Hello, I have been summoned on Monday morning by the Goa Police Crime Branch in connection with a case filed by the Herald management which implicates me in offences like data theft and hacking.
Below is a letter I have written to the local media body, the Goa Union of Journalists, complaining of harassment by the media organisation for bringing out a story on media corruption in public interest via social media. Best regards Mayabhushan Dear friends in the GUJ executive committee You may have been aware of the developments surrounding the #JackpotJournalism story, which I had filed on social media earlier this month. You may also be aware, that the Herald management in a complaint filed before the Crime Branch's Cyber Cell, has tried to implicate me as having had a hand in hacking and data theft which led to the leak of an internal memo. As a result, I am required to be present at the above stated office on Monday at 10:30 am. The memo, which I had also uploaded on social media, confirms that chunks of editorial news in the Herald newspaper, have to be pre-approved by the sales department, unlike the tall claims made in the newspaper's front page Open Edit. Incidentally, the very fact that they filed a complaint with the Crime Branch, also proves the authenticity of the memo. It proves that news in the Herald, indeed, is shackled by sales processes and decisions. Our job as journalists, is to source information from public and private enterprises and place what's important and in public interest, in the public domain. Our job requires us to tell readers and viewers, about how the piece of sourced information affects or could affect their lives. Today, the Herald has tried to 'fix' me with this criminal complaint for publishing a leaked company document. Tomorrow and henceforth, any company or government agency could file a complaint under the IT act, accusing a journalist of hacking their database to obtain the data, if he or she files a story in public interest based on such document/s. Hope you understand the perils and dangers that such a precedent could set for sincere and genuine reportage. At this stage I would like to (like I have in my FB post) unequivocally state that I have not hacked any email or committed data theft. I was given the information by people who are unhappy (and there are many) with the unethical practices at the newspaper which were exposed by the #JackpotJournalism story. To refresh your collective memories, the #JackpotJournalism story shows how deputy general manager (sales) Adwait Dessai attached to the Herald newspaper and his colleagues use strong-arm tactics to muscle through a Rs. 25 lakh-per-casino-per-month 'advertising' deal from a representative of the casino industry. Desai also alleges how management pressure has ensured that several news stories related to the real estate lobby and the casino industry were killed there. One thing of particular interest to GUJ, could be how Adwait goes on to say in a sweeping statement, that reporters indulge in extortion. Anyway, the reason for my writing to you is to complain about efforts made by Herald, a newspaper which boasts of investigative journalism, to silence genuine Whistle Blowers. Instead of trying to initiate corrective measures institutionally, they have, with the criminal complaint, tried to cower down their own whistle-blowers and tried to implicate me, a member of GUJ, into the affair. My complaint is that, with the filing of the criminal complaint, attempts are being made to harass me (as a whistle-blower myself in this case), solely because I placed sensitive information, as exposed in #JackpotJournalism and on other occasions, in the public domain and in public interest. When someone buys a newspaper for Rs. X, there is an unspoken contract between the buyer and the newspaper, that the information given to the reader is genuine and editorially processed. What #JackpotJournalism exposed was a blatant violation of that contract with back-end news compromising deals. GUJ should also back the cause of the unsung whistle-blowers who have helped me obtain the information and who are now being unfairly targeted by their employers for being selfless servants of public interest. I leave the choice of honouring this request to your good sense. Best regards Mayabhushan P.S. In case you would like me to stop sending this mailer across, please do let know. No hard feelings. -- Sent from Gmail Mobile -- Sent from Gmail Mobile
