and maintenance tasks on July 30 and 31, 2010. The site will be online again on August 1, 2010. Any inconvenience caused to visitors/readers is regretted. Subir Ghosh Newswatch

newsPRESS 2.0 now available for download

We are happy to announce the release of the 2.0 version of newsPRESS — the premium WordPress theme for news websites from Newswatch. The new version is compatible with the latest WordPress 3.0. Details: http://newspress.newswatch.in/ Demo: http://newspress.newswatch.in/demo/ Prices: http://newspress.newswatch.in/the-price-tag.html The newsPRESS theme has been specifically designed for news websites. Highlights: * Concept of sections, which overrides categories * Lead story for front page * Lead story each for all sections * Unique front page for every category * Attractive menu navigation * No changes necessary in WordPress core * Each story with own picture/caption/credit setting * Option of 2-column vs 3-column setting for stories * Clean coding all through * Full-fledged demo site for people to browse through * All ad blocks designed according to Google hotzone mapping

Project Blackout: Which is India's most blacked-out story?

Newswatch has launched a project that will track down news stories that have been overlooked, misreported or self-censored in the mainstream media. It is called Project Blackout and has been based to an extent on Project Censored of Sonoma State University. Right now we are calling for nominations. To be able to nominate a story you must be registered/logged in. About the project: http://www.newswatch.in/blackout/about Guidelines for nominations: http://www.newswatch.in/blackout/guidelines List of nominated stories: http://www.newswatch.in/blackout/nominations/ I look forward to your support in making Project Blackout a success. Regards and best wishes. Subir Ghosh Editor-Publisher Newswatch

Site will be offline on July 31

The Newswatch site will be offline on July 31, 2009. The is for some routine site maintenance work. The site shall be online again on August 1, 2009. Inconvenience caused, if any, is regretted. Regards.

Newswatch launches newsPRESS - a premium WordPress theme for news websites

We are happy to announce the release of newsPRESS — a premium WordPress theme for news websites. Details: http://newspress.newswatch.in/ Demo: http://newspress.newswatch.in/demo/ The newsPRESS theme has been specifically designed for news websites. Highlights: Concept of sections, which overrides categories Lead story for front page Lead story each for all sections Unique front page for every category Attractive menu navigation No changes necessary in WordPress core Each story with own picture/caption/credit setting Option of 2-column vs 3-column setting for stories Clean coding all through Full-fledged demo site for people to browse through All ad blocks designed according to Google hotzone mapping Does away with the blog-sided theme architecture

Site will remain offline

Newswatch (www.newswatch.in) will remain offline for a few days &mash; tentatively till Sunday, May 17, 2009. We have some major site security issues to look into. The inconvenience is deeply regretted.

Greenpeace is looking for writers

Greenpeace aims to further enhance the voice of various campaigns in India and bring forth into the public domain those aspects of public interest issues that are inadequately or not generally covered by the media. To enable better representation of public interest issues in the media on which we campaign, we invite writers and journalists to empanel their names with us and contribute their opinion and views on a range of issues. Greenpeace will share local, national and international information, facts, perspectives and opinions about the issue with empanelled writers and occasionally, when possible provide exclusive leads on developing stories. The objective is to engage with and impact specific policy making through a participatory and democratic process in the country through agenda setting writing and the shaping of public opinion. The criterion:

Not Good, Not Bad, But Ugly

That was the face of television during the Mumbai attacks coverage. There seems to be as much disenchantment and anger towards TV channelsas much as it is against politicians. Newswatch (http://www.newswatch.in/) has been getting mails by the hundreds, all criticising the coverage for one reasons and another. We, at Newswatch, believe that criticism in itself doesn't mean anything. We prefer to quantify things, for starters. So what we have done is collate questions in the form of a survey. What you have to do is say who's good, who's bad, who's ugly. Nothing like rating those you dislike for whatever reason. There are 34 quesitons in all. It shouldn't take you more than 15-20 mins to answer them all. In any case, there aren't too many mandatory questions. Answer whichever one(s) you can, or want to. Here's the link: http://surveys.newswatch.in/index.php?sid=74549&lang=en Please participate and implore others to do so too.