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Tag: Internet

It is not just Barkha vs Bhakts, it is also Barkha vs Gunday

It is not just Barkha vs Bhakts, it is also Barkha vs Gunday

Published by Rahul Roushan on December 18, 2015

Barkha Dutt, the celeb journalist from NDTV, has written a book and it’s getting negative reviews (one star) on Amazon, by scores of people who have most probably not even read a sentence of it. It’s silly, but it’s not unprecedented.

Barkha is blaming it on “bhakts” – a term she and other “liberal” commentators use very liberally to describe people who support Narendra Modi. And the truth is, most of those giving one star and negative reviews to her books are indeed Modi supporters.

So this is all about Barkha vs Bhakts? Or rather just about Bhakts, who last month, angered by Aamir Khan’s comments on “rising intolerance”, raced to uninstall the Snapdeal app and give it a bad review on app stores?

Can we simply close the case because these Bhakts appear as an organized gang of online goons? Gundays harassing a “liberal” law abiding citizen Barkha?

Yeah, gundays, rather Gunday. There lies another story.

Continue readingIt is not just Barkha vs Bhakts, it is also Barkha vs Gunday
A dummy’s guide to understanding Net Neutrality and issues around it

A dummy’s guide to understanding Net Neutrality and issues around it

Published by Rahul Roushan on April 14, 2015

It’s almost certain that most of you have not only heard about the term “Net Neutrality” but also support the cause. Most certainly you have also gone through various articles explaining the issue, including a video by AIB that is being talked about by everyone in the mainstream media.

The video by AIB makes an analogy where a person is asked to pay different prices for different rides in a park. This is termed unfair and akin to violation of network neutrality. However, if you’ve gone to an amusement park, that’s exactly how it operates.

That might make some people wonder if Net Neutrality is unfair to private businesses, for what is already happening in an amusement park is being termed wrong when replicated in the digital world.

To the credit of AIB, it’s never easy to come up with a perfect analogy. They have done enough to spread the awareness, and this article is an attempt to complement their effort by using a different analogy, which I believe is nearer to how it is in the virtual world.

Continue readingA dummy’s guide to understanding Net Neutrality and issues around it
Why journalists hate trolls

Why journalists hate trolls

Published by Rahul Roushan on April 8, 2015

At the outset, let me make it clear that I’m making a distinction between what is being labeled as “trolling” and criminal online behavior such as cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking, hate-mongering, etc. However, this distinction is NOT made by a league of critics (most of them journalists) who are on a mission to purge the social media by launching a War On Trolling, much like Junior Bush launched War On Terror and declared that “if you are not with us, you are with the terrorists”.

In that case, I’m with the trolls (as defined by them).

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Which Narendra Modi supporter are you?

Which Narendra Modi supporter are you?

Published by Rahul Roushan on January 5, 2015

“People voted for Narendra Modi because they wanted development, they didn’t have any Hindu agenda in mind.” is the latest muse of people who earlier religiously believed that “a vote for Modi means crossing the moral point of no return”.

They are the same people who thought that Modi, with help of Amit Shah, “polarized” Uttar Pradesh to sweep the general elections. Now they think that the elections were won on development agenda.

This U-turn by these alleged “intellectuals” is not surprising as they are experts in shifting goalposts; however, what is consistent are their generalizations.

Earlier a vote for Modi was a vote for fascism, and now a vote for Modi has become a vote for development.

This post is not to analyze what a vote for Narendra Modi meant, because many alleged journalists are analyzing that by writing fat books, hoping to make a fat impression and preferably fat money.

This post is about who voted for Modi.

Continue readingWhich Narendra Modi supporter are you?
Due to internet, can the journalist vanish like the postman?Daakiya daak laya

Due to internet, can the journalist vanish like the postman?

Published by Rahul Roushan on September 23, 2014

Many people have argued what the future of journalism could be. Most agree that technology, especially digital, will impact it the most.

The obituary to print journalism has often been written, and it still continues being debated passionately if the prophesized doomsday is near or if these are mere cheap apocalypse mongering.

In this article, I plan to take that apocalypse mongering to the next level. I want to pose the question whether journalism – the art, the profession – will survive technology?

Continue readingDue to internet, can the journalist vanish like the postman?