

Inside the Network18 takeover - TheAuditor
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/rqT2Oi8fwv4XVjJcHzlcVN/Inside-the-Network18-takeover.html

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eitally
That is an interesting story, thank you. It reads like a television drama and
could probably be turned into an engaging suspense movie. I sometimes wonder
whether there should be more forced independence for media companies, but then
I remember things like News Corp, which isn't exactly a shining star of
journalistic integrity, and GE owning NBC (prior to the sale to Comcast),
which afaik didn't ever run into any conflict of interest problems between the
parent company and what hit the airwaves.

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erbdex
"And when the 12th largest company in the world controls the most awesome
goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will
be peddled for truth on this network?"

'Howard Beale' from Network(1976).

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agarwlGaurav
Debt is the key in the story. You cannot spend the money if you don't have it.

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kaonashi
Unless you issue it.

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samstave
And back that business model up with an army.

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kaonashi
If I don't pay my taxes, then it's not the army I'm going to be fearing.

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silentmars
For those of us who are not familiar with the Indian political and business
background of this story and the characters, can someone summarize?

Some parts translate pretty clearly to a naive reader - high-growth startup
accrues too much debt in acquisitions and expansion, some of the new ventures
lose money, takes on a high-profile investor and restructures to stabilize,
investor takes over the company and kicks out the founder. Others are less so
- references to Reliance's place in the political sphere, something about gas
prices(?) which I presume Reliance has something to do with, a new political
movement that is apparently supported by some of the people in the story but
not others.

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whocanfly
A lot happened in India around the recently concluded elections. This resulted
in the loss of the ruling party, Congress, It lost so bad it could not form an
opposition in the house. The winner, BJP, won with unprecedented margin (at
least in the last few decades)

One of the major reason for the downfall was growing discontent, anger among
the people against corruption, crime and inflation etc.

A new political party which calls itself, Aam Admi(Common Man)Party, started
by Arvind Kejriwal, emerged by raising its voice against corruption. Multi-
billion dollar scams were exposed frequently.

The party projected itself as anti-corruption and targeted Congress, and
several businesses. It raised fund through people and media propagated their
message. It continued to expose and openly question government expenses. They
targeted Reliance, the largest business conglomerate, several times.

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sanmon3186
One would tend to question certain events when lots of people that mint has
spoken to, do not want to be named.

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gnurag
When the boss in question is Ambani, one would understand why nobody wants to
be identified.

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anoncow
First it mentions that Reliance did not want board members to quit. But then
everyone quits!

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prateek_mir
I don't think this is the right forum to post it (though I agree that the
article raises some very pertinent questions)

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TheAuditor
why is it not for this forum ?

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prateek_mir
Because it ultimately is a story of a corporate takeover. It is not as if they
didn't had the control earlier. Reliance was a significant stakeholder of the
company earlier too.

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TheAuditor
So again. Why is it not a story here? Either you did not read the article or
you did not understand the inner currents, politics and business strategies
involved. Read again.

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prateek_mir
Seriously? Posting this story in isolation presents an image that a downfall
of media has begun, when in reality it is just a change of face.

I have read the story, and I very well understand the movement under the
surface.

A comprehensive article about the continuous degradation on electronic media
would have been suitable as it would have provided a complete image, instead
of this, where it gives a peephole view to a very large problem.

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known
"Never let your inferiors do you a favor. It'll be extremely costly."
\--Mencken

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vivin
Rajeep Sardesai standing by the spirit of journalism? That's a laugh.

