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Tag: B. Srinivasan

  • Madras high court orders unblocking of Tamil magazine website

    Madras high court orders unblocking of Tamil magazine website

    MUMBAI:  Some are labeling it a victory of sorts for Anand Vikatan managing director B. Srinivasan –   albeit a conditional one at that. The Madras high court has ordered the Indian central government to restore access to the website of Tamil weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan, provided a controversial cartoon is removed from the site.

    Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy of the Madras high court issued the interim order on Thursday in response to a petition filed by the magazine, whose website (www.vikatan.com) was blocked by authorities in mid-February.
    The cartoon at the centre of the dispute depicted Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, which the government claimed was “detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India and its friendly relations with foreign states.”

    In his ruling, Justice Chakravarthy reasoned that since the caricature appeared to be the only objectionable content, the remainder of the magazine’s website should remain accessible to subscribers.

    “The block of the website shall be lifted without waiting for a certified copy of the Court’s order,” the judge directed, after ordering Ananda Vikatan to email confirmation to the government that it had removed the contentious material.

    The magazine argued in court that the cartoon constituted legitimate political satire related to the mistreatment of Indian deportees from the US. Its legal team, led by senior advocate Vijay Narayan, contended that blocking the entire website was “unjustified, disproportionate and excessive” and resulted in the “suppression of critical journalism.”

    Government counsel defended the blocking action under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, arguing it represented a reasonable restriction on fundamental rights. The court granted the government’s request for two weeks to file a formal reply.

    The judge noted that the court must ultimately determine whether the caricature falls under protected artistic and journalistic freedom or whether it is appropriately restricted under the IT Act.

    The case will be heard next on 21 March.

  • Vikatan website blocked; MD B Srinivasan to take legal action if he fails to get block removed

    Vikatan website blocked; MD B Srinivasan to take legal action if he fails to get block removed

    MUMBAI: Tamil media publication Vikatan managing director B Srinivasan was a little taken aback when on 15 February his website became inaccessible to him and the 80 lakh readers who access it daily. A notice displayed on the home page said the website had been blocked  as per the direction of law enforcement agencies. 

    On what grounds? 

    Well, the publication had put out what it considered a harmless political satirical cartoon on 10 February, which depicted prime minister Modi in chains alongside US president Trump . This apparently upset BJP Tamil Nadu president K Annamalai who filed a formal complaint with the ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB) and the Press Council of India, claiming the cartoon was objectionable on 15 February. 

    By 6:00 PM that evening, Vikatan’s website became inaccessible to many users, though the organisation received no immediate explanation for the outage.Since then, the website either has taken forever to open or when it does, it says it is an insecure website and a security risk. 

    The 99-year-old publication, which has a history of standing up to government pressure, promptly sought clarification from the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) regarding the domain blockage. Officials from the Press Bureau of India also visited Vikatan’s registered office to enquire about the print availability of Vikatan Plus, which was confirmed to be a digital-only publication.

    The MIB subsequently informed Vikatan about an upcoming inter-departmental committee meeting under the IT Rules, 2021, scheduled for 20 February to review the blocking of content. While granting Vikatan until this date to prepare their response, the ministry maintained that the emergency blocking orders would remain in effect.

    Vikatan has stated it will present its case at the hearing and is prepared to pursue legal action if the decision conflicts with press freedom principles. The publication cited its long history of speaking truth to power, noting previous instances of government action, including being shut down by the British in 1942 and having its editor imprisoned in 1987.

    The case has drawn significant attention as it may set a crucial precedent for media freedom in India, with Vikatan emphasising the need for transparency in actions against media houses.

    The blocking has drawn widespread condemnation from political leaders across party lines. Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin, along with prominent figures including MDMK general secretary Vaiko, actor Kamal Haasan, and author Arundhati Roy, have denounced the action as an attack on press freedom.

    Said: Srinivasan  “For over a century, Vikatan has been a steadfast advocate for freedom of expression and has consistently upheld journalistic integrity.”

  • Content creators discuss binge-worthy content at Vidnet 2019

    Content creators discuss binge-worthy content at Vidnet 2019

    MUMBAI: Binge-watching has become synonymous to over the top (OTT) platforms and content. Indiantelevision.com’s summit Vidnet 2019 had an interesting panel discussion on creating binge-worthy content. The panel was moderated by Indiantelevision.com founder CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari while MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, House of Cheer founder & CEO Raj Nayak, Vikatan Group managing director B Srinivasan and Viniyard Films founder Ashvini Yardi were the panellists.

    Wanvari started off by asking the panellists about the shows they have binge-watched on Netflix. Yardi has binge-watched The Boys, Bedi watched The Spy, Nayak binge-watched Unbelievable and Srinivasan has watched Mirzapur.

    Yardi first gave her definition to binge-watching by saying, “If we go beyond the allotted time in our head for the show, that’s binge-watching where we are hooked to the story.” On the other hand, Nayak says that you can’t categorise particular content as being binge-worthy. He said, “If we are creating content that it is good, people will watch it.”

    Yardi argued, “Content can be made for binge-watching. Every online platform has guidelines according to the viewership data they have. For OTT – the first five minutes, in-between and the last seven minutes are very important. Those times are planned accordingly to hook the viewers. On television, we plan according to the breaks. Since OTT doesn’t have breaks, everything is planned from the storyline; it’s not just simple storytelling.”

    Yardi believes that if content creators follow OTT’s format and create cliffs at regular intervals to hook the audiences, they can succeed in creating binge-worthy content.  

    However, Nayak said, “OTT players have those set rules but otherwise also I feel these are the basics that content creators do because we want our viewers to come back on the show. So, we have to create those hooks due to which they stay on television or OTT.”

    Whereas, Srinivasan said, “The character and content are behind the success. Definitely there is a science to it and data involved on how to refine the whole process. But I would say content and characters are important.”

    MX Player has delivered 5 to 6 successful shows in the last six months. Sharing his experience, Bedi said, “Creating content on any platform requires a lot of efforts. On online, there is a huge difference while creating content for AVoD or SVoD platform. SVoD people have already paid and they are watching as they have invested in it. On AVoD, customers move in and out as they have not invested money for viewing there, so the level of hook that content creators need to create is very high.”

    Wanvari also inquired whether the content creators constantly think of hooks or they line-up the story and then get into the hooks. Yardi replied, “We create the story and build the characters first and then get into hooks.”

    She also informed, “Currently, in India, everyone is learning. Most of the platforms are using what they have from parent companies and try to localise the format. It’s not necessary what works on Netflix or Amazon in America will work here because our lifestyle and mindset is different. I feel it’s a trial and error period for OTT.”

    Srinivasan also said, “We are trying to understand what kind of stories work for the OTT platform. We want to create that content. We have enough knowledge of the ecosystem but the biggest constraint would be getting the writers to write in a format that is required for OTT.”

  • Vikatan Group picks Pravin Menon as national ad sales head

    MUMBAI: Vikatan Group has assigned the responsibilities of national head-ad sales to Pravin Menon.

    Menon joins in from Worldwide Media where he was working as GM (South) – ad sales.

    He will report to Vikatan Group MD B Srinivasan.

    Menon said, “Yes I have joined Vikatan Group. My first concourse will be the print diving and then the online print media.”

    Menon brings in over 17 years of experience in the ad sales and marketing industry. He had joined Worldwide Media in May 2007. Prior to joining WWM, he was WWM India Regional sales head for over two years. He had joined Times Group in 1998.