Times of India threatens blogger

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The Times of India, whose Web edition is rife with inaccuracies, cut ‘n paste stories and jingoism, has pressured a media critic into shutting down his blog by threatening to sue for libel (thanks, H.):

… when one of the few noted [Indian] media critics, Pradyuman Maheshwari, criticized the Times of India on his Mediaah Weblog recently, the Times looked to squash him with a seven-page legal threat for libel. The threat worked, and Maheshwari decided to close his site, as he has a day job running the daily Maharashtra Herald in Pune…

“… if this goes where I think it’s going, it should go down in history as ‘The Great Indian Blog Mutiny,'” Gupta told me via e-mail. “The Times of India has simply shown how far they’ve come from being a respectable newspaper to being a common school bully…”

One of the ToI’s most criticized practices is selling front page space to PR firms for their clients’ publicity shots. The newspaper allegedly auctions off this space without disclosing that it’s pay-for-placement:

Maheshwari says much of what upset the Times was his criticism of its MediaNet initiative where businesses can actually buy photos and profile stories in the Times’ editorial section — what it calls “edvertorials.”

Here’s an example in the Bombay Times, a tabloidish paper owned by the ToI:

A McDonald’s spokesperson on the front page picture of Malaika Arora posing to announce McDonald’s home delivery service in Bombay Times dated April 12, 2004: “Yes, the photograph was paid for.”

Here’s a mirror of the offending posts and the ToI’s legal threat.

8 thoughts on “Times of India threatens blogger”

  2. Boring legal conjecture to follow. This is based on US law and the eensy bit of int’l law that I know.

    First of all, as the old saw goes, it ain’t libel if it’s true. Second, libel is considered a crime and tort – but at least in the US it’s only litigated as a tort. From the “complaint” posted, the threat appears to be of a tort action. So, ToI, if it actually goes to court, can probably sue for money damages or an injunction to (1) take down past postings, and (2) prevent postings in the future. There’s no way ToI can prove signficant harm from a blog – so it’s all about the injunction. So sad. And, as usual, the big guys can essentially enjoin the small guys by just THREATENING legal action b/c of the $$ involved. Again, so sad.

    My favorite line from the letter: You had fuzz played on an earlier occasion

    How … poetic?

    -D

  3. Amazin…. I had always trusted the print edition of TOI as an authentic sources of News and even though I hated their website continued reading it online. Now I know better…..

  4. Glad to know that there is a community of times of india web edition haters online. I had been a loyal reader of the times, but the decline in their journalistic standards has been so drastic, it almost feels like a malicious betrayal on their part.

    By the way, for those interested in exploring the ultimate limits of the abysmal depths ‘the slimes’ is capable of descending to, read anything by Vinay Kamat – just about anything.