JACKPOT JOURNALISM PART VII- HARDCORE HERALD'S HARD'CRORE' NEWS
#JackpotJournalism #PaidNews #Goa #GoaMedia #Herald #casinos #GoaCasinos #IndianMedia https://youtu.be/-_3SLrhs0tg (video link) In the concluding part of the #JackpotJournalism series, Herald’s assistant general manager (sales) Adwait Desai confesses to the casino honcho, that his heart was pounding as he walked into this meeting and the latter reassures him, saying there's nothing to worry about because in business, one should be open to everything. Adwait says, he has never been in such a situation in his life and suggests that the casino honcho should ask the Herald bosses for a meeting. The casino honcho insists, that forget the demand for Rs. 25 (lakh) even giving a Rs. 5 lakh advertising support for the Herald, would be difficult and suggests that so much advertising in one newspaper by the casino industry, would make the other media platforms in Goa nervous. The casino honcho then goes on to show Adwait, phone messages allegedly sent to him by The Navhind Times general manager Pramod Revankar. The honcho then goes on to read out aloud the message allegedly sent by Revankar: 'Inspite of repeated anti-casino news, advertisements still continue to appear in English daily, not a single news in NT,’ (what a 'novel' way to pitch for ads) He also reads out a sequence of phone messages, allegedly sent by Revankar, mentioning the time and the dates on which the messages were sent. The messages basically gripe about how, despite anti-casino news being published in the Herald newspaper, they still get ads from the casino industry. The casino honcho and Adwait, then go on to discuss in detail the coverage of a press conference, which the former claimed was wrongly headlined in the newspaper. (It’s a fun conversation) Adwait then goes on to say, that writing about casinos is the flavour of the season for the media in Goa, just like writing about Arvind Kejriwal is, whether the AAP leader is of concern or not. Such coverage, Adwait says, is the hazard of the media industry. The Herald sales manager then switches back to issues at hand and says that another meeting would be necessary to bring sense to the advertising deal they were discussing about. The casino honcho then says, if he calls for a meeting with the Herald bosses, it could imply that he is under pressure and asks Adwait to fix the meeting. And then he makes a critical point, that following the consultation with his over phone (as seen and head in Part I) the figure of Rs. 25 lakh was too high and “too heavy” and that “this is too heavy and we can't get into this kind of extortion”. Adwait, despite his seniority in the organisation, does not contest this charge. Then, the casino honcho goes on to caution that it is not just his reputation, but also suggests that the reputation of Herald which is at stake, if information about this deal leaks. The full length, unedited video, as received by me will be uploaded to YouTube tomorrow -- Sent from Gmail Mobile
