I’ve finally managed to get through the Arnab Goswami Chatgate pdf. Everyone has already highlighted those portions that needed highlighting. I have a slightly different tack.

1. The messages tell me that news is a carefully constructed consumer product.

This is something we all already know but it’s nice to see confirmation. Events are presented in the high-decibel manner that has become the standard because the product is crying for attention.

2. These folks don’t care about what has actually happened and to whom. They’re
callous about it. Their eye is firmly on the ratings. There is no empathy in their conversation. The empathy on screen is constructed.

3. Overall the chats reveal varying degrees of competition between channels to get real close to those in office. One thing that stood out
is reference to the PMO asking who leaked a particular story. Even the state doesn’t have control over its disinformation. Power centers within the state seem to be disseminating different info to their preferred reporters or channels.
This was fully flagged in an old piece I had co-authored on Pulwama in 2019. How there was so much contradictory information about one singular incident.

4. The real issue then is what about journalism. Is this even journalism or should we be calling it something else?
5. There’s a lot I didn’t know about how organizations function. I knew TRPs are important. I guess I didn’t know just how important they are. And the other thing that stood out is how nasty this whole business about “getting ahead” of the competition is.
6. This tells me that more than ever we need independent bodies that can fact-check and hold news corporations accountable. I don’t think I would trust these channels on anything after reading those chats.

7. If news is produced as consumer product solely based on the state
and what it wants to say, we need a new business model that can undercut this collaborative and propagandist model.

8. Also PMO seems to keep a sharp eye on local channels. Is this how they’re getting their political positions?

9. There is a discussion about sabarimala in
the chats where they talk about an RSS funder for a local channel Janam. The channel gained viewers because it took a “pro devotee” stand. So there is no fairness here. Conservative values here are editorially mobilized for viewership.

In short who can we trust?
10. The thing that really got to me is how nationalism and the armed forces are also commodified for ratings. They more the mayhem, the better these channels do. It’s a shame. They won’t work towards lack of bias because that doesn’t bring in ratings and revenue.
I don’t see these folks as journalists anymore. I will be calling them “corporate news workers.”
Last year some people who quit Republic had talked about how they were told to film “chase sequences”. And we all saw the hyperventilating young reporter following what was alleged to be Deepika Padukone‘a car. That’s complete manufacturing and yet we all watched it.
Even the whole Justice for SSR trend was done to make inroads into viewership in mofussil towns and cities in specific states. And we know why some states are ignored. According to the chats a whole army of reporters went to Kashmir to report on the abrogation of 370.
They came back with not a single credible story. They participated in the production of that episode of mass incarceration and backed it on national TV.
If like me you’ve gone through the chats you can see that there isn’t a single discussion on facts. They’re not really talking about what has happened and how they feel about it (unless it affects them directly). It’s all business.
The thing is if news is now just another dodgy product on a shelf, you can choose to not buy it anymore because it affects your health.

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MDZS is laden with buddhist references. As a South Asian person, and history buff, it is so interesting to see how Buddhism, which originated from India, migrated, flourished & changed in the context of China. Here's some research (🙏🏼 @starkjeon for CN insight + citations)

1. LWJ’s sword Bichen ‘is likely an abbreviation for the term 躲避红尘 (duǒ bì hóng chén), which can be translated as such: 躲避: shunning or hiding away from 红尘 (worldly affairs; which is a buddhist teaching.) (
https://t.co/zF65W3roJe) (abbrev. TWX)

2. Sandu (三 毒), Jiang Cheng’s sword, refers to the three poisons (triviṣa) in Buddhism; desire (kāma-taṇhā), delusion (bhava-taṇhā) and hatred (vibhava-taṇhā).

These 3 poisons represent the roots of craving (tanha) and are the cause of Dukkha (suffering, pain) and thus result in rebirth.

Interesting that MXTX used this name for one of the characters who suffers, arguably, the worst of these three emotions.

3. The Qian kun purse “乾坤袋 (qián kūn dài) – can be called “Heaven and Earth” Pouch. In Buddhism, Maitreya (मैत्रेय) owns this to store items. It was believed that there was a mythical space inside the bag that could absorb the world.” (TWX)
THE MEANING, SIGNIFICANCE AND HISTORY OF SWASTIK

The Swastik is a geometrical figure and an ancient religious icon. Swastik has been Sanatan Dharma’s symbol of auspiciousness – mangalya since time immemorial.


The name swastika comes from Sanskrit (Devanagari: स्वस्तिक, pronounced: swastik) &denotes “conducive to wellbeing or auspicious”.
The word Swastik has a definite etymological origin in Sanskrit. It is derived from the roots su – meaning “well or auspicious” & as meaning “being”.


"सु अस्ति येन तत स्वस्तिकं"
Swastik is de symbol through which everything auspicios occurs

Scholars believe word’s origin in Vedas,known as Swasti mantra;

"🕉स्वस्ति ना इन्द्रो वृधश्रवाहा
स्वस्ति ना पूषा विश्ववेदाहा
स्वस्तिनास्तरक्ष्यो अरिश्तनेमिही
स्वस्तिनो बृहस्पतिर्दधातु"


It translates to," O famed Indra, redeem us. O Pusha, the beholder of all knowledge, redeem us. Redeem us O Garudji, of limitless speed and O Bruhaspati, redeem us".

SWASTIK’s COSMIC ORIGIN

The Swastika represents the living creation in the whole Cosmos.


Hindu astronomers divide the ecliptic circle of cosmos in 27 divisions called
https://t.co/sLeuV1R2eQ this manner a cross forms in 4 directions in the celestial sky. At centre of this cross is Dhruva(Polestar). In a line from Dhruva, the stars known as Saptarishi can be observed.