Media...The Make-Believe Experts

The advantage of working out of home is an endless access to the remote with a spoilt choice of over a ten English news channels and another dozen in regional languages that I understand viz. Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & Hindi. And better still, all the action in the last 2 months is letting these channels top TRPs higher than reality flicks and soaps.

Amidst all this, I have come to reflect upon the idiosyncrasies of these channels, if not all, at least most. We weren't short of events in the recent past...from MJ, Andhra Floods, YSR (including the birth of Rosiah & Jagan coming of age...all of a sudden), Tiger Woods, Telangana (and brothers and sisters like Ghurkaland, Vidharbha, Purvanchal etc.), Copenhagen, Ruchika, Tiwari, the Kotla test and Jaitley, 3 Idiots (with Chetan Bhagat becoming the villain of a cast that he was not a part of)...the list was breathless indeed. I have been keeping one eye on my laptop as I write (which just changed from my passion to my profession now) and another on the TV catching bytes on almost everything.

One thing that did strike a deathblow into my thoughts was the license the media had to focus on elements that they wanted to and publicly interpret and infer. As a democracy, each of us do share the right to self-expression...but morality seeks that one be given space to think and reflect on lines which aren't biased. But where's the space. When the job of media would be to communicate, why would they want to do the thinking on our behalf? If I'd take it to the level of rightfulness, it is just as good as undue influence according to Sec. 16 of the Indian Contract Act of 1857.

Take Telangana for instance, one channel was showing mobs burning down buses through out the day when a Bandh was declared. The fact remains that this was a one-off incident in the city that happened in the wee hours. The entire city along the rest of the day was at peace.

Repeat instance...people are angry at DSP Rathore for smiling as he walked out of court. At least 60% chances are that no one would have cared if he hadn't smiled that day. Thanks to his funny bones..life is hell. Fair deal that it was, why are we letting ourselves be scapegoats?


They want you to see it the way they want you to see it. Reminds me of Russel's act where he says...they show you a car accident and an Asian, an explosion and an Arab, a terror attack and an Indian...they just don't say anything...and then give you that kind of expression which says..."Well, what do you think?!" Why doesn't media cover good normal people who are smiling, do some good, are above all living a normal life for heaven's sake.

I'd be forced to think normalcy isn't newsworthy. Neither is abnormality...however Interpreted Abnormality is definitely what we get...for Free.

Loneliness is the mother of all Screw-Ups!!

How many times have you observed consciously that we make the most stupidest of decisions when we don’t have people around us?

Remember… in school you probably picked someone’s pencil when no one was around. I’m sure many of us also have the habit of behaving weirdly when we know no one is actually around. Remember the empty eerie parking lot where it was only you and you?

What is it about silence that makes the human mind so uncomfortable…asks Moorie from Tuesdays with Moorie. There have been instances when we do shattering things just because we are alone. Come to think of it, I just went 55 kms into the Highway and back… just because I’m alone here in this city! Can you beat that?

The reflection is though not about the eeriness of the silence. Can we consciously  convert this into a productive force? My best reflections in writing occur only in the depths of silence. If you ask me if there is a difference between the two Silence, I’d say the only difference is in the frame of mind… the willingness to do the right thing.

So what’s the theory? Silence kills. Silence Creates too!

My Winning Case Study

My Case Analysis was adjudged the Best Analysis in the TCS Smart manager Case Study Contest..

Find the Case, Analysis & my Bio-brief in TCS Smart Manager Hall of Fame...


Case Title: A many-tentacled hydra by Sharon Pande (NMIMS), December-December 2008

Digital Telecom, a leading integrated telecommunication company, is examining the option of adopting an e-recruitment system to increase all-round productivity and reduce costs.

But will such a system fulfill all the company’s human resource needs?

http://thesmartmanager.com/halloffame.aspx

Case available for reference at http://thesmartmanager.com/tcs_cs_previouscs.aspx
Note: You need to register/ sign-up to view the case

The Truth behind Satyam...

Ever thought about this? What if the Satyam revelation had happened way back in 1965, assuming that there was the concept of a Public Ltd. Co. even then?
Lets start in a phased manner. Ramalinga Raju, an ambitious youngster then, wanted to make a lot of money. his foresight and vision led to the establishment of a multi-national software services giant named Satyam.

As time went by, Satyam went public to the people, money came in from the general public, FIIs, FDIs etc. However, I'm sure everyone would agree that Satyam as what it is today is defnitely Raju's baby & brainchild. There is albeit a huge ownership that Raju exercises over Satyam and its' resources. However, when this ownersip he had, the effort that he put in and the expectation that he had in (in rupees/dollars!) making money did not tally, Raju put his hand inside the Money Box. Quite natural for an owner. In a small company, most of the Boss's expenses are written off as the Company's expenses.

Over a period of time, Raju dug deeper in the boxes, he reached out for more.. some more and a little more than what could be accounted for. Assuming that it was HIS Company.. (BAAP ka Maal in chaste Hindi), he started doing this on a regular basis. Everyone in the Company is definitely involved and informed in this entire melodrama and is also well fed in this entire operation money-drain, though officially denied and veiled for evident reasons. The operations guy in my company who handles finance can tell me from the Balance Sheet, the divesture of funds, you think CFO @ Satyam was a nitwit to get there?!

What upsets me and half the world associated with Satyam is not what and how Raju did but the manner in which he did it. However, I have a very interesting perspective to share...

When Raju put in his sweat, toil and tears into making such a huge company, there was no one to reward him. People think that by buying shares in a company with a few meagre rupees, ownership is bought.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Ownership comes from within, not from wallets and pursestrings. No doubt, Raju has flouted norms of Corporate Governance to the limit untendable, but he isn't a criminal of immoral stances. It might eb a crime, legally to siphon out money from one's OWN company, but not a sin of the highest order.

The point I'm trying to drive home is not problem oriented nor perspective oriented.
I am trying to drive a solution home...

The solution to this would be compelling the Founder directors of any Public Ltd company from not owning more than 1% shares in toto thru individual or family holdings when the Company goes Public. The ownership feeling should remain without doubt, but should not percolate into a drain out of personal interest in the company.


While the Satyam Fiasco has just settled down, all discussions lead to one single question: Will the likes of Infosys & Wipro also in the time to come show such shockers?
What is the guarantee that they have been having a clean slate all the while? Also, what is the guarantee that they are not busy now, re-writing their books of accounts to be sure that they aren't pitted in the time to come?